1722/Due Rewards

Due Rewards
Date of Scene:	03 July 2024
Location:	WcDonald's
Synopsis:	Young Stellar and Kyouko slay monsters and eat burgers.
Cast of Characters:	Kyouka Inai, Kyouko Sakura

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Kyouka Inai has posed:
    There used to be a monster behind the WcDonalds. Some generic youma thing, a manifestation of bad dreams or jealousy or some crap. Does anybody actually care? It was bad, now it is dead.

    There's a huge scar of shattered brick going up the side of the building behind the WcDonalds, and some scattered sputtering electric discharge still fizzing off into the air as Stellar stands in the alleyway, her bone-white naginata resting against her shoulder, satisfying the battlefield for a moment with the air of a job well done.

    "Well!" She exclaims, to no one in particular, "That was fun. Time to get a burger." She tosses the naginata in the air, and it vanishes with a 'pop' and flash of golden light.

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
It is VERY dead. An ex-monster.

Kyouko stands on the other side of the alleyway, surveying their handiwork and unconsciously leaning her spear on her shoulder in a very similar pose to how Stellar is standing. "That was a damn fine time." She agrees with a firm nod.

The spear is brought off her shoulder to get a little shake and Kyouko tucks it away, somehow emerging with a stick of pocky to chew on. "And fries" Dead youma, even if it wasn't a Witch, it's a reason to celebrate with fries.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Apparently Stellar was talking to Kyouko all along, which is fine because she can respect another mahou with a polearm who takes satisfaction about destroying monsters. Especially one who won't get all on her back about the property damage- as if some bricks are any kind of trade for human lives?! Some people are so up tight.

    Stellar grins her lopsided grin and walks over to throw an arm around the younger girl's shoulders (although, unlike the modern-time Kyouka, only very slightly younger). "That's right and fries." She agrees wholeheartedly. "Hey, you were one of the kids with the older-hag me in that basement, weren't you?" She asks, sideeyeing the other redhead suspiciously.

    She then follows up with, "Do you have any money?" With an arm still around Kyouko's shoulders, this suddenly seems mildly like a mugging. Thankfully, she is still smiling, so its probably just 'like' a mugging and not actually one.

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
Kyouko snorts at being called a 'kid' by another kid and at the 'older-hag' comment. She crunches on her stick of pocky. "Yeah. What if I was?" She asks then, clearly having been off doing her own thing in the intervening time between then and now.

There's a light elbow to the ribs from Kyouko to Stellar at the money comment. "You sponging off me for lunch, is that it?" She smirks a little. "Cause usually I sponge off the 'older-hag' you." Muggings usually come with more fear, or concern. Currently there is none.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    For what it's worth, Stellar's tone isn't threatening. It's just that she usually sponges off of Lacuna, and with the dark-haired girl currently off raising her own monster-killing tally in one of their frequent competitions, she's realized she wants a burger but doesn't have access to her partner's parents' credit card.

    "Huh. Well at least that means older-hag me isn't poor. So I guess that's one thing." Poor is relative, of course. It's hard to be poorer than teenage-Stellar. Though Kyouko may give her a run for her money in that regard, truth's told.

    She humphs and pulls her arm away in order to rifle through her pockets. "I got like 300 yen." She says after a moment.

    "I think you can get a burger for that." Probably a plain one, with no fries. But it's something.

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
"I think she's doing okay." Kyouko confirms. Everything is relative. To Kyouko and teen-Stellar, she clearly HAS to be be rich. She has her own apartment! And enough money to buy food! Multiple meals a day!

Kyouko does a similar rifling of pockets and comes out with her own tally of yen. "I've got .. mmm." She considers the coins a moment or two longer than one might expect. "Five hundred yen. Combined, we can totally get food for that." It won't be exciting food, but a couple basic burgers and a small fries? Might be possible!

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Stellar nods her head. 800 yen should be more than enough for a couple burgers and a fries. Maybe even a drink! "Cool. You're okay. What's your name again?" She asks, absently, as she turns to enter the store. She doesn't un-henshin- Kyouko may not have spent enough time around her to notice, but it seems the younger versions of the Arbiters never un-henshin. It's possible they can't, being some kind of manifestation rather than actual living people, though they don't seem aware of the difference themselves.

