2982/The Fruits Of Our Labor

The Fruits Of Our Labor
Date of Scene:	08 September 2015
Location:	Estate Lamb
Synopsis:	A Labor Day party breaks out and friends gather for food and chatting
Cast of Characters:	40, Riva Banari, 626, 847

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Eleanor Lamb (40) has posed:
    The house is warm this evening with a small crowd milling around. It's a block party, and there's plenty of the neighbors here to visit. Lots of military families, officers, other Elites, their kids. There's also a number of grills out in the back yard, along with potluck tables. Kids are running around and it's generally a lovely Labor Day party.

    Eleanor is at one of the grills, a trusty old Foreman kettle grill that's hot and smells of roasting meat. She's got a plastic cup in one hand, and there's a few Sisters milling about. Miss Mamami is not out here tonight. Probably still inside with the more introverted of the girls.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    A holiday celebrating Labor? Kyra has to wonder if she can make /that/ catch on. Certainly in her own city where innovation is so praised. She smells the barbeque before she sees it which makes her walk just a little bit faster as she passes through the house and into the back yard.

    Fortunately, this seems to be where Eleanor is right now too! She seems to just appear at her elbow, holding an empty plate and baring a huge smile. "Hi!" she seems to be in better spirits in spite of the rather distressing mission last night. Ignorance seems to be bliss, though, since that was really the first time she was exposed to the dangers of Puella Magi. "Got meat?"

Riva Banari has posed:
JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT IT WAS SAFE TO GRILL IN YOUR BACKYARD.

A shadow darts between kids, rustling in the bushes.

THE CONCRETE AND GRASS OCEAN REVEALS IT HAS THREATS OF ITS OWN.

The Jaws theme begins playing, quietly, as the bushes rustle along the line in the direction of the grills. Someone sneaks forward, scurrying beneath the tables, weaving around kids who sit there eating and kicking their legs. When they look under, they see nothing...

THIS SUMMER, THERE IS ONLY ONE THING YOU HAVE TO REALIZE."

The music comes to a crescendo just as there is a terrible, looming presence behind Eleanor...

"You're going to need a bigger boat." Riva pronounces, holding out a big platter. "Deli boat, that is." She grins, setting it over with the other food as she turns off her phone's MP3 player and gets back to the group. "So, I heard something about boxed wine, fajitas, and young women in need of relentless spoiling." Riva says. "Not in that order, of course."

Konoe Kanno (847) has posed:
     Another new arrival came in the form of a bushy, brown cat simply waltzing into the backyard.

     It weaved through the various guests and visiting neighbors, making a swift approaching towards Eleanor herself.

     Once the cat found it's target, it stopped by the woman's feet and sat down, meowing up at her as if in greeting.

Eleanor Lamb (40) has posed:
    Eleanor smiles over at Kyra and ruffles at her hair with the heel of the hand holding the cup. Nothing sloshes out. "Ah, you're going to have to wait for this meat, it's got time to go." She's got the flank steak directly on the coals, and she's keeping a close eye on it. Short cooking time, it seems. "If you want the finished product, there's fajita mixings and meat on the table over there."

    There's also ribs, steak, and... well now mixed cold cuts and deli fixin's. Eleanor rolls her eyes a bit at Riva and bumps hips to hips. "I'd hug but my hands are full here." She lifts the meat off the grill, some of the coal and ash still sticking, and moves to wrap it up in some tin foil "Alright, give this 15 minutes and it'll be perfect. The wine's over on the drinks table, we've also got some beer and that awful canned margarita."
    Oh. Hey. Cat. Eleanor's brow furrows a bit, and she... Oh. Right. A smile down at the kitty, she carefully untangles herself from tipping hazard, and snags a slice of steak down to the cat.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    "Oh, okaaaay." Kyra wrinkles her nose a little bit at the hair (and hoodie!) ruffle. "Then I'll get it from there! Be right baaaack-" Oh no, a land shark approaches, ready to attack an innocent backyard barbeque. "Riva! Hi Riva!" Of course, Kyra assumes she's here for the food and not to talk about evil satan cats.

