2025-08-27: Sauce It Up
- Log: Sauce It Up
- Cast: So-young Park, Shinjiro Aragaki
- Where: An izakaya in Hirasaka, Sumaru
- OOC Date: August 27, 2025
- IC Date: July 02, 2012
- Summary: Shinjiro intercepts So-young during Myunghon's "date" with Shinobu. They inevitably hit an izakaya, where they talk the supernatural world, death, and motives while Shinjiro immaculately sauces a tempura shrimp.
<Pose Tracker> So-young Park has posed.
It's been a little time since their forays into Kaneshiro's head, and at this point So-young has shaken off the fatigue of her Awakening and instead gets to focus on exploring this strange new side of the world that she's encountered. What this means for her is that whenever she has a free afternoon - which isn't every day, but is certainly more common than you would think - she takes a quick train over to Sumaru to look around.
You'd think she'd end up in the Cardboard Dragon every night being a nuisance, but So-young is at least aware that Myunghon might need a bit more space and privacy than that. Instead, a lot of the time, she's making inroads into the local culture and band scenes - in particular going out with some friends from Sumaru TV or making enquiries as she slowly pulls together all the information she needs on how to organize her own event in Aoba Park.
No such luck today, of course. With the unerring accuracy of a troublemaker on a date night she's chosen tonight to swing around to the Cardboard Dragon after all, her violin case slung over one shoulder as she strides through the Hirasaka ward as if she owns it and is deliberately doing her best to stand out from any crowd. You can tell she doesn't think anyone she knows is immediately around because as she walks she stifles a yawn behind a hand.
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
Sometimes, you need a soldier to step in front of flaming knives with their arms wide. Sometimes, instead, you get a delinquent teenager with a brusque attitude willing to sacrifice himself for his friends.
Shinjiro's waiting in the street near the entrance So-young normally takes. He's not *hidden*, necessarily, as he stands underneath a faulty lamp-pole, resting against it.
It's not until he sees So-young walking around as if she owes everything that he immediately goes on the alert. He pockets his hands in his jacket, shivering just slightly as he approaches the Cardboard Dragon... and then rapidly intercepts So-young.
"Park," he greets, trying to figure out how to do this without tipping his hand too much. "Store's closed. Busy night." Oh no, he's already bombing, it's CLEAR he's shady.
Shinjiro frowns as he realizes it himself. "...no, they're not in danger. Don't worry," he reassures immediately, because he know it sounds wrong... wait, no, that just reveals he's there for a reason!!! He sighs once, but says nothing else. He's doing his best, okay?!
<Pose Tracker> So-young Park has posed.
So-young Park is not someone who puts on airs or much of a facade, so when Shinjiro suddenly intercepts her she doesn't actually _stop_ her yawn or anything, just lets it roll the rest of the way out of her with a lazy noise. The next moment her eyebrows have shot upwards, because the way he says her surname sounds so military and stiff she can't help the bright grin that spreads across her face.
"You can just call me the rest of my name, you know. And if the store were having a busy night, surely that would mean it would be open?" she adds with a dazzling grin. So-young knows this is completely spurious logic, especially given what sort of things she now knows the Cardboard Dragon is involved in, but it's more to see if she can make Shinjiro squirm a little bit in the process.
"Goodness, you'd think I didn't know how to be subtle or something." Yes, those words just came out of her mouth in the most prim tone imaginable. Yes, she has absolutely no shame. "If there's business going on, I can come back tomorrow."
She's being casual, but there's something about the way her gaze is suddenly boring into the young man in front of her, trying to judge how truthful he's being about the 'danger' part. If she had one available, her air is definitely that of someone who would snap a fan open in front of their face right this moment. "... just so long as it isn't the sort of business that ends up with shrapnel in Myunghon's stomach. I would be pretty upset if I were getting cut out of lending a hand there."
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
"Nah," Shinjiro says about calling her the rest of her name. "It's how I do things. Last name, no honorifics." At least he's honest... except for the fact he calls Myunghon their name usually! And has since they first met! But then he freezes, as she tosses her logic. The squirm is visible very briefly, but someone actively watching can notice that he's trying to think through an answer to that. "...Myunghon can be busy while the store's closed."
