It took longer than expected - with the being busy going over data from Euphemia and Bulwark's little Device adventure - to get everyone together for the Tea that Takashi promised Fate and Euphemia during their last fight.
But a promise is a promise, and he's managed to get all three of the girls, plus himself, together for a relaxing get-to-know you chat with tea and small cakes. (Bought rather than made - he's not Mami by any means - but they're rather nice cakes.
And as the host, Takashi pours each of the three girls a cup of green tea. "Fate-san, Euphemia-san, Ayana-san." he says, gesturing to each in person with a soft, honest smile.
Ayana waves to the other two girls with a little wiggle of her fingers, but the girl is more interested in the tea. Tea not being something the girl has spent much time with, she picks up the mug and inspects it curiously, sniffing at the liquid before lapping at it with her tongue for a little taste.
Fate quietly sits down with her new... friends? allies? She isn't quite sure what to make of them. She's quietly grateful that no one seems to be mad about the whole 'we were shooting each other with magical beams not too long ago' thing. It'd be really awkward.
Not that Fate isn't just a little awkward anyways. Yet, these are people her mother works with, so they can't be that bad right?
Fate carefully sips her tea while her wine-red eyes dart between Euphemia, Takashi, and Ayana. "Hello, Takashi-san. Thanks for having us over."
Ayana gets a careful glance, but not for long. It's not as if Fate has never seen a Familiar before.
Tea is good but cakes are better. And so Euphemia has snatched one up almost as soon as she sat down, itself a feat that probably took longer than Takashi would have liked unless he has a soft spot for corralling hyperactive girls. Only after she has taken a bite of her cake does she reach down and pick up the cup of tea, not bothering to blow on it before taking a sip.
Her eyes widen a bit as she sets it down, her hand briefly covering her mouth. Delicately she tests her tongue against the roof of her mouth... only a tiny bit sore! Now a bright smile, "Your tea is delicious, Takashi-san!"
Afterwards looks excitedly between Ayana and Fate. Her legs twitch a bit, and she has to mentally restrain herself from just jumping up and hugging on both of them.
Instead she just breaks into musical laughter, shifting playfully from side to side in her seat.
Ayana makes a face at the tea, then tilts her head faintly, then asks, "This is tea?" before sniffing it again. "I suppose it's tasty. It mostly tastes like water, though. Just ... leafy water. Hot leafy water. Hm." She frowns a little, then takes another sip of the drink, this time emulating Euphemia and drinking it like a normal person.
Fate looks over at the hyperactive Euphemia, studying her as the quiet girl takes a smallcake and nibbles on it. The smallcakes taste pretty good, to Fate's palate. To be fair that's probably a lot of what she eats.
"Yeah..." answers Fate to Ayana. "You make it with boiled water and tea leaves." That's her explaination for the taste.
She doesn't say much else. It's not easy to get her out of her shell.
Takashi grins a little at Ayana - and at the hyperactive Euphemia. Then he looks at Fate. "You don't have to be shy." he says. "You're an ally now. A co-worker. Even a friend. As long as you don't zap me again, anyways." he adds.
"So you can relax. We're all together on this, now. You're going to be working with me - you've been assigned to my projects, and we're going to help your mother with what she's looking for, too."
So, to Fate he begins. "Are you from the same world as Euphemia? Mid-whatever? Ayana is my familar and she's native to Tokyo too."
As Ayana comments about the tea Euphemia peeks over in her direction. She's met familiars before, but one who hasn't actually had tea? She... must be a -young- familiar! She studies her a bit longer before giggling and laughing, "I would never have guessed Takashi-san was the type to create such a cute familiar! Hehehe, there must be a really adorable side to him deep down, huh?"
She sits normally in her chair again, and then looks over to Takashi. She almost chokes on her next bite of cake, because she's imagining him in Ayana's blouse and skirt and with a whole mess of ribbons up in his short hair.
She nearly falls over backwards from hysterical laughing.
After she recovers she peeks up at Takashi again, only to howl a little more, putting her face down on the table and smacking her palm against it.
Ayana tilts her head just faintly at Fate, then sticks out her tongue. When Takashi explains she is a familiar, however, the fox-girl perks up, and a pair of black fuzzy ears appear atop her head. A similarly floofy black tail appears, wagging just faintly from beneath her skirt. "Taka-kun is very adorable ... but I don't see how this is funny. Nor how it's funny that I'm so young. He only made me a few months ago."
At Takashi's words, Fate nods. She quietly responds to the 'as long as you don't zap me again' with, "Okay."
Fate hears that she's been assigned to his projects. Well that's similar to what she's been told before, when she was told by her mother to join up with them. "I'll help. That's not a problem."
