Scene #6463: A Quiet Meeting

Owner	Pose
Homura Akemi	It's taken Homura an uncomfortable amount of time to actually reach out to the weird and entirely too numerous people who came to her aid. And it was just one, to test the waters. She didn't want to be caught in that people sandwich again. It was awful. Whether it was a good idea to make that person Touta is another matter entirely, but she'd, if nothing else, been curious about how he kind of... emulated the Witch. And despite that fact he seemed one of the most normal people there. Yeah, let that sink in. The invitation was nowhere special. A part of Mitakihara's harbor that'd been cratered by... who knows what, and just wasn't a priority to get fixed. Still partially flooded, even. There was a skyscraper there, before, if the chunks of foundation sticking out of the water are any indication. Homura had found a seat on the mostly destroyed upper floor of a small building next to the crater, lacking a ceiling entirely and being more like a platform than anything else now. Her school uniform stuck out a fair bit less than her magical girl clothes, but Touta shouldn't have any issue recognizing her!
Touta Konoe	Touta was definitely surprised to receive such an invitation from Homura. She had seemed so shy the last time they met and compared to all the others who seemed like they actually knew her, he had felt like maybe an acquaintence at best. Though maybe he was being invited to talk to cause they were the same age? Sure, that made sense! Well, whatever the reason was Touta wouldn't ignore the invitation. So the fifteen-year old kid arrived back to Mitakihara. There was a bit of relief as he arrived this time around not feeling some sort of sensation that he was being watched. While it didn't help the crumbling scenery much it did bring the boy a sense of relief. As he traversed through the town he finally came upon the building addressed in the invitation. He was probably easy enough to spot from below. He was the boy always in black. A black gakuran, black pants, black spiked-hair. The only thing that he didn't bring from last time that was black was his tachi. He had figured that he wouldn't need it, and that it might be for the best not to bring his side-stick along for this visit given Homura's disposition. He waves from the streets once spotting Homura atop the building taking his time to get up. Once he finally reached her...Well...Here he was. He takes a seat down next to her trying to be as pleasant as possible with a smile. "Heya, thanks for inviting me over. Hope you weren't waiting too long, were you?"
Homura Akemi	The girl tenses up a bit at Touta's arrival. Maybe the prospect of talking to him had seemed fine, but when comes the time to be brave, it was another thing. Now he's sitting next to her! No, nonono, she didn't even think to transform, she can't even cop out! She ruined this. "N-No, it's fine... I come here often to relax. It's... it's complicated." Given the scenery, it surely must be. "I thought I should try to talk to some of you a bit... um... without all the... stress and crowd and... monsters." An important way to qualify a talk. "You seemed like you'd be a bit easier to talk to than the others. Sorry if it's inconvenient." Her eyes avert him the entire time. She looks at her feet instead, as if she'd never seen her own shoes before. "Do you... do you mind if I asked what you did? When you kind of transformed? I've never seen someone do something like that."
Touta Konoe	Touta gives a bit of a confused look at first when she tenses up. Did he do something wrong? Maybe it was that shyness kicking in again? He decides to look at the scenery from this view for a moment to let Homura collect herself as she needed to. "That so? This building actually has a really good view of the water from here. I could see why it'd be relaxing." Once she composes herself somewhat explaining why he was here it explained quite a bit. "Ah, that totally makes sense. Don't sweat it at all. It isn't an inconvenience. In fact, I wanted to meet you again anyway, so it gave me an excuse." He doesn't really ask why she's been staring at her shoes at all but if she ever peers from a corner she'll see that Touta looks directly at her when he talks with that doofy look. Clearly this kid had less of a problem speaking to others as she did. Yet when she brings up the tranformation there's a bit of awkwardness in his voice and a hand reaches behind his head. "Oh that...Well uh...It's a bit complicated but uh, I guess you're use to magic so you can probably get. See, I'm not really a magical girl, or a mage or any of that cool stuff but I got this magic in my body. When I use it, it lets me sorta suck up other magic or super-powers and stuff. So after I suck it up like that, I'm able to take whatever I sucked up and...This is where it gets a bit complicated but...Basically I can mix whatever I sucked in with my soul because of my magic and what happens is...Well...That appearence. There might be way more to it, but I think that explains it pretty well."