    She excuses herself for a second to procure meat and assemble a fajita. She returns moments later, already eating the fajita, napkins clutched in one hand. "Yum! Nice, Eleanor."

Eleanor Lamb (40) has posed:
    The Big Sister smiles a bit at Kyra and moves to plant more fajita veggies on the fire to grill for a while. "Well, you're welcome. This is most of my job these days. I'm not really out in the field much any more. Not that I mind that. Always makes it hard to make PTO meetings and such." A little grin, and she huffs, taking a longer drink from her wine.

Riva Banari has posed:
Riva hipbumps Eleanor hello, and then spins around Eleanor to give Kyra a hug. "Hello Kyra! Nice to see you! How have you been?"

She pauses. "Is the kitty yours?" She says, looking down at the cat. "Heeeey kitty! Kitty kitty!" She says, wiggling her fingers at the kitty before gng in with the opposite hand to pick up the cat and begin hugging and petting it. "I'm going to go get some food wit hthe kitty, be right back."

A couple minutes later, Riva is back with a drink in one hand, and a carefully balanced kitty on the arm that has a small pile of fajita meat on the plate sitting in front of it with several complete ones on the plate as well. "So." Riva says, as if she's not trying to jugle food, drink, and feline at the same time. "You're doing something important, Eleanor, don't make light of it. The kids need someone like you around so I don't have to be the responsible one."

Konoe Kanno (847) has posed:
     The cat gratefully took the slab of meat, setting it down onto the ground before proceeding to bite away at it.

     ...And then Riva happened.

     A surprised yelp followed as she was carted off with the crazy woman. 'Noooo!! My steaaaak! Lemme go!' The cat wiggled uselessly under Riva's grasp. It only stopped once more food was provided for it.

     Content for now, the cat craned it's head to snip at the meat on the plate as the three spoke to each other.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    "...uh! Not bad. Been pretty busy helping out lots of other people lately, it seems." She grins, wrapping Riva up in a one-handed hug because she won't smear fajita around her friend.

    She nods in agreement with Riva, "She's right, though, helping this girl after what she's been through...she needs it. And you're a great person to do it since you know how to listen to people." Kyra shifts her napkins onto her plate and reaches over to give the kitty a scratch behind the ears. Strange, that cat seemed familiar somehow.

    "So...what's this Kyubei thing?"

Eleanor Lamb (40) has posed:
    "And just why would you be the responsible one, Riva? I'm not sure if that word is in your day to day vocabulary." Eleanor snorts quietly, as she takes a seat at the table, a little sigh of relief as she gets off her feet. Actually, she squeaks a little bit as she kicks her shoes off and goes barefoot for a while, now that she's away from the fire.
    And then the question. Eleanor sighs and pokes at her food. A look to Riva and then back to Kyra. "He's the Faustian Bargain. An indifferent creature that seeks only to profit in the long term from young ladies turning into Witches."

Riva Banari has posed:
Riva sits down with the others, freeing her hands up as she lavishes attention and bits of food upon the kitty (which is transferred to her lap). She seems intent to continue spoiling the feline relentlessly for the time being. "Oh come on, I'm taking perfectly good care of Ayako!" Riva objects, even though everyone knows it's basically the other way around.
5rWhen conversation turns to Kyuubei, Riva shrugs. "Haven't seen more than pictures of the thing. It's just as well, I'd make a terrible magical girl and worse Witch anyway." Absently, she provides another strip of fajita chicken to the cat, then begins petting.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    "Uhh..." Kyra sets her plate aside. She seems to be reaching for her phone. "So...sorry, Faustian? Why would anyone be able to profit from people turning into Witches? Don't Witches wind up killing everyone around them by driving them to suicide?" Her knowledge of the whole Puella Magi thing seems to be pretty superficial-yesterday was a huge chunk of learning about how things work on that particular world.

    She laughs, poking Riva. "I agree, you'd make a terrible magical girl. 'cause you're not really a girl anymore, you're a woman. A magical woman is just a straight up superhero."

