2022-11-16 - A Quiet Request
| A Quiet Request | |
|---|---|
| Summary: Yumi, Raiko, and their familiars reconvene after Conflagria's message to discuss her warning, and Raiko makes a request of Tama. | |
| Who: | |
| Where: Dormitories (Infinity Institute) | |
| OOC - IC Date: November 16, 2022 - Wednesday, January 27, 2016 | |
*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+* Dormitories +*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*
The main dormitories of the Infinity Institute are, like most other school
services, within the monolithic tower itself. The accommodations are
slightly more homey than the class and club levels, though, with dorm levels
having warmer lighting and wood paneling. Built-in furnishings are fairly
ordinary: A desk and bed for each occupant, a Japanese-style table for
sitting around, and, most luxuriously, a small kitchenette. Each room houses
two or three students, with separate floors for boys and girls, with floors
arranged by grade level. Each floor also has a live-in teacher of the
appropriate gender to make sure nothing goes too terribly wrong.
The communal accommodations are fairly lavish. The baths on each level are
enormous, laid out in the fashion of large public Japanese baths and
arranged with artful stones and greenery like a resort. Exactly which kind
of resort depends on the school level. Similarly, the gymnasium has lifting
machines that can support loads of multiple dozen tons and treadmills that
at least claim to be capable of going up to sixty miles an hour.
Although accommodations can be made for talented younger children,
officially speaking the dorm only accepts students once they reach middle
school. Although attending Infinity is free due to its charter status, the
boarding costs are steep, so poorer students tend to live at home or seek
scholarships. Much to Infinitys fiscal delight, the dorms remain a popular
choice for those who can afford it; parents consider them a safe and healthy
environment, and students enjoy the relative lack of supervision.
<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
Back at Yumi's dorm, Yumi showed Raiko around and then quickly took a seat; while the transformation and the power of Lost Ivy prevented her from suffering serious injury, she's still very tired, and more than a little sore, after that battle.
The dormitory is larger than most; Raiko is a smart cookie and might notice that it's specifically large enough for a wheelchair to get through all the various areas of the dorm, and is less winding than some others for that reason. It has a kitchenette, Yumi's room across the way, the restroom off of it. A nice cyan couch with a few paintings on the walls; not Yumi's. There's photos, too, including of Yumi and an energetic girl from the swim club.
And now, Yumi is on an armchair, leaving the couch to Raiko and the cats. She's just finished explaining what Raiko missed in the first battle with the Sulfuric Ogre.
There are drinks, but she hasn't explained something peeking out of her purse--a strange metal set of puzzles. But it's possible to see it from where her purse was haphazardly left by her chair.
<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Raiko, for her part, had gotten the largest sized hot chocolate from Starbooks she could get (lucking out that they still had some peppermint flavoring, too) on her way up, stashed her purchases in her form, and then proceeded to Yumi's dorm with her notes and Shiori in tow.
She blinks as she steps into the dorm, looking around. "Whoa, it's so big and spaced out... why..." She frowns as she puzzles it out, and there's a small little bit of understanding on her face. "Oh!" She's a smart cookie and... well, she's looked at the maps of the dorms to familiarize herself with the area moving in: she remembers seeing some marked as being accessible.
She's sitting on the couch, notebook open in her lap to a page full of scribbled diagrams and calculations--one of many in a row, and recognizable to all present as her work on the new spell for Wise Levin. It's a slow process: Untangling the bits meant for Lost Ivy and retangling new bits for Wise Levin is not a fast or easy process.
The notebook is forgotten as she listens to Yumi give her the account of the Sulfuric Ogre's previous appearance. "She took a magical girl's heart? She can do that? And she wasn't nearly as strong as before, right...?"
The metal bits peeking out of Yumi's purse has caught her attention a few times, but she's been too caught up in the recap to ask about it.
