245/Duck Emojis

Duck Emojis
Date of Scene:	15 August 2023
Location:	Juuban Ward
Synopsis:	PrincessBrideAsYouWish.gif
Cast of Characters:	Pyrite, Kyouka Inai
Tinyplot:	Midnight Tokyo

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Pyrite has posed:
    After a rather confusing barrage of texts from someone who is texting for the first time, Kyouka Inai has been invited to :coffee: at the pizza (plaza) at the place across from a bookstore that opened recently (or did it!?). Himeko is dressed in something other than her black-version school uniform and just looks super happy to be here, sitting at a corner table looking out at the people passing by through the window, drumming her hands on her lap and seat-dancing to the karaoke version of 'Take On Me' by Aha!. She is currently being serenaded by some guy who is drunk way too early in the day and has no idea what the lyrics he's singing mean because he doesn't speak English, but hey, as long as he's enjoying himself, right?
    So what is the crazy new outfit that Himeko is trying out? A light brown jacket over a white t-shirt with a long white skirt, high white socks, and shiny black shoes. The kind with a buckle, because to heck with shoelaces.
    Many changes since their last meeting, for sure. Himeko seems more animated and 'alive', for lack of a better word. More socially capable. It's a lot of assumptions to make off of seeing her through the window without speaking to her, but it's good that she is adjusting to a normal life, right?
    Also something made entirely of Dark Energy seems to have somehow become more so. Her behavior and appearance may be more human, but her presence as a Dark Energy user is stronger. Oh, well, that seems like a reasonable trade off, right?

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Kyouka just... appears. That's not to say she teleports or anything. Just that she has this way of showing up without anyone noticing her approaching. It's a skill. Which is probably why she's pulling out the chair across from Himeko and sitting down in it, seemingly having skipped the 'walk into the shop via the door' part of the operation. She herself is wearing pretty standard clothing, though less formal than what she generally appears in when 'on duty' at the school- a white t-shirt of some kind beneath an open leather biker-style jacket, those narrow rectangular-lensed sunglasses of hers, and some black jeans. Calf-high stompy boots with thick soles that add an inch or two to her height.

    "Himeko-chan," She greets with a lopsided smile. If the increase in dark energy radiating from the girl has any real effect on her, it isn't obvious, but to assume she hasn't noticed would be a mistake. Her demeanor is still very casual, as if she hasn't a care in the world about meeting this child-sized monster in public- she has more concern for the drunk dude singing in a coffee shop in the middle of the day, giving him a scathing glance that gets him to shut up pretty quickly. Her attention returns to Himeko. "What's so important you had to meet with me outside of school?"

Pyrite has posed:
    Himeko notices Kyouka once the latter pulls out the chair. She is not some kind of super-noticer. Not unless it's happening at her shrine. Her red eyes slide towards the counselor first, and then her head turns to follow as her smile brightens. "Good day, Counselor-sensei!" Then she pauses and looks upwards thoughtfully. "Aa! I suppose your name is Inai-san, isn't it? Or would you prefer Inai-sensei?" She raises a hand to brush some of her long black hair behind her ear as she smiles apologetically. "Gomen. I'm afraid I've never been very good with names or faces." n_n;
    "Aa!" she plops her hands on the edge of the table and leans forwards as she says cheerfully, "But I always remember someone who I think is important! That's why I didn't forget you, Kyouko Inai-san!" The question of what she wants to talk about is left for the moment as she turns and waves down a waitress to come take their orders.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Kyouka takes note of the ways that Himeko seems to be more animated and more... 'normal', for lack of a better word, although of course the definition of normal would vary from person to person anyway. "Inai-san is fine," She says, with a mild shrug of her shoulders as she leans back in the chair, crossing one leg over the other to let a booted foot dangle alongside the table. "I'm off-duty, and I've never much felt like a 'sensei' anyway." A small smile at the mistake in her name, but she remains silent. Her grey eyes study the girl from behind her sunglasses, which she continues to wear despite being indoors.

    "I'm glad you consider me important, Himeko-chan. I did feel like our last conversation was very productive." She says, with a chipper tone, only slightly touched by sardonic amusement. "But I have to repeat my question- what was so important that you had to call me over here to speak to you outside of school? Using Darien's phone, no less." She gives a little smirk at that, amused. "Does he know you were using it?"

