965/Ham Lunch

Ham Lunch
Date of Scene:	04 January 2024
Location:	Obsidian Tower
Synopsis:	Two Obsidian Scientists meet in the Tower Cafeteria II.
Cast of Characters:	Takashi Agera, Keaka Hoshiko, Hotaru Tomoe

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Takashi Agera has posed:
    Takashi Agera strolled through the Obsidian cafateria. Well, the Upper Cafateria, the one that all of the people who mattered ate. There was nothing preventing him and people who were aware but not monstrous from going to the downstairs cafateria, but why would you want to be surrounded by all of that energy of office-workers? Plus, where else can you go that you can see a six-foot tall red Oni sitting on two chairs at once while eating a ham sandwich?

    Takashi had always tried to keep up on who was in Obsidian and when - or at least, who was new. You never knew when you might need someone's help, someone's specialty. If you could convince them to assist you - bonus points if for free, but failing that, for a good trade? It could get you places.

    So when he saw someone he didn't recognize sitting down there - he finished the purchase he was making at the vending machine and came over, leaning against the wall near the table the female was sitting at. Older than he was, but not someone familiar with the place, isolated and alone.

    "Sup." he says, tonally more of a statement as he opens the bag of chips. "You're new here? What's your deal." he asks. If she was someone like a new Beryl or Gabriel, she wouldn't be eating down here.

Keaka Hoshiko has posed:
    So. They signed up to end the world that wronged them, but the being originally incarnated as the Ghost of Maslow Peak didn't exactly have a plan. They certainly can't join the heroes. Even if they were somehow accepted... Keaka's mind fills with images of heroes gossiping. Poor thing. What a fool. Signed up for the forces of darkness on purpose and then ran to us for help? Certainly, she must never be trusted to do anything right... Just thinking about it makes their hand clench, fingernails digging into their palm.

    But what are this world's villains like? They are not part of the war Keaka signed up for to gain power. (And to escape a ship burning up in the atmosphere. Their memory of that is kind of... fuzzy.) Is that war even happening right now? Could it be happening to this strange world so isolated from everything else?

    They might be alone with their Pure, Sarida, their only friend.

    That's not a happy thought, either.

    So Keaka came back to Obsidian. If it's a bad fit... they can outwit these locals and escape, right...?

    But the division they're temporarily(?) under has been... weirdly deserted? It seems like most people went home for the holidays or something. Whatever, more time to acclimate to this planet and learn what's up with it and also what the hell is up with Abstract Space, here called the Dusk Zone.

    They just live in their office. In a past life, Martin Wreuse didn't regularly go back to his childhood home since leaving it, mostly staying in whatever barracks the TSAB offered, occasionally having an open invitation to a room somewhere at one of his few friends' places when he was in the area. When he obtained his own little ship, it had a living area, but it was also basically a workspace. Shady clients sometimes provided a lab to work with, and he slept there. So, the idea of having some... house somewhere, or apartment, doesn't really make sense. What would they do with it? Alone in an office or alone in a home, it's all the same.

    The Ghost may have been born a psychic emanation split off by a Lost Logia, but whatever magic and science allowed their escape means they have a body now and bodies have needs, like eating.

    And so, they're inevitably drawn to the cafeteria. Why waste money on local food when it's provided free here?

    Keaka is in her black labcoat and openly wearing Sarida. The feeling in the air reminds her of old times. There's the feel of an impersonal facility, like a TSAB mess hall, but the colorful characters here give the feel of the assortment of unusual folks Martin met in his adventures. Is that a giant red demon dude? Cool.

    Less cool is how on earth they managed to extract all flavor from this seafood pasta dish before serving it. There's a cheesy, processed dairy flavor to the sauce, and the texture of crustacean meat to the little bits in the pasta, but there's no taste but the sauce and the faint bready pasta taste. How. How do you screw this up. Some of the villains they remember Martin working for in the past may have ultimately backstabbed him, but man, they had good cooks...

> Be greeted by apparent coworker.

