1717/Coffee Catchups

Coffee Catchups
Date of Scene:	02 July 2024
Location:	Gullwing Coffee
Synopsis:	Takashi catches up with Naru over coffee.
Cast of Characters:	Takashi Agera, Naru Osaka

---

Takashi Agera has posed:
    When Riventon and Naru Osaka last exchanged data and ideas, the weather was crisp and cool. Now it's later in the year, and a lot of other craziness between then and now, and the weather has grown from mild to warm. But Takashi Agera has still remembered the girl with the inquisitive spirit.

    TEXT to Naru Osaka: Hey. Are you free this morning? I owe you a coffee, after all. If you want to drop by Gullwing this morning.

    The text is sent from his burner but Naru only knows that number as Riventon, and that's how he'll arrive; sitting a bit offset from the main counters given the fact that it's not every day you see a teenager in a lab coat sitting around, but it's Tokyo, so it's not the craziest thing most people will see this morning, let alone this week.

Naru Osaka has posed:
It's been a while. To say there's been a lot going on would be a grave understatement.

TXT to Riventon: Coffee sounds great. I'll see you in 20 mins.

It's probably closer to 18 minutes before Naru is pushing the door open and glancing around the coffee shop. She's probably one of the few light side folks who smile when they spot Riventon sitting over at a table, and she lifts her hand in a wave to him as she approaches. "Morning." She greets him and then lingers by the table a moment. "Your text was unexpected. How are you doing?" She considers him a moment and then smiles more fully. "Can I get you a coffee?"

Takashi Agera has posed:
    But really, when is there NOT a lot going on?

    Riventon shakes his head no. "I'm fine, but if you get me a coffee, I'll owe you two." He says. "I can get both of ours this morning. Just tell me what you like."

    The number of people who don't work for Obsidian and run into Riventon when he's not actively trying to do something Totally A Good Idea is pretty low - but Naru is one of those.

    "I'm doing okay enough - my boss sucks and my projects are not going entirely the way I planned, but that's how it's been for a while now." he says. "But we haven't really compared notes in a while, and given that my last lab partner tried to turn off the sun, and then quit - I've been sorely in need of someone to check my work."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Just plain black coffee." Naru replies on the topic of coffee preferences, and she settles into the seat across from him.

Naru pauses at the litany of complaints and then laughs softly. "So for projects not going as planned.. situation normal there, I see. Projects are big fans of not going as planned." She lets her satchel settle to the floor and quirks her head thoughtfully.

"I'm not sure I fully realized that you and Sunbreaker worked that closely together." Naru comments thoughtfully and then nods. "Yeah, she's not probably not in a position to check your work right now."

Takashi Agera has posed:
    "Yeah, funny story - I actually was the first person she met when she ended up in this world. When she was trying to understand Dark Energy on her own and almost got herself eaten by a Dusk Gazebo or something since she was about to open a portal. Had to shut that down before she hurt herself." he says, starting to get up. He lets THAT information soak in as he gets up to get the coffees.

    Naturally, while Naru's coffee is black as she asked, Riventon's frozen monstrosity is closer to a desert than a morning coffee, given the amount of chocolate and sugar and whipped cream in it. He sits Naru's hot coffee down in front of Naru, then sits back across from her as he returns.

    "In theory she could probably still help - she doesn't seem to have ended up on the other side of the veil - but I think she's in the same position as you. Knowledge, but no magic." he says. "But she's also trying to stay away from Dark Energy. Given the whole... turning out the lights thing. So I'm trying to respect that."

    "Anyways..." Riventon says, reaching into his pocket. And pulling out two USB drives. "Ah, crap. Well. I think I know which of these I intended to give you." he says. Plausible. Deniability.

Naru Osaka has posed:
There's a pause at the 'funny' story and then Naru does start to laugh, shaking her head a little as Riventon goes to fetch them both coffees. Well hers is coffee at least. His is something Usagi would drink, and that comparison is amusing too. "Thank you."

Naru wraps her hands around the coffee mug and nods. "Given my conversations with her, she's in my position. Aware, but powerless. She's a little less chill about it, but I probably would be too if I had powers and then didn't."

Entirely immaterial of the fact that Naru has had powers multiple times, via various means, and given them back every single time.

"Dark energy is hard to give up. I respect her for trying to stay away. It's a potent drug." Naru comments before she takes a cautious sip of her coffee and then looks at the USB drives. She quirks a brow as she looks up at Riventon and his comments. "Obsidian is too cheap to buy you post it notes? Or even a sharpie?"

Takashi Agera has posed:
    "I can't imagine that. Aware and powerless. Honestly, sounds like hell. And that's before you consider that Obsidian is trying to make an example outta her." he says, before taking a break to suck up some of his liquid desert through the straw. "I don't envy her." Not that Takashi/Riventon envies most people. Ever.

    He looks down at the drives in his hand. "No, this one's on me. I absolutely could have found a way to more clearly differentiate them." he says, as though it's not the same data on both drives. And as though actually taking responsibility for a mistake isn't an outlier to anyone who knows him. "Anyways, I think this is the one." he says, sliding one of the two drives across the table. "The data should be anonymized, that's the chief difference between them." he explains.

    "Anyways, Obsidian has a... we'll call them a project. Sort of... artificial magical girls. Wouldn't help Sunbreaker as it's still Dark Energy. But, recently, they've started to manifest powers independently of the path that was built for them. Still Dark Energy, but the signature's different. I think I've narrowed down what happened, but someone to check the math would be helpful." he says.

