2019-12-01 - Cause For Alarm
| Title: Cause For Alarm | |
|---|---|
| Summary: Mikoto is trying to figure out how best to make her old friends miserable. Westar has a few suggestions. | |
| Who: | |
| Where: Dark Burger | |
| OOC - IC Date: 2019-12-01 - July 20th, 2015 | |
<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
A new day brings with it new demands, and for once Mikoto has tried to attend class. The long-sleeved magenta shirt underneath her Ohtori orange still marks her for an outsider - but more than that is the fact that she cannot answer a single question throughout the morning.
She doesn't attend Ohtori regularly any more. She doesn't really know the answer to the questions.
But her latest scheme failed, so she's looking to listen in on what everyone is excited for now, so she can ruin /that/ instead.
Well... that's what she /was/ doing.
It's what she was doing until she saw someone she didn't want to talk to, and she decided she didn't need to be in Ohtori for a few hours.
Maybe she'll go back later and skulk around the clubs.
Right now, she's hungry.
She's hungry, and the Obsidian Lord's little sister has no need to want for a budget. It's not difficult at all for her to head into the fast-food eatery and order something; she doesn't have to worry about her change. She gets in line, thankful she's missed the noon rush: there aren't many school-age youth while school's still in session, and all the salarymen have already gone back to work.
It means the lines are just /agonisingly/ long instead of /soul-crushingly/ long.
<Pose Tracker> Hayato Nishi [Infinity Institute (U)] has posed.
Life goes on, as ever-evolving on Earth as it is unchanging in Labyrinth.
The last few months have been educational for the young man calling himself Hayato Nishi, as old routines take on new dimension with new components to his mission. He'd expected the university life to be more or less the same as high school life, but the reality proved to be rather...different.
On a positive note, it seems as though concocting dark plots in class is less noticed than it was at Infinity.
Today marks the start of a new week, and Hayato's lectures are done for the term. Exams might loom, but that's another day's problem - for today, he's hungry and in a mood to not cook for himself. There's exercising to do, and muscle mass requires calories.
Thus, Dark Burger. The lines have shortened a bit by the time he enters - though an argument seems to have started up by the counter involving a surly-looking cashier with a chip on his shoulder. Not Hayato's problem, but it's a delay...though, at least, a delay that he appears to not have to suffer alone.
"Minagi! Didn't expect to see you here." He gets in line behind the shorter girl, rolling one shoulder. "I thought those schools still had classes - something come up again?"
<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
Mikoto looks up, from where she was frowning at the cashier, when she hears her name. Her scowl fades when she sees who's calling - they might not have their capes on right now, but they're still familiar to each other. It is not, particularly, an expression replaced by a smile, but it is at least /less/ unfriendly than she looked. A lack of unfriendliness is like friendliness.
She hums noncommittally, as Hayato asks whether something came up. "... I wasn't learning anything good. And they kept asking me stuff I didn't know. So I left."
That's apparently something you can /do/ in school. You can just /leave./
Mikoto might be... a /bad influence./
"Guess Hayato can do that, too, in university..." Mikoto doesn't know much about university classes. She's never needed to look into it. She has a different career plan.
She frowns as she looks to the front of the line, where the argument is progressing. "... want to eat?" She asks, leaving implied the rider of eating together. It's obvious they came here to eat, so she doesn't need to explain herself.
<Pose Tracker> Hayato Nishi [Infinity Institute (U)] has posed.
Westar's cape is nowhere to be seen, but there's an honest cheer here - maybe a little brighter without that edge of malice that Westar has on the battlefield. Without Switching Over, Hayato Nishi is just tall, buff, and generally friendly.
"Eh..." Hayato wobbles one hand. "No real questions, but they take attendance. Can't just skip out if class is in session, and I'm supposed to pay some attention. Mo-"
For a moment, he freezes, realizing the public place they're in and that he's supposed to keep some kind of low profile. Mentioning Mobius is a bit of a giveaway, and so he tries to recover. "-ooom? Wants to know if there's information of value there, so I'm supposed to learn what there is and pass on anything useful."
Westar's mission is to be studious. What kind of disaster...
"Anyway, yeah. Got hungry and Shun got mad when I started the grill, so here I am. If you've got time to catch up..." He gestures to a nearby table, as a trio of customers storm by in a fury. The argument's wrapping up, so maybe Mikoto can order soon...
