1714/The cake is...

The cake is...
Date of Scene:	01 July 2024
Location:	Dorms #1
Synopsis:	Taro decides to come and try and intimidate Hinoiri... unfortunately, after just being trapped in a building with an angry pyromaniac, the alicorn cake isn't going to cut it.
Cast of Characters:	Taro Yamada, Hinoiri Kirara

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Taro Yamada has posed:
This has been - oh, at least a month coming. Has it been that long already, since the sun went out? Taro had taken one look outside and decided that if the world was ending, he'd sleep through the inevitable agonizing death and wake up when he regenerated, henshined into his immortal form and promptly went back to bed. It had only been a few days later and the successful return of his boss, Fuyuko-sensei, that he'd gotten the full scoop on what happened - the mass stomping of the girl who'd almost become a god, her decision to try and stop being evil, and the rest of Obsideon promptly being out for her blood.

Taro didn't care about what the company thought. He hadn't cared about what WcDonalds thought when he worked there, either. He clocked in and out like a good employee and they paid him.

What he did care about were his fighting lessons, delayed. Fuyuko in the hospital, skin blistered where it wasn't bandaged, her face ashen. (His mother, long ago, struggling with her kimono, and an old burn scar peeking out on her arm from the day she'd lost both her house and her husband.)

With that in mind, Taro has spent two days messing around with his warning to Hinoiri - he's not going to beat her up, that'd be unsporting and she's a girl, too! A teenage girl! He was a feminist, and that meant not kicking a girl when she was down unless she really deserved it. And though his research for this spite based visit had given him relevent information for intimidation (because frankly, a threat was not the same as a kick), it had also made it clear she was about as dangerous as a baby hampster right now, and just as impressive to defeat.

It's with that that Taro knocks on Hinoiri's door. Despite the heat, he's in a black skeleton-print hoodie with rolled up to his sleeves and jeans; his long bangs have been sort of pulled out of his eyes by a Hello Kitty hairclip, and he's carrying a cooler on one arm.

"Miss Kirara?"

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara opened the door and just... just stared.

She leaned against the door, opened her mouth, stopped herself...

Put a hand to her forehead and shook her head. The skeleton print hoody... mixed with the hello kitty hairclip... and the cooler. "Yes?" she finally asked.

If he hadn't asked for her name, she'd have assumed he was here for her roommate.

And if not for the hello kitty hairclip she would have assumed he was from Obsidian. But they wouldn't start anything... here... would they?

No. She reached up and stroked the geode. Starting something here would be suicide.

"Can I help you?" She, noteably, didn't motion for him to come inside. Well, it was a small apartment and she didn't know the person. You never knew when someone was going to try and off her.

Taro Yamada has posed:
Taro waves one bony hand. "Hello. We don't know each other, but you put my boss in the hospital after she stuck her neck out for you and got thrown through a wall for it. I'm not going to hurt you and I don't intend to snitch on you, but I'd like to talk about my expectations that you WON'T do that again."

He raises the cooler with his masterpiece. "I brought cake. I can promise it's not poisoned because I made the thing, but I'll eat it first if it makes you less paranoid."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara blinked a few times before... oh. And now she felt guilty. "Your... boss? I put... a lot of people in the hospital," she muttered. "What's your name, again? And... no. It won't happen again. I've been over this. Do you want to know *why* I know it won't happen again?"

"Because if it was going to happen again, Chaar would be dead. Catra would be dead. A lot of people who had made my life hell for the last month, would likely be dead. So if you've come here to guilt me, I get enough of that. If you've come here to threaten me, I've had a lot of people trying to kill me lately and just, admittedly? I'm tired of it."

"I don't know who your boss is, but I'm sorry. I lost bucking control. I *couldn't* control it. And so... I'm not doing it anymore. If you want payback... get in line. Just be grateful I still have enough control to not turn to that... to that power again."

"Or you'd be in so much more danger even coming here than you've ever realized. Wait." Her eyes narrowed. "La Crima didn't send you, did she?"

Taro Yamada has posed:
"Because you lost your powers because every mahou in Tokyo came to slap you silly, yadda yadda, the whole office wants you dead, yadda yadda, I keep up with the office gossip. I told you, I don't care," Taro says, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I don't want payback. This is your Do Not Put My Boss In The Hospital Again - am I not being specific enough for you? My boss, who tried to crack you out of that crystal when that witch Beryl put you on ice? Who has not called for your head despite you trying to turn her into KFC?"

