8/Rough Afternoon

Rough Afternoon
Date of Scene:	01 July 2023
Location:	Obsidian Tower - Dark Laboratory
Synopsis:	Takashi and Zoisite lecture Hematite for putting himself in a position to get injured after the events of 'Green With Envy'.
Cast of Characters:	Mamoru Chiba, Takashi Agera, Zoisite

---

Takashi Agera has posed:
Takashi Agera heard that the little beachside project from the Witches 5 went... poorly. Poorly, and quickly so. And that Mamoru was there. And now in the infirmary, which seemed weird. He guessed he tried to do something reckless and stupid. Knowing Mamoru long enough that seemed like a good guess, anyways. Well, Darien now. He went by Darien now. So naturally, Takashi Agera was coming by to do a combination of helping and teasing.

He got there just as Hematite shooed out some overworried looking doctors. He didn't look injured or in pain but his clothes - well, his clothes were a slightly different matter.

Takashi had a coffee cup in one hand and cream in the other - 'Darien' could get his own proportions right - and sat them down on a table. Smiling at him. Takashi simply said,

    "Wow, Mamoru. You look like shit."

Then he paused. "Sorry, Darien. Point still stands. Did you get in a fight with blast-furnace or something? Or is this just a 'yeah but you should see the other guy' kind of situation?"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
And ~Darien~ is sitting there with his jacket off in a heap on the chair next to him, smelling faintly of smouldering; he's in the process of examining the ends of his hair and scowling when Takashi comes in. There are some fading marks where he's already applied dark energy to patch himself up, and then--

He glances up and makes a stinkface, then looks wry at the rest of it. No correction needed. "Thanks a lot. And nah, someone threw a blast furnace at Fate and it was coming at her too fast. She could have tanked it, but she might have been benched longer."

He will not admit what everyone knows. It's all about efficiency and preservation of resources. Completely.

Darien leans to pick up the cream and uncap it to pour some in the coffee. "And thanks for this, too. How far off mark have the rumors gotten? Oh shit, when Beryl finds out..."

Takashi Agera has posed:
"You mean like the rumors people who aren't as plugged in as me know? I don't know. You can probably judge how annoyed your boss is going to be by how long it takes your boys to get in here and interrogate you about why you went alone to a job you weren't even supposed to be at."

Takashi shrugged. "Cause the moment they know they'll be pushing me out of the way." he continued. "Everybody frets over you like you're so fragile sometimes." he mused. Takashi didn't pour himself any coffee. Yuck. He did, however, produce a can of soda from somewhere - likely one of his way too many lab coat pockets - and open it before sitting across from him. "You know you could have asked me first, and I'd have told you it would be a disaster. I know Tellu, she doesn't deserve anything like her position..."

Zoisite has posed:
    Suddenly, a terse, flighty male(ish) voice speaks in the infirmary at the same time as a swirl of flower petals manifests. "You fucking what."

    The petals eventually disperse and fade away as Zoisite floats in mid-air where the eye of the storm once lay. He is sitting, one leg folded over the other, hands folded and an arched eyebrow and disapproving expression directed Darien-wards. "Who cares if she's benched longer? You are, allegedly, more useful than some child. Let her be taken out. Delegate physical harm to the nimbies!"

    Zoisite pauses to tilt his head at Takashi before returning his scornful gaze to the leader of the Shitennou to continue judging him.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"I didn't mean to end up getting involved, I was only going to watch," Hematite protests at Takashi, and then makes a bigger face at Zoisite than he did at Takashi for calling him that other name again. "I wasn't taken out," he points out calmly, setting his coffee down and starting to pull his battered and singed jacket back on. "It didn't burn my hair. I'm not fragile. And I did come back with everything I wanted: details on the type of attacks to design youmas against, on who was most effective, on who was actually paying attention to what was going on..."

He waves a hand dismissively. "Fate packs a very powerful punch. I'd say a mild inconvenience was worth preserving that."

Here it comes. He grins, and it's that infectious damn thing that always gets everyone in trouble. "Besides, the whole thing was an awful lot of fun when it wasn't annoying. Have you ever been princess-carried by someone who's under five feet tall? Because let me tell you, it's hilarious."

Takashi Agera has posed:
When Zoisite appears, Takashi just gestures to him as if to say 'see, look' and waits. "Well, that didn't take very long at all. I had my device calculate it and there's a 97.5% chance that you're boned." he adds.

