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Dite's Decadent Delights, Saturday

There were a lot of people in the house today. Or, well, it felt like a lot. And even though she wanted them all there, had encouraged Dante to invite them so they'd have a full house for Christmas, it still felt like there were a lot of people in the house. And, well, Isabela and Ada were Dante and Anders' friends, not hers. They'd all been friendly, at least before she'd run off and gotten herself killed, but never really friends.

So before lunch, Kathy had snagged her guitar, murmured some excuse about checking on the shop, and fled to 'Dite's where she could at least pretend to be doing something useful. So she'd spent about an hour or so tidying things that didn't need tidying and checking inventory that didn't need checking, before giving in and pulling out her guitar to practice that instead. White Wine in the Sun had been written for a piano, but there were enough guitar covers out there that she'd been able to learn that instead.

"I really like Christmas
It's sentimental, I know, but I just really like it
I am hardly religious
I'd rather break bread with Dawkins than Desmond Tutu
To be honest..."

She just needed to be able to get through the chorus around the lump in her throat. Hadn't happened yet, but that was what practice was for, right?

"I'll be seeing my dad
My brother and sisters, my gran and my mum
They'll be drinking white wine in the sun..."

[No OCD]

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Mitsutada had wondered exactly what sort of delights this store offered, and had finally decided to enter.

He paused to listen to the song, which was currently keeping him from bugging out a bit about exactly what sort of establishment he'd entered. He smiled, and listened, and gave the girl a nod instead of interrupting.

Kathy nodded at the man, vaguely recognizing him as one of the people who'd gone into the cave with her to fight the cultists. Normally, she would have put the guitar down as soon as she saw she'd had a customer, but he'd nodded, so...

And if my baby girl
When you're twenty-one or thirty-one
And Christmas comes around
And you find yourself nine thousand miles from home
You'll know what ever comes
Your brothers and sisters and me and your mum
Will be waiting for you--

And she couldn't go on. The lump in her throat had grown too big. Even without a witness, she would have had to stopped playing right there; his presence just made her take a few deep breaths to quell the tears. "Hi," she said, giving him a smile that needed a bit of shoring up around the edges. "Welcome to Dite's."

Imagine, if you will, a montage of jump cuts around the merchandise of the shop as Mitsutada finally took it all in, each with more dramatic music hits until he finally said something.

"Oh those sort of delights," he said, mainly to himself. Then he remembered he'd been addressed. "Excuse me, thank you, hello."

He put on a smile. "That was a lovely song."

Kathy actually appreciated those few moments where his attention wasn't on her. It meant she could wipe at her eyes and stomp on stupid feelings and ready her pleasant customer service mask. "Thanks," she said, running her hand over the guitar. "I heard it for the first time a month ago and I kinda fell in love with it. It's pretty much how I feel about Christmas."

With some bonus family feels in there to get her all choked up.

She gave him another smile, an understanding one this time. "Expected a candy shop? Wonka's isn't all that far if you'd like."

"It would be rude to leave a shop without buying anything," Mitsutada said, with a casual shrug. "I do not have any objections to your shop, just... was caught unexpected."

He snapped his fingers. "Though you're right, I was expecting something like candy." He paused for a second as the dawning recognition came over him. "You were my comrade last weekend, weren't you?"

"Errr," Kathy ducked her head a bit. "I was there, yeah." And had probably killed the evil version of her best friend. So, you know, there was that. "I don't think we were introduced though, what with all the nightmare-inducing tentacles and stuff." She tucked her hair behind her ear and then held out a hand. "Hi. I'm Kathy. Pleasure to meet you."

Mitsutada shook her hand with his own, gloved hand and gave her a smile. "It was a busy day. We had a mission to do, and we could not have done it without your help. Thank you."

"To introduce myself, I am Mitsutada Shokudaikiri."

Edited 2017-12-24 04:43 (UTC)

"I'm sure that if I hadn't volunteered, someone else would have been found," she said, hiding a small smile. "But I'm glad..." Well, not exactly glad she'd been there. "...that we were able to stop them."