Homura Akemi	"Yeah... yeah it's... it's the view," Homura says, keeping her eyes down still. She stance softens a bit, gradually; maybe Touta might make her relax, if he keeps being a harmless doof. "M-Me? Why? I'm not... I'm not even that great at being a magical girl. I'm not even interesting." She stares at her shoes harder, as if doing so might provide liberation from being awful. It doesn't. She finally pipes her head up when Touta changes the subject to himself, because that's imminently easier to talk about. His ability to just look straight at her makes her look towards the ocean rather than his face, though. "T-That sounds kind of cool. And really useful. It must let you adapt to just about any situation." And also turn into a tentacle monster, so that's a thing. And a bit disturbing. But probably useful, sometimes? "Isn't it dangerous? To mix things with your... soul?"
Touta Konoe	"That so? Well, you're probably one of the first real magical girls I've seen. I mean there was this one time with Staren but..." He stops as he recalls that scenario vivid in his memory and decides to immediately close it off. "Eh, look, what I mean is don't sell yourself short. You definitely seem interesting to me, just think about it. You were so interesting you caught everyone's attention before even after everything with the witch. People didn't just up and leave, right? Art, Seventeen, Staren, and even Priscilla were all interested in talking to you. I bet if you wanted to you'd be a crazy-awesome, magical girl. Yeah, this is the kind of person Touta tended to be when talking about other people. Looking to give the highest praise, and find the best in them when possible. That said when describing himself... "With my stuff though, it's alright. I mean, it's cool but it's got a lot of limits. What I end up becoming really depends on what attacks my opponents throw at me, and even then I'm not always sure how their powers work. I was just lucky that those tentacles acted like extra arms and fingers. It did totally feel weird though! Plus, if we're gonna talk about interesting at least you're probably original. This wasn't even my magic. I ended up copying it from my grandpa, and he was WAAAAY better than I am at using it." ...He was rather modest. "He was a real mage and was able to use his own lightning magic with this and turn himself into a living lightning-bolt! Compared to what I can do that's way more interesting don't you think?" He blinks for a moment, and for the first time actually recedes a bit. As to why was hard to read on his face. "Anyway, what were we talking about? Oh right, dangerous? Mmmm..." He takes a moment to think as if that moment prior hadn't even occurred. "Well, to be honest that was probably the first time I ended up flipping out because of absorbing something. But, I guess you're not completely off the mark either about it being dangerous. I've been told this magic isn't exactly nice. I mean, even the names it has sound a bit creepy. Magia Erebea, Black of Venus, seriously who would choose to name magic something like that, right?"
Homura Akemi	"Staren was... the one who kept talking about time travel, right?" That's how she kept them apart. Arthur was the guy with the incomprehensible words. Priscilla was just really big and intimidating, it'd be hard to have trouble recognizing her. But when told to stop selling herself short, it just seems to have the opposite effect. She almost seems to shrink, like the very concept of it was deeply uncomfortable. There's about ten reasons. "There's... there's hundreds of magical girls, I doubt I'm original. I'm not even good at gym, so fighting's kind of..." Not her cup of tea. The fact of the matter is, if she didn't have the world's cheatiest trump card up her literal sleeve (because that's where the shield and Soul Gem are, get it?), she'd be dead already. She suddenly reconsiders how many people just up and offered her training. Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea? Or maybe she'd mess that up like everything else. Sigh. "That sounds nice, though... having family you can look up to." Then Touta questions the name. "Well, we're... we're called Puella Magi, so I can't really say. I think it's just a fancier way to say magical girl, so no one really uses it." She finally makes a movement other than be stiff, to scratch the back of her head a bit and then adjust her glasses. "But if it's bad for you... m-maybe you should avoid eating more Witches, they're kind of..." She stops, and considers the corner she just put herself in. An idle look at the ring on her hand, then back at her shoes. "Bad..."
