1563/Slapping the Sandwich

Slapping the Sandwich
Date of Scene:	20 May 2024
Location:	Obsidian Tower - Human Resources
Synopsis:	Taro Yamada has news for Fuyuko. In response, she decides that maybe it is time to start training him, after all. Good thing nothing bad will happen tomorrow.
Cast of Characters:	Taro Yamada, Fuyuko Yuuhi
Tinyplot:	Sunset of Sora

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Taro Yamada has posed:
His delicious snack was not at school today.

Mamoru something or other. Has a cute girlfriend, allegedly. Turns into Tuxedo Kamen. Had tasty blood and the most delicious energy to steal. - ok, he hasn't had a chance to attack many mahous yet, but still! He's pretty sure he got the fancy chocolates of mahous!

Hospital. Bad enough that people at school are whispering. They said the girl he was going steady with had skipped school. They said that some of her friends were missing too, and the rest looked like mourners.

The healing power he'd used against the Back-Street Slasher hadn't kicked in against whatever it was here. Was it that damned Beryl, once again causing mayhem because she hurt her delicate overlord fee-fees? Or some fly by night rogue? What could they be thinking? You didn't kill a sheep to get the wool! Do you kill a 50 year old maple tree to get the sap?? What kind of moron just one time and left when they could feed over and over and over and over and over and -

His face is drawn and pensive when he comes in to work after school and sets a bento on Fuyuko-sensei's desk. (It's not a matter of gaining her favor, he knows it won't - but she ate the adults he'd seen who were trying to see if lung or liver damage would kill them first. Who'd teach him if she keeled over from scurvy?)

Pickled beets, grilled chicken with a sweetened soy glaze, and rice with an umeboshi in the center. He'd brought his own version of it for dinner at the office.

"It sounds like the other side has a man down. Is it something we need to be concerned about?"

Fuyuko Yuuhi has posed:
"A man down?" Fuyuko asks, distracted. She's typing up notes on a dismissal recommendation for a middle manager, just tricky enough to be annoying. She's got the case settled and figured out, but outlining her reasoning, her thoughts, her explanations - it's irritating as hell, to have to do it all.

Her sticky little subordinate isn't enough to entirely draw her attention away, not hwen he's saying more of his trademark nonsense.

"If they're dead, could be, not that you've drawn eyes to you. If they're just in the hospital, eh, probably not - people get fucked up in this line of work, brat."

Usually, she'd think he knew that, but he'd made his bread and butter running away from fights, feeding off civilians, and she's not sure how much action he's actually seen, given how much he hides his abilities from the rest.

Taro Yamada has posed:
"I'm not worried about him causing me trouble, I'm laying low until I can actually get lessons." SENSEI. Ahem! "But he's the only one of the mahou I've spotted who's got healing powers, so if he's in the hospital, something hit him so hard he couldn't heal it off. I've only had that happen to me a couple times and it was usually something nasty. Plus, I'd assume with how sturdy we all are, injuring someone enough to put them down would be something they'd be popping bottles about upstairs, wouldn't it?"

Fuyuko Yuuhi has posed:
"And when your first report card comes in and I've judged that you've actually been doing well in school, you'll get the lessons," this kid is so sticky. Why is he like this, huh? What did she do to get someone who actually like, wants to call her sensei and shit? Who does he think she is, Kyouka?

Still, if one of Kyou-chan's kids was in the hospital, it was a little surprising she hadn't called to bitch about it. "And, not really. It's not that hard to put one of you brats in the hospital. Most of the time, the kids over here just either don't get around to it, or don't want to deal with the dozen or so punks who might be after their ass for doing it. Still... someone probably should have been bragging... I'll look into it."

As if she doesn't have enough to -

"You said he has healing powers?"

The words are only now registering, as she puts away her documents, focuses dark eyes on Taro.

Taro Yamada has posed:
"And I am!" He is! He's having a terrible time in literature but he's taken it upon himself to get tutoring and all that nonsense, because he's pretty sure they made up a zillion new kanji since he went to school. Why can't everything have furigana, huh? He is doing! His! Best!

"Really? I can walk it off after like, maybe a week at max. They can't?" Damn. More fragile than he thought. As long as he's not pinned, he can regenerate basically anything...but that means the rest of them are like glass. He guesses! Ugh, maybe it wasn't that much trouble after all -

And then she focuses. Hm. "Yeah. It's the one with the roses," and he mimics thumbing a top hat and tossing a rose.

Fuyuko Yuuhi has posed:
"You eat energy," she reminds him dryly, "And blood. It probably gives you a better ability to heal. The average mahou can heal better than a mundane, but the usual defense against heavy damage is being harder to damage in the first place. "That's not to say it might not be trouble. That boy is well-connected, popular, and has a variety of friends who are like as not to be out for blood."

Kyouka chief among them. Great. And she owed him, too, so, not the most amusing thing for it to be Mamoru Chiba in the hospital. Especially since he could heal, and not just himself.

Taro Yamada has posed:
"You'd think that not being able to heal would make them more sturdy," Taro complains. "I can heal things back, but how are they dealing with being hit with thousands of horrible blender blades? Do they dodge?" That seems pretty dangerous!