<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
Unlike Westar-come-Hayato, Mikoto has little delineation between her civilian disguise and reality. Perhaps that's why she remains dour, even when there's nothing here she's fighting against.
She grunts, as Hayato makes his graceful recovery, and doesn't criticise his segue. It's as good a cover-up as she could have managed, and she knows what he means. "Sure," she agrees, vaguely, as he trails off, and steps up to order.
Any further argument is shut down by her scowl and the money she hands over immediately. She doesn't stop long enough to figure out which one of those two worked. Instead she makes her way to the table Hayato indicated, landing her tray on the table with a light /thud./
She takes a bite out of her burger as she waits. It's only when Hayato catches up that Mikoto will comment; she swallows first, because somewhere in her two years in Tokyo she learned she was supposed to do that. "My orders haven't changed," from harvesting their suffering, presumably, though she doesn't spell it out in a place like this, "so listening to them at school is good sometimes. I get to know more about what they care about right now."
Munch, munch. "... but they know my face. I'm not like Hayato, so everyone knows it's me. Makes it harder." Mikoto frowns. It's not like she knew she'd need to do this, later in her life, and she ought to keep her secret. Besides, even if she tried, SEARRS would have still betrayed her.
The food is good, she thinks, even as she eats slowly and doesn't look at all happy about it.
"It's only... gotten harder," she adds, looking down at the beef with shaded eyes.
<Pose Tracker> Hayato Nishi [Infinity Institute (U)] has posed.
It's not long after Mikoto gets set up that Hayato follows - order placed, paid, and received. Perhaps it helps that the young man with the scuffed-out nametag went on break. Perhaps there was just a bit of luck to be had.
Either way, Hayato is here, prompty munching on fries as Mikoto explains her side of things. The girl's exact mission is enough of a mystery that he tilts his head, trying to piece together something unsaid that he doesn't know for certain. Knowing what people care about is important, but...
"Yeah, it's hard. You're outnumbered, and half of them know you well enough to keep trying to talk things out in the middle of a fight, right?" Hayato grabs a handful of fries, pauses, and plucks one away to hold with his other hand, separate from the group. "It's like Eas. She was one of us, and she knows exactly what Shun and I have as our orders - so some of the fights with her are hard. Not because she knows how to fight my monsters, but because she knows how to confuse me."
There's a pause, as those words hang in the air, and then he stuffs the handful of fries in his mouth, chewing quickly before swallowing. "Cuts both ways, but those girls are a lot better at backing each other up than our side. So yeah, that's rough."
He leans forward, wresting his chin on one hand. "Might be better to step back, try a different angle. Like - you're learning what they care about, but they know about those weaknesses and tend to protect them. You could, uh, figure out what makes younger siblings upset, and do that, and then them being mad will make your real enemies upset?"
Frowning, Hayato shrugs before leaning back to unwrap his burger. "...depends on what you really want to do here."
<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
Mikoto hums acknowledgement, with a little nod, as Hayato asks that question. Golden eyes track the course of that lone singular fry, as she continues nibbling at her burger.
It cuts both ways...
Her eyes shut, briefly, as she nods.
She looks to Hayato again, as he makes his suggestions. "Eat," she answers, after he trails off - and then she frowns, as she realises he wasn't asking what she wants to do /here,/ at Dark Burger.
"I'm supposed to... make them suffer," she explains, quietly, a little disgruntled. "They say I'm the one suffering... but... I wouldn't be sad if I didn't know them." She shakes her head, puffing a breath through her teeth. "They say... lots of things. I'm not supposed to listen..."
With a dissatisfied little hum, she takes another bite from her burger, and she knows it's been cooked well. It's hot and tender and the vegetables are crisp. It's good.
It's good, so she doesn't know why she still feels bad.
"I think... hurting their family will just make things worse." Some of them are... particularly protective of their siblings. "I'm trying not to make things bad again," she does not stop to explain what bad is and how it's something which happened, "but... I'm working against myself. Sometimes I... forget, and... I hurt them a lot." Softly, she adds: "I haven't killed anyone yet, but... I guess I must've been trying."
Mikoto looks away, lips pressing to a thin line. "When I get more orders, I usually end up hurting them a lot more... so I'm trying to figure it out for myself. Lord Brother said I didn't need to kill them, but it's hard to control myself... I guess I'm just like that," she notes, dismal.
