294/Churro Misunderstanding

Churro Misunderstanding
Date of Scene:	24 August 2023
Location:	Four Clover Mall
Synopsis:	Kyouka calls Homura out to ask a favor. Darien delivers a warning.
Cast of Characters:	Kyouka Inai, Homura Akemi, Mamoru Chiba

---

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    TXT: Homura, I need a favor. Big important. Don't want to leave a message trail. Meet me at the mall.

    A short time later:

    Kyouka walks into the large, crowded mall in the middle of the afternoon. She's wearing her casual, non-work clothes- a black t-shirt with a band logo, artfully ripped jeans, and calf-high black boots. Of course her rectangular-lensed sunglasses still perch on her face, and she's chewing bubblegum, jaw working with the occasional *pop*.

    Hands in her pockets, she looks like just another member of the mallgoing public as she makes her way across the well-lit, clean interior bustling with people to the food court. Finding a table in the corner, a few away from the next occupied table, she sits down- only after procuring a tray of nachos from the nearby faux-mexican fast food joint, of course. Munching on one, leaning an elbow on the table, she pulls her phone out and taps idly at it with her other hand. Informing Homura of her exact location.

Homura Akemi has posed:
    TXT: On my way.

    Homura arrives at the mall wearing a sleeveless lilac blouse, a simple black skirt and matching tights. Neat, nice shoes with short heels cover her feet. For her it's a relatively casual look, with some minor concessions for the heat of summer. It's also fashionable enough that she, too, would fit in if Kyouka decided one of the upscale stores was the best place to talk.

    The expression on her face being cool, and almost unreadable stony purely out of long established habit is likely the only thing that might make her stand out from the crowd. It doesn't take her long to notice Kyouka, and before heading to the table she gets herself a hard shell taco, another way you can tell it's faux, and a churro. A few moment's later she takes a seat across from her schools 'guidance councilor', "Inai-sensei."

    At first it seems like she might wait for Kyouka to start, but after a moment she notes, "Judging by your message something big is happening with the local malcontent population. I'm a little surprised it's taken this long." She makes an effort to show a hint of a frown before adding, "I've been held up with matters of my own more than I'd like as well, so you might have to help me catch me up." She'd been playing it cool, but now she finally makes direct eye contact with Kyouka, to put emphasis on her next words. "But if it's important, I'm here. What do you need?"

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Kyouka watches Homura approach with a calm expression.. giving the younger-appearing girl a lopsided smile when she greets her as -sensei. "That still sounds weird coming from you, you know." She says without offering any explanation as to why. She bites the end off a chip, chewing for a moment before going on, "Thanks for coming. You can be hard to track down. A lot harder than most of my students, anyway. But you're not wrong. There's a... situation brewing."

    She leans back in her chair, turning partially sideways so she can cross one jean-clad leg over the other, boot idly bouncing in the air, her elbow still on the table. "What do you know about Obsidian. Corp., Akemi-san?" She asks, her voice still light and polite, as if this is a conversation of not particular import. Behind her sunglasses, after initially meeting Homura's gaze, she's taken to idly scanning the food court, as if keeping an eye out for something, though nothing seems to hold her attention for terribly long.

Homura Akemi has posed:
    The food is as much a cover as anything for Homura, but after speaking she gets out her taco and takes a nice, crunchy bite of it. Despite it being a relatively messy food with potential for this or that to fall away, she manages to be neat. Obviously someone had drilled manners into the girl at some point in her life. If Kyouka had ever bothered to look at her records the fact she transferred in from a private Catholic school probably has something to do with it.

    She doesn't react overmuch to the reply to the greeting, but noting she's hard to find gets an apologetic dip of her head. For living in the school dorms she knows she can be hard to contact; part and parcel of being a Puella Magi, unfortunately. "I should have given you my number sooner," she admits.

    She's reaching for her drink when her question is answered with another, and her hand freezes in the air, hovering a few inches from the waxed paper cup. Her eyes shoot immediately towards Kyouka's sunglasses-covered face and studies it for a moment before speaking a single, weighty deadpan word and resumes retrieving her drink for a sip, "Enough."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Kyouka seems to accept that simple reply as... well, enough. Enough to be getting on with. She heaves a small sigh, tapping a finger of her free hand on the table while the other brings another nacho to her face. "I've recently come into possession of some.. interesting information. About a particular project which is currently under development at Obsidian."

