With a little bit of luck, and a whole lot of work

[tadaishi]

Who: Tadashi and YOU
What: Free time! Also mischief, sorry not sorry
Where: Vista Way, Mall of the Future, Joffrey's (main location)
When: 4/20; Early morning (Vista Way and Joffrey's), Early to late afternoon (Mall)
Warnings: Not at the moment. Check this space for updates!



VISTA WAY

[Okay, so no one died the first Friday after the first batch of arrivals, and no one died the Friday after that.

Well, no one may have died, but early in the morning, there's some sort of ghostly presence hanging around the halls or laundry rooms, rolling or tossing objects around, or reaching out from the walls to poke at unsuspecting people who walk by. Good morning!]

JOFFREY'S

[It may be his day off, but work is closer to the apartment than the food court, so he's having breakfast there. It's also a little unusual to not wake up and be able to go downstairs into a coffee shop like he could back in San Fransokyo, so this is sort of a transition away from that...or at least away from feeling weird about it.

If he spots you, he'll wave, and you might get a free drink or food if you decide to hang out with him a bit.]

MALL OF THE FUTURE

[Months ago, Tadashi had basically no access to anything he was familiar with, in terms of mechanical building materials. Here he had no lab of his own, something that was disappointing enough, but he also had no tools. Money wasn't really an issue so much as space--he could buy most of what he needed to keep building things, but the apartments were small and Joshua might not appreciate a mini-lab.

Either way, Friday afternoon found him wandering somewhat aimlessly around the Mall of the Future, occasionally consulting a list that's half 'to do', a quarter drawings, and a quarter some sort of materials list.]

Can I even find this stuff anywhere around here?

Comments

Vista Way

[tacticalespionageaction]

[Never mind that Snake fell asleep in the laundry room at some point. He feels something prod against him and jolts awake.]

Who's there?!

mall

[yayashton]

It depends on what you're looking for. [Ryan's here on some kind of errand for Rod but also Rod kind of doesn't care if Ryan's errands sometimes take way longer than they should.] But if it's not here, I can probably tell you where it might be.

[tadaishi]

[Nice to have a lenient boss.]

I think I can find a lot of it. I'm sure this place has hand tools I can at least borrow...

[It suddenly occurs to him he's only seen Ryan a time or two and doesn't know his name.]

Mostly I'm looking for electronic parts. Wiring, circuit boards, stuff like that.

[tadaishi]

[Silly Snake.

He might catch half of a blueish figure disappearing through the nearest wall, but there's no response otherwise.]

Joffrey's

[drawntodream]

[Despite herself, Yui has a craving for a Marble Donut right about now. Of course, she's not going to get one of those here, but hey, she's not Kirara; a donut is a donut. That's brought her down to the coffee shop, where she's peering into the case looking for something sweet and apparently unable to decide what she wants.

After a moment, she settles for a simple glazed donut and a cup of hot tea, turning to hunt down a seat, pausing to see if she knows anyone. Not that she's expecting much, of course; she hasn't met that many people here yet.]

[yayashton]

Unless you want to take apart some kitchen appliances, I think that sort of stuff mostly comes out of Bill's lab.

[The city is mostly populated by robots, Tadashi. None of them thought about building an electronics store.]

There might be stalls for that sort of thing in the Pink district too, but Red would know for sure.

[tacticalespionageaction]

[Time for a long and annoying boss fight.

Snake sneaks out of the laundry room, to the next one over, following the figure.]

cheesy domestic apartment life

[lusito]

[So hey, guess who is home when Tadashi gets back from his trip at the mall? If your guess is Joshua, you would be correct! Joshua, who is currently sitting with some coffee (yes, at this time of day) and reading a magazine (think something like this), but once Tadashi walks in, he actually closes his magazine here to focus his attention on the other.]

Welcome back. Find anything interesting?

[tadaishi]

[Tadashi knows Yui by sight by this point, but unfortunately not by name. Either way, she's vaguely familiar to him, so when he notices she's looking for a place to sit, he's going to wave to get her attention.]

Hey! Over here!

Re: cheesy domestic apartment life

[tadaishi]

[Tadashi is glad he's more interesting than a magazine. Especially since it means that he can hand Joshua things. He has four shopping bags total, plus a box, though none of them are so full he can't actually deal with them himself.]

