Description: While working off the damages done to the cafeteria in her fight with Roberto at the Taiyo Bake sale, Hinata shows off her vast knowledge of the cake world to Pacific High's Alexis and manages to make a few sales, despite the fact that her cakes look sat upon.
Ah, the smells, the tastes, the joys of BAKE SALE TIME!
The Taiyo High cafeteria is lined with tons and tons of tables from practically every club in the entire school, from big to small, has at least one table lined with cakes and muffins and other delicious baked goods to try to raise money for equipment or trips or repairing damaged school property.
In fact that last one, somewhat surprisingly, is why Hinata is here standing by a table all by herself that has seen only minor pattronage... probably due to the fact that all the great multitude of cakes lining her table look as if they were dropped or sat on. Most people just pass it by from afar, but she still seems to be drumming up some sales from those that look too long and are drawn in by sheer unwillingness to disappoint the bright, cheerful girl selling them.
This isn't her school, so that's probably why she's gotten turned around and lost quite a bit trying to find the Taiyo Dome. Never mind the fact that it's quite easy to spot and any number of students could direct her right to it. Alexis isn't just here to find the dome, and before she actually goes there she has to find someone -- and that's proving harder to do!
"Himeko... where /are/ you?" Was she maybe supposed to meet her friend at the Hibiki dojo instead? Why wasn't she paying more attention the other night?!?
A kind student pointed her in the direction of the bake sale, and mentioned that the bookworm might be in there. The Pacific High student isn't quite so positive, but has decided to take a look around at all the yummy stuff while she's here. She spends a little time at each table, making certain to buy at least one small thing from each one, and the bag she's carrying is becoming filled rather rapidly with muffins and cookies -- none of which she'll end up eating.
It's as she's leaving a table run by two cute, clueless looking boys that she spots a table that most are just passing. That's just not right, so when she finishes making her purchase she wanders right up to it and begins perusing the... cakes that have been dropped?
Maybe it's a gimmick.
"Hiiii~! What kind've cakes have you got there?"
Just as one person guilted into buying leaves with their likely to be discarded package, another person appears... someone Hinata doesn't recognize and therefore doesn't go to the school. Regardless of all of that, she gives the girl and incredibly bright smile filled with the sort of overwhelming energy that is quite easy to catch and quickly explains part of why her cash box isn't empty.
That same energy is in each and every word as Hinata starts to speak up, "I have all sorts of cakes! I have some chocolate cakes, because those are always popular. Here's some pound cake, and over here I've got some short cake and carrot cake. I made all of them myself!"
Overwhelming energy is a good thing, and even if it wasn't contagious it would be met with just as much energy from the young Pacific High student that's interloping on Taiyo property. Struggling with the weight of the bag, she plops it onto the table in front of the seller and peeks over it at the assortment of very... odd looking cakes.
"Chocolate does seem to be popular! I think I've seen chocolate at every single table so far... and you guys have lots'a them..." Alexis turns to look over her shoulder at the full cafeteria. Himeko totally isn't here, which is a bummer because she had a great idea for costumes, but she'll make the best of it! Maybe her friend will appear soon.
"So if like, you made them all, which do you think is the best one?"
Starts to nod her head a bit, taking on a slightly different, but still energetic posture that somehow portrays the image of a conniseur while still being held by a rather small japanese girl who by the looks of it can't stop smiling. It's just something in her aura, "Yes, chocolate cakes are very popular among the amateurs who don't know a truely spectacular cake. It's really more kids' stuff than anything else."
With a slow, careful motion she points over toward a pile of boxes containing the wider variety of cakes, all held seperate from the chocolate, "My personal preference is the short cake, especially when you can have it with some tea. Absolutely wonderful. I am also quite fond of fruit cake, but considering its poor image among the masses, I decided against bringing any in. If you're looking for something with a different touch, though, carrot cake is the one."
Then she slips back into that energetic posture that seems to suggest she should either be in a younger school or a cheerleader or something, "Honestly, though, they're all good. Cake is delicious!"
Leaving her previous purchases behind, Alexis slides her right foot along the floor so she can peruse the cakes from a different angle. Maybe then they'll actually look edible! "Chocolate is too fattening anyway! Cocoa goes right to the hips!" Most sugar does in Alexis' world, but that's not stopped her from buying as much as she can! It's for a good cause even if she has no idea what the sale is for!
"So the shortcake? Did you use strawberries?" With just a little bit of whipped cream, that'd be divine! "They all look... umm... like you made them with lots and lots of love!" Then sat on them. "I just bet you're bringing in lots of money!"
From the look of the girl, it's quite clear that she would have absolutely no clue about cake going anywhere to her body except for being converted directly into a sugar high, and certainly not her hips.