A pause, though, as they talk about subtlety. Shinjiro just rolls his shoulders. "You did ask a Shadow to speak to its manager." A pause. "Speaking of which, you holding up all right?" he suddenly asks, because that seems both like a good distraction AND an important question.
Especially as shrapnel comes up. He's being truthful, at least, but their words cut him, causing him to grimace. "...no, they're... they're just with someone, it's fine." He feels like he should really stop talking now.
Tatsuya Suou has arrived from Historia: The White Chronicle.
<Pose Tracker> So-young Park has posed.
It's getting more and more clear that So-young is enjoying herself here. "You sound like my old university lecturers," she teases. "At least you're not calling me Ms. Park like the orchestra director does. I think I would explode right here on the street."
She does feel, perhaps, a little bad about making Shinjiro wince by being so direct. But when it becomes clear he's telling her the truth, she suddenly drops it all entirely, her eyebrows going up. Maybe she's still a little sore about how badly she handled meeting Yua, but either way it's enough for her to straighten up and glance up towards the store. "Oh! You should have said." He technically did. "So long as I don't have to scorched earth someone, and so long as I'm not being shielded from danger, I can keep my nose out of things for one night."
"If you are going to stand outside a store all evening being a guard dog who stops errant older sisters from jumping in both feet first, I am sure there are better ways to go about it, though. Please tell me you've at least eaten something warm and aren't just doing this vigil on an empty, too-serious stomach."
Her grin is maybe a little lopsided as she looks back to Shinjiro. It looks strange on her, like she's not entirely sure what to do with it, not used to even having to think along these sorts of lines. "On that topic, you can't blame me for being a little overprotective and a bit anxious, surely? I am doing fine now, I assure you, but... well, whenever I see the news on TV, it does hit home a little more. I don't think I'd quite understood what we were doing until I heard a news reporter talking in a monotone about it."
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
Shinjiro smirks at the WEAKNESS he's given. "I'll keep that up my sleeve, Park." Now he knows how to cause spontaneous detonations...
But, as her eyebrows go up and she accepts... "Yeah, no. It's just private, is all." Good, he's winning!
..and then losing, as So-young asks him if he's eaten. "...I'm fine," he says, indicating directly that he's not fine because he only ever says that when it's not fine and in a tone that does not inspire confidence. He does look down as he says it, though, like he can feel his stomach pangs. Though those might be something else...
"...yeah." Shinjiro replies about the news, nodding. "I don't blame you. You've awakened to a new world we've been part of for years. The first reaction after the comedown is always some form of fear or worry, in my experience."
<Pose Tracker> So-young Park has posed.
With a puff of air, So-young plants her hands on her hips like she's not half Shinjiro's age again. "To be clear, such detonations can certainly involve my kicking you across the street." Still, her shoulders have visibly relaxed - maybe she really was more concerned than she expected to be about the possibility Myunghon might be in trouble, or facing down the Return of Kaneshiro in some form. It's difficult to imagine that any of his associates - Strega - would let all of this go, right?
Her gaze goes terribly, terribly flat at the words 'I'm fine', because she doesn't need Understanding 2 to pick up on the implications behind the lack of a straight answer. "... uh-huh. Then in that case, you can be fine while showing me a good place nearby to get some comfort food for dinner. There must be somewhere with a decent view to the street so that you can continue looking out for my evil twin. This is what you get for the last recommendation turning out so well I ended up having to traffic a gun afterwards."
She says that, but she's back to her bright, breezy grin, especially as Shinjiro offers his sympathies. "Fear?" she asks in genuine confusion, which might be a terrible, terrible sign for the future. "I hope you're kidding. It's fascinating! Well-- not so much that we can forcibly rip out a part of someone's psyche, that part is definitely leaving a bad taste in my mouth if I'm honest about it, but getting access to how someone thinks is fascinating as an artist. You know, I'm still thinking about that room of whimsical childhood memories. All mothballed, certainly - but still _there_. It says a lot."
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
"I don't know if you want to tango that way," Shinjiro remarks back to So-young, but... it's in good natured humor. He looks like and has proven he can fight, but also he doesn't look the most healthy, in those generally worn clothes. Though the beanie is new! Brand new, first time being worn!
