Scene #220:

Owner	Pose
Takashi Agera	Takashi is in his (still too small) laboratory, with a strange looking tool in his hand. In truth, nobody else would recognize the tool - something like a pen with two prongs, but also, long purple wires that trace back to a strap on his wrist. Spread out before him are the various parts that make up his device, Axion. When he touches the tool to the parts, a purple spark blazes to life off them. He's using Dark Energy, to build, to create. To repair damage it had suffered from the brutal attacks he'd endured - that it had shielded him from - during his fight alongside Sunbreaker. The custom built tool was helping him to reforge magical connections, a product of his own research into the magic forged on another world. The bright purple sparks continued as the door open and soft, small footfalls echoed across the tile floor. Takashi looked up. "Tomoe-chan." he said. In the center of all of this work she could see his device's center jewel, cracked and damaged. "How are you? Your reading have been stable since the last incident where we saw Meiou-sensei. That's good. Stability gives us a baseline to work from." he says with a smile.
Hotaru Tomoe	Hotaru Tomoe couldn't help feeling a little nervous when she went into the office. She hadn't seen Takashi in a bit, since the... incident. It always felt like she was coming to him for help. To fix things. Like she wasn't able to offer him much. Well, hopefully his birthday would solve that. But before that, there was something else she needed... something else she wanted. Desperately. It was a silly thing, she knew. Not anything that mattered. But... she wanted to. "Takashi-senpai," she said with a small smile. "You know you can call me Hotaru," she said. "Unless... you... don't want me to call you Takashi?" she asked. Maybe she'd been too forward? Her eyes then drifted towards his device, a look of concern on her face. "Did... something happen? Is this why you haven't been doing... as much lately?" she asked. She then motioned to her gem. "Do.... you... need mine back?" she asked softly. She liked Luminous Titan. Even if it was just an AI, it was nice to always have company. "... Is this a bad time?" she asked. He really was smart, though. She couldn't even begin to guess what it was he was doing.
Takashi Agera	"No no, it's fine. I'm just repairing some damage it took out in the field. My friend did good work." Takashi said, patting the gem as though it could feel the kind gesture. "I don't need yours back. And besides, it's linked to you now, it wouldn't work as well for me as it does for you, or as well as Axion does. There's really not an easy replacement for a damaged intelligent device. Repair or transference, but when you get right down to it, our devices become more capable through their links with us." he continues. And then he looks up at her and smiles. "Sorry, Hotaru-chan. The more formal form of address comes a little bit easier to me." he admits. "I do not mind if you call me Takashi, though." In truth, Takashi had been monitoring Hotaru a little bit less, recently. Not out of a lack of caring, but out of too many things to do - too much resources to gather, work to perform, plans to put into motion. Everybody in Obsidian was trying to advance their own causes and Takashi was no different. And he felt a little bad about that. Then again, he ''was'' trying to prevent a near-apocalypse. He looked up at her. "It's not a bad time, Hotaru-chan."
Hotaru Tomoe	Hotaru Tomoe nodded, grinning up at him. "I... I see. Good job, Axiom-san," she said. Strange as it might have been to say, well... it was hardly the weirdest member of their team. And she was certainly relieved to know she wouldn't be losing her friend. "Good. I... like them like this. It's like... having a friend you can carry with you, always. Kind of like Yochu, when she's able." The doll wasn't... always with her. But the two had certainly become close. And she smiled a little more when he called her by her name. Unlike the others, she fortunately... didn't have plans to keep. Things to do. Energy to gather. The only thing... she had to worry about was not dying. Which was partially why she was here. "Takashi-senpai, ummm... how uhhhh... how do I change my uhhhh... clothes, when henshined? Like, ummmm... if I wanted to be henshined but... say... errrr... in a bathing suit? And still look like me, Hotaru?" she asked nervously. Her eyes off to the side. "H-hypothetically?" Oh, she was an AWFUL liar. If this could even be called lying...
Takashi Agera	Takashi raised an eyebrow. "You know the whole reason for henshining is usually to hide who you are. Well, and I guess to get the defense from the Barrier Jacket - and as near as I can tell the other transformy-people have the defense too, but... not the point I'm trying to make." "So... what you want is to get the benefits of a henshin without the visuals? Like... bathing suit?" he pauses. "Or... maybe some of the visuals." he adds, kind of putting things together. "Do you know if your limbs can handle being submerged?" He asks after a pause. "It's not like your father gave me an instruction booklet for your limbs."
Hotaru Tomoe	Hotaru Tomoe shook her head. "I don't... really... get all of what henshining does, other than make me stronger. And let me fly. I... I like flying." She nodded along to the desire for the rest of the benefits. Then cringed when he hit the nail on the head. "... They... can... but they don't like it. But... the covers on them, that hide what they are? They don't... they don't like it. They.... they tend to hurt when I go in the water, and the covers tend to matte up and... sometimes just... break entirely. They don't... work right then." She lowered her eyes a little. "But... when I'm henshined, the henshin covers it up even better. More than that, they protect them. So nobody can tell. Even the one time they got damaged, all they did was spark. People couldn't... see what was underneath them until I de-henshined. So... I just want to... I was hoping... I could go swimming while henshined. If I just looked like normal."
