417/Steak Dinner

Steak Dinner
Date of Scene:	30 September 2015
Location:	Mitakihara - Downtown
Synopsis:	Takashi Agera and Hannah Sharpe talk over a much-belated Steak Dinner!
Cast of Characters:	Hannah Sharpe, Takashi Agera

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Takashi Agera has posed:
It had been some time since Hannah and Takashi spent any sort of quality discussion time together, between their own little miniature empires... and their own little schemes. But some time ago, a celebratory steak dinner was offered - and with Hannah's personal thorn of the CEO out of the way, and Takashi's recent successes, a steak dinner was to be had. Only the best for the two up-and-comers in one of Mitakihara's most expensive American-themed restaurants. A corner table, away from others, where business could be discussed out of general earshot. And, of course, another excuse for them both to wear some of their nicest clothes, with Takashi in a midnight blue formal suit. And so, while waiting for their drinks to be brought, Takashi leans over the table a bit.

"So, now that he's out of the way, you should be a bit more free to experiment?" he begins. "You've been very busy - lots of interesting things you didn't share with me, like what you were doing with those Grief Seeds and yourself." he adds with a wink. Of course it's not expected they'd share everything, but he's admittedly very curious. "And whatever happened with you and the red spear girl?"

Hannah Sharpe has posed:
Truly, food is the way to any true Southerner's heart, and Hannah shows up dressed to impress. It's a white dress, long and ankle-length, one of those strapless numbers that manages to be both daring and classy at the same time. Like the rest of her, she exudes pure confidence as she makes her way in, helped over by a waiter. Setting down her silver cane, she smiles as they make smalltalk.

Whatever issues she might have with him at times, she genuinely enjoys Takashi's company.

"Oh, what, and spoil the surprise?" She teases back, grinning, but then settles into a slightly more business manner.

"But no. I needed to test my limits. See what I could work with my own hands." She makes vague hand-waving motions, as if searching for words.

"It brought me enemies and allies and I think I have learned a lot about myself in the process."

A shake of the head.

"...But maybe I was headstrong and an idiot. Barging in without consulting certain gentlemen." She ponders out loud, that slight frown a pensive one. She's been doing that a lot lately.

"And in the end while I managed to see my enemy conquered, I only too late realized that I was using too much power, too quickly. Oh. Here." She pulls out a case with a high-capacity memory chip in it.

"Everything I have about those Grief Seeds and how to make them. Until I can find some way to put a buffer between that much magic and my body, or somehow increase my linker core's capacity, it's useless to me. I need other avenues of advancement."

"Oh, Kyouko-san? Well, she stole one of my little prizes. She didn't talk about it, but I think that she used one. It cracked her soul gem. No more transforming for her. So, we called a truce. No point in attacking someone who isn't a threat to you, right?"

An eye closes as her food arrives. "Though I want to see that thing healed. See if my little injections of liquified linker core will do anything to her."

Her dinner tonight? It's steak. Of a sort. Country fried steak, white gravy, cajun spices and a ton of black pepper over steak and a heaping of steak fries alike. Thank goodness magical girls like her have an amazing metabolish. Her religious workout regime helps too.

She settles back, spearing a fry and devouring it. Mmm. Sausage gravy.

"I guess that's where I stand. Most of my enemies are off the table, I'm at a crossroads for power, and I have way too much weakness to purge from myself."

"What about you? Heard you and your employees have been having a lot of success getting Lost Logia."

Takashi Agera has posed:
Takashi is having what is quite possibly his favorite food; it's a fillet mignon. But not just any cut; it has been coated with a coffee rub. There are very few things that could actually draw his attention away from such a delicacy - the memory chip is one of them, and he puts his fork and knife down to grab it. He won't have to be breaking his way into WPS just yet. Which is good, as for now, he'd like to keep Hannah on the allies column. He's under no illusions about the permanance of this positive relationship, but he'll make use of it while it lasts.

And, to be fair, he /does/ find himself genuinely enjoying her company. The closest thing to a kindred spirit. "Thank you." he says, genuinely, as he takes it and pockets it. Not within his suit, but within his device. His remarkably shiny and new-looking device. He leans back. "Not as much success as I'd hope. When there are six items and I only come out with one? I hope for better rates. But I do have the one." he says.

