618/Cold Coffee

Cold Coffee
Date of Scene:	20 October 2023
Location:	Beach
Synopsis:	Riventon owes Naru Who Knows a coffee meetup, and could use some good publicity.
Cast of Characters:	Naru Osaka, Takashi Agera

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Naru Osaka has posed:
A lack of teleportation tends to mean that Naru is not quite as fast as others who can eschew public transit, but she doesn't take THAT long to get herself to the beach. She has, as promised, brought a couple of coffees. One frozen sugar filled concoction, without glitter, and one very normal looking hot coffee to go cup. It's a bit of a breezy day, but it's still warm enough that hanging out in the less than populated chunks of the beach isn't an exercise in hypothermia.

Naru has her satchel looped across her as she heads out onto the sand a little ways, carrying the coffees and keeping an eye out for where Riventon might have, or will, appear.

Takashi Agera has posed:
Riventon doesn't have the ability to precisely teleport INTO the world right now, so he's limited to using the Doors Obsidian has all over the wards to get close enough, then either fly or walk. And normally he's out at night, where flying seems less hazardous. But this is the early morning (coffee time!) so he's hoofing it, which means he's arriving at the designated location at about the same time Naru is. Though he looks a lot more out of place, wearing the armored labcoat that still manages to find a way to whip in the wind like it's taking cues from his adopted brother's capes.

    There's no shadows covering his face, only leaning on the Veil now. But it does make him look a fair bit less creepy, and lets others read his expressions. "Hey, Osaka-san." he says as he gets closer. And then his eyes are on the coffee. "Oh, good. I think better with the chemical aid when I haven't gotten enough sleep which is... the usual situation for me." he admits.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"I figure sleep is for other people." Naru comments as she removes the icy coffee from the to-go holder and offers it to him. "I'm not sure who those other people /are/ exactly. But I hear ya on the not enough sleep."

"And good morning. Thank you for meeting with me, it's a pleasant surprise." Naru comments, with no rancor in her tone. She ohs after just a moment and uses her free hand to dig into her satchel. "I almost forgot."

She emerges with a pair of totally-legally-not-Snickers bars and offers them to him. "This might help a little later today. Or now, I'm not here to judge." At least not about that.

Takashi Agera has posed:
Riventon takes the candy bar and puts it into his cavernous labcoats, along with many others. The fact that he has candy doesn't prevent him from taking a little more, since it's rude to turn things down. "Well, maybe I'll be able to get some rest now that I've stopped us all from going into open warfare over the stupid guns." he says, completly acting like the stupid guns initially aren't his responsibility. He sits down and takes a long drink from the coffee's straw. "I don't know how people operate without access to sugar and caffiene though. I'd think those people were likely sparkl- Magical."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Thank you for toning them down." Naru replies as she finds herself a seat close enough for conversation, but not all snugged up close. "They were a source of a lot of stress, although I don't actually know of anyone who has died."

Naru laughs warmly. "You're welcome to call them sparkleskirts.. I know not everyone likes the term, but it delights me to no end." Possibly because she is not, herself, actually in possession of her very own sparkleskirt.

"Although I have it on excellent authority that more than a few of us on the sparkle skirt side of the equation are equally coffee addicts." Naru lifts her cup in salute.

Takashi Agera has posed:
Riventon laughs. "I think they're largely okay with the term anyways. It's just easier than listing off all of the various kinds of magical girls. I haven't even catalouged them all yet. Subtle differences in magic... I'm going to need to come up with a taxonomy like evolutionary theory. Subclasses and stuff."

    "No as far as I know all the retrival attempts have been unsuccessful. Which, normally, would be more troublesome, but honestly this is the first time I can say I'm glad for the constant interference." But all of the attempts did give him the data he needed. "But I've been trying to make something that's acceptable to our bosses and their goals without... making us look like a pack of murderhobos." he notes. "I explained to Hematite how to tell the difference in case any of the old models are out there."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"So much easier." Naru agrees wholeheartedly. "I've been working on getting that taxonomy started, although I've been looking at it from more of an attempt at a unified theory of magic rather than a taxonomy. There's less of a hierarchy than that implies, at least to my perspective and more a lot of different terms for very smiliar mechanisms."

