1991/Just a small surprise...

Just a small surprise...
Date of Scene:	07 October 2024
Location:	Function Hall
Synopsis:	Hinoiri invites Sayaka over for a bit of magic examination... and gifts her a cake! Little does she know that Sayaka has a similiar idea...
Cast of Characters:	Hinoiri Kirara, Sayaka Miki

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Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri texted Sayaka: Hey, Sayaka? Could you swing by the music room when you get a chance? I'd like to have a quick scan of your music now that you've got magic again.

Sayaka texted Hinoiri:Sure, that's fine. See you there. I will bring something I have been testing since then.

Of course, Hinoiri had her equipment out and, even better, she had a little case now she could put it all in to haul it out so it was easier to move around! But that wasn't what mattered.

What did matter is that once Sayaka arrived... "Oh, by the way..."

AND THEN CONFETTI! A little confetti party canon would shoot, raining confetti down on the bluenette! "Congratulations on once again becoming a sparkle skirt!" Hinoiri said, doing a little, small cheer, clapping her hands and... Then motioning towards a little platter, which she lifted up to show... A little... cake. With mermaid fin and starfish on it? "It seemed fitting, since. You know. Starfish, you like the mermaids, I thought it'd be a sweet little congratulations for my favorite sparkle. Also, I want to know. How? Was it Ula? Did she give you powers?"

Sayaka Miki has posed:
After the discussion over the qualities of the Patissiere PreCard had calmed her reservations, Sayaka had started testing the cards out, and she was almost surprised herself just how easy it was to prepare sweets now. Had she had it back when she had tried preparing the chocolate cake, she wouldn't have turned the kitchen in a minefield on the way to a successful result.

"Results guaranteed this time", Sayaka grins to Ula on the way there, carrying the cake sealed in a box. She had to make it a surprise even if she couldn't wholly claim it as her production.

"Not like she hated the other one", promptly brings Ula, as always using Sayaka's shoulder as a set. "You would have done well regardless. Your kitchen thanks you though."

An embarassed grin appears on Sayaka's face. "Hey! ...I mean, yeah, fair", she concedes quickly, giving the koi mermaid a smile. "We are about here. Ready to greet Hinoiri?" the bluenette brings the fairy's attention towards their destination.

Of course, the first step beyond that door brings tons of confetti on the unsuspecting duo. "Hinoiri, really!?" Sayaka gives her an embarassed and appreciative smile.

"You really didn't have to. It looks great, thanks you so much. We are on a similar wavelength, though", she raises the confetti-covered box with a bit of jokey air.

"This is for you", she gives the box over. "It wasn't me", Ula chimes in, bringing them back on track. "I don't have a lot of magic. Didn't have", she corrects itself, thinking back to the PreCards.

"Yeah, there is this God named Blue and he gave me the Love Crystal that had awoken then. I guess mermaids follow me everywhere, though I think part of it was Oktavia's goodbye gift", she says. Even if there is no actual basis to her thought, train wheels nonwithstanding.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara blinked a few times and felt her cheeks go a little redder when she saw Sayaka had the same idea. More importantly, Sayaka had made the cake herself, it seemed. Hinoiri... well... Hinoiri was many things. She was NOT a baker. What she was, however, was someone who worked with a mermaid and who seemed to have a fairly hands off approach to her work... so she did, in fact, expense the cake under 'Misc.'. It'd be fine, probably.

"It looks amazing. Here, I actually got plates and everything. You didn't need to bring me a cake, though, we're supposed to be celebrating you. That and..."

Her voice trailed off. And she frowned. "Did... you say a god? Named Blue?"

And then she turned and walked back to her notepad, flipping through it, she started writing. "He? You said he? Not Aqua Regina? But another god, named Blue? And he had some kind of love crystal? Did it make you fall in love? Or if you love it, it gave you powers? Do you think I could meet this 'Blue' sometime?" And she was taking notes, once again going into researcher mode.

