thenearshore | Beggars can't be choosers

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Beggars can't be choosers

Who: Wendy and Shun
What: (Prayer 49)
When: backdated to August 20
Where: The Near Shore, a little restaurant

Ugh. How typical that when she needs to figure out a prayer all by herself, it's a lot more difficult than she thought it would be. But then again... Maybe it's because this is something that she's sort of out of her dept for.

The frustration of it has Wendy pacing in aggravation outside the windows of a little restaurant on the Near Shore, shadows from the setting sun stretching long and dark. Nothing fancy today, just a simple t-shirt and jeans, letting her pace as much as she wants with her knuckles pressed against her lips. She needs someone a lot more intimidating... A lot more believable. But who?

Which is when she spots a familiar face down the street.

Immediately, Wendy bounces up and down, her arms waving through the air. "Shun! Shun!"

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Considering what ended up being the first thing of Shun's morning today, he's a little preoccupied as he walks down the street, mostly out of wondering whether he should get something to cheer someone up or just do something. It's kind of hard to miss Wendy shouting his name and waving at him from down the road, though, so despite a somewhat confused frown at what the ruckus is about, he nods slightly to show that he's heard her and heads over.

The restaurant gets little more than a passing glance before he looks down to her, not looking any more enlightened as to why she needed his attention that badly. "What?"

Success.

As Shun clearly shifts his attention to her, Wendy stops making a commotion that really only he can see anyway. Once he's close enough, she bows her head slightly and utilizes the best set of puppy eyes she can manage.

It probably won't work on Shun, but she gives it a try anyway.

"I really need your help with something.... It's not something I can do myself, I think."

Puppy eyes definitely do not work on Shun, and that just makes him narrow his eyes in suspicion as she does it. Wendy isn't even the first person to try them on him and fail.

"Then out with it, instead of trying to get sympathy by looking at me like that. It's not going to work."

He crosses his arms and eyes her off, manner similar to a stern parent waiting for an explanation.

Well, if he's going to act like that.... Laughing, she eases back. "Yeah, you're the kind of guy who would rescue a puppy stuck in a gutter with that exact same expression."

But the important thing is that she's pretty sure he would in fact rescue the puppy. Shun has a sour face but a good heart, she's figured out. Sure, there are limits, and he has no patience for bullshit, but he's still not bad.

"Anyway, do you see that girl in there?" She points at the window, making sure to draw attention to a woman sitting at a table with a guy. A smile is sort of frozen on her face as he talks away, and anyone with half sense can tell she looks uncomfortable. It probably says something to the guy that he's still going along so casually.

"I don't see why that's a problem," he replies, though there's something a little reserved about the reaction more than annoyed. It seems pretty clear Wendy herself doesn't mind it, it's mostly just that he's used to people complaining and making a point of it.

At Wendy's indication, Shun looks through the cafe window and spots the woman and the man sitting together. Even from here, he can see that glassy-eyed, frozen expression, and while he probably would have taken a lot longer to put two and two together a few months ago, at this point he can tell what's happening here just about immediately, and a rather obvious scowl creeps onto his face.

"I'm not sure whether it's worse to think that guy is so stupid he can't tell she's not interested in him, or he just doesn't care."

"Right!?" She's glad that Shun has caught on so quickly, because that means she can be righteously indignant all the faster. Wendy stomps her foot slightly, which isn't as impressive as she'd like it to be. "Guys like that are such pains!"

But then... Turning on her heel, she faces Shun again. "That's what I need your help with. It's a prayer that I overheard, that she has someone help get her out of this mess. I'm just a kid, so I was debating on if I'd be good enough..." Her hand sweeps out to gesture at Shun.

"And then you showed up! And you have such a scary face that I figured you'd definitely be able to help somehow."

"People who can't take a hint in general are a pain, but this is more personal than that usually is."

At least Shun can understand that much, even if a lot of the people he considers a pain are the ones to try to pry into his past or similar when he'd rather not let them. That's personal, but romance is still a different kind of personal.

Considering the situation, Wendy's explanation doesn't particularly come as a surprise, and Shun lets out a breath of frustration before heading over to the cafe door.

"If he can't take a hint from someone other than her, I can just throw him out. Either way, I'm not letting something like that keep going."

Holy shit. Instead of stopping him in any way, Wendy just starts to look almost maliciously delighted. Her shoes click against the pavement as she skips after him, eyes sparkling and hair bobbing.

"You're really just going to heave him up and toss him out?" she asks, positively gleeful. This is exactly why she's glad she called Shun over.

"If he doesn't respond to anything less. Some people need a sharp shock instead of words."

Shun is remarkably nonchalant about Wendy's reaction, possibly because he's now seen a memory of her trying to kill someone, and possibly because he knows others who he imagines would react the same way. But mostly because he figures this guy deserves what he gets if he's stupid enough to not take what hint Shun drops first.

