2192/Not the Best Job of Integrating

Not the Best Job of Integrating
Date of Scene:	30 December 2024
Location:	Obsidian Tower
Synopsis:	Takashi has some worreis about Melona, and a conversation ensues.
Cast of Characters:	Takashi Agera, Melona Mizu

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Takashi Agera has posed:
    Takashi had been texting back and forth with Melona, and his last text was answered by not a reply but an exhausted Melona Mizu Duskporting back into Obsidian Tower and then being shunted back into the lab - Which resulted in Takashi leaving his office and running out to her. Staggered as she was the concern was clear on his facee.

    "Hey, someone texted me that you were playing around with Dark Energy on top of the youma out there. Did Mami-san tell you how dangerous that was for a Puella Magi or did she fail at being a sempai as much as she failed at being a girlfriend?" Takashi asks, quickly. "Let me see your Soul Gem, girl." he says, withdrawing a black sphere with a needle point from his coat - a grief seed. "Because, you look like hell and you're not reading great to my sensors." he says.

Melona Mizu has posed:
     A text received and not read, though in a way Takashi would get his answer almost immediately as Misery Melon had duskported into the tower -- something incredibly difficult to do if one doesn't have dark energy. Though hers had been weakened.

Back in her lab, she'd found her usual corner where she staved off sleep by tinking, knees pulled up to her chest in the chair.

Takashi came running up to her. "..? ...The bullies were saying that too. ...But it's always been there with me." She tilts her head ever so slightly, tired eyes looking up towards Takashi as she lifts her hand, showing the tarnished soul gem. It had already been about half darkened when she'd started, distress and dark energy had tarnished it to about 2/3rds, though the purification had likely staved off any further darkening of it as a painful blessing.

"...Their magic is so painfully bright." Is her only real response to the comment of how she's looking.

Takashi Agera has posed:
    ..."Huh. Always been there..." he says, that answer striking a chord with him. He looks down at her Soul Gem and visibly winces at the explanation of 'bright magic'. "Yeah, yeah it is. Stings like hell." He says, sympathetically, pressing the Grief Seed to her Soul Gem. "Think Fate and I have gotten about all of the practice we can out of whuppin' this one anyways." he says as he sacrifices it to try to cleanse Melona's Soul Gem.

    Takashi's phone buzzes and he pulls it out. He reads, quickly, dashes out a text quickly, and puts it back in his pocket.

    "If it's always been there, then I won't tell you to avoid it, but I will tell you to be careful. I've seen Dark Energy hurt people who thought they had it under control, so treat it with respect. It's powerful but dangerous - to you and those around you. Alright? Especially from what I've seen when it comes to Puella Magi..." he says, looking at her still murky soul-gem "... it's more dangerous for you so don't go there if you don't have to. Duskporting is pretty cheap energy-wise but... treat yourself with some care, please. You're the only Puella Magi that Obsidian has now.

    "Out trying to make sure we keep the energy up, that's good." he says to her. "...Joker didn't put you up to that, threaten you or anything, did he?" he asks.

Melona Mizu has posed:
The grief seed purifies the soul gem, leaving it pristine, shimmering, a deep pink for a few precious moments... before that tarnishing seeps back in again almost immediately, the darkness seeping back into the edges and taking it back to about 7/8ths purified and stabilizing like that. "...I was not made like a normal Puella Magi, is probably why." She says quietly. He's all she has left. Mami left her already. Her friends left her by not surviving too. Her parents abandoned her in their own way, at least in her mind. It's fine if he knows at little. Probably.

He explains the darkness and how it's dangerous to her. She quietly listens, though doesn't immediately respond to it, instead seeming to focus on the comment of Joker. "...No. ...I just had not done much energy gathering because I had been focused on repairs so was let know I should do at least a little before the new year." She says quietly.

Eventually, she does talk about the dark energy. "...I usually try to push it through Drei Spitzen. ...More useful that way anyway." But even doing that, eventually it sneaks in through the cracks, and she just started to get used to using it that way. "..." She seemed like she was about to say something else, but decided against saying it.

"...I didn't gather as much as I wanted. ...I'm sorry."

Takashi Agera has posed:
    "Huh. Well. I'm not a normal Device User either, you know." he says, drawing a line through the air in Dark Energy, like someone makes an ink mark on the world itself, Dark Energy dripping off the line before all of it evaporates back. "No henshin, see?" he offers. "So we're both different." he adds. He looks down at her Soul Gem. "But... you do know what happens when this turns totally black, right?" He asks, calmly. "I don't think I have the same issue."

    "Probably better to push it through something other than yourself, but I don't think Drei Spitzen is as separate from you as a Device is." he says, carefully. "Maybe it is, I didn't spend enough time studying, and maybe that's something I should rectify." he says, looking down at Melona's soul gem.

    "Don't worry about apologizing. Thanks to Catra we're up pretty well right now as a department, and Precia's never really been super-focused on being more than adequate at energy gain. We're in a pretty good spot right now, even if I'm about to burn a fair chunk of it soon." he says, without explaining.