A lot of things I can't afford yet. [He sets the box on the nearest flat surface. It's about half full of electronic odds and ends if Joshua checks inside. And some free stuff. [Mostly. It's from Bill's lab, so he'll try to repay him somehow.] You know, you're gonna be up all night if you're drinking coffee.

[lusito]

[Of course he is. Tadashi is always more interesting than most things, especially now with all this Joshua's being handed here.]

Really? And here I thought I was going to be awake for other reasons. What a shame. [... joshua is the worst and should never open his mouth to speak, news at 11] So what is all this?

[drawntodream]

[Someone calling out to her gets her attention - especially when it's someone male, that's kind of new and interesting - and she smiles, heading over without much of a second thought.]

Ah, good morning! You... I'm sorry, I don't think we've met, but I kind of recognize you from the first day?

[There's a soft sound as she sets her breakfast down, such as it is, before she slides into a chair across from him.]

[tadaishi]

[He may be the worst, but at least he's the worst in an amusing way.]

What other-- [Wait.] Thaaat's not what I meant. [Unless Joshua really wants to.]

[He's just going to pretend that he's not turning a faint pink and dig through his box.]

Parts. I dunno if I can continue my studies here, but I can at least keep building things.

[lusito]

[Take a wild guess Tadashi--]

Oh? What are you planning on building here?

[tadaishi]

[Good to know she's not afraid to approach him for any reason.]

Morning! I don't think we have, but now's a good a time as any. I'm Tadashi.

[tadaishi]

[Hmm. Well, maybe if you make a good enough argument, Joshua.]

Don't know yet. Maybe I could try making a replica of Rod, see how well it would work.

[drawntodream]

[He doesn't look like he's an agent of darkness. That's probably enough in her book. also she started on one end of the spectrum already, may as well dial it back]

I'm Yui! Nice to meet you, Tadashi... well, I wish it were in a more normal place, but I'll take what I can get for now. Nothing is exploding, nobody's dreams are being stolen, everyone is whole and well.

[She glances at her tea; no, not quite ready yet. Her expression is a bit stormy for a moment, before she looks back up, cloud passing and cheer in her eyes.]

That's enough for me.

[lusito]

[careful what you wish for, friend]

Do you think anyone would be able to tell the difference between the two, or are you planning on trying to make it more flashy and unique?

[tadaishi]

Flashy is more Hiro's style than mine. But definitely less monochrome.

[Sorry Rod, your lack of colors is boring.]

Got any ideas?

[lusito]

A better sense of humor, perhaps? Also, willing to give me a bigger raise by comparison.

[Joshua is this any way to speak about your boss...]

[tadaishi]

I don't think it's possible to program a sense of humor into anything. I think the limit is some sort of self-awareness, or an ability to create bad puns.

[He can definitely do the latter.]

[lusito]

Normally I would be opposed to the latter, but the look on Rod's face seeing a replica of himself spout bad puns could be amusing.

[tadaishi]

Now I'm definitely going to do it.

[It would be far too amusing to let the idea go to waste.

But right now, the parts he's collected are going to live in an unoccupied corner of the apartment.]

So how long have you been home?

[lusito]

Oh, not too long. About an hour, maybe?

[He came home after work and has been sitting here reading since then.]

[tadaishi]

Ah, so you haven't been here long enough to drink that much coffee.

[Accept his apology for the earlier accusation? Or at least his hug; he's going to drape on Joshua from behind, resting his chin on Josh's shoulder.]

[lusito]

[... Apology accepted >///>]

Indeed. Consider this a small after-work indulgence, if you will. [He even takes another sip of his coffee here momentarily before he speaks again.] Have you had anything to eat yet?

[tadaishi]

[Yes good.]

Not since lunch. Are you cooking?

[Can he cook? He's only seen Joshua actually cook noodles.]

[tadaishi]

[He is definitely not an agent of darkness but please don't ask Star or Wendy to confirm this.]

Nice meeting you too! And yeah...I can think of worse places to be stuck in, so it's not bad. And they didn't leave us to fend for ourselves, that's a plus too.

[Not entirely, anyway. They still have to work, but they get housing and didn't have to apply for jobs.]

[lusito]

[Hmmm]

I can, if you'd like?

