Scene #2526: Semi-Safe-Storage

Owner	Pose
Setsuna Meiou	After a long stretch of sitting vigil on a semicomatose Mahoujin and getting her at least a little settled on waking up, Setsuna Meiou went home for the first time in a week. After various housemates were hugged, cuddled, and had dinner eaten with, the school's nurse went back to her normal schedule. Mostly. One says mostly because she has spent a good chunk of her waking time trying to best determine what to do with the Dark artifact that the young Elodie Vautrin brought with her from...wherever she'd been. Locking it in a closet would be sufficient to keep it safe for a few hours to maybe a day or two...but Setsuna was WELL aware that, even in the heart of a major light-side magical stronghold like Radiant Heart Academy, Fate can still reach there...and SOMETHING would eventually happen. Thus, more long-term plans would need to be made. After thinking about it for most of the afternoon, just shortly before class lets out for the day, Nurse Meiou sends a text to her favorite carrot-top: <TXT to Rashmi Terios: Rashmi, if you could be so kind as to stop by the Infirmary when you're done today? There's something I think I'm going to need your help with and someone you should therefore meet.> When Rashmi arrives, Nurse Meiou is just locking up the infirmary...with what Rashmi will probably note is an extra heavy-duty deadbolt that wasn't there yesterday. As she turns, she picks up a velcro sealed rigid walled 'thermal' bag, "Ah, Rashmi. Excellent. If you don't mind following, I'll take you to who you need to meet...and we're going to need your skills securing and sealing a rather Dark piece of work."
Rashmi Terios	<< TXT to Setsuna Meiou: ...Sure? I have questions... >> The questions, however, are clearly not forthcoming, and when Rashmi shows up at the Infirmary at the appointed hour, and spots the newly-installed deadbolt, the look she gives Setsuna is enough to say 'I have so many more questions.' "Hey uh, Setsuchan," she says, tilting her head. "What, um... what's up? ...Also is that bag fireproof?" ...Look when one has many, many questions going through one's head, probably best to start light and work your way down to the meatiest. Best case scenario, they'll get answered by the time they have to be asked.
Setsuna Meiou	Setsuna waves down the hall, then turns and starts walking for Rashmi to follow along, "Hrm? Probably." After a moment, she shakes her head, "Sorry...I've been rather distracted most of the day." The taller woman trails off...then sighs and says, "...I'm not sure if you're aware but several girls brought in what seemed to be a wounded magical girl who seemed to be partly or totally a construct. I did some quick examining and she was...out of synch with Now." The capital on 'Now' is somehow audible. After a moment, Setsuna goes on, "...in any event, I've had to spend the last week or so stuck in the Infirmary keeping vigil on her and slowly nudging her into our proper Frame...and last night she finally came to and dehenshined." The bag is held up slightly, "I only got the extreme surface level of her history, but she's from Ninteen Seventy Five France, and whatever's in this bag is something called 'The Woundglass' that is sealing some very bad things and apparently some good things as well...and every bit of sense I have is telling me that A, we need to seal this thing as hard as we can while Miss Vautrin recovers and we marshal our efforts and B that Fate is going to do it's level best to screw us over about this thing anyhow." As she speaks, she leads her friend through the halls over to the residence area to the unused room that they'd stashed Elodie in. Arriving at the door, Setsuna knocks on it and says, "Miss Vautrin, it's Nurse Meiou. I'm here with someone I think you should speak with. I also brought dinner."
Elodie Vautrin	The bundle, it must be noted, is a heavy one. Large, long. If it's the mirror that Elodie told Setsuna it was, it's at least a half-body judging from the size and weight of it. Unusually heavy, if one is being honest, but not so much it can not be wrapped, can not be carried. Perhaps it's merely suggestive of its burden on the young girl who opens the door. It would appear Elodie got some sleep. She looks better than she did when Setsuna saw her last. A young fifteen year old girl with long, blonde hair that looks to be in thick, drill curls, or at least it was. It's been a hot minute since she had the chance to do her hair. Her clothes are decidedly out of date, but passable. Black leggings, a turtle neck, decidedly old sneakers. With the door opened, she greets them warmly in French and then switches to English. She doesn't know Japanese yet, it seems. "Hello," she offers, her accent fairly thick and extremely French. "Thank you for keeping it safe," she says to Setsuna as she makes room for them to enter. She lets Setsuna and Rashmi speak up next as she sits down on the edge of the bed. Still weak.
