Spellheart

Momoko stifles a snicker all through Marcy and the Hostess' interaction, mainly because of the hostess calling Marcy a 'young girl'. She manages to keep it under cover, thankfully. Her eyes widen at what the hostess says, and she laughs a little. "Thanks, but..." she decides not to say anything, since it would be a bother to explain the whole scenario.

Once they're seated, Momoko finally lets herself laugh a little. "She thought we were sisters!" She whispered to the kid across the table.
 
Marcy smiles, not really upset much by the implication that she was a kid, "Well, I think I'd think the same in her position. Sure we don't look all that much alike, but I could be adopted." Smirking, "And besides, what other reason would a grown woman have for toting around a child too old to be her kid?"

A waiter comes by briefly to get appetizers and drinks prepared for the girls. Marcy orders the lemon lime soda, Spritely, with chips and queso for her and Momoko to share.
 
Momoko opens her mouth for a second, but then closes it, giggles and shakes her head. "Never mind," she says, turning her attention to the waiter. "Just orange juice for me, thanks," she says with a smile.
 
After enjoying a meal of middling quality, the hostess from before comes back with a beaming smile. "So, I told you I had the next best thing, and here he is. Da da da da! Meet the owner of Finest Hour, Renji Globecaster!"

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"I heard that there was a group of ladies who wanted to support me and my restaurant with their patronage, and I just wanted to personally express my appreciation that I might serve you." Renji offers a bow, "I know there are many places which offer a better experience than mine without my keystone illusionspace projection fields, and the intimidation of eating in the place where an unprecedented attack occurred. Therefore, I wanted to offer you girls this coupon." Renji presents the voucher, "It is good for clearing out one of my six rooms to host your own private party. I will be working hard to install the proper security measures to ensure this does not happen again, and I will be looking forward to your continued patronage. Thank you for supporting my work."
 
Momoko finishes off her steak, mouth still full as she turns to look at the hostess. Her eyebrows raise at the name, and it bounces around in her head as the man walks forwards. He's good looking enough, but she can't get the name 'Globecaster' out of her head. She swallows the food in her mouth and reaches out to take the coupon. "Thanks," she says slowly, trying to remember where she heard the name. Suddenly, her eyes widen and she sits upright in her seat. "Hold on...is your name Globecaster...like Izzac Globecaster?" She asks, voice slow and low.
 
The man laughs, "It isn't often that someone recognizes my family name." Clearing his throat, Renji once again introduces himself, "My name is Renji Globecaster, a blood descendant of Izzac Globecaster."
 
Momoko pulls her lips into her mouth, glancing over at Marcy with her eyes glittering. She takes a deep breath and composes herself, smiling up eagerly at Renji. "My father's from a big line of Illusionspace Engineers himself, so your family's influenced ours a lot!" She says with a chuckle.
 
Renji smiles, "Well, the only other line of Illusionspace engineers I can think of worth mentioning would be the Silverblade family. Would that make you little Momoko? Takehiko told me all about you. I don't know if you heard, but his insight was invaluable in creating the Illusionspace Projector Field. I believe this is our first time meeting. I'm sure your Dad will be delighted to hear about our chance encounter."
 
Momoko holds her breath for a second, stunned. In all honesty, she knows next to nothing of her father's workplace endeavours. All she knows is that he has a fair bit of skill on him and that he has been making her Illusionspaces from the day that she was born. She blinks a few times to clear her shock. "Oh!" She says at first. "I didn't realise you two were familiar!" She admits.
 
Renji pats Momoko on the head, "That sounds just like him." Glancing towards his crystal ball, "Well, unfortunately, these security protocols don't implement themselves. As much a pleasure as this has been, I need to make good on my promise to get this place back up and running. A lot of people are counting on me to restore systems quickly. So I'm afraid I must take my leave." Renji turns to go back into the main hallway but turns around just before out of sight, "Momoko, do your best to defend our lovely home."
 
Momoko nods quickly. "Yeah, I'm sure this place is amazing when everything's going full force!" She says, glancing around at the bare walls. She beams back at him. "Will do, sir!" She chirrups. She looks back at Marcy, holding the voucher up. "Any ideas for this?" She asks.
 
Momoko smirks, having been more or less the third wheel in spite of being a large reason for the interaction taking place in the first place. Almost teasingly with an almost musical tone, "No idea, but I got to learn a lot about you today. This was a good date." Marcy gives Momoko a peck on the cheek before once again reaching for Momoko's hand. Where before it might have been warranted, this time, it wasn't crowded outside.
 
Momoko brushes off the use of the word 'date', but she can't really ignore a kiss on the cheek. She turns a little red and dabs at her cheek with her sleeve as if she could get rid of the blush. She sheepishly stands up and takes Marcy's hand, walking towards the restaurant's doors.
 
