Scene #2788: You know who Riventon really is, right?

Owner	Pose
Sayaka Miki	<PHONE> Sayaka Miki texts Hinoiri Kirara: Hey, Hinoiri! <PHONE> Sayaka Miki texts Hinoiri Kirara: Got a bit of time? <PHONE> Sayaka Miki texts Hinoiri Kirara: I got something to share, if I can come over. Supposing she receives a positive answer, the bluenette brings with herself a strawberry cake coated with a crunchy coating of almond nibs, plus a set of cutlery and plastic dishes to eat it on (she didn't really want to force Hinoiri to clean up her own). Ula had relaxed a lot more when she saw Sayaka was in a mood good enough to start baking (the usual assistance of the PreCards nonwithstanding), and she is calmly humming a tune on Sayaka's shoulder as they reach the unicorn's room. At her destination, the bluenette knocks two times, and waits for her friend to open the door, placing the box down to give her a hug before getting inside and showing her the cake. She used vegetarian ingredients, so that should be something Hinoiri would be able to enjoy too.
Hinoiri Kirara	<PHONE> Hinoiri Kirara texts Sayaka Miki: Yup, you're always welcome. Of course, knowing her bestie was coming over meant it was time to clean up a bit! Gathering her notes into one consolidated pile. Hearing the door knock, she popped it open with a grin, smiling to her. "Heyyyy, how you doing?" she asked, more than happy to give her a hug back, once the cake was made sure to be safe and not at risk of being crushed. "So, is the cake what you wanted to share? Because I'll be honest, I'm still a unicorn at heart and frankly, any time you wanna bring over pastries I'm pretty much always down to share those," she joked. "But I suspect there might be more to it than that. At least, I hope there is, considering it looks like you brought both the dishes and the snack and came all the way here." "And hey Ula, how you been?" Giving the lil mermaid a lil finger-five.
Sayaka Miki	Sayaka smiles widely at Hinoiri. "Things happened, but I am feeling good", she replies, opening the box on the nearest table and starting to cut into the cake. "There is more to it than that, but I'd rather spend a week in Kyubey's company than turn up empty-handed to your room", she grins. "Why don't we take a seat first, and then I start explaining everything? It's nothing like KiraKiraFantastica donuts, but the Baker PreCard doesn't disappoint", she comments, giving her a plate with a slice and a spoon. "How has it been?" "Been great, my jewels have been going as great and ever, and I have started building a small collection of movies. Mostly Adventure movies, but also a few about crime fiction", Ula replies, floating down to where Sayaka has placed a smaller slice of cake for her. "You know who Riventon really is, right?", Sayaka asks abruptly after sitting down.
Hinoiri Kirara	Hinoiri Kirara shuddered. "Please, always show up to my room empty handed. You're like, my best friend, and having you around is never an empty moment. And if it spares you a minute, let alone a week, with Kyubey, it's worth it," Hinoiri said with a chuckle." Hinoiri nodded and headed towards the table, pulling it out so Sayaka could take a seat, before sitting across from her. "Yeah. But that's mostly because of the ingredients home has. Once we brought a bunch over here, I think it showed that you guys could whip stuff up just about as good. It's just hard when the base ingredients back home just... soak in the natural bright and cheerfulness, you know? We have kind of made sweetness and candy stuff an art form." "Good to know the jewels have been going great. And ohhhh, crime fiction? That sounds fun. Learn all kinds of stuff from that." Then the talk about Riventon. That made her sigh. "... Yeah. I do. But... I generally... try not to out people. I know a lot of identities. On both sides. And... revealing any of them makes things iffy. Aside from some key moments... there's just, well... Things you don't do. It escalates things. In a really bad way. So... what'd he do?" she asked. Already dreading this. Oh gosh. He just... gave her the jar. Did he do something terrible to try to make up for it with the jar?
Sayaka Miki	"You know, I was only talking about showing up here. I never said I would bring something to all of our hangouts", Sayaka smiles widely, looking thankfully at Hinoiri for the seat. She rubs the back of her head for a moment, and Ula speaks up. "Exactly. Want to see some with me one of these days?" the little fairy offers. After Sayaka sits down, and then splits a part of her slice. "Still fair. I don't really want to miss an occasion to show up", she adds. "That makes a lot of sense. Ula was saying they have things like that underwater too, like the berries of some Bubble Flowers", she comments. She would be interested in knowing what she could with them, but her fairy doesn't really have a way to reach them. "I thought you would. Hard to miss when you work together for so long", Sayaka nods when the subject switches to Riventon. "I normally wouldn't ask, but he came up to me and revealed himself." The bluenette slightly sucks in the corners of her mouth. "He is Hiddenite. He got busted with something dangerous, and was trying to keep the damage to as little as he could by telling me first." She takes the bite into her mouth and swallows. "Well, I am taking a break from him now. I am not really sure I want to see him again after he lied to me like that."