Though 'hint' may not be the best word. After heading into the cafe, Shun makes no bones about what they're there for, going straight over to the table. The girl looks practically like she's trying to crawl off her seat by now, with the guy going on about how great he is at kendo and how all the girls fawn over him about it.

Shun's hand lands on the guy's shoulder with a sharpness that draws the attention of both at the table to him. "Then I would've thought you'd be observant enough to figure out you're not wanted here."

The guy turns his head like he's got something to prove, though the mingling sour note with the anger in his face says he's fully aware of the fact. "Yeah? And who made it your business, huh?"

The woman hides her face in her hands, though she's peeking through her fingers as if to see what happens for herself.

Considering her tiny size and apparent age, there's no way Wendy is going to be helpful in the intimidation part of this whole process. The fact that her long hair tends to be in a braid or pigtails, and those big childish eyes.... Well, yeah. It doesn't help.

So. Intimidation, no. But heckling?

As Shun gets to the table, Wendy swerves around to the other side of the idiot's chair. There's no doubt about how much she's looking forward to inevitable expulsion, a shine in her eyes and her grin sharp. The only way she could look any more delighted is if it was her, personally, that was going to shove him out of his chair. "You did," she announces cheerfully before her voice takes a sharp mocking turn. "Don't you know it becomes a public issue when a man is so full of himself? I was getting second hand embarrassment just watching you! Someone has to do something, you know."

The guy's head swivels around to look at Wendy, and he gives a spitting noise like she's not worth his time. "A kid like you hasn't got shit to say about--"

That's as far as he gets before Shun's patience, rather short in this instance, runs out, and he grabs the guy firmly by the collar and lifts him up. Though he flails a bit, it slowly seems to be dawning on the failed dater that all his kendo skills aren't going to do much against someone holding him aloft with one hand that he could likely also very easily use to throw him out the door. Or through it.

"I'll make it simple for you. Nobody wants you here. Get out, or I'll make you get out."

With that, Shun casts the guy onto the floor, where he lands rather sharply on his tailbone.

A thrilled whoop rises up when Shun finally goes into action, and Wendy actually hops in delight as if she's a cheerleader at some sporting event instead of a small child (???) watching a full grown adult get dragged out of his seat by a teenager. The indignity isn't going to stop there for the wannabe cassanova, either. As he goes crashing down onto the floor, Wendy jerks in surprise.

"Shun, wait!" Immediately she's darting over, stopping right at the same time that she smashes a kick straight into the man's shoulder from where he is on the ground. For how small she might be, Wendy doesn't hold back... and she had a running start.

"We can't kick him out before he pays for his part of the meal!" She's half inclined to just steal his wallet, but people are paying attention to this clusterfuck now. It's best to play it safe.

....As much as kicking a fallen man is 'safe'.

Shun is mostly waiting to see what the guy's reaction is, though the reeling back from Wendy's kick to the guy's shoulder pretty effectively stops any kind of retaliation that might have been about to happen. Though the guy already looks incensed, and even more so at the fact that they're being watched, he looks like he's half considering just slipping away while he has the chance.

Wendy's suggestion has its merits, however, and Shun nods a little, eying the guy off. "It's only fair. You're the only one who wanted to be here after the first few minutes, so you might as well pay for all of it."

While he might have turned down every instance, people have generally offered to pay Shun's half of eating out if they perceive that he's being dragged into it. So he knows the social courtesy exists, and it's one that feels appropriate here.

While the guy looks like he's about to protest, he somewhat reluctantly starts reaching for his wallet. The entire thing wouldn't be much more than a few hundred or maybe a thousand yen anyway, considering all that's on the table is a drink each and a shared appetiser. It seems like, for now at least, the guy considers this a wiser idea than starting a fight.

On one hand, it's almost a shame that he doesn't put up more of a fight. Wendy still has plenty more kicks in her and, frankly, she still wants her show of seeing Shun fling a man bodily out of a restaurant. Still, she has to admit this is for the best. This is fun and all, but the prayer comes first.

That doesn't mean she takes her eye off the guy. She even leans forward a little bit, fists on her hips, watching him with the kind of unimpressed look that a teacher might have over a student she's sick of. When the money is fetched out of the wallet, her hand snaps out with lightning speed and she hops up with a twirl.

"Got it! Everything's paid for!"

The guy definitely looks more irked at having the money grabbed out of his hand, but since Wendy darts back so quickly, he can't really go for her without having to try going through Shun first. And when Shun gives him a rather pointed glare, he starts to get up without much resistance.

