TEXT: I have something. I'll be over shortly.
It's the only warning Takashi will get of a visitor. And when Fate Testarossa says she will be over shortly, she means it. It is perhaps fifteen minutes on the dot from the text being sent that the blonde mage arrives at UMBRA HQ. Pristine, in her suit.
With a metal attache case clasped in one hand.
The TSAB logo is on one side.
"Agera-san."
Takashi is standing at the door from the reception area to the actual labs and working rooms when Fate enters, and he smiles at her. Takashi's always been at least reasonable towards Fate, but more so when she's bringing things to research. But then he smile drops. Because he doesn't quite know the full details, the circumstances, that have put Fate back with UMBRA. To a degree, it still makes him a little uneasy.
So he steps out of the doorway and ushers Fate towards his office, taking a decidedly neutral tone. "Testarossa-san. Is that the something?"
Fate does not smile back.
Scarlet eyes are half-lidded, shadowed with the visible signs of lacking sleep and pushing herself too hard. She is a strong girl, she always has been, but even she has her limits. Too much time hunting Jewel Seeds, with no success. Whatever those details may be, she's not discussing them now; keeping in pace as she follows to his office.
"Yes." She replies, simple and businesslike as she sets the case down. Though she does not open it. It is sealed; and whatever contents inside are inert for as long as it remains such. "I found this while. Searching." She says; hitching with a slight pause that says there might be more to the story.
Takashi looks at Fate with a small degree of concern, but on the other hand, it's also not his concern. Doesn't she have a mother to take care of her?
"...while searching what?" Takashi asks as he pulls the case over to his side of the big desk, sitting behind it - then promptly putting his feet up on the desk, a stark reminder that he is not quite the stern executive sometimes he acts as.
Fate's mother loves her very much.
Once the case is on the desk however, and out of Fate's care, she leaves it to Takashi. It's all his now. Scarlet eyes watch in silence as he settles in, before she slip closed and she draws a slow breath.
"That girl found it, as well."
She seems to feel that's all she has to say to properly explain the matter, because when her eyes do open, they conveniently slide off to the side.
Looking at her, Takashi decides it is his concern, but only in so much as it effects her ability to do her job. "You should be careful about getting enough rest. You look like you're about ready to pass out, and that makes it very difficult to feel like I can depend on you to have your full attention, or to fight fully. It's concerning."
But he pauses from his little executive talking-to in order to peer at Fate. "That girl? Which girl."
"I'm fine."
The response comes after a beat, firm and resolute despite her apparent fatigue, Fate's gaze flicking back to Takashi across his desk. "If I have a job to do, I will do it." Added to bolster the initial reply; a declaration that her ability will not be affected by something as trivial as 'feeling tired'.
It's fine, because she's strong. At least that's what she tells herself. Fate opts to move on with the flow of the conversation.
"The one in white." She answers, pointedly refusing to use the name 'Nanoha Takamachi'. It makes it easier.
"She found it too. We had to fight for it."
Takashi crosses his arms. "You might, but you'll do a worse job than if you were rested." Still, he doesn't push it as much as he might have, had Fate not decided to abandon UMBRA and go on an adventure elsewhere for a while.
"Well, you obviously won." Takashi taps a finger against the side of the case "So that's good. I'm not sure which one in white you mean though. You just named like... four of our opponents, just off the top of my head..." Then, after a pause. "Did she have a device too, though? A staff?"
Those adventuring days are over. She's here, and she's here now; such is the long and short of it. Though Fate has not shown any indication that she is not happy about being with UMBRA once more, there is something there that has clearly muted any enthusiasm she might have shown once. It's all gone. Replaced by a doom-driven drive.
"Yes." A device. "Red pigtails." She clarifies; To which Bardiche assists, chiming in with a low ping.
[RAISING HEART.]
Fate clearly won but. "She's. Gotten better." Added in grudging admission.
Takashi nods. "It doesn't surprise me. The last time I encountered her I felt like she had... a lot of potential." he muses aloud. "It's a good thing you had a head start on training and that... drive. Or you might've had to call in backup."
"You do understand that's an option, right? To call for help. Don't let her beat you, especially not for a Jewel Seed, just because of your pride. There's very little honor in defeat."
For a silent beat, fingers clench. Fate may have run off before but her current situation, what ever it may be, has reminded her of duty. Of course with duty comes such notions as honor and pride; and with that reminder has once again rekindled the quiet, determined, pride in her ability. And her bloodline.
It is another second before she lets herself relax. "It was sudden. I thought I could handle it." Fate concedes quietly. "I didn't expect her to have improved as much as she did." This is where she pauses, shoulders rise and fall in another breath. "... I'll remember that, next time."
Takashi nods. "Well, I'm going to take this back to the lab..." he indicates the box while tapping it - apparently Axion has already done some sort of scans on it, the Device blending in as the studs in his ear. "...and you should really get some rest."
"Don't feel bad. Everyone here's had close calls or worse. You still came out on top. But if you're expending all of your energy searching, and she just happens to luck upon it when you're exhausted... well, it's entirely reasonable to even the odds." Takashi understands more than a little bit about pride.
"Thank you for this - and I'll let you know if any of my equipment picks up a reading on any new Jewel Seeds." New, being the operative word.
The hunt for the Jewel Seeds is important to Fate. She has made that much clear, and when Takashi says he will inform her of any that just might pop up, her frigid demeanor thaws by a degree. For just a brief instant, at least as she allows the hardened look in scarlet eyes to soften.
"Thank you." Simple and polite. Simple as that really. But this does not mean she has ignored what else he has said. And there is a beat of that visible consideration on her face, before she shakes her head out. "Alright. Tonight." She promises, at length. "I'll let Arf handle it for me."
Arf might actually be happy to hear her Master is taking a night off.