On the question of hometown, Fate glances to Euphemia and then back to Takashi. "I'm from Midchildia, originally, but... my mother doesn't like that place. We don't live there anymore."
Fate watches the energetic Euphemia's gigglefit in relative silence. "So you're from Midchildia, too?"
Ayana shows her Familiar side, and Fate says, "... I have a familiar, too. She's a wolf."
Takashi looks at Euphemia, and her outrageous reaction, then to Ayana. "Euphemia is just full of spirit." he says, perhaps the understatement of the millenia. "She's going to help us like Fate is. She's actually already been a huge help."
To Fate, he comments "You should bring your familiar around, too! And from what I understand I can see why your mother wouldn't like the place. I don't think any of us would really be welcome there anymore." he adds with a shrug. "The TSAB wouldn't be fond of our actions." he adds.
Then, there's a pause. Euphemia seems to be enjoying herself, but Ayana seems a little out of it and Fate is so quiet. "Fate-san, what do you do for fun - when you're not out fighting?" To Ayana, he passes another small cake slice. "And Ayana, how have things been going for you?"
A quick shake of her head is given while her forehead is still pressed to the tabletop, and Eupehemia looks up to Ayana while wiping a couple laughter tears from her eyes. "No, no! You being young isn't funny. It's -interesting-! I've never met a familiar who hadn't been serving their master for years, so I'm curious to see how you interact." Danger, danger, the girl just openly admitted she's curious about something. "Like, do you have to 'get used' to each other, or is it instant?"
Then she'll nod to Fate, "Yep! I lived in one of the really rural areas with my parents. I liked it well enough but things are way more fun and exciting here."
To Takashi she'll nod and make a face, "TSAB are jerks. If you do anything they disapprove of they'll just swoop down and arrest you out of nowhere!" That -is- how the law is supposed to work, after all.
Then she'll look over at Fate, who has been fairly quiet, and reach over to take one of the girl's hands in both of hers. "Don't worry! Takashi-san is right, we're going to work together from now on. But more than that, I hope we can be friends too! There is -so- much I want to do with you, Fate-chan!" She can't clap her hands if she actually gets a hold of one of Fate's, so she'll instead shake it a bit while bouncing in her seat excitedly.
Also, Bulwark will behind the scenes quietly ping Bardiche and try to send over a 'mental snapshot' of Takashi dressed up like Ayana with all those ridiculous over the top hair ribbons Euphemia's mind added for no reason. Right when the girl is about to take a sip of tea, too.
Euphemia's bright smile momentarily broadens into a playful grin.
Ayana grabs the slice of cake and shoves it in her mouth whole, apparently more concerned with feeding her stomach than eating prim and proper. She chews, swallows, then takes a sip of the tea before licking her fanged teeth clean.
"It's been going okay," says the Fox-girl eventually. "I don't know, I feel like it's really hard to get noticed when school isn't in session. I keep getting kicked out at the public pool, though. Somehow every time I go there someone gets mad at me for splashing too much, but it's /hot/ and the pool is /cool/ and I don't see why I shouldn't be allowed to splash a little." The fox-girl pouts a little at this, then admits, "I dunno, mostly I've been /bored/. It's like, now that I can think like a real person, I realise I've spent most of my life being bored, and it sucks. Maybe I should just go back to sleeping during the day until summer's over."
She glances to Euphemia, then back to Takashi, then back to Euphemia, then shrugs. "I don't really know what you mean by 'get used to each other' ... what /is/ so funny?" she asks confusedly again, frowning.
"She might like that," says Fate, with regards to her Familiar.
"She used to work there," explains Fate, "but there was an accident. Mother never told me the details." Fate answers, and then looks confused for a moment. Can she remember when they moved? No, she can't, but she knows they did. How strange.
"For fun? Umm..." Fate actually has to think about that. "I usually don't have time for fun, but I like to do things with Arf. Mostly outdoor things."
Fate's hands aren't hard to catch, despite her speed. She isn't dodging today. Euphemia's words are like a river compared to her tiny little trickle, and she stares at Euphemia the whole time. "There is?" she finally asks. "Like what?"
Her hand is shaken as Euphemia the Sugar Rush bounces up and down excitedly. Fate's other hand takes up her teacup. She's in midsip when Bardiche relays the image to her. She stops, midsip, not wanting to spray tea everywhere, but she's giggling quietly as she tries to set her teacup back down.
Ayana asks what's funny. Fate doesn't have an answer, but her eyes glance over to Euphemia for a moment.
