477/Takashi and his Fox

Takashi and his Fox
Date of Scene:	21 October 2015
Location:	Mitakihara - Infinity University
Synopsis:	Ayana and Takashi have a difficult talk.
Cast of Characters:	Takashi Agera, Ayana

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Ayana has posed:
A chill wind blows across Infinity University. It's mid-day, and the students are only now breaking for lunch. Ayana Moriko should be doing the same, at a school half-way across the city, yet once again she has chosen to avoid school (despite the cajolings of her friends).

Instead, a svelte black fox seems to think now is a good time for hunting. It's an odd time of day for a fox to hunt, yet here it is, drifting its way across the campus, slowly creeping upwind of a pair of squirrels busily rummaging through the remains of a crunch bar left by a student.

Slowly, the fox creeps towards its prey, inching forward bit by bit in the hunt for its next meal. As she draws very near to the squirrels, the fox stop smoving altogether, staring at them cautiously, aptiently waiting for the right opportunity to pounce out of the bushes and snatch her prey.

There, the moment comes; a shift in the wind threatens to reveal the fox's plan and foil her lunch, but she is ready for it. A flash of shadows descends on the happless squirrels as the fox leaps upon her prey. She manages to catch them both, bashing them together in a violent display of aggression, power, and cunning. Her meal caught, the black fox settles down, paws clutching at both as she begins to feast.

Takashi Agera has posed:
Takashi should be at school too - if not to learn, then to at least keep up appearances. But... Ayana hadn't been home for days. At first, Takashi thought he might have just missed her. But then he went shopping for groceries, and the next day, all of the food was there. While it's a silly thing, it made him aware of it - she wasn't coming home at all. And that bothered him, on a lot of levels. While he was sure nothing bad could've happened to /his/ familiar, that honestly didn't stop him from being concerned. He could still feel her, faintly, through their link - so maybe someone had her? Maybe someone had figured out the link between them?

The idea that she might have been voluntarily choosing to stay away really hadn't entered his mind. And so, he was soaring above the skies of Mitakihara, in full henshin, his device in hand, running a Wide-Area sweep - looking for signs of Ayana, or at least of Still Night.

To say he was surprised when he registers something at Infinity's campus would be an understatement of a high order. In fact he'd dismissed it earlier, but now it seems to be pretty obvious. So Takashi stops his flight, and de-henshins behind a convinent tree. Now he's on the ground, looking around for her. And then he sees the telltale... tail... of a black fox in the brush nearby. So he creeps a bit close before saying lowly. "Hello, little fox. Are you... by any chance... my brave little one?"

Ayana has posed:
~Takashi!~ The thought emerges from the fox's mind, into Takashi's, before she even has a chance to /try/ and stop herself. The little fox looks up from her feast, sapphire eyes affixed on Takashi. There is worry, there; nervousness and fear both. Afraid of what, though? Surely not of him. Or perhaps it is of him, for the fox takes a cautious step away from her food, placing it between her and Takashi.

After a moment, the fox's form shimmers and transforms, leaving the girl she has become crouched on the ground hands-and-feet in a dark-hued fuku. Still night dangles from a choker about her neck, the dark gem gleaming with power. "Not so brave," she admits to him quietly, and now she's transformed the fear and worry are clear in her eyes.

Takashi Agera has posed:
Almost instinctively, at the fear and worry in Ayana's eyes, Takashi's shine with an a dangerous fire, a hostility. But it's not for her. "Is someone after you?" he asks, his voice also turned hostile. "Is someone attacking you? Just tell me who you're afraid of, and I'll fix them." He's still somewhat stuck in his own idea, that she must have something serious preventing her from coming home, either through duress or danger.

The idea that the danger might be him is not a worry that comes to his mind; but his actions may not be helping any, as a small orb of dark energy springs to his hand, ready to attack the imagined enemies, even out of his full henshin.

