1778/My little problem

My little problem
Date of Scene:	21 July 2024
Location:	Plot Room 2
Synopsis:	Hinoiri and Takashi work, once again, on helping her get power as she complains about some of the sparkles. And they have some success... Small success. A little bit of success. And an itsy, bitsy problem.
Cast of Characters:	Hinoiri Kirara, Takashi Agera

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Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara lightly wrote, glancing at the measurements, then started writing again. "The horn stabilizer is to help in events where a unicorn's magic is experiencing painful, erratic bursts. More for medical reasons," she said... before giving another sigh.

They'd been here a while and Hinoiri had been... in a mood. After her most recent rescue, her frustration had been.... vicious. "So, fine. Clarthas tried to help, and I do appreciate that. But the whole weird like.... Cthulu cookie thing of hers was like... no. I didn't want having some pieces of an eldritch entity pushed into me like that. Can you believe it? She really should have explained it like that. But then this obnoxious little version of me comes out. And starts turning everybody into ponies."

"And it turned Kingu and Bishounen into ALICORNS! Actual ALICORNS! And then, do you know what they said? 'Oh, we worked hard for a few years and so of course we're alicorns!' As if you could just WORK HARD enough to get it. I worked *Every day of my life*. I gave everything I had. I forsook everything to be good enough. I studied until my head hurt so much and I almost couldn't see. I forsake everything. And then Kingu was like 'Oh, I guess maybe you should ask why you're not an alicorn?'"

"Can you believe this? I guess all of my hard work meant nothing in the end, huh? But these two, they deserve it. THEY are good enough. Their work matters. My hard work? My determination? Apparently all it means for me is I get to be the victim all the time, the one who has to constantly be saved. Apparently I guess I wasn't *really* trying that hard, because otherwise I'd be magic now, right? That's *apparently* how it's supposed to work."

There was a light crack as the pen she'd been holding cracked in half and she cringed. "Sorry... I need a new one..." It was like the fifth one today. Takashi had been.... listening to a LOT of her complaints.

"... I thought they were supposed to be nice. Why did they have to rub it in like that? Isn't it bad enough I'm constantly being targeted? I have to keep... depending on them? When do I start getting credit? I swear there's only like... two or three of them over there who are at least trying to help..."

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Takashi sighed audiably and rolled a pen across the shared lab workspace to her. "You're putting way too much stock in what something that's effectively a youma did. Why does the vaccum youma suck up people, is it because they deserve to be cleaned by a giant robotic elephant snout? No, it's because youma are destructive and strange and unctrolled Dark Energy is chaotic." Takashi says. "It probably had no rhyme or reason at all - and if it could tell who was somehow 'worthy' it would probably act counter to that knowledge out of spite." he continues.

    "I mean there's a reason we can't let them run around uncontrolled, they just cause chaos. Because youma are stupid. So either Clarthas was directing it to do that, in which case you should consider it slightly suspect, or the youma was directing itself, in which case it was entirely suspect." he notes.

    He sighs. "If trying hard gave people magic, very few of them within or outside of Obsidian would have magic. There's a fair bit of luck and circumstance involved, too." he notes. "Even for me I had a little bit before I built Axion to focus it."

    "And you had magic before so I have to think you can get to it again. I mean, we made the DG Girls magic and they were basically without any kind of redeeming value whatsoever. Now, we used Dark Energy, but that doesn't mean it's the ONLY path, just the easy one, since we can kind of... brute force it, with the raw power of Dark Energy. Since you won't do that we get to finesse it."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara gave a small nod, taking the pen. "Probably," she muttered. "I would have... I could have ignored it, I think. I would have. But it's just so... frustrating. They don't even understand what it means to be an alicorn. They don't even care. And I can't even really argue it with them! 'Oh, you don't deserve to be an alicorn, it's not just a hard work thing', but what do I know? I'm the one without power, now."

She started writing again, a finger moving up to stroke her geode. Good. Still attached. So she didn't need to worry about getting too angry. "I'm... trying my hardest, you know? I'm giving my all, working as hard as I can to not buck everything up. Can't I get just a little credit for all the work I put in? Yes, I destroyed the sun, but.... sometimes... Buck, sometimes I just wish I *could* take the easy route. Just take off my geode and let the dark energy back in. But..."

"Every time I tried, every time I... consider it... every... time... I can feel it start to wash over me and I just... I know I can't control it anymore. Buck it. Why did I have to lose control? Why can't it just be easy like it is for all of them?" she asked, tearing the paper slightly as she worked. "... Thanks, Takashi. For helping me with this."