Takashi tilts his head at Ayana. "I'm sorry I haven't had much to call you for lately. Things are about to get a lot more interesting, though. We've got some sort of artifacts falling from the sky, Euphemia-chan has brought me a lot of information to work with, and Fate's mother has some things she'd like us to track down."
Then, as an aside. "And I think I'll be able to get you that Device you wanted sooner rather than later!"
To Euphemia - "Well, I wish them luck trying to arrest us working together. They will have to bring an awful lot of officers!" he adds, grinning a bit maliciously. He is a little revved up for the idea of sending them backing, not quite understanding the level of force they might bring - or not caring.
"You know, Fate..." he takes the last drink of tea before going for a bite of cake himself. "someone very close to me once made the point that if all you do is work yourself to the bone, you don't do as good a job working. A little rest, a little fun is important if you want to be able to drive yourself. Plus, it's good to remember why you're working so hard."
Then he looks to Ayana, a little guilty. "Plus, if your Arf is anything like my Ayana, she wouldn't want to spend so much time being cooped up..."
"Oh, that's a -great- idea!" Euphemia shouts almost out of nowhere in response to something Ayana says. "Takashi-san, we should have a pool! Our own pool, not some stupid public pool that doesn't allow splashing. Splashing is fun!" She then goes from having a possibly good idea to having a really horrible one, visually scanning the area, "...there's totally room for it in here too!"
She can also sympathize with the Fox-girl, "Being bored is the worst. Ever! But since you can disguise yourself with magic you can probably go around town having fun all day without any of it ever coming back on us. It's amazing how much there is to explore in the city."
She'll answer Fate's question when she asks, looking upward for a brief moment while she thinks. "Let's see... First I'd probably want to take you shopping for clothes, and then we could both try out all kinds of silly hairdos on each other. And then we could go exploring the city together, and play games outside since you like that. And definitely swimming! I bet there's all sorts of little creeks and rivers and lakes and ponds we could find. And sneaking into other people's pools when they're not expecting it. Hehehe! And while we're doing all that we can talk to each other about all the other neat stuff we've done before we met!"
As Ayana asks what's so funny once more she considers. She isn't sure if Bulwark can send a message to her since she doesn't have a device, but Takashi probably has a mental link with her? Now it's Axion that gets the ping of the mental image.
Rather than looking abashed she'll actually grin at Takashi just like she did Fate.
"With all of us together I'm sure we're a force to be reckoned with for even a TSAB attack squad," she comments cheerfully, probably overestimating her own abilities by a wide margin. "If they ever do try they're going to get a heck of a surprise, that's for sure."
Then she blinks and looks over to Fate once more, "Right! And we can train and practice magic together too! I'm sure we'll do that anyway, but we can make it fun." To this she looks over to Takashi and Ayana also.
Now she'll finally release the poor blonde's hand so she can drink more of her tea!
Euphemia has a whole lot to say, but Ayana hears absolutely none of it. Instead, she's busy giving Takashi a wide-eyed look of endearment, ears perked way up, tail wagging /furiously/ behind her. "Really?" she asks him excitedly, talking over Euphemia. "You really will give me one of my own soon?"
Then she does something entirely undignified, and leaps at Takashi, wrapping her arms around the boy in a tight hug, tail still wagging so furiously it likely knocks wayward teacups on the table over. "You're the best master /ever/, Takakun!"
Fate listens to Takashi's words, "Really? Playing makes you more effective?" Well, it seems reasonable. It would certainly explain why people like to do that all the time. Maybe that's why she hasn't been too successful of late. "Arf does try to tell me to get out more. She says I work too hard."
Arf also says some disparaging things about Fate's mother that Fate chooses not to repeat. Fate's heard Arf say that Precia is too mean, but Arf just doesn't understand.
Fate thinks about why she's working so hard, and her mind immediately goes back to a time when Precia smiled. Fate wanted to restore that smile...
... but mother isn't someone who will have fun with Fate. Not these days, when she's so desperate. It's... actually kindof hard for Fate to have fun when she thinks about that.
Luckily Euphemia's enthusiasm distracts her from that line of thought. "A pool? In here? But this is for science stuff."
Fate notices Ayana jump up, and her wagging tail starts knocking over teacups. Fate's reflexes aren't slow, and while the empty teacups are sacrificed, the ones that still have tea in them are rescued by her quick hands.
Then she turns back to Euphemia and says, "That sounds like fun."
There is some /vigorous/ head-shaking at Euphemia wanting to put a pool in the lab. "Firstly, that would be dangerous." he says, though he knows that's not liable to stop Euphemia at all. "Secondly, if things go well, we won't be meeting in this lab for much longer." he says, with a sly grin. "There's enough of us now and there's enough work I'm going to push to get us our own divison so we can take care of business. And then we can have our own place."
