1661/Little cogs

Little cogs
Date of Scene:	14 June 2024
Location:	Tako Cafe
Synopsis:	Hinoiri and Naru talk about apologies and uselessness and how to survive a magical world with plenty of enemies and no powers.
Cast of Characters:	Naru Osaka, Hinoiri Kirara

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Naru Osaka has posed:
It's a beautiful day in the neighbourhood, and there's probably coffee closer to school. Classes are out for the day, but only barely and by rights, Naru probably should be at some club meeting, or something or other, but she's not. She's in a park, with her sketchbook and a coffee.

Because of course she's got a coffee.

The coffee truck is not far away, with a little bit of a line and Naru has taken up a patch of grass in the small park, balancing her sketchook on her knees as her coffee cools beside her. Her attention keeps going over to the truck itself and then down to her sketches.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
What was man? A miserable pile of existence, at least until it had its coffee. After that? Eh, wasn't so bad, really. Sure, maybe some parts of it were lame, but existence in and of itself didn't suck so much then. And in Hinoiri's case? She'd been feeling... fairly mopey and grouchy all around. It turns out pissing off everyone on both sides then losing all your powers made you kiiiind of a target.

And it was, in many ways, worse because the sparkles kept SAVING her. Having the people she'd done so much for turn on her so heavily was... Miserable, in its own way. But then having the people she'd spent so much time fighting protect her, despite all she had done against them? That stung in an entirely different way.

So she was trying to clear her head, going for a jog this morning. She'd have probably gotten a coffee herself. You know. IF SHE HAD ANY MONEY! But no, she didn't get to HAVE money now. Obsidian destroyed all of her stuff. So they--

And it was in the midst of this jog that her eyes fell on Naru, when she passed her and--

BAM! She ended up running into a bench, toppling over it and landing on the (fortunately soft) grass. She laid there for a moment. Well... the thing that hurt the most, in this case, was her pride. She really, really hoped Naru hadn't seen that... She was just going to wait here a moment, before, very slowly, starting to sit up.

Now... how to approach this...

Naru Osaka has posed:
There's a half glance over as someone is out running. Naru is also a runner, and is targeted /just enough/ (aka all the darn time) that she's gettig much better at keeping track of her surroundings. Including who is running. She isn't paying that much attention, not after she's identified it as Hinoiri who is out for a jog, turning back to her sketchbook.

And then Hinoiri eats dirt and Naru can't help but wince a little. That had to have smarted, pride if nothing else.

"You okay over there?" Naru asks conversationally as she lets her pencil fill in a few more lines on the sketch. She's not looking at Hinoiri, she's at least giving the girl that amount of privacy in her shame.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara groaned. Of course. Naru would see that. "Not... particularly? I feel like an idiot..." she muttered. "But no, I don't think anything's broken and not the first time I've wiped out hard," she muttered before slowly getting to her feet and then gulping. "Heeeeey... Uhhhh... Osaka-san... ummmmm..."

"So... I know you're... Tsukino-san's... roomie and... best friend and all... so I'm sure she told you a lot... that and I wasn't exactly subtle..." Kind of eating the sun and screaming her name from the rooftops, putting everyone in the hospital...

"... So... I guess... I'm sorry. About... all of that... errrr... do... you have a second to talk?"

She nervously ran her hands through her hair. Then pulled a twig out of it... and sighed. Yeah... yeah. That was becoming a distressingly common occurance.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Mmmm." Naru agrees with a little nod. Probably to the 'Tsukino-san's roommate' comment and not explictly to the 'feel like an idiot' comment. Probably.

"I would not say that subtle is in the top .. ten ways I would use to describe.. things, no." Naru comments mildly to her sketchbook before she looks over to where Hinoiri is getting up to her feet. She considers the other girl a moment and then a moment longer before she nods.

"Come, pull up some grass." Naru gestures a little to the spot where she's settled on the lawn. "Do you want a coffee?" She looks over to the truck and then back to Hinoiri.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Yes, she did. "No, I'm fine." But she also, right now, was on a more... budget. So she wasn't going to *ask* for money. Slowly, Hinoiri moved to sit by her. "Yeah... uhhhh... it really wasn't. I kind of made a bit... of a flank of myself," she mumbled.

"... She tell you I'm trying to... not... do that now? Because I ummm... am. I uhhhh, wanted to actually ask you for some advice."

"... So, all the people we know are like... magic. Are there any secrets to coping with being useless? Err, helpless? Err, I mean..." She then sighed and just closed her eyes, hugging her knees to her chest, eying the other girl as if she was afraid coming too close might spook her.

"... Is there some trick to like... putting up with the fact bullshit keeps happening that you can't do anything about, but wait for someone to come and save you?"

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Little bit." Naru agrees on the topic of making a flank of herself with a nod before she reaches to take a sip of her coffee. "There's a lot of people who are really struggling hard with what they think of you right now."

Naru listens to the ask about advice. And to today's iteration of uselessness reminder. She nods slowly as she starts to get a clue on what Hinoiri might be struggling with.