Pyrite has posed:
    The insistance on discussing the topic at hand is heeded, though, Himeko makes a mollifying hand gesture like she's scooping rice as she says, "Maa, maa... It's fine. I am paying. No need to rush. It's not like you were doing anything anyway, right?" She grins after she says this, showing she's joking. She quickly orders a cinnamon chai tea, so that the waitress can be on her way and she can keep talking about the Important Thing.
    "I must confess, I did not ask permission first, no." She tilts her head. "But I don't have a phone of my own, so..." Le shrug! "There are a few topics surrounding the issue at stake, so to speak." She holds up one hand and twirls her finger around to emphasize the orbital nature of her concerns.
    "To begin with, I'd like to get more information about what we discussed during our last meeting.--I apologize for the rudeness of just showing up, I realize now that was inconsiderate of me.--Namely:"
    She plants her elbows on the table, folds her hands, and rests her chin on the backs of them. "When you said you would be my friend, what exactly does that mean?" She tilts her head one way. "That you'll protect me from danger?" She tilts the other way. "That you'll advise me when I'm in trouble?" She straightens out. "Or that you view me as an avenue to getting information about my brother?" She squints her eyes to slits, though her smile doesn't wave.
    "Really, there are just so many things from our last meeting that it took me a while to comprehend. I blame my upbringing before Darien-onii-chan tracked me down and rescued me. Family is very important to him, you know? And it matters to me as well. That's why I want to make sure that my friends are also people I can say are important to me."
    Her smile dims several watts. "And right now, that isn't something that can be said about all of those close to me."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Kyouka rolls her eyes, though the impact may be somewhat dulled by the sunglasses she continues to wear, hiding most of them behind those rectangular lenses. "Just because I'm an 'old person'," the particular emphasis on the term intended as sarcasm, "doesn't mean I don't have a life. In fact, I was here because I was meeting a friend of mine for drinks. But not," A glance at the clock on the wall, "for a little while yet. So you don't need to feel rushed."

    She listens attentively as Himeko outlines her concerns.. her expression largely impassive, but retaining that relaxed, casual attitude, leaning back in her chair with her legs crossed, her hands folded in her lap. A slight, lopsided smile on her face. No hint of concern or tension, though it's possible she's just good at controlling her expressions.

    "Himeko-chan," She says, heaving a faint sigh, once the girl has finished, as though having to say these things at all is a bit of an imposition but one she is willing to undertake for a friend, leaning forward to place one elbow on the table, "Why can't it be all of the above?" Her smile gets a little wider, showing just a hint of slightly-too-sharp canine tooth. "I am operating under a mandate, you see. To protect, train, and generally promote the survival of the students of Radiant Heart Academy in what is looking to be some quite trying times. You fall under that umbrella... to an extent. But I believe you are earnest in your desires. And I believe there is much that we can offer each other."

    She leans back again, with a small shrug of her shoulders. "I was not lying to you when I said that I have Darien's best interests at heart. He's one of my students, too, after all."

Pyrite has posed:
    Himeko looks up and off to the side as she considers this response. She doesn't say anything else until after her tea is dropped off. She thanks the waitress and smiles at her, then looks at the tea in front of her. Her smile is a little bit sad now. "Did you know? Until recently, I did not have a functional stomach." She picks up a spoon to stir the chinnamon chai a little bit. "I still can't taste anything though." She sets the spoon down again and just looks into the swirling beverage without making any motion to drink it.
    "Something very wrong was done to me a long time ago, and Darien-Onii-chan has been doing his very best to fix it. The people I have met have helped me become more complete." She sighs and picks up the cup of tea, inhaling the steam coming off of it.
    "At least I can smell things. That is like tasting, in a way." The cup gets put back down without any imbibing. "My Onii-chan will do anything for the people he cares about. He is doing all that he can to help me be complete again. And his friends feel the same way... But about him, not me. I want him to look at me more. I want him to follow my accomplishments, and praise my efforts, and see who I am becoming." The cup is picked up again, maybe more as something to keep her hands busy with than because she cares about the contents.
    "Considering everything he has done for me, it might be unreasonable to expect such a thing. However, I believe it is an imouto's perogative to be a little bit unreasonable about her Onii-chan. And I believe that it would be better if Darien-Onii-chan's friends were no longer in the picture, so to speak." She tilts her head and smiles at Kyouka. "This speech has a point to it, don't worry, Inai-san. I won't make you late for your date." The cup goes back down to its little saucer, as she frees her hand from it. "Have you heard of something called 'Midnight Tokyo'?"

