hugtopia_logs | Can we find that real answer?

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Can we find that real answer?

♥ Who: Shinji & Good Friends
♥ Where: Anywhere between the community gardens and your house!
♥ When: Last week of August/Achtom
♥ What: Special delivery \:V/
♥ Rating: PG, probably. Will update if someone decides to have a pottymouth or something.

A whole summer of work has been put into the community garden from Shinji has paid off, and left him with a number of watermelons grown from seeds he had received right at the start of the season. How amazing...! Truly amazing. It probably wouldn't be too much trouble for him to just take them all home and make them last for a little while just snacking on them, but there's gotta be a much better use of these fruits.

He spends a bit of time on any day where it isn't i n c r e d i b l y h o t in the garden, looking over the watermelons so that he can figure out which ones are nice and ripe. It isn't a particularly hard task, so it would be nice and easy for him to be pestered by a passerby...!

Once he's made his selections for the day, all that's left is to distribute them. For friends of his who he may have the contact information for, but not their address, Shinji will send out a text message,

'Can I ask where you live?'

But for the rest of the people he'd want to see, if he knows where their houses are, off he goes with at least one (1) melon in tow. Knock knock! Guess who's here for a surprise visit!!

[[OOC: Feel free to assume Friendship if Shinji and your character have a fairly positive thread history, but if you're unsure, you can easily get in touch with me via PM or over at

sandshrew! If you wanna go with brackets or whatever instead I will match formats. Follow your dreams, friends.]]

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A very harmless text for a very harmless task! And he's glad to receive such a speedy, compliant reply.

'I wanted to drop something off, actually. Are you home right now? I can just leave it by your door, if you aren't.'

A mystery gift! And with that out of the way, he can pick out the perfect gift from his available selection before making his way in the direction of her house.

Drop something off...? Mysterious, indeed. Did she accidentally leave something at their place? But then, he should just let her come get it, in that case. Or maybe he needs her to keep something safe for him? Kaito's birthday is already long over, though, so it's probably nothing along the lines of a present... right?

Shinji, are you--are you dealing in some kind of contraband??

No, I'm home right now! Don't worry! I'll be able to let you in right away!

So suspicious, this suggestion he's put forth is!! Honestly, someone like Shinji could be bringing just about anything over, it's probably best to be on your toes, Kyoko!

'Okay, I should be there shortly.'

Fruit selected and carefully plucked from the vine, he beats a hasty retreat to Kyoko's place and, just as promised, arrives nice and quickly.

Knock knock! You have company, friend!

It's always the quiet ones....

Eager to help her friend through whatever he's gotten mixed up in, Kyoko had camped out by the window, watching for him at an angle so as to make it hard to see her from the street--you never knew who was watching, and this had to remain a secure place!--so that she could zip over to the door as soon as Shinji got near. He's barely done with those knocks before it opens, and Kyoko quickly ushers him inside with a very bright grin.

"You made it! So quickly! Come in!!"

Devious.

Or maybe it's Kyoko who's being the sneaky one here - he didn't expect to be coaxed in so speedily! He's not sure why she might be treating this like a sneaking mission, but he doesn't particularly mind whatever the reason for the discretion may be. Inside he comes! With a tasty, round watermelon in tow! Wow wow!

"Thank you," he says in greeting, offering a soft, "Pardon the intrusion," as he comes inside.

It's only once Shinji's inside that Kyoko notices what he's carrying, and is jarred enough to pull the brakes on her speedy imagination train. Maybe, perhaps, possibly she should investigate a little more before getting too swept up in the idea that her mild mannered friend Shinji Ikari is smuggling illegal substances.

Because she's not actually sure Havenwell even has any particular illegal substances, and if there are, she'd be pretty surprised if melons made the list.

Because that is in fact a melon, right? Kyoko stares at it with round eyes. Slowly, a new idea forms.

"Is that... no, is it possible... that's what you were going to drop off?"