"I've never gotten the sense that murderhobo was quite the look you were aiming for." Naru nods in agreement. "And I'm grateful to hear that is, indeed, the case." She nods again. "I got the details from Hematite. I find the potential for regrowth, even if it's slow, to be absolutely fascinating. And, to be perfectly honest, a little unexpected."

Takashi Agera has posed:
"Absolutely a lot of different words for the same thing." he nods. "Everyone getting contradictory but accurate information. I think on some level - as much as it pains me to say this, as a scientist - some things may beyond explanation. It works differently for me than it does for you and the reason is that it's magic." Riventon says.

    "You're talking about a mechanism by which people convert emotions to energy to observable effects in the world - and suddenly you've got a fire or electricity or soothing light where none was before, without any of the expected precursors. Things just happen." he says, shrugging. "Even Device Mages, we purport to have a system, but I can't exactly duplicate other mages. I have to still translate it, somewhat, into my own 'language' of magic for lack of a better word. I can't watch Fate or Nanoha do something and read the data and output it the same way and get the same result. Some of that has to do with emotional states, some of that has to do with the differences that make us who we are. Dark Energy affects me differently than everyone else I've studied, for example." he shrugs.

    "And back to the hearts, I think the regrowth is also going to be dependant on the person. As will the... side effects. I will need a lot more data though, and I'm not going to shoot myself." he admits.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"At that level, there are absolutely branches that work simply because that's how it works." Naru agrees utterly after a sip of her coffee and then smiles. "If understanding and study provided powers, I would be a far different person than I am, but here we are."

"I am curious as to how dark energy affects you differently." Naru comments plainly enough. "I don't have a lot of opportunity to speak theoretically with a lot of dark energy users. I know how it affected me, and I've spoken with Hematite, of course. Most of the time, there's not a whole lot of conversation going on when there's dark energy getting tossed about."

Naru smiles. "While I'm not in a rush to go out and get shot by version two, and less so to get shot and not have my crystal returned to me, I have to admit that getting shot by version one was fascinating."

Takashi Agera has posed:
"Well, we can probably perform some kind of information exchange at least. I suspect I have precious little opprotunity to interact with targets of the weapon, and get their side of things." he says, shrugging. "And you have precious little opprotunity to talk to someone who can use Dark Energy without going all crazy-go-nuts." he says, as though he is immune to any kind of Dark Energy Crazy.

    "Understanding and study doesn't provide powers, no. You need something, some intangible. But you might have it yet. You can sit here with me in henshin without forgetting the occurance, you can talk to me about being shot with the rifle. So I would wager you're not mundane fully. Perhaps you've just not found the right outlet for your potential. A little white rat once explained to me that for the purposes of his magical creation it's not a 1:1 match between power a given source can offer them." He chuckles. "And Hematite isn't so much in the theory. He's very practically focused. Or, unfocused, but. He's trying to deal with his own inner demons. And a particular outer one. He's never been as in tune with it as many people. But I'll let him speak further on his own behalf."

    "Dark Energy is named so because my... because the researcher who originally started looking at magic in a scientific way, relatively recently, saw it tinges to the darker colors of the spectrum and the emotions that have traditionally been thought of as the more 'dark' ones. But I think if you can control the secondary effects - which I can - it is no more evil than say... radiation. You obviously don't want a bit of uranium in your hands without protection, but with the proper safeguards it can do wonderful things - clean power for a country for instance. Dark Energy to me is the same way, but most people are just holding it in unsheilded hands and then shocked when it pushes them into some sort of odd behavior."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"While we might be sitting on opposite sides of a conflict, the information, at it's core, is agnostic." Naru nods in agreement to the possiblity, at least in theory, of information exchange.

"It would be hard to call me fully mundane anymore, it is true. It is equally hard to call me a full on sparkle skirt, as I have no overt powers. The potential that I have passive abilities that none of us have quite worked out exists, although is rather unlikely. The potential of me having some sort of dramatic awakening and developing my own henshin and so and on so forth is also unlikely at this point. Both possible, but this is where I sit currently, in an odd grey zone." She sips from her cooling coffee, her body language speaking to accepance of her awkward reality.

