1002/When You're Good To Mami

When You're Good To Mami
Date of Scene:	13 January 2024
Location:	Obsidian Tower - Dark Laboratory
Synopsis:	Hinoiri asked Takashi for help finding a witch, so he called in his witch-finding expert. However, Mami's been infected with magic from Kirakirafantastica, and so when she shows up everything gets a little bit more musical.
Cast of Characters:	Hinoiri Kirara, Takashi Agera, Mami Tomoe

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Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker had spent a lot of time allowing Takashi to get 'reads' on her powers. Why? Because she was being pissy. She was in a foul mood and when Takashi said he'd wanted a demonstration of her powers, well, she'd been morrrrre than happy to put on a show. In this case, a show meant blow up WAY too much stuff. But hey, now he had plenty to draw on for the fire DG girl. And...

And Sunbreaker... might have singed herself a bit more. She was certainly more powerful than she'd ever been. But her control had never been.... this erratic. She'd ended up blowing far past her reserves by the end and was a lot more exhausted than she'd wanted to admit. So when it came time to meet with Mami, Takashi's foremost expert (and likely Obsidian's) on witch locating, she was more than happy to just enjoy a nice drink, sit in Takashi's office, and just... wait for him to arrive.

And, since this was an office, and they both knew who she was... she'd even de-henshined.

Entirely unaware of what was coming.

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Takashi has, sometimes, a flare for the overdramatic. Maybe it's something from his ego, or maybe it's the dark energy, or maybe in truth it's the mix of the two interplaying. But in this case, it's whatever makes him normally that way and a bit of foreign magic, a bit of uncontained energy from an artifact from Hinoiri's 'home'world, creeping in from perhaps the disassembled item in the pastel colors sitting off to the side? Yes, likely from that, from the little wand that Takashi couldn't touch directly, from Mami's working as his hands. It meant the exposure was more severe for Mami, and the magic itself had an easier time affecting Hinoiri. For Takashi? It danced with his own tendencies, but he couldn't quite hear the music, as it started up.

    Much as in the heist of Kirakirafantastic, Takashi didn't realize that he was, in fact, playing the part in a musical number... for him, this sort of sweeping and grandiose act simply fell into his usual style.

    So with the knowledge that the sound of the heels coming closer outside the door would be Mami, he got up to open the door. But upon doing so... he made a grand, sweeping gesture as the backing music started to pick up - a sort of 1930s flapper jazz number. Which he could -almost- hear. But it didn't break him out of his 'showman mode'."Thank you for your patience!" he began.

And now, ladies and gentlemen
The Mistress of Muskets, the regent of ribbons
The Big Sister with a Soul Gem
Puella Magi, Mami Tomoe!

Mami Tomoe has posed:
There's a loud bang of a cannon and a burst of confetti ribbons shoots in through the open doorway around the silhouette of a girl with perfect hair drills in a cute little hat, a corset, skirt, and boots. Takashi and Hinoiri may be out of henshin, but Mami is not.

Puella Magi can put on a show.

Especially when they are as ridiculous as Mami. She steps into the room and starts to sing. Her voice is all sultry, full of vocal fry.

    Ask any of the girls in Obsidian
    They'll tell you I'm the biggest mother hen

She sashays across the lab to where Hinoiri is sitting, and says, "Takashi here tells me you need help finding a witch." She looks at the flame-haired girl, leans in a little and smiles, singing directly to her.

    I love them and all of them love me
    Because the system works, the system called reciprocity

"I'm happy to help you find a witch, but I don't work for free," Mami says. Then she leans back does a little spin and really gets into the song.

    Got a little motto
    Always sees me through
    When you're good to Mami
    Mami's good to you

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara was, well... yup. She was entirely unaware anything was going to happen... and actually smiled when Takashi went his general, standard, 'him' method of flashy, over the top and hammy.

And then Confetti. Her eyes went wide and she took another sip of her drink, leaning back in her chair.

She was, once again, caught in that musical magic. Flowing with it. "I wouldn't expect you to be free, but I'm more than willing to pay the value for quality."

She glanced towards Takashi, a grin on her lips. Okay, now she was juuuuust aware enough. And while she'd always been bad at suppressing the magic, she'd been getting... a little better. Just a little.

But oh, this? He was stuck in it too. And it was *glorious*. The Mistress of Muskets could certainly put on a show.

"Takashi tells me you're the best in finding what I need."

Mami Tomoe has posed:
Mami moves along one of the countertops her finger lightly dragging along its edge and her hips swaying with each step timed perfectly to the beat of the music.

    There's a lot of favors
    I'm prepared to do
    You do one for Mami
    She'll do one for you

"I'm certainly the best in Obsidian," Mami says with a smirk. She's experienced. She knows she's not actually the best at this, not that she'd say that out loud. But she's definitely the best Hinoiri can get to help her.

She waves her hand back and forth trailing a ribbon that turns into a big ostrich feather fan. She does a spin waving the fan around.

    They say that life is tit for tat
    And that's the way I live

As she sings she struts across the lab to where Takashi is, holding the fan coyly in front of her.