"This is the fourth 'god' I think I'll have met, then. Well, at least someone who proclaimed themselves a god in some way. Well, Sora didn't, but almost everyone else did."

Maybe they could try spritzing her with a water bottle. She was lost.

Sayaka Miki has posed:
"I did want to bring you something. It has been a while since I got you a cake. And well, I was also testing my new powers", Sayaka confesses with a faint blush. "It comes with side transformations that are more giving utilities. And I have to earn them."

"Yeah, for some reason Sayaka defeating Terribads causes a build up of magic in me that makes me sneeze, and then those cards pop out of my satchel", Ula complains, crossing her arms. "And he certainly wasn't Aqua Regina!", the fairy mermaid adds. She doesn't show up as freely as he does."

Sayaka nods, vaguely remembering who Aqua Regina was from the explanation Ula had given her of mermaids. "Blue is against love, actually. He doesn't seem very fond of her Pretty Cures being distracted by heartbreaks. And I understand him there", Sayaka sighs with her recent experience, before going to cut her own cake.

"You really got us everything", Sayaka gives Hinoiri a smile at her preparation and then offering her a slice of her strawberry bavarois cake. "There is a fourth god, right?" Sayaka asks, keeping track of the conversation. Blue, Aqua Regina, Sora... Someone was missing. "Who are they?"

You could count Madoka in according to Kamiko, but she really doubts the pinkette would actually accept being called that.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara gave a small smile, taking the cake. She then snorted. "Oh, so you just sneeze out magic? That sounds... actually, kind of distressing. Useful, but distressing. And... really? Against love? Well, he sounds like an idiot, then. Err, don't tell him I said that," Hinoiri said quickly.

"... Heartbreaks suck. They hurt, and they can make you feel like your world is coming to an end. But they're a part of who you are, in the end. And while they hurt then, the growth you get from them help shape who you are. And can open the way for new joys. So... yeah. They suck. But... to cut yourself off from love, just because you might get your heart broken, will just... cut you to pieces in the end. It's always worth the risk."

"... At least, that's just my thoughts on it, so ummm... y-yeah. Sorry. So, hey, you made this, why don't we eat this one and you can take the mermaid one with you? My gift as celebration. Besides, I still need some tests, anyway, and this is the ideal treat before we get to work."

She took a seat, before chuckling. "Gretchen, likely. At least, I think she saw herself as a god. It's a... vague term, in some cases. A god does not equal a god who's not a god who's not a god, you know? So like... yeah."

"... Do you think you could setup a meeting with me and this Blue, though? Errrr... without... telling him about... you know. Me being Sunbreaker..."

"... Though he likely already knows...."

Sayaka Miki has posed:
"Yeah, it is, but I will get used to it", Ula confirms her acceptance. "Sayaka is only at two of the many PreCards she is going to get."

Gently patting her fairy friend, Sayaka resumes her explanation. "I distanced myself from being a Puella as soon as the chance came because I was having problems with my Soul Gem again", the bluenette passes her hand over where the ring used to be.

"Nothing that would make me Witch out on the spot, but enough that I would have to be careful about the use of my magic and Grief Seeds", Sayaka confesses, taking a slice for herself. "That is no way I can help protect people."

"I regret just about everything that has happened then, but walking forward is the best solution, and I fully intend to do that", she states resolutely.

Hinoiri gets a stare when she calls Blue an idiot. "He may be able to listen in through mirrors, that's how he moves around. I won't tell him though, but can I trust you to be on your best behaviour around him?", she just looks at Hinoiri, waiting for her answer.

"Yes, Gretchen was doing it before, but I don't think that's the case now. Considering she is now fully Madoka's Chara and those fairies have the whole shtick about being someone's dream or potential for the future, I don't doubt she is trying to guide Madoka in that direction", Sayaka shakes her head slightly.