    Keaka swallows the bite she's just finished chewing, while looking critically at the next forkful. Her eyes glance over and she turns her head. Something about the way her hair moves seeming off, and the red sclera-irises definitely off. She looks him up and down. Teenager. But the TSAB hired young. He might be about the same age Martin started at.

    She holds up one gauntleted hand, index finger extended as she sets the fork down on her plate, takes a sip of soda, swallows, takes a breath, and looks at him again.

Keaka Hoshiko has posed:
    "Keaka. Or Clarthas. I suppose you can think of me as an... action researcher? I look for ways to solve your problems. I've got an interest in figuring out how Lost Logia work... what would be the word... mysterious magic and technology that certain meddling heroes consider 'too dangerous'?" She makes air-quotes as she speaks. "But I don't think I'll have a problem with that here, right?" She smiles and chuckles lightly, putting on a face of confidence. She's actually not at all certain they don't have some reason to hate her already...

    "And I am Sarida. Blue/Grey chromarchetype Pure, my purpose is to assist my User in their endeavors. Pleased to make your acquaintance." The tinny voice coming from the gauntlet sounds like a Device's voice, but they don't... talk like that, do they? Nor do they have faint lines in the gem making an 'eye' shape that looks at you.

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Takashi listens while he chews on his potato chip. Looking over Keaka's meal Takashi once again considers his decision to avoid the official cafateria food to be the corrrect one. Sure, shee looks off a bit but really who doesn't here. "No, I don't think so. Not as long as you don't put the building at risk, anyways. If you're gonna do that you should do it at an off site facility, there's several. Someone in your management should be able to point you that way, when and if there's a neeed. Assuming you have management and aren't just a freelancer." he says.

    "Takashi Agera. Tomoe LifeScience, Witches Fi-... shit, that's not true anymore, I guess." he says, nonplussed. "Let me try again. Takashi Agera, Beryl Holdings." He doesn't look pleased to introduce himself that way, but he does anyways. "Soon enough, anyways." he adds.

    "Anyways, that's basically why I'm here. Can't really do research out in the world without access to resources and people who don't immediately try to burn you like a heretic for playing with stuff that's scary." he notes. And Keaka's... gauntlet talks. "Is that a Device? It's very wordy." he says. Wouldn't be the first Devicer here that wasn't him.

Keaka Hoshiko has posed:
    "I'm probably not going to put the entire building at risk." Of course, since Takashi said that they're immediately thinking of just what sorts of experiments they could even possibly do that would result in that, from finding some exotic way to boost the power of attack spells and testing them, to somehow unleashing the alleged ultimate power of their Pure. Oh wait he's still talking.

    She opens her mouth to answer, but he introduces himself twice, and she holds out her (ungauntleted) hand to shake. "Oh hey!" she smiles. "You must be my new coworker, or... boss? Although they said I could help the other divisions when Beryl Holdings doesn't have anything pressing. I've always liked helping people." She chuckles. "Yeah, ain't that a mood. Meddling heroes care more about keeping the status quo than finding ways to change it."

    The 'eye' looks to its User. Keaka answers, "Not... exactly. Well, really, not at all. It turns out that the idea of talking objects with a crystal processing matrix in them has been developed multiple times independently. Or maybe they were inspired by devices, or the other way around?" Keaka taps on her chin. "It's alright, you can talk about your functions."

    The not-a-Device almost smiles with its 'eye' as if happy to exposit. "I am not a Device, although from my User's descriptions there is a superficial similarity. And my Strife and Mystic Drives are capable of assisting with spell usage% as a Device does, since my User is already an experienced mage. I am designed to enhance their own capabilities and functions, after all."

    Keaka glances from the crystal eye to Takashi. "As they said, a superficial similarity. It really doesn't work at all like a Device does under the surface." She frowns as she realizes something. "...Wait, are Devices that common here? I thought the Bureau and most of their enemies didn't come here... and would Devices even work? Magic is... weird here."

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Takashi reaches out with his right hand to meet hers - there's an intricate looking peice of equipment on his hand that seems like it has a dark purple, nearly black jewel set into it.