Ayana has posed:
Ayana winces at the sight of Takashi's ire, and ducks her head aside. "Takashi-senpai," she says his name, a harsh whisper and a reprimand in her tone. Perhaps she is bold, after all. "Stop," she repeats the instruction from their last confrontation, verbal now, and with far less begging. "Just ... please, stop. We should talk. I ... you will be angry with me. But I owe you honesty, and loyalty."

Takashi Agera has posed:
Takashi is a lot of things - but slow or stupid is not one of them. The tone in her voice, the things she's saying, and the way she's talking indicates she's at least not in immediate danger from an outside source. That orb of energy in his hands dissapates quickly, and he drops down to sit and be closer to her current height. He takes a deep breath, and it's like he's cleansing himself of that energy and adrenaline that just built up. He pushes a bit of silver-white hair back and nods.

"Okay. Lets talk then." His voice has returned to that common, calm neutrality. "Where have you been, why haven't you been home?" he asks. Then, lowly. "I got worried, you know. You didn't tell me where you were going to be, and while I respect your autonomy..." he trails off. "What's going on?"

Ayana has posed:
Ayana grimaces at the question, but stays silent for several moments. Eventually, the fox-girl settles onto her knees, in a subservient position before Takashi. At the very least, she is still outwardly his! Inwardly, though, "... I needed some time to think," she admits quietly. "I ..." she starts, then shakes her head, banishing the thought.

"Takashi-senpai, when you awakened me, you gave me visions of a beautiful future," she explains quietly. "You filled me with inspirations of a safe and ordered world; a world that held no evil, because you were its master. A world where none dared to challenge your power, because you were all powerful. I want that world," she explains to him quietly. "But," she continues, "what I saw a few nights ago was not that world. A world of corpses, where you are the only survivor, is not an ordered, safe, and evilless world; it is a hollow and empty world, devoid of good and evil both.

"Takashi," Ayana says, daring to look up at him defiantly, "Harming innocents who do not challenge your power is /wrong/. It will not make you stronger, it will only make you weaker. And I am certain of this, now. I saw it in you that day. I saw the way you lost control. You /lost control/, Takashi-senpai. You nearly hurt yourself in the process. If I hadn't put up the barrier to halt the growing dark, and stood in the way of an attack meant to kill you, and convinced my allies to leave ... Takashi if they had all chosen to attack you in coordination, you could have been gravely wounded. Possibly mortally wounded. You are not invincible, master. And you are better than a petty villain who must prey upon the innocent for his power. You are not evil. But your actions that day were."

Takashi Agera has posed:
Takashi blinks. He listens. And then he thinks. He thinks quickly - it's one of his strong suits - and considers. And then he takes a deep breath. He points at the two squirrels she recently attacked. "Does that make you Evil, too?" he asks, gesturing towards them. "They were probably just going about whatever passes for squirrel business, and you, a predator, needed to eat - you were hungry. In fact, you grabbed both this time - you probably didn't need both to survive. But to thrive, you needed more."

Takashi pauses, letting that sink in. "It's the same thing here, only I didn't even kill anyone. I just borrowed from them. They're making sacrifices for the greater good of everyone. It's like an involuntary blood drive."

"And I was in control. I knew the heroes would come, I knew they would come in numbers. You put yourself at risk by throwing off the variables, but maybe it's my fault for not expecting you might get drawn in under your cover. But look. I run experiments. I take energy. The heroes show up, we fight - that's all planned. It's always planned. I have to get information on them... and that requires I fight them. And that's dangerous, but it's a risk I've prepared to mitigate as best I can. I've been hurt, but to my knowledge, never killed."

Ayana has posed:
Ayana follows Takashi's gesture towards the squirrels, staring at her planned meal. She reaches up to self-consciously wipe at her mouth, wiping away imaginary blood that isn't there. Does it mak her evil? Squirrels aren't sapient; they haven't the ability to comprehend good and evil. Is the analogy still true?