That, at least, was true enough.

"Mitsutada Shokudaikiri?" Kathy frowned, trying to figure out where she knew that name from. "Like the sword?"

Mitsutada chuckled. "You mean this one?" he said, patting the saya of his tachi which lay at his hip. "Exactly like that. I am the soul of this sword, summoned to be a soldier."

"Yes, I know that sounds mad, but I promise it is true."

"I've been here long enough that nothing really sounds mad anymore," Kathy assured him.

She'd been a zombie a year ago, wandering blank-eyed through the ruins of her home city. Accepting the hard to believe was pretty easy after that.

"Well, welcome to the island, Shokudaikiri-san," she said politely. "I promise the island only tries to kill us every few months."

"Do people think the island itself causes this?" Mitsutada asked, genuinely interested. "Is it secretly alive?"

"I don't think anyone has a real understanding of it one way or another," Kathy said. "I think it's at least sentient if not quite sapient? But it's just one of those...things, I guess?" She shrugged. "Some people rail at the gods or fates or whatever. Here, we rail at the island."

Mitsutada definitely couldn't argue with that. He nodded to what she said. "This is true, even those of us who are not human look to greater powers."

He gave her a smile. "I would ask if you could make any recommendations for a purchase, but I feel that might be wholly inappropriate."

Kathy laughed. "No, no, it's okay!" she assured him. "I'm comfortable if you are. I can speak about a lot of these from an...academic standpoint? If you want? And then let you make your own choice."

She gave him an impish smile. "You're also free to leave without buying anything. I won't hold it against you, I promise. After all, you were expecting a confectioner's shop."

Mitsutada suddenly got an impish grin on his face.

"Oh, I think I know exactly what I should get. Do you gift wrap?"

"Of course!" Kathy said, beaming. "You have your choice between festive holiday, plain brown paper, and highly inappropriate."

"Festive sounds perfect," Mitsutada said. "I would like..."

He went on, describing exactly the sort of sexual aid that he thought would simultaneously be useful to, but also highly scandalize, Hasebe. A gift to remember him, as it were.

"Oh!" Kathy said brightly. "I know just the thing. Hang on!" She ducked out from behind the counter and poked around the aisles for a few moments until she found the item she was looking for. "Something like this?" she asked, bringing it back over for Mitsutada to inspect.

"Perfect!" Mitsutada said. "I think the giftee will like it, and he'll hate that I bought it for him. Exactly what I'm wanting."

He rubbed his hands together, almost gleefully. "Thank you for your help in this."

"Of course!" Kathy said with a laugh, going to ring him up. "It's a business doing pleasure with you."

That got a laugh out of Mitsutada. "An excellent slogan," he said, paying up.

"Thanks," she said, dimples deep in her face. She set the box down on the counter and reached for the festive wrapping paper. "Is this so your friend has no idea what's...coming, so to speak?" she asked. "So he'll open it all unsuspecting and surprise?"

Kathy was, as Mitsutada might notice, one of those precision wrappers who made sure every crease was ruler-straight, the patterns all lined up across the folds, and not an extra millimeter of tape was used that didn't have to be.

"Exactly," Mitsutada said. "He's very... uptight. But I know what's best for him."

"Excellent attention to detail with the wrapping. Very precise."

"Huh?" Kathy looked down at the gift and flushed slightly. "Oh! Thanks. I just--I like making sure the gifts are pretty."

Kathy was sometimes bad at accepting compliments. She'd say from strangers, but also just in general.

"Well, you succeed mightily. With style, even," Mitsutada said. "Hopefully you have lots of happy last minute customers today."

"And again, thank you for helping save the island."

"It's what a hero would do," Kathy said, her smile gone slightly wan.

She handed over the package, bow brightly wrapped and beribboned. "And thank you, too, for both the help and the patronage. Happy Holidays, Shokudaikiri-san."

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Dite's Decadent Delights, Saturday

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