Description: What's this? Clearly insanity, or a clever plot to trap Naerose and ask her questions while she is distracted by her good fortune.
Lost Society is not the type of place one would expect to provide food. It's not a restaurant, it's not a cafe, it's a nightclub. Yet food appears to be in abundance today -- pancakes, waffles, fruit, and plenty of orange juice.
Some have asked if the proprietress is off her rocker.
Some have many questions since her return to London.
The answer to most of this is simple: Arika needs to sit back and plan things. Figure out what's best for -her-, and stop worrying about what someone else is doing.
So it's time to go fishing. And everyone knows that to go fishing for certain things, you need the proper type of bait. Which is why the club is set up for a buffet, with a very large sign outside that says, "FREE BUFFET - witches welcome".
This sign does -nothing- to stop people from thinking she's a bit crazy, and truthfully, perhaps she is. At least obsessive about finding the information she seeks.
12 hours earlier...
Southtown, Japan.
A certain Red Witch is on a ride in dream amusement park, totally having the time of her life, just as she rounds the top of the hill, the coaster stops clicking and with an elephant ear protruding from her mouth.. The world drops with a jolting pull of gravity and speed. The witch screams, but the elephant ear muffles most of the scream. She's in heaven. This was truly her stage. Dream Amusement Park.
. . . Food sense tingling. . .
A dizzy witch steps off the ride . . @_@ . . and suddenly reality sets in: <|8|
"I've got to get to London!" exclaims Naerose.
She runs off, leaving the amusement park, finding the airport and smuggling herself onto an airplane in the luggage compartment. That was a story of epic proportion all in itself.
Stumbling around the city for a day, she asks often for directions to 'free food'. People answer in English, with English accents. Naerose replies, "Ahh, no comprendo?" Totally missing the point. Yeah, she's speaking English too.
Then, by stumbling by pure chance she sees the sign, enters the club and sure enough.. There is food. The witch adjusts her shades and starts to drift toward the buffet.
Does it occur to Naerose at all that 'Free Buffet' is sketchy and that 'Witches welcome' is just plain wrong? No. It doesn't.
Nothing wrong with inviting witches into your establishment for a large glass of free orange juice is there? Granted, the free buffet is somewhat sketchy, considering most club-goers are still sleeping at this time of the day, and no one else appears to be in attendance except for the proprietress and one other poor schlub that wandered in off the street.
No matter the reasoning for the buffet, it looks like the little fishing expedition was a success.
Arika smirks.
Lifting a large pitcher of orange juice, she makes her way to the buffet line. Fingers grasp onto a glass and she carefully fills it, offering it out to the witch as she passes.
Nothing wrong with inviting witches into your establishment for a large glass of free orange juice is there? Granted, the free buffet is somewhat sketchy, considering most club-goers are still sleeping at this time of the day, and no one else appears to be in attendance except for the proprietress and one other poor schlub that wandered in off the street.
No matter the reasoning for the buffet, it looks like the little fishing expedition was a success.
Arika smirks.
Lifting a large pitcher of orange juice, she makes her way to the buffet line. Fingers grasp onto a glass and she carefully fills it, offering it out to the witch as she passes.
She doesn't even recognize Arika, why would she? There is FOOD here. Clearly this is meant to be what she is paying attention to and not the person behind the screen. You might think this is the sort of thing that would be looked out for you know, who is behind the buffet, but in order for that to happen one witch has to be suspicious in the first place. She isn't.
Num num num "Fhanks." Naerose manages Gulp gulp gulp.
It is quickly evident that the free buffet will be put away entirely by Naerose at this rate if not stopped. Though not exactly instantly. She fills about three plates. One in her hand, one on her forearm, one on her bicep. The only reason she didn't use both hands is she needs her broom right? After all, what if she needs to sweep.
"Welcome, mate." Arika watches her with wry amusement, glancing at the buffet and hoping she's got enough food. "Want a glass of carrot juice for Sylvester?" Her brow raises as she waits for a response, though she quietly places the pitcher atop the buffet and just watches.
Best not to startle the little fish -too- much. Especially if she wants some information from it.
"You can bring that roight up to the bar, if ya wanna. More room there for all those plates."
"Huh? Oh hey Arika." The witch says and then smiles brightly, accepting the bar as a better place to go and then goes there.
"So did you come here for the free buffet too? Small world huh, I didn't know you were here in London too and then to find this club at the same time. Course with a sign like that out front I'd expect more people. The food doesn't seem bad, I tried some already.."
