Up Early (Isabella/Tomomi)

The paper hospital gown made a slight noise as the blonde slowly turned her left wrist, observing the fresh covering. A tilting of her wrist back and forth would follow, and the slow flexing of each finger after that. It was very much skin-like as far shape went, if a bit more smooth, but the coloration was a bit too even to look natural. And the there was of course the fact that the fingers appeared to lack fingernails.

"It all seems to work good, none of the joints seem hindered." Her tone was fairly flat, the older man standing a short distance away merely nodded, giving a small acknowledging hum. "And you already contacted the nail technician who would do my nails?" She would lower her arm, her face turning to the man. "Yes, yes I have. She told me you could come in around eleven. I already sent the details via e-mail." His voice was kind, soft, as the older man moved over to his desk, sitting down in front of the computer.

"And my next appointment with you?" She'd already begun removing the hospital gown, her bakc turned to him. The bare metal of her feet made a soft click or scratching sound with every small movement she made. "Should be two-to-three days. I already contacted my supplier about getting more materials. I just hadn't been expecting that I would need to replace the coverings for all three limbs at the same time." He raise his voice slightly, if only for sake of being heard, as neither of the two were directly facing one another.

The material I scraped off your feet wasn't just molten, it had begun to go through thermal degradation. I don't know what you did to get your system overclocking to such a level that you achieved that, nor am I going to ask. But I'm just going to advice you remain cautious." Isabella finished buckling her belt, grabbing the long boots sitting on the floor. She remained silent as she pulled the boots on, unsure what to say.

"Well, thank you for being able to help on such short notice. Hopefully I won't need to call you up again like this." The blonde finally answered, as she reached out to grab her coat from coat hanger.


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The short heels on her boots clicked against the pavement as she stepped out through the door onto the street, her left hand in her pocket, though a thin sliver of "skin" visible. In her right hand she held her smartphone, tapping rather lazily at the screen.  Though makeup could conceal some of the physical signs of fatigue, it couldn't mask her slightly slouched posture, and general sluggishness.

Without warning, a long yawn drew forth from her lips. Her eyes slid up to the clock at the top corner of the little screen. 08:27. A few stray rays of light filtered between the buildings as the sun slowly rose.  This was gonna be a long day.

"Coffee would be nice right about now..." Isabella found herself muttering under her breath.

With a yawn, Tomomi stepped outside his "house", walking out into the streets, before checking the time. 07.00. Yikes, why did he have to get up so early? Sighing and scratching his head, Tomomi recalled exactly why he was being dumb enough to go out this early, jacket slung over his shoulder. He was curious what sort of shops were found in the Emporium Stretch, so, felt like going for a trip to that side of the city to take a look. So, he took enough cash for a train ticket, and some money incase he wanted to get some sweets or a drink while there.

About an hour of walking and train riding later, Tomomi stepped off the train. 08.18. Right, now it was time to walk.

For a while, Tomomi had no real reason for walking, just generally enjoying walking around and taking in sights for the sake of walking around and taking in sights. Still, he was probably too early... Most of the shops weren't open yet, and the sky was still fairly dark as the sun was rising. Then, ahead of him, he saw a face that he could recognise. A friendly face that had found its way on the Tomomi List Of Recognising From A Distance! The TLORFAD for short. Not that he had thought about the name of it or anything, baka.

"Ah! Miss Isabella! Hi!" the boy called out, waving his hand, before realising that the action nearly caused his signature jacket to fall off his shoulder and readjusting it to ensure it stayed on.

Not much new that day it seemed. SMILE News was still closed, it seemed. At Least for a change she didn't have too much work piled up. "Though knowing her, that would change soon enough." The blonde uttered to herself, a dash of frustration in her voice.

That line of thought would be swiftly dropped as a voice would call out, a voice that had become quite familiar as of late. Her hand clutched the phone a bit more tightly as she lowered it, so as to not drop it, before turning her gaze toward the sound of the voice, and there was that mess of black hair that was hard to mistake.

"Well, if it isn't Tomomi. What has you up and about at this early an hour?" She asked, the frustration from her voice gone, though perhaps replaced with a hint of concern. His apartment was quite a long distance away, though the same could be said of herself as well. "Trouble sleeping last night?" It was subtle, the woman not wanting to directly refer to what had happened the past night with the rest of the playhouse members, not out in public like this.

At the questions, Tomomi offered a somewhat cheeky smile, as if he were caught misbehaving, or trying to steal from the cookie jar, before laughing slightly while rubbing at his hair. "Ah, um, not really? I mean, kind of, but, um, that's not why. I just kind of felt like going for a walk? I mean, well, when out on a really cool mission, known as... Litter picking!" He declared, giggling slightly before shaking his head. "So yeah, there's nothing really concerning there. How about you? This isn't really a big place for work, so..."

He trailed off, eyes glancing down slightly at Isabella's hand. Last he saw her, her arm was a lot less... Fleshy. If he had to describe it, he'd say prior it looked like that one character, the Exterminator. If he had to guess, that was the reason her arm was in her pocket. "Ah! Um... Is your arm doing any better?" he asked, tilting his head, while purposefully avoiding any mention of why he would be concerned so as to not alert any passerby's as to why he would need to be concerned.

