959/Meeting the Fist

Meeting the Fist
Date of Scene:	01 February 2016
Location:	Mitakihara/Pikarigaoka - Botanical Gardens
Synopsis:	Cute Wolf Tsukiko talks with the nameless new magical girl, offering assistance and a nickname.
Cast of Characters:	Ikiko Hisakata, Ayana, Ano Onna

---

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
While the Botanical Gardens weren't spared from the wrath of the storm, there are sections that were less damaged than others. Here, there's just the occasional broken branch; the park workers have been kept busy with the cleanup, and the garden is closed to the public for the next few days as they try to catch up with the sudden influx of work.

But for magical girls (and their foxes), a closed park just means that they're unlikely to be interrupted, even less so than normal. Besides, it's a calm, easy-to-access location; while Tsukiko suspects that the magical puncher can probably make it to the rooftops, it's easier to meet for the first time (outside of a fight) at ground level.

The wolfgirl had brought her fox companion along, thinking that perhaps bounding across the rooftops might help it remember more of its life as Ayana. For now, there's a bowl of food and a bowl of water under a nearby shrub, giving the fox a place to hide while the magical girls meet.

Ayana has posed:
The little fox is cleaner and fluffier than it's been in days. That blue collar gleams against its burnt orange fur. And oh how excited it was to be carried across the city, high above and at high speeds, tucked into Cute Wolf Tsukiko's jacket and arms.

When they reached the park, the little fox excitedly bounded out of Tsukiko's arms, then dizzily tried to get its feet under itself again before padding over to begin sniffing at bushes. Because really, there's not much better for a fox to do than sniff at bushes.

When the food gets set down, the fox hastily moves to eat, chomping on what looks to be an impressively meaty sandwich. All that work to get the fox clean goes quickly to waste as it gets mustard on its nose.

Ano Onna has posed:
    It had been one hell of a night. Going straight from depositing Konoko in a shelter to getting completely caught in the eye of that horrible monster Witch-storm with a slew of actual honest to goodness magical girls, That Girl really has a load of questions to get off her chest.
    Though they had to wait most of the day, as she hadn't regained consciousness until much later in the day, and promptly staggered off, despite any potential warnings to stay down and rest. She had to see the damage for herself after that battle. Even if it had been successful. The state the city is in makes her wince anyway as she glances down at her open palm in quiet contemplation as she stands alone in the gardens. They seemed as good a place as any for some form of... No, it can't really be called that as she clenches her fist. She has a meeting to attend.
    That's why it's not long before another figure THUMPS down, not too far off, landing on knees and one hand in a small crater of her own making, half-lidded scarlet eyes flincing in a wince of pain from her own landing.
    Sore is not a word that can even describe how she feels right now.
    "Unh."
    Is. Is that some kind of greeting?

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
Cute Wolf Tsukiko giggles slightly at the mustard-nosed fox. At least she has napkins to clean the nose later! And the fact that the fox enjoyed being carried while she was bounding across the city is a good sign.

The sound of a heavy landing isn't as encouraging, though. The wolfgirl winces as she looks over at the new arrival. "Still getting used to what you can do?" she asks, offering That Girl a hand to stand up. "It does get easier with time and practice."

Ayana has posed:
The fox startles at the sound of That Girl's heavy landing. It hides deep in the brush, although a pair of glimmering sapphire eyes, and a length of blue nylon leash give away the animal's location. It peers out at the Nameless Hero for several minutes before deciding it's safe to come back out. And even then it's very skittish as it returns to its bowl, constantly peering towards that girl to make sure she's not going to come steal the food.

Ano Onna has posed:
    It takes her a second to get back on her feet, and when she does there's a wobble before she can properly regain her balance. "Getting used to it, sure." Replied after a moment, one hand holding her hip.
    For the record her hip hurt. Hell, for the record every part of her hurt. The last thing she remembers was a face full of dreaded and nightmarish balefire enveloping her in totality before blacking out in freefall. But she takes great care not to show that she's in as much pain as she really is feeling.
    "... Thanks for yesterday, by the way." She adds after a beat, as though the whole scenario was completely awkward for her. "I'm used to throwing myself at people like that alone-- well not like that. No one ever hit me back with lightning." She does add a an afterthought.
    After a beat, burgundy eyes flick to the little fox, gnoshing away. "I don't think I saw that one with you last time..."
    She's trying to make mild conversation.
    God, making new 'friends' is difficult when Konoko isn't around to help her be more social than 'fist'.