    As he shakes her hand and she asks about Devices, that gem on his arm speaks up - whether Axion was given permission by Takashi to speak or simply chose to because they were in a work setting, the device does. <<We Are Not Common.>> <<Wir Sind Aubergewohnlich.>> (We are exceptional) the device retorts, its speech much more stilted and robotic than hers, speaking two languages like any good device -should not do-. The gem pulses with each line, whether Belkan or Midchildan.

    "Not terribly common here, no. But all magic things are more common in this tower, in this part of Tokyo. And there was an extradimensional ship that broke down, or something. So there's some survivors, and some artifacts. Are you from the ship?" he asks. Chrono is, he assumes, with all of his high and mighty talking. Maybe some of the others. Most seem to just be Earthlings who happened upon a full device, the lucky jerks.

Keaka Hoshiko has posed:
    Keaka blinks at the... odd Device. "Mm." She smiles. "It seems the unusual is a little more common here, yeah." She listens, then at the question crosses her arms. "Survivors, plural?" She scoffs, "No, I was alone. Who was it? Did the Bureau try to follow me here? Wait, how'd they even survive? I only did because I went into the..." She glances away, then back at him. "'Dusk Zone', someone here called it. But there's no way the Bureau would've copied my designs... Ah, I did used to work for them. I was young and foolish once. Believed the adults calling themselves heroes knew what they were doing." She frowns. "But they're no different than their enemies. They show up, see something they don't like, and go 'We're the Time-Space Administration Bureau, we have badges and lots of power so you're going to do what we say'! Hypocrites."

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Takashi nods. "Well that sounds about like every run-in with them I've ever had. Though 'lots of power' isn't true here, at least. As far as I know it's like one actual TSAB kid calling himself an enforce and deputizing random Earth folks to bother me." he waves his hand. "Self appointed protectors of the weak and all of that. Like I've ever done anything more than make someone tired." He never fired the Heart Rifles himself until they were safer so this is technically correct.

    He takes a few more chips to crunch on before continuing. "Well, they may have made it but the ship didn't. Comes down in bits n' peices every so often. If you want to see how many people have devices, next time it starts to fall out of timespace I'll let you know."

    "So, that being said, what are you doing here? I mean both 'here on Earth' and 'here in Obsidian'."

Keaka Hoshiko has posed:
    Keaka almost laughs at the idea of some poor kid in over his head trying to enforce the TSAB's will here, but the phrase 'protectors of the weak' gives them pause. "...Yeah. Well. I guess sometimes they stop really bad stuff. But they lack vision to make the world better."

    The ship is stuck in timespace? She whistles. And then takes another sip of soda and turns, straddling the bench and stretching her arms in the air before dropping them back to her side. "Well. A rogue agent doesn't exactly have many places to go." Even less so the creation of a Lost Logia a rogue agent tried to use to Dr. Jekyll himself, but let's not overcomplicate it. "Nobody comes here. And I'm guessing this 'Dusk Zone' is part of why."

    She takes a breath, and lets it out, glancing away. "Aaand... Well. I just told you how I feel about things." She looks at him. "You think the heroes down here are gonna be any more welcoming than the ones out there?" She points a finger down at the floor, then makes a sweeping gesture at the ceiling, before standing up and pacing in a circle by the table. "I had plans to seek power once I was away from them. I had a /lead/." She smiles and holds up the gauntlet in front of her, fist clenched. Sarida chimes obligingly. "But it seems now I'm tied to what you call the Dusk Zone, and only people here seem to know about it."

    She leans over next to him and places the non-gauntlet hand on the table. "Something is going on. The space above reality is weird here. And I wonder if that's why magic's all screwy." She grins at him. "It's gotta be investigated, right?" Not bad for an improvised explanation that is true and also dodges the whole 'I agreed to help destroy the world' thing. But something inside her tells her: keep going.

    She stands up, still grinning, and folds her arms. "Of course... Just making things 'normal' like other worlds, that's hero thinking. That's just what the Bureau wants, then they'd be able to come here and act like they own the place like everywhere else. But if we find out why the Dusk Zone is like this and understand it..." She holds a clenched fist in front of her again. "Then we can control it. And then who knows what we'll be able to do? Only one way to find out!"

