1516/Careful what you eat

Careful what you eat
Date of Scene:	10 May 2024
Location:	Obsidian Tower
Synopsis:	Takashi tries to wait out the effects of devouring too much of Beryl's portal magic while Sunbreaker fills him in on everything she learned... and thanks to Beryl? She learned quite a bit.
Cast of Characters:	Takashi Agera, Hinoiri Kirara

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Takashi Agera has posed:
Takashi Agera was in his office, today. While he didn't really feel up to working, he also didn't feel up to triggerring some sort of mahou response by having some sort of reaction to his current 'illness' that might have had him loosing the Dark Energy he was struggling to control. Or throwing up. Or throwing up dark energy. None of these were good to do and some of them seemed especially bad knowing his next door neighbor was straight-laced uptight TSAB Enforcer Chrono Harlaown.

    So instead, he's sitting at his desk, hand propped on the desk supporting his forehead, looking quite pale as he watches some sort of science program on his laptop. Another good note for his general state-of-being is that all of his experiments are off the desk and he's watching someone else talk about quantum physics instead of trying to break them himself.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker walked into his office as... well... Sunbreaker. She paused, starring at him. Finally... "So... you look like Tartarus. Like, when I was in my second year I ended up summoning this sentient slime monster that ate one of the teachers. You look a lot like that teacher did once they dragged him back out."

She walked over and leaned forward, before glancing back at the door... Then up towards the weird, giant rock in the middle of his office. With a weird magic cat on it. "Uh... huh. So, like... is this a 'I ran out of sick days' situation? Cause if you want, I have some, ahem, business topics I need to discuss with you and we can go get something. Maybe some korma, ramen, soup... ipecac... barf bag... I'm sure I can expense it. Or we could go to the dusk zone."

Takashi Agera has posed:
Takashi shakes his head. Very slowly. "I'm good to talk." he says, reaching out to pause the video. "I'm not out of sick days, but the situation is that it's magic-sick and sometimes that has magic sick side effects and I live in the dorms, at the school that may have a disproportionate amount of magic people, including my next door neighbors on both sides, someone who might sense this." he says.

    He's about to say something else, except he sneezes, and when he sneezes, a pulse of dark energy radiates out from him before reversing course and reutnring, like a little glow of energy. "Crap. See? That kinda stuff? Can't be doing it."

    "Otherwise I would be sneezing on my couch instead of sneezing in my office." he says. "Don't worry though, it's not contagious. Just the result of an experimental decision I made in the moment..."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker cringed and, couldn't help it. Felt a bit of remorse for him. "Ahhhhh. Yeah. We had that, sometimes. Horn flu. It could get real nasty. You sneeze and then you've accidentally turned your teapot into a frog... then have the local zoo yelling at you because their frog exhibit was turned into a bunch of fancy teapots."

However, when he mentioned how he got it, welllll... She perked right up. "Ohhhhh? What'd you do? I hope you got something interesting from it. Remember, failure only counts if you learned nothing from it." That was how she justified her thousands upon thousands of failures.

Takashi Agera has posed:
    "Pretty sure it's got nothing to do with horns of any kind." he says. Then pauses. "Unless Beryl has horns under all that hair. I mean she does have horns on her shoulders." he says. Then he sort of undergoes a full-body shiver-cringe due to some feeling that wells up inside him, and for a moment he looks like he might be about to throw up, but holds it down.

    "Well, Beryl made that damned weird portal, and she's not exactly a great steward of the local environment or anything, so after everybody got out it was still open - smaller, but still there - and I told someone I would seal it... and I did that by draining it of the energy that keeps it open." He pauses. "Turns out something about it... disagrees highly with me. But at least I'm not hearing voices anymore. Assuming you're actually here and I'm not just -that delerious." he says.

    "And sort of that's the saying. Failure only happens when you stop, when you give up - otherwise you're just taking new routes until you succeed."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker blinked a few times, before making an ick face. "Wait. So that's BERYL'S power in you? Oh... oh Takashi-san. No. That's... oh..." She looked like SHE might throw up. "Trust me. You don't know where that's been. You want to get it out of you. While I... admittedly, would have done the same, I'd not force it to stay inside you like that."

"... Can you release it in the dusk zone? Cause... I mean... huh. Actually, I don't know if that would work, either. The dusk zone is a lot cleaner than that soul. Hmmmm..." She rubbed her chin, looking thoughtful.

"... Maybe the dusk zone would be good, though. Just... let it all out. Because, well... that portal? She used it to send me and a bunch of the sparkles into some weird time loop. And, more importantly?" She glanced around and held up a finger, casting a quick spell to make sure they weren't being spied on.