"Yes, I used strawberries for most of them, but there are also a few with blueberries as well. Most people think that you can only have shortcake with strawberries thanks to those american toys, but you can make it using any number of fruits. I bought all my ingredients fresh from the store because that just makes them taste even better." She brightens up quite a bit, which is saying a lot, "well I do have a passion for cake, and it's quite clear that you can see through to their true core!"
"Toys?" Alexis bats her lashes at that, her expression turning to one of confusion. "Don't think I ever had one! I just /love/ strawberries." Sliding her left foot over to meet up with her right so that she doesn't lose balance and topple face first into the cakes, she grins. "Blueberry it is then! I'm sure it'll taste delicious..."
Leaning in to pick out the least sat-upon looking cake, the Pacific High student suddenly shrieks. "Eeeeek~!" This shriek is followed by a loud, cake-y plop. Thanks to a large looking oaf who decided to play 'catch the football' in the middle of the bake sale, she's now the proud wearer of shortcake.
"I don't suppose," she asks, as calmly as possible through a face of whipped topping, "that you have a napkin?"
"In America they have a brand of toys called Strawberry Shortcake, only they're not cakes, they're dolls. I think they had a TV show for them to try to get people to buy them more, like with the Transformer toys that boys like." She speaks with the same sort of definitive certainty on the topic as somebody who heard about these things once, but has never actually seen any of the real things.
"Oh, that's a good choice, just let me get you a for-HEY!" The smile is gone from her face the instant cake and face become one. Her attention is set directly on the big oaf with the football, "Is that anyway to act, Taro?! You just ruined some cake and got this girl all messy. You owe me the price of one cake and you owe her an apology."
Despite being substantially larger than the girl behind the table, the big guy apparently called "Taro" immediately takes on a rather fearful look as Hinata starts to chastise him. In a flash he's fumbling through his pockets to pull out some money and toss it on the table before he turns to the Pacific student and starts to bow quite furiously, chanting sorry.
As he turns to run off, Hinata holds out a napkin toward the cake-face girl with a smile once more spread across her face, "Don't worry about that, he put down enough money for two cakes so the next one is on him instead of you. He learned a thing or two about proper behavior the last time he started a fight in one of the classes we're in together."
Napkin taken, she daintily wipes at her face as she listens to the apology. All the while, Alexis gives her head a shake, apologizing as well since it was her fault she was leaned over and therefore an easy target. She does try to tell the oaf named Taro that it's really not a big deal. The cake has probably served a greater purpose staining her shirt than it would being sold to someone that's just going to dump it, and maybe the bubbly girl behind the table will have an interesting story to tell the next interested people!
"Oh! He really didn't /have/ to do that! It's okay... I wanted to go out and buy a new uniform anyhow!" She'll find something good about this situation if it's the last thing she does! Though she continues to wipe at her face, and carefully remove blueberry from her hair, she's giggling. Her face seems to light up with the sound and she gives her head a shake. "Just... box the smooshed one for him and bring it to him! Tell him it's... on me!" She makes a cute little squinty face, and then points to another blueberry shortcake. "And I'll take that one, and 'cuz you've been so nice 'bout everything, I'll take a strawberry too!"
There's a quick laugh from Hinata before she shakes her head, "Yes he did. It would be horrible of him to tarnish Taiyo's good image while disobeying the rules of the cafeteria. There is to be no sports practice or fighting inside the cafeteria at any time. In fact, that's kind of why I'm here selling these, Kyosuke is making me pay for one of the tables that got broken when I got into a fight here."
She gives a quick nod of her head though and closes up the box with the smashed up cake and quickly scrawls "Taro" on the top of it, setting it aside before she takes the other two cakes motioned at by the Pacific student and pulls out some string, tying them together, one on top of hte other, in a rather haphazzard manner before pushing them forward. "Alright, then since he already paid for the other two cakes, you just owe me four dollars for the strawberry shortcake."
Deftly lifting the tied cakes with one hand, Alexis slides her feet along the floor back toward her bag. The cakes are carefully placed within it, while her other hand fumbles her purse open and pulls out the money, as well as a little notepad and a pen. All three items are pushed toward the girl behind the table with a starry-eyed look.
"OoOoOoh! You're a fighter! Himeko never said she went to school with /fighters/! Can I get your autograph? My friend Vanka collects them, and I try to get one from every fighter I meet!" Hands clasp in front of her, taking hold of the bag of goodies while she gives them a pleading little shake. "It'd be soooo cool! Maybe you can point me to some of your televised stuff if you've done any of that, and I can pick it up for her on the way back to the dorm!"
