STRAWBERRY KISSES.

– @strawbelled

The Red Light District would be the place to go to for common crimes, one would expect that in such an area. Yet Batman hadn’t wondered in for that reason alone, he had simply followed a cat. A charming little black cat, it reminded him of her. Of the night they were to be married and then- they weren’t.

Batman didn’t follow the feline for long, if she were here he would have known by now. So he turns to exit the district, while at the same time noticing a young girl curiously entering. Perhaps she was after the cats too? However he held his arm out to block the girl from going any further.

“This isn’t a place for children.”

   Ichigo had been following behind the cats for a few minutes now, trailing behind a particular brown tabby she had spotted on her walk. One who ducked into a nearby alley. Honestly, she’d been so lost in thought for the last couple of minutes, she hadn’t even realised where the tabby was leading her until she was stopped, and even then, she had only stopped just in time to not crash right into the man’s arm. She looked around, and as the realisation of where she was going dawned on her, a nervous laugh escaped her.

   “Oh.. yeah I guess so.” Yet even saying that, Ichigo still looked determined to keep following. With a sheepish smile, she pointed down the path the man was blocking, down deeper into the district.

     “Ah! That dress is so cute. Did you get it at one of the shops on Pearl Street?” Always a lover of fashion, Hana had to not only dole out the compliments, but get advice from others where they shopped. It never hurt to build up her own wardrobe, which was as large and varied as they came. “I’ve done a lot of shopping here, but I am always looking for new places and ideas!” // @strawbelled·

   “Oh! Thank you! I found it at this little store in Mermaid Cove actually.” With a smile Ichigo looked down at her dress, soothing out the fabric. “There was a sale going on, I can show you the store if you want?” Ichigo fell into the conversation naturally, looking back up at the other as if they were already friends as opposed to strangers who just met.

   The girl walked up to Liliana, a bright smile on her lips. 

   “Your dress is really pretty! Did you get that from a store around here?”

   Whoops.

there’s no lie in those words – not one she can immediately taste, anyways, even with all of the girl’s spirit laid out before her. she’s open, unguarded in a way children often are; the simplicity is almost refreshing, really, because she doesn’t have to waste time digging deep.

– evelynn blinks owlishly, and, after a moment, slowly offers the girl her wounded arm, wordless, studying her face all the while.

if she can help, she should help – no reason to refuse assistance freely given.

she shifts, fluidly, to be sitting upright against a tree – settles into her new position comfortably with her elbow balanced on one knee. a sort of half-smile reveals the white crescent of teeth against the rest of her shade as she murmurs,

“ are you always this eager to befriend things you find in the shadows? that’s a dangerous habit, child. ”

( but she doesn’t withdraw. evelynn remains there, vulnerable, expectant, lashers curling and uncurling on the ground beside her, restless just like the burning sky. )

“ alas, us soldiers do need to be in fighting shape. careful – someday, this sort of hobby might get you into trouble. ”

   Ichigo took her posture as enough of a sign she was safe to approach the other. Her ears flicked, “I don’t know if I’d call it a habit. But isn’t it natural to try to help others in need?” She said it as if that was the most obvious answer in the world. It made perfect sense in her mind after all.

   She moved as she spoke, settling down on her knees beside the other. A chime echoed from the bell decorating the large bow tied to her tail, a soft pink light soon began to glow from her hands. If nothing else, Ichigo had been able to put some practice into her healing magic over the last few days. Enough, at least, that she felt confident in being able to deal with a wound like this. She quickly got to work.

   Basket in hand, she found herself quiet spot along the shore, quickly getting to work on laying out the blanket she had brought with her and unloading the various food she has brought with her to enjoy. Sandwiches, onigiri, various slices of fruit, even some cookies and other small sweets, all laid out onto plastic plates. To any outsiders, it likely looked like way too much food for just one girl. Part of her felt like she was being watched... probably just her imagination, though. Besides, she knew how much she ate, and she could always just keep the leftovers for later. 

   Sitting down after finishing her work, she picked up one of the small sandwiches from her plate. “Thanks for the food!~”

At first, Flandre’s only response to the sudden approach and awkward greeting was to stare back at the other, crimson eyes blinking as confusion was clear on her features. However, the moment the other brought up patching up her umbrella- well, her interest had been more than a little piqued, to say the least. All the sun-induced burns she had been getting stung like crazy, and the less of them she could get the better. Even if this wasn’t a perfect fix, she wanted it.