    Really, what's on the drive is that - before and after energy signatures of the DG Girls - but it's also enough evidence that between whatever changed in the signature, might lie a clue to separating out the influence of a certain sun demon so it can be located. Not that Takashi Agera would ever give that data to her enemies.

    "Should be pretty harmless stuff, but do be careful with it."

Naru Osaka has posed:
Naru gives a little shrug. Aware and powerless has been her life for most of a year now. "It's honestly not that bad." She gestures a little. "The Obsidian part makes it harder, I do grant you that. I dont have anyone actively trying to kill me, that I know of, anymore." Because that's a lot of caveats on what should be a basic statement.

"Thank you." Naru reaches over to capture the drive in her hand, as if she needs to claim it quickly lest he change his mind on sharing it with her.

Naru sips her coffee as she listens to his speculations and hmmms softly. "Interesting. Have you ruled out other reasons for spontaneous manifestation? New artifacts, devices, gadgets? That's the usual reason for spontaneous changes."

"Of course." Naru smiles a little at the admonishment to be careful. "I usually am." Which is a patent lie in many respects, but she IS careful with data at least.

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Riventon leans back. "Well, hopefully people have learned not to kidnap you by now either." he says, rolling his eyes.

    "And yeah, part of the way I can rule it out is that there's five of them. Pretty sure it wasn't spontaneous. Absolutely a change." he says, directly. "Spontaneous manifestation wouldn't happen to all five of them at the same time. Plus it's accompanied by some other shifts in personality." he says, bluntly.

    At the 'usually am' Riventon squints at her a little bit. "Yeah, I heard how careful you were with Thetis and your fist." he says, chickling. "In fact by now most of Obsidian knows."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Kidnappings are waaay down." Naru confirms with a little smirk and a soft chuckle. "Apparently I'm really just not worth the hassle anymore."

"No.. five at once is not spontaneous. Interesting." Naru hunhs softly as she glances to the USB stick in her hand and then back up to Riventon, as if she can read the information on it through the plastic and silicon. She's good, she's hardly THAT good.

Naru laughs, a bright ringing bit of laughter. "Well." She at least has the grace to look a little sheepish about it. "She finally really ticked me off." Sure, it was about as wise as shoving ones fingers in a woodchipper, but that's besides the point.

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Riventon nods. "Well, it's one thing to drain a little energy, it's a whole other thing to end up with half the magical student body of RHA trying to bash the door down. You make friends easily, Osaka-san. They seem to be a little put out when you don't show up to things."

    Riventon slurps, noisily, the last of his chocolate coffee confection out of the cup. "With Thetis, you just did something I have been longing to do. She is rather annoying. Quite a suckup, too. Whereas... I'm just hoping to get a transfer out before everything goes sideways." he says. "I saw a little bit into her uh... previous ventures... and I am less than confident in the continued success of her current ones." he says.

    "Not that I am not doing my job, of course." he adds hastily, lest there be a plant-shaped youma listening somewhere.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"I'm pretty resilient to energy drain these days." Naru gives a little shrug. You really can get used to anything with enough practice. She nods a little. "I like chatting with people, all sorts of people." Because that's not painfully obvious by the current conversation. "Everyone has stories to tell."

Naru laughs more quietly this time. "I have to admit, it was REALLY satisfying. About as effective as punching a wall, and I fully expected to get blasted into next week, but apparently getting slugged by a gnat was amusing enough for her to just blow me off, but it was so totally worth it."

She settles her expression some and nods to Riventon. "I wish you luck with that transfer goal. It seems like things can really turn in barely a blink."

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Riventon sits the empty cup on the table, leaving his hands free to gesture while he talks - which they do. "Everybody does have stories. Sometimes, different versions of the same one. Different perspectives." he says. "And I find it valuable to have a dialogue with a few select others who aren't in Obsidian. The Organization absolutely has its... own way of thinking." he says. "And there's probably some value in having people not think me one of the mindless masses."

    Riventon smirks. "I'll bet it was satisfying to hit Thetis. I only wish you could have done it harder. And yeah, Thetis and the DG Girls really should be enough for Beryl, since she's such a 'capable leader'." he says with such an emphasis on those two words. "But as of yet I haven't been able to get the paperwork through. Ah well. Work." he says, waving his hands dismissively. His device PINGs audiable at him. "Oh, I should... probably get back to my lab before something blows up, yes."

    He nods. "Thank you for the company. I mean that." He says, starting to stand up, then pausing. "And... if you or someone you know happens to interact with the girl who used to be Sunbreaker? I know she's put people through a lot... but she's also been through a lot herself. I can't imagine being in a strange world in a strange body without magic and with a target on my back." he shakes his head.

    "...and if you see Thetis again, try a baseball bat next time. Maybe a magic one."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"I should also get going." Naru confirms as she drains the last of her coffee before she moves to stand as well. "Thank you for this." She gestures vaguely, including not only the coffee, but the conversation as well in her gesture. "I appreciate it, and I value our chats."

Naru nods with a rueful little twist to her lips. "We sat and chatted, a couple times. She's struggling, but I have hope for her. She's got a lot to work through and work on and it's brutally hard, but I have hope." She gives a little shrug. "My power, I suppose. Hope."

Naru barks out a laugh at his comment about Thetis. "I'll keep that in mind. Take care of yourself Riventon. Next time, coffee's on me."