2106/Donuts and Eggs

Donuts and Eggs
Date of Scene:	25 November 2024
Location:	Kaoru's Donuts
Synopsis:	When Hinoiri runs into Utau, she doesn't realize that her old co-worker might have a grudge with her, over her prior antics with Norie. Just a minor thing of taking the one good thing in her life, so nothing major. Utau's response is to steal Hinoiri's dreams and leave her depressed... Fortunately, Pretty Cure Sharpsong and Tuxedo Mask arrive to get her to medical care. However, there is still the business of rescuing her heart egg.
Cast of Characters:	Hinoiri Kirara, Utau Hoshina, Sayaka Miki, Mamoru Chiba

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Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara was leaning against the railing by the pier, a fresh chocolate donut in hand which she had been nursing. She was wearing pants, the leather jacket, a beanie. It was cold today and she felt... annoyed.

Her roommate had accidentally sprung some stuff on her and... well... she had managed to, once again, buck everything up.

Buck, why did she think attacking RASHMI'S DEVICE was a good idea? Why did she think she could do this Equivalence thing? Sure, she managed to like... turn down the towers.

But maybe that was what she was good at. Maybe that was ALL she was good at. Bucking everything up and then making it worse, somehow. On top of that? Now Riventon wasn't talking to her. He still had her blocked and... she didn't entirely blame him. And she wondered if she should even text to check on Catra. Could she help, or would she just make it worse?

She took another bite of the donut, a little bit of cream filling ending up on her nose.

... Nah. She'd be fine. Sure, she made some messups, but she'd just apologize for them later and then do what she always did. She was Hinoiri Kirara, she could handle this. Easy. Peasy. Lemon Squeezie.

Utau Hoshina has posed:
Utau Hoshina is wearing a large hat. Sunglasses. A black sundress while she can still get away with it while the weather cools. Soon she'll need to wear pants. Why is she here....?

Il wanted a donut, She wanted a donut, El...wanted something healthier. Too bad. They're getting donuts.

So the devil over her shoulder takes a big bite of a cronut. Utau takes a smaller bite from a Barvarian cream donut that's chocolate frosted. The angel on her shoulder is looking at them unapprovingly!

That's when Utau notices a familiar face. Hinoiri-chan.... well. Hinoiri-san. She's gonna play it cool for now.

"Hello, Hinoiri-chan...!" she says from under her large brimmed hat. "It's been a moment!" says the twin-tailed blonde.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara cringed when she was called out. Why? Not because it was Utau, but because she was used to most people being mad at her. Wait. Chan? She glanced up and, slowly, a smile formed on her lips. "Ahhhh. Ut--" Then stopped, glancing around. Well. Utau was famous, she didn't want to get the girl stampeded. Once she was sure that was unlikely...

"Hey, Utau-chan, how you been? Still topping the charts?" she asked with a small grin. "Hey Il, El," she said, giving the two little gremlins a nod. She could still see them, at least. Even if she had been de-powered, as it were.

"Scouting out a new place for your next concert? Or just trying to get away from the agent and a little alone time, as it were?" Hinoiri asked. Well. Alone-ish. She knew with things like Charas, one couldn't really... get 'alone time'.

Utau Hoshina has posed:
Oh El is constantly up her butt about everything, as a shoulder angel should be, alonetime really is a small miracle for her...!

She says. "Just getting some donuts, away from the agents.... hiding from swarms of fans. The usual." she says. "The charts are fine. As usual." she says. They always re fine; Her agents make sure of that. Sigh.

"I understand you we're let go. That's a shame." she says with a tongue click.

"Yeah a real tragedy." giggles Il. "Sad, really." says El. "Did you know they had a kill on sight order for you for a bit!?" says El.

"Really!?" says Il. "Let's murk her!" yells Il. "Murk murk murk murk!" demands Il.

"Be Quiet." says Utua. The two shut up. "We're not 'murking' my friend."

"You're no fun..." mutters Il.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara gave a small shrug. "Yeah. It turns out I can't handle my dark energy. Who would have thought, right? But at least Obsidian has stopped trying to kill me. Thanks for not being one of the ones who tried... and yes, I was aware," Hinoiri muttered, before taking another bite.

"Turns out all the sparkles have a weird little 'You fixed it, we keep it' policy or something. They helped keep me alive when I lost dark energy, and now they seem keen to make sure I don't die."

