Description: It's a New Year's Sale Extravaganza! Except it's not yet the new year and there's no sales! There's a flailing gymnast, Sakura the happy helper, and a quaint little bookstore. There's mention of ice, fighting and crazed fangirls, but still no sales! One important fact is determined though -- Alexis knows how to show a ladder who's boss, leaving the score at inanimate objects: zero; random spaz-in-a-cans: one!
The new year is a time of fun! And it's also the time for special holiday sales designed to convince people to trek out to the local shopping malls, even when they've had more than their fill of such things. And holiday sales mean... loud and obnoxious advertisements!
One such store doesn't want to bother with any of that noise though. The mall's best-known bookstore is run by an elderly couple. It's dangerous for old folks to get up on ladders and all, but that didn't stop them from trying to put up a giant New Years sale banner over the entranceway all by themselves! Old guy standing on a ladder, old lady propping him up...
Sakura Kasugano wanted none of that! With some gentle coercion, the young Ansatsuken prodigy convinces the guy to trade places with Sakura, so she can help them out. Sakura, volunteering? It's not =unheard= of, really...
With one end of the banner fixed in place, Kasugano moves the ladder to the other end of the entranceway so she can set that up. "Geez, you two... what happened to Hitoshi, did you send him home already?"
Pre-holiday shopping is fun, but /post/ holiday shopping is even better! Everything is on sale! Items that were marked waaaay up before the holiday have dropped in price significantly, and so it's a /great/ time to get out there and pick up a few things for the few people at school she's met and wanted to pick up a little something for!
Which brings Alexis LaCoeur to the final shopping destination of this super-sale Saturday! Mm. Well it would, anyway. If she could only remember which bookstore it was that she stopped in with Himeko before all the holiday hullabaloo got underway. Rounding a corner and taking a shortcut through one of the nicely set up park areas, she juggles a few shopping bags, sliding several down over her wrists and attempting to balance others atop her arms.
Just then, her runners hit a patch of ice and she goes sliding at a rapid pace. Arms shoot up in the air, flailing wildly with the smaller bags raining down upon her head as she fights to regain her balance before she winds up colliding with a ladder.
A ladder that just so happens to be right outside the bookstore she was looking for!
"Eeeep! Sorry! Coming through!"
As the rubber soles of her sneakers hit pavement once more, she twirls about gracefully. Not only does this allow her to regain her balance, but she's able to shoot her arms out to grab at the airborne bags as well.
It's a good thing Sakura was only holding onto the ladder at this point rather than standing on it! She manages to pull the ladder to a safe distance, rather than sending the rickety thing crashing to its doom upon the pavement in the wake of Alexis' dash through. "Hey, watch it!" snaps the Ansatsuken Angel, turning her head to watch the young dynamo as she manages to -catch- those bags she thought for sure were going to become a spontaneous tag sale.
As she slowly sets the ladder back down, she calls out, "... I'd give you points for that if you didn't just fail so hard!"
"I was watching it!" Alexis pouts a little as she catches the last teeny bag on the tip of her pinky finger and then turns about, attempting to find the direction of the female voice. Spotting the young woman, she tilts her head. The loud voice seems to belong to someone familiar looking, but for the life of her she can't place it at the moment. "I didn't bowl anyone over! I didn't make a mess! This shopping thing would be a /lot/ easier if it were indoors!"
The fact that the little hmph that might have accompanied that pouty outburst is non-existent at this time is definitely different for the little LaCoeur. Her sometimes haughty attitude is gone, replaced by two distinctly bright circles upon her cheeks - a blush for the fact that she's wound up irritating someone without meaning to.
"And... and... I didn't fail! I don't /fail/!"
Now the little hmph is added for effect as she begins to rearrange the bags she carries so that smaller packages are tucked inside larger ones, making everything a lot easier to carry.