"Also, nice to see you too, Zoisite." he notes. "Well, in your very minimal defense, once you were already there you probably didn't want to be present if Precia's kid was hurt. You screwed up before that. Come on, there are better ways to get data than with your face. You're not a luddite." he continues.

"Also I don't know what it's like to be princess carried because I don't put myself into situations where it's likely to become a requirement... Wait, who even carried you? Did Majorina have to save you because if so I'm gonna need a few moments to catch my breath after a really long laugh. And then an apology, that woman's insufferable if she believes she helped you."

Takashi chucks the soda can into the trash and there's already another one in his hand pulled from who-knows-where.

Zoisite has posed:
    Zoisite scoffs at the defense offered and teleports to Darien's side where he begins fussing over him, brushing off his shoulder while muttering complaints and admonishment, and picking at imaginary twigs and dust around the injury site. "How did you even get injured at all? Why didn't you put up a force shield?" He squints at the burn marks. "And who was your enemy? You gathered all that data, so you have an identity to put to the mauling, yes?"

    Zoisite flips his hair with a move of his head and looks at Takashi. "Perhaps you and Nephrite are right about something for once. 'Second-chance' body armor under our uniforms may be of some use... At least for those of us who make a habit of standing in the way of blast furnaces." He presses a gloved finger harder against the charred shoulder through the jacket pointedly.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
At the estimate that he's completely boned, Hematite lifts a hand and pinches the bridge of his nose for a second. "I really am," he mutters, then sighs and picks up his coffee again. Trying to fasten the jacket is a lost cause, he'll just have to henshin up a new one later. "I did get a good look at the one who went for Fate -- one of a pair of sisters, I think. I'm going to have to go looking through the database. She had a Device with a fire aspect, and Fate got her good before she went all-out."

Darien drinks more of the coffee, getting told off a little more, and his nose scrunches. "The Majorina pushed me here through a portal before I had the chance to port myself. It was awkward but convenient, but probably not worth the insufferability," he tells Takashi as Zoisite prods at him, and then he yelps. "Ow! Don't-- *do* that! Ugh. It'll be fine in an hour, for pity's sake. You *know* force shields have never been my strength. The cape usually handles it fine, but I just wasn't fast enough for full coverage this time. I mean, what do you want me to say? I didn't think? Because you're right, I didn't."

Takashi Agera has posed:
Takashi looked at Zoisite and shrugged. "I mean, you and I might usually not need it, but we also know how to dodge. Whereas some of our mutual compatriots seem to believe that you should dodge INTO things not OUT OF THE WAY of them." he noted. "Nephrite at least knows what he's doing is hazardous. I mean if this was the first time, with Fate and all, it'd be something that I could overlook, but Mam- Darien, I've known you longer than you've apparently known yourself and you really like to put yourself in dangerous situations. Maybe we should take him skydiving or bungee jumping or something until he gets this thrill seeking impulse resolved?" Takashi asks, quasi-seriously.

"Also, don't think I didn't pick up in it. You said Majorina pushed you, but you didn't mention who carried you." Takashi said, a sort of accusation in his voice.

Zoisite has posed:
    Zoisite shakes his head in dismay but exits Mother Hen mode and withdraws his hand from peck peck pecking at the wound. Floating backwards, the prettiest of the Shitennou (in an unannounced contest in which only one person voted, hmm I wonder who) rests his cheek on the back of his wrist and rests his other arm on the air across his mid-section, laying lengthwise as though propped up in a chair. He seems to be musing on the story being given, and the information heard here and what he already knows.

    He either nods minutely in response to Takashi, or just stares half-lidded with the same kind of energy as a cat. Eventually, however, he speaks up. "You know, I thought you were an adrenaline junky. It explains your reckless behavior, and how you seem to keep getting into situations where having your life at risk makes you seem more... Vitalized. But now I have a new theory." Zoisite raises his left hand and points it at Darien. "Hematite, do you have a death wish? Are you living out some sort of misplaced survivor's guilt scenario and mistakenly believe you must make amends with your life?"