Though, as So-young says to take her to get food, he pauses. "Tch. Are you sure you're not the evil twin?" A pause. "Wait, twins? Are you the same age?" Shinjiro doesn't know their family story! Though, about the gun... "Hey, you chose to buy it."
...oh no what is he getting himself into? No fear? "...I'm not. This is really dangerous stuff." He insists, before sighing. "...yeah. These are still people, no matter how rancid they've become."
And then, he turns... and waves a hand over his shoulder. "Come on. There's a little Izakaya down the road. We can talk there. It's not Shiraishi, so you can't get banana ramen, but that might be better for you."
If So-young chooses to follow, though... he's telling the truth! There's a mostly-empty little place with an old-style, homey, woodcrafted vibe, known as Izakaya Kaze. "This fine with you?"
<Pose Tracker> So-young Park has posed.
The conductor does at least make a good show of looking ready to fight, which is frankly ridiculous given that she's wearing an evening dress, a fashionable bolero jacket, and most importantly, heels. The grin on her face is bright, though, and she sniggers as she considers she's possibly getting used to dealing with Sumaru folk, or at least those closest to Myunghon.
That grin only widens as Shinjiro gets rightfully confused about their already confusing family situation. "Yes. My evil twin plays a french horn, that's how you know they're evil," she replies with as much of a straight face as she can muster, before waving a hand. "I'm kidding. Unless mother dearest has yet another secret family and secret child. To be honest, I'm not ruling that out just yet until we can go ask her directly what the hell she thought she was thinking at the time."
"Fear won't help in the short term," is So-young's counterattack, delivered with another of those carefree smiles. "Oh, it has its uses, certainly, but I refuse to fear something I don't even fully understand yet. I've got to learn about it first in order to properly be terrified of it." ... ... these are the words of someone who really doesn't understand the depth of what she's facing yet. Icarus might truly be an appropriate persona for her.
"Ohhh, this will do just nicely. Hello!" she greets the proprietor as she slides confidently into a booth seat, rattling off her first order as if she knows it by heart, not even looking at the menu as she counts off skewers. "One salted chicken thigh, one cheese mochi, and some pork belly, please. And a glass of umeshu!" Her gaze swings back around to Shinjiro, expectant. "My treat."
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
Shinjiro finally laughs at the show of a fight, but he also removes 'Miss Park' from his thought cabinet. Just in case.
"Oh," Shinjiro says on the french horn comment and revelation of a secret family. "So you two are from a fucking soap opera, got it."
The counterattack... "...admirable, I guess. Dangerous, but admirable."
Once they're inside, So-young once again rules the place, causing a sigh. The proprietor nods, looking over... the very disparate appearances between the two. One is a nicely dressed woman and the other's a homeless teenager. Whatever, they decide, as Shinjiro squeezes in across from her. "I couldn't..." he tries to insist, about the treat, but ends up realizing she'll argue, so...
"Fine. In exchange, I'll answer any questions you have. Just say the word." A pause. He needs to order... "Yakisoba with beef... and an order of tempura." Another pause. "And a water." She gets paid, right? She can handle it.
<Pose Tracker> So-young Park has posed.
So-young nods her confirmation to the proprietess with a warm smile, then settles back with the air of someone who does this kind of a lot. Well, she does live in Tokyo proper, and works a pretty hectic schedule, so maybe she's used to getting a drink after she's done for the day, or eating out somewhere she can get something cheap and fast. It's hard to imagine her actually bothering to cook for herself when she could just grab something quickly.
"Oh, has--" she nearly refers to Myunghon in the korean 'dongsaeng' for younger sibling, but stops short for several reasons. It wouldn't mean anything to Shinjiro, but more than that it's hard for So-young to really think of Myunghon that way. It's not the family connection part - she's coming around to that - more the idea of treating Myunghon as somehow being less experienced, less lived than her. It feels wrong.
Instead, she just continues. "Has Myunghon not told you? We learned of each other's existence about a week before Kaneshiro showed up," she sighs with an aggrieved frown. "I grew up separated from my mother thanks to her work, certainly, but I really didn't expect a whole other family to just exist, nor a half-sibling who is into the supernatural and runs a gaming store out of Sumaru while looking half-dead. A fucking 'soap opera' is putting it mildly. If Mother actually acted out a script like this I'd lose all my respect for her."