Munch. Mikoto looks back up to Hayato, hope like fragile spun glass. "But... it gets better, right?"
<Pose Tracker> Hayato Nishi [Infinity Institute (U)] has posed.
Eating is a good idea. Even a Dark Burger Double Abyss tastes far better than any of the standard rations in Labyrinth, and it's something to appreciate while it lasts - until Mobius takes over and standardizes everything.
Hayato nods sagely at Mikoto's grumblings about whether to listen to these former friends, because Westar has to put up with some of that too. It's sympathy, such as it is - the kind of problem he can recognize.
Violence, though...the rule of beasts is a vicious one, and while Westar can be wanton with his destruction there's still something of a line. The girl before him has always been more comfortable with that line than him, so if even she's having misgivings...
Maybe his unease shows on his face, and it doesn't dispel when her orders come up. Maybe it's proof that Mobius really is the best one to rule over everything, if this is what other powers in Dark Fall prefer as a way of doing business - but then again, Northa exists. Maybe this is just what to expect.
"...it's chaotic and messy. Once we win - " As if it's ever in question. " - things can just settle down and get back to routine. That's something to...look forward to."
There's a burger in front of him, the likes of which won't exist once Mobius takes over. Without saying a word, Hayato closes the wrapper back over it, folding his hands.
"...'make them suffer', huh? If you're not scared of making them mad - " Admittedly, he kind of is - given how Cure Passion alone reacted to that one Nakewameke, this might be a gamble, but if Minagi needs some kind of alternative option... " - then mess with them before dawn. They're teenagers, having to get up for class is misery enough, so if you make enough commotion that they lose sleep and don't have time to go back to it - then they'll suffer without you having to get all...stabby."
That's a Westar plan if ever there was one.
<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
<SoundTracker> Muse - United States of Eurasia https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ok0expLH1o
Mikoto doesn't exactly look happy with what she's being made to do, but she doesn't say it's /wrong,/ either.
It's not wrong, because her Lord Brother gave her the power she wields, and her Lord Brother isn't wrong, not ever. He can't be wrong... can he?
She will pretend she never posed that question to herself.
She grunts, nodding to his assurances that things will improve. "They'll get used to it..." She'll get used to it, she adds, silently. She's fighting for a better world - a world made better by her Lord Brother - and all the sacrifice must be worth it. She can't forget their future.
Mikoto watches Hayato wrap his burger up again, and doesn't comment on how he wouldn't have something as unique as fast food if his Lord Mobius were the one to succeed. She has the thought, certainly - can see how it might wound him - she thinks that way, these days. But she doesn't have to fight Hayato. There are so few people... she doesn't have to fight.
She finishes off her own burger in silence.
That restraint is rewarded with /advice,/ the way Hayato has always helped her with the transition. She frowns - first at his mention of fear and then in thought, as he goes on to explain his idea. "... right. They go to sleep late, 'cause we're causing trouble, then they have to wake up early... so they won't be thinking right, and they'll feel bad." She doesn't go so far as to explain how she knows that.
"I think that'll work!" Mikoto decides, and she can't quite manage smiling about it but her expression is at least gentler than it was. "... thanks, Hayato. It's... easier with help. Without Hayato, I'd really..." But she stops and trails off, because even if it's easier with friends, the only one she's meant to love is her Lord Brother. That means she can't feel warmly towards him. Something she can justify with cats is harder, with a person.
She grunts, the corner of her lip scrunching, and she stands abruptly. "It's useful," she settles on, more removed. "... I'd better get back to work. Good luck with school." That's work, for him, too.
Mikoto seems a little embarrassed, as she makes her escape.
He says that magical girls are better at backing each other up, but it wasn't so long ago that she fought as a magical girl, too.
... she'll get used to it.
<Pose Tracker> Hayato Nishi [Infinity Institute (U)] has posed.
She's going back to 'work', not to school. If Hayato were inclined to be more responsible, he might say something about that...but things are what they are.
"Just exams left. I'll be able to get back to work soon, too." He should be enthusiastic about that, shouldn't he.
But at least he managed to help an ally today. That's at least something.
Left alone, he things about just what he's got to do before ever returning to that burger.