Naru considers Riventon's take on Dark energy usage, nodding slowly as she listens. "I am curious about what sort of safeguards are effective. A lead wrap for your linker core seems awkward at best."

Takashi Agera has posed:
"Admittedly, safeguards for otther people is a relatively new subset of research for me and I've been... busy with the gun problem until recently. Maybe still busy depending on how reactions to the new version are." he admits. "But until recently, I had made the admittedly somewhat foolish assumption that it was like it is for me for everyone else, at first. And then by the time I was looking into everything else, things had gotten complicated; first Sunbreaker, then these rifles." he explains.

    "I have reason to believe that due to unique circumstances I am - for the lack of a better word - lead wrapped by default. My linker core reacts differently to energy than Hematite or others I've studied. Not the same as a human or a youma. For most people, the two kinds of energy go to war. For me, they sit quietly and sometimes shoot a spitball at each other at most." he explains by analogy.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"There are really only ever so many hours in a week." Naru agrees ruefully on the topic of busy. "Giving up sleep is only ever a short term solution." Be it coffee, energy drinks or dark energy, there's a cost that needs to be repaid eventually.

"I dare say as much as you are an outlier in your own right, Hematite is also an outlier in his own right. Most, I would posit, settle somewhere between the pair of you." Naru considers him for a moment and then can't help but giggle softly at the analogy. "The mental image of that is.. really amusing. Thank you for that."

Takashi Agera has posed:
Riventon smiles back, and it's a genuine thing rather than one of those malicious smiles that doesn't quite reach someone's eyes. "I find that sometimes it's better to break things down into more understandable analogies, even when dealing with them myself. I'm a genius, but keeping all of this in my head is still difficult at best - we're talking about dealing with things that are fundamentally at odds with how humans percieve the universe; to the point where most human brains refuse to even see it. So dealing with it in a rational, empirical manner is... challenging. We're talking about other dimensions, energy sources that normal science can't track... anything to break it down when talking to others is helpful, I find."

    "And yes, Hematite is also an outlier in many ways. Technically everyone's a little bit different, even if they mostly share attributes. We're talking about things where differences between the silicon of two computer processors can have vast effects; but the processors are spirits and emotions, so they're much more complex and prone to random differences." he notes.

    "But... Dark Energy as a fundamentally dangerous force that can be harnessed by the wise into applications that could change humanity - and could save it from the forces that are gathered to threaten it - that's how I see Dark Energy and the reason why it - along with magic - are my personal fields of interest now."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"They really are so effective. Not only to keep things straight for myself, but to try and explain what I mean to others. Especially when I don't always have the generally accepted terminology to go with things." Naru smiles easily. "You magical folks do not come with a lexicon." She points out.

"Of course everyone is a little bit different, there's a curve." Naru gestures with her free hand. "Even two device mages, who both do barriers, they don't look precisely the same, nor do they feel quite exactly the same to those who encounter them, nor to those who have produced them. I wouldn't expect that to be any different on the dark energy side than it is for the light side of the equation."

Naru is thoughtful a moment. "Dark energy has the challenge that it feeds off, and runs off, emotions that tend to be very easy to be used to be callous and cruel and selfish. Which is not generally ideal ways for humanity to work. So it, in and of itself, is not necessarily callous, or cruel or selfish." Naru pauses again, gathering more of her thoughts. "So I agree with you that it is a fundamentally dangerous force, that in and of itself can be used to help or hinder humanity.. I might argue that it does not lend itself to helping. By its nature, it does not lend itself to helping."

Naru gives a little shrug. "I find magic, light and dark, fascinating. The use, the theory. Perhaps even more fascinating because my only real perspective is academic, beyond having it used upon me."

Takashi Agera has posed:
Riventon has consumed his entire coffee, and pops the top off to get at the chocolate residue with the straw. Maybe it's strange to see someone who is objectively a 'bad guy' acting more like Usagi than a monster - or maybe it's not, after all, she knows Hematite. But for Riventon the act is somewhat oddly humanizing. He's talking casually, behaving casually, like his eyes aren't purple and don't occasionally flare with Dark Energy.