Raiko gently scritches Shiori behind the ears, who's nestled beside her on the couch. All of her bluster and bravado from before is gone, and she is every bit the quiet, unconfident, and tired girl the trio found by the lake. "... So... what should we do? Conflagria said there was going to be a third summoning, right...? Can we figure out where and stop it?"
<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
Yumi has water! Water is very good. Also a granola bar. The chocolate is nice but her stomach is a little unsettled so she wants something easier. Yumi, when Raiko thinks about her dorm, doesn't explain--since Raiko seems to get it anyway, and it's a little awkward to talk about.
The new spell is cool and Yumi would be happy to talk about it, too--but they have other business before them for the moment. "Mm-hm," Yumi says. "I've seen it happen before; magical girls are vulnerable to that kind of thing, too. It's just that since we can fight back, it doesn't happen as much." A pause. "...Yeah. She was only huge instead of mega-huge."
Tama, for her part, is seated on Yumi's armres listening; she has interjected now and then, to clarify matters, but mostly she's just stuck near Yumi for some reason.
"Well," Yumi says, "I think I know where to start looking, now--and we'll have to. My friend, Takahiro... He did a painting he didn't talk to me about. The painting loo exactly like Conflagria. So I suspect that one way or another, he's involved."
"Probably unwillingly," Tama adds. "Given how strange Yumi has mentioned him acting."
<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Raiko hugs Shiroi a little tighter to her side as they discuss the topic of the ogress stealing the hearts of magical girls. Shiori doesn't seem to mind. "I'll keep that in mind if we have to fight her again," she says quietly, on the topic of magical girls being vulnerable. "Is that other magical girl okay?"
She nods when the topic turns to the painting. "Oh, right. That was the boy who didn't look... um..." she looks down to her lap, not really wanting to describe him the way she was about to describe him to his (and her) friend. Instead, she settles for, "... who was walking away from the painting when I found you last night, right? ... Do you think Conflagria knows he painted a picture of her? That's kind of a weird coincidence..."
<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
Yumi does not hug Tama... but the astute will notice how close she's staying to the older girl. She was badly shaken by that near-death experience on Yumi's part. Not that she's likely to say as much--or that most would otice.
"She is," Yumi answers of the other girl. "She was really brave, and cool. And she's still out there doing her thing!" She even made some of the snacks Yumi has offered! But Yumi doesn't go into that too much.
"Mm-hm. It was... weird," Yumi says. "He's always been quiet, but he's never been so cold. Not to me, anyway." A pause. "...I think if she doesn't know, then it's a matter of time--but I'm sure she's controlling him somehow. She said she was an enchantress!"
Tama says, "It is within the power of the Hungry Queen's servants to enslave the minds of humans. ...There would be some kind of object anchoring the spell effect," she says. "If you find that, you can undo her spell."
<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Raiko does notice but doesn't seem to think much of it. She's pretty close to her familiar, after all, and hasn't known Tama long enough to form an opinion one way or another.
Raiko nods letting out a little sigh of relief. "Okay, that's good to know."
Raiko got her hot chocolate at Starbooks, but does accept an offer of a granola bar, which she seems to be enjoying, taking bites in between sips of hot chocolate.
She's flipped to a new, blank page, towards the back, to make some notes about their current conversation. "So... if she's an enchantess, and she's controlling him, then... um... couldn't this be a trap? I mean, that's... kind of inviting us to go poke around, right...?"
Shiori finally makes an observation, stating, "Still, I find it curious why she would she would choose to reveal herself now. The timing seems unlikely to be entirely a coincidence."
<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
Mmm, hot chocolate.
"A trap?" Yumi asks, and Tama peers over to look at Raiko thoughtfully, before closing her eyes. "It is possible," Tama answers. "It is not the only possible explanation... but it would be wise to keep your eyes open."
Yumi says, "Trap or not, this means he's in danger. I won't leave him." There's a clear resolution in her expression as she says it; she won't be swayed.
"...True," she admits as to 'why now?' "But I have another theory. ...I think..."