So-young doesn't swear much, but the word leaves her lips like a sniper rifle bullet. There's actual hurt there, and not a little confusion over what their mother was thinking. They've both run the thought process of whether they were brought together simply to awaken So-young, and So-young's only starting to reach out towards other possibilities.
"It's not a negotiation," she insists with a wave of her hand and a smile. "Myunghon obviously trusts you a lot, so why shouldn't I do the same? ... if you really must, then at least suggest to me what you think I should know about Sumaru. How often this sort of thing happens, what to watch out for, how to prepare," she adds. It's partially out of curiosity - how Shinjiro sees Sumaru compared to Myunghon - but she's also faintly aware of how ridiculous her Awakening was.
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
Shinjiro, meanwhile, eats out less not because he's not hungry but because he's poor. Having a meal out is a special occasion... sometimes you can only get a konbini sandwich.
As So-young explains their family issue with some cursing, Shinjiro doesn't wince, but he does nod with a frown. "No, they haven't. I can't really relate, but I can understand the thought of... just, these things being bullshit, life's curveballs." He pauses... that sounds kinda dismissive, doesn't it? "...I didn't ever have parents. I've just been doing this since middle school because I basically had no other future to follow, really." Even if Mitsuru and Akihiko would insist otherwise. "...not that I have much of one anyways."
So-young says it's not a negotiation, and Shinjiro *does* wince as she says Myunghon trusts him a lot. He doesn't deserve that, as much as he's trying to convince himself lately it's okay. "...sure. The first thing you need to know... is that this is global." He rolls his shoulders once, trying to figure out how to continue. "You leave Japan, and you're still seeing coffins at midnight JST." A pause. "It's pretty often. Every night, there's Shadows out in the Dark Hour. People sometimes get trapped and need to be saved. There's different pockets you can travel to enter supernatural spaces, liminal types of shit. There's a *lot* we don't know, and all of it is scary. Rumors are real in Sumaru, the subway leads to a pocket world, there's a giant tower in Tatsumi Port Island that only appears in the Dark Hour, that kind of shit." That's all true, too. "And to prepare..."
Shinjiro sighs. "You don't, really. Get equipment and plans, sure, but the only thing that really works is being adaptable."
Though, she DID ask specifically Sumaru, so... "But Sumaru, Sumaru's a beast. Some places here are supernatural zones, even during the day. And there's people who can turn places into supernatural zones, too, often because they're trying to hurt you. But... the people are just trying to live their lives, anyways. That's all that really matters."
<Pose Tracker> So-young Park has posed.
So-young notes as she accepts her plum wine with a smile, taking a slow sip before she continues. "My mother - Suzie Park - is an actress who rode the wave of Korean culture into Japan. Which meant that she lived in Japan while I grew up in Korea. She wasn't completely absent, but I mostly remember my Uncle and a succession of kind old ladies. I thought, now that I've been through university and have my own living wage, that I wasn't even going to see any more curveballs. And then I got this dropped in my lap."
"Yes. About that," her voice abruptly goes clipped, her eyes wide. "No-one _told_ me that I was going to start getting Spooky Time every night! I realize we were all a little busy making sure we didn't explode inside someone's head, but it would have been nice to get the heads up! I could figure out the rough idea behind the new apps on my phone, but that was rather more of a surprise." She frowns, because what she latches onto most is the idea that - even if it's global - the actual timing of the Dark Hour is still Japan-centric. It's curious.
"I assume there are already - have been - people and organizations combing the weirder structures for any idea of why it might be happening. ... people like Myunghon," she adds after a moment spent attacking one of her skewers the moment it arrives, because they're best when they're right off the grill. "They're a planner, aren't they, or something of the sort? The way they acted when we faced Kaneshiro, it was pretty obvious they were the one pulling our strings together into a whole. And then you get groups of people who decide to camp in someone's head to protect it from ingress."
Yes, she's still trying to get around the idea that Strega was lying in wait inside Kaneshiro's mind. As stakeouts go, that's pretty hardcore.
