2025-12-29: Masao's Order
- Log: 2025-12-29 Masao's Order
- Cast: Yanagi Nagisa, Masao Inaba
- Where: Peacock Silk, Shimokitazawa, Tokyo
- OOC Date: December 29, 2025
- IC Date: September 02, 2012
- Summary: Yanagi calls Masao to Peacock Silk to hand over his finished accessory order. They discuss New York City, the inspiration for its design.
<Pose Tracker> Yanagi Nagisa has posed.
Yanagi has had a few different orders for custom accessories she's been working on for the past month or two--not in order, because it's all about inspiration, and that doesn't strike equally. Of what she has, the easiest was Masao's order, because he's a simple man with simple tastes and his New York influence means there's a bold design he has in mind: a chunky necklace with a "Big Apple" hanging at the center.
She'd advised him that the pewter would raise his defense and the labradorite would give him various abilities, and then fashioned a chain to protect his neck and a large labradorite-backed pendant to hang from it, shaped like a large apple and engraved with the words NEW YORK. It's a green apple--and also blue-ish, yellow-ish, and a bit purplish, in the way labradorescence goes.
It's waiting for him at Peacock Silk now. Yanagi had given Mark a call to let him know, and has been displaying it in the display case with a sign marked "NOT FOR SALE <3". Because it's fun to tease your clientele!
At present, she's at her station, working on another commission while she waits for Masao. This one is somewhat more complex--it looks like a comet-themed choker, and it involves quite a bit of small pieces getting threaded through with filum regium. Her pale hair is tied back with a pair of pearl hair clips, which match her ocean-colored silk dress nicely. She's barefoot, ankles adorned with silver chain anklets, and pearl studs adorn her ears too. A nearby radio plays classical ballet music, and she hums along, smiling, as she works.
<Pose Tracker> Masao Inaba has posed.
A simple man, with simple tastes, and a clear simple desire - to be a great artist. After all, a certain classmate had everyone promise they'd all become great people as they graduated from high school and dispersed to the winds. (...Only for most of them to come together back in Sumaru City, but, some beautiful sentiments should at least remain on the record.)
College, though - that's its own can of worms. A can that can be safely left outside in the metaphorical space, as otherwise this has been a blessedly uneventful day and after some wild things that happened in at that bar in the Yumezaki Ward of Sumaru on top of everything else leading to it? It's nice to have a day to look forward to, uh, something you were looking forward to. ...Yes.
Masao Inaba makes his way in, in the distinctive way he carries himself. Which is to say, that yellow beanie. It's not the same beanie of his high school years, but it's the same color and he got the same design monogrammed on it - the whole of it kind of grew up with him. But the world will never truly get to glimpse at his scalp, will they.
"Hey," raised hand, wide smile, and just all sunshine today. "It's me, Inaba," who else could it be?
He can see 'it' in the display case there. He laughs a bit. "Whoa, that's awesome."
It entrances him, just taking in the shape, the iconography, the colors. He already knew what he was getting and this looks even better in person.
"...You really made somethin' special, Nagisa-san..."
<Pose Tracker> Yanagi Nagisa has posed.
It's a little funny that it's the guy who Masao butted heads with the most who made everyone make that promise to become great--but that's what a grand, harrowing adventure does.
College is a trial to which Yanagi can't relate, though. She dropped out of high school, or maybe more accurately was pulled from it when she "died." Higher education is beyond her. She's already doing what she loves, anyway.
Regardless, Masao enters, and Yanagi pauses in her work to look up. "Masao!" she says warmly, in her typical total disregard of polite address. He catches sight of his new accessory before she can point it out, and flowers bloom over her head--metaphorically, but maybe literally if this were a video game or something--as he takes it in.
"I'm so glad you like it!" she says effusively. It's not just a compliment for the sake of a compliment, either; she can see in his face that he really loves it, and that makes her happy. It might be against a certain someone's philosophical conceits, but Yanagi thinks if you make something for someone, even just as a transaction, it's most satisfying if they're happy with it.
