It's a clear but almost freezing cold day today in Tokyo. Even magical warmth can't block off most of the chill, so Kukai Souma is dressed in good, heavy clothes - a sweatshirt, a jacket, heavy pants, and thick shoes. It's all a little cumbersome for Kukai, but the wind chill is serious.
However, the place where Kukai had arranged to meet Naru at was full of warmth - a coffee cafe on the north end of King Penguin Park, just on the edge, a wood and glass building meant to let the light in yet with several comfy dark corners towards the back, with gourmet coffees and a small area in the back for a singular hard-working pastry chef. It was the home for many of Kukai and Nadeshiko's meetings, and recently Kukai had been showing it to several of his other friends as a meeting place.
Kukai walks along the brick road leading past the cafe to the door, looking around for the familiar form of Naru. He's not sure if she's shown up yet, so he sticks his head inside the door to check, trying to ignore the chill of the wind. Daichi is crawled inside one of Kukai's pockets, head sticking out, looking around for Naru as well.
It might be cold out, but the glories of fleece lined leggings make it cute skirt weather any time of year and Naru is taking advantage of that. She is already there, her warm jacket over the back of her chair as she works on a drawing in her sketchbook, a coffee already steaming on the table that she's claimed. Not in the middle of everything, off to the side where there's a touch more privacy for conversation, but still with excellent light.
Naru frowns just a touch, tilting her head as she considers her work and then shakes her head, erasing something. She clearly hasn't noticed Kukai, nor Daichi, although it seems unlikely to notice the later without the former.
Kukai spots Naru over on one of the side tables and grins. The idea that he keeps bringing cute girls (and a cute guy) to the cafe and talking to them (and sometimes smooching/getting smooched by them) is not lost on the servers. Still, they stay far enough behind the counter to give the customers privacy.
Kukai seems to have forgotten it for the moment, though, as he walks over to Naru's table and smiles. "Hey Naru. How're you doing? You look good today. He nods over at the counter. "I haven't ordered anything yet. You want a cookie or anything?" Daichi hops out of Kukai's pocket and hovers over to give Naru's neck a hug, and to look at whatever Naru's drawing, curious.
The smooching potential is fairly low today (never say never), but Naru isn't helping matters by looking up as Kukai approaches and offering him a brilliant smile. "Hey Kukai." She lifts her free hand to oh so gently give Daichi a hug while he clings to her neck. "Hi Daichi."
The drawing on her sketchbook today is of a phoenix, all firey and fierce, even if its only in black and white pencil yet.
"A cookie would be great." Naru confirms and then leans over. "Or if they have anything lemony? Really, I'm not terribly picky, just nibbly hungry."
Daichi eees and then sits down on Naru's shoulder. "That's a cool bird!" Kukai grins and nods, then heads over to the counter. Lemony, huh? Let's see... He orders a tall, sweet mocha for himself, and a tiger claw (as usual), and a large cookie with a lemon cream drop across the center, sort of like a half-open donut made of cookie dough almost. It's not too big to prevent biting, however. He gets some plastic silverware for them anyway, though.
Kukai carries his treats over to the table with her, looking over at the notepad as well on his way back and setting it all down on the table before sitting down. "Hookay. There we go! How does that look?" He smiles at her. "Thank you for coming. I appreciate all your help." He sighs and rubs the back of his neck with one hand. "It's been a crazy few days. I got your text this morning though and went 'that sounds awesome'."
"Thanks." Naru settles to give Daichi a better perch and gestures. "Left shoulder is a better bet, I'm very right handed." She proves by reaching for her coffee, her pencil idle for the moment. "Kyouko asked for something mystical, and we decided on oranges and yellows, this seemed to fit really well."
"Ooh, that looks perfect thank you." Naru reaches over to tug at the plate her cookie is on. "I'm glad to be able to help, as little as it feels I can. It's been a crazy few weeks to me, and with little sign of slowing down, but I'm glad to help when I can."
