1415/Brainstorming

Brainstorming
Date of Scene:	15 April 2024
Location:	Midori-Ya Cafe
Synopsis:	Ami, Naru and Zoisite meet over coffee while Ami is trying to figure out how to best use her powers the best way she knows how: Through brainstorming and spread sheets!
Cast of Characters:	Ami Mizuno, Zoisite, Naru Osaka

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Ami Mizuno has posed:
Ami Mizuno had managed to get herself out of her room to go be social. Of course she had reasons for being out other than just 'relaxing'. A nice cup of coffee is sat beside her at the table she's chosen, and her little tablet computer is there as well which she occasionally jots a not or two down on. At the very least it's outside, it's a nice Spring day, she's got coffee and a little danish pastry on a plate. And company! It wasn't a bad day at all.

"So the human body is about sixty percent water. Maybe a bit more depending on hydration levels, but that's the average. It's just..." The tablet pen is flipped between her fingers as she contemplates. "That seems like a very 'final' decision to dabble with that. Not to mention that's *humans* and not youma."

Zoisite has posed:
The latte art is still mostly intact in Zoisite's mug as he sets it down on the table, opposite Ami. "Contemplating murder?" he asks, uncaring of who might overhear. His eyes glitter with amusement at his own joke as he hangs his sunglasses from the collar of his shirt, which has a button or two undone due to the pleasant warmth of the spring sun they're basking in today.

He's gone without any kind of tasty treat for himself, more focused on his need for caffeine, and so Zoisite tucks a hand against his chin and rests his elbow on the table. Though he casts an obvious gaze towards Ami's tablet, he doesn't go so far as to actually lean over and try to sneak a peek, even if that sort of boldness isn't out of the question for him on a normal day. Instead, he decides to let Ami share at her own pace, and he just takes a sip of coffee and looks at her expectantly, brows raised.

So maybe saying "at her own pace" is slightly inaccurate. But it's only a little friendly pressure.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Who are we murdering?" Naru asks just as casually as she happens past the table at JUST the right moment for Zoisite's casual comment. She has a dress over some leggings, her satchel looped across her body. She's carrying a coffee (of course) and a piece of cake that no one ever expects she is going to finish. Not even her, but still. She'll appreciate a bite or two.

A grin goes between Zoisite and Ami and then Naru adds. "Hi, you two."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Ami Mizuno reaches up to adjust her glasses to blink at Zoisite's arrival, as well as Naru. The pair are granted a very pleased smile at finding two of her friends here in spite of the opening conversation. "Oh! No one yet," she assures as if talk of potential murder were just one of those things that came up on occasion. "Though I hear Usagi-chan is on the war path a bit. No," she assures with a little tap of her stylus to the tablet. "I'm just working on ideas."

"Setsuna and Tamaki have both reminded me that 'water' can be a powerful element and I'm trying to think of ways I can perhaps apply new methods to help during fights."

Reaching for her coffee she takes a little sip only to continue. "While Tamaki did demonstrate how he can make an ice sword for me, I simply don't have the knowledge or skill to use a sword. I'm considering alternatives."

Zoisite has posed:
Zoisite visibly deflates when it's revealed they're not murdering anyone, but the sly smile that follows it after suggests it's all done for humorous effect. He's more likely to verbally eviscerate someone than... you know, literally do so, nowadays. Why he's perfectly harmless!

And with that thought he entirely loses his ability to keep a straight face, so he takes a longer drink of his coffee to cover it. Then he folds his legs one over the other and gestures for Naru to join them at one of the empty seats. "Hello to you too," he says, reasonably friendly.

His fingers remain curled around his cup as he considers Ami across the table. "It takes years to properly master a weapon; until it feels like an extension of your own body, rather than a tool," he says, a roundabout way of showing support for Ami's idea. "But I'm sure you can come up with something suited to your talents. Something clever."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Usagi is often on the war path." Naru confirms as she slides into a seat at Zoi's invitation. She sets her coffee and chocolate cake down, looping her satchel over to be able to set it at her feet. "Water is powerful, it's the element that can destroy stone, given enough time. It can blind, and distract and if you've got someone who can work with thermodynamics.. or if you can.. then slippery footing sucks."

Naru mmms softly. "I mean, the best time to start learning a weapon is years ago, but the second best is now.. right? I thikn that's how the phrase goes. if you want something immediate, then yeah.. swords aren't idea." She gives a little laugh. "Although if I'm ever in a fight with you, feel free to make me an ice sword. I'm just /saying/."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Ami Mizuno considers that a moment. Her fingers pinch at a bit of her danish to tear off a little piece which she takes a dainty bite of absently. At least she's not just wolfing it down as she often did with her lunches while studying or between classes. In those moments she could really surpass Usagi in how quickly she ate--Just maybe not in quantity.