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
"She was back with my family," Tsukiko remarks. "I was on the way home from picking up some last-minute groceries when I saw that guy."

She walks over and skritches the little fox. "It's a long story about her, but it's probably not relevant here," the wolfgirl admits, looking back at That Girl. "From what I can tell, that was your first time as a magical girl? Or close to it, anyway -- the fact that you didn't henshin until partway through the fight suggests as much."

Ayana has posed:
The fox looks up when Tsukiko's hand begins scritching its ears. The sandwich is huge, but it's already half gone. The little fox licks its chops, then peers at That Girl with eyes perhaps a little chillingly intelligent.

The little fox opens is mouth, and soft barking noises emerge. It sounds entirely natural to the Nameless Hero, but to Tsukiko's ear, those are words, "She looks terrible. She should lay down under the tree and nap."

Ano Onna has posed:
    Well that about explains it. The fox just plain wasn't there. Makes sense enough. "Groceries? In that nightmare?" Magical girls are something else. ... Except she kind of is one now, isn't she? "... Yeah." It's an honest answer. "All I could really think about doing was rushing him, when Konoko was in trouble."
    Though she strains a little to lower to a kneel, attempting to hold a hand out to the yapping little fox, wholly unaware that she's the one being 'talked about'.
    "Still. It was a pretty huge shock." --No kidding, she got tasered into a wall, "... And you're probably not going to believe the hell I went through after." Muttered. For a girl, though, she speaks in such an extremely blunt and masculine manner.
    'Not so surprising.' A voice mulls, emanating from the white gauntlet on her left hand.
    'The look on her face was still pretty priceless.' Her right gauntlet cackles.
    'Right up until she lost consciousness anyway.' The white adds on.
    "Uhn." The girl silences them both with a grunt. "I just thought I'd thank you."
    Funny. She hasn't asked for a name yet. Though... She hasn't given one, either.

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
Cute Wolf Tsukiko nods in agreement with the fox. "I think she first needs the time to nap," she responds to her fluffy companion in caninespeak, then looks to That Girl. "Given that I could sense magic in that storm while it was still a distance away... if there was a fight involved with it, I'm not surprised that you look like you could use a nap," the wolfgirl remarks in Japanese.

Her eyebrows go up at the chatter from the gauntlets. "Talking gauntlets," Tsukiko muses. "Well, it's still not the oddest thing I've seen as a magical girl." She looks at the gaunlets, then at the magical girl wearing them. "Anyway, I'm Cute Wolf Tsukiko, and the fox is... was... is Ayana," she says, then smiles brightly. "So, what are the names of you three?"

Ayana has posed:
The little fox sniffs at Tsukiko, but doesn't chatter its response again. Chattering is delayed in favor of an outstretched gauntlet. The fox ducks its head back a little--which might look less amusing if she wasn't still covered in mustard. It stares at that gauntlet, then takes a very tentative step forward and begins sniffing at the thing, uncertainly.

Ano Onna has posed:
    'Yes, hello.' The white gauntlet replies, voice smooth, almost elegant and enlightened.
    "'Yo!' The black chirps in, much more brash and informal, both very masculine in tone as the girl holds them up for better display, though she does boggle at the display of Tsukiko barking and yapping back to the fox, she's apparently opting to just not question it considering the girl's very... Canine? Lupine looking theme. Ah but here it goes. Introductions. Her very first one since...
    'I am dragon god of Heaven, Ten-ken.' The white gauntlet says, peeling apart and sliding off her hand as it takes on the form of a white dragon, half floating off the girl's wrist, the other half inscribed on her arm like a tattoo.
    The black gauntlet does much the same just afterwards. 'Dragon god of Earth! Tsuchi-ken! Sup!'
    As for the girl...
    Well with her gauntlets in dragon form it means she tries to pet the red fox bare handed. But also just kind of socially evades pretty smoothly. "Heh. Tsukiko huh? And Ayana. It's nice meeting you both."

