Cotton Candies [Open]

[Vice Ysal]

"Do I look good in this?"

It was a voice that did not exude confidence. A sense of insecurity actually tangible in those few spoken words as the one who was wearing a rather uncommon outfit fiddled with the long sleeves made available by the clothing. The person's long black hair had been fixed to make sure that it would fit the idea of the festival. Naturally steely eyes were softened in order to have it not scare away people. Most of all however was the outfit, a dark blue male yukata that just seemed to be tailored to the young graduate's form. Biker jackets were one thing, the leather material in them providing protection despite what a lot of people would count as a constraining design. This cottony kind of fabric however would not be able to last against any kind of attack and the way it was manufactured and worn made it difficult to do any kind of extensive action that one would usually find in a fight. It was rather thin as well so the possibility of hiding anything underneath his clothes were non-existent.

He hated being convinced to do things he didn't want to do, even if the rewards for it far out weighed the costs. Wiping off the annoyed look that was beginning to be visible on his face, apparently the smile was a required addition to the very outfit itself, Vice once more had to make sure that his hair was fixed. The raised pony-tail, feudal japan-esque that it was, felt awkward due to the breeze that kept hitting against the back of his neck. The exposed sensation just felt weird. Still, the youth did his best to ignore it in favour of finishing up his appearance. His companion, one of the many faces from university that had been more or less simply used as a stepping stone for advancement, had been the one to rope him into this and through one method or another in order to increase the possible sales of the kiosk he had set up.

"Fine. I deserve a cut of the profits though, and the favours."

The User reminded as he pulled up the sleeves of his male yukata and pulled up the rope like material he had for the uniform to keep them from falling down to his sleeves. Raising up the signs to get everything visible and to have the colourful designs attract the children, and by extension their families, Vice then returned to the booth again and made sure to give out the most disarming and charming smile he could. He didn't need acting classes to get it down, nor did he require any kind of make up for his face. All the graduate needed was a bit of enthusiasm and a couple of tension raising hand signals to get the competitions rolling. Soon enough, their kiosk like many others, a different hub of customers had finally begun to congregate to their area. The splashing of water and the small orange tinted fish in the aquarium that had been set up suddenly became the focus of the group.

Watching with an outwardly amused face, though he was more or less seeing this as a boorish way of spending time, Vice continued his actions in order to keep the customers piling up. Hopefully, he'd see a familiar face in a bit to find some entertainment for himself. Doing this all night was going to kill his cheeks and he'd actually want to not smile come the following morning.

[Jaelyn Callahan]

This place...what was wrong with this place? Why was a Valentine's Day festival being held at a shrine? Why was there a shrine at all? And why was the girl in the red and white who seemed to be in charge of the whole thing even worse at trying to get handouts than Jaelyn herself was? Even next to the whole idea of shadow monsters, a ruined half of the city that looked normal from the inside, and summoning something called a 'Persona' by shooting herself in the head, this festival just seemed weird to Jaelyn. And on top of it all, she was there, alone, when it seemed like everyone was paired off with friends or dates.

Needless to say, Jaelyn was not in a good mood. It wasn't like she couldn't get a date. But keeping them was much harder. And she hadn't managed to do so for long enough to bring one here? As for friends? Well, she hadn't had the nerve to try and call Luka over something like this. So she was here alone. She'd only even come at all for the promise of cheap festival food. But the food here wasn't even cheap! Even hot dogs cost more than they ever deserved to. After finding this out, Jaelyn had left the stand grumbling and started back toward the exit.

That was when she caught sight of a cotton candy stand. The painfully colorful signs around it showed prices that were...well, still too much for something so simple but less than the hot dogs at least. And it was cotton candy, something she had tried once when she was very young and craved ever since. She approached the stand, waiting as patiently in the line as she could, all the while wondering if she shouldn't just not bother and leave anyway. That faded when the last of the people in front of her left. Her bad mood seemed to melt away as she stepped up and pushed the requisite amount of money forward. "One stick of cotton candy," she said excitedly.

[Vice Ysal]

Vice wouldn't really ever call himself hollywood material in terms of facial structure alone. Sure he was tall, people called him dark, but he wouldn't openly admit that he was good looking or anything like that. That was just a sure fire way of getting himself called a pansy or some shit like that. Still though, from the loud voice he was using, to the animated motions of preparing some of the cotton candies, and the oohs and aahs of the kids, he was gathering quite a few customers from that alone. Some even offered to buy quite a few more than they could handle as 'thanks' for the small show he was making for their loved ones. All the while, the young man kept on the smile on his face and told them to come back if they wanted more of their merchandise. Having done his part on the trick machine side of the stall, Vice went on ahead and subbed with the normal boring cashier job of trading in some prepared cotton candy for cash and that was it. Untying the strand of cloth that was keeping his bangs out of his face, the young man combed his hair back manually and began to greet the next few customers with the same mandatory smile drilled into him.

Equal parts satisfying, convincing, and attentive. A hard one to make but if done properly should at least be capable of getting some customers to come back for more. A lot of the people who had lined up were groups of friends and couples who were trying to enjoy the night. At them, the worker simply handed out the cotton candies as if they were normal and got the required amount of cash to consider the transaction to be that, a transaction and not some kind of donation. This continued on for a while until the line had finally began to thin out. Already plucking out the last cotton candy pack from the shelves simply out of reflex, Vice turned around to see just a single person lining up. Not a group of friends, or a couple,or anything really. Suffice to say, he would be lying if he wasn't just a bit surprised from that development. A small thought then passed his mind and an equally small honest smile made itself to his lips.

"Here. It's on the house."

The part time cashier offered the girl the confectionary on a stick in the most casual way possible.

"Consider it a 'Happy Valentine's!' gift from 'Crazy Swirl' and Co. Try to enjoy the rest of the night, aye?"

[Jaelyn Callahan]

Eh?

The man running the stand gave her the cotton candy, as she asked, but didn't take her money and instead insisted that it was on the house. Had that really just happened? Festival food was inordinately expensive for what it was, so how was he able to just do that?

A small smile came to her face as she accepted the candy, but it faded almost as quickly as it came. There had to be a catch. "Thanks. I'll try to, but...are you sure it's okay for you to do this?" She mentally hit herself for actually asking and potentially ruining it. Damn it Jaelyn, just accept the free food.