View source for 1259/A Taste of Reality

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2016/03/23
|Location=Uminari City - Shopping Strip
|Synopsis=After two months apart, Ayana and Riventon meet again. It's a harsh taste of reality for both of them: Riventon realises his fox has truly abandoned him, and Ayana realises she cannot save him.
|Cast of Characters=47,75,86
|pretty=yes
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{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:47|Takashi Agera| (47)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Riventon snarls the words out at Tsukiko. "Because you've tricked her! Because you broke her link with me, somehow! You twisted it. You stole a peice of me and kept it for yourself, just so you could pretend! I wouldn't have needed to fix her if you hadn't stuck your fuzzy nose in my business. She was fine! Happy! Cuddly! And then she wasn't. And it wasn't because of me!"<br /><br />"You lied to her." he says, creating a spikey, baseball sized orb. "About what she was. About what I was." he says, focusing energy into it until it almost beats with condensed black energy, like reality itself refuses to accept its existence. "I can never forgive y-"<br /><br />And the change in Riventon when he sees her, when he sees Ayana, is like night and day. It's enough that the area around him seems less dim, and whatever horrid attack he was building loses its stability and just shatters in the air.<br /><br />He turns to her. He almost unconsciously reaches a hand out to her. Instead, he's still so angry - so incensed - so ready to KILL - that he has to shut everything out, all of his emotions, in order to simply act.<br /><br />"Ayana-chan. It's been too long. It's time to come home now. I don't know what's going on. I don't know what lies you've been fed. I don't know where you've been." he says, slowly floating upwards to her. "But I don't care. Let's go home."

:'''{{#var:75|Ikiko Hisakata| (75)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>When Ayana arrives and Riventon changes his focus, Tsukiko slumps against a nearby lamppost. Magical girls might be tough, and she does have a certain amount of werewolf resiliency, but '''''ow''''' that hurt!<br /><br />She knows that she's not safe, not while Riventon is still here... but she trusts her girlfriend, and she knows that Ayana will help protect her.

:'''{{#var:86|Ayana Tasogare| (86)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>It's so very hard to hear those words from him. Part of her ''wants'' to go with him; to support him and make certain that his life is happy and that he remains healthy. But the rest of Ayana knows that there is no way to ''be'' healthy with him; not the way he is right now.<br /><br />"No."<br /><br />The word slides through her lips like a razor blade: sharp, but oh so fragile.<br /><br />"No," she repeats it, and this time there's a little more spine to it. "I love you," she tells him, "but I can't stay with you like this. The Dark Energy is killing you. It nearly killed ''me''."<br /><br />"I know that you cared for me," Ayana says. "That you sought to make my life a better place. But you also ''hurt'' me, in ways I don't even begin to know how to describe. I won't be your tool, anymore," she tells him. "I won't be your ''pawn''. But you're like my big brother, and all I want is for you to be happy. Put the darkness aside," she pleas. "And let me show you a better way."

:'''{{#var:47|Takashi Agera| (47)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Riventon's eyes narrow. Some of that emotion he pushed away comes back, at first a slow trickle, but soon, in a torrent. "The only thing my energy kills is the people who stand in my way." he says. "You know that. I was born with it, and so were you." he says. "I might have made some mistakes..." he says, though he doesn't sound like he believes it a bit "...but don't blame the source of my power for them. Blame the human part of me."<br /><br />"Put the darkness aside? So it isn't enough to have my soul ripped apart twice - once when I tried to keep you and the second time when they stole you - now you want to tear it into confetti? If you love me then you can't claim you want to take apart what makes me who I am."<br /><br />"What, are you going to show me a better way so I can turn traitor on my allies, and on the people who care about me, too? Like you did? Twice, apparently." he adds, stopping his flight. "Do you know that this power you talk so lowly about saves people I care about? Saves you? I never treated you like a pawn or a tool. I have pawns and tools. You were ALWAYS given more respect, more love, more self-determination."<br /><br />And then a sidelong glare at Ikiko. "Maybe that was my mistake."

:'''{{#var:75|Ikiko Hisakata| (75)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"Best 'mistake' you ever made," Tsukiko quietly mutters in retort. She leans back onto her feet, giving Riventon a look of annoyance. "The same respect that drove her to eat that one whatever-it-was that parasitically drove her into a hungry rampage?" she speaks up. "Because that didn't seem very loving."