"Are you certain you did not kill anyone?" Ayana asks weakly. "Are you certain you would not have, if I hadn't stopped you with the barrier?" She takes a breath, then looks back to Takashi worriedly. "Taka-kun, promise me that you will not kill anyone needlessly. Promise me that the beautiful future you showed me is real ... that you will rule this world, and that it will not be hollow."

Takashi Agera has posed:
There's another deep breath. "You know, there's something I think you understand... every group has to have a leader. From animals to humans - companies to countries. And the strength of that leader matters - a weak leader causes everything to break down. You've been a magical girl, you've seen the danger to humanity, to everything, that lurks there." he adds. "And you've seen the truth - you know I should be running this little pack. Not just because it's right, because it's the natural order of things for the strong to lead the pack. But because there are threats out there to fight, and I am best positioned to fight them - once I am in charge.

"But I can't get to that point without shaking things up, without causing turmoil, without some people making sacrifices..." Tellingly, he doesn't put a limitation on said sacrifices. "You can't become leader of a pack by just hugging people and telling them you'll do good. You have to TAKE charge. That's what I'm doing, in the long term - in the smartest way I can."

Ayana has posed:
"I have also seen the benefit to humanity," Ayana gently tells Takashi. "Magical girls are not inherently evil, it's just that most of them are so blinded by their thirst for recognition that they leap at any chance to defeat a perceived villain. They don't bother to understand, they just attack what they perceive as evil. One of my friends is like that. The other ... the other is not so quick to judge, Takashi. I think, given time, she would come to understand. And I wonder how many more there are like her. Sacrifices must be made," she agrees, "but let it be those who refuse to understand, not those who never have the chance, ne?"

Takashi Agera has posed:
Takashi looks over at Ayana. "I am sure some of them have good interests at heart. But the best interests, poorly implemented, can cause as much damage as someone who's actively trying to be destructive. And, as you say, they're so hungry for victory that they're unable to see the long game. And, in fact, I think if they knew my long game they would be more likely to rally against it harder. By keeping things in the dark, I prevent them from seeing the long term plans."

"I don't think they'd be willing to accept a dark wielder like myself in charge of them, no matter what good it would be. It would be like the fight I had with Eclipse's management to give me this position, only worse, and with a lot more pink..." he adds, unable to help from making a small joke and a smile.

"But they also, as you say, provide value to the world, and would provide value to me. That's why I can't just eliminate them, unless I can replace them. But that same power makes them dangerous to me and my plans. It's a complicated issue, and one I hope to solve soon. Perhaps some who understand can be helped but... it's dangerous to allow power I don't control."

Ayana has posed:
Ayana grimaces, just a little. "I will try to steer Cute Wolf Tsukiko away from you," she says to him quietly, "until she is ready to accept you. I don't want her to be hurt by accident, but I'm certain she's not a threat to you." With a faint slump, Ayana finally breaks the topic to say, "I miss beds. Sleeping on the ground is not as comfortable as I used to think it was."

Takashi Agera has posed:
Takashi leans over. He even gently ruffles her hair. "I'll do my best, since she's your friend. Between the two of us, maybe we can make sure she stays okay. But you also have to keep her from following the path of people... well, people like the guy who tried to introduce unhealthy levels of flaming sword into my chest." he adds with another grin.

"I'm going to trust you on this, Ayana." he adds, looking firmly into her eyes. He doesn't say anything else about that. Then, he smiles. "Well, of course the ground is less comfortable now. You know what sleeping in a bed can be like. Are we gonna go home? I've gotten used to buying enough food for both of us and now I can't fit my leftovers in the fridge because you're not there eating everything." Another, wider grin.

Ayana has posed:
Ayana's ears flatten to either side at Takashi's touch; submission and appreciation both in the gesture. She leans into his hand, then smiles up at him weakly. "I'm sorry that I doubted you, Taka-kun," she says quietly. "Let's go home,"