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "Believe it or not," Kyouka says, after signaling the waitress to bring her a cup of coffee as well, "I am not an expert in the realm of Dark Energy constructs. I have a friend who would probably know more about it but.." A faint shrug of her shoulders. "But don't think I haven't noticed the improvements in your demeanor, Himeko-chan. And if Darien is responsible for that, then I suppose I understand why you feel like you owe him quite a lot."

    She leans forward slightly again, her head tilting slightly but her expression serious. "Darien has seen fit to involve himself with some other friends of mine that I would like very much to make sure are kept safe. I do not," She says firmly, to cut off any protest, "Wish to remove Darien or his friendships from the equation. But I have come to understand he has some.. dangerous associations. And so I view it as a personal goal to make sure his poor choice in friends and co-workers do not endanger my other students."

    Her eyes narrow just slightly behind her glasses. "I might consider you one of those dangerous associations, Himeko-chan. Except that, unlike any of the others I am aware of, you have made an effort to seek me out twice. I don't know if this counts as a peace offering, but it at least indicates a willingness to engage in dialogue. And I appreciate that, as well as your desire to improve yourself. I wish more students were so... dedicated to self-improvement."

    "So let me ask you this. Are the friends you're speaking of the ones you want... out of the picture, the dangerous individuals that I suspect that Darien is associated with? If so.. we may have common goals."

    A quirked brow, as her coffee is delivered, and she idly dumps in like five sugar packets. "I've heard of Tokyo at Midnight. Best time for the clubs. But I have a feeling that's not what you mean."

Pyrite has posed:
    The ten-years old girl furrows her brow a bit in confusion as Kyouka goes on. By the end of it, she seems very uncertain, baffled even. "What is Dark Energy? And how am I dangerous?" The struggle to understand seems authentic. The confident demeanor she came into this with seems to have dissolved as the mature manner of speech crumbles in the face of her own limited understanding of the world. That is how it seems, definitely. "I... My stomach was eaten by maggots after it started rotting. I told you that I was not well-treated by my caretakers before Darien-Onii-chan found me and brought me back home. Our family -- our real family -- is just the two of us. Our parents died. Or... That's what I was told. I have the feeling there are a lot of things I have been told by many people that are not entirely accurate."
    She frowns as she turns her gaze to the tea cooling in front of her. "I believe that the friends I am referring to could be considered dangerous in a sense. They might encourage Darien-Onii-chan to take risky behaviors like... Driving a motorcycle without a helmet, or smoking weeds. Some weeds are quite noxious you know!" Her red eyes rise back up to meet Kyouka's even through the sunglasses.
    Seriousness comes back to her face as she tries to get back on track. "If you think I am a danger, then we probably should not meet again. I only want those who would separate me and my Onii-chan, and distract him from the correct things he should be doing, to face consequences. Considering me a threat is, to me, the same as saying I might need to be separated from him."
    Himeko is much more closed-mouth after that, rather than open like she was before. It's a retreat into something more like a ten-year old, instead of the creepily mature version of herself. There's a schism in her brain, and resolving the two different realities she's perceiving is becoming a task divided between the two, with very different results on each side.
    That is why Himeko Soryuu, younger sister to Darien Shields by blood, saved from a terrible, abusive, neglectful foster environment, and Himeko Soryuu, the girl who wants to be her adoptive brother's entire world to the extent of getting his friends offed, are both sitting here in front of Kyouka.
    It's also why her words of explanation going forward are much terser and much less detailed.
    "Midnight Tokyo is something that my brother, and his 'dangerous friends', feel very strongly about, but in two entirely different ways. I don't understand the details of it... But if you want to find out more, I recommend asking some of the students you're training and grading or whatever to investigate it." Then some of her former calm comes back to her gradually, and even that little Mona Lisa barely-there smirk that is a mirror iamge of Darien's, if on a smaller, more feminine face. It's easy to see the family resemblance.
    "One more thing." she says as she lifts her cup one last time. Her other hand goes to make a 'shhh' gesture in front of her pursed lips as she says, "Please, don't tell anyone who or where you heard about it from." She winks one of her red eyes, back in control now, and drinks down the still-warm tea in one go, emptying her cup. Then she closes her eyes, and inhales. "Nothing. No taste at all. Maybe the doctors can fix that too. Medicine has advanced so much."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Kyouka quirks a brow inquisitively as Himeko indicates that she does not recognize her own nature- at least, not in the way that Kyouka does. A mis-step, perhaps, because it was not her intent to set the girl into a defensive posture. She considers how best to answer which will indicate to Himeko that she is doing her best to be open and honest, rather than attempting to confuse or denigrate. "Dark Energy is a type of magic. I can sense a lot of it in you." She says, after a moment. "I do not think you are a danger to me, Himeko-chan. Nor do I think you are likely a danger to Darien. But my experience is that people who use Dark Energy are danger/ous/. Can you see the difference?" She sips her coffee, her expression pensive, as she considers her words. "I believe you are dangerous, Himeko-chan. But so am I. One can be dangerous and not be a danger to everyone. I do not think you want to hurt Darien. I do not think you want to hurt me, either." She watches the girl over the rim of her cup. "I hope I'm right about that. Because I would like to talk to you again.