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Takashi shrugs. "That's really common. People think just because they can stop a youma from attacking or cleanse a shrine they know what's best for the whole world - they should interfere with their betters, and all of that." he says.

    He smirks when Keaka talks about owning the Dusk Zone, buut inwardly is a little defensive of it. "Careful with talk that's too big for you, though. At least as far as most people are concerned... you... me... that giant Oni over there? Everybody else who eats here instead of getting... I dunno, catered lunches? We're not Daimyo, we're samurai. Start talking like a leader before they've accepted you as one and they'll cut you off at the knees. Especially while you're new. There's already a ton of divisons here and they might be getting more adverse to competition." he says. "Everywhere's got rules and heirarchies, even Obsidian." he adds.

    "And as much as I can understand your desire to underrstand the Dusk Zone... and even share it? I don't tthink it's someething we can control. I think it's something we may be able to manage - but a bit in the way one manages a nuclear reaction. Deriving benefit from it while remaining aware of the risks." he says.

    "And until we have greater control of things on this side, we won't have the resources to manage that reaction properly."

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Takashi shrugs. "That's really common. People think just because they can stop a youma from attacking or cleanse a shrine they know what's best for the whole world - they should interfere with their betters, and all of that." he says.

    He smirks when Keaka talks about owning the Dusk Zone, but inwardly is a little defensive of it. "Careful with talk that's too big for you, though. At least as far as most people are concerned... you... me... that giant Oni over there? Everybody else who eats here instead of getting... I dunno, catered lunches? We're not Daimyo, we're samurai. Start talking like a leader before they've accepted you as one and they'll cut you off at the knees. Especially while you're new. There's already a ton of divisons here and they might be getting more adverse to competition." he says. "Everywhere's got rules and heirarchies, even Obsidian." he adds.

    "And as much as I can understand your desire to understand the Dusk Zone... and even share it? I don't think it's someething we can control. I think it's something we may be able to manage - but a bit in the way one manages a nuclear reaction. Deriving benefit from it while remaining aware of the risks." he says.

    "And until we have greater control of things on this side, we won't have the resources to manage that reaction properly."

Keaka Hoshiko has posed:
    Keaka frowns slightly at 'betters'. That sounds like the criminals Martin ran to. They showed their true colors eventually, too.

    Still, she listens as Takashi explains not to talk too big too fast. She looks down at Sarida, resting it on her right hand. Sarida's eye meets her gaze.

    Cut them down at the knees? According to what they know, the mysterious THEM is out there, somewhere. And as a world-ending threat, it must be strong. But does that mean help would come? The side of villainy is probably a bit less protective of its agents than the side of heroes. At least heroes felt obligated to pay lip service to the idea, until they hated you enough.

    She lifts her gaze to Takashi (so does Sarida) as even a guy at Obsidian wearing a labcoat thinks they said too much. Damn. (Nevermind that that wasn't the plan until she improvised it a moment ago, no one likes being told their plans suck!) Her expression darkens a bit. "Well we can at least understand it. As you say, to derive benefit from it... and so we can do things without it getting in our way. That the Bureau doesn't know how to do."

    "Greater control of what things, exactly?"

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Takashi walks a few steps to the window and looks out of it. "There's a whole world out there, of potential. Of energy. Being wasted on mundane pursuits. On moving papers around, moving data around, but the number of people who actually create new data, new knowledge, new useful things is a fraction of that. To take some of that energy and use it to develop scientific and magical advancements that can rise us up to meet the dimensional-traveling civilizations, the worlds I've heard of. To build weapons and tools to defend us from the horrors I've seen. To guide the success of this world and protect it? That should be a no-brainer. But everytime I, or anyone else, goes out to collect energy from those people, those who call themselves heroes, or enforcers, or magical girls, or sparkleskirts..." Okay, they usually don't call THEMSELVES Sparkleskirts "... show up and stop me before I can really get going. So it is for everyone in this building who has big goals. We want to change the world. They want to hold it the way it is. We want to understand Dark Energy, they want to snuff it out."

