1375/hlp

hlp
Date of Scene:	15 April 2016
Location:	Hisakata Residences
Synopsis:	Ayana recovers from the events of Something For Me, with help from Ikiko and Rei.
Cast of Characters:	Ayana, Ikiko Hisakata, Reiko Touyama

---

Ayana has posed:
Fate is safe. At least for now, Ayana's pigtailed kohai is off to be with someone whom Ayana hopes will not hurt her, and will ensure she is well cared for.

Ayana, however, is exhausted. She didn't even know she was capable of reversing her drain, but the act of doing so has left her weak-kneed and wobbly-armed. She held fast and strong until Fate was gone, but now ... now she is not entirely sure she can make it home.

Making her way in that general direction, Ayana at least dfinds herself a quiet spot to sit down and let the dizziness fade. It's then that she thinks to text Ikiko again.

To Girlfriend-chan: hlp. was Fate. stopped her, but v. tired. falling zz. need u.

Of course, she doesn't provide a location, this time; she's too exhausted to think of that. Ayana closes her eyes and lets her breathing slow as she waits, hoping her girlfriend will come take care of her.

Hopefully, no one else has seen the orange-haired girl, because she hasn't exactly thought to hide her ears and tails, either.

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
Minutes later, a familiar wolfgirl drops in, then de-henshins after landing. "Sorry I wasn't able to help," Ikiko apologizes, sitting next to her girlfriend and kissing Ayana on the cheek. "Had a required meeting with the club advisor, and he decided to bring the middle school advisor in as well, so that next year's transition will go smoothly. Not much of a problem, but they kept. On. Talking."

She gives the kitsune some ear skritchies, then a hug and another kiss. "Other than being tired, are you okay? Also, is Fate okay? I came as soon as I could after the meeting, checking along the way between the theme park and here once I got your second text."

Ayana has posed:
Ayana opens her eyes. There's still a little white, just at the tips of her ears and tails, that isn't normally there. It's not normal for Ayana (although many foxes do have white there).

"Iki-chan," Ayana mumbles, reaching up to grab onto her girlfriend. Dead weight is still heavy, and Ayana puts her full dead weight into trying to drag Ikiko down for cuddles. "Fate is safe," she says happily. "I did ... a thing. It was weird. But Fate pushed me out of the way of a big laserbeam, so except for a little dark energy burn, I'm okay. Henshin absorbed it, and then ... I did a thing."

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
Ikiko Hisakata cheerfully snuggles into Ayana's grasp. "What kind of thing?" she asks, still skritching the kitsune's ears.

While the odd bits of white do catch Ikiko's eye, most of her attention is on the beloved foxgirl holding her close. Coloration questions can wait until other things are explained, after all!

Ayana has posed:
Ayana puts her head on Ikiko's shoulder. "Drained myself," she explains. But that doesn't make any sense. "No, but like. The opposite."

For a moment, it seems like that's all the explanation Ikiko's going to get. But then Ayana mumbles, "I had to stop Fate from hurting herself. She took in too much dark energy. And made a wish with one of those seedy things. But then ... I was hugging her, and ... all I could think was: I wish I could do that thing Ikiko does. The howl that makes everything okay?

"And then I just did it," Ayana mumbles. "Not howl. But .. I made my gloom, but the other way. It was purity of twilight. Twilight restoration. And then ... I got rid of the dark energy. Her whole attack just kinda ... pitered out."

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
The diluted werewolf gives the tired kitsune a huge smile! "That's great, Aya-chan! You found a way to scrub out the dark energy!" Ikiko beams, nuzzling Ayana's nose.

Then the phrasing sinks in. "Wait, you made your Gloom go backwards?" she checks. "As in, the same Gloom that helps recharge you in a pinch -- you got that to work, but in the opposite direction that it normally does...?"