She hasn't forgotten Shinjiro mentioning his own situation, it just takes her this long to get around to it, having rolled what little he's let slip around in her head. Her gaze flicks up, her expression held in a cautious frown. "I should note that I am the last person you should ever expect to provide gentle and thoughtful encouragement," says the voice of self-awareness. "But for what it is worth, you do seem to be doing alright." She doesn't clarify if that means Shinjiro's health, or prospects, or the way he's adjusted. She just leaves it hanging there to take or leave. "Also, if there is one thing I have learned, it's that there's always a chance to _do_ something. You might not believe it, but back in school I was the biggest doormat you've ever seen."
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
As the food comes out, Shinjiro goes for his water first, taking a drink and only speaking once it's down. "... I'm unfamiliar, but... I'm sorry you had to go through that." He's trying to be sympathetic. He's 17! Give him some slack!
"It sometimes slips our minds. I've been living this for years... so I don't always remember to share immediately," he says with a shrug, looking So-young in the eyes. "People are looking into it, yeah. I think it has to do with that tower in Port Island, but who really knows?" Myunghon, though... "When I first met them, they were stacking animal crackers. The koalas 'vouched for me' and they agreed to take on a case. I thought they were an oddball... now I understand there's more to them than that. A lot more." He doesn't elaborate.
Though, instead, he taps on the last point, about the groups of people. "Strega. I don't think they were allied with him, it felt like they were just hired for a job. We have some... connections, given the circles we travel through, though the violence fucking sucks." He shrugs once, Shinjiro taking a piece of tempura and starting at it, delicately dipping it into the sauce provided with it like he knows EXACTLY how to sauce a tempura.
"...I don't need that," he finally says about gentle and thoughtful encouragement. "...tch. You don't know me," Shinjiro then says about doing alright. And there's always a chance to do something...
Well, there was. But he threw that chance away. It's ashes and wind now, because as he told Yua, there's only one road for him to travel along.
"...one more thing, Park. If you're going to be part of this life... people are going to die." They might be eating, and he might STILL be saucing a tempura shrimp, but it feels important to say, as he's a step from dissociating a bit. "You can't always stop it. It could be you. The people you care about. Someone else. It could be at your hands or another's. You don't have to fight, but if you choose to? Make sure your motives are good... and that you accept the responsibility."
<Pose Tracker> So-young Park has posed.
So-young simply shrugs in return, her smile a placid one. "It is what it is. If it weren't for that, I wouldn't be the person I am now. I'm just providing context of my own."
"Mm. Even now, we're not really sure why our mother dearest chose now to let us meet up. I've been in Japan for two years, you know? I've sat down with her for family meals. She never thought to go 'oh, you should bring secret sibling Myunghon over for the next dinner that would be nice'. I'm slowly starting to think that may have been because the other side of the family is terrible, but it's still a lot to try to work through." Myunghon has not minced their words when it comes to warning So-young away from their father - there's not a lot to do in the face of that stone-cold certainty but to accept it.
No, Shinjiro, don't double dip! ... actually, So-young probably wouldn't care. She leaves the talk of Strega alone, shrugging with one shoulder as she waggles the wooden skewer she just devoured the meat off of. "I never said you did, but I'm just being aware of my own limits. Someone asked me recently if I would help a wavering artist return to their craft, but I'm not good at that sort of encouragement. What I can do is hold the door open for them and offer the chance at work if they want it."
"At the very least, you seem calmer, wiser, and more cautious than the vast majority of friends I made in university. ... which, alright, I majored in music and theatre, and that does skew the results a bit," she huffs with practiced humour. "And they'd have to be friends with me, and that skews them even more. Still. I can only point out what I see."
So-young does have the capacity to appreciate when someone is having a dramatic moment and not interfere with that, which is largely why she listens closely along to Shinjiro's warning from behind her umeshu glass. When she sets it down, it's to run her finger around the rim, appreciating the low note that it generates as she listens to it in momentary silence. "I hear what you are saying - but it's difficult for me to accept that as-is, especially when my newfound family is mixed up in it. My concern is that I not regret anything, and walking away from this now would leave me with a thousand lonely what-ifs."
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
As So-young talks, Shinjiro FINALLY eats his tempura. It is probably the most immaculately dipped piece of tempura you've ever seen. When he finally replies... "...I can guess. Myunghon hasn't told me too much, but what I can guess is that it's harrowing, so..." He trails off. This isn't his business.
