148/He Wanted Wawna

He Wanted Wawna
Date of Scene:	23 July 2023
Location:	Juuban Ward
Synopsis:	Wako comes back from two fights almost in a row and Takuto helps a little with some of the damage. Also snacks. And Vice President.
Cast of Characters:	Wako Agemaki, Takuto Tsunashi

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Wako Agemaki has posed:
In the end, once the hue and cry was over, Wako went back to the convenience store. Not for snacks, this time - her street clothes, mercifully, remain untouched by the battle, but the same can't be said for the rest of her.

A few minutes at the checkout later, she's seated on a bench outside the shop with a baggie of first aid supplies beside her. Burn cream, band-aids. A few other essentials. She's starting to think this might be a recurring concern; might as well be prepared now.

With a certain sense of resignation, she stares at the cell phone in her hand.

    TXT Takuto: I'm outside the fam-mart in juuban
    TXT Takuto: things got a bit dangerous this time, but I'm OK

Wako knows all too well how it feels, to know someone you care so much about was in danger and you couldn't help them. She just never really expected to be on this side of it before now.

Takuto Tsunashi has posed:
There's a text back--

    TXT Wako: brt

--and then Wako can feel Takuto apprivoise.

There's no shooting star in the sky, at least?

Wako Agemaki has posed:
Awkward and guilty and generally run over by a truck made of evil lightning as she feels, at the familiar resonance from her emblem, Wako can't help but smile. It's Takuto, after all.

When her phone pings again, she reads the text and almost laughs in spite of herself. After a moment of consideration, she taps through to the clearest photo she managed of the vacuum cleaner youma. Sends it to Sugata, with no explanation attached.

Then she puts her phone away, and reaches for the burn cream in her baggie of supplies.

Takuto Tsunashi has posed:
Just as Wako's reaching for the burn cream, there's the approaching sound of loud feet slapping on steps and called-out apologies and then a red-headed red-eyed red-shirted boy comes bursting out of the Metro stairwell down the block.

He initially goes the wrong way, but it doesn't take long to self-correct, and he jogs almost sedately the rest of the way, all casual like he didn't just legitimately rocket through the subway tunnels above the trains. All those twists and splits and turns -- he must have memorized the map.

"Wako," huffs Takuto, getting to the bench and catching his breath with his hands on his knees, half-bent over. "Wako-chan. You look like-- you look like you're not actually okay." He's breathing a little more normally and straightens up mostly, but still has his hand over his chest, over his mark and the scar, over what glowed and didn't help until too late. "How far did you have to walk?"

Wako Agemaki has posed:
Wako makes a helpless face, dropping the tube of medical cream back into the bag. "That was fast," she murmurs. Even knowing he'd apprivoised, Tokyo's a big place - he must have really hurried.

At his question, she shakes her head. "Not even a block," she says. "It wasn't that far away that everything went down. And it's really not that bad; you've been beat up way worse than this." That's probably not helping, is it.

She pats the bench next to her: come on, sit down. "I'm okay, I promise. It's just like a crappy sunburn, or something."

Takuto Tsunashi has posed:
"I flew. And yeah but I'm usually fine after," frets Takuto, unsure where or if to touch. He does sit down where indicated. "Here let me at least put that on you, a sunburn is so mean when you have to stretch to reach."

He holds out his hand for the burn cream. "Do you want to do this here or-- I don't know how bad it is. Do you need more armor on your armor? Do you want to go back to the dorms? We can take the train--"

He's not used to it being bad enough to keep showing after a fight, so all he can think of is that it must have been really REALLY bad.

Wako Agemaki has posed:
She lets him have the burn cream; it seems pointless to protest, even if she looks faintly exasperated at his insistence that he's usually fine after a battle. Even though it's true. Especially because it's true.

