405/How it's going

How it's going
Date of Scene:	11 September 2023
Location:	Secluded Cabin the Second
Synopsis:	Not well. Not well at all.
Cast of Characters:	Hinoiri Kirara, Naru Osaka
Tinyplot:	Dangerous Orbits

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Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker was, well, frustrated. Distractions JUST! KEPT HAPPENING! But finally, FINALLY she was able to keep things under control. Double Trouble would keep everyone off her back, and she could just. Focus. On. What. Was. At. Hoof. In this case? Experiments. Which, frankly, Sunbreaker had been doing. Probably a lot of them. Slow, gradual, but they'd been ramping up. Trying to 'draw out' Naru's magic, as it were...

So when she teleported into the cabin, she let out a low whistle. "You here?" she asked. "Well, of course you're here. But are you going to try and hide or anything, or planning to come at me with a chair or something?" she asked. She had to give the other girl credit. She'd have done well in the 'Escape being captured by a dragon' class. She kept her cool and was particularly pliable.

Naru Osaka has posed:
The periodic draining that Double Trouble's familiar provided has not been doing good things for Naru's energy levels. Although, draining or not, it was nice to have something to talk to. Sure, it was hidey and bitey, but still.

Naru had been reading on the couch in the living room, the TV off, and honestly the 'reading' was apparently happening through closed eyelids. There's no rushing Sunbreaker with a chair, instead Naru startles awake, very much like her classmates do in lectures.

'I was awake! Honest!'

"Wha.. what?" Naru only really catches the comment on instant replay, getting up slowly from the couch. "Am I supposed to come at you with a chair? I missed that in the script."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker gave a light snicker at the sleeping girl before walking over and lightly poking her nose. "You'll be happy to know that, right about now? Your friends are no longer looking for you and will stop worrying so much about you." Oh, she had no idea. "You have been quite a good captive, I must say. You're very calm all things considered. Then again, you're in incredibly capable hands. And, after all of my research I really must admit. I've managed to impress even myself. I had actually begun to doubt that you're magic at all."

"But, my newest tests prove it," she said before holding out her right hand and a small journal and pen appeared. Perfect for taking notes. She reached out and put a finger just under Naru's neck. "Oh, there's definitely magic there. The problem is getting it out," she muttered.

That was always the issue with experimenting when you assumed you knew the result... it was easy to find proof to 'justify' your theory...

Naru Osaka has posed:
"I do find that unlikely." Naru notes quietly as her nose is booped about her friends no longer being worried. "Some of my friends are really very good at worrying."

Naru does shy away from being prodded more than necessary. Conversation is one thing, but touch is clearly something else entirely. "So what are you considering trying next?" She really does sound curious, even if the methodology is questionable.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker rolled her eyes. "Why would they worry about you if they knew you were here?" Sunbreaked asked. "Wait, no, this is another one of those 'sparkle skirts' things, isn't it? If they're not hovering over you 24/7 they think you're in danger?" she muttered, before holding out her left hand and formed a small... strange orange gem in her hand. "Hmmm... Okay then..."

"Currently I'm trying standard unicorn 'sparking' magic. Sometimes the magic just needs to be stimulated. Like an internal nerve that hasn't been told to wake up. I can't say I'm surprised nobody on this backwards planet of your never tried it. Sometimes I'm amazed any of you can do magic at all, so focused on your 'electronics' that you miss the science of magic itself," she muttered. "The fact you're able to hold any of the magic I've been putting into you is clear enough a sign you have it. Your magic is just being stubborn." And well, since Naru DID ask... she did start explaining the complex equations that were required. But considering it was literally math from another world, it likely made no sense to Naru in the slightest...

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Something like that." Naru concurs about the sparkle skirts. Or Naru's confidence that DT probably wasn't quite as successful as Sunbreaker might have hoped. One or the other.

"I am very fond of electronics, but the mix of magic and electronics feels like a whole different conversation." Naru mmms softly as she listens. Even when things get super technical, Naru is still paying super close attention, where others might have had their eyes glaze over.