Daichi oohs and hops over to Naru's other shoulder. Kukai nods, then grins. "Oh, yeah? Kyouko's been getting more involved with the Earth Court all the time. It's good, I guess." He thinks, knitting his forehead. "Her girlfriend hasn't been around for a while, I don't think. So I guess that's good. I think I've talked to Kyouko all of.. twice? She's kinda intimidating." He grins weakly. "But don't tell her I said that."
Kukai shakes his head. "So I play a ton of sports, and that makes me a team leader and a main combatant and interacter in most of our fights, but I am a strong believer in the back line. A good team needs coaches, trainers, researchers, medical staff, and all sorts of other assistants. So it may not feel like you're doing a lot because you're not out there punching people in the face, but if we don't have you around the rest of us are going to collapse." He reaches over, patting Naru's arm.
Kukai nods, then leans back, rubbing his face. "Yeah. It feels like things are trying to get out of control again. Hopefully we can get in front of some of this crap before something ELSE breaks and we spend a month trying to just get to a place where we can think about starting to recover. Speaking of that, I had two reasons to ask you here. You mentioned somebody else who can help with dreams, so that would be a big help."
Kukai takes a sip of his coffee before he continues. "The other thing was that I read your note on HeartNET about wanting to combine knowledge, so I wanted to offer what help I can manage with that. Anything you wanna know, I can talk about."
Naru pauses just a moment at the words from Kukai as she settles back in her seat. Slowly, as not to disturb Daichi as she does, still holding her coffee. "Mmmm. Allow me to provide a few updates to your knowledge about Kyouko. And yes.. she can be intimidating, no arguements there." The smile that follows that is fond, however, rather than indimidated. "She's more involved in Earth Court than I am, she's one of the Shitennou. Also Sayaka's around, I just saw her a few days ago, but they aren't dating anymore and haven't been for a while, but her /new/ girlfriend is happy to talk about her entirely too much." Naru gives a twist of a wry little smile.
"Front lines is not my strong suit and never will be." Naru smiles at the pat to her arm. "No matter how often the fight seems to come to me and I have to fake it. Still, it will never be my strong suit. I am always grateful to those who /are/ in front, that I can take a moment to draw."
"Things are getting exciting again, I can't argue there." Naru looks rueful. "I suspect its going to get worse before it gets better, but I also think that in some ways the community is stronger.. more diverse perhaps." She pauses a moment. "No, I can't say that. I haven't been aware long enough to make that call. But still, I am optimistic."
"Ah yes. Seishi didn't recognize your name, so I would be glad to introduce the two of you." Naru nods on the matter of dream, taking a lingering sip of her coffee. "She and Ariel both were invaluable in helping me sort out the dream problems I was having." Her smile is warm at the offer to combine knowledge. "I am, to be truthful, mostly at the stage of knowing how little I know."
Kukai takes in the conversation from Naru, listening, as he watches Daichi womble into position on her shoulder. "Ah, ok. Wow, so, she got inducted? And ok, that's good. I thought something might've happened to her. And her new girlfriend?" Kukai arches an eyebrow, then grins at her. "Oh, you? Holy crap, I had no idea. Well that's cool. I'm glad for you."
Kukai shrugs. "Fake it till you make it is a valid tactic, if you find yourself in those situations. I don't think I'll ever know enough about magic and things to be really useful like that, so." He winces, then nods. "Yeah. I hope they don't get worse, because I kinda like the slow times. It's a secret, but I'm kinda lazy." He winks. "The whole constant exercise and playing sports is just a front. But no. I think there's more magical people showing up all the time, and they all have all sorts of powers and knowledge. We just have to keep things going and I feel like... eventually the balance will tip for us."
Kukai nods. "Ok, cool. Yeah, I don't know her either. That'll be really nice, thank you." He leans back, thinking, then. "Okaaay. I guess I could talk about Guardian Characters, if you want to know about them? And I know a little bit about charms and ghosts and spirits and monsters and stuff."