Then he is interrupted mid sly grin plans by Ayana! "Calm down calm down!" he says, managing to catch a teacup on his own - that's at least one more that didn't get broken - but there's a smile on his face. "I was thinking of surprising you, but you looked so down I wanted to see you smile again."he adds. "It's not gonna happen like, tomorrow, but I'm working on it and it's much closer. I've got a lot more examples and parts to work with, and I want to make something that's distinctly 'you'."
"Fate-chan, you really should spend time with Euphemia-chan. If there is one thing she is good at - besides breaking into things - it's having fun." he adds with a wink. "I mean, trust me, I used to do the same thing - push myself to do work work work all the time, hunt hunt hunt. But it's a real drag emotionally, and your emotions power your Linker Core, right? So you can't always burn them out. Taking a small break every so often makes you stronger! As long as you don't waste too much time - the key is a small break." He's still a bit of a workaholic himself.
Euphemia doesn't even try to stop the teacups from smashing or splattering. She will hold onto her own cake to keep it safe, but if some delicate porcelain gets broken? It just makes it that much more exciting.
"Awww," she pouts about the pool not being able to be put in the lab itself, only to cheer up quickly. "Oh! 'Our own place' needs to have a pool on the roof! Definitely, for sure! Right, Fate-chan, Ayana-san?!" She is going to do her best to egg them into joining her chorus of, "Please! Please please please!
After taking another bite of her cake admits the chaos, within which she is -perfectly- well suited and completely undisturbed, she tosses her hands high, luckily not throwing cake in the process, "Yay!"
Setting it down she takes a page from Ayana's book and gets up just long enough to try and throw her arms around Fate's shoulders and squeeze the younger girl to herself, "It will be fun. Lots and lots of fun, I promise! Takashi-san is right, it's important to keep in a good mindset because you'll always do your best when you're happy." She pulls away just a bit so she can smile brightly to the girl, crouching a bit to be on the same height level as her, "So lets both do our best to have a bunch of fun between work, okay?"
Despite being chided to calm down, Ayana squeezes Takashi /tighter/ ... then she lets him go and returns to her seat without a hint of guilt at the broken cups and spilt tea. Finally she catches back up with the rest of the conversation, but now she's /smiling/. "Honestly, Taka-kun is right. You /should/ be having fun. I mean honestly what's the point of all this power if you /aren't/ having fun with it? Power for power's sake is only as good as the fun you have with it.
"And Euphemia-chan is right," Ayana agrees readily. "Our own place /needs/ to have a pool. Except I probably still won't be able to use it much because I'll have to go make friends out in the rest of the world and the pool is the only place to do it right now, at least until School starts. So it should be a /heated/ pool so I can use it during the winter when school's in session. Wait, why are we getting our own place? Isn't that like expensive?"
Fate smiles at the idea of a pool, but then frowns at something only she knows about. She considers something for a few moments, but the thoughts are kept to herself, and Bardiche doesn't reveal them.
"Our own place? So we're moving out of here?"
The teacups that Fate has saved are gently placed back on the table, and she sips to finish off her own. She smiles as she watches Ayana and Takashi for a moment. It's a heartwarming moment in the liar of evil.
Takashi tells her to spend more time with Euphemia, and she glances between the two of them. "That's right... um... I guess I forgot."
Having fun would power her linker core? Maybe if she were stronger, she could win more battles... and get people out of the way when she's after a Lost Logia. It makes internal sense. Anything that can help her achieve her goals faster is worth pursuing.
"Right!" says Fate, a bit more enthusiastic. She's also a bit of a workaholic, for her own reasons.
Euphemia takes Fate by the shoulders and Fate actually looks startled for a moment... before realizing that Euphemia is just being her usual enthusiastic self. "A bunch of fun...?" That sounds a little bit differen than the 'short break' Takashi mentioned. "Well... okay."
Euphemia is older. That means she's wiser and Fate should listen to her advice, right?
"We're getting our own place because we are /awesome/." Takashi says, at first. "But more seriously because I am reasonably sure the higher-ups are going to go for my proposal of splitting us off into a different group. Which means funding, and a headquarters. After all, we can do things the standard lab-coats around here couldn't do in 1000 years."
"I'll see about a pool, but no promises. It'll depend on how much funding we actually get. It might have to be a later thing." A pool is not something he planned for at all. He is now practicing the ancient corporate art of stalling, a trick learned from his father.