    "The Dusk Zone is interesting - I have an employee who is a bit of a Dusk Zone conservationist and researcher, and she's doing some very interesting things with the flora and fauna of the place - but the fulcrum of history, of worlds, is going to be on this side of the divide. It's not a war between dark and light, so much as it is one of philosophy. Do we hide from power, or do we reach out and take it and use it, as sword and shield and data?" he says.

    "I assume you're not the type to hide from power, or you wouldn't be here."

Keaka Hoshiko has posed:
    Keaka's red eyes widen in shock at those words. "The ancient scholars who discovered magic on my world talked about potential psychic energy." She follows him to the window. "To hear someone on another world talking about it... after all these years. But I never heard of trying to... use it like this. They believed the key to magic power was for mages to cultivate and grow their own potential energy while they're young... I guess that lives on in some magic training exercises, but modern magic has poked holes in that old theory, and what we've learned from Mid-Childa has poked even more."

    She looks from Takashi to the window, down at the people in the streets below. "If that old theory were true, adult mages wouldn't be able to grow in power because your potential energy is supposed to be set when you grow up. This is, like, primary school History of Magic stuff. What a weird coincidence if they were almost righter than we ever knew, though."

    She looks back to Takashi. "You've done it? You've taken this energy and used it? How does it work? Do they regenerate it? Heroes are idealists, do they have some competing theory about how... 'Dark Energy' is going to ruin things? Or are they just stopping you because what you're doing looks bad?"

    Keaka looks out the window again, and places her ungauntleted hand againt the glass. "Well that's easy. We use it. Otherwise someone else will use it, and we won't have the power to stop them if they're wrong."

    Sarida speaks up. Its tone a little different. You're thinking that fighting 'sparkleskirts' will generate resonance I can use to increase your power. Sounds like it to me! As will pulling this off and doing something great with magic. You already know the deal! The more you do things that affect others, change the world, the more your power grows. It's as simple as that!"

    Keaka nods.

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Takashi does listen to what Keaka says. There's a time, a few years ago, when a much younger him would have called them crazy, but that was before the Dusk Zone, before things he thought he made up became real, before Dark Energy, before Obsidian. "Well, you're not the only offworlder here - in Obsidian, much less on Earth. It seems like there are many places and they all have their own rules on how magic works. So just because it works this way -here- doesn't mean it doesn't work -that way- there." he says. "Director Precia had to tap into a new energy source. Because here, adults really can't do magic except Dark Energy magic." he says.

    "For... reasons that maybe I'll get into if we remain close colleagues, I can do it innately. Drain energy. Just like so many of the inhabitants of the Dusk Zone. I could use you as an energy snack. I'd only have to touch you." he says. "One of my employees, she can't even turn that ability off. Touch her and she'll drain you accidentally." he says. "How it works is... not an easy thing to explain. How does your heart beat? Not how does it work so much as how do you do it. You don't tell your heart to beat. But when you work hard it beats faster. That's how I drain energy." he says. "It's just part of who and what I am. When I want to, I do."

    He shakes his head. "Those who are desperate for the adulation of being called heroes would say that... Dark Energy affects your mind, it makes you make bad decisions, it makes you angry. And that's true. If you don't control it properly it totally will take over. But if you control it properly, it's no more dangerous than any other sort of energy. Than electricity, than nuclear power. The problem is only when uneducated simpletons, people for whom it's not a natural part, people who don't do the study - when they try to play with it."

    "There are already others who use it, so many others, all of them have their own goals. One way or another the people who don't use this new power will be left in the past - they'll be doing everything with their bare hands in an industrial era. Quaint, but helpless."

    "Change The World... that is Obsidian's motto - even if sometimes we don't all agree how we want to change it. I suppose in the end whoever contributes the most to the cause and has the most power - that divison will be the one that determines how the world changes."