"I discovered the source of her power. Also, can I just say? Your boss? Is an *idiot*. She tried to make people afraid... by showing them where her power comes from and how to defeat her. Like... there's stupid and then there's *that*. Your mind is wasted working for a woman like that, I'm not surprised her entire department jumped ship."

Takashi Agera has posed:
    "Actually the worst part is I probably do know where that's been, now. Some kind of memory gunk energy made up the portal, right? Well, now I have some memories. I think. Or really vivid hallucination-memories. Hard to tell. Also I probably need to punch a guy." he notes.

    "I'm not trying to keep it in me, it's just there now. it's all mucky and mixed with mine. My own energy is doing a decent job as antibodies, as far as I can tell, but I think this crap is just going to have to slowly be worked out of my system, and I'm going to hate life until it does." he admits.

    "I dunno, I think her entire department may have jumped ship because they saw a brighter future for themselves than as office deocrations." he offers. "And, in one case, because Beryl was kinda relentlessly hitting on them. Anyways..." he begins before turning away and coughing. A lot. Some kind of wet, hacky couch like he's got a respitory illness. Eventually he stops and turns back to her. "Anyways, is she some sort of sun demon?" he just asks. "Other people's memories - or delusions of them - are... kind of vague."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker shuddered again. "Great, you ate the decayed saddle of magic, Takashi. Seriously... I'm just grateful I didn't eat it. I'd like to see the research information you got off it, though. Might be useful."

Hey, she was more than happy to profit off his poor choices. Just like he was her's.

Oh, hey! She now had another reason to look sick! "She was hitting on one of them? Please, please tell me she isn't subjecting YOU to that tartarus."

However, then he asked what she was and she just grinned. "Oh, her? Not at all. That'd be weird though, huh? But nope! She's not a demon." She glanced towards the door again. She knew they weren't being watched but welllll... caution and all that. "She's not the demon. She sold her soul, and the world, to a demon, instead. Gave her soul to it, in return for power. Apparently, in the past? She sold her soul to a demon, for power..."

"And then she lost. She burned an entire planet, possibly more than one, killing billions of people... and she did all that.... and she *lost*. Not only was she evil, cruel, useless, and just... the worst imaginable... despite all of that, despite giving her very soul? She *lost*. She *failed*. In the end, she was nothing more than a failure who couldn't even close the deal."

"... How utterly pathetic is that? And, thanks to her idiocy... now I know how to tell the signs when she's managing to, ahhhh... reinvigorate her connection with that demon."

Takashi Agera has posed:
    "No, thankfully, which on the one hand is a relief but on the other hand is like, cool, we can also add another instance of poor judgement to the mix." he says. "Alright. I'm still trying to sort fact from illness dreams. I remember the planet burning, but I also remember Beryl's head becoming the sun and her inhaling all of the planets as they were lined up like a takoyaki skewer, and I'm pretty sure that didn't happen. Well. at least I think it didn't. It felt slightly more surreal, at least."

    "But that does sound a little bit bonheaded yeah. Giving all that information away. I'm assuming it made more sense inside the portal than the portal is making for me." he offers. "The problem with all of the information I have right now is that it's a mess and my mind is a little jumbled. I won't be able to make heads or tails out of it till I'm over this illness." he notes. "Once I do you can have a look through the data as usual."

    "Anyways, we knew Beryl is a few rice krispies short of a treat already, but that's another level. So how do we... tell?"

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker gave a small nod. "Yeah, for what it's worth I think poor judgement is almost the entirety of what she's known for? That and being a terrible boss. But no, that didn't happen. She likely wanted it to happen, but it didn't. She failed. Everyone died. The amount of cruelty and evil she managed to stuff into her fuckup, though? Was legendary. Like. There is screwing up. And then there is *that*," Sunbreaker said, rolling her eyes.

She didn't get the rice krispies comment... but probably another earth candy thing. "I'll be writing up a report on it for personal perusal later but... yeah. Buck that bitch."

She crossed her arms and smile up at him. "So... you need to get out of this department. She's going to get you killed eventually. Not because you did anything wrong, but because she doesn't care. She will happily burn you alive if it means she gets an ounce of satisfaction out of it. I have some pull with other departments, I could try and leverage it into getting you transferred. Mirage is pretty cool, Phantom is competent. Bit of a kiss flank, but eh. Competent."

Then, after a moment, her smile wavered. "I'm done... helping her, though. I'm removing as much as I can of my stuff from her control. Especially the Eclipse Zones. I'll help you with the next Rainbow Crystal, but... just... know I'm only helping *you* with it. If it was just for her? I'd happily give it to the Sparkle Skirts rather than let her get even one thing she wants."

The hate, the loathing in her voice was almost palpable.

Takashi Agera has posed:
    "Well, the good news is, even after we take the next Rainbow Crystal..." because for him, at this point, failure was not an option "... the sparklesquads still have the rest." He says with a wink. "It'll take time to track them all down and try to wrest them from their control."

