909/Familiar Chat

Familiar Chat
Date of Scene:	23 January 2016
Location:	Nakajima Warehouse - I.D.I.O.M.
Synopsis:	Mikoto has been overworking herself -- AGAIN -- and Hikari takes steps.
Thanks to:	Ayana, for portraying Hikari
Cast of Characters:	Mikoto Nakajima

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Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
It's been a few days since the fight with Riventon's youma-slash-jewel-seed experiment, and the clawsipe Mikoto took is almost fully healed. She's certainly shown how grateful she is to Hikari for helping her there, helping the young familiar pick out a suitable wardrobe, and setting up private rooms for them in the former office space of the warehouse she's taken over.

(Indeed, she's finally persuaded the family to officially set it aside for her use. They're a little less happy about it than about her using the pricy apartment known as the 'Summer Garden', but it also makes a less obvious romantic spot for her to be entertaining Unsuitable Suitors.)

Today, though, it's time for a break from her work. She's been spending the afternoon pouring over the Midchildan databanks, reviewing what data she's been able to extract from them so far, hunting for any information on recent history, Device maintenance and manufacture, and just who else might have been on the ship with Lindy. It's frequently tedious work, since much of what she manages to decode is simply boring operational logs with minimal useful information.

It's well past time for her to set it aside and rest, and she just sits there at the desk for a few minutes, staring at the screen, eyes unfocussed.

Hikari has posed:
Hikari was not just a little pleased at the shopping; she was downright ecstatic. Being able to buy her own clothes was a true treat for the catgirl, and she made sure to show it with many claims of 'thank you' and private hugs, little squeals and that night: by curling up next to Mikoto in bed, purring loudly, in cat form. Possibly this kept Mikoto awake, but who can resist a purring pile of fluffy white leopard!?

Otherwise, however, Hikari has tried to stay out of Mikoto's way when she's working, yet always close to hand. The catgirl seems to have developed an affection for music: always with an MP3 player in her hands, and earbuds in those oversized fluffy ears of hers. If it weren't for that, Mikoto might not even notice Hikari is there when she's working. But the earbuds aren't meant for cat ears, and so the sound leaks out. Apparently she likes J-Pop.

Oh, and she also seems to be able to anticipate MIkoto's needs. Periodically while working, little snacks show up at Mikoto's arm. A sandwich heer, some apples and peanutbutter there. Drinks. Candy.

And then, when the tediousness gets too much (like right now), Hikari appears as if magically out of thin air and drapes her arms over Mikoto's shoulders. "You're working too hard," the catgirl whispers into Mikoto's ear, then hugs her very gently. She's dressed in a pink and grey hoodie, black teeshirt, and sweat shorts. Bare feet and bare legs, but it's not like they're outside in the cold. "Can I do anything to help you relax for a little bit?"

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
Mikoto blinks, tearing her eyes away from the screen to look to the catgirl. "Oh... Hikari-chan. You startled me." She takes a deep breath and lets it out, slowly. "What time is it?"

On being informed of the hour, she almost falls out of the chair as she tries to get up, the circulation in her feet all gone muzzy over the hours of work. "Uhm. Help me over to the couch, for starters?" She holds the edge of the table to balance herself, then lets Hikari help her across the room. She settles on the couch, once there, and puts her feet up on the ottoman, looking back at her new best friend with a soft little smile.

Hikari has posed:
"Two in the morning," Hikari replies quietly, as she helps Mikoto up out of her chair. "You should have been in bed three hours ago if you're going to make it to school in the morning." It's not a remonstration; it's simply application of fact to figure. There's concern, too.

"But I know this is important to you," Hikari explains softly as she lifts Mikoto straight up into her arms and carries her mistress to the couch. Setting Mikoto down, Hikari smiles, then sits down on the ottoman and pulls one of Mikoto's legs into her lap to begin massaging it with firm, surprisingly skilled hands.

Amazing what the familiar ritual can teach: skills the master has but hasn't refined, knowledge they've discarded years ago. How to give a proper massage may not be in Mikoto's list of skills, but she certainly remembers having one, which means Hikari knows how to give one.

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
"It's Saturday tomorrow," Mikoto insists. "Nobody's going to care if I skip." Again. She missed nearly an entire week, obsessing over the PreCure Graveyard. Hikari will know her biggest flaw quite well, this tendency to get lost in a project, hyper-focussed until nothing else matters, not even her own health and hygiene.

Indeed, without her familiar's aid she'd likely be eating an energy bar a day at best, wearing the same clothes she had on three days ago, and probably would have completely missed her training session with Firebird, ruining her chances of making a good impression on her student.