:'''{{#var:86|Ayana Tasogare| (86)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>The fake figure of the shadow familiar shakes her head at Riventon. "It's killing you, too!" she tells him. "You just won't see it. And killing others is no better anyways. That's not how life is supposed to work. We should be working together to build a better world, not tearing each other down.<br /><br />She sighs and explains, "I never betrayed you. I failed you, yes, but never intentionally. Even when Tsukiko freed me from you, I begged her to stop, because I would have rather ''died'' than hurt you! It wasn't healthy! I am ''still'' struggling not to just ... take your hand and do what you say. Not because I think it would help you, but because I ''care so much about you'', and if even one action or word convinces you to be a better person, then my life will have been worth it.<br /><br />"But I know that isn't how it works," Ayana tells him. "No matter what I do, I can't fix you. I can't save you. I can't stop you from trying again and again to reshape this world in your image and damn anyone who gets in your way. The only one who can stop you ... is you. It's a decision. A decision you have to make. A decision to love, instead of hate. A decision to share, instead of take. A decision to laugh instead of cry! A decision to live, instead of die. It's a decision that you have to make."<br /><br />"I can't make it for you," Ayana says quietly.<br /><br />"But I won't let you make it for me, anymore, either," she resumes after a quiet pause. "I love you. I love you with all of my heart and all that I am. You gave me life. You gave me a home and happiness, food and comfort. You gave me an understanding of what it is to be ... human. And I still am not very good at ''being'' human. Maybe I never will be.<br /><br />"But I'm going to explore it my own way," Ayana finishes softly. "And I will never stop hoping for an answer that will set you free."

:'''{{#var:47|Takashi Agera| (47)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Riventon wishes, oh he wishes, he could summon up the strength to lob something at Ikiko. But for the moment, strangely, all he has is words. "Yeah, she ate the thing I told her not to eat. Look at that. Another circumstance where acting against my wishes causes her harm." he says, a cold tone to his voice. "It's almost like I care about what's best for her!"<br /><br />Then he turns back to Ayana. There's a deep breath. "I missed your optimism, in a way. But it's NOT the way things work. There are winners and losers. If you want to side with the losers... well, apparently I can't stop you or convince you otherwise." he says, coldly. "I've seen what's coming in the distance. You haven't. The events of this month are like a tiny speck, and Earth only stands because of a miracle."<br /><br />"Call me whatever you need. I guess I'll chalk you up to another thing I'll have to lose in order to do what I have to do - in order to be who I have to be. To be as strong as I can be. I thought maybe you could be by my side, but you'd rather loaf around in the gutter with the strays."<br /><br />"You say you love me, but your actions show your divided loyalties. Once you asked me to unmake you. You begged me to. And I didn't. Because I cared too much about you to lose you. Maybe that was the wrong decision, a selfish decision. A cruel decision, all told. You can't even seen what you've done to yourself, what you've lost."<br /><br />"Make whatever decisions you think there are. But in the end there is only one thing that matters."<br /><br />"Power."<br /><br />"Power to change the world, to make the world what it ought to be. Power to protect, power to destroy. It's all the same thing. Everything flows from it. It's neither good nor evil, but without it, you will be able to resist no evil. That's truly the thing that will kill me, if anything ever does. A lack of power." he says, clenching his gauntleted fist.<br /><br />"One day I'll have the power to change the outcome of this story, too. Or write a new story. Because you certainly don't have the power to change it yourself. You gave that away when you allowed her to take sway over you."

:'''{{#var:75|Ikiko Hisakata| (75)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"The power of an arrow, focused on a single point," Tsukiko muses. "Deadly when delivered head-on, but weak when struck from the side -- and trying to strengthen it against side-blows weakens its power."<br /><br />She shakes her head. "I'd rather have the power of a hammer -- the strength of multiple points, all working together, naturally reinforcing each other through togetherness," the wolfgirl remarks, idly rubbing the Lycan Locket. "You say that it takes power to protect. There is truth to that, but a single protector will wear down and eventually break. Shared power might not be as individually strong, but it '''will''' endure.<br /><br />A small grin crosses Tsukiko's face. "Besides, hammers are more useful than arrows when it comes to building stuff, anyway," the wolfgirl adds.