"The Lost Logia... the Devices. They're remarkable. Way ahead of anything we had access before - and I mean anything. I worked in R+D, you know. I've got stuff in my lab now they would literally kill for." he adds, spearing a perfectly-cut peice of his meal and stuffing it in his mouth.

Hannah Sharpe has posed:
"Mmm! That Device feels so.../powerful/!" She hadn't had much time to appreciate it last fight, after all. She was a bit distracted.

"So what can it do!? Tell me!" Comes the girl, food abandoned mostly as she leans forward in obvious curiousity and pure desire to learn.

Then she frowns. "Just be careful about who you tell that to, okay?" God help her but she sounds concerned.

"I don't want you ending up like my former Boss."

Her head tilts.

"So what's next for you? Going to keep chasing Lost Logia?"

As for herself? "I need to focus on training myself. The company's growing at a good clip, but if I'm this weak, it'll fall eventually or get scooped up. If I can get enough arms manufacturing sets go, I can at least get my employees fit." Being, of course, her roboguards and homura.

"But I need to find something to fill up my gap." Her linker core, still burning with darkness, flashes briefly.

"Any ideas?"

Takashi Agera has posed:
Takashi smiles. Indeed, she is very like a kindred spirit. He knows that sparkle in the eyes that belies a true inner desire for knowledge, for information. "Well. They wouldn't be able to use it, to understand it like I can. In fact, as far as I know, nobody on the planet understands these... mid-childan devices... like I do. Because I don't think anyone else can build them." That's a new tidbit he's let her have to nibble on - he can build Devices now.

"You know that so much of what Eclipse does... well, the interesting stuff that isn't business and paperwork - revolves around Dark Energy, what my mother discovered. They like to think of it as a fusion of magic and technology, but a lot of it is just manipulating this energy that's already around. Moving it, shaping it. But it's not the same as what you and I do - the magical power we wield with our devices. The strength we draw from our emotions. That's real magic. That's the stuff not anyone can do. You can give Raging Tempest or Axion to any of those bums in corporate, but they wouldn't be able to do what we can. That's the sort of stuff I'm looking at now. Real /magic/, not the parlor tricks R+Ds been working with. I feel closer to my mother every day." he adds. There's that pride again - not just in himself, but in his mother.

"I'm not sure. The Logia are interesting, and I'm sure I'll keep an employee or two working on it. I also have some... personal issues to take care of. But I don't want to burden you with that." There's also the fact that he has a feeling some of his 'personal issues' and the way he wants to resolve them might not be approved of by the woman in front of him. In fact, she would probably already be more than upset if she knew who was responsible for the recent ruckus in Mamoru Chiba's apartment - which he apparently survived.

"What I'm really going to be doing is trying to find more peices of this puzzle. There's so much power out there. And if I can understand it, I can harness and control it. Just like I'm doing with Devices. But I'm not going to stop there."

Hannah Sharpe has posed:
Hannah nearly chokes on her food. Nomnomnom! Like a woodchipper when she's trying to not choke. She frowns accusingly at Takashi for it, then wipes her mouth and is all smiles.

"You /can/! So that explains it! You've definitely been busy!"

Still, she's nodding. She /gets/ it.

"Yeah. Heh. You know, that might have been my problem."

Leaning back, she scarfs down a fry.

"I looked for a quick way to power. I need to build myself up, not shove stupid amounts of energy into me that'll run me dry."

She waves a hand at the 'personal issues'. She has a bad feeling, but it's his business.

"Good luck. No dieing!" Reeeach! Nose-poke!

"Good. Keep going. I'll be right behind you. We both need to learn control, get stronger, and take from those old men above us. Just like with the old man." Her grin is shark-like now.

Wind and anger, her emotions, her tools. She needs to delve into them, understand them, and grow stronger with them.

Takashi Agera has posed:
Takashi smirks a bit. "And here I thought you disdained crutches and the like..." there's a pause. "Speaking of, whatever happened to that little bandit. Did you give her the punishment she deserved?" he asks, a smirk on his face. "I haven't run into her alone since then; she was good at giving me the slip in big fights. She's afraid of me; she doesn't want me to take her wand." he adds.

"Also, red-spear-girl... you say she broke something and now she can't transform? I imagine I'll learn some bit about it from the data you passed but - is it similar to our devices? I was asking because I thought I had seen her... well, doing something that seemed out of character from the girl you'd tried to recruit, is all." he muses. Back to the opera, and her inability to fight a very simple Retriver.

