Sunday was a clear day for the most part. No school, no pressing disasters that Rune was aware of. And so the princess had come to a bold decision: She was going out to do things that had little to directly do with magical fighting or life problems.
This brought her to the Midori-ya by private limo, something that probably looks out of place at a small family-run business like this. The weather is good however... still ever so slightly cold, but nothing enough to be uncomfortable, and the sun is out. With the window between driver and passengers up, she has no problem talking to those immediately available friends who were invited along on this ride. First, Hinote. "We're going to the Midori-ya, and I've seen it a few times... but didn't you mention it once too? Do you know much about it?"
Then to Solomon, "And how are you doing? Settling in to Tokyo okay, now that we've got a stable place? There's a lot to see out here, and I doubt we've even found half of it yet!"
Hinote Kagari is happy to come along. It's not like he has pressing issues- well, nothing major pressing. Things still bother him. But this isn't a day for that, nope, they're going to Midori-ya. "Yup. It's a bakery. Think like the one went to in Waldia, a lot like that, only in Tokyo. Lots of sweet things- though you can still get your fresh bread there-- and they do some minor other things like sandwhiches and all that. Not a place to get a full three course meal- of course, but it'll be fun, I think you'll like it!" he smiles a bit as his eyes glance over to Solomon.
He gives Solomon an apprasing look. "Remember if you have any questions-- both of you-- I'm here." he says as he sits back. "I'm settling into the new place nice. Parents don't find it particularly odd I'm not living at home- not like space is at a premium." he chuckles.
"Besides, dad says he got up to more trouble than I do- but dad makes a lot of wrong assumptions about me." he says softly.
Ironically, the time of "peace" has, in many ways, been harder on Solomon than when their world was under threat of destruction. Focusing on demons and beating things up was fairly natural to him these days. Learning about people, trying to see what can be done to help them? That is much more difficult. He is however, making an effort. Of course, when Runeally makes a request, that is generally all the motivation the Guardian Knight needs.
Therefor, Solomon Novak is in the limo with the other two, dressed pretty much as normal - which is to say, rather boringly. In his mind, he sticks out enough already just being a blonde "European." He also seems somewhat relaxed, which is something that is no longer as unusual as it once was. His gaze is redirected from watching the world pass by through the side window towards the Guardian Princess at her question.
"I am adapting to school, thanks to having found a tutor." Really, how was he to know that the 'elements' in Tokyo weren't Earth, Water, Wind, and Fire, but were over 100 entirely different elements? "The city is not as bad as I originally thought." Which is probably the most complimentary he can get about something.
A nod is given to Hinote. "I'll keep that in mind." The problem nowadays tended to be that he didn't know when he didn't know something. Like the fact that the four elements of nature had nothing to do with the periodic table of elements.
"Do you plan on ever telling your parents that you obtained magic powers from another world and use it to fight monsters?"
"Yeah, it looked kind of close to that," Rune thinks aloud at Hinote's description of the Midori-ya. "But I'm sure it's not totally the same, not from the time I looked through there. So if you see something worth pointing out, go for it!"
"Oh, is that who I saw running around the other day?" She makes a guess about Solomon's tutor... the guess is vague enough that it could have been anyone, and might not even be right in this case. "And no, it's really not bad. Scary with all the lights and sounds, but you just have to figure out which ones are actually dangerous and the rest seem to be okay. Now that we've got some room to breathe, I want to see it... and wanted to ask if there's anything you really want to see, personally."
The bakery comes into view up ahead, the limo will be pulling in momentarily.
Hinote Kagari stares at Solomon, and bemusedly smiles. "I could. They'd belive I've gone 'encentric' though-- at the least demure reaction- to have me commited to a mental hospital, at the extreme reaction. Really, it's better I don't tell them. What good would them knowing or not knowing do?" he asks.
"Maybe, in the future, when I go back to Waldia for good with you guys, I'll tell them. They deserve to know that much." he finally adds. "But right now. Too messy." he looks to Runealy as he smiles as the limo pulls up. He'll wait for the driver to come around and open the door and he pops out and steps out, waiting for Runealy and Sol to exit as he looks around, right. Left. Up. Down.
Yup no wandering monsters.
"No. I have not brought her to our place." Unless Rune was talking about a certain blonde girl she saw around Solomon at school, in which case, yes. As for the lights and alarms? "The people in Tokyo seem to enjoy excess noise and lights." Which is meant as a simple agreement with Runealy rather than an active condemnation of the Tokyo populace. "I do not have anything I want to see in particular at this time." If only because 'a method to defeat helicopters' is not actually a place that you can visit as far as Solomon knows.