[... Granted, yes, ramen is the one he knows well but surely he hasn't been reading these dumb magazines for nothing--I mean, can make something else that isn't just ramen.]

[tadaishi]

I won't stop you if you want to.

[He's just going to make things difficult by staying attached until removed or coffee is thrown in his face. And giving Josh's neck a couple kisses to see what he does.]

[lusito]

[Joshua throws coffee in his face and they spend the rest of the evening in the ER for Tadashi's burn treatment.

... Okay no, that's not what happens. What happens is that there is a momentary pause of Joshua stilling, clearly not having expected that, before he leans into it a little more rather than get up to cook yet.]

It's going to be rather difficult to make something while confined to this spot, you know.

[Except, Tadashi might see that a few utensils and items are starting to hover in the kitchen a few feet from where they're sitting here...]

[tadaishi]

[That would be immensely rude and painful.

Good thing he didn't do that.]

...Good point.

[To let him go or not? Ultimately, he does, because he notices the movement nearby and turns his head to get a better look.]

Looks like only slightly.

[tadaishi]

[Well, at least he won't have to go long to find said figure, because he nearly runs into it, as Tadashi's attempting to exit the room. Oops.]

Whoa, you moved faster than I thought you would.

[Hi?]

[drawntodream]

Mayor Rod seems nice enough! Honestly, I'm just glad things seem to be quiet enough, now that people aren't panicking like the first few weeks.

It's kind of a change not to go to school, though. Maybe there are textbooks in the library...

[tacticalespionageaction]

I'm not that old, kid.

[Said with a small grunt.]

What're you doing sneaking around?

[lusito]

As long as I can keep my concentration intact, then yes, perhaps only slightly.

[Tadashi might notice though that it's not Joshua's usual method of lifting and moving things around the way he did before; his magic band has lit up indicating that he is currently using the "Gravity" spell...]

[tadaishi]

[At least he has something of his powers back, even if it's in card form.]

Huh.

[Clearly this means he needs to test Joshua's concentration abilities. And since he's already there, he may as well go after Joshua's neck again. He may not be great at any actual seduction techniques, but the worst that'll happen is he gets pushed away.]

[tadaishi]

Sorry...I didn't mean to imply that you're old. Just that you went from asleep to awake quicker than I expected.

[He's used to being around less sneaky people. Aside from his brother, anyway.]

[tacticalespionageaction]

[He makes a discontented grunt.]

It's a force of habit. [Not one to let his guard down easily, having a restful, deep, sleep is rare for him.] How did you do that?

[lusito]

[... You are the worst oh my god.

We can't make ramen all the time... stir fry or soup maybe? Here's a pot moving over onto the stove after filling with water from the sink, some ingredients moved onto the counter, move a cutting board over here. We're gonna have to get up to turn on the heat, or maybe we can use this ladle to nudge the dial over a little like we did for turning the sink on and off...

... or we can just drop the ladle entirely to clatter onto the counter before it even reaches the dial, as his concentration finally breaks after Tadashi finds a particular sensitive spot on his neck here.]

[tadaishi]

[Impressive that he managed to get that far. Tadashi'll have to remember that spot...he sucks at the skin there for a few seconds before ultimately failing to hold in a laugh.]

Oops...maybe I should help out instead of getting in the way.

[He'll make it up to Joshua later. Maybe. But either way, he's going to detach himself from Joshua and make his way over to the stove, unless physically stopped.]

[lusito]

Helping out only after breaking my concentration like that? How cruel of you...

[But Joshua is going to let him get up to go help if only because he... might be a little embarrassed that Tadashi even found that spot to begin with.]

[tadaishi]

You have too much hair, it was getting in the way.

[It wasn't, really.]

Besides, I could always make it up to you later?

[lusito]

... Hmm. I'll hold you to that, then.

[In the meantime, let's... actually make dinner now because we should eat.]

[tadaishi]

[There's about a 15% chance that promise will involve actual sex. Maybe.]

[Food is a good idea, yes. And Tadashi was sort of planning to make something in the next day or two because in addition to his pile of junk, he's also got some stir fry ingredients, which he retrieves and dumps into a mostly-contained mound on the counter.]

Don't worry, I try to keep my promises, unless they end up being impossible to fufill.

[lusito]

Well, now I'm curious to know what kind of promises I can get from you here, after hearing you say something like that.

[hee hee]