Touta Konoe	Touta nods as she goes through the list of people acknowledging the descriptions she's listed of them. She's basically got them down pat in that regard. Though he's surprised to see her get so down when he tries to give his pep talk. Did he say something wrong? It wouldn't be the first time he's done that. What's worse is that she starts self-depricating! "I think we might be alot more similar than I thought." It's a surprising choice of words to say but something he says without holding back. "See, I wasn't able to use magic at all starting out. Back in my world magic is starting to be common place. Almost anyone could use magic if they had the right equipment. Except me apparently. Anytime I touched a magic ap- Uh, magic wand, I'd end up breaking it. You could imagine how it's like to see people do something you can't, right? It took six months of blood, sweat, and tears to get where I am with my magic and even with all of that there's a lot of limits on what I can and can't do." At this point he stands up and pulls something out of his pocket. At first it looks like an oversized ring, but as it expands she should be familiar with the Hula-Hoop he had brought the last time he was here and starts hula-hooping. "I can only do it while I'm spinning this thing, looking super ridiculous! Plus, you saw what happens when it stops spinning. All that magic I take in just sorta leaks out, and that's if I'm lucky." At this point he halts the hoop grabbing it with both hands. He recalls a few words that sorta stuck with him when he was in a similar position, "You just have to learn how to play with the cards you're given. If you can do that, I'm sure you'll be fine." And after that long schpeel she talks about witches, "Eh? I thought it was just her magic? Did I eat a part of her or something too?" There's a bit of grimacing on his face as he ponders that thought, but after a moment he tries to reflect on that moment and the grimacing stops. "Maybe...But, I don't know. When I took in that Witch, or her magic or whatever it was...I felt like I was taking in more than just magic. It felt like...I don't know. One moment it felt like I was watching this movie of another magical girl, but I could feel everything she was feeling, and in those last moments there was just so much of it..." He stops again realizing that he's getting off topic. "Maybe taking in that magic might be bad, but I think that there was some good that came out of it as well."
Homura Akemi	As Touta tells a story of being awful at a thing and jealously coveting others' ability to do it, there's a knowing look from Homura, whose stance lightens just a bit, her head perking up in interest. Replace magic with 'being a functional person' and you've got her story right there. Having an awful, uncooperative body sucks. Then the sight of the hoop, and she nods. "I-It looked dangerous, though. I think it made the Witch angry. So... that's good, even if you look a bit silly, right?" Hey it's SOME positivity, finally. Though as the topic shifts again, she bites her lips, wondering how to put it. He clearly got a good look at the truth, so... and there's no major risk if he learns it, unlike magical girls. "T-That's because... when a magical girl runs out of power, or... if she succumbs to grief... t-that's what happens to us." Finding out was awful. Just taking a whiff of any other magical girl's timeline usually gets her... well, exactly that. It was overpowering at first. Now it's just really, really depressing. She tries not to think about it. "There's nothing left but the bad, then." She raises her hand, and her ring shimmers, flashing purple and gold before suddenly reforming into that peculiar gold-caged egg shape, the purple gem bubbling like there's liquid inside. Black, murky spots dance inside, tainting the normally much brighter soul. She hadn't used the Grief Seed yet. Couldn't, until she... did her thing, so to speak. "See? It starts turning black when we're low... or if we're really hurt." She doesn't leave it out for long; the Soul Gem returns to ring form a moment later, to avoid undue attention to its state. "Did you... did you see why she turned? It'd be really useful to me if you did, I can..." How to put it. "I can't save her. No one can. But I can... ease her. It's not much but it's better than nothing."