Naru looks back to her sketchbook, moving her pencil a little further down the page to start another doodle sketch. "The most effective way to not need someone to come and rescue you is to flee the bullshit once you realize that it's incoming. I run from things, a lot when I'm alone" She gives a little shrug. "My pride hates it, but my pride hates having to text someone to come bail me out more. When you're with other mahou, then it's a question of finding ways to support without making yourself a target." She pauses and then snorts softly. "I'm not always good at that, but that's the theory at least."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara gave a small nod before shaking her head. "Yeah... uhhhhh... great... so that advice is about as useful as us," She muttered, her voice filled with bitterness. Then sighed. "Sorry. I just... already pissed everyone off over there. In a lot of ways, I *am* the target. A lot of ways... most ways. Apparently I did a lot of damage to Obsidian when I was like that. They bucking hate me. For a minute I thought they'd like hem and haw... but nope..."

"Already sent an assassin after me. Luckily, they handle that about as competently as everything else. Namely, not at all."

"... Still stung when I was a victim at Majorina's attack and she didn't even care, though. Not sure which is worse. Being the target, or being so insignificant and useless that they don't even care..." She ran a finger over her necklace.

"... I'm really sorry for what I did to you. I... don't... think I ever apologized to you. But... but I was cruel. I'd never felt this helpless before... I shouldn't... have... done what I did to you..."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"If they're targeting you in specific." Naru looks over at Hinoiri. "Then you need to learn how to make friends, and quickly. Because we don't solo anything." She gestures with her coffee cup. "It's just a reality of life when you don't have the same sort of power level."

Naru considers the other girl, her pencil still sketching on the paper. She's quiet for a long moment. "Thank you for the apology." She finally replies with. "On some levels, you were doing what you thought was right. Misguided perhaps, but at that point you figured I just needed power to jump start my own powers." She shakes her head. "There was certainly spots that were cruel, I can't give you a pass on that. It was terrifying, and I cannot say that I'm looking for other opportunities to lose my mind and try and kill my friends. Once was enough, thanks." She pauses a moment. "The kidnapping wasn't the worst of your actions though. There's a lot more people who were a lot more hurt than I was."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara nodded. "Yeah. I... think I have friends. Kind of. Somewhat? Or... at least people willing to help me. A few who... like me for some reason. Who didn't stop trying to help me, even when I was... losing my mind."

"... I thought I could control it. I... just... overestimated myself. And.... and I'm sorry. I was... so set on being right... I mean, everyone who knew about magic was also magic, so it had to be the same. Obviously some people were just... needed that nudge. I was wrong, though. Some people are just... useless by nature..." she muttered that.

Though Naru likely felt that it was kind of a dickish thing to say, she really didn't mean Naru in this case. Not that that probably helped. Despite the words, she didn't really see Naru that way. Just herself.

"... And yeah. I did... a lot of terrible things. To you. To everyone. And I'm... slowly working through my apologies. Even managed to apologize to a few at Obsidian. I didn't... do much better to them. I never... I didn't want to hurt people like this. I really thought I had it under control. But I never did. I... I can see that now. I shouldn't... have done this... any of this... And I know it's not enough. But... I am sorry." She slowly crawled to her feet, picking another leaf out of her hair. "I... need to head down to the market. But ummmm... thanks. For having this talk with me. It was... nice..." she said, before quickly turning and walking away.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"There are very few people who are useless by nature." Naru did hear that muttered comment, and even if she thought it might apply to herself, she certainly recognized that Hinoiri felt it applied to her right now. "It sounds very socialist, I know, but everyone has a part and tiniest cogs are important to the running of everything." Her smile is just a touch gentle. "And it's okay to be a small cog rather than the face of the clock. Both are required."

Naru nods as Hinoiri notes that there's apologies a plenty to go around. "Not everyone is ready to forgive you yet, and that will be harder to stomach than apologizing. Actions are going to speak louder than words, and this is a marathon rather than a quick sprint. I wish you luck, Hinoiri." She nods again. "If you want to chat again, text me. We can go for coffee." She pauses and then adds. "My treat."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara gave a small nod. Right now? She felt like a broken cog. But Naru was, admittedly, right. Though Hinoiri didn't see it that way. She was still so lost in what she'd given up that she didn't yet see what she could offer.

Luckily, there were people like Naru who could help show her. With time.

She missed being the face, though.

She'd never been one for marathons, though. She'd rather explode a dozen times and get it over with, than be slow and calculating. Who knew, though? Maybe one day she'd prove she'd be worth it. "That... that sounds nice. Thanks, Naru-chan. Stay safe, don't get into too much danger. Heh."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"I've been good lately." Naru points out with a little smile, her hand absently sliding up to her necklace, just petting the abstract piece before going back to her coffee and sketching. "You stay safe as well, at least as best you can. You'll find a happy medium, somehow."

She nods to Hinoiri and then smiles. "But I'm keeping you from the market."