Coming back from the restaurant, Momoko and Marcy make small talk on the way back to Amiko's place. Marcy seemed to be more about being led than leading all throughout the day, but now she seemed ready to take charge, moving at a pace just a little too slow to be a fast walk. Since they headed back, Marcy's eyes seemed less focused on Momoko than they were before, instead looking straight at the road ahead of them. When they reach the house, it seems to be in more or less the same state that it had been in. The only difference had yet to be discovered.
 
Momoko feels painfully awkward on the walk back, her answers to the small talk being more mumbly than they would normally be had there not been any sort of romantic hinting previously. She's pretty relieved to see the house, and takes up walking a few steps in front of Marcy. She reaches the door first, stepping inside and slipping her hand out of Marcy's. She glances at Amiko's closed door and then at Marcy, waiting for her to take the lead.
 
Opening the door, Marcy goes into Amiko's room as if she were trying to avoid waking her up, leaning in slowly with her eyes focused on the interior as if there might be some sort of terrible beast on the other side. Fortunately, as this was not a horror film, Amiko could be found awake on the other side. Still just as disheveled as before, her hair was a frightsome mess, and her body odor had only worsened over time. Yet, this time she didn't look as lost. As Momoko entered the room, Amiko's vision snapped to her, and her eyes refocused. Amiko then places her hand on her chest, then her face, then hugging herself as she falls forward. Then she speaks in a voice filled with a sense of mortal terror, "Is this real?" The way she trembled as she said that resembled the way a dog cows after being kicked.

Marcy looks towards Momoko with a sense of bewilderment but then springs into action as she registers the situation. Moving to Amiko's side, Marcy embraces her into a particularly intense hug. "You made it Ami. You left the illusionspace a while ago now. I'm real as can be, you know. Momoko's here too."

Amiko repeats the word as if she were trying to understand what it meant, "Momoko..."
 
Momoko suppresses a wince at Amiko's appearance, but her pity is quickly replaced with a shudder of shock at Amiko's reaction to her presence. She physically jumps, own eyes widening as she watches the reaction. She looks to Marcy again for guidance, and watches how she reacts. She kept her distance, letting the two have some space. She tried to catch Marcy's eye, and mouths at her 'Was that my fault?'
 
Marcy speaks back to Momoko, "Amiko is just, waking up from a particularly bad dream right now. It's a good thing, even if it doesn't feel that way. We just need to wait for her, you know." Marcy strokes Amiko's hair, looking fairly uncomfortable as she holds the shaken Amiko.

Amiko's expression meanwhile moves from a scared expression to a deathly quiet one. Her trembling stops, and she almost seems normal for a moment. She starts crying, gripping Marcy with only a loose grip though her expression suggested she had tried to do so with all her might. With a quivering, unsteady tone, "I'm home, Marcy."

Marcy continues to stroke her, this time across her back, "Welcome back Ami. I missed you, you know."
 
Momoko nods understandingly, sitting down on the bed a foot or two away from Amiko and Marcy to give them ample space. She avoids looking directly at them, just keeping her head pointed at the floor and watching the two from the corner of her eye. She hears the quiet words the two exchange, and she has to fight down tears of her own. This is worse than any sad movie she's ever cried at before. Her eyes drift to the tea that she made for Amiko. It was cold, but untouched. "You...you guys want some tea, or anything?" She asks carefully.
 
Picking up on the hint, Marcy nods. "Actually, she is probably going to want elixir after what I'm about to do... Now that she can understand what is happening, I'm going to take care of the hygiene problem." Smiling ironically, "I mean, the Amiko I know would never want to be like this."

Amiko of course, could hear everything that Marcy had proposed. A twisting of emotions occurs as she seems anxious about the idea, yet obviously understanding of the dire need. In a move of uncharacteristic shyness from the usual confident princessly figure, Amiko blushes, "You don't have to treat me like a child you know..." Yet, she still clings to Marcy, using her to sit up in the bed. If it wasn't obvious before, it was now. Amiko had wet the bed while they were away.

Marcy, rather than having to deal with maneuvering Amiko out of the bed, simply opts to pick her up right out of her feet. Seeing someone as small as her lift the much older Amiko was an amusing sight, but it looked as though Amiko might die of embarrassment. Marcy didn't even need to say anything and seemed to derive a great deal of pleasure from these interactions. Turning to face Momoko, "You probably don't want to be around for this part, so you can wait out in the living room. We'll need to drag this one out of her room a bit, so I'll meet you there with Amiko after we're done." Amiko doesn't look like one for words. Unlike before, she seems to be avoiding eye contact with Momoko.
 
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