Konoe Kanno (847) has posed:
     Satisfied at no longer being held so abruptly, the cat settled down, nibbling at the offered food and purring faintly at the petting. All this talk of magical girls, witches, and a 'kyubei' had her attention however.

     Seemingly without thinking about it, the cat blew it's cover as a familiar voice emanated from it's small form.

     "Is this 'kyubei' thing still around? Hasn't it been stopped yet? It sounds far too dangerous."

Eleanor Lamb (40) has posed:
    Another sip of wine to steady herself, though the compliments help. A bit of a blush on her cheeks, before the Big Sister plows forward. "Well. Before the contract changed, the Witches used to turn into coalesced bits of magic and despair. Those could either be used to cleanse the Gems of other Puella Magi or..."
    A look to the Cat. "Miss Kanno. I figured that was you." Not mad. A little bemused.

    "...Or the Seed would be devoured by the Kyubey, in order to prevent the heat death of the universe." She says this with a straight face and eats a bite of beans and rice.

Riva Banari has posed:
Riva squirms and giggles as she gets poked. "Hahaha, well, you're as young as you feel, right? Age is a state of mind!" After that, she supplies, "Faust is the name of a really famous story of our worlds about a man who made a deal with the Devil for immortality in exchange for his soul. It ends pretty tragically."

When the cat speaks, Riva blinks, looking around in confusion, and then looks down at the cat in her lap. "Did... Did the kitty just talk?"

Beat. "Ohmahgawd, I have a talking kitty!" There's a low squeal of happiness as Riva picks up Konoe and holds her under her forelegs in front of Riva's face, letting the legs get a little purchase on her thighs as she makes a silly expression on her face. "Who's the best talking kitty? You are!" She coos.

And then Eleanor says something, as she pops her head around the cat and blinks. "Kanno? Is this..." She looks back at the cat, and then to Eleanor. "Um..." she says, as if indecisive, before she suddenly puts the cat back down in her lap, stammering "OhgodI'msorry!" She sighs. "You're just /so cute/."

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    "...I knew you looked familiar!" Kyra knows Konoe's voice pretty well. She kind of stops scritching Konoe's ears after she speaks, though, looking a little embarassed all the sudden. Probably not NEARLY as embarassed as Riva when she comes to the same conclusion after baby talking at Konoe for a solid minute. Whoops. "Though Riva, I hear talking cats help girls become magical girls all the time."

    She frowns a little at Eleanor's explanation. "Uh...that doesn't sound like a very efficient way of preventing heat death..." she gives Eleanor a 'not sure if serious' look. "Oh, okay, so that's the whole Faust thing. See, that's...why do you have to /trick/ people into helping you prevent the heat death of the universe...?"

Eleanor Lamb (40) has posed:
    Eleanor murmurs. "On the contrary, they claim it's the most efficent. Apparently magic such as that which they grant to magical girls can breath thermodynamics. So if they concentrate enough magic at once, they can... turn back the clock, so to speak."
    She steadfastly ignores the wubby dubbly voices being leveled at the cat, and pokes a spoon into her potato salad. "I say /them/. Kyubey is one of a race of extradimensional beings that sort of ooze into our reality. So, you can't kill them, not properly, because you can't really get /to/ them. And that's why Madoka, the one that's... a Goddess, changed the way the process works."

Konoe Kanno (847) has posed:
     "......"

     Being baby talked at wasn't a new thing for Konoe. Being held up and played with wasn't a new thing either. But they never did get less annoying as time went on. Rather...the annoyance levels stayed at about the same rate for all the time she's been alive so far.

     If cats could frown, Konoe would at frowned pretty hard at Riva as she was held up. ...But they didn't know. Plus...it was kind of nice.

     Kind of.

     Not that she'd ever admit it.

     Never.

     Ever.

     Once settled back down and not being baby talked to, Konoe's voice spoke up again. "It's fine. You're not the first." The cat said, trying to sound somewhat dignified in the face of Riva's babying. The cat looked to Eleanor and managed a small nod. "Hello Eleanor-san." She listened to the the explanation of Kyubey meanwhile, offering no real emotional reaction...because she was currently a cat.

     Pause.

