2017/Basically An Adult

Basically An Adult
Date of Scene:	24 October 2024
Location:	Administrative Office
Synopsis:	Amy's dragged Taro to Setsuna for assistance, since he's planning on leaving Obsidian. Taro thinks he doesn't need help after all: He's Basically An Adult (no he's not).
Cast of Characters:	Taro Yamada, Amanda Faust, Setsuna Meiou

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Taro Yamada has posed:
Taro and Amy have been discussing doing this for months, which is normal. Totally normal. There's been - well, haunted houses, his lungs exploding due to a baja blast bitch, he quit being a villain and became a baker, trying to brain a youma with a rock, dragging one of his best friends out of akumatization with the help of his other best friend - he's been busy! He's had work! It is not as if he would be apprehensive or anything to meet a being wiser and more ancient than him, upon whose judgement rests his ability to fake being a normal human.

"Do I look ok?" Taro hisses to Amy. He's overthinkign it, he knows he is, but he can't just - waltz in! Undefended! Vulnerable! He's wearing his school uniform outside of school hours, for once, and his hair has been forcibly tamed with hairspray and his one concession to personal style, a Hello Kitty hair clip to keep his bangs out of his eyes.

(After all, he's not really the Slasher anymore. He's Kuiper Belt Cape, something new, something without history. He can't rely on his decades of pedigree to bolster him here. Just his, gulp, charisma as a human.)

Amanda Faust has posed:
    If Taro possesses a hairbrush, then upon seeing him try to nicen up, Amy would have applied it to his hair as well. Otherwise she's said he should get one. "Seriously. The nurse at my old school asked if I was being abused, once. It sucks, to have to do something just to not stand out, but I don't think it's too much more to do. I found it easier to use a brush than a comb, even with short hair."

    Anyway, they're here now. She's matched him with her own school uniform so he gives off less of a 'I stick out by wearing overly formal clothes I don't even like' aura, and she's offered to hold his hand reassuringly if he wants.

    Well. They're here now! Amy meant to tell Taro only that the school nurse was also magic-aware and could function as another magic history-keeper, and also might be someone at least a little older than the usual teenagers to talk to, but things kind of slipped out and now she's hoping that her two friends will get along and that she can smooth that over if Setsuna didn't want anyone to know!

    Amy walks into the Nurse's office with him, and if there aren't any other students there, calls out, "Ahh, Setsuna-chaaan, can we talk for a bit?" She'll say Nurse Meiou instead if anyone's around though.

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
When the visitors arrive at the Infirmary, the door is open as is normal during most of the day...but upon stepping in, at first glance it appears that there's nobody here.

Namely, the Nurse seems not to be in residence.

A sharp eye, however, will note that the book she can often be seen reading from is laid down on the countertop, the spine showing it's title to be 'PEACE TALKS', and a bit of what by all appearances is a small hole in reality poking out as a bookmark.

Also, a good pair of ears will hear the sounds of someone rummaging in a closet somewhere towards the back of the room.

Thus, when Amy calls out, there's a soft thump...and a string of what appears to be by tone, some kind of invective...though it's hard to tell, as it's not in any language either of the others in the room is likely to have ever heard.

A few moments after, Nurse Meiou walks out of one of the doors off in the far corner of the Infirmary, absently rubbing the top of her hair, "Miss Faust? Was that you? Was there something you needed?"

Once she spots Taro, however...espcially with him standing there giving off massively obvious 'trying hard to give good first impression' vibes, she blinks a few times, "...and Mister Yamada? Is everything okay?"

Taro Yamada has posed:
Taro has a decent ear for languages - Jack lets him understand English and a handful of other European tongues, and he's lived long enough to pick up bits of Korean and Chinese from context - but whatever she's swearing, it's not in a tongue he knows. (Which is curious. He kneww she was a little unusual as they all were, but he didn't realize that extended to languages like he had...)

He bows politely, then pops up like a marionette. "Everything's fine! I just - wanted some advice on stuff going on outside of school. Amy-san said you were the best person to talk to for advice about what's happening, and - I probably," gulp, "may need to ask for help several times," a terrifying prospect, "becaues I can totally handle it but it'd be better to get a little advice."

The sudden dodge to try and preserve his teenboy pride is NOT convincing.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy winces at the thump. Wait, what the heck language even was that?

    Nurse Meiou comes out. "Uhhh, well..." Amy's not sure what to say, but as Taro launches into an awkward explanation she rolls her eyes, taking one more look around the room before observing, "Okay, there's nobody here who doesn't know about sparkles, right?" And moving to close the door.