"Oh I can freeze too. That's not a problem." A grin is flashed back as she assures, "I'd be happy to. Though," she adds with a small laugh. "You may want some gloves in that case."

Zoisite's insight into weaponry earns a nod of agreement. "Oh yes. I've been working toward becoming a doctor for most of my life so weaponry seems a bit foreign to me. I have managed to freeze youma in place though. That's a start and gives those with more skill the opportunity to attack easier." Another tap of the pen, before she writes down 'ice patch' as an idea. It was a good one!

"So did you both enjoy the prom recently? I was there for awhile before I had to leave."

Zoisite has posed:
"How finely can you manipulate the quantity of water in the air? The local humidity, I mean," Zoisite asks, not with any particular outcome in mind, but curious as to Ami's control. He lifts his cup, but it never quite makes it all the way to his mouth, so he's left peering over it thoughtfully.

He purses his lips. "It must be difficult, to aspire to be a healer while at the same time having to fight." Briefly his thoughts turn to Prince Endymion, but he doesn't linger there, pulling himself back to the present (and present company). He waves his cup mildly at mention of the prom. "It was... an adequate outing," is what he says, rather than gushing over the royal couple's entrance.

Which admittedly still threatens to stop the air in his lungs from expelling, even just at the memory of it. But he won't let that on. He turns to Naru for her reply, looking for an immediate distraction from his inner conflict.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"I'll be sure tp pack gloves. That's a lot easier to fit in my satchel." Naru grins at Ami's advice. She sips from her coffee, looking between the pair of them and then considering the question. She giggles softly and nods. "It was lovely to see everyone all dressed up and being fancy, and I'm a complete sucker for Adrien in a tux."

Naru nods in agreement with Zoisite. "I mean.. not everyone has to be doing damage all of the time. There's a lot of room, especially in group fights for the people who set things up for others. Being able to do /something/ when you're caught alone is useful, but it doesn't have to be your focus."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"Excellent. I have to admit I really enjoyed having a reason to wear that dress Minako and Usagi urged me to splurge on." Ami really was smiling recalling that particular dress so it seems she had a good time. "Tadase-kun and I danced awhile until they started that silly spot-light dance thing." Here her expression turns a little to stare off at a spot just past Zoisite's shoulder. HE likely would understand exactly what happened. A quick shake of her head stirs her out of it.

"We went for a walk after that."

Back to the matter at hand she considers the question thoughtfully. "I think I have a fairly good grasp of that. One of the first powers I manifested allows me to create a mist that can obscure the vision of those we fight against, but not ours. I altered that a bit to freeze around combatants, too." So her control was... pretty good. She just hadn't really experimented with it yet.

Zoisite has posed:
That both of them attended with a +1 compared to Zoisite's solo outing doesn't seem to bother him at all. He definitely catches the gazing off into the middle-distance that Ami does, and he shakes his head slightly, more out of fondness than anything. "That must have been unfortunate," he says, and the "for you" remains unsaid. Naturally Zoisite would have flourished in that sort of attention.

He taps his fingers against the tabletop in a rhythmic pattern. "Interesting. That could be very dangerous, depending on how you do it."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"There's nothing wrong with enjoying an excuse to dress up now and then." Naru points out wiht a grin. She finally picks up a spoon, to capture just a little bit of cake upon it. "Hopefully the walk was nice." Naru sounds gently sympathetic on the top of the spotlights. She'd of also managed, but it's not entirely her thing.

"That's really effective." Naru points out. "Like.. frozen mist in their eyes? That's a really good power, especially with such fine control on it. Does your water have to be pure?" She mmms thoughtfully, drinking a little more coffee.

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Ami Mizuno pauses at the question of purity to consider. "Excellent question. I've never considered it. I would say 'no' in that case since it's never been an issue so far. Besides," she reasons with a smile. "Taking it directly from the air is fairly purifying an effect to begin with. Just not 'purifying' in the same way that Usagi-chan can, perhaps."

A glance to her coffee is given and she sighs. "I think I could use a refill. Excuse me a moment." The emptied cup is taken up in hand to go do that refill thing.

Zoisite has posed:
"If you can pull it straight from the air, couldn't you theoretically also pull it from--" but before Zoisite has a chance to suggest something totally unhinged, Ami needs a refill for her coffee, and so any further talk of murder is stalled.