    "Most people don't think about it this much. It's magic, they do magic, they fight evil - or those who would call them evil - and just trade blasts of energy that shouldn't be." he notes. "Even within my organization, despite all of the scientific focus, it's a very rare perspective. Asking why ands how is hard, harder than just doing."

    "But I don't think most manage the sort of fine control, either." Riventon says, glaring at the chocolate on the cup before deciding to run a small sliver of Dark Energy from his finger to the cup, scraping the last of the chocolate and whipped cream and coffee mixture into a gumball-sized sphere which he pops into his mouth, leaving a perfectly clean cup. "See? Useful." he says, after finishing the darkest of chocolate mixtures. "It can be helpful just fine if you know how to direct it."

Naru Osaka has posed:
There are, if one thinks to look for them, or one spends enough time with them, humanizing moments for many of the Dark side folks. Slurping coffee, or noshing on french fries. Trying to figure out a game, or expounding on a favourite hobby. They have moments, every one of them, which makes it clear that there's more than 'unrelenting monster' in each of them.

"No. Most dont' think about it this much." Naru holds her cup. Not quite empty, but getting there. "You do. I do.. clearly. A tiny handful of others, but mostly they think about it when I ask them specific questions and then they go back to trading blasts of energy without thinking too hard about it all."

Naru gestures with that cup. "I have always gotten the sense that, for those who are either not yet at, or have protected themselves from hitting rampaging lunatic.. that dark energy is much more flexible." She nods to his trick with the bit of chocolate and coffee. "Light side magic doesn't, as best as I can tell, permit that level of just toying with the raw magic."

Takashi Agera has posed:
"That's because Dark Energy is more chaotic at its baseline. I've never liked calling the other kind of magic light-side - when you take a blast or get burned it doesn't feel very light. Sparkle energy maybe." he says with a smirk. "But it does seem to be more ordered, more regimented. It seems to be less... prone to infecting people. It just destroys the Dark Energy, it doesn't overtake spirits the way Dark Energy can. I've never seen a sparkleskirt magic youma." he notes.

    "Do you know why lead is so dangerous to humans?" he asks. "In large part it's because it replaces other metallic elements in the body, and then with lead in place of say, zinc, the body can no longer accomplish its original chemical reaction, leading to all sorts of negative cascade effects." Takashi begins, by way of setting up for other understanding. "Dark Energy is sometimes the spiritual equivalent. It presses out other feelings and magnifies those negative feelings. Enough of that and you turn into some sort of freaky notebook beast or something." he says. "I think that's because of its chaotic malleability. It can replace other feelings since it can squeeze into any space. It's like a cat. It can squeeze into spaces other things can't and take up residence there."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"You can blame George Lucas for the light side and dark side comparisons, even if they aren't wholly accurate." Naru points out. "It's just too easy not to make. I have personal experience with how exceptionally uncomfortable purification energy can be, even if I still call it happy juice. Light can be just as painful as dark. I do not think either are wholly benign."

"It is equally hard to be to entirely fall into the Order vs Chaos dichotomy as trying to define a pack of teenagers as 'order' in any sense is a stretch on reality." Naru smirks just a touch. "A different side of cats, mostly in the herding them rather than in the fact that they are semi-solids."

Naru is thoughtful for a moment. "That was not my experience with it, but I respect and acknowledge that mine was wholly atypical. Absolutely on the chaotic malleability, though."

Takashi Agera has posed:
"I try to avoid purification at least as aggressively as they try to avoid my energy." He admits. "It doesn't play nicely, that's for sure."

    "And trust me, large groups of adults and youma can make one yearn for the organization of your average school classroom full of said teenagers."

    Riventon leans in. "So your experience was vastly different, then? How would you describe it? Your average salaryman is not really a good barometer for things, nor are they particularly inclined to give details on life changing experiences, in the rare instance they can even process what has happened fully."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"I had very little choice in the matter, so I got a full experience on quite how painful purification is when you are full of dark energy." Naru mmms. "It's not something that I'm putting on my calendar as part of a spa weekend every month or two, let's put it that way."