"I don't know his allies out of costume, but I heard the girl he's going steady with skipped school today and her friends are pretty shaken. Even if none of his friends are also mahou, there's no way they haven't heard about it by now."

...wait. wait hold on. back up. "Out for blood, you say." Hm! Bad for him!

Fuyuko Yuuhi has posed:
"Most of them can tank most of that," Fuyuko shrugs, "I could. You dfodge, or you're tough enough to cope. Or you die."

Because that was always an option, as she knew too well.

"He's my counterpart's student, so she'll be in the loop by now. She'll probably spread the word sooner rather than later." Oh, look at him being nervous. "You haven't let on that you're magic, have you? Just keep your head down."

Taro Yamada has posed:
"Good. Ugh. They're so casual about electrical damage..." He can tank that, too, it just sucks. "Morons."

Anyway. "I haven't. Rose boy knows I'm Obsidean but I said I'm purely civilian about it, got hit by a youma as a kid and see all that shit.. That's fine. But." Hhhhh. "I did snack on him professionally when I first got to Tokyo."

Fuyuko Yuuhi has posed:
"So don't go snacking professionally for a while," she says simply, like it's easy. "Or snack on the other side of town, anyway. There's plenty of other spots in Tokyo you can hunt in."

She has nothing to say about tanking electrical damage, given an incredibly ill-advised childhood of thinking - correctly - that she was damn near invincible.

"You didn't pick the fight, so keep your head down and you'll be fine."

Taro Yamada has posed:
"I got a snack before the trouble started. I should be good for a month or two as long as I don't mess around too much," Taro says with a shrug. "Easy enough. It's safer to lay low than to start shit until I start getting lessons, anyway."

Huffs!

"Anyway. Do we need to be worried something took out a healer that our side isn't claiming? I can't be the only third party running around."

Fuyuko Yuuhi has posed:
"Do we need to be worried? Eh, maybe. Do we need to be worried that no one's claiming it? No, because he's got friends on this side too. We can't rule out that whoever took him out of play for the time being isn't on this side." There are plenty of reasons to not want to be the one openly proclaiming they took out Mamoru Chiba.

"Keep this to yourself. And given the problem... I'll start training you, I guess." Ugh, fine. Her other student is pretty competent now, anyway...

Taro Yamada has posed:
"I'll keep it to myself and play defense," he says, nodding. He's of no help to the boss if he gets all messed up when he's got work to do. "I'll keep an ear out at school and see if I can fish up anything else interesting, too. I have a bad feeling about this and I'm rarely wrong."

And then he brightens up and fistpumps - and then his face snaps serious. He says reluctantly: "Thank you. Put it off if things do get serious, though. You're the strongest person here other than that maniac and if things start hitting the fan, SOMEONE competant will have to deal with it."

Fuyuko Yuuhi has posed:
She doesn't say anything dismissive this time. Taro isn't useless, and his technique's might be flawed on account of ambushing civilians for far too long, but he's got a sense of self-preservation that's truly rare in this business.

"A good idea. Just keep going about your daily life -" she snorts at the fistbump, and shakes her head. "If this needs me to handle it, it's trouble alright."

Because she doesn't have half of her power, not that she's clued her little student into that. "Training you is the best thing I can be doing right now."

Taro Yamada has posed:
"From my limited observations, mahous can't shut up. That's why the silence is bugging me," Taro says after a moment. "Being smart enough to stay silent or gearing up for a big entrance... I don't like either of those."

Maybe he's overthinking it, but being cautious hasn't hurt him so far.

"Right. Name the time and place, sensei. I'll print my transcripts out if that'll help you motivate me," and that's a bit of a tease. "Do you need me to put the bento in the fridge with mine?"

Fuyuko Yuuhi has posed:
Fuyuko Yuuhi says, "They can't shut up when they're winning. And losing. Before the fight, half the time they're living their regular lives. And now? If he's still in the hospital, they're probably waiting to see his condition." She'll be bugging her counterpart for exactly that information soon.

"Let's start tomorrow night, after the general shift is over. We'll start with your hand to hand. ...and no, I'll eat it. Leave it here."

A pause.

Thanks."

Taro Yamada has posed:
"...pisses me off. Slapping the sandwich outta my hand," he grumbles, then straightens out.

"Right. I"ll be ready. And you..." He grins puckishly. "It's better fighting after a decent meal, isn't it?"

Fuyuko Yuuhi has posed:
She snorts, "Slapping the sandwich out of your hand... kid, you have got to stop talking about people like food." And yet, it's funny as hell, to hear this punk talk about his fellow teens as though they were fresh produce from the grocery store.

"Yeah, yeah, so good job offering it. Alright, get back to work already."

Taro Yamada has posed:
"What, so the youma are allowed to go around eating people but when I, someone who actually thinks about a sustainable mahou meal plan say it- "

But he's grinning, he's getting to work.

Fuyuko Yuuhi has posed:
"Just remember, the youma die, that's an important part of the process -"

But she's calling it to his retreating back, and, to her own astonishment, she's smiling about it.