Ikiko thinks for a moment. "Wow, no wonder you're tired!" She cuddles closer to her girlfriend, remarking "I think you're in need of rest. And snacks, and lots of TLC, and all of that stuff in who knows what order. You definitely earned it, both for helping Fate and for learning something new!"

Ayana has posed:
"Mmmm," Ayana mumbles. "I don't know how I did it," she explains to Ikiko. "Maybe I can't do it again. But I was worried she was going to do something horrible. She's so much more powerful than I ever was, and if I didn't stop her ..." she trails off, then glances back in the direction she came from.

"There were a lot of people outside that barrier," Ayana explains. "And it didn't look like the barrier was going to hold the magic. So ... I just ... got desperate. Everything went all white. Riventon was there," she says as if that makes any sense, right now.

"And then I just washed away the darkness," Ayana finishes the disjointed story. "Can I turn into a fox? Will you carry me home? I'm really ... really tired."

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
"Well, now you know that you can do it, even if you haven't figured out the how yet," Ikiko points out, opening her backpack. Sure, there's a few books and such in it, but there's enough space for a fox -- and the non-transforming clothes should make for a comfy nest!

She does a quick look around, then glances Ayana. "Okay -- ready when you are, beloved!" she nods.

Ayana has posed:
Ayana first leans forward to kiss Ikiko, very briefly on the lips. "You're such a good girlfriend," she says. And then the girl dwindles, shrinking until she's just a fox in the midst of a pile of school clothes. The little fox looks a bit ridiculous, in that pile. Normally she'd shake it off and step out of the clothing, but today she just sits there looking miserably tired.

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
Ikiko Hisakata scoops up the fox, clothing pile and all, and kisses her on the forehead. "Go ahead and rest, beloved," she smiles, skritching Ayana-fox's ears. "I'll get some additional snacks on the way home, so go ahead and nap."

She carefully tucks the fox into her backpack, then zips the pouch most of the way up. "Now I can keep you hidden while I get the snacks, and you can still get out when you're ready," Ikiko murmurs. A gentle lift of the backpack, and the two of them are on their way.

Ayana has posed:
Ayana stifles a yawn as she's placed into the backpack. Such a little fox, she does fit quite nicely, and it's only a little crowded and cramped. But more importantly, it's cozy, and the little fox soon falls right asleep, trusting in her girlfriend to wake her and let her out when they get home.

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
It's a while later when Ikiko finally arrives home. She carefully sets her backpack on Ayana's bed, then gently unzips the fox-carrying pouch slightly wider -- enough for the fox to easily clamber out.

Next, she takes one of the long & skinny pepperoni sticks she had purchased on the way home, removes it from its wrapping, then dangles one tip of it into the open backpack, gently waving it so the scent can catch the kitsune's nose. Fishing for foxes!

Ayana has posed:
By now, the white in Ayana's fur has fled to just the tips of her ears and tail; at this rate it will probably fade entirely within another hour or so, back to the same burnt orange that has dominated Ayana's fur patterns ever since Reiko infused her.

Even before the pepperoni was used as bait, the little fox was waking. It's hard to stay asleep when a zipper nearly in your fur gets pulled away. Bleerily, a pair of sapphire eyes slowly blink their wakefulness back into the world.

But then there is pepperoni, and the little fox doesn't even think'; her neck reaches forward, and small, sharp little teeth latch onto the tip of the stick. Bit by bit she starts chewing her way out of the bag.

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
Ikiko Hisakata carefully starts 'reeling' Ayana in, gently pulling upward whenever the little fox has a firm grip with her teeth. She lets go when Ayana has a hold of most of the pepperoni stick, then unzips the backpack further.

"Enjoyed your nap, beloved?" she smiles, skritching the kitsune's ears.

Reiko Touyama has posed:
Reiko Touyama is let in by Momma Hisakata. She's been happy because now she is in FIFTH grade and she is older now. One more grade and maybe people will stop telling her liking older boys is wrong!

Though Ayana is never going to stop thinking Misa is her girlfriend.