    "...Although I do honestly have to wonder if your condition hasn't resulted in any weird medical side-effects." Once the door is closed, she turns back to Nurse Meiou. "Hiiii Setsuna-chan!" She smiles as she repeats the informality. "He knows about me. Everything. He knows about me. And he's... got some stuff going on, that, I've thought it might be... helpful for both of you to talk together?" She grins awkwardly looking between them. Please, friends, hit it off and get along...

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
The look that Nurse Meiou gives Taro at his statement indicates that she is NO less confused afterwards than she was before he spoke...but it appears that it's a kind of confusion that's more familiar territory for her, so after locking the closet door behind her, she walks over to sit not far from the other two, "Okay, what exactly did you need? Do you need 'THE TALK'?"

Her voice takes on a slightly lecture-y tone and she says in the most obviously fake tone...like one of those totally cringe-y sounding documentaries, "...as you get older, your body is going to start going through certain...changes..."

Fortunately, she's only able to keep it together for a few moments before snrking and waving at the two, "...seriously, though, what is it you need help with?"

Then, as Amy helpfully explains a bit, the older woman arches an eyebrow and looks back over at Taro, "Ah. One of THOSE conversations, then. Well. Have a seat and feel free to ask or explain as you need."

Taro Yamada has posed:
"I know what sex is!!" Taro protests, going red. "My ma was 17 when she had me, I know all about that stuff!" its FINE he knows the SECRET LORE they dont need to TALK ABOUT THIS!!

Oh no. He yelled at the nurse. He's supposed to befriend. With Amy. Oh noooooo hhhh hold on he's gotta. Have his head in his hands hold on. Recalibrating. What is he doing.

"I was born in 1946 and became a mahou in the 50s. One of the side effects is that i age REAL slowly compared to normal people," he says, voice muffled by his hands. "So I need help with IDs and stuff. And possibly I need treatment for a higher cancer risk and childhood malnutrition, I dunno, I haven't seen a real doctor since the 50s."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Setsuna starts giving THE TALK and Amy covers her face, barely not laughing. "Pffffffff!"

    She doesn't seem concerned at Taro talking back to the nurse. Honestly, even if he really were a teenager, that would be a normal reaction for anyone!

    As he speaks embarassedly through his hands, though, it's honestly a little weird to Amy that he's holding onto this teenage affect even with Setsuna. Why isn't he just being normal?

    He's so used to having to pretend to be a teenager it's probably pretty hard to stop with someone new, though...

    'Higher cancer risk' probably begs some explanation as to what to look for, though. Amy tries to save him a little trouble, quietly and somberly elaborating, "Radiation exposure in utero." Setsuna can put that together with the date. Amy briefly wonders where Pluto was in the 40's. The daily life of an immortal stretches back so far...

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Nurse Meiou raises a hand to cover her mouth to conceal a bit of a giggle as she gets the intended reaction from Taro.

After a moment, she waves her hand at him, her smile obvious, "My apologies, Mister Yamada...but you come in here obviously nervous and saying what you did...well..."

Her smile is genuine...no trace of malice evident, "...it was too easy a line to pass up. My apologies."

Then he confesses how old he really is, and the nurse blinks, "Forty Six?"

She stands up, and as she walks over to her computer and turns it back on, she absently waves at him, "Off with the jacket. I need to run a few basic diagnostic tests on you, then...and I can help you with better documents as well, yes."

She glances over, "Where were you born at? Unless you were born particularly close to Hiroshima or Nagasaki, cancer risk would be a little higher than the global average...but most of the ones that you'll have to worry about are the ones that don't appear until far later in one's biological life..."

She stands up and frowns, "...which may or may not be altered by whatever has frozen your biological clock."

The taller woman absently taps her lips, "...overall, I'd not really worry about that. The fact you haven't gotten cancer YET means that the odds are pretty good you won't really have to worry about it. Now step over onto that little pad there and we'll start getting your vitals."

Taro Yamada has posed:
"Amyyyy," Taro groans as she cackles at his flustering. Listen! It's normal to get flustered! He's basically an adult, ok??

But he scrubs his face and looks up at the school nurse, removing his school jacket. "I was in uteru between two weeks and a month when Nagisaki was bombed, and my ma was there. I was actually born in Fukuoka, which is pretty far away. From what research i could do, I'm outside the risk range for in-utero radiation problems, but there's a lot people don't know?" He wiggles his hand, grimacing. "Plus I learned in school that Japan was on food rationing for like a decade after the war, which made a lot of stuff make more sense in hindsight. I was real small kid and so were my cousins."