He still has a good amount of coffee in his cup, for now, so he remains where he is. "What about you?" he asks, though of course it's necessary to clarify as he's asking it rather out-of-context. "Ami wants to be a doctor. Do you have any plans for your career? I'll admit I haven't much thought about it, myself." His nose wrinkles faintly, and he takes a sip of coffee after.

Naru Osaka has posed:
Naru also has plenty of coffee in her cup, and a piece of cake besides. She takes another small spoonful of cake and considers Zoisite's question. "I was sure I wanted to be a fashion designer.. or an artist and now? Now I really don't know." Naru has to admit. "I feel like I spend so much time thinking about magical things, it's hard to really focus on what comes next, y'know?"

Zoisite has posed:
Zoisite mulls that over for a moment or two, his fingers still holding his cup aloft. "The future seems impossibly far away," is what he decides to say, after his silence. "But it's good to have a plan. I usually have several just in case, but planning that far ahead never seemed...."

He doesn't continue the thought, only finishes it with a shrug of one lean shoulder, and then he's leaning back in his seat. "I can't picture any of us working a normal job, not after what we've been through. It seems so mundane in comparison."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Right!?" Naru gestures with her spoon at him. "It feels unthinkabl far away, and I'm certain that for you guys even MORE than for the rest of us, it seemed unrealstic to plan that far ahead, but now high school is all 'so what do you want to do?' and I'm like 'I.. have no idea. At all.'"

Naru purses her lips a little. "I mean.. most grown ups forget like.. everything. They go back to being mundane and have no idea. I guess being an accountant isn't so bad if you don't remember that you once did.." She gestures vaguely in an 'all of this' sort of motion.

Zoisite has posed:
Zoisite nods once, decisively. "Precisely. Before, I was in survival mode. Now that I'm not... well, it still feels ridiculous to make plans for the future that aren't some variety of going to ground due to the worst-case scenario happening." With one mouthful he drains the last of his coffee, but unlike Ami, he does not make a move to get a refill.

He's too busy looking vaguely nauseous. "If I forget it all again..." he says, sounding distant.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Yeah." Naru wrinkles up her nose. "I mean.. I'd like to say that there's some consolation in the fact that if we forget it all, we also forget that we've forgotten it all. It's not quite the same sense of being trapped and having peeks of your real life amongst the awful.. but we just got you guys back. I dont want to think about the not very many years and then we lose all of us? Forever? To be completely different people? It's kinda awful."

Naru nudges the rest of her cake aside, she's managed a good three bites, which is pretty good for her, all things considered.

Zoisite has posed:
The dredges of his latte seem very interesting to Zoisite all of a sudden. It's as if he's studying tea leaves, trying to discern his fate in the remnants. But there's nothing to divine from it except that he's got no excuse to remain sitting here any longer.

And yet he doesn't make a move to leave. He feels rooted to the spot. "People don't change. Not at their core," he asserts, and he sounds confident, though internally he isn't so sure. "Whatever drew us all together will still be there, even if we forget. We could find each other again." And he wants to believe that more than anything.

Naru Osaka has posed:
There's always excuses to sit, even with empty coffee cups.

"I don't know." Naru comments thoughtfully. "I suppose it depends on the core. I like to hope that there's more at Obsidian who seem pretty down to the core about being there, but that we can pull back out of the mess. I don't know." She gives her head a little shake. "But setting aside THAT.. I do like to think that it's much like before I knew.. I didn't not know Usagi, I just didnt' know everyting about her. I like to think that we don't all lose our friends, and those we love, we just.. forget we had that hobby?" She shakes her head. "It seems so absurd. And then some don't forget. Look at Inai-sensei."

Zoisite has posed:
Setting his cup aside, Zoisite considers Naru for a long, silent moment. Or not Naru specifically, but the ideas she's presented, which he turns over in his head like someone examining a shell they've just found at the seaside.

"It's possible. Not everyone working there day-to-day is there because they've been cursed, or unduly influenced by dark energy. Some people just like their jobs." He shakes his head once, with finality. It seems Zoisite isn't particularly altruistic about his previous coworkers. But he does say, "Even if we forget, it's still worth something. The safety of the people we love, for one."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Trust goes a long way." Naru comments quietly. "And right now, we trust our friends wiht our lives, even more so than the banal overwrought statements that most teenagers claim about trusing wiht their lives, we actually do it. We'll all still be friends, even if it all goes awful in a few years." She takes a breath, nodding about the reality of Obsidian.

"Besides.. a lot can happen in a few years." Naru points out.