     Said cat looked back up at Riva. "I didn't say you could stop, human." KEEP PETTING.

     And to Kyra. "And hi Kyra-san. I didn't want to...make a scene? So I came like this." She sounded sheepish.

     Back to Eleanor. "So magical girls don't need to fight witches and take their grief seeds anymore?"

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    "Oh, these guys say this? Really? How do we know they're not screwing with us? Maybe they're just messing with girls for drama. Or because they're /creepers/. I'd demand the studies showing this 'preventing heat death with magic' thing." Kyra stubbornly folds her arms over her chest.

    "...hmmm...extradimensional beings, huh. I've been trying to research a sample of one but it's been slow going. I can't seem to get the mechanism that allows the matter to extend and exist in another dimension simultaneously as ours. I-"

    Kyra doubles over laughing as Konoe demands CONTINUED PETS.

Riva Banari has posed:
Riva almost panics as the cat looks up at her. Is she mad? Is she going to punish Riva's audacity?

Nope. Cat likes pets, yeah yeah yeah. Riva almost starts, but immediately sets to, giving the cat an almost massage-like rubdown. "Yes ma'am!" She's almost flushed red with embarassment for the moment, but this is a more or less typical situation for Riva.

Eleanor Lamb (40) has posed:
    A sigh as the cat derails the conversation a bit, but Eleanor shakes her head, amusedly. "Well. Madoka changed the way her world works, by... remaking reality. It cost her herself. The Modka we are working with now is not one that was in the same position as the one we... knew."
    She swirls her wine a bit, and swallows a drink. "Mmmmh. Of course do not mention a word of this to anyone outside of Heaven or Hell. And certainly not to the Kyubey. I mean it. You can't kill it, and it doesn't forget. It also doesn't register humanity as anything other than something to be exploited. I am certain Psyber can cause them conceptual damage now with his Abstractum, but... when one is in your presence do not discuss any of this."

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    Kyra's quick to recover herself so she can listen to the rest of the story, which finally explains to her why what Madoka did last night to the Grief Seed was such a big deal. That there was /another/ Madoka that had managed to 'fix' things. "So...the only way to really fight these things is to alter reality on some level...?"

    Her shoulders sink a little bit as she realizes this is a problem way, way out of her league. "Oh, of course, the details are safe with me. I'll also be sure to /refuse/ any offers they might make me, Wish or no wishes. You know, anything that seems to offer a wish for anything seems to be nothing but trouble that bites you in the ass in the end, doesn't it?"

Konoe Kanno (847) has posed:
     Munch munch munch

     Ah, having not cat food was rare. Konoe was blissfully indulging herself as she listened to the conversation. She eventually chimed in though, having enough of a break in her wolfing down of steak to do so. "I won't tell a soul. If I do happen to run into these things, then I won't accept any deals." A pause. "...A wish offered for nothing sounds incredibly dubious. Does this kyubey entity prey on desperate individuals who really need or want that wish?"

     A sigh emanated from the cat's form after. "Altering reality...that's not something I have experience in." Another pause. "...Wait, did the goddess Madoka use the kyubey's wish system to alter reality in a way that ran counter to their old system? She was allowed to do that?"

Eleanor Lamb (40) has posed:
    Eleanor smiles at the cat. "Very good. Ah, it's complicated, but Madoka managed to become the absolute most important entity in her entire universe, and parleyed that into her wish. So much so that the Kyubey doesn't even know the change was made. So. Don't give it ideas."

Eleanor Lamb (40) has posed:
    And then she looks over at Kyra. "Also. That gem she has, is the source of her power. If it leaves her presence, she will keel over dead. She's technically probably dead already but that's a matter for the philosophers at this point. So, if you saw her as dead last night, that's why."
    Eleanor scoops up some Waldorf salad and murmurs. And that's the story.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    "So it's unlikely that the trick of using its own wish system to torpedo them further is going to work again?" Kyra ventures, "Because that's a pretty clever way to handle this Faustian bargan stuff." Kyra grabs up her fajita again.