    The blonde allows his hand to flop limp-wristedly, "My other theory is that you're just an idiot, but I would rather give you the benefit of the doubt." His hand then goes to touching splayed fingertips to his chest as he closes his eyes and speaks in gracious-but-bored tones, "Yes, I know, I'm very generous like that. I've heard it all before. But I really need to know what our leader is leading the rest of us towards. Takashi has made salient points about the... Repetitiveness of this behavior."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Hematite's mouth opens to say he knows how to dodge, but he obviously didn't actually *display that*, so he also doesn't *claim it*. Instead, he just gets a mulish look on his face. "Do you really want my adrenaline junkiehood *resolved* though? I'm pretty sure I'd be more boring without it," he grumbles, looking into his coffee-- and then he blinks up at Takashi. "Oh? Sorry. Sailor Moon. She ganked that experimental ice cream youma I'd constructed yesterday, and she flattened one of Jadeite's youmas. But she was carrying civilian me. I swear I just showed up to watch, but Tellu was SUCH a shitshow that her plant thing grabbed literally anyone standing on the ground, and I was out of uniform. So I got evacuated."

He presses his lips together as he listens to Zoisite, then shifts his henshin back down to the suit he normally wears in the office building when not playing with volatiles. "I don't know," he finally says, "about wanting to die. Don't I usually go after what I want directly?" And he literally seems to be *considering it*, even as he pushes his glasses up his face. Actually giving thought to whether or not he wants to die. "At any rate, you know I can only ultimately *lead you* in directions approved by Beryl and HR." And that always, always felt off. "We all have our own assignments, it's just-- we do always do better when we work together, and sometimes I don't have anything to do and everyone else is busy, and if I stare at one more screen over the course of a day I will literally get square eyes."

Darien sighs and slumps into the chair even further down, cooling coffee held in both hands. "All whining aside, no. It's been a while since the last time I was that dumb, hasn't it?" Or just a while since the last time it backfired.

Takashi Agera has posed:
Takashi looked at Zoisite. "One day you'll pick up on it. All of my points are salient and I'm always right. It comes with the whole 'being a genius' thing." he notes, very casually. And despite the audacity of that comment there is no sign that he believes it's anything but true. "Anyways, I'm sure if you weren't a little bit of a risk taker you wouldn't be here with us, but you could stand to tone it back a little. I mean, while it's been 'a while' to some people, I still remember the business with the Dark Agency and I'm pretty sure Beryl does too. I heard Sailor V made a brief appearance out there today too, for example. So there are... concerns. Moving through the chain. Especially given we're supposed to start revving things up soon across the company, and now there was a big fight that did not go our way, and during which a whole bunch of sparkle-shinies we didn't know about showed that they're active in the area." Takashi continued. "Look, I'm just trying to tell you - both of you - and warn you that things are getting precarious. The people that make the big decisions are pissed, and that's not super great for any of us, but especially those of us who are recently part of high profile failures."

Takashi looked between the two of them. "I know Darien was lucky enough to get jumped up real fast for some reason... but things are about to become chaotic right now. For people like me with a lot to gain, it's an opportunity. But for people like you, Darien, who are already on the chain at a good level, that represents a risk." he said.

"There are big things coming, and you want to be on the right side of them, not the wrong one. We all have to - the severance package here is not... something you want to be getting, you know?" he said.

Zoisite has posed:
    Zoisite does not challenge Takashi's self-assigned role as a genius. Not worth it, and it's mostly true. Zoisite isn't the one Doing Science. He tilts his head at Darien's answer to the question posed him. 'I don't know.' Not confidence-inspiring, but at least he's considering it. That's... Progress. Of a sort. He starts to open his mouth to say something else on the subject, but thinks better of it, and just closes it again.

    The warnings are heeded, Zoisite actually deigning to land on the ground of the infirmary, his boots clicking on the sterile linoleum. "If Darien wasn't supposed to be there to begin with..." Zoisite says as though trying out the words while he thinks. "...Then, technically, he didn't fail. It wasn't his mission. Rather, it could be said that he capitalized upon the flub of Majorina to out dozens of the Enemy who were in hiding."

    Zoisite paces a little bit, slowly, unbothered, while thinking. "Just think what a disaster it would have been if all these unknown foes appeared during one of OUR operations. But as it was Majorina, they can be safely blamed for the fiasco, for not communicating their plans."

    He quickly half-turns on his heel and looks back at Takashi. "Something like that, perhaps?"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
It's not a good idea to say 'aww I don't deserve you guys <3' when you're in Obsidian, even if it's your friends who have had it up to here with you. There's something of it in Hematite's bright eyes, though. Incredible gratitude.

"I'll be more careful," he says in a lower voice. He's said it before, and he's meant it before, just like he undoubtedly means it now. And he will be, for a while.