You don't! You don't remember Fuyuko?? His cool boss?? Gasp!

"I don't know who LaCrima is, but if she's running around trying to beat up some depowered soggy sobbing kid, she's a loser. Look, if you're going to be pathetic about this, I can just come in, intimdate you for ten minutes and leave."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara felt her eyes twitch. "No, that isn't what happened. They didn't slap me silly."

"They saved me. Because I lost control and couldn't control it." She leaned against the wall. Her left arm out of view... snaking around, reaching for the bat. With one of Mamoru's roses duct taped to it.

Sure, it'd only be good for one swing, but buck it if she couldn't make said swing count. She--

"Wait, what?" she asked, her eyes going wide, stopping just short of grabbing the bat. "Fuyuko-senpai? You're here about her? And no, I don't intend to put her back in the hospital again. Her and I... well... we did actually talk... she..." She felt that guilt again. Looked him over and felt a little... well...

Then blinked. "Wait. Are you calling *me* the depowered soggy sobbing kid?" Slow, deep breath. Control her anger. Control. It. "I... get it. Yeah. Fuyuko was... well, she's a bitch. But there have been worse bitches. Sorry I put her in the hospital. But there is no bucking way I'm letting you into my dorm. And if you try and come in here I'm going to do to you what Naru did to Thetis."

... Yes. She really was going to keep bringing that up.

Taro Yamada has posed:
Taro's face softens as she talks about being saved, and about not wanting to put her back in the hospital. "Very well. If you know not to mess with Fuyuko-sensei, we can skip the intimidation. You know what you need to continue not doing in the future."

"Are there any other depowered soggy sobby children here?" Taro asks with his usual tact. "You messed up. You took out the sun, everyone wants you dead, boo hoo. Everyone used to talk about you like you were the biggest badass bitch. If Naru can punt that baja blast bitch, you can too." He's done plenty of stupid shit with his powers off! It's fine! What's the fun in fighting someone who's so wet and sad all the time?

"I was going to intimdate you with the cake, but there's no point now. You can show me your resolve with it if you want, but if not, it's still free cake."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara gave a shrug and when he asked if there were any depowered soggy sobby children... well... she just pointed at him. "I mean, only one? But I figured you were somewhat powered. Wait, are you like Ted? Oof. My condolences."

However, her eyes narrowed on him. "... I'm... not that girl anymore. I got a second chance, I decided not to waste it... but... fine. Let's see the cake. I'm not sure what could be intimidating about a cake, though." Oh gosh, it was going to be some kind of multi-layered, death by diabetic coma thing, wasn't it?!

The cakening of Sora, she wasn't sure she could handle it right now.

Taro Yamada has posed:
"I got bitten by a yokai as a kid so now I see things," Taro says with a shrug. "But I'm not soggy and I do not sob." He is intimidating! Terrifying! Very terrifying tall teenager with a Hello Kitty hair clip. Do not @ him about this.

He sets the cooler on the floor, then takes the cake out.

It's in the shape of a horse sitting on the ground loaf style, hooves tucked at it's side. It's been iced with pale yellow icing, with the yellow and red striped mane and tail made of mochi that's molded to the neck and back. Two red hots are the eyes, and there's translucent red sugar sculpture making up both the wings and the horn.

"You're evil because you're obsessed with horses, right? So it's you as a horse."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara gave a shrug. "I mean, of the two of us you're closer to both soggy and sobbing than me. So... gonna have to say it's probably you."

And then he pulled out the cake. She stared at it for a moment.

She stared. Her mouth falling open. She opened her mouth, then closed it. Opened it again, closed it again.

Stared.

And then she just began to laugh. Just... just laughed. It started as a light snicker, then became a full on laugh, having to hold onto the door frame as she laughed. "Oh my gosh... n-no. I wasn't... oh. Oh wow. That's... that's incredible.... o-oh my gosh..." And then she had to stop for a moment as she was laughing too hard to keep talking. Finally, however, she managed to, barely, pick herself up and look him i nthe eyes. "I-I'm not obsessed with horses, silly. Oh gosh. Are... are you a youma? Is that what this is? I'm a *unicorn* pony, you dense horseshoe. I'm from another world. How did you... why... seriously, who set you up with this? Cause, wow. That's a pretty well made cake. But... oh my gosh... I was actually worried for a moment. Oh... wow." She wiped at her eyes, trying to get the tears out. "S-sorry. Wow. I mean. Uhhhh... intimidated. Grrrr. So scary. It... snicker... v-very scary cake... it's missing my cutie mark, though...."