Surely this boy here isn't capable of doing anything that nefarious. Put your worries to bed, Kyoko, there's no contraband here. Only treats.

"Yes...! Yes, this is for you." He could have probably made that clear in the initial text, maybe he would have spared her those conclusions she jumped to, but that's a potential lesson to be learned next time. "Do you want me to just leave it in the kitchen?"

For her. For her! Something so rare and precious, delivered to her out of nowhere! As a gift?! For her?!

Kyoko clapped her hands to her cheeks, staring at the boy and his melon, overcome. "Th-thank you...! Really, thank you! You didn't have to give me something so nice! Please eat it with me!"

Well, maybe he didn't have to, but...

"I really wanted you to have one," he says, a sort of restrained excitement present at the very thought. Kyoko was, honestly, right up there near the top of the list of people he definitely, absolutely wanted to make sure would get one, even if he had wound up with only one or two to give away. Imagine.

He probably should have expected that offer from her, huh? "I'll have a little with you, but only if that's what you really want." It's for her to decide either way, but she shouldn't feel obligated...! He has access to more if he wants, after all. "The rest is all yours, though."

He really wanted her to have one. Ah, jeez, what should she do? This whole scenario has taken a turn for the unbearably sweet.

Of course, the only thing to do is keep Shinji around to linger in that sweet mood for a while. Beaming brightly at him, she ushers him towards the kitchen.

"Eating it with you is only natural! This is the kind of bounty you just have to share! It'll be more delicious with you, for sure!"

Just be glad that he's nowhere near sneaky enough to use the melon as a cover for illicit substances or anything. The scenario can only remain sweet from here on out. Especially with such tasty looking fruit involved - literally sweet! How wonderful.

"Is that so...?" He probably should have expected her to say something like that, especially considering her enthusiasm for Kai's birthday dinner and the idea of following that up with more casual meals sometimes. It's still kind of tough to wrap his mind around the fact that he might actually factor into that excitement past the simple concept of being 'someone else' to share a snack or meal with. Unless... that's really all she's getting at with this?

Maybe it's best not to think about it too hard for now, and just enjoy that bright grin on her face.

"Hopefully it's a good one, it definitely looked like the ripest one in the bunch."

There's only so much his presence can reasonably lend to tastiness if the watermelon itself isn't any good!!

In the kitchen, Kyoko cheerfully bustles to fetch a cutting board and knife, ready to attack the fruit head-on. Nobody needs to dwell too long on melon fronts or not being greatly valued friends, there is a w a t e r m e l o n to talk about.

"Even from the outside, it's already beautiful! It's the result of your hard work, so it's bound to be delicious!"

"I mean... I'm sure there's some of it that has to do with how fast everything grew back in spring, you know? The soil's probably pretty fertile after all of that."

It sure doesn't feel right to take full credit with that in mind! At least there's a nice and convenient excuse for dodging that praise, there's a seriously good chance that he'd downplay how much his involvement really impacted the situation one way or another.

Here, let him put the fruit up on the counter for you, Kyoko.

"Still, it should be at least pretty tasty, I think."

"That's true," Kyoko hums cheerfully, "You had really good timing, planting them right after plant magic swept across the land. That's praiseworthy, too!" She believes it earnestly--and praiseworthy things should be praised, so she's going to do just that!

But something else occurs to her as she gazes at that glorious streaky-green fruit, and rather than go right for the knife to crack it open, she fishes her tablet out of her pocket. "And this kind of event should be commemorated!" Arm outstretched for the best angle, she swivels around and leans sideways to get in the frame with the watermelon; her free hand flaps at Shinji. Come on, get in here.

That's even less praiseworthy!!

"I only planted the seeds by that point because that's when I was given them."

The timing was purely coincidental! If anything, go ahead and thank Rawna for dropping them off on Aellyn at a good time. But that might be something of a big thing to be asking of Kyoko in specific, and he's not about to press that issue much further once he figures out what she's up to now. No reason to try and bring her mood down, after all.