"Well. They were content to summon Ogres before, ordinary Ogres, and just cause destruction and grab hearts. But they've been summoning stronger Ogres lately, and now, one of these.. 'Hollow Four' comes out."
"What if they're planning something even bigger?"
<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Raiko nods to Yumi's question. "I mean, if someone saw the painting, and knew who it was, your friend would be the first place they'd investigate, so..." She frowns a little as she looks at her notebook. "Though maybe it's just lucky that we saw the painting. Um... maybe that's a bit too convoluted for a trap, I dunno..."
"It is not a bad thought," says Shiori gently. "There is much we do not know here, so caution is advisable in any case. Telling us there would be a third summoning is certainly not as straightforward as it appears on its face."
Raiko nods down to Shiori and says, "Okay." She looks up and nods in response to Yumi's determination. "I'll help too. She... seems like she has a really strong fire aspect, so we should be able to look for that..."
She frowns and looks down to her notebook as she contemplates Yumi's theory. "Something even bigger..." She writes something down and puts a question mark next to it. "But they need Pure Hearts for energy, and the Sulfuric Ogre was defeated the last two times... so do they just hope the third time succeeds...?" She makes a few scribbled notes, muttering, "... third time's the charm..." under her breath.
<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
"I think it's lucky," Yumi says of the painting. "After all, they have no way of knowing I'm in the art club, right? So they wouldn't know I'd definitely see something like that."
But Shiori has it covered, and Yumi nods. "Yeah. Either she was daring us to stop it... or she doesn't think we can, and she was gloating. I mean, she could've crushed us easy after a battle that hard."
"Yeah!!" Yumi says of a fire aspect.
"Pure Hearts aren't their only energy source," Tama answers, "And there are operations across the world that gain them power, energy, and artifacts. We've dealt a blow to them by defeating them... but not a telling one, yet."
"Third time's the charm," Yumi says. "Maybe... Well. We've just gotta make thae third time not happen, is all. We start looking tomorrow, OK?"
<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Raiko nods, as Yumi says it was just luck they saw the painting. "Yeah, I suppose so..."
But then... why have the painting made at all?
But there's so much about this that she's uncertain about that she leaves that thought unspoken.
Her frown deepens as Yumi mentions Conflagria could have crushed them. She thinks back, to how she was leaving so heavily against her staff for support after expending nearly everything she had to reinforce Ivy's spell. "You're right, she didn't..." Another puzzling piece. "... do they want us alive for some reason...?" she muses under her breath.
Raiko looks up as Tama speaks, and nods at the explanation. "Oh, right. That makes sense."
Shiori chimes in, "Your grandfather couldn't help with pure hearts directly, but he w-- is very skilled in investigating artifacts. The Magic Association is holding on to a rather sizeable collection he's kept out of The Hungry Queen's hands over the years."
Not to mention the help in securing the Staff of Wise Levin, of course.
Raiko nods as Yumi says they'll start tomorrow. "Okay. Um... I can prepare some finding spells for tomorrow, to look for several different kinds of magic, if it'll help..." She flips back to her work on the new storage spell and sighs a little. "... I hate to ask this of you Shiori, but will you be okay?"
"Yes, dear," says the familiar, already knowing what Raiko means. "I know you're working as fast as you can, but we have multiple proprities at the moment. You've restored the wards, so I can take breaks and conserve my strength."
<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
"I don't know," Yumi admits of what they want. "There's a lot we don't know. Until now, I've only ever heard of Conflagria, and that not very much at all. If she and these 'Hollow Four' are moving more actively now, then something's different."
Shiori chimes in! Tama says, "He's been quite helpful to us."
"That would help a lot," Yumi says of spells. "I'm not gonna have the energy," she admits. "I might have the energy to go take a bath." A shake of her head. "But we gotta keep going either way. I won't let me slow us down."
"Yumi," Tama says with some disapproval. "Don't push yourself too hard."