She peeks into the room and then spreads her arms. "SURPRIIIIIISE!" she says! with a wide smile and then....

White...

on Ayana!

Her eyes go wide-- very very wide. "AYANA-CHAN!" she says worried darting over to her. "AYANA, WHO DRAINED YOU!?" she calls out.
Yes, she thinks this is a color drain.

She admittedly doesn't say anything to Ikiko yet because she's suddenly worried!

Ayana has posed:
Ayana chews happily on the pepperoni, still sleepy as Ikiko pulls her out. The scritching doesn't help her want to say anything any time soon, but she does make a soft-voiced squeaking noise of happiness in response. Apparently, yes, she enjoyed the nap. She's enjoying the snack even more!

But then, from out of the doorway, there comes a wild Orange Worrier!

Ayana's ears go back flat against her head in sudden concern at the shout, until she realises it's Reiko. Blinking, Ayana stares at her a moment, then finishes chewing jerky, swallows, and then becomes a girl.

Well, a Fox-girl anyways.

And all she's wearing is a collar?

"Reiko-chan!" says Ayana, confusion in her tone. The tips of her ears and all four of her tails still have those hints of white. "What do you mean drained me?"

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
"The tips of your ears and tails are white," Ikiko explains to Ayana while she pulls the kitsune's clothes out of the backpack and hands them over. "Not as much as they were before you took that nap, but it's still noticeable."

She then gives Reiko a smile. "Hi, Reiko-chan! Ayana's had a busy and tiring afternoon, and she figured out a new thing!" Ikiko waves. "The new thing is part of why she's feeling tired right now."

Reiko Touyama has posed:
Reiko Touyama is shaking Ayana, this is probably helping nothing. "Tell me who did this to you, Ayana-chan!? It was a girl in an elegant dress and a parasol wa----"

Wait, is Ayana not wearing anything? Whoooooops! She suddenly backs off and covers her eyes and flies around and faces the door with a severe blush.

"H--hey!" she says.

"Oh! Um.. Yeah! Parts of you are white!" she whines.

"I thought you were color drained!" she says.

"Wh--what did she figure out?" she asks softly.

Ayana has posed:
Ayana's eyes cross at the shaking, and the kitsune looks very distraught. Right up until Reiko blushes and turns away. She still looks like her head is spinning when Ikiko hands over the clothes. But the explanation makes her ears perk up, and she reaches back to grab her tails, pull them forward, and inspect them curiously.

"Huh," she mumbles, then sniffs at the tips of her tails curiously for a moment. Eventually, she grabs her underwear (a pair of thigh-length shorts, apparently) from Ikiko, pulls it on, and then hops over to the closet to pull out a short summer dress. This, too, gets pulled on.

Dressed, Ayana turns to tap Reiko on the shoulder. "Is your Chroma Crystal complaining?"

"Cause if it is not," Ayana says, "I think maybe this is just a product of me reversing my gloom. I cleansed dark energy, like you do. It was ... weird. I don't think I can do it again."

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
Ikiko Hisakata nods. "And since Gloom usually draws energy in, reversing it pushes energy out," she agrees. "Hence why she's tired."

A thought comes to her mind. "Wait, since she's orange because of the color energy you added, maybe pushing energy out also affected that?" Ikiko mentions to Reiko. "There's enough there to replenish itself, but if the Twilight Restoration sends purifying energy from Ayana's energy... maybe the color energy was included in the mix?"

Reiko Touyama has posed:
Reiko Touyama huhs? She looks down and taps her Prism. "Nope..." she says.

"Huh... wait, you cleansed!?" she says as she turns around finally when things are more decent.

"That's awesome Ayana!" she beams. She blinks. "Why don't you think you can do it again?" she asks as she head tilts.

She blinks and head tilts. "Possibly?" she asks. "Color energ is weird like that." she says to Ikiko as she walks to the bed and sits down on it with a smile.