"Right, right," he relents without a fuss, knowing full well he's still got a debt to repay that melons simply won't cut. Just let him squeeeeze on in here, "Is this good...?"

In the frame well enough? Not obscuring anything?

Kyoko will just ignore that argument for now; even if he was just lucky, luck is a kind of skill in itself! Rawna surely chose to give him those seeds at that time for a reason!

Right now is the time to flash an ecstatic grin at the camera. "You have to smile! Smile! This is a precious moment!"

Pretty sure it was just Rawna telling him to get a hobby.

But, all right! He knows how this goes! Once he's nice and solidly in the frame without obscuring the real star of the show - the melon - he gives the camera a tiny little smile. Still kind of awkward and unsure, but also a little more relaxed than the last photo she snapped! Wow.

Ready when you are, Kyoko!

Good job Shinji! You must have been getting some smiling practice in lately, gosh, look at you! Kyoko lets her grin grow to obnoxiously cheery levels, and snaps that pic.

"Yeees~! And now I can brag to Kaito about this too," she chatters as she pulls the tablet back in and pokes around to send off a text with photo attachment.

Good thing you waited until after the photo to drop that little piece of information, that smile would be no match for the complete confusion that follows that sentiment.

"You're gonna... brag to him?"

About? what?? he had already split one of those melons with him earlier, surely she'd be able to assume as much? Gosh.

Kyoko nods proudly as she watches the picture pop up on their chat thread. Look at this cool fun time they're having, Kai.

"He's probably already had one with you, right? And he'll probably get to have more, too~" She's just gonna go ahead and assume Shinji's watermelon harvest is a wild success and he has a bounty of fruit in his future. "So it should be okay to brag to him, he won't mind!"

That's how bragging works right.

Edited 2020-09-12 21:06 (UTC)

Ah.

Yeah.

That is how bragging works.

That's so percicely on the nose of how it works, in fact, that it shakes a quick, surprised little laugh out of Shinji. "You're right, I'm sure he won't mind at all."

He might not have had a hugely successful harvest, there's only so much room to be growing things, after all, but even so, it's not like it's a totally wild assumption that he'd have a couple extra to spare after all the gifts have been passed out.

"If we still have any left after you're done with yours, we can always split some more with you some night after dinner, or something like that."

That way! All three of them could indulge in Tasty Treats! At the same time! That would be even better, wouldn't it?

Was--was that... a laugh? It happened so quickly, Kyoko has to pause a brief moment to wonder if she really did hear it. Ah... that is something to brag about. It really is, but....

She'll just keep it for herself.

Her smile comes back softer, but warmer too. "Ah, that would reaaaally be spoiling me! When I'm already this lucky!"

Something worth holding on to, even if it is also absolutely worth a brag or two.

"I do have some more to pass out, but I can't think of anyone else I'd want to share them with more if we have those extras, you know?" As long as everyone else he wants to have one gets at least that one, his and Kai's favorite dinner guest would be the clear choice for priority in any leftovers. "Just something to keep in mind, I guess."

Just! In case!!

Did she understand that correctly? Is she actually at the top of Shinji's watermelon-sharing list? --Well, after Kaito, of course--so, she's number two?

That's... pretty special!

Turning back to the cutting board with a doofy grin pulling at her mouth, Kyoko takes up her knife. Time to crack this thing open so they can share the wealth. "Ah jeez, you're just so good to me! What should I do~?"

Count that more as 'number one not-housemate' and it sounds a lot more prestigious than 'number two'.

But, yes! Let's get this watermelon cracked right open!!

"Of course, we're friends." So something like this would just be... natural, right? This is the kind of thing that friends would do for each other, and sincerely, he's more than willing to offer that kind of extra consideration. "Just something to keep in mind, one way or another. Let's get this one taken care of, first."

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Can we find that real answer?

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wildly assumes Kyoko assumes knew Shinji growing watermelons was a thing

a completely valid assumption

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