Touta Konoe	Does give a bit of a smile at her positivity! And just like that topic shifts into more serious as Homura discusses the details of this world. And it's a major one, one that leaves Touta slightly a aghast. Homura's words were cruel and almost unbelievable. To think that a small, frail girl like Homura could end up like that Witch would have made anyone question it. "I see...That Magical Girl...Karin...She really was that witch." He wanted to ask how it was she possibly came to that but it seemed like Homura was reading his mind on that, already explaining what caused the metamorphosis from Magical Girl to which and frankly it was just like those visions. Cruel. At this point she pulls out her Soul Gem, Touta listens with great interest, feeling that he owed it to Karin at this point to listen to this full-heartedly as someone who saw her last moments. The last moments before , 'There's nothing left but the bad...' "So all the black that builds up is like all the sad, negative emotions. Maybe that was why..." Maybe that was why that transformation had occurred. He has to stop that train of thought though as Homura asks him the next question. Why she had turned? Unfortunately, he was pretty sure he did. "Her grandma. Her grandmother passed away one night while she was out. The way she talked she was probably out all the time helping as a Magical Girl, but because she had...She missed meeting her grandmother and she passed away. I don't know if it was the only thing, but I remember feeling that moment. There was so much sadness and regret. I don't know if that'll help at all but that's probably the best reason I could guess..." Touta takes another moment to return to his original train of thought as she explained that there was no saving a witch, just that one could ease her. It's at that moment he gets a bit worried. He's worried for all Magical Girls in fact. "Homura, you said there's no way to save a Witch, but there's still ways to save Magical Girls before that happens right?" Unlike before he sounds really curious about this. He knows that this conversation was to help get Homura accustomed to talking to groups but at the same time, Touta felt like he was learning too much to not ask questions.
Homura Akemi	"I... I see. I think that'll be..." Homura considers, and nods. "That's good, sometimes it's really hard to help because... I don't know them at all. But if I know this much, it's going to be a lot easier to..." She keeps not finishing sentences. That's probably not very useful. But Touta's view of the event is going to help a lot. His question breaks her out of her thinking, though. "Yeah. When we beat Witches, we get Grief Seeds, and we can use those to remove the black spots and replenish our energy. A-And you can always make sure they don't... use too much energy fighting, so they last longer." Sadly, she can't advise on the emotional aspect. She's so bad at it herself, she couldn't begin to understand how to keep other people from falling into despair. "I-If it came down to it, you could also... y-you could also..." Well, how does she put this lightly. It's obviously something she doesn't even like to consider. "Kill... before they turn. When we die like that, we don't." "Sorry. That's all I really know."
Touta Konoe	Listens with great interest as she explains how this all works. At some points there's a shine in his eyes, and at other points his face was as grim as the explanation being given. But once everything was explained he placed a hand on his chin as he started looking at Homura very intently. "Alright...If that's the case... Homura... I might be asking a lot, but if it's okay with you can I try something with your Soul Gem? I don't know if I can help but after everything you told me, and everything I've seen, I feel like at the very least I should try to help you guys out if I can." All those emotions, all of that grief, after everything he experienced through that magic he didn't like the thought of any Magical Girl going through that sort of ordeal again if he could help. If there was something that he could do even if miniscule he wanted to try.
Homura Akemi	'Hey can I mess with your soul-in-a-bottle,' asks Touta, to Homura's sudden agitation. She'd avoided saying that Soul Gems are literally named, and not just a fancy set of words for a magical girl trinket, and she isn't totally sure she wants to say that particular part out loud. Truth told, she's ashamed not to be human anymore. Like it somehow makes her less of a person. Perhaps not a person at all. "U-Um, that is, I, I mean, t-that's..." Reluctantly, she raises her hand, caught in the social obligation of either having to say yes or having no say no, and neither being fun to do. The Soul Gem reappears, after a moment of hesitation. "P-Please be careful, I don't want to..." Die? That's a word. Let someone down? Much closer to the truth.