The bright and bubbly girl actually looks a little bit taken aback at the suddeness of having all of this thrust at her, and the rather excited manner in which it is presented. It doesn't take her long to recover though before she picks up the pen, "Oh, you're one of Himeko's friends? I'm surprised that she didn't mention that there are other fighters at this school, we have quite a few. In fact it seems like every club we have has at least one fighter, especially the sports ones."
A signature is quickly jotted down onto the pad, looking somewhat sloppy while conveying a sense of energy. "I used to do a lot of things for the Master's League, but my most recent fight was for Saturday Night Fight. I got flown all the way out to Africa for it." As she starts to push the pad back to the other side of the table, a curious look crosses her face, "You wouldn't happen to be a fighter to, would you?"
"Well, I guess it's my fault! I never really /asked/ her much 'bout school or anything. I just figured she's too busy with books to be interested in fighters or fighting..." The lie is nice and smooth, and Alexis never lets on at all how well she knows Himeko's little secret. "Do you guys have a gymnastics club?" She's never been into the whole 'group activities' thing, thanks to her mother but she's trying to get more involved now that she's here in Southtown.
"Saturday Night Fight? I haven't gotten the most recent ones yet! I should go out and find them for Vanka then. How did you like Africa? I've never been there, but I've always wanted to take a trip to the Serengeti!"
Palming the notepad and the pen once it's pushed back toward her, the gymnast shakes her head in a very, VERY emphatic manner. "Me? Fight? Nuh-uh! I uhh... couldn't... my coach'd kill me..." So would her parents.
There's a rather excited nod from Hinata, "Oh yes, Taiyo has a gymnastics club. We have all the sports teams you could think of! I'm surprised you didn't know it, but Taiyo High is the premier school for sports clubs in Southtown. Our rivals are Pacific High, which is why we always face them down every year in sports competitions."
The swift change of topics doesn't seem to bother Hinata much and she easily keeps on going, "Well it was pretty nice, although I didn't stay for long because I had to be back for school. I got to see some lions and giraffes and things. Although the best part was that I won my fight."
A somewhat disappointed look comes out across the energetic girl's face, "That's a shame, fighting seems to help improve the sorts of skills used in sports activities and it's lots of fun. If you look at sports stars at our school like Roberto, Shoma, Natsu, and Nagare, they're all top of their field in sports AND they also train to fight and their coaches support it. I just took one of those mail-in courses for Train at Home Saikyo."
"I'd love to see your gymnastics club," Alexis notes, her brain going a mile a minute. They would be competitors, even though she's not actually /in/ the Pacific High club. "Umm... though! It's not a competition thing or anything like that... I'm not in the club at my school... I'm just really interested in the sport!" Another happy, squinty-eyed look is given to Hinata as she flips a page in her notebook and begins to write down the names that were mentioned.
"I hope you were able to take a few pictures, though I'm sure the memories will be great for a lifetime! I'll definitely look that fight up! Congrats on your win, I bet that was really elating!"
Hinata's rather high attitude drops down a bit without actually seeming to turn around the other direction. "Oh, well I couldn't really show you our gymnastics club right now because all the clubs are busy here with the bake sale and there wouldn't actually be anyone there. The clubs also don't really like it when visitors from outside the school come to watch their practices." She brightens back up, "Although I'm sure you could come seem them for one of their official meets sometime. Right in the front hall, the bulliten boards list all the meet times for all the sports clubs!"
"I got a few pictures while I was there, but they're certainly not as good as Ran could have gotten! She's an ace with a camera." She perks up even more, "Oh yes, winning is great, but really it's just about enjoying the fight."
Alexis wasn't really betting on the club actually letting her in to peek. One thing she's learned about other gymnasts is that they're extremely secretive and don't want anyone outside of their core group knowing what they do. It's part of why she avoids the gymnastics club, to be honest. She's got enough secrets without it. "I'll check it when I leave. I bet you guys go all out for your meets!" They seem to be a very sports-oriented school, which makes Himeko being here really odd.
"Oh! See, that's my attitude on things. Nothing is worth it unless it's fun, right? Like, no matter how much money those really busy tables are making all they're doing is pushing food on people... they're not having any fun... but you? You get to talk to everyone that comes by, and see the people that really appreciate your baking!"
Privacy about techniques is certainly something Hinata knows nothing about, completely willing to show anyone what she can do at any time. And while she's an unofficial member of pretty much every single sports club in the school, she doesn't share most of the superstitions and training habits due to her natural talents. "I try to go to as many meets as possible, sometimes the teams need an extra hand, but if not they can certainly use a little bit more cheering." Except the chess team... the one time she tried that they weren't very happy with her.
"Yeah, some people take fighting way too seriously. You don't have to be the best, but if you are that's just a nice little extra. Fighting should be all about everybody having a good time and, if it comes to it, being able to protect themselves, you know?"
