The Customer is Always Right... right?

[reflectedstasis]

Who: OPEN.
When: The day of August 31
Where: Sector 5, at the Cat's Eye Bistro
Summary: Mysterious flowering cherry trees have sprung up overnight. They're beautiful, but their petals have some strange effects...
Warnings: Eventual violence thanks to an out of control 07 Ghost. Aside from that, just mark your warnings in the subject!

The up side of

Comments

[kaijuusakura]

Sakura was prepping the bistro for the day. Just doing small things, like making sure the menus were right for the morning, and watering the plants they had bought to spruce up the place a little. Her eyes were still a little tired, so she rubbed them from time to time as she wandered through doing different tasks.

She had heard Fai return, and could also hear him prepare for the day as well. After she was done with her morning chores, she joined him in the kitchen, just to see if he needed any help with anything.

"Welcome back." She smiled at him, then her glance drifted to what was brewing on the stove. "Did you have a good walk?"

[reflectedstasis]

"I did!"

He hummed softly and held up a brown paper bag, spun it on his finger. A few pale cerise petals drifted out of the bag and he stopped to pick them up, though he didn't add them back to the bag. those he deposited in her hand before brushing his own through her bangs.

"Apparently they've planted some new trees over in fourth district - they're just like ones from Outo called Sakura trees. I think I'm going to try to make a tea with them."

He paused in his track to the kitchen to glance back at her. "Oh, wait. You've eaten breakfast, right?"

[kaijuusakura]

Sakura glanced down at the petals in her hand and smiled broadly.

"Mhmm." She had eaten some cereal before attending to the store.

"Cherry blossoms, right?" She was excited. It was almost like a little bit of home just happened to appear in her new life. "My mother named me after these."

"But.. they are not usually in bloom this time of year." She looked up to Fai, "You said they are like the ones in Outo? Is that where you had the cafe?"

[reflectedstasis]

"Mmmhmm, we had a slightly bigger place than this, but we also lived above it there too. We had the best aliases as well." He paused just long enough to wave her to follow before disappearing into the kitchen. He needed to wash the petals before pureeing them, but as he pulled out the strainer, he elaborated softly, warm affection clear in the tone.

"I remember - I didn't know the language there and the clerk said I could chose any names, so I dew pictures. Sakura-hime was Little Kitty and I was Big Kitty..."

His voice trailed off, and a barely there hint of annoyance threaded into his voice as he added simply. "I wanted to annoy Kurogane, so I gave him the name Big Puppy and Syaoran-kun Little Puppy."

[deceptive_lulz]

After finishing up her day shift at the Grindz coffee shop, Sarina decided to go on one of her typical strolls around the area -- it was a nice enough day for it, after all. She was so entranced by the surroundings that she barely noticed when she wandered into the bordering sector. However, this had nothing to do with the effects of the tree; she was naturally that way.

After a while, she realized that she hadn't eaten in a while, and although she had yet to drink a tea that didn't need at least three spoons of sugar, the Cat's Eye Bistro was the closest place she could find. Places like those typically had some kind of dessert at least, right? If not, it didn't hurt to check.

Cautiously opening the door, she glanced around the area a bit self-consciously. It was always weird walking into establishments she wasn't used to. With a soft giggle, she glanced around for someone who worked in the area.

[reflectedstasis]

There was a nice lull between the lunch and dinner rushes, which was why Fai was leaning on the counter by the register, his face caught between his hands, when he caught a slightly familiar face walk in front of the glass walls of the store. He smiled when she actually reached for the door and gave a friendly wave when the woman peeked in.

"Hello there - I was wondering if I'd ever see you again. Come in! come in!"

[deceptive_lulz]

Upon seeing Fai, a relative stranger, she mirrored his smile -- albeit a bit awkwardly. At the very least, it was the most natural thing in the world for her to smile for absolutely no reason.

"Long time, no talk, hmm?" With a tilt of her head to accentuate the impact of her question -- as well as a few giggles -- she took a few slow steps toward the counter. "What have you got for desserts around here?"

[reflectedstasis]

"That it has, mi'lady. It's good to see you doing well and yes," reaching to the side, he tapped a glass display case. "We have everything from creme cakes to chocolate fondant or cheesecake and apple pie to blackberry cobblers. There are all manner of pastries and, of course, today's special, which is a cherry blossom and lemon tea served with an assorted dish of petite fours - basically bite-sized cakes."

Laughing he slouched enough to lean his forearms on the case and smiled again. "And yup, we make them all here fresh, daily~"

[ibreakrules]

Frau had promised Fai that he would come to the Bistro at one point. Sure, he probably should have come sooner, but at least he'd gotten there. Considering how nice the day was, Frau didn't mind the walk over to sector five at all. After going a few streets, he finally noticed the new additions.