She glanced towards Il and cocked an eye. She was wondering how long she could keep the little demon in a coffee mug. Bucking little brat... Maybe stuff her in the one Easter gave her.

She smiled none the less. "Thanks, Utau-chan. It's nice to know another person in the organization doesn't see me as kill on sight. I uhhhh... I do hope the stuff I'd worked on over there hasn't been giving you any trouble, considering... well..." She took another bite of her donut.

If they broke any of the stuff she'd made them, she certainly wasn't going to fix it.

Utau Hoshina has posed:
Utau Hoshina looks at Il and gives her a little narrowed eye look. Il backs down, a little from her excitement and muttering. El keeps where she is, The tiny angel fluttering her wings silently over Utau's shoulder.

"Oh, everything is working fine. I'm still doing my own work, you understand. Work." she reiterates. she means stealing X-eggs from people. With her voice.

"Oh. I care about my friends, Hinoiri-chan." she says. "I don't have many. I made a new one recently. A new idol mate. We're going to sing together soon." she says.

"Her name is Norie Okana." she says,,, she trails off....

Il's smile gets considerably larger.

"But you know all about Norie Okana. Don't you, Hinoiri-chan." she says, eyes vanishing beneath the brim of her hat as she tilts her head down a little, hiding them.

"Do we really need to do this..?" asks El silently.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara gave a small nod. "Mmm hm. Nobody is really better at that than you. Still... not entirely sure how I feel about the x-eggs thing. But... well, I guess there are certainly worse things. Like putting out the sun," Hinoiri mumbled.

She smiled when Utau mentioned having not many friends. It was nice that she was considered one, then... though, she cringed when she heard who Utau's newest friend was. Norie. "Ahhhh buck," Hinoiri said, cringing. "Yeah... maybe... don't mention that we're friends to her. She uhhh... she's... not my biggest fan. We've had more than a few run ins, even before I got kicked and..."

Oh, and then Utau asked if she knew all about her. "Yeah... yeah, I know about her," Hinoiri said, cringing and taking another small bite of her donut. "Girl got a raw deal and kind of.... bucked over... and so she decided to take everything personally. I... did some bucked up stuff with her when I was Sunbreaker, to pay her back... I really didn't handle my dark energy well..." Hinoiri mumbled, glancing away from Utau. She at least looked ashamed. But she wasn't looking to say exactly what she did to Utau. Cause, well... it was kind of a bit much to admit to doing at all!

Utau Hoshina has posed:
Utau Hoshina says. "Don't worry. I'm not proud of my work." she says, perhaps a little sadly. El nods her head in agreement. El, the angel, doesn't agree with what Utau does. Utau also doesn't agree deep down. She just wants to sing...

But the work needs to be done by someone.

El gets in Hinoiri's face. "Oh you're gonna get it!..." she yells, before sliding backwards. Utau Hoshina looks at Hinori sadly. "She has a right to feel offended. After what I heard you did. I don't know the specifics. Except you fixed her..."

"Then you took it away." she says. "She does not even smile when she dances and sings you know. It's going to be hard, being an idol. But she still has a "dream.".

"Which is more than I'm about to say for you." she says.

"Yeah, you're gonna get it, now!" says Il again as two Chara Change, bat-like wings appearing from the small of her back as she starts to sing low.

She holds out her hand. Dark energy starts to swell up...!

El gets in between Hinoiri and Utau. "Don't Utau-chan...!" El pleads. Utau shoves El out of the way to the right with her hand, sending the angel flying into the side of the donut truck temporarily.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara blinked a few times. "I... what? No. I didn't... fix her. That wasn't what happened, I-- El, will you not make it worse? I didn't--"

And oh. Ohhhhh no. Utau was henshined. And mad. She took a small step back, slowly lowering her donut and backing away from the other girl.

"Utau-chan, ummmm. I know you're mad. You have every right to be mad. What I did to Norie was bucked up, I know. I didn't realize the effect it would have and, I swear, if I could do a more... permanent solution of it, I would."

But the portal was closed, and well... there were no donuts to acquire.

"But killing me won't make you feel any better, it'll just--"

Annnnnd El was there. You know what? Hinoiri was going to take this opportunity to run so she didn't die. Buck buck buck!

She fled down the street, trying to dip into one of the alleys and pulling her phone out. Buck buck buck SHE REALLY NEEDED TO JUST SET UP A MASS 'HELP!' ALERT! Oh, wait, she did.

And started working on sending it out... 'Beach. Help.'

