903/Pushing the Envelope

Pushing the Envelope
Date of Scene:	19 December 2023
Location:	Gullwing Coffee
Synopsis:	After Soryuu Shrine, Kyouka and Fuyuko meet for coffee to discuss the events and also how to better annoy their boss.
Cast of Characters:	Fuyuko Yuuhi, Kyouka Inai
Tinyplot:	The Game
Tinyplot2:	Silver Crystal

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Fuyuko Yuuhi has posed:
    TXT from Fuyuko to Kyouka: hey what the fuck
    TXT from Fuyuko to Kyouka: what the FUCK
     What did you DO what the FUCK was that

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    TXT from Kyouka to Fuyuko: what you talkin about.
    TXT from Kyouka to Fuyko: i didnt do shit

Fuyuko Yuuhi has posed:
    TXT from Fuyuko to Kyouka: since that wasn't exact enough
    TXT from Fuyuko to Kyouka: what the fuck did your students do the entire CITY lit up
    TXT from Fuyuko to Kyouka: even the mundane radars probably noticed that shit!

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    TXT from Kyouka to Fuyuko: oh that, look its hard to explain
    TXT from Kyouka to Fuyuko: tbh i think thats probably the least problematic thing for you that happened tonight
    TXT from Kyouka to Fuyuko: though i dont know how much you really care tbh

Fuyuko Yuuhi has posed:
    TXT from Fuyuko to Kyouka: i regret our argument even less now
    TXT from Fuyuko to Kyouka: i should have been meaner
    TXT from Fuyuko to Kyouka: meet me at gullwing coffee. i'm buying.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    TXT from Kyouka to Fuyuko: i'll be there after i take a shower
    TXT from Kyouka to Fuyuko: youd complain more if i didnt, trust me. see you

Fuyuko Yuuhi has posed:
Thirty minutes later, Gullwing Coffee.

By the time Kyouka arrives, Fuyuko's already found them a booth at the back, with no other customers near them. That might be because she's glowered at anyone who looked like they wanted to sit beside them, but no one's complained yet (no one dares), so whatever. She's already ordered for herself, strong dark coffee and a toasted bagel with cream cheese. Another coffee and a croissant is set at the other end of the table, waiting.

"Spill," she orders the second Kyouka sits.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Kyouka saunters in, looking tired but fairly satisfied with herself. She's wearing distressed black jeans and an old band t-shirt under her leather jacket and shades... looking every bit the pretentious hipster even if this particular coffee shop isn't pretentious enough to be worth the look. She spots Fuyuko and wanders over, weathering the glare which she is no doubt not spared from.

    She sits down opposite Fuyuko, grabbing the croissant and tearing off a bite before she answers. "Turns out one of my kids is a reincarnated space princess, that's what. I probably shouldn't even tell you that but I don't think there's going to be any hiding it, and a bunch of your people witnessed it anyway. Believe it or not that has nothing to do with why we were even there, but that's what caused the lightshow. I think. I'm not exactly up on the details myself, these kids don't tell me all their secrets, y'know."

Fuyuko Yuuhi has posed:
Fuyuko's still in her business attire and there's no disguising the look of sheer envy she throws Kyouka's jeans - honestly the worst part of working for Obsidian is they genuinely do want her to look the part. Jeans would have been way more comfortable.

Especially for a conversation that's going to get this stupid.

"A reincarnated space princess," and the worst thing is she believes it, because Kyouka usually goes for better and more believable lies. This is incredibly stupid, which means it's almost definitely true. "Being a reincarnated space princess made the city light up like the sun coming out a second time. Things weren't this stupid when we were young."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Hey, Kyouka isn't allowed to wear jeans at work either- but she does get away with slacks and loafers, which are still probably more comfortable than the more formal business attired that Obsidian demands of its employees.