There's a couple of very good questions amidst his fussing. Wako lets out a little sigh. "--It's probably best not to try to do first aid right here in front of the konbini," she agrees. "Let's go back to the dorm? We can take the train, like you said." She can walk fine, but he'll fret less, and anyway she's tired. "I'll tell you all about what happened. The guy's probably going to show up again, so you'll want to be prepared too."

Takuto Tsunashi has posed:
At least he didn't offer to carry her.

"Okay," Takuto says, slightly mollified. He starts to try to take the bag but thinks better of it, then gets up to walk with her, at her pace instead of his stupid long leggedy pace.

"Should we talk about it when we get there, too, or can we talk about it on the train? I mean, it's not like it's cybodies, people think we're playing a game mostly, but I guess since we don't know who the enemy is we should be a little bit careful?" It's not like Takuto to sound indecisive, but Wako's been more involved with everything since they've gotten here, so she knows more about what's done.

Again.

Which is fine.

Wako Agemaki has posed:
Wako collects her bag, tying off the loops of plastic to ensure everything's secure within before they set off. She's more gratified by his matching her pace than she'd like to admit, right now; his legs are stupidly long, and she is tired.

"Let's see how crowded the train is," she decides. "But yeah, a lot's different here. We should probably try to be careful. It shouldn't take too long to get to the dorm anyway, right?"

Times like this she misses Cafe Eater, where they could claim a patio table and be ignored for as long as they want. Then again, they probably wouldn't want to try to do first aid there, either, if only out of respect for the owner and general standards of sanitation.

Takuto Tsunashi has posed:
"It should be pretty fast," agrees Takuto, then has the grace to look slightly sheepish, reaching up to rub the back of his neck with one hand. "It would have been fast enough, it just-- ahh-- wasn't. Eheh."

Once they get down the stairs and onto the right train -- which Takuto does know -- it's not so crowded that it's uncomfortable for burns, but it's got enough people on it that most aren't talking out of politeness or a lack of desire to be overheard. There are murmured conversations here and there, but they'd be safer leaving it.

Once they're out of the train and walking to the school, Takuto takes a moment out to buy a whole bunch of snacks from the stands outside the gates. He knows.

Wako Agemaki has posed:
Conveniently, summer vacation means that a good number of Radiant Heart's students are off-campus for the break. It makes for an uneventful walk from the station to the dorms, and they're free to head up to Wako's room without worrying too much about running into anyone.

Wako's done up her side of the room in sherbet colors, pink and yellow and green. Vice President is lounging in a sunbeam across the foot of her bed when they come in, but he rolls onto his paws, stretches, and scampers over to investigate as Wako drops the convenience store bag onto her desk and begins untying the handles.

"I've got the room to myself for now," she says, "so this will be fine. I'll just have to figure out... where to start, I guess."

Takuto Tsunashi has posed:
Takuto's put the bag of assorted fresh snacks on Wako's bed, then thinks better of it and puts it on her desk next to the medical supplies, where there isn't any paper, just in case there's grease. He takes a piece of melonpan for himself and takes a big bite before putting it back down, then draws out Wako's chair.

"Where to start," he says, muffled with his hand over his mouth, "is a pair of those gloves for me, oops. And then tell me where I should start with the cream! And then tell me about this guy."

Wako Agemaki has posed:
Fine, fine, yes. Wako duly perches on the edge of the chair, patting herself over a few times experimentally before her hand lands on a sore spot on her shoulder and she winces a little. "Here," she decides, and begins rolling the sleeve of her t-shirt up so that he can get at the reddened welt there.

"There were actually two guys," she tells him, "which is a different problem, because I don't think they were working together. Vice President, that's not for you."

The fox looks up from where he was nosing at the snack bag, tail flicking.

"But the second one was a guy in a hood who set a bunch of monsters loose in Juuban," Wako goes on. "It's a good thing I was there, because without Zero Time it could have been really bad."

Takuto Tsunashi has posed:
"Monsters like the two-headed bear and the... elephant vacuum?" Takuto hazards, and Wako can hear the grimace in his voice as he gets the burn cream open and pulls on a sterile glove to start applying it. It's cool on the welt, even if the very light pressure probably doesn't feel great.