"The science of magic itself is absolutely fascinating." Naru gives a little shake of her head, not in dismissal, but more in awe and a little bit of delight.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker rolled her eyes. Even now, the girl had such faith in her friends. "Yeah... yeah. You know, you should worry less about that. I'm a professional, you know. If I was some hack like SOME people, I'd just have said damn the consequences and just done things without making sure they were safe first," she muttered. "Every time those Sparkle Skirts interrupt me I have to split my focus and it's just obnoxious."

"Electronics are... weird. We had them back home. Not a lot, it was kind of new. The polution was a driving force, honestly. Converting magic to electricity isn't very efficient, so we mostly just used magic for things. But only some creatures could use that kind of magic, so we were beginning to develop them. Some of your stuff is pretty neat, though," she said with a small smile. "Not as amazing as what we have home, but... still. I'll give you monkeys credit for using what you have."

She even nodded with Naru's comment about magic science. "I know, right?! Like, I come here and you people have these weird ideas like. 'Eye of newt' and 'frogs breath'. But you all just seem to consider it to just work like, well, magic. None of you actually learn the connecting facets that MAKE it work. Like how frogs breath is actually used because of its high green-line shift along the magical prism and..." Then she trailed off and shook her head. "Nevermind. You don't really get it either, do you? Back home they didn't either. Everybody was just so focused on having fun they failed to truly appreciate what mattered... I will never understand why people would CHOOSE to be mundane. Why be NORMAL?" she asked.

Then rolled her eyes. "I mean, you probably hate me right now but even you have to appreciate the fact you might finally stop being the useless person surrounded by the extraordinary."

Naru Osaka has posed:
Faith really is something Naru is good at.

"Because I grew up with electronics, they are what is more familiar to me." Naru quirks a smile. "And seem pretty magic, to those of us who dont' understand the inner workings of how my laptop works, for example."

Naru can't help but chuckle a little and gestures. "I mean.. no.. I don't know, because I've never had opportunity to learn. Do not confuse ignorance with willful ignorance."

Naru opens her hands. "Did you /choose/ to be magical?" she asks. "Did you wake up one morning and think 'you know what? I think today I'll take up spell work."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker gave a nod. "Like fingers, right? They still feel so WEIRD to me. Like, I get why? Dragons had them. Griffons... kind of did. I guess minotaurs? Okay, so now that I think about it, a lot of creatures did. But telekinesis is SO much better. Way more precise. And I can hold sooooo much more. I tried to figure out electronics when I got here. I'm... a little better now? I can take apart a phone. But frankly I kind of shoved it aside when I finally figured out how this stupid world's magic worked."

"Yeah. I don't really care about your world, but... I'd be lying if I said I didn't pity you all for this. Not having magic is just... ugh. I was magicless for like. A week or two and I was ready to get banished in the swamps, you know?" Sunbreaker said with a soft sigh. "This might hurt a bit."

Ahhh, there it was, like having her soul squashed with a cushion. Not the most painful thing, but definitely pressure.

"No, by the way. I was born with it. Comes with being a unicorn. I probably would have been mundane too. Ick. If not for Sora. But she said I had potential... and you know what? She was right. Now here I stand, the greatest mage in two worlds, only second to her." Not... accurate. But her ego knew no bounds. "But I had the choice and once I did, I decided to never be mundane. I could have stopped, but well..." She gave Naru a smirk and looked into her eyes. "Your existence? Honestly? It annoys me. This might hurt? But..." She leaned in, her voice getting low. "I imagine you're used to that. You KNOW about magic. You see it. Your friends fight around you, don't they? I spent a week knowing about magic and simple, mundane. Pathetic. You've been like this your whole life, haven't you? Can you really look me in the eye and say this is what you want? To just sit there on the sidelines... helpless to do anything but watch as everyone ELSE lives these fantastical lives filled with magic and powers you'll never touch?"

"I mean, I'm sure they say things like 'Oh, it's so hard, I'm so happy YOU don't have to be at risk'... but at the end of the day? They wouldn't give it up. Because... you know, don't you? If they gave it up, they'd be helpless. Just. Like. You. And to me? That sounds worse than Tartarus itself. Bad enough to not know about it. Worse to know and be unable to ever touch it."