Wow, speaking in code was cool!

"Well, I guess being up early for work is all well and good, but I just hope your school performance isn't suffering due to it." she'd smile, though there was a hint of strictness to her voice, though of the caring sort.

But when the conversation shifted to her arm, her gaze momentarily shifted down to her pocket, the woman cursing internally. She'd been careless. "Oh, yes, it's good. I just came back from arranging a meeting with a specialist to get a manicure. My nails look awful." It was... Half-true, close enough that he'd hopefully understand, but hopefully ambiguous enough that anyone who might be listening would just shrug it off. Still, she pushed the hand in a little deeper into her pocket, just to be safe.

"I was thinking about getting some coffee. Would you perhaps care to join me?" Isabella would ask the youth, putting her phone away.

At the reaction to Tomomi's question, he just nodded as if it answered everything and left it as a matter of fact to ignore for now. It wasn't something to talk about in public, and he wouldn't throw her under the bus. So, he just moved on, keeping his posture relaxed and open.

At the offer for coffee, Tomomi nodded, chiming in with a bit of a giggle. "Yeah, I'd love to! I mean, this early in the morning, I think everyone could use the caffeine! Does that mean you know a place that does coffee around here? Because, outside of for work, I'll admit I do not usually come around this way, so, I don't really know much of the normal shops around here. Admittedly, I know there's a casino, although, outside of being too young to gamble, and not being a big gambler, it's... Very flashy and um... Is the word overly fancy? I-idunno. The manager's a nice enough guy though..."

At that, Tomomi quickly shook his head. "A-ah, um, sorry for gossiping. And um, regarding what you said earlier, you don't need to worry! I've been making sure to keep on top of my studies!"

Well, it seemed he was up for coffee, although the boy would then go on to explain about how he didn't know much about shops around here, something she could relate to. But then he mentioned a casino, something she recall hearing about a few times, but had never really paid much attention to.

He'd soon enough be apologizing about gossiping, the woman reaching out her right hand and ruffling his hair a bit, herself letting out a small chuckle. "I don't really know any coffee shops aound here, I'll admit. I usually don't come here often, and even more rarely at this early an hour. But I can look one up on my phone, or we can just walk around until we stumble upon one, whichever you'd like."

Whichever he might pick, she'd wait for a moment, before grabbing onto one bit that theyoung male had mentioned a moment ago. "You mentioned knowing the manager of the casino or something like that? I'm somewhat curious how a schoolboy would make an acquintance of someone like that, if you'll allow me to pry?"

At the rustling of his hair, Tomomi giggled a bit, before listening to what she had to say. It seemed she also didn't know much about coffee shops around here. So, Tomomi shrugged, replying simply. "In that case, should we just, um, walk around? I mean, it's a nice enough day, and we might find something interesting while we walk?"

As the two were walking, Isabella asked about the casino, or, more specifically, how Tomomi of all people got the attention of the casino manager. At this, Tomomi let out a slightly nervous laugh, rubbing at the back of his neck awkwardly. "Ah! Um, well, first was that I was sent on loan for the day to do after work clean up at his casino during the evening - he'd hired the temporary use of one of us or something I think from the management, I um... Don't know how that works? It just did."

Coughing, Tomomi shook his head, before continuing. "So yeah, um, he talked to me while I worked and eventually did a bit of the clearing himself, and since then I've sort of seen him around a bit every now and again. It's a... Very luxury casino, to the point that I think I had to do a double take at it. Like... Super large, at least six floors, big. It was baffoling. Fabbling? Faffling? Bafflefaffle? Um... Surprising!"

She would offer the other a smile and a nod. She certainly preferred good company when in search of coffee. "Walking it is then." And so they did.

She'd listen to the young male as he explained about how he'd met this casino manager. Loaned out? So he said, makes sense in a way. "I guess it's easier to pay a bigger company to loan an employee or employees than to go through the hassle of a recruiting and hiring process, especially if it's only for special occasions."

At his continued explanation of the size of this casino, she merely shrugged. "I personally don't understand the allure of gambling, frankly I see it as being quite... what's the word? Predatory? With all that extravagant luxury pushing people to spend and spend and spend..." Again she'd shrug, pausing for a moment. "But I suppose that's just how things work. Some find escapism in activities like that, and with everything that has been going on as of late, I don't blame people for wanting a chance to forget the worries of the daily grind for at least a moment." Her tone had turned more somber, her gaze having turned upward, toward the skyline imposed by the many buildings.

Listening, Tomomi nodded his head in agreement, despite not actually knowing what some of the words meant. Further, her comment about gambling made some sense, although to Tomomi, predatory was a term for meat eating animal habits, like hunting, or traps. Wait, was gambling like, a carnivore thing? That would explain... Literally nothing. Still, that was now the idea the poor boy had stuck in his head, completely unaware of his misinterpretation.