Instead, on her limits... "That still sounds like encouragement to me," he shrugs. "Not everything needs a thousand emotional words."
And about being calmer, wiser, and more cautious, he laughs. It's a little good-natured but also a little bitter at different parts of the laugh. "That's called experience. But I wouldn't go with 'calmer'. You haven't *really* seen me go berserk in a battle."
As So-young says what she doesn't want to regret... "...normally, I'd say if you don't want to regret anything, to walk away now, because this road is paved with regrets. But here, I get it. Aki, that guy who fought that Strega with me? ...he's like my brother, a guy I've known all my life. I wouldn't be in this if he wasn't. I did it because I felt the exact same way, that I couldn't let him go into something like this by himself."
"...I don't regret that one bit. But I regret a lot of what came after. So I guess I just don't want anyone to make the mistakes I did..."
His yakisoba is probably at a decent temperature. He moves to that, and is gonna be quiet for a moment to eat it.
<Pose Tracker> So-young Park has posed.
"Perhaps - but it's a colder sort of encouragement than some people need, a more utilitarian one. I just know what I am and am not built for and where my strengths lie." She picks up her glass again, squinting at it as if it might hold the secrets of how it got so low in the first place, and then takes another long sip. "One day, I'll ask. God knows when, though. Crowbarring an answer out of our mother probably comes first, and then many drinks."
She makes a low 'pfffff' noise as she waves her hand. "There's no way I'm going to equate what you do with an axe in your hand to how you act on this side of things. That's that, and this is this." ... well, of course So-young would say that, given that she's kind of the same way, having both times so far let the soaring feeling of Icarus' presence lift her up and propel her fowards.
She settles back, swirling the last of her glass as she grins across at the proprietess for another round of skewers. Does this woman live off freshly grilled chicken thigh and mochi with cheese on top? There are probably worse diets for a night owl. She's full enough and content enough that she can digest Shinjiro's words a little bit more than she usually would, roll them around in her brain. It's at least enough to know that whatever Shinjiro says, he has some elements of family around, even if self-sacrificing ones.
(So-young gets the feeling she's going to get real good at spotting the self-sacrificing parts here in Sumaru.)
"All I can say is that if there are regrets ahead whichever choice I make, then all I can do is trust my gut as far as which path to take. I haven't come this far second-guessing myself, nor will I in the future," she adds, a core of steel in her proud expression. "I won't say anything as trite as 'we'll all face it together', but if something does happen I can be quite a vengeful asshole."
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
"That's good, though." Shinjiro shrugs about knowing your strength, after nearly finishing his yakisoba while she talked. He nods about crowbarring answers from their mother... "Well, I'll wish you luck."
She won't equate it... well, okay. He shrugs again on that. "This side of things... I don't consider it that way, but if it helps, sure."
He finishes his yakisoba up, before moving to the tempura. Is he going to sauce it again?! No, because it's getting cold. "...heh. You remind me of me back when I started." SHINJIRO YOU'RE SEVENTEEN.
"Then at the least, we're on the same side. I'm going to be there for Myunghon where I can, so... let's get this shit done."
<Pose Tracker> So-young Park has posed.
Another desperately flat stare from So-young. "You are making me feel old," she says as Shinjiro tries to play the hardened veteran card. The most annoying thing to her is that it more or less works - for all that the kid in front of her seems to like putting himself down, he really does seem to have a much better and calmer handle on everything than she does. Maybe there's something in the air in Sumaru? Maybe she just needs to meet a real idiot so she can be amongst her own kind.
... then, in the same breath, he somehow decides he's automatically taking on the whole world, and that's certainly an outlook that So-young can resonate with. "On that, I agree with you," she says, and simply leaves it at that as she gets a new glass of umeshu delivered to the table to cradle in her hand.
There's more that she could say or ask, and she's curious about Shinjiro's actual situation in Sumaru - but something tells her to leave it alone for now, and that more time might be needed. Instead, she puts on a lazy sort of smile. "I don't suppose you happen to play an instrument, do you? You're definitely the guitar type. Ah, speaking of which, if you know how to contact the band that was playing that night at the Prison, I wouldn't be at all opposed to getting their phone number for a job prospect..."
Oh no, the buzz has hit and she's gone back to more familiar territory, so she's speeding up.