She gets a goofy little grin as Hikari carries her over to the couch, that doesn't leave as the cat-girl goes to work on her legs. "Have I told you how much I appreciate you, lately, Hikari-chan?" She's shied away from saying 'I love you' almost as firmly as she did with Ikuto. Though from the way she acts it's fairly clear. And the massage certainly seems to be working, the circulation improving quickly.

Hikari has posed:
"You don't need to tell me," Hikari says quietly as she focuses on her master's leg very diligently. "I just wish you wouldn't work yourself so overbearingly. But I know why you do it," Hikari is quick to explain, "and I won't try to stop you. If you believe your research is worth the penalty for skipping Saturday, I will support you."

Hikari smiles as she finishes on the first leg, then swaps to the other and repeats the procedure. "I'll even do my beset to help clear your name with the office, although I have limited ability to accomplish this. But a simple phonecall from your parents would, and I might be able to mimic your mother's voice with enough practice."

Here, Hikari clears her throat, then looks up at Mikoto thoughtfully. "Do you want me to wake you for school in the morning?" she asks curiously. "I'm not going to let you sleep here on the couch, but I will happily carry you to your room and wake you at whatever hour you wish."

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
"I know," Mikoto mumbles, her eyes drifting shut as she leans back on the couch. She isn't asleep. She's just trying to get rid of the headache from staring at the screen for so long. "There's just so much to do. Sometimes I wish I could invent a time-turner, like in those silly books. Then I could live every day twice, and get twice as much done. It still wouldn't be enough, but it'd be a big help."

It still wouldn't be enough. That's been her excuse for every extreme measure, in the end. That there just isn't enough time, enough brainpower, enough information. There's Walpurgisnacht to defeat. Ayana to set free. Her Device maintenance project. And of course Ikuto and Easter and the damn stubborn cat-boy's insistence on 'keeping her out of danger'. As if she wasn't in enough danger already.

"I don't deserve you," she mutters.

Hikari has posed:
"I think you will find that saving my life from a certain death affords you all the deserving y ou need," Hikari says gently. "And even if you won't believe that my gratitude for it is eternal, you have me whether you deserve me or not."

Hikari leans forward to kiss Mikoto's toes on this second leg--except it turns into a little bit of a little-fanged nibble before she puts the foot back down in her lap.

"Can I help you with any of these projects?" Hikari asks uncertainly. "I'm no mage, but I've gained a lot of knowledge of magic from you. Even if I can be a sounding board, I'd be pleased to help you whatever way I can."

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
Mikoto lets out a little giggle at the toe-nibbling, wiggling her feet. "Oh... oh my Light, my Hikari." She lifts her head, looking back down at you. "You've already saved me, too. Saved my heart from my own foolishness."

She sighs. "Ikuto-kun is going to have to wait, I ... don't like it, but..." She tilts her head back again. "You know about Ayana's situation, right? Her master's been abusing her horribly..." And one of her big projects this week has been finding a way to break that bond. Preferably without destroying the person Ayana has become. ... She hasn't had much luck.

Hikari has posed:
Hikari's ears flicker forward, attention fully devoted to Mikoto when she begins explaining this 'Ayana'. Idly, she continues to rub the bottom of Mikoto's feet, but she doesn't seem to be actively massaging, any longer.

"Abusing a familiar," Hikari says, sadness in her tone. "I didn't know. Is there anything we can do about it?"

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
"Mmmm. I don't know, that's the thing. We've got some ideas... me and this wolf-girl she's in love with... but, well. Don't know if it'll work. Or if she'll stay her, or just go back to being the little fox." Mikoto mmms softly, wiggling her toes again, and beckons you closer with a wave of her hand.

"I hate to ask you to be a part of that. You shouldn't have to see..." She trails off, unable to voice it: to see another Familiar possibly devolved back to her animal state, or worse, dead.

Hikari has posed:
The catgirl's ears flicker back again, this time in faint annoyance at something Mikoto's said. Yet that annoyance is clearly not targetted at Mikoto herself. Gently, she sets Mikoto's feet aside on the ottoman, then rolls forward and crawls across the expanse to sit practically in Mikoto's lap, head curled up on Mikoto's shoulder, arms wrapped around the girl's midsection.

"If you're going to sever the bond," Hikari says gently, "she will likely be returned to a fox. I don't know if she'll retain any sense of who or what she once was if you do that. But ... if I were being abused, I think I'd prefer that to the abusive state. I don't know, my mistress treats me well, so perhaps I have no room to speak. But I can't imagine wanting to be the subject of cruelty."