It is a transaction, though, so that momentary satisfaction is all the more precious.
Carefully, she sets down her current work, then pushes her rolling chair over to the display case. From behind, she retrieves the New York necklace and holds it out to him. "Please try it on--see how it feels!" she encourages him.
<Pose Tracker> Masao Inaba has posed.
"Like it? This is awesome," he raises his voice a bit - hopefully he's not disrupting anyone else working here, or stirring a peacock out of a restful tater tot-induced slumber or something, as he gestures with his hands. Hands that do not contain the aforementioned tater tots, should such an audio-based faux pas be committed.
"Gladly," he says, to the offer - as he tries it on. He already knows he feels like a million United States dollars putting it on. (Good thing it doesn't actually cost *that* high.)
"...Yeah, this is sweet," he says, as he turns to face the jewelry-maker in question. "See, what I liked 'bout it... when I was in New York, you wouldn't believe how colorful it was, and... I'm not talkin' like, monitor displays everywhere, I mean - the people! This labradorite really captures that, it ain't just the one color. It's a whole lot of 'em, in one place."
"...'n it sure is a big apple!" He laughs. "Ah, man, I gotta share this picture with my friend back over in New York - we shared a dorm while I was studyin' there. Same major and everything," he goes through his phone. The phone he had in America was not as good as what he's got now, and the picture quality suffers for it... but he's glad he was able to get that picture saved at all, as he shares it.
It's an African-American young man in a yellow baseball cap, with the exact same kind of smile Masao's capable of - he's almost his spitting image. There's memorabilia of a local rugby team seen in the background, though fuzzy in coloration and lighting.
"He's the coolest, you'd have liked him." Most cooler heads would probably instead go 'oh no, now there's two of them.'
An appropriate amount of time later, he puts the cellphone away.
"I miss studyin' there so much, but y'know... even if it wasn't made there, you really captured a lot of what made that time special, and I gotta say," he bows his head, "thanks for makin' it."
<Pose Tracker> Yanagi Nagisa has posed.
Another consideration for the pendant was, in fact, a giant $ -- but that felt less personalized to Mark's particular experiences abroad. Clearly that was the right choice, because that's precisely what he zeroes in on in regards to what he likes about it.
"I've never been to New York," or anywhere abroad, "but I've heard it called a 'melting pot'!" (Technically all of the USA is supposed to be the melting pot, but New York City is its beating heart in a lot of ways, so it still works.) "Here, we call that an aludel," Yanagi asides. ("Here" as in "at Peacock Silk," but she doesn't clarify that.) "I thought that would be a wonderful use of the stone's labradorescence," she adds warmly. "And of course it's nicknamed the 'Big Apple'!"
She waits for him to take a picture with his phone, then eases forward to see the picture of Mark's roommate Mark. "Oh! Look at that smile--and that hat! He looks so different, but he has exactly your aura!" she declares brightly. She laughs and adds, "So this is what normal people mean when they call someone a doppelganger! We can be sure he's no Homunculus of yours, at least."
Easing back down onto her rolling chair, Yanagi beams at Mark's compliment. "You're very welcome! I had fun making it," she replies. "I looked through a lot of American magazines for the right inspiration, and your reaction made it well worth it. I hope I can visit someday soon!"
He misses studying there, though, hm... "Can't you go back? Or..." She tilts her head, a long, slender finger tapping her chin. "...are you too caught up in what's been going on here lately?"
<Pose Tracker> Masao Inaba has posed.
"Yep! Sure is," Masao says of it, as he hears the jeweler's explanation of the local terminology and the design intent, and he's still all smiles.
"Haha, yeah, guess we... yeah, maybe that word's a li'l loaded now, huh, from that whole... Atelier, was it?" What a strange place that whole mess was, especially who they had as a friend inside of it of all things. Maybe it's all right if he doesn't think too hard about that particular aspect of it, ever again.