Naru Osaka has posed:
Naru listens and by the end.. Naru can't help but laugh. Sure, Sunbreaker is doing uncomfrotable things to her soul. To the very core of her being, but somewhere still in that deep dark core of her self, Naru finds a way to laugh.

"You /presume/ to know what makes my life fantastic." Naru shakes her head. "You assume that because something is anathema to you that I am equally miserable and unhappy. You are not me. You cannot see inside my heart, inside my mind to know what I think, or how I feel?" She pffts softly, her chin jutting out a little. "My magic, or lack there of, is no different than the fact that I have auburn hair, and blue eyes and a fondness for drawing.. They are part of me, and generally, I'm rather fond of being me."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker blinked when she was LAUGHED at. Her eyes narrowed for a moment before giving the softest little hmph. "Well, I guess it's true what they say. All geniuses aren't truly appreciated in their time," she muttered.

"But then, in the end it doesn't matter what YOU think. Your world isn't what I care about. The only place I care about is my home. You lot are just a stepping stone before I return."

"Oh! There we go!" Sunbreaker said, her eyes lighting up. There was a harsh little shock in Naru's soul that time. "Ohhhh. Finally, a reaction. Just think, Naru. Soon... you'll actually have the choice. You'll be able to ignore magic... or stand with it. Frankly, though. I don't know how you can be so happy like this."

"If I had to stand behind everyone, instead of besides or in front of them, I'd go mad. Living my entire life as nothing more than a weight while they do everything that matters? Ugh. Kill me now."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Of course you'd go mad." Naru's expression flickers a little at the shock, but she's pretty good at ignoring it. Mostly. So far. "It's utterly not suited to your temperment. But you are Sunbreaker and I am Naru. What makes you happy is not what makes me happy.. and /that's okay/."

Its that second part that Sunbreaker hasn't wholly sorted out.

"If absolutely everyone wanted to be in the front, there'd be no room." Naru gestures a little. "There are different roles. Yours is not mine."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker went still for a moment, blinking a few times. She'd... never actually considered that. Why would someone not want to succeed? "So, what... you'd be happy to just sit there, mundane, simple, hiding behind everyone else while you watch them fight these things? I don't know if that makes you lazy, a coward or just... pathetic."

"I will never understand why someone wouldn't want to be the best they possibly could. Why in the world do all those Sparkle Skirts want to protect you so much?" Sunbreaker muttered. "I guess they just like feeling special. Gotta protect the weak little nobody, your helplessness will make their power seem all the more real, I guess. Welp. You won't be powerless much longer." There was that pain again. That dull, throbbing pain. "Do you feel anything?"

Naru Osaka has posed:
"You truly do not understand at all." Naru considers Sunbreaker for a while. "I do not have magic powers.. but that does not make me a coward, or lazy. I can't go toe to toe with powers in a fight, but that presumes that everything in life is a fight." She shakes her head slowly. "How depressing to think that one has no value beyond their ability for violence."

Naru winces anew at the dull throbbing pain, although it doesn't quite distract her completely from her conversation. "You put no value at all on love, and friendship and support. On giving people a safe place to talk, and be and sometimes feed them muffins. To remind them of their humanity, and all of the silly and stupid and wonder that there is there." She shifts uncomfortably, the throbbing is getting harder to ignore. "There's more to life than one's skills in a fight."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker shook her head. "No, I don't. Even if all I had was a stick, I'd spend every day of my life trying to find some way I could fight. So I wouldn't be a burden. But there were a lot of people like that back home. Just happy to... succeed. Happy to do the bare minimum. To stop once they'd gotten a passing grade. That was what separated us. I was never happy to settle. It's not about violence, human," Sunbreaker said bitterly.

"It's about achieving what I can. Of reaching my true potential. I choose violence here because that is the options I'm given. Because none of you listen unless I'm violent. None of you can understand what is truly achievable. You're so focused on your little battle of 'light and dark' that you miss the obvious right in front of your faces. You can't even begin to comprehend what's truly out there."