:'''{{#var:86|Ayana Tasogare| (86)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"Power," Ayana muses quietly, thoughtfully. And then she smiles at him--one of those 'all is right with the world' smiles that she used to give him. The same smile she gave him the day he came home for his birthday.<br /><br />"You're right about one thing," she says, still smiling. "It is about the power to change the world. As your familiar, I didn't have that; I only had the power to serve and to beg and to please. But now ... now I have Tsukiko. And now I have Orange and Yellow. Now I have Fate-chan, and Kunzite-senpai, and Inari-dono, too. Now I have love. And now I ''can'' change the world. I've already done it once," she tells him. "And I'm going to do it again. For you. Because I love you."<br /><br />Then, she smiles even more brightly than he's ever seen, "Axion!" she calls. "Take care of Riventon for me." Then to the man himself she promises, "I'm going to leave you now. But whenever you need me, I won't be far away. I won't help you hurt people. But I will help you become a better man. All you have to do is trust in Fate," or did she say fate?, "and say my name. I'll be there."

:'''{{#var:47|Takashi Agera| (47)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Riventon shakes his head. "Arrow is wrong. Scalpel." he says, to Ikiko. "A scalpel is good for the application of focused power. In the right place. To effect great change." he says. Then, his eyes narrow. "Also, handy for removing infected tissues and unwanted growths." he says, firmly directing the disgusting analogy at the wolf-girl.<br /><br />Some of the names Ayana lists bother him, and he makes his displeasure known. In fact, they all do on some level. "An alley mutt, two sentient jars of fingerpaint, and a man who couldn't even keep his soul where it belongs - and if you missed it, Fate-chan still works for me. I'm sore afraid." he adds. In some ways, he's quickly begining to blame Ayana. "You want to ''change'' the world? I'm going to ''rebuild'' the world. From the ground up."<br /><br />"And maybe that means I have to do a little demolition work first." he says. "All of the friends you can possibly amass don't have the strength you need to change me. To stop me. I am what I am, and you don't have the force, the strength, the power to change that."<br /><br />Riventon grumbles, clenching a fist again. "But I don't apparently have the time to break it down into small enough concepts for you to get. Apparently when you broke the link you lost what little intellect I was able to bestow upon you, because opposing me is a truly stupid choice."<br /><br />"I have an apocalypse to prevent. Which, by the way, will make three for me and my 'deadly dark power'. I suppose ignorance really is bliss. Sometime soon I'll have to enlighten you." Riventon clearly threatens before fading into the Dusk Zone.

:'''{{#var:75|Ikiko Hisakata| (75)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Cute Wolf Tsukiko does an akanbe at Riventon as he fades away. With him no longer a present threat, the wolfgirl relaxes...<br /><br />...which comes across as slumping against the lamppost again. "Ow," she mutters to herself, then looks up at Ayana. "Are you okay, beloved?" she calls out.

:'''{{#var:86|Ayana Tasogare| (86)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Ayana watches Riventon fade out of existence. As he fades, so too does the darkness in her hair and her ears and her tails. The whole henshin vanishes, leaving behind a sad looking orange-haired girl in a white dress, covered in blueberries and cream. Her hat's been lost--who knows where it went. Her dress is ruined--blueberry stains don't come out in the henshin. Her heart is broken--Watching the only family you ever have leave with a sneer tends to do that.<br /><br />Slowly, Ayana sinks to her knees, and the tears that she's been holding ever since Fate told her ''he'' was there begin to flow like rain, falling on the concrete roof beneath her.

:'''{{#var:75|Ikiko Hisakata| (75)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Cute Wolf Tsukiko staggers over to Ayana, giving her a big hug (and dehenshining in the process). "It's a start," she murmurs, rubbing the kitsune's ears. "Someday we'll convince him to change. Even if it takes a long time, I'm sure he'll eventually understand."<br /><br />Ikiko kisses Ayana's forehead. "Until then... how about if we go home and get you cleaned up?"

:'''{{#var:86|Ayana Tasogare| (86)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Ayana leans into Ikiko heavily and nods her head once, twice. She buries her face against her girlfriend's seifuku and wipes her tears in the silly school uniform, then takes a deep breath. "Yeah," she agrees softly. "Yeah, it's a start," she says.<br /><br />Then she looks down at her dress and gives a little helpless laugh. "I was trying to bring you a milkshake as a present. I'm sorry. I dropped them both."

:'''{{#var:75|Ikiko Hisakata| (75)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Ikiko Hisakata uses a finger to scrape some of the splattered milkshake off of the shoulder of Ayana's dress, then licks it off of her finger. "Tasty! And thanks for the effort," she smiles, giving her girlfriend a quick kiss. "How about if we have them tomorrow? We shouldn't be interrupted by magically supersonic dogs then, and I can actually plan to meet you after school."<br /><br />She thinks for a moment, then nods. "The local pack of strays has probably finished up the food and left," she remarks. "We can swing by to pick the bowls back up, then continue on home and get you cleaned up."
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