Scene #2574: Taking Takoyaki with Talky Taka

Owner	Pose
Nephrite	A stone's throw from the food truck (that's what it was really, but the quality of the food had people ignore the fact) and a short stroll reunited Masato with his beloved Testarossa. It was rude to walk and eat, of course, so it was only now-- all designer clothes, silk shirt and italian leather-- that he deigned to open a box of Takoyaki. A toothpick kept his fingers clean, a box likewise relinquished to Takashi, as Masato leaned casually against the door of his car. He was taking a moment to enjoy the spoils. "Stars, that's good... I swear, it's been nothing but food youma from those two, lately." Wicked Lady and New Moon. "If it weren't for Mako-chan, I would've wasted away..." He lamented, stabbing another ball.
Takashi Agera	Takashi is highly annoyed. There's just so much to be bothered by. He's trying not to let it get to him, and doing a poor job. He took a box of Takoyaki from Nephrite and for a moment his eyes brightened - food is always good - and he leaned against a nearby streetlamp. He, of course, knew better than to lean on the car in question. He sighs. "Well, Mamoru-san seems to think he's got it under control. Which... well, let's be honest, that just annoys me more..." he admits. "Not sure if that's because him thinking he's in control worries me more." Pot, meet kettle. He opens the box and likewise uses a toothpick to pluck one of the little orbs of delight from its package and plop it into his mouth. "Those two? So you've had run-ins?" He asks. There's actually... a lot to ask about, given that he's not seen Nephrite a lot since they stopped being co-workers; a little here and there, a little this-and-that, but not as much time spent as just Takashi. The Takoyaki munching keeps some of that at bay, though. "You want to fill me in? That was pretty crazy."
Minako Aino	"Oh my god it was incredibly crazy. I can't believe Mamoru-kun asked me that!" The little joiner is offered by the sudden blonde that stood on the other side of Nephrite from Takashi. She doesn't have her own box of takoyaki so it might not be too much of a surprise that her hand is snaking out toward Masato's to try and snag one of the delicious little balls with a stray toothpick she happened to have. A girl needs to be prepared! The fact that it looked like Usagi that was trying to be a food thief was probably just as confusing.
Nephrite	A nod of broad agreement, though it's difficult to even know where to begin. There's always a selective flow of information to maintain, and true enough, Masato's months abroad distanced him from quite a few people. The man in front of him was certainly one of them, just as with the distance he kept when he returned from Hotaru and others, even in a duality of feeling. There is a lot to ask about, indeed. Masato, coolly ignoring all of this as convenient, is glad that now isn't the time. He flicks a look towards the new hand, attached to a faux-sagi, and decides the ruse is more important for onlookers. The box is held available as he addresses Takashi. "There's a few moving parts to all this, but the main thing you need to know about that exhibition back there is this-- it's a game of mitigating potential damages done by Wicked Lady, and getting the real Usagi back in one piece." Sapphire eyes slid to the Tako-thief. "So. Which one are you? Is that you, Mina-chan?"
Takashi Agera	"I do know a thing or two about containing damage, yeah." he says, both probably not 'needed' to explain that he means via his working in Obsidian (from his own perspective) and not something he's going to bluntly explain in front of Not-Usagi. "The likeness is pretty good. She's even got the shark-circling-around-food mannerisms of Usagi-chan down." he notes, in a sort of show of respect to the Not Usagi. "So what do we do, just wait for him to get in over his head?" He asks. "That woman was pretty bad news, from what I can tell. The backflipping kiss could have easily been a knife to the back of one of us, or something." He says, then pauses. And grits his teeth. Right, if this isn't Zoisite... then he can't really have a show-of-powers or anything. "Well, I guess the question is, what are you and the rest of his boys gonna do and how can I help." he says, begrudgingly pretending like he doesn't have powers.
Minako Aino	Minako Aino bounces on the balls of her feet with slight excitement as the box is offered toward her. Sneaking food was great but actually getting away with it was so much better! At least she doesn't snatch the whole thing--Just one ball which she pops into her mouth to munch with a little sigh of appreciation, and a little happy-food wiggle. A second one is speared but not immediately eaten. "Mmhm, it's me," she agrees with Masato as she bobs her head with dangos bouncing. An eyebrow is raised toward Takashi though and she leeeans around Masato to wag her Takoyaki at him scolding, "Of course I have her mannerisms down! I've been practicing them for two lifetimes! I am the perfect double." Muttermumble, "Izou's not bad either though. I guess. Sometimes. Maybe." "That's me though, walking target number one for the Black Moon Clan's stalker Prince."