"Getting a meeting with him isn't hard. I just need a mirror to call him here. He travels through them", she shares, reserving a few seconds to try and decipher Hinoiri's statement before giving up. "Are you giving riddles now? Is this a sign you are going to be a sphinx", she teases with a small grin.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara gives a small, sheepish nod. "I can behave. I'm getting much better at it." That was debatable, but improvement was still improvement!

"But... yeah. The puella magi's... connection... to ummmm... their emotions can certainly cause problems. So I can see how that cause make it difficult to do what you need to do. Also, the fact you're not bound to that little furry rat helps."

"You're not wrong, though. Gretchen saw herself as one. I'm not... sure if this new one does? I think that remains to be seen. Dark energy has a heck of a kick and I can't really say how much of that was the chara, and how much of it was poor choices."

"And maybe. I'd make a good sphinx, I think. I never met one, but always wanted to. They have the most fascin-- wait, do sphinxes EXIST on this world? Oh, I could write a whole thesis on that! We had this old myth about one and this pony who was all about 'hope' and whatnot. Kind of a silly story, but I always wondered if maybe they were real and... that's... just a myth here, isn't it?" she asked, the excitement cooling off. "One of these days I'll stop getting excited by those kinds of things."

Sayaka Miki has posed:
"You will find him pleasant to be around, I don't think you will have to worry about your past." Should they be careful about mentioning they were in a relationship? She doesn't really want him to get the wrong idea, but he seems quite calm and relaxed, not someone who would react with suspicion at something like this.

"I haven't met up with him ever since I got my Labyrinth, but it feels much better not to have any tie with him anymore. I can't tell what Blue thinks of him, but at least he seems to give people warnings", Sayaka smiles. She was indeed relieved about that.

"Gretchen is still the Chara of godhood, however Madoka got mixed up with that. She didn't really have that desire until recently, and even now it's more out of selflessness. So, there is probably something like that still."

She snorts lightly when Hinoiri has that intense reactions about sphinxes. "I don't think there is anything wrong with that, and you may be giving up too soon. It's a bit funny to hear the resident unicorn lament that they don't exist. Besides you, there are also mermaids, fairies and descendants of youkai, so maybe sphinxes are real too."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara gave a small nod. "I hope so. I'll give my best impression, unicorn's honor," she said, holding up a hand as if that meant anything. "And... that's good. Kyubey was a rat. I don't know if he lied about anything, but he just screams evil wish granter and I never could trust him even before. After what he did to you..." She trailed off and shuddered.

"... I'm so happy you're better now, Sayaka. I know we never worked out but... you're still my best friend in this world. And... you don't deserve to hurt. So... I'm happy you found a way forward that exemplifies who you are and who you deserve to be."

Her cheeks did got a little redder at the mention of being the unicorn. "Yeah. But I come from another world. Though, I did work with a werewolf, a witch and a red oni. A sphinx likely wouldn't be that hard to imagine. There were plenty of places in Obsidian Tower I never tried to breech, maybe I should have looked for a place with riddles..."

Hinoiri chuckled and shook her head at the idea, before motioning towards the microphone. "Right, right, talk of godhoods and spinxes aside, would you be able to henshin and sing for me? I wanna see if there's any changes to your signature. I doubt it'll be much? But who knows."

Sayaka Miki has posed:
Sayaka smiles with an embarassed blush at hearing such a strong declaration of friendship. "Thank you, you mean a lot to me too. I hope you aren't blaming yourself for what happened then. You did all the good you could. It was much happier than it would have been without you."

Sayaka raises an eyebrow when she hears that Obsidian has a werewolf and a oni. Not really the witch though, that seems fairly normal. "It feels weird using the term witch in its traditional sense now. Kyubey's kind, well, the kind of the Puellae, has really taken over that term. And I am surprised I never saw them causing problems if they work at Obsidian."