Naerose relaxes.
"So whats up with you? Arntcha gonna eat? And Sylvester? Umm sure." She forgot all about that bunny, she's not even sure if he's in her hat right now or if she forgot him somewhere again.
"'ey," she says, after finally being recognized. The punk princess shakes her head at how long it took the witch to figure her out. Reaching for a second pitcher, she fills a small glass with carrot juice and brings it over to the bar. "Nah, this place 'ere is mine. Spent me Jinchuu winnin's on fixin' it up." That's common enough knowledge. "Glad you loik the food though, spent all mornin' workin' on it." No caterers for her.
"So sit, relax, enjoy the breakfast. We can 'ave a nice lil' conversation. S'been too long, y'know? Guess Oi ain't bein' a very good friend..."
"They paid us for Jinchuu?" Naerose asks incredulously. The truth was she probably was and in fact even vaguely recalls something about that, but what.. what does she recall? Honestly? She forgot. Something about nearly getting arrested and some people really mad at her. She scratches her head then shrugs. The last comment just sliiides by as if it doesn't gain much purcahse in Naerose' psychy. She instead gorges herself on the foot. Not certain if she brought Sylvester though she eyes the juice with unease. Takes off her hat - terrible hat hair - and places the hat over the glass of juice. If there is a bunny in there somewhere it will probably appreciate the juice. Meanwhilee she just sort of enjoys the breakfast. It's hard to tell what she understands and doesn't.
"Well they paid me at least." You know, being as she managed to come second in the tournament. "And royalties from the DVD sales or wotever." Shrugging, Arika slips behind the bar and pours herself a glass of orange juice, then begins to sip at it quietly.
Then the hat comes off and covers the carrot juice. The punk princess just snickers and shakes her head. "You probably shouldn't be doin' -that-..." Though she doesn't move to stop the witch from her eccentricities.
"So you still chummin' 'round with them Blackjack people?"
This causes Naerose to chuckle a little, even sputter a bit of her drink and then snickers a little more before leaning a little more against the bar. She gives Arika a sidelong look, not turnign her head so you can actually see her eyes behind the round shades. She shakes her head a little before chuckling again.
"It always kind of amused me how little other people seem to have ever understood Blackjack. It wasn't very complicated, but it is like only Blackjack ever knew Blackjack." She gives a reminiscing chuckle again and then stuffs her face a little more. Leaving it cryptic.
"Mm." Blackjack, and those associated with Blackjack seem to be very evasive as to what the group was up to. No matter, she's already got proof that they were up to illicit and illegal things. What she needs now is information on someone specific.
"Oh? So it ain't loikly that Oi'll be understandin'em even with you explainin' it, will Oi?" Fingers tap against the side of her glass and she nods. "Oi've 'ad a chance to run into a few, Naerose, and Oi can't say that Oi actually can see you as the type to 'ang 'round them. You're too..." Weird? Odd? Eccentric? "Good for that kind'a thing. Oi mean, Oi certainly can't see ya kidnappin' a lil' girl and 'oldin' 'er 'ostage or anythin'." Shrug.
Shaking her head a little Naerose says, "No, but that was part of the point really. I wasn't the only one who wasn't likely to kidnap a girl, though they had their reasons. One would of hated to have to spend time with the girl after kidnapping her, one wouldn't of seen the point or value, one or two were just two nice.. So on and so fourth. But my hanging out with them, that does make sense, at least when you consider it wholistically.. wholistic? ally? Whole.. istic.. huh." She munches on some pancakes while considering the nature of the word and how it might be spelled, despite her having not had to try to spell it.
"As a whole," she offers. "Well Oi've got to say, Naerose, Oi ain't run into anyone in your lil' group that was 'too nice' or anythin' loik that." Shoulders shrug yet again, and Arika finishes off her glass of orange juice. The glass clinks atop the bar as she sets it down, and arms cross over her chest. "You're better than they are, y'know. Oi saw you 'elp your friends in Jinchuu. Bet'cha went against orders for that, hmm? Was appreciated either way, but you shouldn't be classified with those thieves and brigands..."