    "Look, I don't know." She says with a sigh, taking a sip of the coffee after a moment. "Apparently there was some ancient civilization on the moon that got wiped out a long time ago and now a bunch of its warriors and significant people are getting reincarnated all at once, and this girl is the princess and apparently has big-time purifying powers and it made a big lightshow when she awakened to her powers because her boyfriend almost died or something."

    "It's a very romantic story they should make it into an anime."

    "Anyway, I figured you'd be more pissed about how we totally owned the Midnight Tokyo Project and stuff but I guess that was pretty doomed to fail from the beginning so maybe not."

Fuyuko Yuuhi has posed:
Slacks and loafers would definitely be more comfortable than her formal business attire, but the coffee is good and hot at least; she drains a good third of her cup in one go, breathing out around that.

"Well, you could probably get a few musicals out of it, too," Fuyuko shakes her head, putting jokes aside. "Definitely weirder than things were when we were active. I've decided I no longer give a shit, as this seems squarely above my paygrade, and also, mostly on your side of the house."

Reincarnated princesses and true love were probably on the 'light' side of the Eternal Struggle, right? Surely not involving her brats.

Pause. Reconsider the conversation that was had earlier.

"...is her boyfriend one of the little shits I'm theoreotically responsible for?"

Kyouka, make her day, please -

"Oh, they actually stopped that thing? Good, finding personnel for that was getting annoying - Inhuman Resources and I do not get along very well." Yeah, it certainly looks like that project wasn't much for the friendly side of things.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "I don't know, we had to fight some pretty bizarre shit back in the day," Kyouka muses, biting off another big chunk of croissant. "Just because you don't like romance novels doesn't mean it's weird, it's just... different." A shrug.

    At the question of whether or not 'the boyfriend' is one of Fuyuko's brats, Kyouka side-eyes visibly. "Well, probably not one you were responsible for, honestly. I'm pretty sure he outranked you? If it's any consolation he was going to flip regardless, it just so happened to coincide with us shutting down Midnight Tokyo due to unforseen circumstances."

    She gives a little bit of a grin. "Glad you're not mad at me about that, anyway. It seems like nobody liked that thing. Even the dudes running it seemed to think it was a pain in the ass."

Fuyuko Yuuhi has posed:
"Romance novels are ninety percent hack jobs," Fuyuko grumbles into her coffee, "We dealt with respectable world ending crises."

They absolutely dealt with nonsense, but admittedly, no one had ever admitted to being a reincarnation.

And then - there it went. Ugh. "The Dark is already wildly out numbered, you know," but it's an idle complaint. "But whatever, if he was going to flip it probably didn't count. He did the job for a while, your lot can have a win."

R The war just had to keep going - someone could win, they just couldn't win forever. This was fine, and she'd remind Balance of that if he came to bitch her out.

"I didn't really get the details on it, and you should probably, you know, mention how you did, maybe, but it sounded like the sort of thing your lot would need to stop anyway. At least I didn't end up having to do it."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Nobody admits to a lot of things.

    "Look, I don't make the rules," Kyouka complains. "I don't tell people what to do, I just advise them on how best to do it. I'm not actively trying to steal kids from you. But when somebody comes to me and says they want out of the fucked up system you have going on over there I'm not going to turn them away. Sorry."

    "Oh, I paid the Kiseru Lady to steal the plans." Kyouka says, with an uncaring shrug. "That one is more useful than I'd like to admit, if you're willing to pay her price. Normally I'm not... a week of life from a student? Fuck that. But in this case it was a lesser price than the havoc that would have been caused had the project succeeded so.."

    She pauses, then says, "Speaking of the Kiseru Lady. I've been thinking. I really think that we should try to get some more out of her. About what she knows about timelines and alternate dimensions and such."

Fuyuko Yuuhi has posed:
"Eh, it probably works out better. The system works for the people who want it to work. Someone who didn't want to be there would probably just be selling company secrets on the side or something." A side-eye there, clearly wondering if that's what had happened with the Midnight Tokyo Project, but then another answer is offered up, one more interesting and also entirely surprising.