She starts taking out the Pretty Change Mirror while she talks. "And I think we will notice it if a sphinx shows up at Obsidian, for the same reason. I can already see the youmas being a pain that require a riddle to be defeated."

The mirror starts radiating yellow, green and blue light as Sayaka inserts her cards, and Sayaka transforms again. "The melody of justice that rises from the sea depths. Cure Sharpsong!" the usual introduction slips out of her mouth.

"Sure, but you were saying you were doing this for a mermaid, right? Will you get a better comparison if I turn into one? Mermaids get a good singing voice naturally, no?" And hers was painfully average in that regard, though she doesn't say it out loud. In the meantime, she starts singing into the mic while Hinoiri takes care of her side.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara shook her head. "Different kind of witch. Like, think broomsticks and black cats kind of witch, not the... puella. But... yeah. Even Obsidian didn't try to tamper with the puella witches. Those things were nasty."

Hinoiri shook her head at the next question, however. About the mermaids. "I'm not actually sure. I think Yellow Pearl Voice has a good singing voice, but I'm not sure if it will impact things... but now I'm curious. Once you're done singing as a cure, if you can turn into a mermaid, I'd appreciate if you could do it as one of them as well. It'll likely help my research in those matters, too. Thanks, Starfish."

She, of course, took notes of the readings as she worked, occasionally glancing up, then back down at her work...

Sayaka Miki has posed:
"We do come in being good at singing naturally", Ula chimes in at Hinoiri's confusion. "Some of us are better than the others, but everyone has a basic level of skill. Sayaka should get much better as one of us. No offense", she turns towards the bluenette.

"None taken, I know that my songs aren't all that. I am a pianist, not a singer", is all she comments before taking the mic with herself, then moving to take a chair and sit on it. Then she takes the Mermaid PreCard and inserts it into the Pretty Change Mirror. "M-M-Mermaid! Time to change!" the magic item says, making Sayaka turn into a blue-tailed mermaid.

"Let's see now", Sayaka looks at the mic then begins singing. Her voice is in fact better.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara gave a small shrug. "I never minded your voice. But I guess your piano skills were far superior," Hinoiri admitted. That and well, sometimes Sayaka had sung for her and if there was one thing Hinoiri liked, it was people doing things for her. She was a praise hungry girl.

"Huh," Hinoiri mumbled as she took her measurements. The interesting part, at least to her, was that the baseline of magic didn't move much when she'd sung as a precure, but it had as a mermaid. But her mermaid baseline was lower than her precure. She quickly made some more notes. "Fascinating... Thanks, Sayaka, this will actually be pretty useful I think. Also, ummm..."

"... So, like, is that real? I mean, are your legs gone, or is it like... a magic leg covering? Does it actually FEEL like a fin, or... legs with a fin thing over them?

Sayaka Miki has posed:
"Thanks", Sayaka smiles at Hinoiri. "I can play something for you whenever you want, you know. I still have the music sheet you brought me from KiraKiraFantasica." She knows that Hinoiri really likes those, even if she has never learnt if she liked the music itself, or it made her feel less homesick. Too delicate a subject to just ask out of nowhere.

Sayaka stares down at the tail that has replaced her legs. "It does feel like a single mass where my legs should be. It's a weird sensation admittedly. I am also feeling the floor temperature and everything as I would with my feet."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara gave a nod, writing a few more notes down. "Fascinating. So you are actually a mermaid. The metamorphosis capabilities are impressive..."

After that, she closed up the notebook and grinned at her. "And... thanks. That means a lot to me. I might take you up on that offer sometime soon, just...right now, well..."

... Right now hearing from home would hurt. A lot more than she ever wanted to admit.

"So, now that that's done with, all the work is finished! So, we get to just enjoy cake. Anything else you been up to, any wild plans, exciting news or grand adventures you feel like sharing?" She took another bite of her slice, to demonstrate! Eating cake was fun.