Naru laughs softly at their respecitive cat herding responsibilities. Grass really is always greener on the other side.

"My experience had very little lead up, or preparation. I went from whatever my normal state of minimally magical is to youma in full fight or flight in a very short period of time, against my will." She's quite calm about discussing it, matter of fact even. It is a thing that happened and if she's angry about it, she's got that solidly under control. "So your descriptions fall into the slow slide into dark energy, where it replaces some and then more.. and then more and the slippery slope aspect of it, which I can absolutely understand, but I got tossed down that slip and slide at full speed with no potential for finding my own equilibrium, if that would even be possible with my own emotional and magical abilities."

Takashi Agera has posed:
Riventon continues to listen to the information intently "I really don't have a way to imagine what it would be like without magical ability." he admits. "It's not a problem I've ever had." And he would absolutely file not having magic under the 'problems' header. "So did you have awareness of your actions during this time, or was it kind of like waking up and being told you had been sleepwalking? I know it seems like the actions are at least somewhat driven by the subjects' pscyhe, but I'm not sure if that's a sort of echo, or the subject themselves."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"You've had magical skills since you were very small?" Naru sounds surprised at that. "Interesting."

"I was aware.. but mostly disassociated." Naru decides on that as the closest descriptor she can come up with. "Distinguishing friend or foe was a struggle, and there wasn't a lot in the way of higher level thinking or considering going on." Naru mmms. "It wasn't a panic attack, but that level of just reverting to base fight or flight was absolutely a factor. Full on reptile brain." She tilts her head, thoughtful. "But I will say, that if I could consider doing it, I had power enough /to/ do it, even within my limited psychological capababilities. The energy wanted to be used, and felt easy and intiuitive to do so."

Takashi Agera has posed:
Riventon shakes his head. "I wouldn't call it skill. Nothing that you could really see in anybody nowdays. Parlor tricks at most. I didn't really start having the ability to understand and research and do all of the cool stuff till recently." he admits. "But I had a connection, yeah."

    "That's interesting and follows the way I see behavior sorted. It seems like for those of us who have some innate ability, it's easier to control, but those who have no connection to Dark Energy have that faster slide, yeah. For obvious reasons I can't experience it. But, it's good to have the information. Dissociated, and powerful. Hmm." Riventon pauses. "If you found yourself in a life or death situation for youurself or someone else, would you turn down the ability to go into that mode again? Do you think the lack of control would make things worse?" he asks, interested in her response to his hypothetical, clearly.

Naru Osaka has posed:
Naru considers a moment, drinking the last of her coffee as she does. "Now, the fact that I was not in the most secure emotional state, and that the energy came quickly and against my will did not help my own personal levels of control, over and above it being entirely new and unexpected." She flickers a smile. "I make no claims to be a prodigy of dark energy, to be capable and familiar with it's use the first time I encounter it, or any magic, in that sort of direct experience."

"I don't know." Naru has to admit at the question. "I have thought about that. Would I use it again, if given the opportunity, and I cannot say no never. One cannot live /this/ life.." she gestures between them. Him, in henshin, sparking dark energy periodically. ".. and say 'oh no never' to things that seem unlikely to come up again. Because the impossible seems to turn up on my doorstep two or three times a week. I like to think, perhaps an arrogant thought.. but I do like to think that I'd have more control the next time."

Takashi Agera has posed:
Riventon nods. "A lot of things, you just can't know until they happen - until you do them or experience them." That perspective doesn't inform several of his more impulsive decisions or anything. "But you get a little bit better at things as they become more routine for you." he notes. "So it's possible. But probably best to not have quite so much pushed into you at once. Sunbreaker is very talented at magic - but Dark Energy isn't her specialty. She makes up for that with generalist knowledge but it causes... gaps. And I think you experienced some of that." he notes.