Hinoiri Kirara	Hinoiri Kirara couldn't help but snicker, giving a light nod. "Yeah, sounds like fun, Ula. Maybe we'll learn something wild from them. Especially if you find one with magic, I'd love to know how this world's fiction imagines them being done." She lightly poked at her slice, taking a small bite as she listened, nodding along and considering it... waiting... thinking... And blinked a little when she mentioned Riventon revealed himself. Why in the world would he do that? What in the-- And then almost CHOKED when she mentioned that HE WAS HIDDENITE! She was very, very quiet. As she chewed. Very slowly. Slowly. Swallowed. Deep. Deeeeep breath. Slooooow, deep breath. "... I see," Hinoiri said. "I'm going to kill him," she said. "I hope that's okay? On a break, you said?" She took a slow, deep breath, resting her elbows on the table, closing her eyes and her chin on her hands, thinking. "... Madoka and I almost interrogated Nephrite over this... Wait, is this why he gave me the Jar? Wait. Are YOU the 'special person' he's worried about the fade hitting? Oh, I'm going to kill him TWICE!" Hinoiri snapped. "... Not that you're not worth it, Sayaka. You're amazing. But oh, that smug little jerk... Hiddenite. Of course he's Hidden-ite..."
Sayaka Miki	Food, shocking surprises and no water around: a poor combination. She really should have prepared some for this moment, or at least tst waited until the risk was gone so she didn't suffocate on her cake: she didn't bring it so it could become accessory to a crime. It is with haste that she looks for a glass to fill with water and once found, returns to the table ready to give it to Hinoiri. "I don't think this is as big a thing that would need his death. He has done worse. This isn't worth you getting hurt." She is already doing thing on her own just fine. She doesn't need someone to get admitted to the hospital because they got hurt for her sake behind in a shape as good as possible that. She however stops there staring ahead, at the mention of the Jar changing hands. "Is that really what he said? And you have the Jar now?"
Hinoiri Kirara	Hinoiri Kirara gave a small nod. "Yeah, it's in the shed. He... also gave me a pin drive with the data he gained and I... kind of... damaged it..." she mumbled off to the side. "It's fine. I'm calling in some people, we're going to all study it. Should help a lot, to help us deal with the fade. In theory." "Made it sound like he's expecting the fade to accelerate and he doesn't want us getting cause in it.... and I'm guessing you getting caught in it is why," Hinoiri said with a sigh. "Should have known he was up to something. Always something with him. He'll do the right thing... eventually... but he has to be pushed there, one way or another," she muttered. "And don't worry, I won't actually kill him. I may want to strangle him, but he thinks I'm non-magic still. And... he's, admittedly, probably the only one of like... only one there I would tell now, with Catra no longer a part of it. If I didn't think it'd bite him in the flank if he found out and then they found out he knew," Hinoiri said. "Him and Fuyoko are about the only people over there I have any kind of decent rapport with and, well... Fuyoko doesn't need the extra paperwork." "... I still wanna beat him with a cudgel, though. Hidden-ite. I swear... So... what do you plan to do about it? Now that he's come clean?" She took a drink of the water, before taking another bite of the cake.
Sayaka Miki	Sayaka falls into silence as Hinoiri repeats herself and gives more info of what he did with the Jar. Lines appears on her forehead as she starts thinking, and she picks up on Ula's attention. The tiny koi mermaid has stopped taking apart her slice, and is now looking at her. So he took to heart what he said. Maybe he doesn't have use of it anymore? Or it's actually falsified in some way? But no, they have already gone through this already, and if it turned out useless he would have probably tossed it in some drawer to forget about. "I told him off about the Jar before leaving. I was upset about how he orchestrated 'saving me' from his assistant. And he kept insisting on pretending to care despite only coming there due to his quarrel, and doing his best to keep the Jar away from us." She absentmindendly flips the spoon a few times. The data getting broken is unfortunate, but if Hinoiri says she is can get it back, she is not going to start doubting her. "I didn't expect him to actually do anything about it", she considers out loud. "What do you think it means, Hinoiri-chan?"