Sayaka Miki has posed:
Once Hinoiri is done taking her analysis, Sayaka lets the metamorphosis fade, going back to Cure Sharpsong and then she lets that fade too. "I guess they are. That's magic for you. At least I know what to do if next time I go swimming."

"Oh, of course! Any time, I am not going anywhere" Sayaka says, picking up on what Hinoiri wants to tell her. "So, what do your test say? Anything interesting besides my mermaiding? Mermaidness?" she moves on to a different subject.

"Anything I have been up to? Not really, I guess. You know about Gretchen and me being a Precure now. I have a wish sometime in the future to make, but I am not in any hurry about that", Sayaka takes the time to ponder with that quick summary.

"I am just back to fighting youmas and Witches. I will be giving Grief Seeds to Puella Red now I don't need them", she nods, putting the mirror and PreCards away.

"We still have that ever-mysterious Walpurgisnacht to deal with, but she could come tomorrow or in 30 years. I will also pay a lot of attention to the Phantom Empire as one of Blue's Pretty Cures", she smiles, eating another bite herself.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara nodded, giving a light hmm as she worked. "Well, there's a little magic in the transformation, not as much as your normal henshin, though. The singing as that has a bigger impact on your magic than singing while a precure. Definitely a different style of magic than when you were a puella, though I can't really say what impact that'll have."

"... As for giving seeds to Red? That seems smart. Though, be careful of the Phantom Empire. They're not as dumb as they seem. Phantom isn't one to be taken lightly, either. And... what... exactly is walpurge-this-night?" Hinoiri asked, accidentally getting the name wrong when she glanced up. "That another apocalypse thing? I don't think it's one I'm familiar with. Though you make it sound pretty... common knowledge?"

Sayaka Miki has posed:
"I guess Ula was right on the mermaid songs, even if I become one with the PreCards", Sayaka muses, actually a bit surprised by the impact. "If I find out something, I will tell you, especially as I fill more of the Decor."

Sayaka tilts her head when Hinoiri mentions Phantom. Right she remembers him, he was that guy in Paris. "I think I know him, he appeared in the catacombs at the same time as me after Daifuku and Bow... well, they got let go. I wonder why the Empire is named after him, though. Wouldn't Mirage Empire make more sense?"

Sayaka frowns lightly as she things of Walpurgisnacht. "I only know what Madoka has told me, and she heard it from Kamiko. It's this huge conglomerate Witch that's more of a walking natural disaster than anything. She doesn't even need a Labyrinth. It will probably be our hardest fight of the ones Kyubey is responsible for."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara gave a small nod. "Decor... I'm guessing that's the magical do-hickey you fill up as you gather power? You magical girls with your magical random items." Hinoiri did, at least, say that with affection.

However, she quickly shook her head. "Actually, I think he's named after the empire, not the other way around. From what I remember he's kind of obsessed with Mirage, I think he has a crush on her or something. He probably took the name on in her honor, his real name is probably Tim or something." ... He struck her as a Tim.

".... Wait. So it's a MEGA witch? A big boss witch? Okay, I need to get this down. Can you give me the name again? Wal... purg..." she mumbled, writing it down. "I might need to see if I can get any info on this from my contacts in Obsidian. Is there any issue with that? Or is this a 'sparkle's only' kind of information?"

Sayaka Miki has posed:
"Hehe", Sayaka laughs lightly at the good-natured reaction of Hinoiri's joke. "That's the one. I only have two PreCards in there. The Patissiere one I used for help with the cake and the Mermaid one."

The laugh is a bit more pronounced as Hinoiri assigns Phantom a completely normal name. "I guess we may as well call him that then until we know the guy under the henshin. And what you say Empire makes sense, never thought of it from that angle."

She takes the time to think if she can check on it with her Obsidian contacts. She remembers they were studying Witches, but they couldn't be so reckless that they would study this Witch. "As long as you are sure they won't try studying her, I think it's fine. Still, be careful with who you mention it to", she notes sternly.