He's not quite fully upright when he tries to throw a punch at Shun, though, and a few people gasp and one or two even shift as if to intervene before Shun grabs the incoming hand with no trouble. He lets it be like that for a moment before twisting harshly, not enough to actually break the guy's arm, but enough to drag him downwards and make him cry out in pain.

"Bad idea. But I figured it was going to be like that anyway."

Scything the guy's feet out from under him, Shun yanks up on the arm as the guy drops, making it an extremely painful grip as he starts dragging him towards the door.

Oh, Wendy hears the scuffle of feet and the grunt of exertion behind her enough to guess at what the jerk has just tried to do. But she's in no hurry as she places the money down on the table and spins around on her heel just in time to see Shun twist the guy's arm. Her responding cackle is delighted. When Shun sweeps his legs underneath him, she even bounces a little, clapping her hands.

"That'll show him!" she says, bouncing right behind Shun and occasionally kicking or stomping at any part of the would be date's body that doesn't go fast enough. "This is what you get for being a pompous jerk!" It's also what he gets for thinking he can get one over on Shun, but he's probably learned that.

The guy makes a few attempts to struggle, especially in the wake of Wendy stomping at his extremities, but Shun's grip is firm, and he drags the guy all the way out the door and onto the street. He looks from side to side for a moment to see if there's any good places to dump him, but unfortunately, the path is narrow and busy enough that he can't really just sling the guy somewhere without risking hitting someone else.

There is an alleyway off to the side, though, and Shun twists the man's arm up tighter as he drags him around the corner. Ideally, he'd like something that's definitely going to keep the guy occupied for the time it'll take the woman to get out of this area, and so the dumpster a few metres in presents too good an opportunity to be ignored.

With an expression as detached as he has been for this entire exchange, Shun pulls the guy over, and then heaves him up and flips him straight into the dumpster. The soft sound of food scraps compressing heralds his landing, and Shun dusts himself off rather nonchalantly as he turns away, letting the lid fall closed behind him.

"Should give her enough time to leave without getting bothered by him again."

If Shun wasn't so reliable, Wendy would have offered to help him. Sure, she's tiny, and thus can't help lift a guy up into a dumpster, but she figures she could have gotten on top and got the lid for him. As it is, she's really unnecessary for this part.

Not that she's arguing. It means she gets to spend all her time laughing and watching once the guy is hauled upwards.

And that is that.

"I bet she'll forget how it happened soon enough, too," Wendy says cheerfully as she twist on her heel, ready to walk alongside him. There's no need to rush. What's anyone going to do, call the police on them? They're fine. "I owe you one. Are you just patrolling, or whatever?"

"Probably. I doubt he'll remember it for more than a few minutes more either," Shun points out, heading off at his usual brisk, but not hasty pace. "And I wasn't, actually. I don't trust the food in the Heavens, so I still need to buy groceries sometimes."

It sounds a little like he's thinking about something else, too, though obviously not something he's going to be forthcoming about. Then again, Shun doesn't tend to be particularly forthcoming about anything when he doesn't need to be.

"Why were you out here, anyway? Unless it was just because of that prayer."

As she lightly skips after him, just enough to keep pace, Wendy blinks. "Oh, good for you," she says, not mocking at all. Shun really does seem like the type sometimes to get caught up in other stuff and not do the basic sensible things. Honestly, she's surprised. Not to mention it makes for sort of a funny mental image.... Shun, pushing a grocery cart around, wearing that too serious expression and his usual ridiculous clothes.

....Heh.

"Anyway, it was mostly the prayer! But I was going to look at this dance studio." Her head tilts to the side. "You'll get healthy food, right?"

Shun gives her a bit of an odd look at the fact that it doesn't sound like that approval is a joke, but eventually just shakes his head and turns his attention back to the front. He does make himself busy, but he also factors in mundane things like groceries to his schedule. It's supposed to be his responsibility to keep the temple up, after all.

Shun isn't too surprised she's here to look at a dance studio, considering her god, and he just shrugs at the question. "I just get basic things so people can cook what they like with them. The fact that it's healthy food is just because that's usually what food staples are."

Things like eggs and meat are a little less so, but they're still not nearly as bad as a lot of what's available. But that's not really something he considers an issue right now.

"If you have somewhere to be, I won't hold you up."

Good to know he's sensible. Wendy wonders if that means he cooks himself, and what he can manage if he does. Later, later. For now, he has a good point, and Wendy skips ahead a few steps to turn around to grin at him.

"Then I'll see you later! Thanks again, Shun. I wouldn't have had as easy a time if it'd been me on my own."

"People like that deserve whatever they get. I didn't do anything significant."

By his standards, at least. For someone who once started a ten person prison cafeteria brawl, dragging someone out of a cafe and throwing them into a dumpster isn't really that big a deal.

Still, he starts to move off himself with a short nod rather than an actual farewell.

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