Those flowering trees hadn't been there before, had they? He scowled at them a second before shrugging and moving on again. They weren't really a bad addition. Kinda pretty actually. For the rest of the trip Frau took the time to "smell the roses" in a way by actually admiring the trees. When he reached the Bistro, he couldn't help grinning at the sign. Fai was using the trees for sales. Go figure.

[reflectedstasis]

Fai, who happened to be stepping over to one of the table beside the glass wall, set the plates in his hand down and offered the two seated there an easy smile. As he straightened up, he caught sight of a familiar blond figure looking at the sign and chuckled to himself.

He stepped over and knocked lightly on the glass, then waved the man in with a grin.

It was unexpected, but nice to finally see the person he'd almost call a friend finally stop by.

[ibreakrules]

The rapping caught Frau's attention, and he glanced up. By this point Frau was very familiar to him. With a smile and a light nod Frau followed the request and entered the bistro.

After a quick look around, he gave Fai another small smile. "Nice place you have here." It was. It was a lot different than the club Fai worked at too.

[reflectedstasis]

"Much more respectable, given the locale, than the club, right?" He smiled and nodded into the seating area, then pointed first to an empty table near the window and another in the shaded interior, as if to indicate it was Frau's choice.

"Of course, that means it's pricier so if I want to stay solvent, I still have to work at there too~ Good to see you though."

[violins_rain]

When Rain had set out for work this morning, he'd brushed past several lower-hanging branches of sakura thanks to his height, and as he comes in for his shift through the back door, a few wayward petals fall gently off his hair onto the floor of the kitchen.

"Good morning, Sakura, Mr. Fai. Whoops, guess I missed a few." He chuckles and combs several more petals out, "Looks like I'm shedding a storm."

He grabs a broom to quickly remedy that.

[reflectedstasis]

Fai glanced back over his shoulder and smiled at the man, a friendly, pleasant smile, then nodded to the falling leaves. "New way of becoming one with nature I guess, right?"

Turning back to the task at hand, he motioned to Sakura to take the next tray of pastries out to the display case, then began adding the honey glaze to the freshly cooled croissants. "Did you enjoy your walk this morning? I must say - I'd never seen the Sakura trees down that way before."

[violins_rain]

“Yeah, it was especially nice today, and if I didn’t know any better, I would have said those trees sprang up overnight by magic,” he pauses in his sweeping and considers that. His instincts are quite on the money, but his rationality wins for the moment so he ends up dismissing the thought and swings the dust pan over the rubbish bin to empty it. Normally, he might just leave the conversation at that and move on to his duties, but today he feels more talkative than usual and he asks, “I hope you had a nice walk, too. Did you also pass by cherry trees when you were coming?”

He peeks out at the dining area and takes an inventory of what needs to be done, then grabs a tub to bus a few tables.

[reflectedstasis]

"Yes - I had to go meet our produce supplier this morning right after sirens. I walked by them on the way back to the Subway, actually."

Grinning up at the man, he leaned over and snagged added conspiratorially, "They had such a lovely fragrance that I substituted them in the rose petal tea and it's been quite the success~"

[reflectedstasis]

Once Sakura was safely gone, Fai turned his attention to Frau as his eye flickered to gold. He was thankful then, that Rain's shift had just ended and the place empty, because as he stepped towards the man, he let his talons extend. Whatever this was... whatever the man had become...

He'd become a threat to Sakura and such a threat had to be neutralized.

Neutralized, or eliminated.

"...Frau?"

[ibreakrules]

Frau turned dark, furious eyes on Fai when his meal suddenly disappeared. The enormous black wing curled slightly around Frau's left side. Normally the scythe would have never gotten that much control, but Frau wasn't himself anymore. At this point, he would welcome the scythe's aid.

"I wanted a delicious soul..."

A slow smile slid across Frau's face and his eyes glittered with malice and amusement.

"I guess you will have to do."

[reflectedstasis]

Fai's breath caught at that, his gaze narrowing in on the thing coming out of his friend's arm, grateful that he'd actually sent Sakura away rather than placing her behind a barrier because whatever that thing really was...

It was strong.

It was going to take all of his focus to deal with this, though at the man's words, he couldn't help but laugh a cold, mirthless sound.

"Sorry, I'm afraid my soul is really quite poisonous. Let's save you the trouble, shall we?"

[ibreakrules]

"I bet it's better than the others. Let's find out!"

Frau launched himself at Fai, still grinning madly in anticipation. He wouldn't let anything stand in his way of a meal now. No. This soul was his, and his alone. Hand stretching out determinedly toward Fai's chest, Frau broke into a cackling laughter.