Naru chuckles softly. "Kyouko and I are a relatively new thing, so you're ahead of the gossip train on that one for a little while yet."
Naru reaches for the cookie, careful not to disturb Daichi by moving too much. "I hadn't realized how much of life is faking it 'til you make it, but that seems to be a valid strategy in a shocking number of cases." She quirks a little smile as she breaks off a small bit of her cookie to offer to Daichi. "I like the slow times too, I'm fairly inexperienced with my magic yet. Although if life keeps up, I will have ample practice." She nods to him. "I don't know if the balance being tipped entirely one side or the other is actually a /good/ thing in the big picture, but some sort of happy medium would be nice."
Naru considers as she breaks off a bit of cookie for herself. "I feel obliged at this point to warn that witch and wraith activity are both going to grow, thanks to White Flower being back. I only know the basics of Guardian lore, but it always fascinates me."
Daichi oohs and nods, taking the piece of cookie and nomming at it happily. "Thank you!"
Kukai grins and then nods. "I hope it works out. That's a good thing. And yeah. I see it like practicing - you gotta practice to be who you wanna be, and part of that is training hard, and part of it is actually doing it, so..." Kukai grins. "Yeah. I mean I met you a few months ago and it was 'oh, here I am, normal, natural girl, with lots of magical friends' - hell, I still remember helping cover you from plant zombies so you wouldn't get infected. And now you've got your own magic to work with. It's awesome. And you'll get better the more you work with it."
He shrugs. "I don't know if it's good or bad or not, but I think I'd prefer fewer youma and monsters and things. ....And from what you're saying, there will be a lot more youma and monsters and witches. Eurgh. Maybe I can scrape together a couple of those seed things to give away. That would at least be a positive. The witches seem..." He looks to one side, then nods. "I know the secret of the witches, so... does that mean there's a lot more Puella we haven't found anywhere that're being transformed? A bunch of young magical girls that just aren't on the radar?" The idea seems to bother Kukai a bunch.
He takes another sip of his coffee, then shakes his head. "Bad thoughts. Gotta move on. As for Guardians, well, sure. Ok. Um. I'll do the short version, then I can expound on anything you want. Every child has an egg in their heart that is who they will become. When a child makes a wish with their heart for something they want to become, sometimes that prayer is heard and the egg becomes a Guardian Character. That Guardian Character is a vision of what the child wants to become, and grants them two magical gifts, Chara Changes and Chara Transforms. Chara Change is the basic shift, and makes the person more willing to do the things they're nervous or scared to do and better at them. Chara Transform is the full-body change - it's what makes me Sky Jack."
Kukai coughs, then continues. "But also Charas can make you do things they want you to that are in the line of who they are, like I have a problem refusing challenges. Tadase has a problem being called a prince instead of a king. Nadeshiko's temper can get away with her if somebody is rude or impolite or improper. That sort of thing. Think of it as the extreme end of who the Guardian Character person would be, if that makes sense." He rubs his chin. "Also there are X-eggs, which are when somebody's dream is shattered, for lack of a better word. If they think they'll never reach their dream, then their heart's egg will go black, with an X on it, and they become... banal. Basic, uncaring. If the egg gets out of them and gets loose, it can cause all sorts of trouble, like a youma."
"When the meglomanicial plant dude turns back up, you'll probably still need to cover me from plant zombies." Naru points out with a flicker of a smile. "I'm still shockingly normal, but I do have magic of my own now. It.. well.. that's only been since November or so that I've really started gaining control of it." She pauses thoughtfully and then shakes her head. "In any case."