"Escape... Mism? Escapims? Escarpins? Escapesim? Um... I-I know it's pr-probably really dumb, but, um... W-what does that word mean?" he asked, looking down at the ground in thought with a hand to his chin in contrast to her gazing to the sky, thoughtfully trying to figure it out rather unsuccessfully. He also didn't understand extravagant, but to him, that was a word that probably went with luxury, so, he could figure that out at least? Regardless, he scratched at his head for a moment, looking back up to try and keep an eye out for an open coffee shop.

"A-ah! There's one!... W-wait, no... Opens in the afternoon... Darn..."

She pulled er eyes down, tilting them down to the other. "Escapsim is... How would I put this. It's... You know how when you're faced with something... You dislike? And how sometimes you'd just prefer to do something to distract yourself from it? To forget it for a moment? That's what escapism is. Or well, to be more specific, escapism describes the tendency toward that kind of behavior." She would explain, tohugh half-way through her explanation looking up and along the path they were walking, trying to spot a coffee shop. "I would imagine that sometimes when... Say you're doing boring homework, or writing a paper for school about some arduous subject, and you've had the urge to pick up something like a comic book or the like. That's, what I mean by escapism." Having finished those words, she reached ovr to ruffle the young boy's hair a bit.

Isabella found her attention drawn to where Tomomi was looking, indeed there was a coffee shop, but it wouldn't be open for several hours. She wouldn't say anything, instead pulling out her phone and tapping at the screen for a moment, until she had a search engine open on the screen. The little bar indicating where the touch screen was entered text flashed in the text field. But she didn't type, instead tapping the button on the side and pocketing the phone again. "I'm not really surprised if most places aren't open this early. Should we keep looking?"

As Isabella gave Tomomi a lesson on the definition of escapism, the boy made a slight "oooohhhhh" before nodding and offering her a grin. Then, when she gave her example, before he could make another "Ohhhh", the boy found his hair ruffled once more, giggling a bit. What was it with people and ruffling his hair? Ah well, he wasn't going to complain, it was fun.

Waiting as Isabella typed on her phone, before pocketing it again, Tomomi tilted his head confused, Tomomi shrugged at her question. "I um... I guess we could? I don't really have anywhere to be, so, just walking around aimlessly is fine by me, but, do you have anywhere to be? I don't want to waste your time looking for an open coffee shop if you have like, work or something to do." He declared, nodding his head again, and continuing to look regardless of what he said, evidently not giving up while waiting for Isabella's choice.

There was a smile from the woman, such a considerate young man. "No need to worry about that. I told my editor I would be occupied for the day, since I didn't know how long my appointment earlier would take." There was pause. "Well, that, and I honestly was in no mood to deal with her, not today."

Isabella resumed waling, albeit somewhat slower."On a morning like this, I'd much rather spend time with someone whose company I enjoy, doubly so if the other option is having to deal with whatever stupid idea my editor managed to dream up." Her attention would remain mostly on Tomomi as she spoke, though her gaze would shift a little further down the street, to where an elder man was just carrying out a sign onto the street. She couldn't quite make out what was on the segment of chalkboard that made up the face of the sign, but it kinda looked like a scribbling of an old-time-y coffee pot.

As Isabella explained her lack of needing to go to work in a hurry, Tomomi's smile returned, evidently glad his meeting with someone he considered a role model and friend to not have to be cut short. "Great!" He exclaimed after Isabella finished speaking, before putting his hands over his mouth. "O-oh! Um, not l-like, with the um, e-e-editor situation! Sorry!"

When Isabella's gaze shifted, Tomomi turned to follow where she was looking, squinting slightly to see the sign before heading over to get a closer look at the sign, evidently not able to see the sign from that far away and curious enough to read it. "Hey! Isabella! Let's check that thingy placey out! I mean, it has chalkboard! That's like, a really classic coffee shop thing right? Or, is that only in the movies?" He asked, voice seeming to grow disappointed at the thought as he looked up at the reporter.

It was kinda cute how Tomomi could be just ever so slgihtly clumsy with his words. There was a certain endearing quality to it. "It's okay Tomomi, I got what you meant." She said, a small smile on her face. "An unfortunate part about being an adult is that sometimes you just have to deal with people you wouldn't deal with, if you had the choice."

There was a pause, as she considered her words. "So it is kinda nice when you can use things like this as an excuse to not have to deal with those kind of people. Doubly so when the excuse is totally legitimate on a technicality." While her expression had briefly shifted to more netural one there, it quickly turned to a smile again, though a slightly devious one. Even if she by some miracle she did see her editor, she knew she could simply tell her to piss off, as she had a completely legitimate reason to not be working.

Well, maybe she wouldn't use that choice of words. But it was a fun scenario to imagine.

The chalkboard certainly looked promising, the blonde nodding to the youth as she followed. "I've seen things like that a few times. It's usually the more... High-end, expensive places that seem to have those chalkboards." She would explain as she resumed her approach. "I guess most places just don't bother, especially this time of year, since so much as a little bit of rain can ruin whatever is on the board." Isabella's explanation resumed. The elderly man was carrying out a small, round table with one chair held in the bend of his elbow.

Closer inspection would reveal the name of a cafe on he chalkboard, along with some prices, for what seemed to be special offerings of the day.