Touta Konoe	Really was trying to be delicate about the situation! But Homura's face looks like for the first time there's just a hint of discontent on her face. He can't really blame her though, the way she was describing these Soul Gems, they were basically a life-or-death thing for them. When he watches her bring out the Soul Gem he realizes that this is probably as trusting as a Magical Girl can get. There's probably so much fear in this moment for someone like Homura that he can only fathom it, but at the same time he wants to respect it... "Homura...If at any point you want me to stop, just tell me. I won't feel bad if you do, but the last thing I want to do is scare you okay?" He wanted to let her know that this was her choice, that she was the one in control here. Besides, if he scared her enough maybe that black in her Soul Gem would begin to spike again. But he cleared those thoughts out of his mind as he slowly got into a more comfortable stance. He made sure to smile the entire time he was doing this, after all, how could he expect her to be calm if he wasn't? Though in truth, it's a bit of a long shot of what he was thinking of doing. When the battle with the Witch occurred, he had absorbed her magic but it felt like he had been able to absorb more than that. He had absorbed Karin's magic, but also somehow absorbed her memories, her feelings. Perhaps it had something to do with his own magic, Magia Erebea. The truth essence of Magia Erebea was that it was Dark Magic, magic based off emotions, mainly those of negative emotions. Now, being able to look at the darkness within Homura's Soul Gem well...It seemed similar based on the explanation he was given. This black tarnish on their gems were similar to his dark magic. Painful emotions given magical form. It was perhaps the reason why it had such a strong impact when he absorbed the Witch's magic. But that was just it, if that witch's magic was the same as the black magical energy accruing in these Gems, then maybe just maybe he could absorb them like he had the Witch's magic. Maybe he could become some sort of 'Human Grief Seed'. But before he could determine that, he'd have to try. Touta began spinning the Hula-Hoop once more until it reached the point it was sustaining itself in mid-air like a helicopter propeller. The ground below them slowly went alight. The symbol of Yin and Yang appeared encircling the too of them. Touta slowly reached out with his left hand as close as he could to the Soul Gem without actually touching it and from there...He wasn't sure what would occur. Perhaps nothing would occur, perhaps she'd feel a slight tugging sensation but nothing else, but perhaps it was possible that the black tarnishes would escape from the Soul Gem just as they did when a Grief Seed was presented and enter into Touta's hand before disappearing...There were many possibilities that could occur in a moment such as this.
Homura Akemi	Maybe the only miscalculation in Touta's guess is the idea that taint is dark magic. It'd be more accurate to say it's a lack of magic, coupled with delicious, delicious despair. It's a bit different for a Witch, where it becomes an actual power onto itself, but for a Puella Magi, taint is the absence of mana, not the presence of something else. Homura's Soul Gem doesn't stir, though the 'liquid' inside bubbles more excitedly, the black spots dancing in the gem - but not growing, or shrinking. He probably gets the feeling, with his experience using that hoop, that if he really wanted to he could probably aim the power at her mana instead, and make the black spots spread that much faster. That'd be bad! But the taint refuses to cooperate, or at least it does for now. More research might be needed. Or more practice. Whether or not something seems to be happening or not, Homura is becoming increasingly stiff, and her hand is starting to shake. She even closes her eyes like she's resigned herself to trying to pretend what she can't see can't hurt her. "A-Are you done yet?"