Keaka Hoshiko has posed:
> Be told Adults can't do magic. After you keep doing magic.
    "But I can do magic. So that's--" In her mind's eye, Keaka imagines the tendril of THEM, dark and antagonistic and menacing, metaphysically extending into Sarida from deep in the Dusk Zone, or perhaps somewhere beyond. "--oh." It never occured to her that Pures would be able to send power through their connection to THEM and let their Users bypass local magic restrictions. Damn, that's handy. (Editor's note: No that's not how it works.) "Wait, did you say Precia? As in Precia Testarossa? So here's where she ended up?" She whistles, impressed.

    Draining energy. "I've heard of mages that can do that with willing targets. Or human sacrifice. Or magical creatures that drain energy. Are you..." Not entirely human? She glances over Takashi, but decides not to pry at this time. She just nods. "Yeah, I get it. I think. Well enough for now, at least. I'm not sure you should try it on me, though."

    She nods at the likening it to electricity or nuclear power. Both things Martin's homeworld is familiar with. "Electricity's not bad just because people who stick a fork in an outlet get hurt." She nods more at the assertion that others will use it if they don't, all for their own goals. She said as much herself.

    Change The World. "This is an opportunity." Sarida chimes in.

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Takashi shrugs. "Probably. The STAB kid knew who she was, and she's pretty strong." He says, unconsciously rubbing the back of his neck. "I try not to deal with her, she's got a short fuse and a real eye for her goal. Her daughter's adorable, though." Takashi says, then pauses. Last comment probably wasn't helpful for this new entity, but. Well. Feito.

    "I'd be interested to know if you can do any real magic here without tapping into Dark Energy. All I've ever heard anybody above the age of early 20s do is like... parlor tricks. And I guess there's that one lady down in HR who can do shields - her magic's limited as I understand it." he says.

    "At some point I'll have to watch you. But anyways. Welcome, offworlder, to the most screwed up place on Earth, the place where all the magic ends up, Tokyo's Four Wards." he says, gesturing out the window dramatically. "Where the fate of at least one world will be decided. And maybe more." he says, and then grins because he knows he's being overdramatic.

    "If you want to make the most of the opprotunity, you should get a youma from Nonhuman Resources - if you don't have a way to drain energy yourself, since it doesn't sound like you do, they can pull it and transport it. Up here on the higher floors of Obsidian Tower, energy is the currency. Stealing it will invariably bring you into conflict with the Sparkleskirts too, giving you a chance to test your mettle and see what we're up against. And if you can get away with some and bring it to Beryl, then now welcome to the heriarchy, you can climb the ladder with me." he says.

    "I dunno where you fall in with Director Beryl. She didn't mention you so she might be intending to assign you to Thetis' divison. Director Beryl has had some... staffing difficulties, lately. I've been moved in to cover for them. I don'ty know if I'll be a permanent fixture or not, but adaptability is a skill I have too."

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Firefly was... here for lunch! But then, she saw her senpai. Even if he wasn't, technically, her senpai anymore. And as he was obviously ranting with another person in a labcoat. There was no choice.

Apprentice mage had to get a bowl of popcorn and then make her way over, sit and just chew on popcorn as she listened to the mad scientists do mad scientist things. It was great. Sometimes she loved working at Obsidian.

Also, red oni! Ohhhhh. The ham sandwich looked good today. She loved ham.

Keaka Hoshiko has posed:
    Keaka nods at the offer, and looks out the window. The fate of the world will be decided here? "It sure will." she adds, softly. Sarida chimes softly in agreement.

    "Can I drain energy?" Sarida responds, "I don't know. We will have to see 'Dark Energy' manipulation in action to understand what he's talking about. Preferably from the Dusk Zone, if we can find a stable place in it."

    Youmas. Monsters. Keaka's heard them mentioned around here. "Where do they come from? What sort of special transportation?"

    "I noticed that. Most of the managers haven't been showing up for days." She blinks. "Oh shit, did the heroes get them?"

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Takashi shrugs. "The Dusk Zone? I mean, where youma come from varies. I know Tomoe LifeScience cooks them up in a lab. Sometimes they're pulled from the Dusk Zone. Evil spirits contained and what not. Just... don't ask for any spider girls, they have been a bit defective." He says, the hint of a smirk on his face before he continues on.