"You never met them all, " Naerose offers, "Some of them were very nice, some of them just not very talkative. The people who made a bigger impact were the ones who pushed people around, but that wasn't everyone, not even close. Blackjack were mostly mercenaries.. When you got down to it, that was their role. Though later on some of them started doing more independent stuff, but as far as nice or not nice.. That was more a result of the individual. I can't really think of any examples of when it was the will of Blackjack to just do somehting mean. Sure Thailand probably didn't appreciate them helping in that conflict..." Naerose supposes then goes on, "But nevermind, this is kind of beside the point. Whatcha wanted to talk about?" She takes a long drink from orange juice and reaches for the pitcher. It still hasn't occurred to her that Arika was paying for this meal.
Lips press together, eyes narrowing at the fact Blackjack was involved with Thailand too. She'd forgotten that. "Name me some'a the nice ones beside yourself then, 'cuz Oi sure as 'ell don't know any." The punk princess goes to fill her glass with more orange juice, and offers to fill the witch's too. "Though really, it ain't the individual is it? It's the fact that the individual wants to work with people like Belmounte, Marise, Ayame, Aislinn..." Frowning, Arika begins to tap her fingers on the edge of the bar. "Don't mean to dis your friends or anythin', mate, but Oi 'ad a wee run in with one'a them not too long ago, and she's promisin' to make me life a wee bit more difficult." The whole 'don't remember' line, either a carefully placed lie or a memory twisted to suit the conversation.
"Aislinn wasn't really bad per say, she was just very umm.. loyal to her task at hand. And there was that fellow Reed. He was really nice," Naerose says easily enough. "Some of those other you mention were pretty mean.. But they're the mean ones, I think pretty literally every other one of the members beside them were pretty nice, and if you count Aislinn as not really being very bad, more misunderstood, then you're looking at half, to a majority who weren't bad." Naerose says, which perhaps give an indication how many people she considered as being a member of the group. Then promptly starts eating some more of the breakfast offered her.o
"It's all a matter of perception, ain't it?" Arika would beg to differ. Loyal to the cause is not an excuse for personal behavior. "Naerose, it's perfectly easy to be nice on the outside. Don't mean that deep down you ain't mean or got some evil reason for doin' what'cha do." But she lets it go with that. The witch is providing her with decent information, even if some of it she had already. "So 'ow much do ya know 'bout Ayame then?" Pause. "Want more pancakes?"
"Ayame.. Ayame.." Naerose muses for a moment and then shrugs a bit, "She never talked to me much, kind of a new recruit. I dunno a lot about her, but she was right at home, let me tell you. Lots of Blackjack were constantly at each other's throats and she was no exception." The witch chuckles to herself, remembering all of the trouble that's happened in the past.
"Why you asking?"
"Curiosity." Arika continues to tap the top of the bar as she sips from the new glass of orange juice. "Fit right in, you say? Would you say she was one of those people that actually -wanted- to be doing the 'mean' things?" It's an odd line of questioning, she knows, but the punk princess isn't exactly sure how she's going to get the information she wants from the witch.
A sigh. "Really just consider what she was doing before she joined, no better yet, consider why she was recruited in the first place. I'm pretty sure that she was like a burglar or something" The witch shrugs and leans back on the bar a little and then shakes her head,
"I never did encounter her much, but we never got along at all."
Naerose adjusts her hat again and then her shades. She considers the food and then looks over at Arika, "So.. Whatcha doing at this place? I mean.. er wait you're asking me questions right." She seems to be getting a little bored.
"Don't blame you for not gettin' on with 'er. Doesn't seem the friendly sort at all." Arika finishes off yet another glass of orange juice, and settles the glass back on the counter.
"Loik Oi said... Oi own this place. This 'ere? It's all mine. Ain't normally open this early. Work noights when Oi'm back 'ere in London. You should come check it out sometime when we're in full swing." Pause. "Tryin' to start up a foightin' federation of sorts. Mostly wrestling. None'a that chi or weird mind-whammy stuff..."
"Oh well. If you need a commentator, I'm totally game, but you know without using my magic.." Naerose begins then lets the words sort of trail off. She really doesn't have very many moves that use no amount of chi at all. In fact, she has maybe two. But that was not said and therefore would make little difference.
"I really can't help you much as far as Ayame is concerned though. Dunno much about her really. Why? Just curious huh?"
"If we wind up gettin' big, we could probably use a commentator. Oi'll definitely think of you when the time comes." Pause. "It'll pay well, and you could 'ave free food while you were workin'." Club food, which amounts to junk food, but at least it'd be food. Arika turns away from the bar, reaching for a cloth so she can begin to wipe things down.