    "But when it comes to leaving? That big-arse crystal behind you is going nowhere. It's better I stay here to watch over it. Plus, I'm pretty sure nobody's gonna approve a transfer out on her end. Like, I'm sure you know the DG Girls aren't really ready for primetime yet. Beryl knows. She'll threaten me, she may even put me an ice cube for a few days which is a fate I am damn well trying to avoid - but she needs me and she isn't going to just let me and the girls walk. The bigger risk is her getting mad, putting me on ice, and using that fact to push Mami and Norie and the rest to do stuff to 'save' me from her wrath. I fully believe she'd pull one of those." he says, bluntly. "One way or another I'm stuck here for a bit, I'd rather it be with movement still allowed."

    "Besides, if she's all that you say she is and a quarter of the weird stuff I saw the last few days, it's better to have somebody like me to filter her desired actions from reality." he says. "I can manage her for a bit, as long as we don't botch the next Rainbow Crystal."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker nodded. "Good... plenty of time for her to lose the one she'd have, too. Or for us to find another way in. No such thing as a lock that can't be bypassed in one way or another."

The more he talked, though, the more annoyed she felt. "Yeah, she would. If she thought the girls would be more useful than you. This is why I hate politics, you know. And one way or another, this is politics. Her demon is powerful, but she's an idiot." She got to her feet and stretched out. "But yeah. Next Rainbow Crystal? It's all yours. But that's the last thing I'm doing with any connection to her. Past that she can choke on a radish for all I care."

She then hummed. "Though... when you're feeling better? You and I should gather the DG girls and have a chat with them. I hear you've been doing some fieldwork with them and I should probably try and give them one last lesson before I like... cut myself off from this department entirely."

Takashi Agera has posed:
    "Yeah, if it's a door and we can't unlock it, we can go around it or through it." he says, bluntly. "Even if it's sealed with magic, it can be un-sealed with greater magic, not just some collect-them-all-key. But that's the sort of thought process we're better at - using the tools we have at our disposal instead of playing the game they want us to play." he says.

    He nods. "Yeah, glad you're on my side for crystal seven at least. I think I can parlay that into enough time to sort some things out." he notes. "But hey, look. She might be a little... off in the head - but she is powerful. I mean, this energy sucks, but it's also a lot of power. And I don't really have the ability to cut myself off from this department right now. It also doesn't play into my long term plans. So... try not to aggrivate her too much at me. Not until I can take her, or at least I can take her with help. We're not there yet, but one day."

    "Makes sense to cut yourself off, and it's probably time for a meeting with the DGs anyways. So I'm with you on both of those. Wish I had the same option but I don't. So I'm gonna try to get the value I can out of it."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker couldn't help but agree with him. That was just what they were best at. When someone told them A or B, well... option C was there for the taking. Why draw within the lines OTHER people set for you, when you could just... do your own?

"We'll get it. Don't worry. I don't see anything that could stand in our way, not for that," Sunbreaker said with a smirk.

"And no, I won't push her. I don't see much reason to antagonize her... I'm stronger now than I was when she trapped me, but I'm doubtful I could take both her and her demon yet. I could at least make her hurt, though. She won't be able to bind me like that ever again."

She then turned towards the door. "And... yeah. It sucks you can't. I understand, though. Don't worry. One day you'll get so far beyond her she'll not even be able to see your shadow. Or who knows? She bucked it all up last time. She'll probably do it again. Then if we're lucky, she'll just be out of our mane's entirely." She then gave a wave. "I'll see you around, Takashi-san. And... take care of yourself, okay? If anything happens to you I'll be the only genius left in this organization and it's been kind of nice having someone around who I can have *intelligent* conversations with," Sunbreaker said in a teasing tone before she walked away, closing the door... gently...

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Takashi shakes his head a little. He puts his hand over his mouth, closes his eyes, takes a moment to center himself, before speaking again, before she leaves. "You know, Hinoiri - she's even stronger than she looks. She created a stable portal to a demiplane that lasted for days. Do you know how she did it? It wasn't by understanding magic, it wasn't by apoplying it right. She just brute forced it. She spent an extraordinary amount of energy on that rift." he says, slowly. "The energy you're sensing is like... what escapes her masking. She could probably take all five of the Witches 5, myself, and my crew without really breaking a sweat, if my guestimation's right. She might be a tyrant and only capable of brute force, but the woman has more brute force than I've ever seen carried around. The reactor in the Tower core would struggle to put out that much energy, and she did it and just walked away. There's more to her than we see." Takashi warns, his tone low and very serious. More serious than she's known him to be, especially about other people's power.

    "So yeah... I'll take care of myself. And you do the same, Sunbreaker. You know myu number, and you've almost learned to text understandably!" he says, teasing her on her way out.