Hinoiri Kirara	Hinoiri Kirara was silent for a few moments, slowly chewing the piece of cake as she ran those words over and over in her head. Oh, there was a loaded question. Suuuuuuch a loaded question. She picked at the cake a little as she thought of how to phrase it. Finally... "Riventon... Takashi... Dumbass-ite... is a complicated individual," Hinoiri finally said. "When I was in the timeloop I told you about? He... almost wrecked everything once, trying to control it. But... he also died trying to save me, more than once. He's... He's arrogant, cocky and... an utter obnoxious pain in the butt." "... But he means well. If not for him, I would likely not be here. He helped me when I first got here. Sure, he arguably made it worse..." Hinoiri muttered. "He did make it better, before then. So what this means... It could mean... It could mean a ton of things..." "It could mean he's trying to manipulate you and make you see 'hey, I'm not so bad'," Hinoiri said. "... But, it could also be that you getting mad at him made him realize he actually does care about you and whatever Obsidian has planned, he realizes he might not be able to stop it himself and he'd rather risk us finding out how to stop it ourselves than risking failing himself and you getting hurt. It might have been something he intended to do, and like all his other projects it got pushed to the side. One thing I can say for certain... is if you ask him, he likely won't tell you the true answer. Because he, himself, might not know the true answer." "... He's not the best person, he's not the worst person. He's... a person. I'd done stuff with him, even after leaving Obsidian. Not a lot, mind, just here and there." She glanced left and right, as if she might expect someone else to be listening. Unlikely as it was. "... I've done work with him since being blacklisted from Obsidian, in return he's done favors for me. Helped me out with... things. Things that if Obsidian found out, they'd likely cut him off, if you know what I mean. So... he's not evil... but he's not... the best, either. He's... difficult. And loaded with dark energy. So... all in all? Not easy." "... Still wanna punch him, though."
Sayaka Miki	Sayaka frowns lightly at the motivations Hinoiri brings up, even if she can only tell herself that she is probably the one who knows Riventon best. A flash of shock reaches her eyes when she brings up the multiple times Riventon was saving her during the loop. "I thought the only trouble you had was getting out. What is it that kept trying to kill you?", she asks, stopping to fiddle with the spoon. She watches a drop of cream slowly goes down and down from the top of the cake. Her first instinct is that it is actually an attempt to manipulate her. Even when she went to him to find Hinoiri when her room exploded he presented it as a trade. Can she really assume that he is actually being honest with his feelings for her? "I don't know about that. His idea of protecting people is keeping them in the dark. That's what he admitted to doing with Mamoru. I immediately told him that he should never do that with him when I found out." She rotates the plate around, directing what is left of the slice's tip the furthest away from herself. She cannot really see a way he stands to gain from giving up on the Jar. He would rather steal away anything magical for himself instead, that's how she has seen him act again and again. "I can see why you would. His opinion of himself is so high, you could reach up in the sky. But he has put a lot of effort in getting to know me, and if it's not all an act then, he can really make you feel how much he cares." Sayaka rapidly exhales. 'Difficult' sounds like a good way to summarize it. She thought she had really gotten to know Takashi/Hiddenite during these months, and now she cannot really tell. "If he is actually trying, he should be helped instead of pushed away", she comments, looking at Hinoiri.
Hinoiri Kirara	Hinoiri Kirara sighed and gave a shrug. "Well, if Obsidian found out, they tried to interfere... I was more careful after that, but that only happened one or... a few times. But in general, he would put his life on the line if necessary," she mumbled. "Probably talk down to you while he was doing it, too." She poked at her own cake as she spoke, mirroring Sayaka's own movements. "And yeah, he thinks he's smarter and better equipped to deal with everything than literally everyone else in the world around him. And sometimes? He's right. Other times? He's an arrogant tool who needs to get punched in the face." Hinoiri sighed and closed her eyes. "But... you're my best friend... so I say this... grudgingly... And warily... and with a lot of warnings... I do think he cares. In general? I think he means well and is trying. But I don't think he knows how to do well all the time. And I do think he cares about you. His face lit up when he was talking about you... and I'm pretty sure he was talking about you. Should have known. No wonder he was so shifty about telling me who that special someone was... Hidden-ite... that's such a him name... I'd be more pissed, but. Well. La Licorne. So... He might be trying. But... He is part dark energy. Made of dark energy, born with it. It'll likely always be a part of him, so... even if he controls it well... it's not something he can just let go of, like I had to. So there's always going to be a lot of help that he's going to need. Remember that." She then opened her eyes and took a bite of the cake, giving a light mmm. "This is pretty good, though. New recipe?"