    So I deserve a lot of tat
    For what I've got to give

She drops the fan away and shimmies her shoulders while looking right at Takashi. She turns around and swirls the fan, the feathers brushing right near his face, possibly even tickling his nose. She steps back closer toward Hinoiri.

    Don't you know that this hand
    Washes that one too?

As she sings, she holds the fan across her body with her left hand, her right hand held out through the feathers. Then she holds it right in front of her, possibly brushing Hinoiri somewhere, and then switches hands to show the other in time with the song.

    When you're good to Mami
    Mami's good to you

Takashi Agera has posed:
    To say that Takashi was entranced is probably not a loud enough word. Mesmerized, perhaps. He might be the audience in the show, a bystander in some senses, but his attention is just as focused on it as the two participants. Particularly the closer Mami gets to him.

    He can't shake the feeling that, all of this is a little bit further than just overdramatic, but Mami's smiling, Sunbreaker is smiling, and Takashi is absolutely smiling, so why would he intervene? The music continues to play in the backing tune of Mami's song, and Takashi is, frankly, bobbing in his chair to the tune, albeit his eyes are largely for the Puella Magi more than anything.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara gave a small nod. Well, she was the best. And... huh. She was.... pegasus dancing? How in the world did she get her ribbons to do that? She was running through the mental calibrations, imagining what kind of fragments and pieces would need to be combined in order to make ribbons turn into feathers like that... Did they have toad tears here?

She almost asked Takashi, before she saw him. Oh. Oh wow. He was absolutely gobstopped.

"Well, I need the best. I've agreed to help Takashi-san with his DG project, as well as some star work. However... is there something you, in particular, want in return for your aid?"

She wasn't above paying extra.... if it meant everything was better off. Better a happy worker than a miserable person who leaves her to die, after all... Besides, she had a soft spot in her heart for service workers.

Mami Tomoe has posed:
Mami turns and walks to a large open space in the lab. She does a pirouette and her feather fan spins away into ribbons that are then joined by more ribbons to form an ornate ladder that extends from the floor to the ceiling.

    The folks atop the ladder
    Are the ones the world adores

She places her hands and feet on the rungs and starts to climb up the ladder as she sings.

    So boost me up my ladder, friend
    And I'll boost you up yours

When she reaches the top she leans and it tips the ladder over just a little so that it's caught between the floor and ceiling diagonally. She hooks her leg through the ladder rungs and it spins around as she extends her arms to make a dramatic pose. Then she dismounts with a backflip and the ladder dissipates into ribbons that shrivel up into nothingness.

She turns her eyes back onto Hinoiri and walks back toward her, her hips swaying with the beat.

    So what's the one conclusion
    I can bring this number to?

She comes short of Hinoiri and leans over and boops her on the tip of the nose with a fingertip.

    When you're good to Mami
    Mami's good to you, oh yeah

"I'll tell you what," she says, finally. "I'll find you a witch if you bring me her grief seed."

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Takashi is listening to the song, and then Mami makes her offer. And Takashi's brain (which has at some point rebooted, from its slumber where it was, mostly offline, since a fan brushed his nose) finally kicks in and the first thought he has is... he's gotten her a lot of grief seeds since they first connected, but this is the first time that she's ever ridden on a ribbon ladder and backflipped about it during a song!

    ...during a song?... he asks, and then for a moment it clicks and his eyes wondered over to the disassembled device on the desk. "...Oh, ugh." he mumbles. And that is certainly not at Mami. A song, the magic of music, that strange place of four feet over two. That weird world. Must have something to do with all of this.

    On the other hand, Mami could sing and oh she could dance too - so in the moment, he wasn't that upset about it. After all, it hadn't affected him, and he got a little show out of it. "Well, there's the deal then. Can't you see how working with me benefits you, time and again?" he asks. Huh. He rhymed too. Weird. Maybe just in the habit.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara actually... stared, mouth open, when the girl managed that with the ladder. How... how could... She looked down at her own feet, then up at Mami. Okay. Nope. That was because the ladder was magic, too. Only explanation. NOBODY could do that otherwise. Physically impossible. ABSOLUTELY impossible. That was what she'd tell anyone who asked. Ever. Because there was no way. Legs did NOT move that way.

She blinked a few times once she looked down at the finger... and... gave a grin. "It's fun, isn't it?" she asked. "And... hmm. In that case, I want to make an addendum. Two labyrinths, I'll take care of both witches. I'll give you one of the grief seeds. The other has to go to Sayaka," Hinoiri said. "My uhhh... girlfriend." Mami... likely already knew. "But... if that's fine, I should be good to go whenever you're ready." Pause. Paaaause. Sideeye Takashi... "Though, I'll give you a moment so he can properly gush about how good that was. I'll even step outside so he won't get embarrassed," she said in a playful tone... before henshining. Well, she wasn't leaving the office OUTSIDE of henshin. That'd be crazy.

Of course, if she got confirmation... she'd quickly head outside to give the two a few moments of privacy, closing the door behind her. Why?

Because she just put on an AMAZING show and if ever there was a time to praise his girl...