"How are you guys?..." she asks with a smile. "Been a bit! Wanted to drop by and say Hi!" she says softly.

Ayana has posed:
Ayana reaches up to squeeze her ears, curiously, then peers in the mirror. "Sometimes I miss being black," she notes with a faint frown. "Things were so much less weird."

But then, the kitsune turns and slumps towards Reiko, leaning on her friend and wrapping arms around her. "Hi," she says. "We've missed you. You should come visit more often." Are those hands in REiko's pockets?! Yes, yes they are.

Ayana pulls out the bag of jerky, then falls onto the bed and puts her feet in the air, stretching. "Your backpack is very cramped," Ayana notes as she tears the bag open. "Comfortable, and it smells like your gym clothes which is nice. But cramped. Is it a problem that I turned a little white?"

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
"Well, it wasn't designed for carrying foxes home in," Ikiko giggles, leaning over to kiss Ayana's cheek.

She then gives Reiko a hug. "So far so good, although as a sixth grade club member the advisors want me both leaing the club and working with the middle school club," Ikiko remarks. "Hopefully it won't be as busy as it was today, with the meeting with both advisors."

Reiko Touyama has posed:
Reiko Touyama eeee! hug! eeeeeek! Jerky grab!

She huffs and crosses her arms. "I /should/ visit more often!" she smiles. "Just things have been..."

"Nrg..." she crosses her arms. "Mei's little sister awoken.. Prism Keeper Pink." she says. She sighs a bit. "So.. if I dissapear, don't bother looking for the body!" she smiles widely as best she can, telling you she's joking!

Or is she!?

"Cuz Mei is gonna kill me." she sulks.

Ayana has posed:
Ayana flexes her toes, then lowers her feet back down and uses the weight of their descent to roll back up to a seat, then crosses her legs. It's really a good thing she wears shorts.

"P...pink?" she asks, confused. "But ... Pink is not a part of the rainbow," she mumbles, looking legitimately distraught. "Wait, is it? Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet. No Pink. Why Pink!? Did I mess up in science again!?" This is clearly more important than Reiko dying.

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
Ikiko Hisakata patpats Reiko. "At least she now has a way to help defend herself against magical trouble?" she remarks, the tone of her voice suggesting that she's trying to find a bright spot for Reiko.

She then patpats Ayana with her other hand. "Well, there are more colors than what's in the rainbow, although it's odd to have someone who doesn't fit the usual naming pattern," Ikiko notes to Ayana. "Although pink is a very fitting color for a magical girl, even if none of us three use it."

Reiko Touyama has posed:
Reiko Touyama blinks and giggles. "When we were playing the game.... Mei's little sister wanted in.. so her mom made Mei let her join the game. Then she wanted to be Pink. And Mei said no, it isn't on the rainbow! But then she cried that she wanted to be Pink and Mei's mom said allow her to be Pink."

"So there is a Prism Keeper Pink." she says softly with a giggle.

Then she blinks. "Oh! She's.. doing a good job taking care of herself-- AND Defending her friend too!" she beams with a smile.

"I'm not worried about that in so much as..." she sighs.

"Well..I promised Mei..."

"That I wouldn't let that happen when she left." she grumbles.

She looks over to Ayana. "C--can I have a piece of Jerky?" she asks.

She bets it's all gone now.

Ayana has posed:
Ayana is busy stuffing her face full of the jerky as Reiko explains things. By the time the prism keeper asks for a piece, Ayana has pretty much stuffed all of it in her mouth. She hesitates, looking somewhat ashamed, and her ears slowly lower down to either side while she tries to think of what to do.

After a moment, Ayana opens her mouth just a bit, pulls out a piece of mostly in tact jerky, then offers it to Reiko hopefully.

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
Another patpat for Reiko. "Well, you did what you could," she points out. "And if she was determined enough to protect her friend, I'm sure she would have become a magical girl of some sort eventually anyway."

...okay, so that might not have been as reassuring as she had intended.