Touta Konoe	Watches his attempt and the results...Are hard to say. Clearly whatever he was expecting to absorb clearly wasn't coming out. There's a response occurring within with the 'liquid' inside. He could maybe try to absorb that, but that wasn't what the taint was and he honestly didn't know what would occur to her Soul Gem if he left it with ONLY taint. In truth, he isn't sure still how the Gems work and because of that he considers one more possible thing. To try and do what he does with his own magic to get it to work. In his eyes, the taint was still something that lingered, if not as magic as something. Something that was able to be pulled out by the Grief Seeds so that the Soul Gems could be purified. If that was the case he another way to try and seperate her magic with whatever was lingering with it by rotating it so fast that would attempt to separate the two like liquids in a centrifuge. The only problem was... <"I might have to absorb her Soul Gem to do that."> There were so many risks to that though. One he wouldn't be able to see what's occurring with the Soul Gem, and would have to completely base his discretion on feeling alone. While he was sure he could expel the Soul Gem when he was done, if for some reason the Hula-Hoop stopped spinning while he was doing it...What would happen to her gem? circle surrounding them "Oh, sorry Homura! Yeah, I just finished! Looks like it was a dud. I don't think the gem darkened more though...How are you feeling though?" He stopped the spinning of the hoop, and the symbol below them faded. It was too dangerous to think of doing. At least with his skill set as it was. If he ever did decide to do it as he was now, it'd have to be under the most dire of circumstances. "Thanks for letting me try. I know that was really selfish of me to ask you that but I really appreciate it... If there's anything you want to ask of me, know I owe you one. Alright?"
Homura Akemi	Don't become Shang Tsung, Touta. It's not good for your status. When the boy declares he's done, Homura pulls her hand back immediatly, the egg-shaped gem reverting to its ring form again, and her spare hand covering it up as if the air had become dangerous to it. "I-I'm fine, it's okay, you don't... you don't have to do anything for me, just having help fighting is... is really useful," she finally says. "I-I guess this just isn't something with an easy solution, but maybe if we keep looking, we can..." Find something? Hope doesn't suit you, silly Homura. She lowers her head again. "T-Thanks for... the info about the Witch. I'll let you know how it goes, okay?" Hopefully fine! But what he provided should help guarantee that.
Touta Konoe	Definitely gonna need to look up a Shang Tsung later but for now... Homura is quick to get out of this position. Touta getting one last glimpse of it before seeing it revert to a ring. He puts the hula-hoop away to hopefully try to put her at ease that he really had no more intention to try and continue anything. "Of course, having to fight these things alone. It's really hard right?" He stops for a moment when he says that. Why would he say that? He's never faced them alone before so how would he know that? Why would he even say that? Oh...Probably cause of Karin. That'd make sense. Still, this was probably the most hopeful he's heard Homura been and he doesn't want her to lose that. Hope is always in style for Magical Girls, right? So when stops her statement, he finishes it. "...Find some way to stop it for good. You're probably right that it won't be an easy solution but I'm sure that somehow, somewhere there's a solution. At least that's what I've come to think after being in the Multiverse for so long. That even if there's no way in our world that maybe there's a way of doing it in another. But uh, I'll let you see that for yourself. Anyway, don't sweat it about the info about the Wi- no, about Karin. I'm happy that I could help. And Homura..." It's at this point he stops and stares at Homura for a long moment. Locking eye-contact with the girl for a moment. There was a thought that came to his mind, a thought that came from experiencing Karin's grief...That thought led to a question... Was there a grief that Homura was carrying? A part of him wanted to ask but at the same time...He had already asked so much from a person he barely new. Anymore would just be too much. Still, he stares her straight in the eyes and tries to say this in the most sincere voice he could. "...If there's anything you ever want to talk about or anything you want help with, know you got a friend right here for ya." And with that he gives one last smile to the shy Magical Girl.
Homura Akemi	"O-Okay. Thanks." It almost seems hesitant. It's obvious she hasn't been in this kind of situation very often. Exactly once, really! Twice now. It's a good thing Touta's hair isn't pink. "C-Can you find your way back? I'm going to stay here a bit, s-so..." To look at the sea. Or the ocean. Or something only she can see, here and here only. Like playing a video over and over again because it's the last thing you have. It's probably not healthy, but it's how she copes and manages to recenter herself. Remember she set a path and she's not allowed to give up. For what little good it can do.