Nephrite	It's Minako. Right. He adjusts the trajectory of conversation accordingly. "That one, New Moon, is the powerhouse to be sure. Wicked Lady's calling the shots, and she's no light hitter, herself... but, over his head is about right. He's about the only one who can pull this off." A furrowing of brows, "I don't know what he's told you about recent business with the Black Moon Clan, but we came out of that black and blue. Chibiusa ran headlong into a trap, and her mother followed after." A glance was given to Mina-sagi, and another takoyaki was pierced. "Now, Chibiusa is Wicked Lady and she's got her right hand in New Moon. They're not answering to Demande, though. Wicked Lady's also not interested in endangering either of her parents, so as bizarre as it might sound, Mamoru's standing next to something scary enough to keep his other enemies at bay, for now."
Takashi Agera	Takashi listens to Masato's words, at the same time as he processes that this is not Zoisite, not Izou, and therefore to Takashi an unknown quantity, and he'll ABSOLUTELY have to keep any mentions of him having powers at home. He ruefully eats another Takoyakim, which helps, as it is VERY good Tako. "Two lifetimes, huh?" Takashi asks, crossing his arms and quirking an eyebrow to the not-Usagi. "So, Black Moon's still involved, ugh. You'll have to explain what you mean by Stalker Prince, though." "But yeah I could tell Wicked Lady had power. She had an aura strong enough I could sense it, and I'm just basically a civilian." he says, looking to Masato with a 'look' that says that he doesn't know who this Not Usagi is and he trusts him to keep that side of the 'story' square. "I heard Mamoru-san got hurt, yeah. Running headlong into a trap, did she know it was a trap - in other words exactly how like her father is she on that one?" he asks, sighing. "I get needing power to scare off power, but I always thought that was not really his thing." Or a sparkle thing. To Takashi, that is just doing what he's doing - how hypocritical of him. "How is she handling the Dark Energy? I've seen some people who seemed to be handling it allright, then they go off and, I dunno, try to eat the sun. Given her dad's alergic... I don't think she's going to be one of the ones to contain the downsides for too long."
Minako Aino	Right. Masato hadn't been there. Mina-sagi actually stops eating when she's asked to explain the 'Stalker Prince'. Instead of immediately doing so her head lifts to glance left, right, even UP because you never know. Then with a shimmer of magic being released her appearance changes back to herself. The clothes were the same, but the hair was different. Long and straight, and a red hairbow swept it back away from her face. The empty toothpick is spun between thumb and forefinger. "On Nemesis. When we went to rescue Mamoru-kun... We found him in Prince Demande's bed chambers." The expression that clouds her face was difficult to read as it was a mix of rather serious expressions rarely seen on her. Disgust. Sadness. Rage. Finally just quietly horrified. Without really thinking about it her weight shifts so that she ends up leaning back against the Testarossa. "He tortured him. Broke his hands, his ribs, his eyes could barely open from the bruises. And he did it all right in front of this holographic ... effigy of Queen Serenity." "In his bedroom. He had that in his bedroom of course he's a freaky stalker creep!" "The rest of them may have been after the Silver Crystal, but that's not what Demande is after."
Nephrite	Masato closes his eyes, because he really didn't want to give Takashi all of that graphic detail. It was bad enough to see it in person-- not on Nemesis, but immediately after it, when Mamoru had been int he hospital. Where he had been told about the creepy hologram, and later since then shown the memories by Mamoru himself. But they've had talks about this, about dark energy, about temptation, about Hematite, about Nephrite, about hatred, and anger and-- and better, harder paths to walk. Promises made and kept. And Masato swallows takoyaki alongside his particular fury, and tries to return to the plan. To moving forward. "Condolences to you, for having to play walking incel bait, amongst other things." Masato says to Minako, with a sigh. "I don't envy you." Still, his attention returns to Takashi. "We're on the clock, where Wicked Lady's concerned. She's... older and in some ways, more mature. But the Dark Energy is making her petulant, self-absorbed to the point of flippancy. Blind to danger." He agrees, "Everything is currently hinging on the wedding. It's still on. And the plan is, with Mamoru steering things from the inside, and us doing our part on the outside, getting Wicked Lady and New Moon to show up and allow the marriage to go forward." Masato inclined his head. "With a plethora of means in place to arrest them and sort this mess. Preferably without Wicked Lady getting distracted or angered enough by anything to lose control or overstrain her tolerence." Or do anything she may later regret.