Kasugano's smirk grows as Alexis turns around to face her. Yeah... she's not -trying- to stand out as a Saturday Night Fight star, dressed in a baggy hoodie and blue jeans... but the fact that she just can't leave her white headband at home is probably what's allowing her to be recognized, if Alexis happens to actually -watch- her SNF bouts.
Sakura seems, in fact, to seem much more interested in the slight, unintentional responses. Kasugano can be condescending in many, many ways, and in this case, it's her silent, smirking look that's probably the most singularly jerkish thing she could do at the moment.
Until Alexis mentions that she doesn't fail, anyway. =That's= enough to trigger a response from the trash-talking fighting fangirl. "... Oh, right, my bad! You totally showed that ladder who's boss! Inanimate objects: zero; random spaz-in-a-cans: one!" Kasugano sets the ladder back down properly, squaring up the legs just like so, quietly waiting just long enough to mention, "The recovery was pretty sweet, though. Y'got good reflexes, y'just can't lose sight of where you're heading!" She pauses for a moment, and adds, "Not that it's any of my business, but where =are= you headed so quick? You ain't gonna be late, are you?"
Contrary to what one might normally do when put in a situation with a jerkish bully-type, Alexis doesn't rise to it. Tilting her head toward the sky, she snubs the young woman with another haughty little hmph. Lucas teases her /much/ worse than that, so she's quite used to it. With the bags all tucked and folded away into each other, she now carries two - which is perfect for her to slam her hands down upon her hips and pull off the most /mature/ move she can.
She sticks her tongue out and thbbts it.
Feeling vindicated after doing this, she begins to grin slightly. The grin quickly develops into a full-fledged smile, which is accompanied by a small giggle. Keeping herself from breaking into a full on giggle fit, she points toward the store. "I'm not on a schedule. I was actually headed here, but I came out of the park too quick and hit some ice. Someone should /really/ do something about that before someone falls and breaks their hip."
Shifting the bags to hold them normally, she wiggles her nose. "Is there a place around here one can buy that ground salt stuff? I mean, I don't know who's all responsible for taking care of this pl--" Lashes bat rapidly as she blinks several times in quick succession.
"Aren't you that girl? Weren't you in that King of Fighters tournament thingy?"
Aww. Kasugano wanted to get more of a reaction out of the girl... but the thbbt will do, for now. "... Well, it--" she starts, only to get cut off by the question that follows.
Now, the surest way to get on Sakura's good side is to puff up her ego, which is =exactly= what those questions do. Her smirk turns into a more genuine smile -- one can practically -see- the pride sweeping over her. "Yep! That was totally me! Sakura Kasugano, at your service!" She wasn't sure anyone had a memory back that far, really, so Alexis' having that mentioned right out of the blue is a definite plus in her favor.
"But yeah, I just happened to help out the store owners here..." Said store owners wave, mind, but they're in the middle of sales transactions by now! "But I don't really know who messes with the store itself. It's getting late, so they'll probably do it in the morning!"
Still, there's more interesting things to talk about! Sweeping her hair out of her eyes, Kasugano then leans an arm on the ladder. "So you're into fighting? Or were you just happening to watch the news that day?"
"Oh! No, no, no! I'll /totally/ take care of it! It's the least I can do, considering I nearly wrecked that awesome banner that they just put up!" Distracted now by thoughts of salting the icy patches, she peers up and down the row of little shops wondering just where she can find the stuff to fix it up.
Alexis may just as well have ADHD right now though. When Sakura's name sinks in, the girl actually squeaks. "Ohmigawd! Vanka is going to totally flip! This is /so/ cool! Can I get your autograph or something?" Already beginning to dig in her purse for a pen and a piece of paper, she nods and shakes her head at the same time, giving off a bit of a bobble effect.
"Sorta. My best friend Vanka is like, totally into that stuff and she's got all these videos and DVD's and things bookmarked on her YouTube profile and she points out the good stuff for me! It's kind'a fun to watch them and try to find different things I can maybe add to my routine to make it different from the normal droll stuff that a lot of girls use!"