Takashi Agera has posed:
    "I can't tell you why some people get to be magical princesses and some people don't. When I find the magic formula for that I'll be in business and maybe I will have something for you. Or maybe it's the star sign you were born under relative to this world. I really couldn't tell you. I know my provenance and that's about it, but even that was kind of luck." he admits.

    "Right now we're just trying to take what we know and give luck a little nudge in the right direction." he continues. "If everything goes well, you'll walk out of here with powers, at least." he tells Hinoiri with a smile.

    "Which is good because I do not want to walk in on you in a hospital AGAIN."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara gave a groan. "Star sign? Oh my gosh, could something like that have affected me? Wouldn't that be a joke. It turns out I could have been an alicorn... but I just happened to be born one month too early. Pfft," she said with a snort.

"Thanks. I have no desire to be in the hospital anymore either. IT's just... obnoxious. Like, some of them? Are scary. But a lot of my old co-workers are idiots. And it's like... getting bullied by the kid who you always thought would drop out because he failed basic hydromancy."

"It's a little demeaning... hmmm?" she said, before glancing up at the glowing item. "Hey, what was the last thing you ran through this? We might be having a reaction."

Takashi Agera has posed:
    "I don't know what it could be. Star sign, humidity, butterfly flaps its wings in the Amazon Rainforest when the westerly wind blows. I have no idea." he explains. "It was just a turn of phrase." And then she gets it too.

    "Well, glowing is either a really good sign or a really bad sign." he says, walking over to inspect the item closer (without touching it) - he does, however, grab her paperwork and start looking over it. Then he holds his hand out so Axion can scan it.

    "Does seem like we're hitting something positive. Uhhh. Needs something external to jumpstart it maybe?"

    He moves quickly, eventually going to a flat rectangular 'card' like metal object. "These store magic energy... let's see." he says as he taps it to the glowing item.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara nodded. "Okay, I'm going to see if we..." Hinoiri mumbled, before pulling away. As it was tapped with the card, the card gave... an error message?

She ran off, to grab a few more of the items, picking up a wand, a staff, an arrow, a bow, a... hoof clipper?

Placing them with the others. "Here we go," Hinoiri mumbled. And then began to lightly *hum* to them. Oh no. Singing.

There were some sparks, at least. And Axiom was showing a reaction! Definitely a reaction. SOMETHING was happening. "Maybe... if we could just give it another nudge...?"

Takashi Agera has posed:
    "Of course it needs singing." He says, sighing. "Not sure if that's because of resonance or something else." he says, but the reaction is recorded, read, remembered.

    He sighs. "I must really want you to get powers, Kirara-san." he says. And then he moves some of the objects around in a slightly different array. "Okay, try singing again. But with your feeling, with your heart. Sing about how being powerless made you feel, or how you don't deserve to be left behind due to random chance, or something." he suggests.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara stared at it, nodding as he got to work. Then, slowly, she closed her eyes. Thinking about.... how it felt to be powerless. To watch everyone else fight. Watch them struggle. Leave her behind. As they... hurt her, even accidentally. She thought about how helpless she felt...

How much she wished she could be involved, without hurting everyone else.

Also, she was mayyyyyybe being a bit of a butt in that she was singing 'Legend of Mermaid'.

The items began to glow... and glow... and glow and--

And then there was an explosion of Kirakirafantastica magic as it erupted, enveloping all of them in it. She shrieked, covering her face to shield as best she could... but after a few moments she groaned and got back to her hooves, shaking her head. "Ow... that was... disorienting..." she muttered, wiping a hoof over her head. Her eyes fell on the table. That now towered over her. "Ummmm... Takashi?" she asked. "I think... there might be a problem."

Hinoiri, the one he knew... wasn't there. Instead, an alicorn, with an orange coat, red and yellow mane and... very vibrant wings... was standing.

At not even ten inches tall. And with the most... fascinating voice.

Takashi Agera has posed:
    It's weird how something insubstantial and etherial like magic can also feel like it's a goopy mess that you've been suberged in, but that eruption of the magic of Hinoiri's homeworld feels, to Takashi, like he was thrown in a wading pool of honey or some other sugary suspension, but for his spirit. "Ech!" he exclaims, rapidly moving back, but it's too late.

    "Gross..." he whines as he shakes it off, as he fixes on... the action figure on the table? "When did we get an Alicorn figure?" he asks, but then he realizes its what's talking.

    "Wait, wait. No way. Hey! YOU'RE AN ALICORN I'M AMAZING." then he looks and tries not to laugh, but fails, and he's snickering a bit as he continues. "I mean, maaaaaybe the system still needs some tweaking but obviously, a breakthrough nobody else could have made!"

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara took a slow, deep breath. Okay, there was no way that... Her horn glowed for a moment and the things that were broken? They began to fix themselves.

... They didn't have the magic anymore, though. But they were less... shattered metal.