Taro Yamada has posed:
Do not henshin and stab her. Do not henshin and stab her. Do not henshin and stab her. It's below him as a villain to beat up an unarmed girl even if she is SUPER annoying. And he has his secret identity to think of.

Taro closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, and opens them. "I'm going off office gossip. Do you think I have the time to get a detailed dossier on you? Also, horses are incredibly weak as animals. They're scared of their own shadows, their legs are made of tissue paper and if they eat a nibble of the wrong thing, they keel over dead instantly." Buck your horses. Horses are terrible animals.

And with that, he takes the unicorn horn candy and eats it. "Here. Congrats, you're a pegasus now. It's vanlla with strawberry jam," with the cake inside dyed with a little food coloring to be fleshy pink, thank you, "and if you don't take it off my hands right now, I"m going to eat it's head."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara only started to laugh harder when he said that, wiping some more tears off her eyes, having to hold onto the door to avoid falling over. And barely managing it this time. She was so, so close. "A-a-a-and m-monkeys are w-weak animals too, t-they don't have any magic innately, are often dependent on their caregivers and spend all their time in trees that, if they fall from, they die. What's your p-point, monkey?" she asked, clutching the door...

And then he ate the horn. And he could just *see* the grin on her lips growing. Wow. He got it right. Just wings? Means pegasus.

"Oh? Go ahead. Eat it."

"I dare you," Hinoiri said, a rather cruel, vicious grin forming on her lips. The kind of grin she always used to get right before, somebody, was about to have a very, very bad day. And possibly end up in the hospital. "*Go on. Eat. It.*"

Taro Yamada has posed:
"You have got to read the wikipedia article on chimpanzees," Taro says with the patience ofa saint and the knowledge of a man up to date on primate on primate violence. "Monkeys don't need magic. They have thumbs. Caretaking their young means that primates can develop bigger brains. And you wouldn't survive falling out of a tree either."

And then he smiles for the first time, too wide, too toothy, as she dares him to do what he's been craving. He raises the cake up, then leans down and BITES the entire horse's head off, chewing and swallowing in one quick motion - like an orca swallowing down a seal. A trickle of red jam runs down his chin.

"Gotta say. I do love my own cooking," Taro says. "

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara sighed and shook her head. "Right, sorry. Youma. I forgot how dense some of you can be. You made a joke based on relating a unicorn to a horse, when horses are actually another species in my world, and nothing like the ones you have here. I was responding by comparing you, something almost human, to a monkey from back home. I guess calling a youma a human might be... oh, why am I even explaining this?" she asked with another sigh.

"Listen, whatever... you are. I don't want your cake, I get plenty of it on my own. Thanks, though, this has been a great laugh. Talk to Fuyuko about how to do... intimidation and scaryness. You're really not good at it... probably for the best, though. I'm actually a lot more armed than I look. Turns out, sparkles are pretty protective of a girl who stops trying to be their enemy. But... this was great. Try not to get killed out there, okay? You're... actually kind of tolerable, as ex-coworkers go. So, you know? Just enjoy the cake. Heh." And theeeeen... closed the door on him. And had to stand there for a minute... and then lean back against the door.

Because she was laughing too hard.

Taro Yamada has posed:
Ugh. Why didn't anyone find him scary! He was terrifying! Just because - ok maybe he was holding back a little because it was kind of weird to be beating up a bunch of kids? Like. Could he please beat up an adult. He can't believe he's getting talked down to by the soggy horse.

He puts the cake back - its' peffect good cake and he's not going to waste it - then double checks for people around. Henshins into the Back Street Slasher. Takes a moment to use his blood blades to cover his hand in blood, then leaves an inhumanly large bloody handprint dragged down her door.

Like. Ok, yes, he wasn't human. but don't compare him to Beryl's birdbrained minions, alright?

"Everyone at this company is a moron. The state of villainy is in shambles," he mutters as he reverts to human form and walks away. Ugh. Back to homework it was!