2019/An Overdue Talk

An Overdue Talk
Date of Scene:	25 October 2024
Location:	Obsidian Tower - Dark Laboratory
Synopsis:	Riventon has to talk to Norie about the things he's heard. Attempted murder? We need to lower the heat.
Cast of Characters:	Takashi Agera, Norie Okana

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Takashi Agera has posed:
    Takashi Agera was... long overdue on speaking to Norie. He had a tendency to forget things that weren't directly in front of his face, especially when what was in front of his face was salvaged technology from another world, crystals that were once held by a hyperpowerful superyouma, and the like. But eventually Norie actually being in the office, Takashi being in the mood to chat about it, and Takashi remembering that he needed to chat with her all coincided at one point.

    Ever since the team had moved to Precia Testarossa's department there had been a little bit more room, down to Norie having her own location for her work. Which gave Takashi an actual door to knock on today.

    "Okana-san?" He calls through it after a couple short knocks. "We are overdue to talk, I think."

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana indeed had her own small little cubicle of a room. Takashi probably remembers these small rooms. Norie put a sign on the door.

'Knock Please. Or I'll Eat You.'
'Seriously. I'll Eat You.'

In Obsidian that was a very real threat! Even if Norie didn't really 'eat people' persay. Still. There's a knock and Norie answers. The green light on the 'No dangerous experiments going on' light tells you she's in. She gives a look at Takaahi and nods. "Takashi-senpai." Neutral monotone. As close to 'glad to see you' she's gonna get. "Come in." she says.

The small cubicle has a desk. A biological sample imager, and literarily nothing else. It's too small. There's a bunch of papers all over the desk with various Dusk Zone sketches on them.

"What do you need to talk to me about? Is this about a Jewel seed? I haven't seen any before or yet. I can assure you, if I get one, Director Testarossa will get it, quickly." she says.

She doesn't want her face to meet a table.

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Takashi shakes his head. "Actually, pretty sure that what I wanted to talk to you about pre-dates the whole move to Testarossa Technologies anyways." he says. "But..." he pauses, seeming a bit uneasy, before he decides to hell with it and spits it out.

    "Did you try to kill one or more of the sparklesquaddies? Like, I have been hearing a few things but they're also... a little bit prone to over-exaggeration. But they do seem a bit more put out by it. But... I'm pretty sure I never asked you to kill anybody."

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana stares are Takashi a moment when he spits out that question. Did she try to....?

Oh....OH! There's a look of thinking for a bit then realization flashing on her face. "Yes." she says. "Count Otto gave me an order to kill Hannah Steiner. So I tried to lop her head off. I was almost successful too! But someone stopped my blade..." she says a little grumpily.

Like it's a bad thing she was stopped. She's grumpy about it. "Her girlfriend was super upset at me for a while about it and I think still is a little. Maybe." she says.

"Why? Is Count Otto upset about my lack of success? I'll try harder next time..." she says. "But we're waiting on this...TSAB paperwork..."

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Takashi looks at Norie, more than a little bit slack-jawed. "Otto?" Takashi says, with the same tone that he might say the name of any hero-side nemesis of his. Like Chrono, without the respect.

    "You don't work for Otto. You work for me and Precia. Otto's like... is he even on the org chart?" Takashi exclaims, frustrated. "You really shouldn't be going off to assassinate anybody without telling me! For one thing... I defended you from the accusations the first time." he says, with a sigh.

    "For another thing, es-ca-lat-ion. You want them trying to lop my head off because they think that's what we're about now?" He shakes his head. "I know we're in a war, and they are our enemies, but this is like... a cold war, a proxy war. It's still low intensity. I don't think it benefits us to make it high intensity. Probably only helps the really off-the-wall types, like Joker."

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana stares at Takashi some more, eyes crossing as she listens. Is he.....upset?

Oh he's upset. But like. Reasonably so. Okay. She isn't being dark energy blasted at least. "But...the pieces...."

Pieces.

"Aren't we pieces on a chessboard? Isn't it better to eliminate and wipe pieces off the board? That's how you get to the end and how Pawns Becomes Queens...." she says.

Well where's THAT coming from?

She shakes her head. "Ugh. Look, if you don't want me actually trying to 'remove' these 'pieces' from the 'board'.... I won't. Okay? But eventually these guys are going to come for us when it comes time." she says quietly.

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Takashi sighs. "Look, I know it's inevitable and going to come down to that eventually, on some scale. I don't have to like it, but I do understand it." he continues. "But that doesn't mean we should accelerate the situation. Right now... look, if things all went completely nuts right now, whoever won, it wouldn't be you and me. It'd be people like Joker or Sunbreaker or Beryl, or it'd be the sparkles. Either way, the chance for us to actually enjoy victory is not high right now. I just want to... delay the inevitable until those of us with our heads screwed on right can determine the final direction of things."

    "If it's you or them obviously it's gotta be you. I'm not asking you to jump in front of bullets for them or anything. I'm just saying don't go for the kill shot or swing - or if you think somebody needs killing you go through me first, or at least don't just take Otto's word for it."

    "Otto doesn't care about this world one bit, he just wants to resolve some petty family squabble. I got some valuable tech out of him and that's about all he's ever gonna be useful for."

    Takashi leans against the wall. "Great, now you've made me feel like a sparkle, just because I'm not advocating for the violence carnival show."