    "But... I would like you to be careful, Melona-san. We've got to stick together. Me, you, Glimmer, Catra, Fate, Norie. We're a team. Doesn't mean you can't do things alone, but it does mean to remember that you have other people in this department relying on you too, and you -can- rely on us if you need help." he offers.

    "We should hunt a Witch together soon, I think. You and I haven't worked together enough."

Melona Mizu has posed:
"Ja. When it turns fully black, I fullfil my Contract with Kyubey. My temporary life traded back to the universe for the energy it had gathered." Melona responds with a apathetic calm regarding her own, effective, potential future death. Just a matter of fact. The no henshin thing is quietly examined quietly, watching the dark energy dripping off of the line. She frowns ever so slightly as she thinks on that. "...Different kind of different. I was ... made... technically 'normally'... but... I was... tested... to make sure I would be a strong enough Puella." She says, though falls quiet on that subject again.

Probably better to push it through something else. "..." She pulls out the charm that is Drei Spitzen's passive form, transforming it into its full sized flail form. "...It is technically just another creation of my Puella magic. ...But it sticks around. ...Things I work on for a long time do. ...Though I think it eventually would break down like everything else if I ignored it enough." She sets it on the desk. They're up as a department, and Precia's not been focused on being more than adequate at energy gain. "... Ah. Okay. ...Uhm. I... have not met the others, much. ...Maybe I should fix that, too." Talk of hunting a Witch together soon gets a small nod.

"...Okay."

Takashi Agera has posed:
    "Fufill your contract?" Takashi asks, tilting his head. "One... you become a Witch." he says. "That's not good for you or for us." he adds. "Secondly, if it's a contract... contracts are made to be weaseled out of. We know at least one Puella Magi did. Still witched, too. I have the tool she used to do it. I can help you avoid that destiny, I'm sure." Takashi offers.

    "Just may take time, so you need to take care of yourself until then." he offers. "I know you're capable, we all are. But still. Do talk to the others. And don't hesitate to ask for help. Team, remember?"

Melona Mizu has posed:
"Ja. Thati s the contract. You become a magical girl and help to save the universe from the heat death of the universe, and he grants a wish." Melona gives a small shrug. "Mine was for strength. I got strength." Not exactly a good wish when you can wish for anything, but, well, that's exactly why Kyubey targets children. "...I will take care of myself. I have survived this long. ...It is not hard to survive longer. ...Though may become more difficult now that I have been spotted and they will be less happy to see me if I show up to witch hunts."

...But they're part of a team. Maybe she can work with others more often. She gives a small nod. "...I will. ...Uhm." She leans a little more against that chair, exhaustion evident on her face, but an exhaustion she's clearly fighting. "...Yeah. Team. ... I was unsure if I still was, after." She pauses. "She abandoned us. ...Reassuring that I am, still." Not that leaving Obsidian is that easy, but that's beside the point.

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Takashi looks down at Melona. "Uh... That's just going to get you killed, trying to survive by yourself." hey corrects. "And that's not the goal. We're not the self-sacrificing ones. That's for the sparkly kids." he says.

    "Just because Mami-san didn't have the heart to do things that had to be done, doesn't mean that I think any less of you. She didn't screw up everything she did - she did date me, so she could occasionally make good decisions. And recruiting you was also one, especially if Dark Energy is also a part of who you are, Mizu-san." he says, smiling.

    "If they make life difficult for you, our team will make things less bad. Like the Grief Seed today, see?" he offers with a smile.

Melona Mizu has posed:
"...Okay. ...I will survive ... with ... the team." Melona corrects herself. A strange thought, after being alone... even if she'd been part of the team for a while already, her relative inactivity and ending up mostly just fixing things in that corner resulted in, well, less interaction with the team.

That and old habits die hard. "...Yes. ...The grief seed is helpful." The team is helpful, and it's not like they were friends so if the team didn't work out, it wouldn't be a problem. Yes. That's fine. This is acceptable. She turns slightly in her chair to face Takashi more directly.

"...If I can help, tell me, too. ...I have gotten good at fixing things. ...And am in the metalworking and woodworking clubs at the school. Have access to materials..."

She seemed as if she were going to say more, but her eyes starts to drift closed, eventually slumping against the desk.

She'd been awake too long, and between the fight and the purification, her body simply decided that it was time to rest.

...But she was otherwise fine!
...Physically, at least.

Takashi Agera has posed:
    To be fair, Takashi hadn't exactly done the best job of integrating Melona. Actually, if he thought about it, he hadn't done the best job of integrating the team... Not since Mami ducked out and things got shaky. Maybe that was something he needed to fix - and not just for Melona's sake. Just because he'd had some trouble - Hinoiri, Mamoru, Mami - it didn't mean he should give up and let them *all* operate alone.

    "We should... really try to get more time practiced together..." he says, but it's clear Mizu-san is starting to collapse. He sighs.

    It's not the first time Takashi has carried a kohai to a hammock in the corner of the room. Hell, it's the reason the hammock existed.