    She quirks her lips to the side, an expression of hesitation. "The source was... not particularly trustworthy, but her motives were. And I've since independently confirmed that the intel is good. Part of my job is knowing people and finding things out, and I've been doing my best to put those skills to use the past week or so."

    She bites the chip in half, before looking up again, quirking her brows. "Have you heard anything about a 'Midnight Tokyo Project', currently being worked on at Obsidian? I hadn't, but now I have, and I know what it's about, generally speaking. And it's not good news."

Homura Akemi has posed:
    Homura listens as Kyouka speaks, keeping her gaze mostly on her food except when some particular motion gets her attention and has her glancing towards the woman across the table from her. She doesn't frown theatrically like she did before, but as she considers everything said thus far her immediate concern doesn't seem to be for the plot itself. After another bite of food she sets her hands in her lap, a more polite, formal posture.

    "I hadn't expected scouting and detective work to be your forte, Inai-sensei." There's something about the way she says it that implies she still might think that. Her hand slides into her pocket and she sets her phone on the table. "I hope you don't take this the wrong way, Inai-sensei, but unlike me, you are not hard to track down," emphasis on 'not'.

    She takes in a breath and lets it out slowly. "You do the opposite of keeping a low profile. You actively train Obsidian's opponents against them, in a way they're surely aware of. Direct action on top of that is going to make you a target."

    It could sound like a lecture, but it isn't. Kyouka Inai has either already heard that kind of lecture before or was too high atop the heap to have anyone to lecture her, Homura assumes, or she wouldn't have had the 'opportunity' to and retire. Instead all of this is leading up to her tapping at the face up screen of her phone a few times, at which point a tracking app opens up. Nothing too nefarious; the kind families of all kinds and some friends use without thinking that shows the current location of another's phone. She pushes her phone across the table, towards Kyouka.

    "If you put your information in there and you need help, I'll be there." She had been looking away still, but she looks to Kyouka again, "As fast as I can, which can be immediately, if it has to and I know where you are." Another long, direct look, before she lets out her breath and reaches back, flipping her hair over her shoulder.

    Only now that that suggestion has been made does she say anything at all about the actual information Kyouka has told her. "I haven't heard that name before, no. It doesn't sound good, and you wouldn't want to speak with me if it was a new nightclub keeping students out so late their grades were slipping."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Kyouka flashes a lopsided grin once again, displaying just a hint of too-sharp canine. "Scouting and detective work? Maybe not. But I can do people, Akemi-san. I'm a good bullshitter, and I'm good at making deals, and people like talking to me. So I find the people who have the skills, and send them to do the job. And then process the result. It's called networking. Maybe you should try it sometime. You can't do everything on your lonesome." She raises one brow over her sunglasses.

    But then she's adding, "Yeah, I know. But believe it or not, I'm counting on it. When they send somebody to get me, that's just another opportunity. I don't die so easy, y'know. And someone who thinks they have the upper hand is even more likely to let something valuable slip. Don't worry about me. I can handle myself."

    She glances at the phone, then shrugs, and she does so. "You already have one of my business cards. So you know that offer is mutual. But it's nice to know there's backup in the offing, if I get in a tight spot."

    On to the business at hand- "Midnight Tokyo is apparently a project with the intent of physically merging the material world and the Dusk Zone. Like, causing them to overlap. I don't need to tell you if this succeeds, it'll be bad news for the every day civvies of the city. As in, they'll all die." She eats another nacho. "I have someone offering to give me the ritual plans for the project. As in, the blueprint of what they plan to do which, as you can imagine, would be pretty handy in figuring out how to stop them from doing it."

    She pauses. "The price for this information... is an expended Grief Seed." A significant glance. As in, this is why I called you here.

Homura Akemi has posed:
    Networking. If Homura hadn't already just flipped her hair, she'd be doing it again. If she was a poker player, she'd be smart enough to withhold that blatant tell when playing, but she isn't. "You might not believe me now, but that was actually my plan from the start. You were going to be one of my first important links." She gives a one handed shrug, "My plan didn't survive contact with the enemy. Go figure."