"And-- I can make that even more perfect by getting square eyes and matching images to names and weapons and attacks for a few hours." A beat. "Which reminds me: the attack that jobbed my youma the other day can also apparently *cut fire* so please be careful if you go up against Moon?"

He finishes the coffee Takashi got him, then reaches up to tie his hair back again. "You don't have to bring up the Dark Agency, by the way, Takashi. Just seeing Sailor goddamned V brings it all up front and center every time, so."

Takashi Agera has posed:
Takashi shakes his head. "I didn't have to, but given today, I chose to, just like you didn't have to go down there and nearly get turned into Darien Tempura, but you did." he adds.

He nods to Zoisite. "Actually the mission was Tellu's and Majorina was just the assist... well, actually, Wolfrun was supposed to be the assist, but I guess he was sick or something. I don't know. So many of the other divisions in this org are a total clusterfuck lately. Everyone's trying to stand out, but that also means they trip over their own hubris." Takashi notes.

"Look, I'm just sayin', it's going to be less awesome for me when I pass you up if it's because you've been kicked down, and not because I've got my own divison." he says. "So maybe hold off on ruining everything till then. Then I can at least hire you and pay Zoisite and the others to keep you out of trouble since that's a full time job anyways."

"At least you've got Zoisite's honeyed words to save you now, I think. I've got some information too, and I'll kick it your way Zoi, so you can have some things to make the review board gasp in stuffy shock appropriately." he notes.

"I dunno what you'd do without all of us. Maybe Beryl just promoted you cause it's easier to pay one guy your salary than three. Buy you get 3 free or whatever."

Zoisite has posed:
    "Lovely, lovely. So we are all sorted out now, hm?" Zoisite asks, arms behind his back, leaning forward slightly, and batting his lush eyelashes. "I shall look forward to that information, Takashi-san." He regularly forgets honorifics, because Dark Generals and Youma do not use such things at all probably, but he makes a point of using one this time. "And I look forward to our next meeting being a favorable one, Darien." And he's back to normal. Or normal for Zoisite, at least.

    "I have some things of my own to take care of. No more fighting until you are fully healed. And..." He looks at Takashi up and down. "...No fighting." Then he disappears in a swirl of flower petals.

    The question he didn't ask still weighs on his mind.

    'If you aren't chasing death, then what is that thing you brought back with you?' Zoisite is much more perceptive than many give him credit for. He knows death when he sees it. That thing that follows Hematite around like a second shadow is death alright.

    And plenty of it.

    A closer eye will need to be kept, one way or another.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Hematite's not-- sullen, exactly, the more Takashi says in trying to get him to understand that his behavior really is dangerous and shits are given about his wellbeing. He knows, after all, that it is because Takashi actually means what he's saying. He runs through every possible iteration of 'well it sounds like he's trying to punish me' 'well maybe you're acting like an eight year old' in his head while listening, and his hands fall to his lap once he's finished with his hair.

At least the last thing Takashi says is something he can work with. If by work with we mean Hematite saying "Har, har" sarcastically, which isn't... stellar. Maybe that's good. Maybe he's unnerved enough this time it'll stick.

He raises his eyebrows at Zoisite, though. That phrasing makes him feel like he's in the guidance counselor's office if the guidance counselor were homicidal and elegantly beautiful instead of Kyouka Inai. "Mm," he agrees, though, because the only other thing he could do would be so, so, so childish.

When Zoisite leaves, he lets out a breath and then eyes Takashi. "Was he telling you not to fight with *me*?"

Takashi Agera has posed:
Takashi shakes his head. "Nah." Takashi replies as he's drinking his third soda. "He's insinuating he thinks I'm too soft to fight, because he's so used to looking at you and your dumb self getting kicked around and thinking I'm gonna, like I fight anywhere near as... valiantly as you do." Takashi spits the word valiantly out of his mouth, and it so clearly means 'recklessly, stupidly, why are you in the front line literally ever' instead of the words actual meaning. "I think he forgets I outrange all of you. And, or, likes to mess with me. Probably both. Like a lot of things that come to Zoisite, the answer is both." he noted, shaking his head.

"But now I have some of my own trouble to be up to. Only it's not going to be talk of the whole company... you know, unless it succeeds." Takashi says. And he doesn't really even give Mamoru much of a chance to respond because then he just steps through the dusk zone - of all of them, he finds it so much easier to do so. He might actually spend some time there, clear his head now.