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
Mikoto wraps an arm around the catgirl, drawing her close and kissing her forehead. "If I ever do treat you in a way you don't like, you'll tell me, won't you? I don't want to ever hurt you, Hikari-chan." She holds the small form close, clinging as much to the idea of a companion as to the physical embodiment of it.

Hikari has posed:
Hikari smiles and kisses Mikoto's cheek. "Of course," she whispers. "But you won't treat me badly," she explains to Mikoto. "Your love for me is undeniable and unwavering. I am quite probably the most well cared-for familiar that has ever been. And I care for you equally as much. This is why you deserve me, Miko-chan. So don't worry over me, okay?"

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
"I worry all the time, Hikari-chan. I worry about you, about Ikuto, about Uncle John... never know if one of his old 'friends' might come to pay a visit, you know, if they find out he's here... and then there's all the monsters we fight...."

After all, it's only been a few days since you carried her off with a claw-swipe across the chest. "I'll try," she finally says. And then adds, "So what do you think of little Firebird?"

Hikari has posed:
Hikari begins to purr, very softly, as she leans up against Mikoto. It's not just as a human attempting to imitate a cat; she's legitimately got the ability to purr, somehow, in that body. She continues to purr even as she speaks, although it does give an oddly warbly quality to her voice, "I don't know. She's nice," Hikari suggests. "Perhaps a little too self-pitying. She needs confidence."

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
"Mmm," Mikoto murmurs, fingers stroking your hair gently, teasing around the base of your soft-furred ears. "She does. Started her off easy... got to keep working on it, find some lower energy-cost spells for her to use..." Especially that flight spell. Gravity's a useful force to manipulate, but not for personal flight.

Hikari has posed:
Hikari's eyes close involuntarily as Mikoto pets her ears. Her purring grows louder, more intense, and for a moment the catgirl seems incapable of speech.

Actually it's not merely a moment, because she soon turns into a cat again; fifty pounds of fluffy, big-pawed leopard lie across Mikoto's lap, leaning so heavily into the ear-petting that Mikoto probably finds it hard to move; maybe hard to breathe under the affection from her familiar.

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
At first, Mikoto seems to enjoy it, but after a minute or two she pushes you up a bit. "Hey, hey, a little room... I like to cuddle as much as the next kitten, but a girl's gotta breathe." She still gives you a warm little squeeze, however.

Hikari has posed:
Hikari doesn't seem to notice Mikoto's need for air, even after she's pushed away. It's not until Mikoto gives her the squeeze that the catgirl's eyes open, and she looks around confusedly ... then reverts to girl. "S--sorry," she says with a blush. "I just ... it felt so good," she mumbles.

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
Mikoto nods, and leans her head in to kiss your forehead again. "Yeah... sometimes I wish my own life could be that simple. That free of care." She sighs, again, and leans into Hikari's girl-form. "At least I have you to spend it with."

Hikari has posed:
"Always," Hikari agrees quietly, then kisses Mikoto on the cheek and hugs her again. "You ready for me to take you to your bed?" she asks the raven-haired girl quietly. "I've already laid out your pajamas for you up there. I can draw a bath, too, if you'd like."

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
Mikoto hmmms softly, a goofy little smile crossing her lips as she gets a sudden image stuck in her imagination... for a moment, at least. "Mmm-hm. I don't know if I dare the tub right now... it'd put me straight to sleep, and cold water'd wake me up... should just wash in the morning." She idly teases fingers through your hair, without really paying much attention to what she's doing. It just feels so good to have someone this close, that she can trust with this kind of intimacy. "Maybe just a quick wash."

Hikari has posed:
Hikari sighs and leans into the pettings for just a moment longer. "Are you going to school tomorrow, or will I be trying to fake an excuse for you?" the catgirl asks.

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
Mikoto sighs, again, and gives in. "Alright, alright, I'll go. But in the afternoon I've got to go help Ayana-san and Ikiko-san. Will you keep watch over us while we do this? Ikiko wants to try some sort of healing she can do on the fox."

Hikari has posed:
"Then you need a bath tonight," Hikaria replies gently to Mikoto. "You smell unwashed." It's a gentle teasing, but honest, too. "Yes, I will watch over you," Hikari promises. Tomorrow, and tonight while you bathe to ensure the warm waters do not cause you to drown. Stay here while I draw the bath. I'll come and fetch you when it's time." Then she hugs Mikoto before slipping out of her arms and turning to bound towards the bathroom.