Takashi Agera	Takashi looked at her and leaned back away from the table. "This is something that's really important to you, then?" he says, guessing from her tone, her hopefulness, the fact that she saw fit to ask him. He could see it in the way she talked. She was embarassed too, but it mattered to her. "I think it's silly, but if you want I can probably come up with something. I've got a baby device around here somewhere that's... well, I don't have nearly enough parts to build a new device that's fully ready to be used in Combat, but it would probably work for a waterproof hide-your-robot-limbs henshin." he began. "I can get it ready for you with a little bit of work. But I wouldn't use Luminous Titan for it. That way nobody sees it out, all of that. Bathing suit or not, if you walk around with a big glaive it'll be weird, but you also don't just want to prop it on the side of a tree and have somebody take it because it looks dangerous."
Hotaru Tomoe	Hotaru Tomoe nodded, fiddling with her fingers over her lap, nervously shuffling from foot to foot. "I... I know it's silly but... some of the other girls wanted to... I mean... n-not... other girls... some girls said... and it sounded fun... and... and I thought maybe I could... join them... it's... it's kind of dumb, isn't it? It's dumb. Isn't it? Sorry," she said softly. And then he said 'YES!' She gave a little squeal and hopped. "Eeeee! You could? Really? What do you want for it?" she asked. "That's how it works, right? Like... I bring energy or... I'm sorry, I'm not entirely up on how the ummmm... Obsidian market works. But... but I know I need to get you something, right? Cause... you'll be giving me something? What do I need to get, Takashi-senpai?" she asked, actually jumping from foot to foot in excitement.
Takashi Agera	She was right, this was usually how things in Obsidian worked. But Takashi valued other things too. Teamwork. And people to pull his butt out of the fire of angry magical girls when he did nothing wrong except everything he did wrong. For Takashi, giving things was still kind of a trade. But he traded in favors, in eventual payback. "I don't need you to go and do anything right now. Just try not to lose it, it's still something I have future plans for." he began. "Also if you really want to thank me... try taking your role as a fighter a smidge more seriously." he adds. "Stop trying to make friends with our enemies and start trying to cripple them so that we don't have to kill them later. And so that they don't hurt you." he adds, as he stops bending over the desk and stands to his full height. "You know, Hotaru-chan, I worry about you. I worry that you're so gentle, it'll end up getting you hurt because you refuse to knock others down." he sighs. "I guess now isn't the time for that conversation, though." He turns and pulls a little gem out of a drawer, an aquamarine thing. "Can it wait until tomorrow morning? I want to put it through some tests and make sure it's not going to like, cause a magical feedback loop or something dangerous."
Hotaru Tomoe	Hotaru Tomoe blinked a few times before nodding. "I... I can try," she said softly. "I know... I know I'm not the strongest and I probably... I'm probaly going to get hurt but... But..." Slow, deep breath. Glancing down at her arms. Before... "Please... don't... ask me to cripple anyone. I... know I don't want to fight them. But I know I have to. And I will try to win. But... I don't think I could... do to... them... what... happened to me," she said gently. "Even if it's for the right reasons... to protect them. I don't... I don't think I can..." At least, not yet. Not now. Perhaps in the future. "It can wait. Thank you for... this... I'll try to be better. To... fight harder for you, Takashi-senpai. To not disappoint you..."
Takashi Agera	Takashi winces. "Poor choice of words on my part. Sorry." he admits as he slowly puts all of his own device, cracked and damaged as it is, back together, so he can have it reform into the gem and he can shift it slightly away on the table, to instead start working on Hotaru's temporary device - an act he's doing in front of her intentionally, too, so she sees someone prioritizing her needs. "I didn't mean cripple them as in absolutely damage their limbs. I just meant harming their ability to fight. If they're a mage like us, damaging or taking their device. Find out what gives them power and take it away so that they become like regular humans. Because that's much safer, all things being considered." he suggests "We can deal with the unchained youma, the ones who threaten regular folks, just fine. We can do that heroing, or we could, if we weren't forced to spend our time defending ourselves as we do what needs to be done." He shakes his head a little bit. "Hotaru-chan, for what it's worth? I'm sorry I have to ask you these things. If I was stronger myself, I wouldn't have to ask for your help." He begins, looking down intently at the table. "One day I will be, you know. Once everything's in place, nobody else will have to risk anything again."