    She pauses, then nods, "Yeah. It was only briefly but when I first saw her as the girl, she registered as dead to me. No vitals. Sucked dry of life. So if the gem is corrupted like it was last night, she'll show up as an...undead, right? As in the Witch? Do the Witch count as undead at that point?"

Riva Banari has posed:
"Do you really need to fight them??" Riva asks. "Sounds like they got shut down pretty hard." She continues absently petting Konoe, however, getting back into just sitting there lavishing attention on the kitty cat after the interruption. Seems like even the realization doesn't keep her down for long. She doesn't have a whole lot to offer as they get into the philosophy section.

Eleanor Lamb (40) has posed:
    Elle looks to Riva. "As I said, there's little way to stop the Kyubey, so he's been fed another source of energy. The Demons that are generated by the Witches and the dark energies of the world drop energy bits that are used. Not nearly as efficent, but now Magi must not kill Magi. There's..."

    She murmurs. "There's really no way to stop the Kyubey from making deals and granting Wishes. So the damage is mitigated."

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    "...mmm." Kyra makes a quiet noise of contemplation. She sounds a lot less cheerful now than when she arrived. "All this has been very enlightening. I didn't realize the problems in Homura's world were that serious."

Konoe Kanno (847) has posed:
     "I didn't know about these problems until recently..." She fell silent. "....." Aw, now she felt a little guilty, sitting here getting pampered while they talked about heavy stuff. Konoe reluctantly crawled out of Riva's lap and settled herself next to the woman.

     And then in the blink of an eye, where there was a cat, a girl now sat. She wore a pair of jeans and what looked like a white mage hoodie that might have been a size or two too big. It covered her hair, and it had a set of 'ears' at the top, that presumably hid the girl's actual ears. Without missing a beat, Konoe spoke on.

     "So if the same method can't be used again...I wonder just what can be done? There's really no way at all to stop the Kyubey? No way to mitigate their wish explotation? That's...frustrating."

Eleanor Lamb (40) has posed:
    "It is frustrating. It is frustrating and it continues and there is so much more. Throw in magical powers and petty school girl drama and.. and... Let's just say they make a handful." Elle sighs, and hangs her head forward.

    "But I survived it, and I know I can help others do the same. That is me. That is my job. I know this is Homura's world but she's not... she has a hard time distancing herself enough to look at things objectively. I know I barely can do that, but this... this is."

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    "It can be hard seeing that it's her world. It's a lot more personal to Homura than it is to us. So there could just be something about that we're not really getting when we talk about this stuff." She shrugs a litttle.

Riva Banari has posed:
As the cat leaves Riva, there is a reflexive attempt to yoink the cat back. However, as all cat owners know, that never works. Riva, nevertheless, looks surprised when Konoe appears next to her in girl form. "It's only frustrating because you guys keep hammering your heads into it. We all have a ton of our own problems to solve without figuring out how to punch things in other dimensions. We can do a great job keeping things contained and as clean as they can get, while others can go deal with the Great White Evil." Riva kind of gets a speculative look at this point....

And then a hand slowly rises behind Konoe. "Yes, the Kyuubei are taking advantage of innocent girls, but there are things that do worse to them too out there. Things that are weak to being punched or blown up. And we're all pretty damn good at that, right?"

This is about where Riva starts trying to give Konow scritchies through the hood to see how she reacts.

Eleanor Lamb (40) has posed:
    Elle just sorta deflates. She's told Riva and Kyra the story about the Sisters, and that's almost as bad. A little huff of breath, and she leans on Riva's other shoulder, grumbling. "The Great White Evil is easy to despise though so that makes it so much easier, doesn't it?"

Konoe Kanno (847) has posed:
     "I guess we are." Konoe nodded in agreement with Riva.

     And then she felt a hand on her head. "........" On one hand, she was tempted to smack Riva. On the other hand...it was nice. ...Yeah...this was nice...

     RESIST CATNESS FAILED.

     Despite being in human form, the girl let out a faintly satisfied purr, not resisting at all. In fact, she leaned closer to Riva, apparently wanting /more/.

     B a d E n d

     Konoe Kanno has exited the conversation. Game Over, man. Game Over.