Sakura laughs hesitantly at the young woman's drive to go out and fix the wrongs in the world! She agrees, really -- ice is slippery! And if they wait till morning to salt it'll take forever to melt. So really, she just nods her head, adding, "Oh, they probably have some at the hardware store. I think it's like... the got some good stuff that's like... calcium... chlorine? Or something like that, I forget..." She shrugs a bit, grinning weakly. If someone else wants to be useful, more power to 'em!
Sakura listens about this friend Vanka, wondering quietly to herself: is that a Russian name? Still, it'd be rude to just go out and ask, and Sakura would much rather be rude to rude people! "Oh, cool... I used to check that stuff out too, but I've kinda slacked off lately." One thing does jump out at her though, arousing a bit of self-consciousness in the fangirl who emulated a boring karate-liks style... "... what do you consider droll though? I mean, you =need= some boring stuff to make the awesome more awesome, right?" Sounds like someone needs to justify her own existence...
"Hardware store, got it!" Now if she could only remember how far down it was, so that she could get there before they close and sprinkle the salt all over the pathways. Alexis slipping on the ice isn't any big deal. She's usually good about rebalancing herself as soon as possible. An older person slipping on the ice might mean a nasty fall, and a potential lawsuit for the proprietors and all sorts of mess. The sooner it's taken care of, the better!
"Oh! Well I just mean that in gymnastics, the competitors tend to always do the same routine. Most of the other girls have the exact same moves as one another, and the only excitement they bring to it is rearranging which order they execute them it. In a competitive sport like that, things should be more exciting, even if the judges don't always /like/ the exciting new moves." Wrinkling her nose up, Alexis taps her index finger against her lips, sighing a little. "You actually kind'a lose points for it."
Pen and paper now procured, she hands them out to the fighter, for the aforementioned autograph. "I'm Alexis. Alexis LaCoeur. I just transferred to Pacific a little while ago..." Before spilling out her entire life story, she stops herself and grins.
"I guess droll is different in the world of fighting though, right? I mean, droll just means all those energy attacks and stuff really stand out!"
... Lose points for being cool? That's -not- cool! "... wow, good thing I'm not a gymnast!" responds Sakura, wrinkling her nose in concert with Alexis. "That's against the whole point, isn't it? Geez..."
As she takes the paper, she props it up against the side of the ladder, signing away! 'Vanka! Keep the dream alive! - Sakura Kasugano!' She adds, "I guess that's why I like fightin' better though, yeah! I'm all for the energy stuff. I mean... just about anything that can be done swinging your arms and legs about's been done before, but with energy attacks, like... it's all you, y'know? Everyone can be totally different with colors and lights and stuff, if they just set their minds to it." In other words, it's always been easy for =Sakura= to do...
"But... um... yeah. Sorry, didn't mean to diss gymnastics or anything, I'm sure it's fun! I just break too many rules to really play anything like that for long. Only things I can really stick with are fighting and track." She smiles warmly, handing the paper and pen back to Alexis. "Pacific, eh? I hear that's a pretty fun school!"
"I like to make things exciting, which is why I've yet to place first lately!" Popping her shoulders up in a teeny shrug, Alexis glances around once more. Squinting her eyes as she looks down the row of shops, she can just make out the sign for the hardware store. From the look of things, they're still open.
"Vanka is going to love this! Thank you so much, Miss Kasugano!" A new addition for her friend's scrapbook! A more perfect little post-holiday gift she couldn't hope to find! "I get what you're saying with the energy stuff though! I really do! I learnt all about it in a yoga group when I was in Old Delhi, and how to incorporate it into my routine."
Wafting her hand, she brushes aside any insult to her sport. "A lot of people have difficulties once they realize what you can lose points for, at least competitively. I mean, if you've got straps showing, or your leotard rises up, or your hands don't stick to the bars properly, or you forget to smile, or you misstep when landing... the list goes on and on and on..."