"As you wish. If something should happen to you here in this world, what would you like me to tell them?" Yeah, Solomon just told Hinote that he's going to handle notifications to next of kin in the event the Japanese Guardian Knight kicks the bucket.
"That's going to be a while off though, so you'll have time to figure out how to tell them.... and..." Rune stares at Solomon, whose remarks just massively derailed her train of thought from Hinote's concerns. "Can we /not/ talk about that right now, please? I think we've all had enough thinking about death for the time being. Today is about bakeries and lights and whatever else we find."
Once they get out, she gives a quick 'thank you' to the driver, who returns to wait in the vehicle. He does not mind waiting; he is well paid for this.
"This one's on me," she offers while walking up to the Midori-ya. "So whatever you want, go ahead." Her tone and posture are more at-ease than she typically has been for the last several months, looking over-shoulder to Solomon and Hinote in the meantime.
Sometimes Solomon knows what he is saying is insensitive or potentially insulting or in some way going to cause people to be unhappy, but he proceeds just the same. This is not one of those times. He blinks in surprise at the princess' response, initially confused as to why he is being rebuked... Oh, right. Talking about people dying is one of those things that makes normal people upset. And here Solomon had thought that he was making progress and his remarks would provide relief to Hinote's concerns.
"Sorry." His head ducks slightly with the apology. Once out of the vehicle however he has put the incident behind him, focusing on food and lights and which of them make people happy.
"What do you usually get?" Because he has no pre-existing ideas or desires for any particular food, nor does he even know how to figure out what he should order.
Rune in turn is happy to leave the rebuke at that; she doesn't give further odd glares to Sol or distance herself, instead answering his question. "Here? I'm not sure. But if it's anything like what we have back home, and it looks like it is, we could probably get something sweet. Some nice bread, maybe a cake or something else?"
Reaching out, she opens up the door and /starts/ to go inside... then hesitates, steps back, and holds it open for the others.
Solomon is happy to see Rune acting as she is - freed of the burdens of before, and possibly even the guilt. He silently vows to protect her good mood - particularly from his own morbid and pessimistic nature.
"Thank you." He starts by making more of an effort to be polite. When she opens the door for him he simply thanks her and enters. That went well enough, he figures. But cheerful people often say positive things at the start of a venture, even if there's little basis for it. While she's still holding the door his brow furrows in thought. Something positive, but also something relevant. Or at least not bizarre by normal standards. What is he supposed to say when in a building he has never been inside that serves food that he has never tasted?
...
...
"The lights are nice," he informs Rune when she enters.
"They are. It's not all over the place like those places where every single light glows super bright," Rune slips in behind Solomon, glancing around the area. "I'm thinking between the three of us, we could probably polish off a cake or something like that pretty well, right? Or was there anything you'd like more?"
Her question lingers, gaze on Sol, as she paces toward a table to take a seat.
Solomon begins to relax again, feeling that he has successfully made the transition to a Not Horrible conversation. To his surprise, he's able to agree with her; the bakery was lacking excessive flashing or far too many signs for a person to be able to read.
Solomon lets Rune take the lead again, though when she locates a table he quickly follows so that he can pull out the chair for her, because that is what gentlemen are supposed to do, he believes.
"What type of cake?" His tone suggests he is amiable to the cake decision regardless of her specific answer.
"H... huh? Hey," Rune notices the gesture, and smiles. "Thank you," she takes the offered seat, facing Solomon all the while. "I'm thinking... maybe they have some of those vanilla ones with a few strawberries sprinkled around on top? That might be something. And it'll give us time to figure out where to go after this, too!"
Did, did he just get Rune to smile? He can't be certain without thinking about it more, but off the top of his head Solomon doesn't think he's managed to do that before. Maybe Hinote was influencing him more than he thought.
"That sounds good." Strawberries and vanilla probably aren't a bad idea, at least. He takes a seat and then begins concentrating on their next objective: something to see. "I have not been to many places, or paid much attention to what would be worth visiting," he admits.
"There's all sorts of things to pick from," Rune insists while waiting for a chance to place their order. "Art galleries, theater, libraries, and I've seen lots of people our age go into other places I don't quite understand yet. Part of me wonders if we should go check those out, or go find a really good market to look through. Is there anything you've been wanting to pick up?"
"I'm familiar with one of the libraries." The libraries feel more like home to him than anywhere else in fact. They are full of books and it is expected that people will ignore eachother and not make small talk while inside. Something tickles at his brain however, something about "tourist" sites. His thought gets preempted by the mystery suddenly placed before him.
"Places you don't understand yet?" That sounds genuinely appealing to the Guardian Knight. Understanding the city is vital to protecting it, and if Rune doesn't know what a place is for then it's a good bet Solomon doesn't either.