The momentary dip in the cheer aside, he nods at the talk about how fun it was to make it, and all the American magazines she looked at - and the hope she can visit. ...There was a time where, like one particular dear friend, being anywhere else felt like a faraway dream at best...
"Heh, well," he looks down for a moment as he sets a hand on his hip. "I was set to completely transfer my study over to another school here, studyin' further under Madarame." That's not a name held in any reverence now. "Like, just as I flew in back home to Japan, man confessed to bein' a plagiarist on live TV, and well..." He throws up a hand. "Shit kinda got messed up there. For now, I got online class stuff set up for the one back in New York - ain't ideal, still tryin' to work to see if we can still make that full transfer happen anyway... ain't as easy as just moving back to New York right this minute."
One may get the sense the whole snarl could put this budding artist as S.O.L. for further studies back here.
"...I know I dodged a freakin' bullet in the end, but," he looks up, "yeah, I sure did get caught up. Sure would like to know what the heck is goin' on!" A lot of 'whats' that are going on. It seemed so simple when it was 'just' Mikage-cho and then what he thought was a residual Dark Hour from that. (It had been going on far longer than that, but he never thought to ask someone like Tamaki to disprove the notion.)
He exhales. "...But y'know, it's nice to see everyone again, yeah?" A smile. "Bein' who I am, pursuin' what I am further... it's just nice to still have that kinda connection goin', even through all the weird bullshit."
He taps the Big Apple itself, gently. "And hey, in its own way, we're kinda goin' through this stuff together too, aren't we?"
<Pose Tracker> Yanagi Nagisa has posed.
"Atelier, yes," Yanagi confirms with a firm little nod.
A faraway dream... It's true. But Yanagi has learned that dreams aren't worth much if they remain dreams. With the little time she has left, she will live and make new experiences.
...Admittedly, some experiences are easier to make than others, and New York City is on the literal other side of the word.
Masao explains his situation vis-a-vis studying. "Oh, my," she utters, recognizing the name. How could she not. Madarame was a huge name in art, and what are the employees of Peacock Silk if not artists? Albeit of different mediums. It was still a big piece of news. "Hmmm... It sounds complicated. I suppose I don't know anything about how college works, so I'll take your word that it isn't so easy."
A bullet might have been dodged, but it's hard not to feel frustrated for the dream that was lost wholly unrelated to anything you did. It's hard, being at the mercy of the rest of the world. Yanagi nods in sympathy. "It's really quite exciting, isn't it? There's always something new happening!" she says brightly, which is not quite what Masao was saying, but it's what she is saying and that's that.
The rest of what he says, though... "That's very you, Masao. You haven't changed a bit," she observes. By contrast, she's changed so much from who she was three years ago. "I'm glad for you! It was touch and go, but you've managed to make the best of it. That's all any of us can do!" She laughs a little as he taps the Big Apple. "That's true. You may not have changed, but our relationship has." She raises her hands and criss-crosses her fingers together, beaming like light from Heaven through the clouds. "May you always think of me whenever you wear that necklace!"
Even if it's no diamond.
<Pose Tracker> Masao Inaba has posed.
The rubbing at the back of his head about 'it isn't so easy' is telling. As if he couldn't fathom it getting *that* screwed up.
"Heh, well... yeah, that's one way to look at it," he says of her enthusiasm about it. Reminds him of Eriko, sometimes, when she really gets into the depths of her occult knowledge. (What would/should be fun fiction has instead become instrumental in brushes with the supernatural, but no less eerie at times.)
'That's very you, Masao. You haven't changed a bit.'
"You think so?" He's still got that funny wide smile from his school days. But... it is true that their relationship has. She isn't someone he'd occasionally visit in the hospital any more.
"Heh... you know I will! I'll put a good word for this place," he says, as he gets out the wallet. This is the unavoidable transactional part that just comes with adult life. He knew the quote going in, and while stuff's not looking too certain in this economy or this entire world and the supernatural that keeps encroaching on it...
Making that connection's about always worth the investment, no matter how weird that thread that connects can get.