Taking the pen and paper back with a cheerful smile, she bobs her head in a small nod at the question of the school. "It has been so far!" As though in afterthought, she adds, "Track? I bet that's a lot of fun!"
'Miss Kasugano?' Alexis isn't =that= much younger than her. Blanching at the uber-formality, the Ansatsuken Angel shakes her head. "... C'mon, it's Sakura! Just =Sakura!= You make it sound like I'm retired or something!"
Sakura smiles and nods as the mention of energy comes about. "... Yoga? Gymnastics? =And= fighting? It sounds like you got a busy training schedule!" She nods a bit more to the mention of all the rules one has to consider: "... Eesh, yeah, way too many rules for me! It was tough training to fight, but like... I did it because I =wanted= to, and because I think I =needed= it... and it =was= fun." Kasugano halts for a moment, looking down -- then adds, "Kinda. But yeah, so as long as it's fun for you, keep it up!"
As for track... "Well, it's fun to run as hard as you can without worrying about breaking toooo many rules! So there's that." Clenching a fist though, she nods eagerly. "So you... know how to control your chi? I mean... is that like... part of your routine or something?" Grinning, she leans onto the ladder a bit: "Would you mind showing me? I'm curious, now!"
Uber-formality is what she was brought up with! You respect someone, you show them that respect by using formality (and often times, you use it even when you /don't/ respect someone, just to be polite! Unless you're told to address them in a different manner, like now. "Sakura it is then!"
"Not so much yoga any more. I sometimes do that just to relax and regroup when I've had a really stressful day or something. Mostly it's gymnastics from dawn to dusk. Eat, sleep and nothing but!" Widening her eyes she does her best not to stammer at all during the next part, the bags in her hands nearly dropping before she manages to carefully slide the autograph into one of them. "F-fighting? I... t-that is..." Coughing softly to clear her throat, she shakes her head. "O-once or t-twice. In... school..." Maybe a few times outside of school too, but she can't have /everyone/ knowing that little secret, can she? Ack! She's /so/ going to have to talk to Himeko and see how it is she manages to hide her identity so well! "I... could never fight as well as you do though!"
Breathing a sigh of relief as the subject changes to track, the nods. "I probably would've liked track, but my mother had her own little rules we had to follow, so I had to stick with gymnastics."
The moment of relief passes swiftly though, her hands beginning to fidget with the bags she carries. "R-right here? I mean... I could, I suppose, I just... don't know if I could pull off the whole routine with all this ice!" Yep! That's her story and she's totally sticking to it!
"Mmm... I could probably try yoga. Just haven't had the time lately, with schoolwork and all. I've gotten a lot better at... just about everything through meditation!" Kasugano blinks, then rubs the back of her head with a sheepish admission: "... Geez, it almost sounds like I'm trying to sell something..."
But when Alexis mentions fighting, it ... looks like she might be trying to =hide= something? Kasugano only meant that she was using fighting as a source for training, so the stammered denial gets a raised eyebrow. It's not like Sakura's going to tell anyone... right?
Sakura was raised with formality as well! She usually -is- respectful to adults. But spankings really lost their effect on her, and her parents resigned to let her do what she wanted to. ... Mostly. Even still, she can respect other people's wishes to stay on their parents' good side -- both the guys she's dated had been like that, after all... but her parents being strict -does- explain the anxiety. "... We don't have to do it here, if you're shy or something! And if you just plain =don't want= to, that's fine too, it's a bit of a weird request, I know!" But... then there's the whole 'time' issue to worry about. Kasugano climbs the ladder with the free end of the banner, mentioning, "There's an alley down the way that's got an L-turn in it. Can get some creepy folks hanging out down there sometimes, but it's nothing a King of Fighters champ can't handle!" She stretches out the banner, fastening it into place after a moment of fidgeting.