Hotaru Tomoe	Hotaru Tomoe nodded, before... very slowly, she walked over to him. And placed a hand on his back. "Takashi-senpai?" she said. "Finish fixing Axiom-san first, please. He's more important. Besides, I don't intend to go swimming for a little bit. I just... I'm happy you plan to do it at all. But I think, in the grand scheme of things? You having your power back should be a higher priority." "And I will. I'll... learn to be stronger. To fight harder. To... if... if I can't make myself hurt them. I'll learn how to disable them without hurting them. I'll become good enough to make you proud, Takashi-senpai. I know... I know you only want what's best for everyone. Like daddy. And I'll always be there to help you as long as I can." "... Because... you're always there when I need you. Okay? I'll... I'll let you get back to work. I'd help you with Axiom but... I think we both know I'm not really smart enough with this kind of thing to actually help. And I doubt you have the time to really teach me right now," she said sheepishly.
Takashi Agera	Takashi looked at her and eventually, put the new little gem off to the side. "I'll finish with Axion first, but... I'm not going to spend too long without you having this. It shouldn't take much time to get off the ground, so... I'll have it done soon." "And hey. You know I don't mind helping you, right, Hotaru-chan? You're a great little assistant, don't sell yourself too short." he adds. "It's kind of not fair that as much is relying on us as it is, but... you were there for the Midnight Tokyo Stupid Plan, and that's not the only plan like that out there, so we don't have time to wait for fair. And..." He sighs. "I want you to be able to live and enjoy life too, Hotaru-chan, that's why this is important to me. Because there's no point in doing all of this if we're still miserable, too."
Hotaru Tomoe	Hotaru Tomoe nodded. "I know. But... I have Luminous Titan. I'm not alone, even when you're not. So... I don't... want you to be alone when I'm not longer than you have to be." She nervously fiddled with her fingers, a little rosy red going into her cheeks. "I... I know you don't mind helping me out, senpai. You're just... the only one I can depend on here. To listen to me... to help me when I need it. Most... just won't. They treat me like a child." Which she was. "And helpless." Which she also kind of was. "But... fair isn't an option. It's not... fair that we need to do this. But... but it's also not fair that things happen to innocent people. To people like Yochu. So... I won't wait for fair. That's not a luxury we have." She glanced down at Axiom. Then lifted a hand over her heart. The pain wasn't... there right now. "Takashi-senpai... I... am enjoying life right now. For the first time in a while I don't feel like I'm just surviving. I can help. I can fight. I don't feel helpless anymore. I know I'm just a kid, but I understand what's at stake. Why we have to do this. I... understand more than most people a lot older than me. And... so long as we keep doing this, we keep giving our all? I think... I can even be happy. Me, daddy, Takashi-senpai, Darien-senpai. We can all make a better world. For all of us."
Takashi Agera	"Just because you're a kid doesn't mean you're helpless. A lot of people would disregard me as a child too, and they'd be just as wrong to think that way about either of us." he says. "Dangerous for them to assume in both cases, too." he said, as he started to pull his own device out. "But I think you're right. As long as we fight as best we can and don't let outselves get dragged down... we'll be alright. The world can be alright." he begins. "You know, that's one of the hazards of Dark Energy. Getting dragged down to despair. Letting the unfairness of things get to you. That's how you let the negative aspects of Dark Energy start to control and that's where it IS dangerous. So you have to keep your chin up. We're both stuck in this position, but it also gives us a chance to reshape the world ourselves - to choose what we mean when we say a better world. So as long as we keep fighting for that... It'll be great."
Hotaru Tomoe	Hotaru Tomoe nodded. "I'm not helpless anymore. Thanks to the help you've given me. And... if I have to... I can be dangerous." And she could. Had been, even. She was nowhere near Takashi's level. Definitely leagues below Fate's. But... she could hold her own. Sometimes. "As long as you're here, I won't give into despair. So... long as I'm here, you can't either. Okay?" she said with a small smile. "I think you're right. Since... since I've had help, since I've been able to do things, I've felt less... upset. I think I've had less seizures. Or.... they don't last as long. So... maybe... it really is helping me. And I know we'll be able to help Yochu-chan, too. Because we won't ever give in, right?" So long as they weren't alone.
Takashi Agera	Takashi walked around to the other side of the desk, looked down, and patted Hotaru on the head. "That's right. We'll help Yochu, and we'll even help the people who don't want our help." he adds. "And I think that makes a lot of sense." "It's scary and concerning when the world happens to you. When things happen around you and you have no control over them. But when you take control - even if it's hard - you're at least doing something, moving it in a direction you like." He adds. "And you and me, Hotaru-chan... we have a lot of power to control the future. Power we haven't even unlocked yet." he adds with a smile. He is right. In ways he will rather not want to be.
Hotaru Tomoe	Hotaru Tomoe nodded, before glancing down at the device. Then, well, she looked thoughtful. "You're... right... I think. And sometimes, I think we need to help the people who don't want out help. Because... we're strong," she said. Then smiled up at him and made him, possibly, instantly regret it. Or maybe... maybe it'd make him happy. "So I'm going to stop saying I'm not enough. Takashi-senpai, I'm going to help you fix your device. Because no matter how smart you are... sometimes it's always useful to have someone who can at least understand what you're doing to help," she said proudly, with a playful smile. Besides... it'd be... useful for his upcoming birthday if she could understand some of the minimums of what it was he did.