Rashmi Terios	That is... rather a bit to process, all at once. Time-displaced girl from the seventies, gradually realigned with Now and thus able to move and interact with the world again. The concepts those words imply are almost as impossible as the White Void, but after the last two years -- the things she's done and fought, and the absolute nonsense she's seen -- Rashmi takes a moment to let her brain slide off the unreality, and nods like she understands them well enough to trust the expert. Once of those things, at least, remains true. "...So... Does her name happen to be Pandora...? And... actually y'know what I'll get all my real questions out of the way when we meet her," she says quickly, as they move into the Dorm buildings, and they climb to one of the few unused spaces in the building. When the door opens, peeking around Setsuna is a dark-skinned redhead with a sunny smile. "Hello," Rashmi answers, cheerfully and in more-than-passable-for-Japanese English; apparently, some skill with the use of the language, there. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Elodie-san!" Since she'd just gotten out of class, she's still wearing the school's uniform; orange shortsleeve blouse with a navy neckerchief and matching skirt, though her own little nod toward personalization is a could-be-plastic-could-be-not yellow sunburst charm clasped to her bow, with a red glass center. "Setsuchan told me you're new, and that I might be able to help with your artifact problem?"
Setsuna Meiou	Setsuna walks in and carefully sets the bag containing the mirror up against the most disused portion of the wall, as far away as possible from where anyone would interact with it. She gives the thing a long look like it personally offended her...then she sighs, shakes her head and turns back, "Miss Elodie Vautrin, meet Miss Rashmi Terios. Rashmi is a friend of mine, and the source of her magic gives her a fair bit more versatility than mine does...BUT." She then claps her hands together, "...it has been a long day, I imagine that Miss Vautrin has probably had little to eat today, and I myself had to skip lunch." Setsuna then smiles, "...on the other hand, I planned ahead and managed to get something delivered that not only will serve as a good meal but should be something familiar for our guest." With that said, she makes a flourish with her hands that she ends with a snapping motion as she extends her arm out straight in a direction with no people...and a small lapdesk snaps seemingly into existance as she does. A lapdesk she hands over to Elodie...and then she repeats the process twice more, once handing it to Rashmi, then another that she sets aside for the moment. Once each of the others has the little lapdesk situated, she walks over to Elodie's desk, rotates her hands in an odd spiral pattern for a few seconds...and then there's a large ramen bowl there...though it takes very little effort to note that what's within isn't Ramen. Just by dint of it being a dish that's been common across most of France for a very long time, Elodie will perhaps recognize it first as a large bowl of Boeuf Bourguignon...a hearty French beef stew. A twirling of the fingers produces a metal spoon from nowhere that she hands to Elodie, then she repeats the process for Rashmi before taking a seat and retrieving one for herself, "...fortunately, I have connections who don't mind delivering." Just before she starts in, she gives a look towards Elodie that she punctuates with a nod towards Rashmi, "Normally, I'd welcome you here with food from one of the favorite resturants in the area that is run by Rashmi's family...but you've been through rather a few upheavals recently, Miss Vautrin...so I figured I'd track down something that you'd probably be more familiar with."
Elodie Vautrin	There is a lengthy pause at all this from Elodie. In fairness, it's quite a bit to take in. Another girl close to her own age who can help deal with her 'artifact problem'? Her expression remains somber and grave but it's hard to miss the little bit of light returning to her eyes. Help is always welcome. And if that light is partially returned when help is offered, it is further sparked by the appearance of familiar and --better yet -- seemingly authentic french food. While it is unlikely to taste exactly as it might have fifty years ago, it seems to please her none the less. "Oh, you needn't have! Thank you so much!" She seems enthused, momentarily, before she settles into enjoy a taste of it. Once she has, unable to resist it seems, a smile breaks out. The first one. "Thank you," she adds again. "...now, how is it that you think you can help? I am unsure what you've been told so far."
Rashmi Terios	The theatricality with which Setsuna produces the lapdesks earns a knowing, indulgent smile from Rashmi, but the revelation of Beef Bourguignon draws a wide-eyed gasp... Oh this girl, whatever else she is, is definitely a foodie. And like Elodie, she absolutely must have a taste before getting down to business, and yes it very much is as lovely as it smells. Tipping a wink to the poor befuddled blond, she grins. "Setsuchan has a lot of contacts, this is very true." When asked how she can help and what she's been told, Rashmi sits back, pursing her lips. "Eh... this will be a lot. Please, stop me when your head feels too full." Look she's good at English, but it's a second language and an extremely different one. Being Amy's friend only goes so far where idiom is concerned. "So, eh... Start with magic. My magic comes from space, like, aliens. For them, magic is just a power they build their entire technology around. Spaceships, cities, weapons..." Looking down, she taps at the little charm clasped to her bow. "This is called an Intelligent Device. It's a thinking computer, that uses my magic to do a great many, many things it is programmed to do. Its name is Nicomachea, and it came from an alien spaceship that, eh... exploded... because of a magical weirdness around our solar system." She seems to go on, but checks herself, and seems to determine that this is an excellent point for Elodie to report on the fullness of her head.