Utau Hoshina has posed:
Utau Hoshina chases after Hinori, down the street. Down the alley. Hinori might realize this alley is a DEAD END. Utau Hoshina is followed by Il and El. El, having gotten her wits back. El is trying to flail at Utau. Utau is ignoring her good side right now. Il is rubbing her hands together like a sterotypical anime villain. "All according to keikau*..." she says.

* Player's note: Keikau means plan!

She holds out her hand, and starts to sing a low tone. It wells out into a long note, dark energy wells up stronger as Utau Hoshina holds her hand out.

Hinoiri can feel it in her chest. A strangely physically painless feeling that hurts in a different way. Emotionally.

She'd feel a pull...! as Utau starts to pull at her heart egg. Moving to try to yank it out of her chest. Dark energy turning it, twisting it into an X-egg at the same time!

Everything is useless...

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara clicked enter as she ran down the alley and--

Almost hit the wall. She came to a stop, turning back to Utau and... "H-hey. Utau-chan, I'm... I'm sure you don't want to do this. It's not, I mean, w-we're friends, right? Listen, I know what I did to Norie was terrible. If I could undo it, I would, I swear. But I was hopped up on dark energy and she'd just kidnapped and imprisoned me, so I was mad and I just, I thought, hey, I'll just destroy the only thing that makes her happy and and I know it was wrong, I--"

Okay, so she wasn't making it better. And she gasped as her heart egg... was grabbed and wreathed in dark energy... and plucked from her. The egg rose up from her, a big X... inside the egg? A little shadowy unicorn with an X on its forehead. Be a hero? Save people? Help people?

It was useless. So useless. Now look at her. Weak, helpless. Collapsed on the ground...

Hinoiri dropped to her knees, the remains of her donut falling to the ground as the x-egg flew to Utau. Hinoiri knelt there, eyes hollow. "Useless... it's all... useless..." she mumbled softly, a tear going down her cheek. "I'm... useless... why... even try..."

Utau Hoshina has posed:
Utau Hoshina says. "Don't worry. I'm 'hopped up' on dark energy, too..." she says, as if this also excuses her current actions, ignoring everything else Hinoiri has to say on the matter right now.

She clutches the X-egg in her hand. She wants to break it so bad. In front of Hinoiri, denying her dream forever. But she does'nt. "The fact you're my friend is the only thing stopping me from breaking this egg." she says, filled with a certain sense of drama to her tone. "I'm sure we'll meet again soon." she says. "Maybe I'll even give it back when you come to your senses." she says.

With that her wings flap and she flies to the tippy top of the building that makes up the alley, and hops away with the X-egg.

A dream denied? Perhaps. But not broken. yet.

Il cackles in the distance. El starts crying.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara was... kneeling in an alleyway. Her... dream. Her dream had been stolen. Now? She just knelt there on her knees, a cloud of darkness surrounding her. Not literally, but she had the presence of it.

All of her dreams, broken. Shattered. Beaten.

A waste. "Impossible..." she mumbled softly under her breath, enveloped in despair.

Her phone at her side, the text sent.

Utau hadn't broken the egg... that was nice. Would... she get it back? Did it matter? Even if she did... her dreams were useless. Like her. Useless... useless...

Useless...

Sayaka Miki has posed:
Sayaka is in the middle of doing homework, silence reigning in her dorm room besides the occasional groan of frustration when she stumbles on a particularly tough exercise. The sole other occupant, Ula, was quietly taking a rest in her pool, occasionally glancing at the bluenette at her murmurs of protests.

It's in these few minutes her phone rings, then quiets down shortly after, indicating to Sayaka the presence of a message. "Shouldn't you have turned it down?", the fairy mermaid asks the bluenette when the latter reaches for her phone.

"It's ok, I was about to go on a break", Sayaka says, opening it, eyes opening wide when she sees the scarce content. Definitely time for a break. "Time to change!" the mirror exclaims as she places the Sharpsong PreCards in it, transforming her soon after.

"Hinoiri's in trouble", the Precure says with a sense of urgency, opening the window and dropping out of it, followed soon after by Ula, floating down. "Where is she?", she asks struggling to catch up. "Somewhere by the beach?", the magical girl hurries. "Which part?" comes Ula's next question.

Sayaka is about to reply she doesn't know and she will sieve through it, when she bites her lips, recollecting her new acquisition. With a troubled face, she takes the PreCard Decor and removes the dog one from it, the chipper exclamation from the Pretty Change Mirror announcing her next transformation.