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
Cute Wolf Tsukiko nods to the two dragons, then to That Girl... although the lack of a third name makes her headtilt slightly. Well, it's not like she had a magical girl name the first night or two that she was a magical girl; maybe That Girl just hasn't decided on one that she finds fitting.

"So, what school do you go to?" the wolfgirl inquires. "I'm a 5th grader at Seishou Public School, at least when I'm not trying to protect parts of Tokyo."

Ano Onna has posed:
    1) Ten-ken and Tsuchi-ken.
    2) ????
    3) Profit?
    That's how the moment seems to go, the awkwardness hanging in the air for a few beats, before she gives the admission. "I gave it up." Just like that. It's probably something easier to explain to a magical girl, anyway, at least she's pretty sure she won't get funny looks from a wolf-girl with super powers.
    "My name. I needed to give something to get something." She explains half-assed with a shrug, indicating the twin dragons, as they slide back on her arms to coil as intricate tattoos coiling their way up her biceps.
    It's that simple. She really has no name to give. So moving on- and she moves on pretty smoothly from that point.
    "Oh uh. Seiyou. Eighth grade." Smooth.

Ayana has posed:
The little fox leans into the bare-handed pets from That Girl right up until the point that she gets called Ayana. Then, the fox ducks away and rears its head back (getting a little mustard on the Nameless girl's hand, and stares at her.

"I had another name," she says to Tsukiko, though it's more of a question. "Something ... magical. Didn't I?"

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
Cute Wolf Tsukiko nods understandingly. "It's a common form of lore, yeah," she agrees. "Bit of both a blessing and a curse, but generally a fair deal, especially if it's from a trustworthy source."

The wolfgirl thinks for a moment. "Is your patron okay with you having nicknames? From what I understand, some of them take stricter views of what makes a name than others do."

And speaking of names...

"Yes, you did," Tsukiko replies to the fox. "The magical nickname you tended to use was 'Cute Fox Inari', at least when you actually used a magical name."

Ano Onna has posed:
    Nicknames, that's a good question. Because the girl shrugs kind of helplessly. "I donno." She admits point blank. "I feel like I can sort of remember it, like my old name's hanging there on the tip of my tongue, but every time it nearly hits me, it just floats away, now."
    'Her very existence has been reduced to Fist, from this point onward.' Ten-ken notes.
    'But it's what she wanted, so she can't complain.' Tsuchi-ken buts in.
    "And I'm not complaining about it. I guess I don't mind, if it means I can maybe actually make a difference now. So I guess a nickname'll have ti do. Assuming I don't get a divine fist in the face over it."
    Only one way to find that out. For now though, she looks between Tsukiko and the fox, gabbing away right in front of her.
    "Soooo... You can understand her?"

Ayana has posed:
"Inari," the little fox replies, then turns around once, twice, before going back to the food. But it pauses before putting its maw back in, and mumbles again, "Inari?" Then it resumes eating.

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
Cute Wolf Tsukiko thinks for a moment, then nods. "Okay, then I'll call you Fist-chan!" she beams. "If that's okay with you, that is."

She smiles at the little fox, then nods again to Fist-chan. "Yeah, I can communicate with canids," the wolfgirl confirms. "Even before I became a magical girl, I could understand the body language of dogs, but couldn't actually speak to them. Now that I'm a magical girl, I can actually speak and understand their language, even when I'm not in henshin."

A grin crosses Tsukiko's face. "Makes it easier to do some of the stuff for Animal Care club, now that I can talk directly to them," she giggles.

Ano Onna has posed:
    Well, no angry god strikes her down from the heavens as Tsukiko decides on a nickname. Though that girl purses her lips. It's... Fitting. So she has no reason to complain. "Alright. I think that's fine." It seems fine enough as she nods, the twin dragons coiling on her wrists, almost approvingly. But then she gets the answer to her other question.
    "Huh." Well. That... Seems to make sense considering the typ of magical girl Tsukiko seems to be. "I think I get it. Me though. I always only spoke one language." She says somberly, the fingers of one hand balling tightly in display. But then she lowers her hand. "Hey."
    Rubbing at the back of her neck, she works for a moment to try and find the words for what she wants to ask, before finally just getting out with it, getting back to ruffling the fox's fur while she eats.
    "I'm new to all this. I feel like I don't know my left from my right anymore, and that's saying something. But I've never fought anyone that could fling lightning, or... Giant witches, or anything like that before. Give me the kid gloves for a while, while I figure all this out, yeah?"