Takashi Agera	Takashi is not happy to hear about that detail, not one bit. He holds it back well, all things considered, but the edges of the box crumple, and the next time he plucks at a Takoyaki ball, the toothpick goes into it, and out of the bottom of the box. Lack of control in small ways. But no Dark Energy leaks out, at least. "He'll regret that." is what he says instead. "Hurting my brother. Lots of powerful folks are fond of him." he notes. "The hologram thing is also creeper-city, yeah." But he doesn't want to destroy every molecule of the unseen man's existence over the hologram. "By arrest, you mean purify, yes?" Takashi asks. He's sounding out that being an actually sensible-to-him plan; he can't imagine a girl as young as Chibi-usa handling Dark Energy if she wasn't born with it. And he wants his neice safe. Which actually leads him to be on-board with purifying someone. Maybe she can try again when she's older. But also, if there's purification magic, Riventon will have to be ready. "Hell of a wedding reception, but probably important." he notes. Then he turns to Minako. "Less bait and more like a bear trap - from the way you're talking if he tried to steal you he'd get a face full of fist. Which I fully support by the way."
Minako Aino	Minako Aino crosses her arms over her chest, and digs her fingers into her upper arms trying to shake the recollection of how it felt to be on Nemesis along with everything else. Masato's sentiment is taken with a quickly flashed smile that deepens into something a bit more vicious when Takashi suggests she'd punch him. "I'm much better at kicking, and swinging a sword." Or blasts but... Ah she wasn't going to give all her tricks away. "We can work on security for the wedding to make sure the Black Moon Clan doesn't crash it. It'll be hard enough to deal with Wicked Lady and New Moon. It sounds like neither of them are going to let Usagi out of their sight alone. New Moon pegged right away that I wasn't really her."
Nephrite	Takashi has the same reaction that Masato had, which is understandable and expected. He doesn't miss the toothpick stabbing through the box. He also doesn't much care to dissuade him from any harrowing plans to absolutely fuck up Demande's day at some point in the very near future with all the intensity and wrath neither Mamoru nor Masato can't afford to dip into dark energy again for. It's comforting, in a strange and slightly malicious way. But of course, he's following perfectly, and Masato nods. This too, expected. He chose the word arrest purposefully, as it is a little more palatable to say in this context while still conveying what it needs to. For Riventon to prepare, as well. "That's about the size of it. Security to keep crasher out, and several measures to make sure we keep Wicked Lady and New Moon in, long enough to sort this mess out. I'm going to keep matching Mamoru's movements, coordinating some of the wedding details and generally trying to keep things... at a minimum. Ideas on containment efforts and anything that might make this go by smoothly are welcome."
Takashi Agera	Takashi shakes his head. "Well, given where I've heard it's going to be, my direct help is going to be minimal." Takashi notes. Civilians can't exactly go on the moon, after all. "But I might see if his Other Magic Brother has any ideas." By which, Takashi means Riventon. "I'm sure he'll have ideas, depending on if you can let him up there to scope the area out before hand." He says. He turns back to Minakosagi. "Well, sword is probably best. Keeps you from getting incel gunk on your boots or whatever." he says, shrugging. He's taken the word to refer to Demande after Minako used it. "Yeah, I saw how quickly she tagged your diguise. I would have bought it, but she didn't. But I'm more concerned with the super-speedy backflip and you know. The obvious energy she has. That's troublesome. And if she's not the head honcho of that little splinter group, you best roll up your sleeves."
Minako Aino	"If it wasn't for the fact that I'm here, I'd wonder if she were me," Minako remarks with her nose scrunched up a bit at the talk of New Moon. "I thought I was the only one acrobatic enough for moves like that! It was realy pretty awesome honestly. If not for the evil part." That was a distinction she had to make. Yep. Reaching up to rub at the back of her neck she pushes away from the car she'd been leaning on only now realizing she had been. Maybe she was a bit tired. "I need to go get some rest for the night. There's so many things I need to do, including making sure my parents know I'm okay. Being two people is hard." "Thanks for the takoyaki, Masato. Tell Izou it's his turn next time." With any final partings she heads off jogging down the street.