"Let me know if you'd ever like me to take a look at Raging Tempest. This..." he taps Axion Gamma gently. "is almost entirely new parts. No more junkyard hybrids for me."

Hannah Sharpe has posed:
Hannah sighs a bit. "You'd be amazed how easy it is to delude yourself when you have your life's goals right in front of you. But never again! From now on, I'll prove I don't need anything like that!"

She pumps a fist, then blushes at a few stares. Ahem.

She eats for a bit.

Right, the Princess. Time to tread carefully.

"I gave her my mind, but then she ran away. She's good at that. Slippery little wench. Haven't seen her since." Not technically a lie but not the whole truth either.

"She might have decided to finally skip town. A shame, but I have other things to concentrate on."

As for Kyouko?

"Yeah. Something that lets them transform." Puella Magi, of course.

"Seems if they get cracked they lose their power. Maybe she used too much magic?"

She rubs the coin that is her Device.

"Yeah. Once I heal up from that little encounter, you can look at her, and give her a tune-up. A few parts are probably worn out after that." Poor, poor RT.

Takashi Agera has posed:
Takashi finishes the last of his meal and smiles. "Well, you can drop by our little headquarters anytime you like. You're one of the few people who aren't an employee the system will let in. Well, without being sent to an experimentation room." he adds, with a wink. "I'd probably visit you more often myself, but I think your Employee of the Month is not fond of me - and I don't want to walk into WPS as a civilian.

"I know you've met Ayana, and Helix I think, but you should really meet Fate and Yomi too. They may not even realize it yet, but they're really the workings of an effective team, with all of their varied skillsets.

He stops, and there's a moment of silence. "Deluding yourself... I think it's something different than that, if what happened went how I imagine it did. A word of advice, Hannah-chan. Your emotions give you power. And you're very strong because your emotions are very strong. As far as I can tell, that's part of how magic works. But because your emotions are so strong, you also need to make sure you don't let them control you. Draw strength from them, but don't let them draw recklessness from you. Because they will. I know, because I have to take the same care with mine." Another, longer pause. "Lest we end up like my mother."

Hannah Sharpe has posed:
There's a dark chuckle.

"Yeah, I'd rather there not be any incidents."

"But yeah, I'll drop by. Brings some drinks, we can all make a party of it!"

Ever the outgoing one, Hannah.

"Yomi? Huh. And the cute sounding girl. Alright, I'll visit! Gotta do some of that networking after all!" Grin!

Then she listens. After some silence, she slowly nods.

"I guess control of them is my problem. You always seem cool and collected. Me? My emotions are like a burning fire. A...Raging Tempest you could say." Smirk.

She finishes off her food, amazingly, almost in time with Takashi.

"Yeah, that recklessness cost me last time."

Then, more, awkward silence. She's bad at this kind of thing.

"Hey, umm...I won't push the issue. But you ever need to talk about it, I'll listen. Or if you just want to talk about her in general. Okay? You have my number. Any time."

Takashi Agera has posed:
Takashi smiles a bit. "Don't worry. I've come to terms with it. I've had a long time to do so. My mother made a sacrifice to give me the strength and understanding I have today. That's my secret. When my emotions are swirling like a hurricane - or a tempest.." and there's a wink "- what she did for me grounds me. Maybe you just need some grounding of your own, a line to hold onto when the same happens."

"But... if I ever do need to avail myself of your offer, I will. I'm not such a fool as to turn down an ear willing to listen."

"And if I have to use it as an excuse to spend time with you more, I'm willing to do that, too. You're too hard to pin down sometimes." he says with a grin. And then as he gets up, he takes the check off the table and walks to the front to pay - and tip generously - despite Miss White's offer. He's a great many things, and a great many of them are horrid. But he's still not about to let her pick up the tab for this dinner. It's a small gesture, but one he can and will make.

Hannah Sharpe has posed:
"Heh. So she's your strength huh?" The woman mutters, trying to imagine it. She loves her family, but they're simple people.

"Something to ground me." She mutters again. Then, she smiles.

"Yeah. I'll find that anchor so I can finally have control."

'Use it as an excuse to spend more time with you'.

Hannah doesn't even realize there's the tip and the bill. She manages to stare after him, feeling his magic, and the now burning crimson of her cheeks.

"Youuuuuuuu!" She calls out, in mock anger, but she's grinning even as she blushes and rushes to catch up.