Ayana has posed:
"What's an Inari?" the little fox asks after a few moments. "For that matter, what's a Tsukiko?" It turns to look up at Ikiko, then looks to that girl thoughtfully.

Licking its jaws, the fox nudges its bowl full of mushy bits of sandwich towards the fist-fighter. There's not much left, and wh at's in there mostly looks downright disgusting. But see? The fox can share. "You should give her a way to talk to your parents. They know lots of this stuff, right?"

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
"Inari is a god of foxes, among other things, like agriculture and rice," Tsukiko explains to the fox. "And Tsukiko is just a name that literally means 'child of the moon'."

The wolfgirl had started fishing her cellphone out of her vest when Fist-chan asked for help, and the fox's comment prompts a nod of agreement. "Sure, I'll help you out with learning about being a magical girl," she smiles to Fist-chan. "And..."

She pauses for a moment as she thinks of how to phrase things. "My family is pretty familiar with lore related to curses and the like," Tsukiko remarks. "Nothing quite as involved as being a magical girl, but they might be able to give you more insight about the nature of the trade of your name. The one complication is that they don't know that I'm a magical girl, and I'm trying to keep it that way until I'm ready to tell them."

She flips open her cellphone. "So, how about if we get each other's number?"

Ano Onna has posed:
    Well, it's better than chucking herself headfirst into this whole mess with no idea what's going on.
    That really didn't work out for her very well.
    So that just leaves the awkward position of approaching another girl's family. "I'll keep that in mind." Actually, she seems a little stone-faced at the thought, but reaches into her skirt pocket. Thankfully her phone is still somehow in one piece after the entirety of the prior day's debacle. Save for a nasty crack down the middle, but it's still in functional order at least. Can't be too picky about these things, "Yeah, sure."

Ayana has posed:
The fox noses the bowl just a little closer to that girl, then takes a step away and peers up at her. "Kon-kon," it declares, and not even Tsukiko needs to translate the offer of food. See? The fox can help, too.

Mustard-faced, the fox turns towards Tsukiko agan bounds up into the werewolf's lap, then stretches briefly before sitting down on one of her legs. "There's a god of foxes?" it asks curiously. "Why didn't you name yourself after the god of wolves?"

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
"If it helps, we can meet up out of henshin and I could introduce you to them," Tsukiko offers as she types in Fist-chan's phone number. "And on the magical side of things, I know a number of other magical girls that might be willing to help you get used to being a magical girl."

The wolfgirl pets the little fox. "Because the name I chose felt more like 'me'," she explains. "That, and former-you was a lot bolder in her choice of names."

Ano Onna has posed:
    "That... Might be easier." Meeting unhenshin'd. She she won't push it. Magical girls don't like their secret identities revealed right? Though Tsukiko made the offer, the girl isn't going to request it on a whim, as she makes sure to get Tsukiko's as well.
    She gets ths feeling this will be the first of many numbers she's going to be sliding into her contact list, before she stuffs her phone back in her pocket. "Well I got a crash course of it last night. ... I'm probably going to be feeling it for a while."
    Understatement. She really does look ready to completely keel over any minute and is just remaining standing on sheer will power. "I... Better go check on... Konoko." She decides after a beat. Politeness doesn't seem to be this one's forte, but then again she's seeinf red at the corners of her vision as she starts ambling off. "I'll just catch you around. Later."

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
Cute Wolf Tsukiko nods. "Take care, and go get some sleep!" she calls after Fist-chan. "I know it makes me feel better after a rough fight!" Of course, being a werewolf, albeit a diluted one, might have something to do with that. Still, rest is rest, and it's generally good for non-magical people as well, so... why not?

The wolfgirl gives the fox some more skritchies. "Looks like you get to finish off your sandwich," she remarks. "But that was nice of you to offer it to Fist-chan! Very kind of you."