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana sighs a little and sulks. "Ugh fine. I won't accerlate it. But if any of these sparkledorks press the issue, I'm pressing the issue back." she warns. "They can kill me easier than I can kill them anyways. It's those damn....bright white attacks and what not..." she says. She sighs again and then says. "Speaking of sparkle skirts anyways..." she says.

Norie Okana lies a little. "I met someone who wanted to help me." a half lie. She sought them out. She doesn't say that. "Be able to... touch things. Without the drain. For starters. She's uh... she uses a device like you do." she says.

"But she's having problems figuring things out. I honestly don't think she knows what she's doing..! I think she needs help." she says, monotone still. The best part of monotone is you can lie your face off and not let it show in your voice.

"I figure maybe... 'Riventon' could help? Show her how things are actually done?" she asks.

Takashi Agera has posed:
    "You're absolutely encouraged to defend yourself. It's just hard to spin it as that when the story is that you lept out of a tree with a dusk-knife unprovoked." he says. And then he nods at her and rolls up his sleeve - part of his skin has healed... a little oddly. It looks like a burn scar. "Trust me. I know how the light they wield can burn away at us. I wouldn't be asking if I didn't think it was important. It's not a morals thing... it's a victory thing." he says.

    Then onto the discussion about the other Meister. "Well, I know more about how things are done than most people. he says. Oh, that was spoken in such a haughty tone. "About devices and otherwise." he adds, as if anyone could have missed that subtext in his first statement. "If it's to help you, I'll see what she's got. Probably just repeating work I've already done in terms of figuring out how your energy works, but maybe I can make sure she didn't get tripped up in the math somewhere?" he offers.

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana looks defeated on the point. She still thinks pieces should be wiped from the board but if chasing pieces around a little longer is needed she GUESSES she'll play along. She looks at the scar and frowns. "Have you been out recently?" she asks quietly. "Ugh. Who's working with you. Is it the cat!? Why isn't the cat protecting you from that garbage!" she says with a little scrunched nose.

She nods. "You know my physiology better. She doesn't. Her name is... Rashmi Terios. You know. The family that owns the Korma Chameleon. Which she says is 'neutral ground' anyways. So. Yeah maybe don't. Deliberately attack it." she says. "Or try to buy it out." she says. "I dunno who's chomping at the bit to put another 'Curry King' there or something." she says.

"So that's the one you should bug. I dunno if she can bug you. I dunno. Can devices even call one another? Do you need a number?" she asks dumbly.

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Takashi shakes his head. "Got this a while ago actually. Sailor Moon trying to stop me and Glimmer from getting a Rainbow Crystal." he explains. "But, I got it. Just... got a bit blasted in the process and it's healing funny. Something to do with not playing nice with the concetrated awesome I'm made out of." he says, chuckling. "Purification, more like an energy power-washer." he grumbles.

    "Oh, hmm. I didn't know the Korma had a sparkle there but it makes sense. Food's magic. That's practically cheating." he says. "...then I guess Eclipse's food is like cheating against themselves. Since the magic actively makes it worse."

    He doesn't think the question is dumb at all. "A number's probably better than me sitting on the roof of the Korma trying to ping nearby devices as Riventon."

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana taps her foot. "I didn't get a number but uhm. Her book was named... Nicomachea. Her device is a book. Sorry I guess I should have asked for a phone number." she says with a look as she face palms. "Is that enough?" she wonders. She then looks at her imaget and sketches. "To be honest. You're not the only one who has long overdue discussions. I guess I need to apologize to Naru-chan eventually..." she trails off. "Soon." she says.

"So I can get back to my true passion..."

"KILLING HINOIRI KIRARA!" she says throwing a fist up to the wall. She then pauses. "Wait."

"You asked me not to do that. Right."

"MAKING HINOIRI KIRARA'S LIFE MISERABLE SO SHE WISHES SHE WAS DEAD!" she says as she shakes a fist.

Takashi Agera has posed:
    The device being a book and the name together make Takashi blink twice. "...Damnit. I think I know the device. I think it might belong to someone I've fought." he says. That doesn't really narrow it down even a tiny bit. Pretty much most of the entire city worth of Sparkles.

    He's glad he doesn't have to correct her. "Thanks, Norie-chan. Remember. Being able to exercise control over our powers is part of what separates us from the mindless youma like my stapler Glimmer has obviously re-stolen." he says. Then pauses.

    "Wait, what's your problem with Hinoiri Kirara?" Oh. Right. Loops. Out of.

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana stares at Takashi. "Right. You don't know. She gae me donuts. Donuts that fixed me when I ate them for a few moments but they're from her STUPID WORLD AND NO MORE EXIST. It was a DIRTY TRICK!" she says angrily. "It was to get back at me for the whole kidnapping plot! Nrg..." she angrily seethes. Her mood is souring and now it's going to be a bit to get it back to normal.

Even more so since normal donuts just don't compare to THOSE donuts and now the memory is fresh in her head again.

"I'm going to get donuts. Are we don't talking, or is there something else we need to talk about that it can't wait until I've calmed myself down now?" she asks, with added frustration, thought clearly not at Takashi.

Takashi Agera has posed:
    "...I thought I specifically told her not to give you those donuts. Or maybe I just thought I had better not give you any because they were such a pain in the ass to get." he grumbles. "Either way, that's pretty messed up." he agrees. He's inclined to take the side of Current employee over Former employee.

    "I think we're good. I'll uh.. let you calm down." he says. "But... we should do this far more often. So that we can help each other resolve things faster. Alright?" he says, but he leaves pretty much before he even gets an answer, stepping back out.