    Then as Kyouka notes the difficulty in killing her Homura thinks before she can check herself, 'There are fates worse than death.' She immediately chides herself afterwards, but is at least glad she didn't speak the words aloud. "I'm sure you can, it's why I'm not telling you to stop or to go into hiding. And yeah, mutual backup. That's the kind of networking you're going to need if you pursue this, especially if you're hoping to take down and interrogate an enforcer they send after you."

    So much for subtlety and subterfuge. Homura glances around the food court, and the mall generally. How many of these businesses have ties to Obsidian? How many have ties to the back room, important part of it? She's starting to wish Kyouka had asked her to meet in her office, or the gym with her fancy isolation device.

    "That sounds bad," she notes midway, so Kyouka knows she's paying attention. The black haired girl has effectively forgotten her meal by now, which probably shows that even better. At the end she nods, "I was sure something like this would happen sooner or later. Not this specifically, but something." Then she hears the 'price', and her eyes lid a bit more, her expression stoic.

    After several long moments of silent thought she scoots forward a little on her chair lifting her hands and resting them on the table, folding them together. "Fine, I'll support you on this. I don't like the price, or your methods, but someone has to stop them and you're probably more than halfway there. But Inai-sensei, there's something you need to know." She's already speaking quietly, so she doesn't lower her voice further, "Who your fighting, and the way you're doing it? You've put your finger in the hornets nest, and now you're about to kick it."

    She pauses for dramatic effect before reiterating, with more force and emphasis in her voice, "The hornet's nest. Not a hornets nest. The." She lets that sink in for a moment. "So don't get yourself killed. You're not wrong about being good at making connections. I'm sure it sounds ridiculous to hear someone like me saying this when you're weighing the weight of the world against what you're already sure you can handle, but I'm in this for the long haul and I think you are too. Don't burn all your your connections and put your life, or your network, at too much risk for one apocalypse. If you do that, you'll lose, because there will always, always be more waiting around the corner."

    She lifts her hand, and covers her face for a moment, "As for the Grief Seed? I'm not giving that to you until you're ready to hand it over to your informant. They don't last long once expended so be ready to make the trade fast, and also be ready to fight a Witch or escape."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Kyouka gives that lopsided grin of hers again, fang in evidence. "Aw, I was going to be in the initial wave of Homura-Buddies? I'm flattered, especially in that you consider me that worthwhile of a friend to have. But y'know, it ain't too late. After all, this is what we're doing now, huh?" She gestures around.

    In truth, the fact that this place was very public is one of the reasons Kyouka did choose it. In her mind, Obsidian is less likely to gun her down, metaphorically (or literally) speaking in the middle of a crowded mall in the afternoon. It'd be more dangerous to meet in a dark back alleyway with nobody around. Whether or not that's actually true is up for debate, but that's what she's thinking anyway.

    She nods her head, red hair bouncing against her chin, at the comment about mutual backup. "Well that's appreciated. I know you can handle yourself. I have a few students I trust in that role also, but to be honest with you a lot of them are pretty green. This will be a test for them. Doesn't make me happy to throw some kids directly into the fire, to to speak, but it was gonna happen sooner or later. Just the way this game works." She hasn't stopped eating. Another nacho disappears with a few crunchy chomps.

    She narrows her eyes behind her sunglasses, ash-grey becoming steely as Homura says she agrees to help with the trade, but warns about the danger of whom Kyouka is messing with. "Oh, you don't need to baby me, Akemi-san. I'm not a newbie. I appreciate the warning, and I especially appreciate the reminder that the kids I'm working with are not expendable. I agree about that. But the thing is.. even if there's always another apocalypse, that can only be true if we stop this one. This is the sort of game where you're not allowed to lose and come back stronger next time. You lose and it's just over. So in order to even get to the next apocalypse, we can't hold back anything with this one. Or the next one. Or the one after that."

    She leans back in her chair, another nacho meeting its fate with a crunch. "This ain't my first potential world-ender, you know. I've lost friends in the defense of this city. More than one. Not eager to do it again but I'll do what I have to. Every time."