"You put so much value in what others can do for you, but that's just because you're afraid to stand on your own hooves. I don't need anyone else, because I WILL be strong enough that I can do anything. Then you know what will happen? My world will be better for it. when that happens, I'll leave your crummy world to your little fight, I'll return home, take my rightful place and then you all can get back to whatever it is the mundane do once the magnificent have left them. I--" Then she stopped, a frown on her lips. "Try and envision one of the pillows flying across the room."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"No." Naru shakes her head. "I do not choose that path." She shifts a little, trying and failing to shift the discomfort within her. "Being part of a herd, being part of a social community is not being a burden."

Naru smiles gently. "You think that because I am not a fighter, that I stop when I have a barely pass? That I am not the best I can be? Because you have decided what is my best? No matter than we are different people?" She shakes her head. "That is about /you/ removing my potential and trying to replace it with your own." She gestures to her own feet. "I stand on /my/ feet, and fully acknowledge and accept that I live in a herd. There is strength and power in numbers. No one is an island, nor can do it all. The things I'm good at, others are not. The things they are good at, I am not."

Naru turns her head to look at the pillow and then back to Sunbreaker. "That isn't my path. No matter how much you think it should be."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker narrowed her eyes again, looking annoyed. "That's where you're wrong. You see this magic and assume it can only be for fighting. I fight because I have to. I wasn't trained to be a warrior. I was trained to be a mage."

"Magic can do so much more. It can heal, it can protect, it can nurture, it can create, it can destroy. You're so blind. All of you are so damn blind. You grab a single cup of the sea and assume that whales don't exist, when it is so much more expansive than what is before you. I'm not TRYING to make you a fighter. I don't CARE if you fight. I don't even WANT to fight! I never WANTED to fight! All I wanted was to be everything SHE TRAINED ME TO BE!" she yelled, her fire flaring up and the sound of glass coming from the other room. She took a slow, deep breath.

"I don't need a herd. I don't want a herd. All I want is everything I was promised. Everything I trained for. Everything I sacrificed for. I gave every moment of my life to swim in that ocean and I will not be denied just because some people are scared of a kraken or think there should only be one boat in it," Sunbreaker muttered.

And there it was, that piercing pain again, except this time it lasted a lot longer. Like having something trying to burst from within her.

Naru Osaka has posed:
There's a slow sigh from Naru and she reaches out for the back of the couch to steady herself. That sharp pain was a lot more distracting. "Everything you were promised by your mentor? In another time and another place wehre you are going to rule it all? Alone? Without friends, without anyone because you are just that damn good?"

Naru shakes her heads "I think we're arguing almost the same thing.. that magic is a lot more than everything, but I don't have the words to phrase it how you will understand my perspective. Cause it's different than yours."

Naru winces a little. "Alright, what /are/ you doing to me? In a more granular sense than trying to provoke magic out of me?"

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker gave a small nod. "I was going to rule besides her. She showed me. She dragged me there, told me I could do it... then..." Slow, deep breath. "The moment she realized I actually could, the moment she realized I had the actual ability... she panicked. Made excuses. Made reasons I was no longer good enough. Tried to cut me off from my destiny. Tried to keep me her lesser. I should have known. I was foolish, then. I trusted her. I thought she truly did want me to stand by her, forever."

"... Instead, she just wanted another person to bask in her presence, to look at her with reverence. One she could... pull along and then shove aside when the time was right."

She shook her head. "Ugh. You're right. There's really no reason to talk about this. Before long you'll be done. As for what I'm doing? I'm fixing you. You're like a lame animal, Naru. I'm remo--"

Then she stopped. And just looked almost panicked. Up to now she'd barely touched her...

But then suddenly she lunged at her and put a hand over where her linker core would be. It might be confusing at first... until suddenly Naru would just feel this mind shattering pain. Or maybe it was numbness. It just kind of... convulsed.

Then Sunbreaker looked up, panic in her eyes as the world began to dim... "Not now, now now. I'm busy. Damn it! What's wrong with your stupid sparkle skirts?!"

Naru would... feel it thought... as her body seemed unable to move anymore... Something was happening.