He's attempted to look this stuff up, but the information is a bit - he has no idea how cancer and malnutrition might apply to someone whose adolescence is being stretched out over several decades. He's probably better for it but who knows?

"I know I'm a lot bigger than I should be thanks to magic stuff, the average adult height for someone born when I am is like six inches shorter and my ma was a short lady, but I dunno how much is because of MAGIC-magic and how much is because I've had several decades to get proper nutrition."

And having said that, he goes over to the pad. Time for his vitals! Which are, in his human state, pretty normal for a teenage boy, other than being almost six feet tall and being weirdly musclebound for such a twiggy kid.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "I was laughing at her! Your reaction is normal for anyone, I think!" Amy explains.

    Then things get down to medical matters. Radiation and cancer, she doesn't know much about. Other things... okay, a little bit of internet research does not a doctor make but at least she can feel like she's part of this now. "Couldn't it be a mix of magic and normal biological processes? As I understand it, unless estrogen stops someone's bone growth earlier, it may continue well past teenage years. So if someone was a teenager for decades..."

    She looks at Taro. "Obviously, you haven't become a giant, so it's more complicated than that, but clearly some biological processes are slowed for you while others are not, like, it's not like you have no metabolism or your brain or muscles work at one-tenth speed."

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Nurse Meiou shakes her head, then walks over, puts a little plastic clip on Taro's index finger, then presses a button, causing an armature to swing out from the wall near Taro, rotate around him as a light plays from it, then merges back against the wall on the other side, whereupon she reaches out and undoes the clip before waving him at a bed, "That's vitals. Step on over here and we'll check your reflexes and whatnot."

As he heads over, the nurse steps to her computer and hits a few keys, "...as trite as it is to say, I think we can chalk a lot of this up to magic. It's obvious from observation that no abnormal growth has occured beyond perhaps a tendancy to the upper end of the statistical scale...which isn't surprising, I imagine. Any magic that could have sustained you this long would probably be doing it's best to keep you in top health. Whatever magics are involved seem to be tuned to be more or less optimal for this situation."

After that, it's the basic song and dance with the little rubber mallets, the lights shone in ears, testing pupil response and whatnot.

From there, Nurse Meiou nods and walks back to her computer, "Well, physically, you're in top shape. All your vitals are looking good, so no issues there. I can see about having a new identity made up for you if you'd wish, as I have some people who can do that sort of thing at need."

Taro Yamada has posed:
"I don't think I get sick as much as normal humans, and I can tolerate a lot more, uh, bad stuff. Especially if I stay transformed," Taro says sheepishly. The immortal vampire thing was VERY handy in terms of when he was having a terrible time, thanks. (Somehow it's harder to say, yes I would regularly skip meals, yes I'd blow off sleeping until I passed out. He can't explain why, and he's not sure if he should bring it up yet since he's doing so much better right now. She's just so - elegant, you know??)

"I'd like a new identity, please. I worked for Obsidian for a couple months - in HR, not as a villain - so I have a bank account set up, but I want to make sure I have a proper ID. Since apparantly the Fade hits at 18, I probably ahve... at least 15 more years to live before there's any change, if not longer, so I'm in for a long haul."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy mutters to herself, 'wait, some girls do keep growing taller, obviously it's more complicated than that...' Setsuna talking gets her attention.

    "Are his vitals, uh, normal?"She turns to look at him again. Magic is keeping him in top health... "Hey, maybe that's it!" she posits, out loud. "You said you might need to be treated for childhood malnutrition, but... what if magic did exactly the opposite? Simulated perfect nutrition? No deficiencies at all, probably correcting oversights even in modern diets? If people with better nutrition grow taller, than someone with perfect nutrition grows tallest, right?"

    Obsidian bank account. "Hinoiri's got burned; probably shouldn't count on anything they set up lasting." Amy notes. And then looks away awkwardly at the mention of the Fade. She's not sure what will happen to her, well before then.

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
The comment about having worked for Obsidian gets Nurse Meiou to stop short and give Taro a long look...but after a moment she just shakes her head and sighs, "I'm going to offer you some advice if Miss Faust hasn't. Once you have your new paperwork, empty that account and any account that you got through or with Obsidian, then establish new ones somewhere totally unrelated. Obsidian can and will do something as petty as try to unperson you and wipe out anything they can. I've seen it happen."

She then nods towards Amy as she cites the relevant person's situation, "As she said."

The comment about the Fade gets the older woman to pause, then sigh, "As far as I am given to understand, 18 is generally where one starts seeing the first signs, but there's no hard and fast rule."