    "Mmm, yes. The Sparkleskirts got them in a manner of speaking." He says, pauses, and decides to tow the company line. "Director Beryl had, in a test of power and a bid to keep power from our enemies, manipulated the loyalty of several heroes. While she knew they wouldn't stick with her forever, every time they fought their enemies it was a double-win. But they did all switch teams back, so to speak, en masse, which she did not expect. So it caused her to lose a lot of her upper end." Takashi explains, without going into any of the more gritty details.

    "That's why they pulled me over to work with her. Maybe that's why you got assigned there, too. Normally Director Beryl's group is a little bit more of a 'front lines' group. Tomoe LifeScience is more research heavy. But it's hard to do that without someone to lead youma, because youma are dumb. Gotta keep them on a leash to make sure they're draining who you want, and not just running amuck."

Keaka Hoshiko has posed:
    So, Beryl's division were defected heroes who un-defected. She nods to that too. "Unfortunate."

    Front lines group? Keaka smiles and crosses her arms. "I did say action researcher. I just can't resist getting my hands dirty."

    "On a leash, huh? And they're... Well, some of them are from the Dusk Zone?" She looks down at the gauntlet. "Can we do something with that?" "You wanna see if we can control one? Err, tame, or whatever? Work with? Bond? I am a Blue/Grey type. Link Drives are not an efficient use of Resonance... But we might learn something from such an experiment." Keaka nods.

    She smiles at Takashi and holds up her right, unadorned hand with three fingers. "That's three experiments to do already. Fight sparkleskirts. Watch you drain energy. See if I can link with a youma, whatever that means. Would probably improve its capabilities... uhh, kinda like Barrier Jackets do? We'll have to try it and see." She smiles a bit wider. "Well, now I've got something to do!"

Takashi Agera has posed:
    "Well, I'm glad I could help, I suppose." Takashi says, nodding. "I'll be interested to see how you handle yourself... Keaka-or-Clarthas-san. You've got the air of someone who can either handle themselves well or... overestimates themselves. That's not intended to be a backhanded insult, mind you. There's a LOT of that here, and until I see the act, I have no idea of the actor is any good." he says.

    "Ah, right, offworlder. Minor think. A lot of us have identities that aren't known outside this tower. I'm one of them. If you see me in the field, I'm Riventon. Tell anyone who doesn't work in Obsidian that and... it's probably one of the most unforgivable things anyone can do. Similarly, if you want to use one name here and one name out there, let us know. Some of us keep our civilian lives very separate. It helps keep things under control, in a lot of ways, on a lot of levels." he adds.

    "Since it sounds like you have experiments to do, and only one of them requires my presence, I'll leave you to plan out the other two. I have to go see how much of a laboratory I'm going to be allowed to move into an office - my assumption is 'less than I would like' so. I'll see you around I'm sure." Or he'll have to salvage that odd device due to a failed attempt. One of the two.

Keaka Hoshiko has posed:
    Keaka nods. "Honestly... Might have to work the kinks out of dealing with new magic, and all. Haven't actually fought with Sarida, yet." "All systems are normal. Error. Network connection unavailable. ...All Drives you will use in combat are functioning normally." "...He's right. We'll see."

    Keaka takes a breath. "I am..." then deflates a bit. "Other names won't mean anything to you. 'Keaka Hoshiko' is what I've decided to go by on Earth. Sounds like a local name. And for a... ugh... 'Supervillain' identity" she makes air quotes with her fingers, "I shall be," She sweeps an arm to her side dramatically, "Clarthas Anode!" "Emanation of death! Metal! Remnant of light. Poignant."

    She blinks. "What, we don't have labs?! Ugh, that won't do... Well, one thing at a time. Guess I'll see about borrowing a youma. Nice meeting you, look forward to working with you." She extends a hand to shake, then heads out to find out how to requisition a youma.

    ...Then comes back into the cafeteria as she realizes she didn't finish eating. At least it tastes cheesy. And the soda's okay.