Chess teams usually prefer the quiet. Alexis just figures that's because they don't need anything distracting their brains. "I'll try to be at the next one for sure!" Just to check out who's part of the team and see what the competition will be like in a city-wide meet. "I'm great at cheering, I even had the fencing instructor yell at me to shoosh because I was so loud!"
Giggling again, she bobs her head up and down in a double nod. "I totally agree! I mean, the fights Vanka and I like watching are the ones where people are having fun with it. I think when fighters take things /too/ seriously, it's like they try too hard. You can totally see the difference in them, y'know?"
Hinata laughs a very friendly tone, "What's the point in cheering if you can't be really loud to show your spirit? Most of the teams are happy to let me cheer just as loud as I want and everyone's usually happy for me to show up at their events."
Suddenly Hinata's hands slap down on the table in front of her quite loudly, not so much a threatening motion (although it does startle a lot of people nearby) as one of pure excitement, "You know if you like to watch fights, you really should learn some yourself. You shouldn't let people push you all around into night fighting if it's something you'd enjoy."
Before responding to anything, Alexis jumps. The hands slapping on the table do actually startle her, but when she sees that the girl isn't leaping over it, she lets out a nervous giggle and simply takes one step back. She's not afraid. Really, she's not. It's just that she looks like she could potentially be the really jittery type if allowed to be.
"I was thinking of going out for the cheerleading squad, actually, but Tiffany is like, so hard to get in touch with!" Exhaling a teeny puff of air, she notes that the look on the other girl's face is one of excitement and not anger which seems to calm her down a little. "I... I don't know. Mother would really frown on me getting involved in something so... w-well, I guess she'd call it barbaric... anyways, she'd not consider it a 'proper' sport for me to be in." Never mind that Alexis uses the moniker 'Angel Papillion' to fight, and that she actually /enjoys/ fighting. It'd be the death of her mother if she knew!
Then it's Hinata's turn to look surprised, "Tiffany? You go to Pacific High? You didn't tell me that before!" For a moment the tone might suggest she really were about to pounce right over the table and start something in a rumble between rival schools. When she does speak again, though, her tone is perfectly back in line with the definately excitable tone from before, but not hostile. "If I had taken you to see the gymnastics club and they found that out they'd think you were a top secret agent sent over here to spy on them and steal all their secrets." She starts to laugh, certainly sounding like she thinks it's balonga.
The high-energy schoolgirl leans back away from the table again, giving a bit more space to the more nervous girl. "Well you can't let your parents decide everything for you. If fighting is what you like, then they should learn to live with it. There's nothing barbaric about it unless people get out of control, otherwise it's almost like a ballet... where sometimes people have weapons."
"I... I'm sorry! I just thought the uniform would've given it away..." Covered in blueberry shortcake like she is, it might be hard to tell though. "If I were a top secret agent, I would've at least borrowed a Taiyo uniform! It'd be really stupid to, like, spy on a team and steal their stuff when they know who I am, wouldn't it?"
Finding the toes of her shoes the most interesting thing in the world all of a sudden, Alexis brings her shoulders up in a teensy shrug. "Maybe not, but since they totally pay my tuition I don't really think I oughta make a big fuss..." Biting her lip, she looks up and then /laughs/ at the other girl. Well... okay. Not /at/ her, but at the statement. "I doubt that'd work on my mother. She /reveres/ ballet. To use that and fighting in the same sentence..."
Once more Hinata seems to surge forward, this time without the loud slapping sound, "Is your mother so closed-minded that she can't even see the art in the carefully practiced steps of martial arts? There are those who spend years training without ever even attempting to use them in a real fight, simply so they can understand the graceful motions of a well-trained body." There's a slight pause, "Besides, I'm pretty sure I've seen at least one ballet dancer who used it to fight. I don't know if we have any clubs without a fighter in them."
"It's not that she's closed-minded... I mean, I'm sure she wouldn't care if /Lucas/ wanted to get into fighting. It's just not a proper thing for a young lady to be doing..." Alexis wriggles her nose up and then shrugs. In a few more years, it's really not going to matter what her mother thinks.
"I better go. I'm taking up all your time and I'm sure more people will be stopping by to get some of your cakes! Please make sure Taro gets his? Tell him it tastes better with a face imprint!"
Carefully hoisting up her bag of goodies, the little gymnast pivots about to leave. Over her shoulder she offers a wave and calls, "If you see Himeko, can you tell her Alexis was looking for her?" After that, she starts to weave through the bake sale patrons so that she can find her way to the entrance and get the gymnastics meet schedule.
Log created on 19:36:32 01/17/2008 by Hinata, and last modified on 03:36:48 06/22/2009.