    At the talk about handing over the grief seed only at the last moment, she gives a little sigh. "Fair. I plan to do it tonight, downtown. I'll text you when it's time, if you'll be around."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
And that's when Darien shows up, on the approach from behind Kyouka, literally just having spotted that red hair. He jams his hands in his pockets and starts walking toward the two of them, and he gives Homura a crooked little smile.

The too-tall black-haired teenager calls out cheerfully, "Inai-san! Just the person I was looking for," and pulls his hands from his pockets to wave one.

He's wearing black jeans and a black UNMASK aLIVE t-shirt underneath an unbuttoned white oxford shirt, short-sleeves, and his hair is just so, and he's even wearing hipster shoes. It's not overdressed for the mall, it doesn't even come off as bougie. That's because no one knows how expensive the shoes are on sight.

There's no tightness at all to his posture or his face, he's not stressed more than usual.

Homura Akemi has posed:
    "Something like that," Homura agrees, "and I don't disagree that working together more often would be mutually beneficial." She almost sighs when Kyouka reiterates her experience. She's said a lot, and somehow her words are either not hitting the mark she's aiming for or Kyouka far more confident than she realizes. Rather than speaking in grave tones with heavy emphasis again she simply states. "I'm talking methods, not whether or not to take action. You said you want to provoke a reaction. Fine. I don't know that they will show up with overwhelming force and try to destroy or erase you because you're proving far too smart and direct a threat, but I also don't know that they won't, and that puts me on edge." She shakes her head and takes a quick drink before noting, "I'm not saying we shouldn't be prepared to fight when it counts, only that it's imprudent to pick major fights that could be avoided before then."

    She grows grave at the mention of losing friends, and it's clear she has as well. For Homura Akemi it's a lot more complicated than just 'I've watched friends die, and they're gone', but she's seen more than her fair share of tragedy.

    Being so tense is a bad time for Darien to walk up, so she simply gives a slight nod to accept Kyouka's plans for a trade off tonight, taking her phone back, which had by now gone dark from lack of attention, and slips it back into her pocket.

    She doesn't know Darien Shields especially well, and she isn't being addressed, but something feels slightly off about his arrival to her, but she can't put her finger where. Luckily she has the perfect cover. She looks down to her food, reaches to her hard shell taco. She picks it up and she eats it, clean, straight white teeth crushing through the thin, hard tortilla and then mashing the soft, goey insides.

    Nothing to see here. Not at all.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Kyouka can't help but roll her eyes just a little bit at Homura's doom-and-gloom pronouncements, even if they are delivered in earnest. "Look, I appreciate the concern Akemi-san, I really do, honest. But as far as they know, all I've been doing so far is asking some questions. They don't know I have anything yet. I'm being careful, okay?" She isn't. "Do you really think Obsidian is going to march into this foot court and cheerfully call my name-"

    It's at exactly this moment that Darien walks up behind her and cheerfully calls her name, and Homura gets to actually see the color drain out of her face for a brief moment as her eyes widen slightly, mouth hanging open mid-sentence. She recovers quickly, though Homura gets to hear her muttered, "Oh for god's fucking sake," as she turns around in her chair, plastering a wide, pleasant grin on her face.

    "Mr. Shields! Funny running into you here. You know, I really am going to start thinking you're stalking me if you keep doing this sort of thing." She laughs it off with a mild chuckle, chomping on another nacho with far less murderous grace than Homura, swallowing before saying. "Dare I ask why you were actually looking for me, rather than doing your best to avoid me, as seems the norm?"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Darien's eyes, behind those reflective spectacles of his, land on Homura biting the... end of a taco? Off? Menacingly?? and he tilts his head slowly, trying to make sense of--

--ah! Kyouka must be warning some other magical girl about him and telling her to stay away because he's evil or whatever!

The boy's expression of puzzlement clears and he beams at Kyouka. "Just wanted to talk about some discussions you've had with my sister. It's kind of pressing, so if you have a minute now, that would be great." A beat, and a Knowing Look (eh? eh?) is slanted Homura's way before returning to Kyouka. "If you want backup that's fine."

And then he bows properly to Homura. "I'm Darien Shields, I apologize for interrupting your taco decapitation ritual."