"Not going to lie, I'm a littlen surprised you actually met one of her weirder requests, but, hey, it got you what you wanted. And a week isn't that bad - we get to pick the student, so, I could just tell her to take it off one of the youma. Never said it had to be a human student."

Inhuman Resources could take the flack if the thing died before they said it would.

But then Kyouka continues, and Fuyuko frowns, sitting up from where she'd leaned in, looking down at Kyouka - "We'd have to pay the price, and she seemed kinda pissy you shared her name. She'll probably want to know a lot more about us than we hinted at last time."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "You and I both know that the youma don't count as your students." Kyouka says wryly. "Unless something has changed which.. well, to be honest I guess I wouldn't be that surprised by. Weirder shit has happened, that's for sure."

    She rolls her eyes at the mention of the Kiseru Lady getting pissy about her sharing her name. "She never even told me it was a secret. Like I'm supposed to know what she does and doesn't want me repeating unless she tells me." Kyouka always was bad at reading the room in that way. "Anyway, there.. may be other ways."

    She shifts in her chair, sitting back. "I have another acquaintance who I have recently come into the knowledge that she knows quite a bit more about time magic and things like alt-us than I previously had believed. I think maybe she might have some interesting input on this particular issue. And I think the Kiseru Lady might be just as interested as we are, if for different reasons."

    She twists her mouth a bit. "She's a crazy bitch, and I don't trust her as far as I could throw her, but if our interests align I will make use of her."

Fuyuko Yuuhi has posed:
"If I say it's a student and it quacks like a student, she didn't give a definition. I'll make it intern in my office, first." It could absolutely work as some real bullshit if they needed to pull that out of their pocket. "It'd probably work once, then she'll get all genie-esque on me and start getting crazy specific with the wording."

But one freebie that way could work, you know?

Fuyuko rolls her eyes at Kyouka rolling her eyes, because of course her idiot partner hadn't even thought twice about it. "One of these days you'll pick up on when someone else wants something a secret."

One of these days! Not today. Probably not this year or the next.

"...you've got some interesting people over at that school, don't you. Well! That might change things. People like her, who hoard things on the off-chance she can make a buck off it later, are always up for a deal..." she considers it for a moment. "She'll probably buy what we're selling."

aAnother pause. "Has our personal eye in the sky shown up to bitch you out for this yet?"

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "Oh, I can keep a secret once in a while." Kyouka replies idly. When she feels like it's worth keeping. Which doesn't always align with when other people feel like it's worth keeping. Hence why she keeps getting into trouble.

    "I'm not sure this one even counts as 'at the school', although technically I think she's a student. Who isn't, really?" Kyouka mutters wryly..

    "Of course he has." This about Balance showing up to complain about Kyouka's meddling. "He never leaves me alone when he thinks I'm getting uppity. But look, Fuyu-chan, I know you're no happier about these limitations than I am. I'd do a lot to be rid of that jerk. I don't really have a good idea about how that might be accomplished yet, but there's no harm in doing some research."

    "After all, what's he gonna do about it?"

Fuyuko Yuuhi has posed:
"Didn't say you couldn't keep a secret. That's different from knowing when someone else wants something kept quiet and you know it." She's not bothered by it, not this time. Kyouka's always been like that, doing things her own way, deciding for herself if something mattered and damn if anyone else thought differently - you got used to it, after a while. It was a self defense mechanism.

"But you met her through the school, so it counts." Pause. "I take it back. Knowing you, there's an endless number of stupid ways you could have met someone."

This kind of sentiment is probably why Kyouka whipped out the Fuyu-chan, which has a grimace crawling up her face; it was way too reminiscent of old, old times.

"Of course not. We didn't spend seven years fighting just to end up stuck with some ancient windbag who gets his joys making teenyboppers fight. But you're an idiot, not stupid. You know he's going to do something - but hey. It's not like we've quit the gig. He should be happy enough with that." But he's not and she knows it, which is why she isn't actually trying to talk Kyouka out of it.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "Yeah, I met some of your brats through school, too. Why do they even go there? It just confuses the system." A faint, annoyed sigh from Kyouka. "But that's not my lookout. I'm not in charge of it. Things'd be a fair sight different if I was, you can bet."