"I do not do much shopping." Once again it comes out practically as admitting some personal inadequacy, like not knowing how to drive a car. "I do not know what I would get."
"Well, it'll be a good chance to look around and see if something does catch your eye!" Rune is optimistic on this point, taking a moment to speak with someone approaching their table; a polite order for said vanilla cake ensues, ending in a 'thank you', then she nods back to Solomon.
"A lot of these places have tons of really glowing lights, in all sorts of colors. And big cell phones that make lots of noise. They're /weird/, but I've seen lots of people our age going into them and they seem okay with it."
Rune's logic is conceeded to with a small nod. "That is true." While she is ordering he ponders whether she wants to go shopping for his sake or for hers; he has heard how women love shopping far more than men, but he is not sure whether that applies to Rune or not.
"Wait. These locations have cell phones?" A small frown; buildings have phones, people have cell phones. "That does sound odd." He is now VERY curious about these locations!
"Some sort of them, yeah. They have those big glass windows on them, like the television cell phones do," Rune mangles the terminology; she is perhaps overdue for a correction on some of these nouns, "and way bigger buttons than a normal phone does. Some of them are about half as tall as us, others are taller, and they have big glowing lights around them. People just push stuff on them and they get loud and bright and..."
Her head shakes as she realizes she's carrying on and on, instead finishing: "It's weird, but they really do seem to like it."
Things are becoming more confusing, but Solomon suspects this might be Rune's fault. "I think those are called laptops." Which is a stupid name that makes no sense to him... Wait, as tall as people? "That does not sound like a cell phone to me. Or a laptop." But it's not a television either, because he knows that Rune has seen a television so she wouldn't be confused by one. "They sound dangerous."
"Laptops? No way, these are..." Rune lets Solomon finish his point, and nods in agreement. "These are way too big for that. You either stand in front of them or sit down, or in a few cases you stand on a part of them on the floor, but you'd get crushed if you put it /on/ you like it was a book," her techno-illiteracy is indeed contributing to the problem, but she seems firm on her description.
"They're big. I ran into some while scouting out Tokyo a while back, and it looked like they were attacking people at first... but nobody was really getting hurt? Like I said, they're really odd but... not sure if they're actually dangerous or not."
Eventually, cake arrives. This time Rune is less polite and more openly enthused, with a 'thanks!' as it's brought to the table... and she quickly pulls a slice over, taking to it with obvious energy. She's not outright gorging herself on it with abandon, but this isn't quite 'slow, elegant classy dining' either.
Solomon the Sleuth takes in all the details Runealy relates, putting the pieces together as best he can, processing them, and analyzing it all. And then suddenly it becomes blindingly obvious what is going on. "I see." Big things that look like they are attacking people but do not actually hurt people? There is only one possible explanation for that.
"They must be electricity training dummies." Or maybe science training dummies; he still has trouble knowing when to use which word. "Like the practice dummies at clothing stores. They teach people how to defend themselves with science." A firm nod.
Cake! Even Solomon likes cake; he just preferred to buy cheaper, simpler foods. He considers his slice to be his reward for not only solving another of Tokyo's mysteries but for having a good conversation with somebody who was important to him. He does, however, eat with a bit more restraint than Rune.
This strikes Rune as... plausible. Plausible, though it's something she ends up tilting her head down in thought on for a few seconds before agreeing. "That's one possibility, and better than anything I've figured out."
She lets the topic go for now though, as food is here and... her eyes light up as she has a second bite, mouth making its verdict: "Mmm... this is pretty close to what we've got back home. It's good! Have you tried this before, Solomon?"
It is ok if Rune isn't as certain of his conclusion as he is; as long as she has the idea she will be able to test it next time, or at least better observe the electricity training dummies to confirm his view.
"Several years ago, I believe I had something like this cake." He can't place the memory or the reason for it; just the sight of it in his hand and the taste of it on his tongue. "It is good." His statement is less enthusiastic than her's, but still quite sincere.
"Well, we're going to come here more often to get them. You'll get more familiar with these soon!" Rune insists between bites, working her way through the cake slice. "I'm really glad you're here for all this. We've gotten through the worst of it, now it's time to see the good parts of Tokyo too! You, me, Gaofele, Hinote, Valeria, all of us and our new friends."
Perhaps doing things that he enjoys wouldn't be such a terrible idea after all. Certainly he does not feel as if he has wasted his time going to the bakery and sampling local food. "Thank you." He is glad he is here too. "That seems like a good plan." Because regardless of anything else, he knows that Runealy and the others deserve happiness, and he will do his best to make sure they get it.