“Y-You know how to fix it?! Please! I’ve been getting so many burns, there’s too many holes in it!” Given that the pair was standing in the shade right now, the vampire practically thrusted the parasol into Ichigo’s hand, not waiting for her answer. She just needed it fixed, and now.

   She wasn’t exactly surprised by the girl’s enthusiastic response, having been friends with Purin for so long prepared her for that much. But in between the girls response and shoving the umbrella into her hands, she almost missed the mention of her getting burnt because of the holes. Did she mean like a sunburn? Surely sunblock would do a better job of protecting her from that than just an old umbrella? Still, knowing how children were, even if that was the case, Ichigo doubted she’d be willing to part with it so easily.

   Lucky for her Ichigo had picked up craft supplies just the other day then, huh?

    ★✦ “It’s hard to help people as a Precure when people are always laughing at you-lun.”

“It shouldn’t matter how old you are or how you dress if you can do good, right-lun?”

    She pried her eyes away from her wings to instead settle on the torn up umbrella in the girl’s hands. Ichigo blinked. What a strange thing to be carrying around. Especially one so torn up. For a moment she couldn’t help but be reminded of Purin. The girl didn’t look all the much older than her, honestly. 

   She carefully approached the child, pointing towards the umbrella in her hands, “Um.. hey there!” Well, this was an awkward way to approach someone, but.. oh well. “If you’d like I could fix that up for you!”

Seemed his speculation was right.  Quite new to the surroundings and no doubt new to the whole experience in general.  The information that he received here was more than enough to tell him just how he needed to handle the matter.  Take it slow and easy and only answer what is asked.  This went until he learned more about her or the situation arises to where he needed to speak more. Perhaps if he had his sharingan active, he would have even more information about her. Without it, he still could sense something about her.  She was possibly one that was ‘more than meets the eye.’

“It isn’t a trouble at all, Momomiya-san.  If anything, this is a part of my duty here.  I guess to explain in a simple term, I’m a peacekeeper of sort.” Which is a small detail to all he truly was.  Once more it was information he did not need to give out right away.  Though, would it be safer to give a warning?  Once the time came, he would.  Slow and steady.

“Where is it do you need to go?”

   She nodded. “A peacekeeper? Oh! Like a cop or something?” Well, good to know those were around here too. It made sense, she supposed, if this place was anything like a normal city it was natural for there to be people in it to maintain the law here. He didn’t exactly seem like a cop to her though. Or maybe that was just because back in Tokyo, the only cops she’d ever run into where the ones always in uniform. Regardless of the details, just knowing that alone made her start to relax, the clear nervousness from before slowly winding down to instead be replaced by a bright smile.

   “Right! Uh.. well. I was trying to get back to where all those apartments around here are. I kinda got turned around when I went to go explore a bit. I did hear there was a mall around here though. I never found that either.”

@strawbelled

– You’ve seen quite a few odd things since arriving here, most of which were in very mundane circumstances. Just crossing the street, you saw a real bear walking on two legs. Just casually. In a way it’s comforting to be in a place where everything abnormal is commonplace, and your curse hardly makes a splash in comparison.

So when you see a girl in a bubblegum pink dress, and live cat ears, it doesn’t phase you per say. But she looks tense for some reason. Maybe it isn’t your business. You could just keep walking. But you decide to check in and see what has her ears pinned back like that. You have more than enough experience with how cats look like when they are unhappy.

“Excuse me,” you say, approaching carefully.

“Is everything alright?”  

   Why was this city so dang confusing to navigate? Well, it wasn’t called The Spiral for nothing, she supposed. Still, all it took was one wrong turn and suddenly she found herself somewhere completely different. Or worse, right back to where she started. Where these the same building she had passed just passed twice? Or was it just a super similar looking building? Honestly it was hard to tell. Her tail swished.

   Well, at the very least this time she had only been out and about as Mew Strawberry to to get a better feel for the place, and not cause of any actual crime fighting. A hand moved up to the pendant on her neck, she was right about to detransform when she heard an unfamiliar voice behind her. Instantly her ears perked up, “Y-yeah! Super alright!” a surprised meow escaped her as she spun around to face the boy. A nervous laugh escaping her lips,