"Pure curiosity, s'all it is, mate. Ain't got no other reason than that." Pause. "Don't s'pose there's any way Oi could convince you to stop 'angin' out with those people, eh? Not a chance you'd think better'a it and get out before there's any more trouble with them?"
Laughter. More laughter, Naerose adjusts her shades, wipes an eye and shakes her head some more. It's sweet laughter, airy, light and the sort of amused thing that comes at a slightly surprised taken off guard moment of amusement, maybe a joke that only she gets, but she'll share it with Arika anyway, after she calms down. . . which takes a moment. Finally the witch relaxes to just a grin.
"Oh right, I forgot. That part about people not understanding Blackjack. Um, hanging around blackjack. Er.. None of the members really did that, Blackjack all hate each other, it's always been that way, always will be that way. It's more like the glue that binds people whom would under normal circumstances be at each other's throats, in fact they usually are anyway. Besides which, it's hardly more than a memory now. I'm not certain it would have any lasting effect on any of the members to bring that stuff up now. Just a ghost. A memory. I suppose someone owns parts of it still and maybe the old operatives could still access it, but I don't know. I don't think there is a Blackjack right now and even if there was, no one in Blackjack really willingly hung around anyone else from Blackjack. "
"Oh, roight. Forgot that. Everyone 'ates each other..." Now that -is- a very handy piece of information. In fact, that one little piece of information may just work in her favor if she plays her cards right. "You're roight. Silly'a me to think of it, but Oi'd feel a lot better if you quit associatin' with'em." Pausing, she starts to clear off the bar, wiping it off as she picks up one of the empty plates and turns toward the sink. "Oi mean, it ain't loik Oi can stop ya from doin' it, but Oi worry, y'know?"
"Yeah.. You know it was prtty impressive. I guess who knows you better than your enemy right? Studies how to destroy you, but someone who is so set your opposite, working together, it was weird, but I think that might of been part of why Blackjack was so successful. Even if you tried to point out to any one of them .. or us I guess, on the field that well, we hate each other, it wouldn't of ever made a difference. Business was business, beyond that. Yeah, it was pretty impressive. But no love lost amongst that group, often not even mutual respect. Like what happened at the casino? Wasn't a big surprise to me." The witch states, not apparently realizing it might be a secret.
"Actually I havn' seen any of them since, I mean, literally, .. well maybe one once, briefly at like an official event, but for the most part not only did Blackjack hate each other, they tended to avoid one another and boy do I mean avoid each other. Like oil and water."
Arika mulls over all of that. Secret or not, she already knows about what happened at the casino. Thank you contact for the nice portfolio of information! "Ahh, Oi see." Can't turn them against each other? More's the pity there. "So if you don't mix with'em why stay with'em to begin with? Loik Oi said earlier... you're better than that, Naerose. You got friends that ain't gonna wind up gettin' you put in jail, y'know?"
"In Jail? That was totally not my fault, Jiro was like given a badge from a cereal box and started arresting people!" Naerose goes quickly on the defensive for herr time hanging out with Mad Gear.
"Anyway, where was I.. Oh right, pancakes." She resumes with the pancakes having said all she cares to on the subjeect of blackjack. At least, answered the questions she was presented with.
The witch has been in jail recently? Arika quirks an eyebrow at that, tilting her head. Jiro, the boy with the stray cat she rescued, has a badge of some sort? "I meant during Jinchuu, Naerose. When they locked you up." Taking another empty plate, she places this one in the sink as well. "No matter, enjoy the food. Looks like only you and our resident homeless guy came in to eat."
"Yeah, been meaning to ask you, er.. Arika, this place isn't doing too well since you opened it is it? I mean.." She lowers her voice to just over a whisper, "There arn't very many people here, just me and I didn't even have to pay cover or anything or for this food. I mean.. how can you be making money here if no one .. you know.. comes and buys anything?" The witch looks genuinely concerned. It's pretty apparent pretty fast that she has no idea what hours most night clubs usually have or that the night part is important in the whole title.
"I mean, this fighting thing, I hope it works out for you. I kind of remember how Li X did WNB. That was popular."
"Huh?" Arika looks around the club, then laughs. "Oh, Naerose! We're not usually open this early. You should come back tonight and see the crowd. Live bands, a disc-jockey... you name it." That's how she's making money, obviously. "The fighting thing will work out, Oi know it will. We'll see 'ow popular it is after a while. Ain't really advertised it too much, y'know?"
Log created on 11:09:15 08/20/2008 by Naerose, and last modified on 15:29:39 08/20/2008.