Sayaka Miki	The switch of commentary Hinoiri has on Riventon makes Sayaka snort. Even when he is out on a good deed, he has to do something to reduce how nice it would have felt. Well, he doesn't really do that when he isn't on the job, at least as far as she knows Takashi. Who knows if the Takashi seen then was always like that. Or if there is some performance here too. Why would he, though? "As long as both of you made it out in one piece. Did you give in to that impulse once?" she considers. If you know you are going to repeat it soon anyway... But she doesn't poke at the matter of their escape much when Hinoiri switches over to the warnings. "I do think he knows how on some level...", she mutters, staring down as she thinks. "Our dates together were nice. He never really fumbled until it came to coming clean." She sighs. "Which means he either was putting that much effort into the facade, or he was enjoying it so much, he kinda forgot the need to be right." How likely would that be? Her instincts and Hinoiri's warnings re pushing her to the former case, even if she partly did hope for the latter. "Isn't your teammate La Mer?", she grins, welcoming the new subject. She retrieves her phone out of her pocket, and her fingers tap tap on the glass. Meaning the sea... "You form a nice pair, but La Licorne's a lot more humble than hers, isn't it?" Sounds like the kind of person that wouldn't be able to exist in the same room as Riventon, and the feeling was mutual probably. "I don't know about it being part of him forever. I imagine wish magic could help if he wants to change on his own." Not much point to it otherwise. But... She is stalling, isn't it? If she really does this, backing down is not something she would easily accept from herself. Slamming the door into his face at the first mistake would not help his efforts. "He is not being Hidden anymore, at least." In both ways. "I think I should be giving him a chance if he is really trying to make a change. But I am going to downplay your warnings. He still lied to me, and if I reach out to him again, I don't want him to give that no importance."
Hinoiri Kirara	Hinoiri Kirara blinkd a few times and... "I... may have... once or twice... a few times... wasted timelines because I realized they would just reset. Errr... I kind of... got every high score in the arcade. Yeah... That uhhhh... I was in there for a loooooong time," Hinoiri mumbled. "And with him, it's hard to tell. Some things he... does put a lot of effort into managing some elaborate ruse or another. Other things, he just... goes with. Who knows with him? Could be either or. He might not even know at times." "Aaaaand yes, yes she is. La Mer. He is going to be so peeved if Obsidian ever finds out. Veil is obnoxious. Heh..." She took another bite, listening closely to her friends words. Measuring them and considering before speaking up. And finally... "Honestly... nobody can make the choice but you. He did come out because he was scared of getting found out, right? But... that doesn't mean he was at least trying to make sure you found out the right way than the wrong way. So he obviously cares... somewhat. If you pursue this? He'll be... difficult, to say the least. But he's not the worst. And well... you're a good influence on people, I won't deny that." "... But you don't owe him you, Sayaka. You're great. You're kind, noble and got this whole warrior of justice thing going on. It's sweet. He's... Riventon. He may mean well, but in the end? He thinks he's the world's gift to... existence. You may be good for him, but it doesn't mean he'll be good for you. So... if you give him a shot? Make sure you remember that it's a shot. If you can't keep doing it, if he bucks it up, if he goes too far? Remember that there are limits. And you have every right to set them. Especially knowing the stuff he does." "... But heck, we dated when I was Sunbreaker, and you helped my stupid flank. Hematite, too, got saved by his wife. Maybe romance is a pipeline to being saved from stupid. Or at least stop them from going too far. And it's not like a bunch of us on the sparkle side haven't worked with Riventon in one way or another, so you know I got your back regardless."
Sayaka Miki	That's freedom from consequences for you. And honestly she should have seen it coming from a very long distance. But of all things Hinoiri had mentioned Hinoiri had not really brought up something like that while as ago, or maybe it was a quick nod. "The important part is you figured it out, and that you could still avoid falling into something you couldn't change", Sayaka considers, pushing the empty plate aside. "I think I am going to take a break first, and then see where to see that's going", Sayaka replies. There is a lot of time yet where she will be able to figure out the issues, and even more important, she has both Hinoiri and Madoka willing to back her up.