"How could he have set so many of them loose? Vice President, not that one either, that's mine!" Takuto makes a face at the little fox, and then his eyes widen. "No don't go on Wako's head! You can be on mine though."

Wako Agemaki has posed:
"More like the two-headed bear than the... elephant vacuum thing. I don't know how there were so many of them. Luckily there were other people there to fight, too... Sailor Moon, and another sailor with her, and two of the girls who were there for the vacuum monster before." She doesn't - quite - wince at the first touch against the burn. The cream definitely helps.

"The thing was..." Vice President, who indeed seemed about to hop from the desk onto Wako, checks himself at Takuto's words and opts to skitter up his arm to perch upon his shoulder instead. "I'm not exactly sure what he wanted, but - he attacked Zero Time directly. I wasn't prepared for it." It's hardly something that could have happened before, after all. This new version of Zero Time she's able to invoke has turned out to have unexpected limitations.

Takuto Tsunashi has posed:
"... only Tauburn was able to break into Zero Time before-- this guy was breaking out? Did that hurt you like this?" Takuto doesn't sound quite horrified, as such, but that's because he's doing his best to suppress it. He rubs the side of his face against Vice President, biting his lip as he puts more cream on the glove and addresses the next one he can see.

"Did you get bandages, also? I think I didn't think your sleeve through." His voice isn't shaky. He wishes he'd been there. It isn't shaky. "That someone even could attack that... we'll have to see if Wawna can strengthen it somehow, maybe."

Wako Agemaki has posed:
Vice President nuzzles his fuzzy head against Takuto's cheek and settles down upon his shoulder, a soft and relatively unobtrustive presence paying alert attention to their conversation.

"I got a bunch of different things," Wako confirms with a tip of her head towards the konbini bag, "just in case. There's band-aids and stuff."

She tries to keep still, aside from offering him one arm and then the other for doctoring. "It wasn't exactly - I was focusing on trying to keep him from breaking through, and then he cut loose with a bunch of energy. Kind of like black lightning? If I hadn't been so distracted, I could have shielded myself. That was my inexperience."

When he's done with one arm, she reaches into the bag of snacks for a melon bread, and opens the plastic packaging by tearing the corner with her teeth.

Takuto Tsunashi has posed:
"O K," says Takuto, taking a breath and setting the cream down, taking off the no-longer-sterile glove, and then rustling through the bag for the band-aids. "Well you've had that experience now, you'll know if you have to go against that guy again, right? I hope next time I'll be closer, anyway," he adds, having finally relaxed into 'aggrieved' again instead of 'really shaken'. It's audible. It's a good step.

He finishes bandaging up the medicated welts on the one arm, then pulls on the other glove as Wako's opening her sugary bread. He starts in on the other arm. "What was the other guy doing for all this?"

Wako Agemaki has posed:
Om nom nom melonpan. Wako inhales a big bite, chews a bit, swallows.

"The other guy was with the vacuum elephant creature thing," she says. "He was gone way before the other guy showed up... fortunately." Despite the sweet taste lingering on her tongue, she grimaces. "He wasn't as scary, but I think he might end up being just as big a problem... He really wanted Wawna. I didn't manage to do anything about the vacuum monster, because I was too busy dealing with him."

On Takuto's shoulder, Vice President's ears twitch, then settle.

Takuto Tsunashi has posed:
"Wanted Wawna?" asks Takuto incredulously enough that he stops putting burn cream on for a second. "You don't suppose he was some rogue ex-Grand Tonnere employee, do you? Or someone from Glittering Crux, one of those jillions of operatives they had?"

Then he remembers he was multitasking, and gets to work on the other arm. "Did the lightning get you in the back as well, or just your arms? Or are you going to, um. Do the rest. Of the burn cream. In your room."