    "I think some level of arrogance, where it's warranted, isn't a bad thing. Being sure of your abilities is part of the keys to being able to control them in this world. Even for the sparkleskirts, self-doubt is a weakness." One he might exploit at times. "It's better to be too sure of yourself than not sure enough - if you overestimate yourself at least you can use your magic at full blast. If you underestimate yourself you may have lost before the magic gets slung around." he adds.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Sunbreaker comes across as having more passion than finesse, generally. Powerful, certianly, but there is as much power in a delicate touch.. more oft times, as having everything at eleven all of the time." Naru points out. "No, I don't think me turning into a rampaging youma was her plan. I found a gap, indeed."

"There is self confidence and then there is arrogance and that line between the two can be awfully blurry." Naru comments thoughtfully. "Sometimes the difference is just being able to back up your claims, often it's acknowledgement that there are others in the world." She smiles again. "Self doubt is often one of those emotions that encourages a little slip on the icy slope of dark energy. It reinforces itself, as often as not, and is an easy one to fall prey to, especially with how new to everything most of the sparkleskirts are."

Takashi Agera has posed:
Riventon considers Naru's opinions on arrogance vs confidence, and finesse vs power. "Obviously, it's best to have power and finesse. It's not just about knowing where to apply power, but having the power to apply there to get the result. And it's wasteful to throw more power than you need." he muses.

    "A lot of us are new to things. As far as I can tell, the world was not so... open to magic... until recently. The... walls between the worlds of the normal and the magic are thin. There's no evidence of a bunch of magical girls and a bunch of Dark Energy users packed together like this that I could find. It's possible it just got scrubbed by the Veil in some way, but... well, in that case it's basically unknowable anyways and therefore not worth considering." he shrugs. "Either way it's uncharted waters for all of us. I understand at least that much. If I'm capable of figuring things out there's probably one or two Sparkleskirts that will someday." he adds. There MIGHT be some hubris there.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"I suspect it won't come as a surprise that I am also a fan of finesse." Naru comments, although she smirks a little. "I make no comments on power."

"There is so much weird." Naru agrees. "So much.. even between when I started remembering things to now, which is only a matter of months, it feels like we're ramping up in just more and more." She laughs at his comment. "Yes, there's one or two Sparkleskirts who have half a brain in their head. I realize it's a stretch to consider, but we do get there."

Takashi Agera has posed:
Riventon smiles. "Well, I suspect if we took the average number of people on either side of the fence who had working neurons it'd be about the same on both sides. I certainly make no comments that my fellow Dark Energy users are any smarter than the average Sparkleskirt. In fact, many of them may dumber. A lot of the time I'd be rooting for their downfall." he notes. "I think at least most of your people have the right idea even if it's a bit short-sighted. It's why I'm trying to stop the escalation from getting out of control - but that's hard when civilians are being kidnapped and having their souls kicked out of them forcibly." he notes.

    "I don't like seeing people being hurt." Riventon admits, despite the aura surrounding him. "Unless they get in my way. And even then, it's because I can't sit down and explain to every sparkly girl everything I've seen - and they might not believe me - and why it's important for me to succeed."

    "Plus, if I can't ever beat them, then maybe they're better situated to take on the threats anyways. One way or another one of us is going to be right."

Naru Osaka has posed:
Naru pauses and then laughs, all bright and warm. "Ahh, the warm fuzzies on your side of the fence. Clearly you all sit around holding hands and singing folks ongs." She teases lightly and then nods as she gets a little more serious. "Technically, I'm only mostly a civillian and the kidnapping and getting my soul kicked out were different encounters."

"I have no qualms about taking out a youma, but no.. I don't like seeing people on your side of the fence getting hurt either. Although sometimes that's a hard sell when they've decided to settle on the side of cruelty." Naru wrinkles her nose. "Usually that's about when they have lost control of their own dark energy and could use a good dose of happy juice, in my experience."

Naru considers and then nods. "There may come a time when we need to figure out how to take on something that's bigger than either of us."

Takashi Agera has posed:
"You're not the only one who caught a soul eviction." Riventon notes. "The only major kidnapping... that I'm aware of, anyways."

    "Look, some of the people who work in the same building as me are absolute wastes of space. And those are the ones I like. Some of them are as about as unhelpful to this world as any horrible apocalypse monster - and privately, that includes some of Hematite's buddies. Not a fan." he admits.