Reiko Touyama has posed:
Reiko Touyama stares at Ikiko. Gee thanks for the help there Ikiko. She stares at Ayana. Gee Ayana, thanks for being totally disguisting.

God she loves her friends.

"S--sorry Ayana- you eat it." she says with a polite smile and tries VERY HARD to not look grossed out completely.

Ayana has posed:
Well now Ayana just looks even more apologetic. She frowns and slowly puts the jerky back in her mouth, ears folding down on either side of her head sadly. The kitsune's tails droop as she slides off the bed and walks towards one of the nightstands. She pulls open the drawer, digs through for a moment, then pulls out a small plastic bag. Inside are little chips of dryed beef that look like they did not come from the grocery store.

This bag, Ayana offers to Reiko without a word. Possibly this is because her mouth is full of the jerky Reiko brought. But this bag is special. This bag, as Ikiko would know, is Ayana's very specialest beef jerky. Premium beef jerky bought at high cost. It is Ayana's second favourite meaty thing, second only to the very very special meaty selection Ikiko bought her for white day.

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
Ikiko Hisakata gives Reiko a reassuring smile. "You should probably introduce us to her," she suggests. "That way, she knows that we can help out if something magical is going on!"

Reiko Touyama has posed:
Reiko Touyama nods. "I will. She'll probably be a little shy at first she's..." she says. "She's kind of shy.. and only in second grade!" she says. "But she'll get over it." she says softly. She smiles at the bag and blinks. "Are you sure?..." she asks. She hesitantly takes the bag and softly opens it and nips on of the chips of dried beef. "Oh! This tastes really fresh..." she says softly. She only takes one more, then re-seals the bag and poltiely hands it back. "Thank you!" she says with a smile.

She smiles. "I wanna introduce her to as many of my friends as possible. She already has met some of my others!" She says.

Ayana has posed:
Ayana eyes her bag with sadness. Sure, she offered it. But she never likes giving up food that she didn't expressly intend to give up. Still, it made Reiko happy, and that counts for something. Right?

Putting the bag away, Ayana sighs and leans against Ikiko. The kitsune closes her eyes, puts her head on her girlfriend's shoulder, then asks, "I just want to be sure ... there's no pink in the rainbow, right?" Yes, she's still on that. Even though Reiko already told her.

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
Ikiko Hisakata puts an arm around her girlfriend and kisses the kitsune's forehead. "Pink isn't in normal rainbows, no," she reassures Ayana. "Which is why it's a good color for someone who wasn't in the planned core of the group -- it's still colorful, but it's not a rainbow color."

Reiko Touyama has posed:
Reiko Touyama beams. "Nope, it isn't." she says softly. Then she pauses. "Are you going to school Ayana?" she asks softly suddenly. She grins. "if you are, that's awesome!" she beams.

She head tilts and crosses her arms a bit. "Hrm..." she thinks a bit.

"How are you enjoying it?"

"I bet that..." she grins.

"You're not!"

Ayana has posed:
Ayana points to the pile of clothes on the bed--the leftovers of the collection Ikiko pulled out of her backpack. It's a Seishou middle-schooler's uniform; blue skirt, white shirt, red bow. Easy to mis-recognize when you're still inthe full white of elementary. "I'm a first year middle-schooler," Ayana explains. "Again." Grump. "I guess I deserved having to redo the year, but it's still not fun. And they keep making me do science and history and English and I hate it."

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
Ikiko Hisakata patpats Ayana. "They just want to make sure that you're good enough at them, and can prove it to them," she points out.

Reiko Touyama has posed:
Reiko Touyama nods. "That's right! School's an important part of being a kid and a girl!" she insists. "You'll love it after a bit!" says Reiko. Though Reiko considers School her funner /hobby/ so it stands to reason she'd have good things to say about it.

"Oh! I need to do homework for tommrow!" she suddenly says. "Hey I'll.. be back later, soon , okay!?" she smiles some.