    "Life is seldom so simple, I'm afraid to say, as 'that person is dangerous, therefore they must be removed.'" A sigh, as if she wishes that it was. "There are many people in this city who consider me a danger. A threat, even, because of who I am and what I've done in the past. But that doesn't make me bad. And it makes me inclined to give other dangerous people a chance."

    "You'll have to trust me when I say that I do not intend to remove you from Darien. But I do intend to try and make sure my students are safe." She absorbs the information, such as it is, about 'Midnight Tokyo.' "Does this come from Obsidian?" She asks, almost idly, after Himeko finishes speaking.

Pyrite has posed:
    "Hmm... I see." Himeko takes all that in. Magic. Dark Energy. A lot of it coming from her. A danger but not dangerous. Or... Was it dangerous but not a danger? She has already gotten it mixed up. That silly memory of hers, always resetting itself in the most unexpected ways. Almost like there's some underlying nature that keeps trying to assert itself. She's ten, still at the age where she can believe in magic, so her eyes are a bit wide at Kyouka's explanations.
    "So you are saying I could use magic? Like..." She tries to think of an example. "BICyolo, the green pen guy from Ninja Ball Z?"
    ...Sure.
    The cup is put down, and Himeko is back to little girl mode again as she slides out of her seat. Has she gotten taller? She does look slightly more developed. It would be very strange if she didn't though. All normal little girls age gradually. Fishing in her pockets, the black-haired, red-eyed girl puts down the yen for the tea and coffee. "Jason-san says that in other countries, one leaves some extra money for a server as a 'gratuity'." She shakes her head. "I had never heard of such a thing before meeting him."
    She then stands there awkwardly, arms held loosely in front of her, in a semi-defensive posture as she looks around as though searching for a distraction. Finally, she says, "Perhaps we will talk again. I was sitting in on a meeting at Obsidian Tower when the 'Midnight Tokyo Project' was discussed. I know my brother, so I could tell." She meets Kyouka's eyes again. "He really hates that plan, Inai-san." Then she bows her head. "Thank you for meeting with me and considering my unreasonable request." Her smile is natural this time as she blushes a little and says, "But as I said, it's the prerogative of an imouto to be a little bit unreasonable about her onii-chan."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Kyouka shrugs her shoulders. "Everyone can do a little magic.." She says, which is only partially a lie. "You, I think, could do more than most. But be careful, Himeko-chan. Magic can be dangerous too... if you aren't firm in your convictions." She smiles at that, a little sadly, then shrugs again as the girl gets up and pulls out the money to pay. "Don't worry about it, Himeko-chan. I'll pay." She says, tilting her chin up in a 'go on' gesture. "After all, I'm the adult here, and you're one of my precious students. Save your money. Buy something nice for yourself. Or maybe for Darien." A slow wink of her own, partially obscured by the sunglasses. "And when you give it to him, tell him Inai-sensei suggested it."

    She is silent for a moment after the comment about Obsidian Tower and the Midnight Tokyo Project. She doesn't comment on it directly, but rather just says after a brief pause, "Thank you, Himeko-chan. I'm glad I came to talk to you today. And I hope that we do have a chance to meet again." Her smile is lopsided once again, just a hint knowing, and just a hint promising. "I hope for positive outcomes for both of us.. in the end. Enjoy the rest of your day."