( OPEN ) red light, green light

[cordated]

Who: Haruka Nanase (freed), Makoto Tachibana (cordated), and YOU!
When: IC 1/9 —1/11
Where: Nearly every district! Not limited to: CERES Food Stop, CERES Game Center, a bunch of nondescript street corners, and jail.
What: Bending the rules, breaking the rules, and cheating beating the system?! Or trying to, at least.
Rating/Warning: PG.

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1. CANDY SHOP.MP3 (ceres food stop.)

[ upon entering the shop, a one-sided conversation ensues as the only shop attendant speaks in stifled tones to ... what seems to be himself, if his gaze wasn't stubbornly trained to a certain spot behind the counter: ]

Shhh, shhh! You need to be quiet or we'll both be in trouble.

[ but once the door opens with a protracted tinkle of a bell, he turns. eyes drawn in assiduous focus, he dolefully grins as he angles his attention to the customer venturing out to browse the wares. ]

H-Hello! Welcome to the shop. If there's anything I can do to help you out, please allow me to assist. There's a 30% discount on taffy for today only, so don't wait until the last minute to spend. We've also got a raffle going on this week! Buy any three different types of candy labeled with a gold sticker at participating stores and you'll be in the running for —

[ at this point, he's interrupted by a rather plaintive mewling (miaow, miaow) warbled from somewhere around his feet. visibly paling, makoto coughs a few times and resumes speaking. ]

A-haha, excuse me, I meant a blank check redeemable for 500 credits.

[ one hand sweeping over the display case, he makes a point to tap the sweets display case several times in quick succession. ]

Can I interest you in a free cotton candy sample?

2. TMW YOU CAN'T WIN HELLO KITTY FROM THE CLAW MACHINE (ceres game center.)

[ or you might find makoto situated in one of the various arcades in the conglomerate sprawl of game centers, studiously trying his luck (and a substantial amount of his daily paycheck) on one of the claw machines. mouth puzzled open on a sigh, he's even got his head tilted a few degrees to the side in a futile effort to win the only cat plush in the glass chamber, only to come up with empty hands on his last try, not any closer to his goal than he was on his initial run. ]

Aaah, so close. Looks like this cash card's spent.

[ retreating from the machine, he holds out his only inadvertently-won prize (a rather squashed-looking stuffed animal of indeterminate origin) to the bystander standing in the line right behind him. ]

Oh, well. Would you like this?

[ a beat or two passes, and then: ]

You're going to play next, right? Is it okay if I watch?

3. KIND OF LIKE A SLASHER FLICK EXCEPT NOT (random street corner ... seedy alleyway, perhaps ...)

[ so: you're in a derelict alleyway sometime in the evening. nightlife solidifies with all the risqué robot models strutting over the various walkways when you get the distinct sense you're being followed.

it's just an inkling of a doubt, but it's enough to take caution, all up until the point someone's hand clamps tightly on your shoulder. assuming your heart didn't stop and leave us one man down in this scenario, you are now very near to one tall and mildly anxious looking boy with green eyes and brown hair, as well as a shorter boy with black hair and blue eyes. it is the latter of these two who speaks to you.]

Excuse me. Have you seen [a flyer is held up to you with THIS FACE] or [a second flyer with THIS FACE in his other hand appears!

upon closer inspection (as if you need it to be closer than RIGHT IN YOUR face but you know…) one will notice descriptions under the pictures as follows:

RIN MATSUOKA:

— answers to rin-rin
— likes romcoms
— really pointy teeth


KISUMI SHIGINO:

— tends to sparkle
— liberal use of emojis when texting/speaking/breathing
— pink

if you're quiet/silent/have been startled into death for too long, well, eventually the blue-eyed one here will simply….

…blink expectantly as if to say well?…without actually saying it at all. ]

4. IN THE SLAMMER (ceres government center.)

[ the first day in central holding, makoto learns two valuable things about going to prison:


a) it's actually called jail, not prison, for a short-term stay behind bars. more specifically: an overnight stay for a benign misdemeanor, or so they inform him.
b) the "one phone call" bit is a complete hoax. if anything, calls are encouraged. not that knowing that helps him in particular, but it's good to know, nonetheless.

notwithstanding the fact he couldn't ask haru to bail him out, considering they were held up in the same communal cell with at least three other people with them, makoto's absolutely terrified. over the course of two hours, he's kept his eyes peeled staring at the clock and trying to will himself to remain silent and moderately low-key. and makoto fails spectacularly, for the most part, his voice rising entire octaves as he babbles on and on to a relatively levelheaded boy sitting beside him. ]

This is so terrible. This is really, really bad. This'll be on our records forever and no one will want to hire us and we'll end up on the streets when everyone we know publicly disowns us. The streets, Haru. There's no way we can fix this.

[ when he doesn't get the validation he desperately needs (you know, something beyond placid one-word remarks), he turns to the closest onlooker, doing his absolute best not to stutter. ]

So ... um, what did they arrest you for?

( NOTE: this is a partial joint post with freed for part 3 + 4! it'll go: you > one of us > you unless you'd prefer no tag order or you'd like us to tag you separately. )