"I will find out", the bluenette, now covered in a dog costume, tells Ula, reluctantly starting to sniff around as she runs towards the beach as fast as she can, looking for Hinoiri's trail, reaching Yumegahama's beach and sighing with relief as she finds a trace, running after it.

When she finds Hinoiri, kneeling in that alleyway surrounded by that feeling of darkness, she looks around, not picking up on the perpetrator still being around, the only other relevant scent having left the place. "Hey, Hinoiri, it's me, Sharpsong", Sayaka moves towards her friend, hoping that the redhead is aware enough to reply.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
A moment later, the tap-tap of dress shoes in the alley is audible, and then Tuxedo Mask is there in a billow of cape. Instead of being wisely cautious like Sayaka, he's instantly crouching down next to Hinoiri and pulling a glove off to touch the back of her hand.

(He does not comment on Sayaka's dog costume, or the sniffing along the beach he spotted on his way to Hinoiri. Now doesn't seem the time.)

"Hey," he says softly with fingertips lightly touching Hinoiri's hand, "what Sharpsong said -- you're not alone. What happened?"

The touch is many things -- a glance at the girl's emotional state, a hope to find what the most emotion-filled event to happen recently, the feelings and support that come with his healing, any actual physical healing Hinoiri might need, an attempt to buff her mood...

...and trying to give her that happy feeling like every other time he's healed her is like trying to fill a sinkhole via firefighting helicopter. There's too much despair to even begin to...

Mamoru's eyes widen behind the mask. "It's-- despair. She's full of only despair. It's like she got hit with one of the heart-stealer rifles-- I mean the second kind, that takes most of your magic and like, part of your soul...? But worse. But not as bad as the kind that kills you," he says, looking up to Sayaka.

And then he shakes his head, crouching further and letting go Hinoiri's hand to try and scoop her up into a princess carry. "That probably doesn't matter yet. Should we take her to Nurse Meiou?"

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara glanced up at Sharpsong, blinking a few times. "You... what... are you wearing? It..." She uhhh... she stopped there. Blinking a few times, lowering her eyes. "It's... impossible..."

"Being a hero... saving people... it's... impossible... I'm not good... I'm not... a friend... I'm not kind... or generous... or any of those other things. I don't know how to be noble and good like... all of you..."

"... I should just give it up... and drift... into obscurity..." she mumbled. "They took... my... heart egg..." she mumbled softly. "X... egg..."

And then... she closed her eyes and just let herself be carried. "Thank you... Sharpsong... Tuxedo Mask... but you're wasting your time... should rescue someone who's not... useless..." she mumbled, giving in to her despair and drifting out.

Sayaka Miki has posed:
Sayaka's face becomes tinted by red when Hinoiri questions her on her getup, shaking her head and replying "Don't worry about it, I can explain later, the important part is getting you help". She is about to pick her up and bring her to the Radiant Heart infirmary when Tuxedo Kamen appears all of a sudden next to her, causing the bluenette to move back slightly.

"Hey", Sayaka greets him with a hint of nervousism at her current getup, only for her attention to focus back on Hinoiri when she utters those broken sentences. "I don't think you can't do it, you just have to keep making progress, Hinoiri.", Sayaka tries to counter and reassure her friend. "But we need to get you help now, we can worry about that later", she tells her.

"What is happening, Sharpsong? Is she ok?", Ula comes in fatigued. She gives a wave to Tuxedo, but her gaze doesn't budge from Sayaka. "Not really, no", Sharpsong tells her, and focusing on Tuxedo's analysis of the problem.

"I was about to fly her to the infirmary. Do you think Nurse Meiou can help her while we try to recover the Heart Crystal?", the Pretty Cure asks. She remembers having being hit by the type of guns Tuxedo is describing, and how serious was the need for a quick retrieval.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Heart egg? Mamoru looks confused, but, again, it's not something he needs to worry about right this minute, so he doesn't. Instead, he nods to Sayaka and carefully hands Hinoiri over. "You'll get there faster flying."

He still doesn't mention the dog costume, because it's kind of on the level of 'this might as well happen today'.

"I'll ask around about heart eggs and see if anyone knows who steals those, because... I sure don't. And then we can go after whoever it was. I'll put whatever I find in the Shed and let people know to talk to you!" the overdressed teenager says firmly, and he sees Sayaka off into the air before vanishing, himself.