"Not precisely. I mean.. I'm sure there /are/ somewhere, but based on the Witch we fought, she was too powerful to have just turned." Naru shakes her head a little and there's a soft mmm at the fact that he knows the secret, and clearly makes the leap that she does too. "They're being drawn here, we think.. by Hana's power. White Flower. When she emerged, there was a lot of other witches and wraiths as well there too, but they all scattered rather than it being a huge fight."
Naru listens, sipping her coffee as she does. There's nodding, she's heard much of the basics before, but somehow it has a different context when one is themselves magical.
"Interesting." Naru hunhs softly. "I didn't know about the Change side of things. Only the Transform." She mmms softly. "And part of your tasks.. the whole group of you, not you in specific, is to ensure that those X eggs are rounded up to not cause trouble. Yes?"
Kukai laughs and then nods. "Yeah, really. Where is that guy, even? Permanently buzzed off, I hope. But yeah, if he shows up again, I'll be there. And yeah. It takes time to figure out everything you can do. I'm still picking up new things from time to time."
Kukai frowns, leaning back. "I thought they were all... y'know, Puella. They just... come up? That's scary. And wraiths... I dunno anything about them. They're just youma, as far as I know. But she's drawing them here? That's really scary." He rubs his forehead, leaning on the table. "...Well, I guess we do it like we've always done it, take them down one at a time, and deal with her if we need to."
Kukai nods. "Right. Changes can be done in public and nobody notices, and they're good for being better than normal and doing awesome but not not-magical stuff. Like I used a Change at one point when I fought Utau to just barely be able to dodge some of her attacks because I didn't want to be too threatening to her - I was trying to get her to talk, but I didn't want to get carved up by flying bats. And yeah, we try to gather the X-eggs. The not causing trouble thing is secondary, though. Those eggs are the dreams of children. We can't let those be destroyed or damaged. That's the most awful thing." He brings up one hand with his tiger claw in it, motioning. "You can regrow or rebuild your dreams, but it takes a personal internal effort. And some people's dreams change over time or expand."
"Fiore is, but there's been another one." Naru points out with a little shake of her head. "Entirely too many psycho plants in my world, I have to say." She offers Daichi another small bit of cookie should he be interested.
"Well, not /every/ puella is here in Tokyo." Naru points out with a rueful expression. "So I expect they're coming in from elsewhere. Wraiths." Naru has to pause here, taking a slow breath for a moment. Even with /everything/, witches are an easier topic for her.
"Wraiths seem to remove emotion entirely. There's been a couple of varieties that we've seen so far. One travels in packs, and the other is far tougher and sometimes comes with a pack of the smaller ones." Naru mmms and nods. "Dont' let them touch you. I found getting attacked by them to be very distressing."
Naru quirks her head. "Utau? Who or what is Utau?" She ahs softly and nods. "Of course, I hadn't thought of it that way, but that does make sense. That eggs born of dreams /are/ the dreams." She considers and then smiles a touch. "I should think most people's dreams change and expand and evolve over time."
Kukai scratches his head, then laughs. "Man there's a lot of duplication in magic. I guess people should expect that. I'm actually finding more sports people too." Daichi is always interested in cookies and gives her another hug!
Kukai ahs, and then nods. "Well. Crap, I guess that makes sense. And in a way that's a good thing - the witches that come here are leaving other people alone. And... wow. That sounds awful. Do wraiths remove it permanently? Or is it something you can heal if you do get affected?"
Kukai grins. "Oookay. Sooo. More Guardian background - there's an Eclipse-related group called Easter - Easter Eggs, get it? - that is actively trying to create and gather X-eggs, because they can be used for dark energy-related things. Broken dreams, you know, are high energy objects. Some of their servants are Guardian Chara owners, and Utau Hoshina - yes, the singer-idol, the one that Mamoru and the rest probably made a comment for you not to buy her albums - is one of those Chara owners, Lunatic Charm. She's not..."