Homura Akemi has posed:
    Homura is trying hard to be inconspicuous. Too hard. So hard that she seems to have hit some kind of underflow error and gone right to sticking out like a sore thumb. This only gets worse as she drains her water as a way of trying to give Kyouka and Darien some 'privacy' as they verbally joust, which results in the cup running low and a grating slurping sound emanating from it as the straw sucks up the last several drops.

    Considering that Kyouka speaks of stalking and Darien directly notes how forceful her bite was, this seems to be about average for the conversation. Her eyes briefly flick towards the tall young man as a sister is mentioned, which is news to her, and the mention Kyouka potentially wanting backup.

    As she's introduced though Homura's slurping ends, the now empty cup is set on the table, and she places her hands politely in her lap and bows forward as much as the space allows, so properly and politely, "I'm Homura Akemi, pleased to meet your acquaintance, Shields-san." Her gaze then goes to the guidance counselor, a passive look that lets her know the ball is in her court, and the Puella will follow whatever course she decides.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Kyouka, for her part, doesn't seem overly threatened by Darien. Something about her demeanor speaks less of fear or tense preparation for action and more a sort of annoyed resignation. She eats another nacho, chomp chomp, and leans back in her chair slightly away from Darien, uncrossing her legs and re-crossing them the other direction, a restless adjustment as she considers him from behind her sunglasses.

    "Discussions might be slightly generous. And I also want to note, your sister has sought me out every time I talked to her, so if this is gonna be some 'stay out of my business, stay away from my sister' type of a thing, you're better off talking to her than to me."

    At the mention of backup, she turns and glances back at Homura. She meets the Puella's purple-hued gaze for a moment, lifting one of hers in a way which communicates cautious reassurance, before she turns back to Darien and says, "I'm not going to chase Akemi-san off, as she's still eating her taco, but I also don't feel the need to force her to listen to our little family therapy session." A stage whisper to Homura, "It's a little embarassing."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
One corner of Darien's mouth turns up a little from where it had settled back down to neutral, as both he and Homura look to Kyouka and Kyouka starts talking. He sticks his hands in his pockets and doesn't take a seat, choosing instead to be too-tall and just a hair too close, just to make Kyouka get a crick in her neck if she looks up too long. Even if she leans back away.

"Don't be as ridiculous as you look," he says gently. Gently. It is a calculated insult. "She can take care of herself. I'd just like to know why you're being so very, very loud. You don't strike me as the martyr type."

Homura Akemi has posed:
    It's funny. Sitting here for thirty seconds listening to Kyouka and Darien talk at each other and exchange barbs has told Homura more than she probably would have learned in days of trying to get back into the loop herself. Hearing that she's not being shooed away, but also hearing no express interest in having her stay means it's up to her. But Kyouka's right; she does have her taco to eat. Luckily her attempts at hiding in plain sight are over, so it's small, normal bites she takes. Polite again.

    She chooses to remain silent, but not uninvolved. When Darien mentions 'very, very loud' and 'martyr' Homura looks towards Kyouka and raises her eyebrows in a 'See? I told you so' kind of motion. This, naturally, requires a few leaps of logic and assumptions on her part, but given what they were just discussing Darien is all but screaming 'I'm a member of Obsidian, and my sister probably is too' to anyone paying attention.

    Yet he's coming with what can only be considered a friendly warning under the circumstances. Sure, he's being too-tall and too close and imposing, but that's a lot different from threatening precious loved ones, students, or simply staging an ambush. So Homura appreciates him. She shows this appreciation by lifting the crispy, cinnamon-sugary goodness that is her churro and holding it up close, but not too close, to his face.

    If he's going to join the strange little conversation, he might as well eat too.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Ironically, Darien being too tall and too close only seems to make Kyouka bristle rather than shrink. Like a porcupine putting up its spines. She glares up at him as he speaks to her, and something about her demeanor might even strike Homura as a bit 'off', like this isn't how Kyouka usually acts based on the other girl's experience from previous go-'rounds. Or other people.

    "Not the martyr, type, huh?" She retorts, voice practically dripping acid. "That's real funny, coming from you Darien." She draws in a deep breath, visually mastering herself, before tossing her head back in a move that Homura will no doubt recognize though with far less hair. Still effective enough in making her short red locks fling back from her face as she says in a more controlled tone, "I appreciate your concern, Mr. Shields, but the fact of the matter is to be a martyr your have to die. So far, for all my trying, I've yet to meet that particular qualification."