    "But there's a few who see the potential for the world to be something better than it is, and between them and the resources I have available to me... well, I'm not Hematite and I'm not sitting on a fence. I've heard the way you all talk about youma and Dark Energy - not you specifically, Osaka-san, but the you generally - and I'm not interested in putting up with that. At least the brand of idiots over here don't cry a river when I borrow some energy from people who weren't gonna make anything of value out of it anyways." he adds, crossing his arms.

    "But it's good to know there are some, like you, who can talk and listen. Maybe if that bigger thing shows up you'll be a good point of contact."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"It's true, I did not. I have held more souls in my hands than I ever expected to." Naru comments absently before she nods. "To my knowledge, I'm the only kidnapping so far."

"They are no more a singular entity than all of the Sparkleskirts are.. I'm also more fond of some of them when they aren't utterly hopped up on dark energy than when they are, some of them at least." Naru isn't commenting on which of the 'ties she might have a soft spot for, but that quiet smile says a lot.

Naru considers that defense of youmas and dark energy and the defensive posture. She considers him a moment and then nods slowly. "I am interested in talking, and listening. I can't promise agreement, but you aren't looking for a yes-person, I don't think. That's not how functional talking and listening actually works."

Takashi Agera has posed:
Riventon scoffs. "If I wanted somebody who would just agree with me, I'd make a robot or youma that said yes." he notes. As though this is a causal thing normal people can do like picking up milk on the way home. "But I appreciate the windows into other perspectives. Even the ones I don't agree with."

    "Having someone who can at least speak to someone else's perspective without having blasted them is useful. And it seems easy to talk to you. Maybe that's your power, Osaka-san. Some kind of peacemaker." he notes. And he's not being joking about it, either. Riventon has seen some crazy stuff. Magical girl peacemaker wouldn't even rate at a 3 of 10 on the wierd-stuff-o-meter.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Exactly. Even the one's I dont' agree with." Naru concurs. She holds out her hand for his empty cup, to collect it up with her empty coffee cup.

"I enjoy talking to people. I enjoy very much those who are willing to talk magical theory with me." Naru smiles warmly. "So thank you for that." She considers a moment and then mmms softly. "It might be. I've considered if I might just have that sort of passive powers, but that doesn't fit well with any of the paradigms that I've categorized. It would be unusual at best."

Takashi Agera has posed:
Riventon passes her his empty plastic cup, cleaned pristine by Dark Energy to the point where it looks like it never had anything in it. "How do you define unusual when everything is unusual?" he asks, a more philisophical question than anything else.

    "I'm just saying you can't really rule it out. Even if I don't pick up any magic near you with my Device that doesn't mean there isn't any. I can hide my magical aura, and it might just be a kind of magic I've never encountered before." he says. "Or maybe you're just easy to talk to. Mundane explanations do exist, though I'm finding them less and less relevant as things go on. You have no idea how many rules of physics I break on a daily basis."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"I can't rule anything out, to be truthful." Naru chuckles softly. "I might just be easy to talk to, it's true." She laughs brightly. "You break laws of physics.. I have determiend that probibility only exists in math class. My relationship with physics seems to be pretty secure, at least so far."

"Thank you for being willing to come have coffee with me, Riventon." Naru turns that smile to him, warm and gentle. "I do appreciate it. I'd be happy to do it again if you're interested, but I'll let you prod me. I suspect my schedule is more flexible than yours might be."

Takashi Agera has posed:
Riventon nods. "Probably. I'll make a note of it though. It's a good break from being hunched over a table in a lab talking to myself, at least." He's not going to out any of his assistants, after all. And they're not always around, either.

    "Next time I'll buy though. That only seems fair." he says as he gets up.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Hot coffee, either just cream or black is fine." Naru notes her coffee preference, by way of accepting the potential of future coffee purchases.

nNaru stands as well, looping her satchel over her. "Take care Riventon."

Takashi Agera has posed:
Riventon waves her off and takes a short bow. He thinks of many things to say but exercising a small bit of exercising, simply agrees. "You as well, Osaka-san."