Wako Agemaki has posed:
Wako humms thoughtfully. A little twist, this way and that, and some more exploratory patting, before she concludes, "I think if you can get my back, I can do the rest myself?"

A glance over her shoulder has her suppressing a smile. Definitely not turning pink in the face. This is first aid only!

She's not taking off her shirt, though. Instead, she puts down the melonpan and turns herself around sideways in the chair so she can pull the back of it up. Mercifully, it seems like her Cybody-generated outfit protected her from the brunt of the evil energy.

"It didn't seem like he knew anything about Cybodies," she muses after a moment. "At first he was just all 'give me your magic stuff and you can go away without a fight,' like anyone was actually going to go for that. But then he saw Wawna - you know, tiny, like they can do now - and he got really focused on her for some reason."

Takuto Tsunashi has posed:
"Maybe he liked her hair," Takuto manages to get out after his face has calmed down and his huff at Wako's near-tease has dissipated. "What a jerk, though. He was really mugging people for their magic? He doesn't sound very smart. Did he get kicked a lot?"

The cool cream probably feels even better on Wako's back, but it's precious little to do for that much burn. Even if it's just like a bad sunburn, that's still bad. And this looks different, anyway. "Also, once Wawna is -- I don't know, recharged -- can she help with the injuries? I think Tauburn must be who helped when I got beat up before, because otherwise it doesn't make any sense."

Wako Agemaki has posed:
"One of the girls had a magic rocket launcher," Wako informs him with a smile. "So yeah, it didn't go great for him. You'll want to watch out if you run into him, though, 'cause he was really persistent. I don't think he had any idea that he couldn't just, I don't know, beat me up and take Wawna that way, and he'd probably want Tauburn too if he saw him."

The cream does feel good. More than that, it's kind of nice to be taken care of, even if she still feels guilty for making him worry so much. "--yeah, probably. Having that guy attack Zero Time the way he did took a lot out of her. We'll both feel better once we've had a chance to rest up."

Takuto Tsunashi has posed:
"I don't usually ask Tauburn to come out," Takuto says sheepishly. "That might change, but I'm so used to piloting him that it feels weird. I can still hear him if I listen the right way, but I think I can do enough posturing for the both of us in the meantime."

He's always felt good about taking care of Wako, and even if she had to be injured for him to be able to take this much care of her, it's nice to do that too. "I want a magic rocket launcher. Also, your shirt is going to stick to your back, so maybe I should head out when I'm done so you can just. Not have to roll it back down."

Takuto looks AWAY again but this time it's to get a faceful of fox, and he splutters briefly.

Wako Agemaki has posed:
Wako can't help it - she giggles, and Vice President makes things worse by sneezing into Takuto's face before escaping onto the top of his head. "I mean," she allows, "you're not wrong. And you and Tauburn already know what you're doing when it comes to fighting. A lot more than me and Wawna, anyway."

She's not going to sit here holding the back of her shirt up, but he's got a good couple of points. "I should probably let you escape so I can finish up and change, yeah." She grins at him, unable to resist teasing a little. "I already feel a lot better, though. Thanks, Takuto-kun."

Takuto Tsunashi has posed:
Troll. TROLL. Also, Vice President is not helping!! And Takuto primly takes off the second glove and drops it in the little trash bin next to Wako's desk, cheeks almost as red as his shirt. And hair. And eyes. The color is high in his face, as it were.

And then he equally primly removes Vice President from his head and places the little fox on Wako's bed, and then swipes his bitten-into melonpan from Wako's desk, and then he does something unexpected--

After Wako thanks him and he's ready to run out the door, he bends down and kisses the top of her head.

And then he does, in fact, leave. Having forgotten to say anything else.

Wako Agemaki has posed:
He makes a clean getaway, no further words exchanged, because the unexpected move leaves Wako sitting there, eyes wide, cheeks very pink.

Satisfied that all is right in the world, Vice President rolls over onto his back atop the coverlet of Wako's dorm bed and begins wrestling with his own fluffy tail.