    She tilts her face down to look at him over her sunglasses, her eyes grey like a morning's fog. "Do you think I might, this time?"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Darien blinks down at Homura, and then obligingly -- albeit somewhat tentatively or uncertainly like he's not sure this is what he's supposed to be doing -- takes a bite of the churro. He gives Homura a thumbs-up while he's chewing, and doesn't put his hands back in his pockets. Instead, he clasps them behind his back. Still not ready for combat.

(He's really not sure if he was meant to take the churro or just bite it. REALLY not sure.)

Then he looks to Kyouka again, eyebrows up. "If I didn't think you might, do you think I'd have bothered to ask?" He sounds and looks so unutterably sincere. He sounds reasonable. He's not fidgeting.

He's not fidgeting.

"I'm not going to be happy if I find you're behind what happened. You're not going to be happy if my friends find the same. So if you are, then backup," he nods gravely to Homura, "is a very good idea. I like fights better when they're more fair."

Homura Akemi has posed:
    She'd meant to hand it to him, but just taking a bite of it works too. At the very least the peace offering was given and accepted, in her mind, so she pulls it back. Not that she'd put it past most Obsidian folk to attack anyway, but Darien doesn't strike her as a 'normal' anything. That's not an insult.

    Even so, what Darien says afterwards confirms all her suspicions. It looks like even the enemy agrees with her assessment of Kyouka kicking the hornets nest. She'd thought she'd only been poking it so far, but maybe a kick or two had already been delivered.

    Meanwhile Kyouka is confident, and gives the impression that she has every right to be. Homura has no reason to doubt her, but she's seen powerful, confident veterans die. Again, and again, and again. Sometimes even with herself at their sides, knowing the dangers, and being unable to prevent it. The woman made it clear she didn't want to be treated lightly.

    The thing is, Homura isn't. It's not babying, it's the honest assessment of a veteran magical girl. One who hasn't only seen world-ending apocalypses fail; one that's seen them succeed, and far too many times.

    She closes her eyes and stands up, stating calmly, "Inai-sensei, I think it's time we should go." We, not I. The rhetoric is starting to heat up, and she'd rather it not ignite. Not here, not yet. She'd rather maintain the relatively friendly-rival feeling she's getting from Darien, at least for a little while.

    As she collects her garbage together she looks to the churro. Without saying anything she places it across the table, beside Kyouka's nachos. For some reason she can't put her finger on, at the back of her head she just feels that the woman wouldn't appreciate her throwing away the half-eaten snack.

    Something to do with redheads, maybe.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "Behind what happened? I'm sure I don't know what you mean." Kyouka says to Darien, and you can see the little n.n emoji in her face. Truth is, though she doesn't exactly know what he's referring to. Because she has no idea about what's gone on at Nephrite's house, what the witch she hired to retrieved information did to get it. Actually no clue. As far as she's concerned, all she's done is ask questions. Loudly and unsubtly, sure. But she's not picking up what Darien is putting down, because she doesn't have all the pieces of the picture.

    "Regardless, while I appreciate the concern, I think you might be wasting your time here, Mr. Shields." She glances across the table to Homura, and nods her head when the girl says it may be time to go. She glances down as the churro is placed alongside her nachos... then picks it up and adds it to the styrofoam container of chips before she stands and picks the whole thing up. Her eyes then return to Darien. "I don't stand by in the presence of evil, Mr. Shields." Her voice is low, quiet, and confident. "Happiness is not a factor. Survival is secondary. My oaths are inviolate. I will do what I have to do. If you want a fair fight.."

    She grins, lopsided and fanged. "You should probably look elsewhere." Then she's walking away, tossing her head absently in a 'come on' gesture to Homura. "Akemi-san, let's get some fresh air. Something about the atmosphere in here doesn't agree with me anymore."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Darien sighs.

He guessed wrong with the churro, and now Kyouka gets to eat the rest.

He doesn't call anything back. If Kyouka or Homura looks-- let's be real Homura doesn't look back at explosions but Kyouka absolutely does-- he's just not there anymore.