"Well, my magic works. But I'm also a little... tiny. I'm tiny. How do we fix that?"

She then tried to fly up to the table and-- landed face first. "O-ow...." she whispered. Her flying skills were NOT that good at this stage of the project. Said stage of the project being 'I have had them for all of thirty-five seconds'.

Takashi Agera has posed:
    "I'm uh... not... sure?" Takashi asks, looking at small alicorn Hinoiri. He extends his gauntlet towards her so Axion can get a scan, and then he starts looking at the data as the Device projects it into several small screens around him. He looks and makes several affirming and understanding noises, mmhmms and ahas.

    "Well, I have good news and bad news! The good news is, the situation seems quite stable. The bad news is, the situation seems quite stable."

    <<ADJUSTING CURRENT DATA TO ALLOW FOR ENLARGEMENT UNLIKELY.>> Axion chimes in. <<EXPECTATION: MINATURE PONY CONTINUES>>

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara blinked a few times. Her horn glowed against and she sighed. "I have some magic, but not enough I could fight like this. How do we... unstabble it? Don't laugh!"

Yes, she did just get the pun, and was now glaring at him. She could do... very minimal, small things like this. But she couldn't live like this.

She looked, and felt, more like someone's pet or mascot than a... well... person. And she looked up at him, expectently, he better have a solution...

Takashi Agera has posed:
    "You'll have to speak up, Kirara san." he says, snickering before he can even get the joke out. "Right now you're... a little hoarse." And then he laughs and not in the crazy scientist way but in the egotist laughing at his own joke way.

    Finally he stops. "Okay, but, I can't just turn you back. Reversal wasn't the plan. I mean, if you got regular magic powers we would want them to stick, not be reversed, right?" he says. "You're probably just gonna have to chill out for a bit while I figure out what we're gonna... do... about... this..." he says.

    "But look, now I've given you magic, see? And no cuthulu cookie cutter required.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara took a slow, deep breath. Then, picked up the pieces of KKF tools...

A moment later they erupted into fire and she hurled them at him. Yes, that pun deserved punishment. It deserved SO MUCH punishment.

"So how long should it take, then?" As she said those words, she picked up a little clipboard and pen... sighed... and summoned a tiny barbie clipboard and pen, before looking up at him. Ready to get back to work! Tiny alicorn scientist. After a moment, her horn flickered again and she had a widdle alicorn lab coat, like the one she'd been wearing a minute ago as a human.

Takashi Agera has posed:
    "Well, we've been working to turn you into this for a week." he says, not even trying to block the flaming tools and just. accepted the little flak blasts of burning metal. He did, in fact, deserve them. And he knew it too.

    "So I'd guestimate about that much time, give or take a few days, at a minimum. Assuming you're not stuck here." He says. "You might be stuck. Not because I want you to be, but because I've kind of... been rapidly developing a theory. Maybe something helped you resist this before but it's the form you should be in over here? Like, She-Ra's horse is normally about this size, right?"

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara opened her mouth to speak. She didn't speak, though. She just stared at him. Trying to process this. Blink blink. Bliiiiiink.

And then she burst into flame. Wow, she was VERY emotive like this. Staring up at him, her entire body on fire. Blink. Blink blink. Blink.

"I am NOT spending a week as a mascot. Do I LOOK like a kyubey?!"

And the idea of Swiftwind seeing her like this? Oh, that. That was NOT a good thought. That was a thought that filled her brain with dreeeeeead.

Takashi Agera has posed:
    "Nah, you look like a little fireball mostly. You're very bright. Does that burn energy? If so you should be careful about it. I'm sure you only have a little supply." he notes, and then moves on.

    "Look, in all honesty I do not know, so I'm just making an educated guess. I'm probably going to need to get some more things from the Obsidian's labs for this. I wasn't... honestly prepared for you to... do this. It wasn't in my list of possibilities. I'm going to need more specialized tools."

    He pauses. "Smaller ones, probably."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara took a looooong, slow, deeeeep breath.

And started peppering him with little fireballs.

They were tiny and likely bounced off him ineffectually, not really doing much. If they could, she wouldn't be doing them. But as it was? It was like. Mildly cold.

Then, she finally calmed down and her fire brushed off. "Well, go get them and lets get started. I'll take a... lunch break or something. Ugh. Get me a pancake or something... no hay. The hay here is awful." ... That raised new questions.

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Eventually Takashi got done with being harassed by the housecat-alicorn and started to protect himself with ink-like shields that popped up to intercept the fireballs, mostly so he didn't drop focus.

    "I... okay. Pancake. I mean, are you sure you need a whole pancake?" he asks, as he gets up to run before she tries to assault him even more with sawdust-fire-embers.