    She lifts her coffee, frowning into the cup. "All this bullshit about the Eternal Struggle.. I know you don't buy it anymore than I do. Even if you don't agree with the way I think things should be, we both agree that the way things are is stupid. But both of us would rather still be powerful... still be ourselves, because let's face it, what are we without that power? Not us, that's for sure- than just let it go."

    "But we've been doing this Arbiter thing for a few years now and y'know, it's just not sitting right with me. I mean, I like what I'm doing, the actual mentoring bit. It does feel like I'm making a difference. But knowing that no matter how big a difference I make, it doesn't matter because the game is rigged so nobody can ever win? Then what the fuck's the point. It's like you're always going on about- how pointless it all feels. Well I didn't agree with you before but about this? With this I agree."

    "But what are we if not rulebreakers, Fuyu-chan? You and me we've never been content to play by the rules, anybody's rules. Right now we're stuck because of the Fade.. that damned paracausal jerk is the only thing keeping us in the game at all. But I'm not convinced he's our only option. At least, I'm not willing to just accept that. And I think there's something to be gained by laying a few of our cards on the table for other parties who may share if not our interests, then at least some of our desired outcomes."

Fuyuko Yuuhi has posed:
"Because Obsidian isn't interested in opening a school, and your boss operates the best school for dumbass mahou in the nation," Fuyuko responds dryly. "The little brats should still get an education, probably."

It had turned out alright for her. Less so for Kyouka, but she's gainfully employed, right?

The rest of her coffee is just drops, by now, so she turns her attention to the bagel, listening to Kyouka spell out her thoughts. "Yeah, of course I'm not into it. If it was actually eternal, neither of us would be needed to sabotage the idea of any one group winning. It would go on forever. The fact that the windbag needs us at all means this whole struggle is a lot less guaranteed than he'd like."

And obviously she wants her power back. It's true - she's had magic since she was twelve years old, has had every major moment of her life shaped by magic, would have no idea who she is without it. It's why she took the deal - she had no intention of forgetting everything she'd been.

But the deal is crap and she'd rather be able to fight her own battles than deal with prickly little children hopped up on Dark Energy.

"I understand what you're saying. I even agree, to an extent; all of this is pointless, but it's even more so when no one's wins or losses matter. Sometimes I feel bad for the poor bastards, running around thinking they could actually rule the world or something, when we both know as long as he's around, the status quo stays."

What was the point? Why throw your life away for someone, when life itself wouldn't change?

"...the Fade's the real knife he's got to our throats. You thinking between Kiseru and your time kid, we can find something else that pushes the envelope?"

They'd always been the most annoying people around, the mahou that enver stopped fighting period - not with each other, with the enemy, and with any ally they made that didn't keep up, shut up, or put up. Balance had made a mistake, picking them to be his arbiters - and he was probably starting to figure that out.

Fuyuko wasn't going to cash her chips out, but if there was a way to switch the gameboard around...

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "I think," Kyouka says, as she tips her cup back and drains the last of her coffee, "That there's no point in just accepting the status quo because we're told it can't be changed. I think that there's a lot of weird and wild shit in this world, and that if you dig deep enough you might find things that nobody expected you to find, not even him. And I think that if there's anyone suited to shaking things up and making the game more interesting- for everybody, but specially for ourselves- it's us."

    She stands up, dusting croissant crumbs off of her jeans. "I'm going to set up a meeting. I'll keep you informed- you'll want to be there. I'm not promising anything... you know I wouldn't. But I need to feel like I'm doing something or else I might just go crazy."

    "Thanks for the coffee. Sorry if what happened last night causes you any headaches in the form of unwanted paperwork. I'll call you later." And she's walking off, hands back in pockets.