He frowns and takes a drink of his coffee. "Not evil evil? But she's bad. She wants something and Easter's promised it to her if she can find the Embryo, which is.. there's a heart's egg out there that will change the world in an incredible way, if we can find it, and that's the Embryo. I actually think she wants it to free her brother Ikuto from Easter's service. It's complicated. But yeah. We fought, and kinda dated, and I liked her a lot, but then I was trying to help Nadeshiko and then.."
He looks over at Daichi. "Did you hear about the time Daichi and I had a problem with dating? Long story. Let's just say that Utau took it very badly and decided to go into hiding for a while. I... Well." He shrugs. "Maybe things could've been different in another world, you know."
"When I was first attacked by Wraiths, they only took some of my emotional capacity, and that seemed to return after time." Naru comments carefully, evenly and rather deliberately calm. "The second attack they took most of it, and that which had healed from the first collapsed very quickly. I needed outside intervention to help restore things, that time. I expect if they take everything, it would just be gone but I don't know that for certain. I've only lost emotions to them twice."
Naru takes a long drink from her coffee, setting the mug down again as she listens about Easter. "Mmm. Yes, I can imagine broken dreams being high energy." She murmurs thoughtfully, listening even still as she takes up her pencil again. "For the whole time that I've been aware of your affections, you've been with Nadeshiko." Naru comments with a touch of a smile and then nods. "Fought and kinda dated and went into hiding.. clearly you are a romantic force to be reckoned with."
Kukai winces, then reaches over, patting her hand. "I'm glad you got the help you needed. It wouldn't be the same without you around. But I'll keep that in mind. Thank you."
He hmms, then laughs, scratching the back of his head. "Well there was a period when I sort of had a problem with Daichi. He heard me call love a challenge I hadn't ever faced, and then he made me face love. A bunch. From a bunch of different people. If you've ever seen Sora be very angry at me, that whole thing was a large part of why."
Kukai sniffs and grins at Naru. "Well I didn't mean to upset her like that, but I guess it happened. I really wish I could make it up to her at some point, though."
"I am too." Naru smiles and gives Kukai's hand a squeeze. "Wraiths are not, likely for fairly obvious reasons, my most favourite things to face."
Understatement of the month, right there.
Naru turns her head a little to look at Daichi. "Just so we're straight, I am very happy with my love life at the moment. Don't feel you need to meddle, alright?" She offers him another bit of her cookie, quite possibly as a bribe. Just in case.
"I've only ever really known Sora when she was evil." Naru comments as she turns back to Kukai. "Which is a rather skewed perspective." She gestures with her free hand. "I expect you will, or at least make it to truce in time. Of that I have faith. Is she still in Tokyo?"
Kukai laughs and then nods. "Guardian Charas can only influence Guardian Bearers. But it doesn't have to be your Chara or Bearer to do the influencing. I've seen Ikuto's Chara, Yoru, and Amu, Transform. And Utau's good Chara, Eru, rode around with me for a while. So you're safe." For his credit, Daichi manages to look embarrassed while grinning. Kukai nods and continues. "Chara Bearers are kinda.. emotional, in a few ways."
Kukai sighs. "Sora's nice, but she had some problems. That book of hers was bad, bad, bad. She's ok, though." He coughs. "Good kisser." He passes that along as he continues. "Utau? As far as I know. She's still here somewhere - she's releasing a new album, I believe. Next time she pops her head up, I'll deal with her. She's one of my issues." Kukai sighs, looking at the empty plate that was his tiger claw and his mostly empty cup of coffee.
"Good to know." Naru gives Daichi a gentle ruffle, her smile warm yet. "I was mostly teasing you." She notes quietly to the Chara, her tone light.
"I will bear that in mind if I ever come to find myself kissing Sora." Naru sounds amused there too. "Although I find that potential fairly unlikely, all in all. I had heard that she's doing alright now, but I've not seen her since. I'm glad to hear it." If she's glad to hear that Sora's doing well, or that she's a good kisser, it's not entirely clear.