"Wha-what? Me? Shy?" Alexis does actually break out into a small giggle fit at that, shaking her head to the point of it being almost vehement in design. "Nuh-uh! I'm not shy at all, it's just hard to work gymnastics in a tight pair of jeans!" Technically, Sakura never asked to see the /routine/ though, just the energy. Refusing to dwell on the semantics, she grins. "I've got no problem showing off, honest!" She /is/ rather proud of her abilities as a gymnast.
Without thinking about it, the bags she carries are carefully placed on the pavement beside the ladder, and she reaches out to hold it steady while the other girl climbs it. "Y'know, I haven't run into anyone really creepy here in Southtown yet, but I've been avoiding dark places. I'd hate to go down some eerie alley and wind up in the hospital." Giving an involuntary shudder she bites her teeth onto the right side of her lower lip. A King of Fighters champ might be able to handle a situation like that, but could Lexi do it? Doubtful. She really /does/ need more training, and maybe that dojo Himeko took her to will be able to help.
"If it's just like, energy you're wanting to see, I could maybe do something with that!" Likely not as fancy as it would be in her routine, but she can at least control the chi for a moment or two without all the added fuss.
Sakura doesn't know Alexis well enough to know when she's making something up, or trying to hide some vital pieces of information, so she pretty much rolls with whatever she's given. "Oh. Okay! You just seemed kinda nervous, is all!" Finishing with the banner, she climbs down from the ladder. "Well, yeah, that's all! I'm just kinda curious to see what kinda aura you've got! Everyone's different, like I was sayin'..." And some people's auras change over time, also... "Either here or off to the side. Whichever you're comfortable with! I was just figuring, they probably keep the back alleys salted..." Kasugano shrugs as she folds up the ladder. "Whichever!"
Alexis cocks her head to the side in a curious manner as Sakura mentions the alley's being salted. Would creeps and cretins go out of their way to salt the back alleys, while the rest of the little plaza is a treacherous land of ice? She may not have the mind of a criminal, but wouldn't leaving the alleyways icy make it easier to nab a purse or a person?
Whichever it ends up being - salted or icy - she's got no intention of finding out. Avoiding a potentially dangerous area seems to be the intelligent thing to do.
"Okay!"
Moving her neck from side to side, Alexis inhales slowly and deeply. As she breathes, she focuses on her right hand. A minute passes and nothing happens, but then she begins to move the hand in a soft, swaying pattern and a flare of bright blue-green chi reminiscent of ocean water coalesces around it.
Sakura's logic, though it isn't made obvious, simply rests on the knowledge that alleys are used by store owners, who would want to keep their own areas clean for their own workers! Whereas the mall workers might have their own maintenance to handle the main walkways, and those workers are the ones slacking.
But... it'd seem to be a moot point as Alexis shows her right here and now -- a fact which has Sakura nodding in approval! "Sweet..." she comments, narrowing her eyes as she focuses more on the =unseen= chi, the ebb and flow she can feel emanating from Alexis' hands. "... That's pretty non-droll, right there!" she commends, keeping her voice low so as not to disrupt the young woman's concentration with her usual exuberance. "It's good that you already know how to do that... there's a few people in this town who'd teach you the -wrong- way..." Smiling warmly, she asks, "Can you move it away from your body at all? Don't... force it, I'm still really just curious..."
Logic has a way of showing different styles of upbringing. Sakura has the more innocent thought, while the girl with the paranoid and overbearing mother immediately thinks that the uncertainty of the alleyway means it is a dark and dangerous place. Thoughts are not so important at the moment as Alexis continues to focus on the chi that has built up around her hand.
Voice quiet as she keeps her attention on her control she responds, "Normally with my ribbon, though..." She /does/ have that one whirlpool move where the energy bursts off the ribbon. Exhaling slowly, she concentrates on arranging the coalesced energy into a teensy vortex which she then spirals outward off of her hand about a foot before it dissipates. A smile tugging at the corners of her lips she peeks up at Sakura. "I should practice more, maybe."