    Food is duly acquired and paid for, though there isn't much change to go around. Perching on a stool next to a window-counter, Stellar unwraps and takes a big bite of her burger. "You guys have it good in the future though. So many more monsters, and most of 'em are push-overs. Its like free XP."

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
There's a fresh elbow into Stellar's ribs, but light enough that it's clearly friendly. "Kyouko." Because that's not confusing af with the older Stellar.

Kyouko doens't seem too concerned about if she's in henshin or not, and she stays in henshin out of solidarity or simply because she doesn't CARE that much about which form she's in at the moment.

"Light on witches though." Kyouko complains as she pops a fry into her mouth, settled on a stool. "And most of the monsters don't cough up grief seeds, so it's a waste."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Stellar doesn't really react to this girl's name being 'Kyouko'- after all, similarities notwithstanding its a fairly common name for a Japanese girl, and it's not like people pick their own names (usually). At least not the non-superhero ones. She also seems to take no note of whether or not Kyouko remains in henshin, seeming to find it perfectly natural that she should do so.

    "Well, Witches or no Witches, they die all the same." Stellar says, with the carefree attitude of someone who is not a Puella and therefore does not need to care about the proportion of Witches within the monster population.

    She chomps on her burger.

    "It's never a waste to improve your skills." She says, stubbornly. "Besides, its just fun. Killing shit is fun. And monsters are bad so you can kill 'em and people won't even get mad at you. Usually."

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
"They do all die the same." Kyouko agrees. "But even the easy ones take magic. Not much, but at least /some/."

Another fry and she is clearly wholly unconcerned for carrying on a conversation about Witches and youma and magic and killing things in a busy fast food restaurant.

"Don't get any magic back if it's not a Witch." Kyouko points out, gesturing with yet another fry at Stellar. "So improve my skills? Sure. Unless they are complete pushovers, and then is it really improving? It IS fun." She has to agree there. "But need the right mix of Witches and not, or it all gets bad."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "That's a raw deal." Stellar points out, "I don't have to worry about how much magic I use. I mean, I guess I'd get tired or something. But it's not like I have to kill to recharge it." Yes, the Puella deal sucks- of course, Stellar also didn't get a wish granted but as Kyouko knows more than most, for a lot of Puella that's not exactly the bonus it's sold as.

    "Anyway," She says, polishing off the burger in record time. "That doesn't change the point that practice is good." She shrugs at the question of whether or not it really counts as improving when the monsters are pushovers. "It builds muscle memory, at least. The more you use a skill, the more automatic it becomes."

    It seems even as a teenager she's not above lecturing her kouhai. But the know-it-all superior tone might be more aggravating coming from someone of a similar age than it is from an 'adult'.

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
"Yeah. It's a raw deal." Kyouko agrees as she gets going on her burger. It won't be long for this world. "Kyoubey is a rat fink and the devil." It's probably hyperbole, there's plenty of things that suck that get called the devil by people all of the time. Wishes rarely go as people expect them to. That knife is double edged, and very very sharp.

"Oh yeah, because you are SOO much older and better at it than we are." Kyouko mocks as she gets lectured by a girl who is barely older than her. "Because we're just sitting around doing diddly squat around here."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "I don't know nothin' about no Kyoubey," Stellar says with a shrug, but she doesn't seem inclined to disagree at the very least.

    "Older? Maybe not so much. Better? Absolutely." Stellar says, with a grin that says she's just being playful... but also firmly believes every word coming out of her mouth. "I ain't saying you're not doing anything. Just that there's always room for improvement. Even for me." She shrugs her shoulders and steals a fry.

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
"Pfft. Better." Kyouko protests, although there's no real heat to it. She's not quite SO arrogant as to not have been able to witness Stellar's fighting and while Kyouko is hardly a slouch, Stellar IS a little bit better.

The burger is gone in a few fangy chomps and Kyouko licks her lips. "That was delicious." She eyes Stellar and reaches for another fry. "Head back out, see what else is out there to keep our muscle memory sharp on?" She offers. "If we take down someone with some yen, we can get milkshakes."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "Monsters don't usually have yen on them, but I like how you think." Stellar says with a shrug that says she's willing to give it a shot at least! Maybe Kyouko seeming to accept her claim of being 'better' has endeared the girl to her more than she had already liked her.

    She hops down from the stool, grabbing the last few fries for the road as she turns to head for the door. "Just don't tell Lac-chan you were helping me okay? She'd claim I was cheating, and I'd never hear the end of it."