"By and large.. past a certain point of personal issues.. most things end up being issues for all of us." Naru's voice is gently sympathetic. "So jilted ex-girlfriend? You're on your own. Bigger challenge with broken dreams and X eggs? We're here to give a hand with that sort of thing." She pauses a moment. "I'm also willing to listen to laments about jilted-ex's, but I think my quota on having ex's who arent my own yell at me is full for a while."
Daichi hees and leaaans into the ruffle, then scoots over to hug her neck again.
Kukai shrugs. "Yeah, she is. She and Jiaying are getting along fine, but she was magicless, last time I saw her."
Kukai grins and then chuckles. "Well I'll talk to people about their exes, if they want to, but I can't exactly do anything about it." He stretches, then looks over at her. "Well. Do you think your friend Seishi is available?"
Naru laughs warmly and shakes her head. "I'm quite alright without chatting about my ex at the moment. I got to enjoy Sayaka's ire, however."
A shake of her head at the metnion of Seishi. "She's busy this evening, club meetings or some such, but she said she could meet tomorrow if that suited, or on the weekend. How is Nades doing? Have you seen them lately? Still fighting?"
Kukai nods, then laughs. "Um. Yeah. I get it, I think. It's kinda nutty from time to time. I don't really think of them as exes - so far I've really only been with Nadeshiko."
Kukai nods. "Sure, that's fine. I'll ... sit on my hands or something." He sighs and leans back. "No. I haven't seen either of them. Nadeshiko is staying in the ECFH, and Nagihiko's at his house. They aren't wanting to talk to one another. I want to go talk to them at some point, though."
Naru considers that a moment. "They are so at odds that they're not even at the same apartment? Hunh. That is fairly heavy duty fighting." She nods thoughtfully. "Well, I'm certain you're always welcome at ECFH, I can imagine that you're probably welcome at Nagihiko's too, at a guess." She nudges her empty cup aside and then mmms softly. "It must be challenging."
Kukai nods. "They are almost totally resistant to talking to one another. It is kind of crazy. I wish they'd talk, but..." He smiles, then nods. "Yeah, I have a free pass to visit anytime. It's nice."
Kukai looks down, then sighs. "Imagine being in love with someone, then realizing that not only can you not trust anything they say, but you don't know if they're working against you or not. Now, the thing is, they're probably not doing anything bad, but you don't know, because there's weird magic involved. And as much as you want to, it scares you to hold them or be with them. Now, got all that? Double it. That's..." He rubs his head, trying to hold back his emotions. "It hurts."
"I'm so sorry Kukai." Naru reaches over to rest her hand gently on Kukai's arm. "I can only guess on how much it hurts not to be able to currently trust your SO, and to be scared to be with them. I wish I knew better on how to help them, and you."
It takes a moment, but Kukai finally smiles back at her. "Well. I know how. I find those clowns, and I rearrange their faces. That sounds like the best idea I've had. And then I'll get Nagihiko back, and I will cling to him for a week." He sighs, then stretches. "We'll figure it out. It'll be ok." He hmms, then stands up. "I think I should probably go do some patrolling, anyway, kinda look around. Better than just sitting here and letting my head go around in circles. It was good to talk to you Naru." He leans over, hugging her with both arms. "Thank you."
"I .. at some point.. I am going to have to ask you more details on what actually happened." Naru comments as she leans over to give him a hug. "But I'm not going to keep you from patrolling. Watch out for.. wraiths and witches and killer plants and apparently good luck clown hunting." She squeezes him tight. "It's always good to talk to you, Kukai. I'll be in touch about Seishi soon."
Kukai nods, then hugs Naru. "I'll tell you eventually. I promise. Soon." He nods, then laughs. "I'll keep my eyes open. And it's good to talk to you too. I'll see you tomorrow if not before then." He gives her a brotherly buss on the forehead and stands, heading for the door to go do some patrolling and get his mind off things.