"Hey, everyone's gotta start somewhere!" From talking with other people, Kasugano knows she =is= a strange one, having started at the fully-formed Hadouken phase, but that shouldn't diminish her enthusiasm for what Alexis has already accomplished. "That's cool, though... that you can make it follow along the end of your ribbon! I mean... me, I mostly gotta stick with my hands, haven't practiced anything more than that, so yeah." She smiles and nods -- "Besides, that even kinda -looks- like a ribbon, in a way, so! But yeah, the more you practice, the easier it'll be to summon the energy when you =don't= need it. You're doin' way better than most people can, keep it up!"
Kasugano steps away for a moment, just long enough to stash the ladder just inside the bookstore and wave to the folks inside. When she returns, she flashes Alexis a healthy grin. "Hey, you enter into competitions and such, right? When's your next one? I'd love to come watch!"
"You really think it looks like a ribbon?" Funny. Alexis never even /considered/ that it looked like anything at all, but in hindsight, she guesses it really /does/ look like a vortex of ribbon just waiting to be unleashed. Now how cool is /that/? "Oh! Yeah, moving it along the ribbon is easier for me, I think. The ribbon is already moving in a way I'd want the energy to be moving, y'know? I don't concentrate on it so much and I think it flows better that way."
Reaching down to take hold of the bags when Sakura steps into the store, she's got them firmly in hand by the time she steps out. The new series of questions has her holding up her index finger to signal the other girl to wait a moment, then she moves the right-hand bag over to the left hand and reaches into her purse once more for her dayplanner. Extracting it, she scrolls her finger down one page. Flipping the page over she nods. "I have a preliminary competition in the middle of next month, then a big one in Tokyo not long after. I can send you all the details later, if you'd like."
Closing the dayplanner she's quick to add, "I won't use contact information to stalk you or anything. I'm not a crazed fangirl, I swear!"
"... I think it does, yeah!" Sakura smiles warmly in response. "And yeah, it's... for some people, folks like me... the more you concentrate, the harder it gets! It's always easiest for me if I just don't =have= to think about something, and can just =do= it, based on what I want to do rather than what I -have- to do."
When she comes out of the store, she shakes her head. "Oh, I don't mind at all! It's like... public, anyway. Easiest way's my email, it's just like... skasugano@seijyun-univ.ed.jp... I usually check it at least once a day!" Sakura really doesn't like using her phone that much, really. Too much hassle! And even though Alexis denies being a crazed fangirl, Kasugano's had quite a few people make similar claims, and... well. She =did= just meet Alexis, after all. "That'd probably be easiest!" she emphasizes.
Honestly! Alexis would likely only get into that crazed fangirl mode with a really cute boy! She does scramble to write down the e-mail address, nearly dropping the bags again in the process. Once it's all written down (and checked at least twice to ensure she's got everything spelled correctly), she smiles. "Great! I can e-mail you the schedule, and then you can decide what works best for you... and hey! If you like, don't make it this time, there's always another time."
She's not really expecting Sakura to show up, but she'll keep her promise about getting the information at least.
"I should probably go now though. That ice isn't gonna salt itself, and I don't know when the hardware store is going to close up." More to herself she says, "I wonder if someone in there would be able to tell me who handles maintenance so I can let them know it needs maintaining out here..."
"Awesome! I'd love to see you in your natural environment!" The truth is... Sakura =is= rather interested! Sure, she runs into 'crazed fangirls' all the time, but few of them have the grace and agility Sakura's already seen from Alexis. Sure, she might -get- creepy, but anyone who's able to recognize her from her King of Fighters showing already has her attention. And ... if she has the free time, she'd be willing to spare it to see this fighter in action!
"Ooh... yeah. No clue about that, but good luck!" She waves once more to the folks inside, and adds, "I'll see you around, I'm sure! Take it easy!" And with that... Sakura's done with =her= duty, and it's time to finish shopping! Zoom!
Log created on 22:09:14 12/29/2007 by Alexis, and last modified on 21:42:38 12/30/2007.