Yumi smiles wanly, and then looks to Raiko and Shiori, "...Sounds like you two have your part covered pretty well! I appreciate you pushing back work on your spell a while for this."
<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
That gets Raiko's attention, and her head snaps up with a bit more energy than she's displayed since untransforming. "Wait, what? You have? When? How?" She sounds... rather alarmed, actually.
Shiori is also sitting up a little, to take notice better and focus her attention on the explaination.
"I'm... well, I think I can manage, if I do a little work to make the casting as efficient as I can... my cell phone can be a really handy focus, sometimes." Yumi saw the spell for finding her case in action, and the one for scanning for the broken wards.
Raiko nods, "Of couse... this is important, so... I mean, people's lives could be at stake, and your friend's, so..." Raiko reaches down to pet gently over Shiori's back.
<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
"Oh!" Yumi answers, "Ah, haha... Well, I have a friend who used to.. well, to work for the bad guys. Not the Hungry Queen herself, but someone who has similar goals. They all talk, sometimes. And through her I heard of Conflagria."
Pause. "But she's great! The friend, I mean. We got her away from her evil brother, and now she's one of us!"
Yumi did see that spell in action, though. "...Thanks, though," Yumi says. "Really."
<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Raiko just kind of stares at Yumi for a moment, jaw open, as she tries to process what Yumi's just said. Finally she closes her mouth and stares down at her notebook, frowning very deeply. Her voice is quiet, but there's definitely a little bit of an edge to it. "... I... I don't know how to feel about that, Yumi-chan."
But then, after she gives it some more thought, she looks up again, and that edge to her voice is gone. "Um... I don't suppose you could ask..." she falters, and the looks down to her notebook. "No, nevermind, forget I said anything." Maybe not best to tempt fate asking someone to stick their neck into evil's business again like that.
She just nods as Yumi thanks her, nodding. "Of course. Um..." She makes a few notes, and then is silent for a moment.
"I guess I'd probably go, but..." She actually glances up to Tama for a moment, "Um, Tama? Could..." Raiko finds it too hard to keep eye contact and looks down to her notebook. "... could you not, um, tell the enemy that I'm new to this? I know I'm new, and I wasn't, um, trying to be cocky, just... not... Um, I mean..." Her voice gets even quieter. "I just wanted it to look like I knew what I was doing, is all..."
<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
"It happens more often than you'd think," Yumi says. "It's great... when we can bring people over to 'our' side, instead. It's really good."
Yumi figures she knows what Raiko was going to ask, and she doesn't pry. It's fine. And Tama, on the other hand...
Tama peers imperiously at young Raiko, looking her over as she makes her quiet request. She is silent for long moments.
"...Well," the black cat replies, "You've taken down a powerful enemy, now. It would be dishonest to claim you were entirely new anymore."
She gets up and streeeeetches, hopping down from the couch and rubbing by Raiko's leg on her way away. "Good work, Raiko. Yumi. I'm going to go take a nap."
<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Raiko has some conflicted feelings about trusting formerly evil people, but that's mostly the emotions still running deep over her missing grandfather. She's willing to trust Yumi's judgement on that, for the moment. "Okay. I guess it's better than having one more evil person to fight..."
Raiko is silent as Tama regards her, taking little peeks at her but then quickly looking down to her notebook as she waits for a reply.
There's a little blink as Tama gives the first part of her reply. Not... quite the response she was expecting, but she supposes it's true enough.
But there's a small smile when Tama comes to rub against her leg, reaching down by reflex to pet over her back. "Thank you, Tama," she says, just a bit more loudly and steadily now.
Shiori, for her part, is quietly proud of her witch for standing up for herself... and actually getting Tama to acknowledge her. In her own way, at least.
Shiori rises when Raiko does, who puts her notebook and pencil away into her storage space. "I guess we'd better get going too. Text me if you need anything, okay Yumi-chan?"