"And work can be fun, too. If you let it. There's something fun about showing other people how strong you are, the force of your ideas, the way you're better..." he says, making a fist and a grin. That's when his eyes blink. Axion is feeding him information. Rapidly.
"And it looks like we'll get to work as a team and have a little fun like that now. I just caught wind of a target I've been tracking. I want to bring her in - or at least her device." he says, getting up quickly - then setting the tea back down gently.
"Get your Barrier Jackets up - we're off to hunt a target of interest." he says with a grin, and his device goes from a bracelet to a full gauntlet quickly.
The excitable girl tilts her head a little, "You can't, Ayana-san? Wouldn't a pool be the perfect place to bring people to make new friends?" It doesn't immediately occur to her that bringing people into your Fortress of Evil Science might not be the best way to make a good first impression or keep the Evil Science a secret.
"A -whole- bunch of super-fun, Fate-chan!" the girl replies with a bright smile. She'll sneak another tiny hug from Fate before letting her go. The last thing she expected was to have an ally that was actually younger than her, and ever since it was revealed the powerful girl with her lightning powers and amazing Bardiche would be joining them she had hardly stopped thinking about it.
Being who she is she'll take the 'I'll see about a pool' as 'we are definitely getting a pool, break out the party hats and noisemakers'. "Awesome! You're the best, Takashi-san. And you're right, we are amazing; especially now that we all know we're on the same team! Just think of how much effort we spent on fighting each other, Fate-chan. Now imagine all of that power used against our enemies instead, at the same time." She holds her hands together and then spreads her arms and fingers in a wide arc, "Kaboom!"
Then she's told that they actually have a target -right now- and she's literally hopping around in excitement.
There may or may not be crushed teacup to clean in the near future.
"Bulwark! It's time."
<Prepare!>
<Gear Up!> "Set Up!"
The green gem hanging from her gold necklace shines brightly and detaches, and Euphemia's outer layer of clothes shine brightly before disappearing.
One piece at a time her Barrier Jacket forms, first as a glowing forest green magical outline but then as actual clothing, starting with the huge overcoat and following up with her skirt and boots, and then finally her leggings.
Then many long, thin pieces of Barrier Jacket ribbon work into her hair, intricately winding around each other to form small braids that twirl inwards- most of the animation budget seems to be spent here.
Then Bulwark herself transforms, a the little kite shaped gem mirroring into two which glow and slowly drop onto Euphemia's forearms, changing into large shields attached around the barrier jacket with thick bracers.
The girl balls her hands into fists and strikes an energetic pose, "Let's do this!"
No promises about a pool? Fate doesn't quite look as disappointed as one might expect. Takashi's explaination might make sense. A pool is a nice idea, but Fate hears they take a bit of upkeep to keep them from getting gross.
Fate listens to Takashi's definition of fun. Well, Fate /is/ pretty strong, in her own way. Her magical output is huge, at least, and magic is one of the few things that she has proper training in. Would she consider that fun? She'll have to think about it.
"A target?" asks Fate, suddenly getting serious. Her teacup is finished and then placed on the table. She stands up and walks with a half-eaten cake in her hand.
Bardiche, currently a small yellow emblem attached to the back of Fate's hand, pings and starts to glow.
<Get Set.>
Golden magic covers Fate's form. Black leotard forms over her torso, and a skirt wraps around her waist. Black boots adorn her feet, and a long black cape appears and flows behind her.
Bardiche itself floats from the back of Fate's hand, radiating magical power, and elongates into a long staff. She grabs it while it floats in midair, and as she touches the handle the device flashes for a moment, before completing its transformation into its bearded axe form.
She finishes the last of her cake as she follows after Takashi and Euphemia. Time to get to work.
Takashi's device is actually in a strange sort of half-standby now, an after-effect of the wierd nature of it.
<Standby, Ready!> announces the device that sits on his wrist, in a new, soft female mid-childian voice.
"Axion, EXECUTE." Takashi says, sternly.
<Barrier Jacket,> the device begins, before becoming garbeled, and its voice switching to a harsh Belkan female voice, where it continues where it left off - <SCHATTEN UMHANG, AUSFUHREN BESTATIGT!>
The device bursts a blast of dark blue negative energy in front of it, which Takashi punches first one arm through, then the other. That energy continues to coat his arms and body, before he pushes himself through it completly - arriving on the other side in what appears to be almost a blue robe with silver buttons, and orange and black accents along the cuffs and neck, with long pants to match and dark black shoes.
<BARRIEREMANTEL UND><Shadow Cloak ready!> the device reports, in its confused twin voices.
"Everyone follow me!" he says, and he's out the door and in the air - he might have to slow down a bit for Euphemia, though the others can likely keep up.