Setsuna Meiou	For the most part, Setsuna elects to remain quiet and let the other two discuss for a few minutes, but occasionally she does interject a bit here and there, "To give you a bit of context, Miss Vautrin...if you'll recall the most powerful computers in the world before you arrived here were gigantic things that took up whole rooms if not buildings?" She then nods to the 'skinny clock' that she was gifted the night before, "...that little thing there almost twenty times as powerful. Modern supercomputers are millions of times more powerful..." After a moment of letting that sink in, she then points over at Nicomachea, "...and Nicomachea there makes them look like hand calculators." She takes a few bites, chews and lets that sink in before blinking and tapping her chin, "...which I suppose means that Nicomachea's method of magic boils down at it's most basic is to MATH so hard it causes physical effects in the world."
Elodie Vautrin	"Oooh! Like in a Space Oddesssy!" Elodie hesitates a moment, perhaps unsure if comparing Rashmi's intelligent device to HAL might cause some offense. It's just the best example she can think of of a 'thinking machine', even if it can't do something like open any pod bay doors. Then Setsuna explains her further and just winds up staring at her for a long moment. Computers weren't exactly on her radar, let's say. The rest just sort of earns some mute, if polite, staring. She's going to need some time to digest all that alongside the meal. "All right. How does this help?" she asks.
Rashmi Terios	Rashmi nods along with Setsuna's explanation. While she knows that blank look -- she's given it to many people over the last two years, Setsuna included -- that doesn't make it, or Elodie's HAL analogy, any less viable. "...So," she continues, after paying due attention to an absolutely lovely stew, "the ship that blew up? The people it belong to, the... kind of military? of a very large alien government agency. The Time-Space Administration Bureau, they are called. What they mostly exist to do, is when people rediscover and use old, old magical artifacts, so old that what they were made to do is corrupted, and they are a danger? To seal them away, in... eto... word, what is the word. Praxis, station, places, spaces--ah! 'Stasis.' So they may be taken back to headquarters, and either made safe, or sealed away for good." Leaning back in her chair, Rashmi spreads her hands. "The latter, I cannot do. But every Device of the TSAB is made with a very secure storage within it, to hold these artifacts in 'stasis.'"
Setsuna Meiou	Without much to interject at the moment, Setsuna merely finishes her bowl of stew...then quietly dismisses her bowl, spoon, and lapdesk. She'll retrieve and clean them up later. Similarly, she quietly retrieves and dismisses any empty dishes from the other two before realizing she'd forgotten something else. While it's perhaps not what Elodie is familiar with for dinner fare, Setsuna DOES know a beverage she has easy access to that the blonde will be at least passingly familiar with, even half a century out of time. So with a little flourish once more, Setsuna produces and hands a plastic bottle of Coca-Cola to Elodie...then one to Rashmi if she wants one.
Elodie Vautrin	Ah, coke! Elodie is more than familiar with that and does accept it, warmly, from Setsuna. She hasn't had a coke in a while, and after opening it and having a drink, she looks at it somewhat confusedly. It has, after all, famously changed a little bit since the 1970s. "... I see," she tells Rashmi after a long moment. She does not, in fact, see. Not fully, in event. "Ah! Ah, yes. I see, I see, I see. I think -- sealed away. Yes, that is what it needs. It can not be sealed forever. We are -- ahhh ... on the clock?" There is a careful consideration here, eyes drifting closed. "We must take great care."
Rashmi Terios	If Rashmi had any magic before obtaining her Device, it has to have been in the way she eats. Paying as complete attention as she has been to Elodie, it's hard to tell when, exactly, she had this bite or that. But by the time someone thinks to check, her bowl is nearly empty, and it's with great pleasure that she just picks the bowl up to finish the last of the gravy. When Setsuna returns to retrieve the dishes, and offer a Coke, she accepts the soda gladly, beaming at her friend. "So," she says, once the amazing meal has been washed down. "We are on the clock. Now I need to know from you, what this thing is, and how much time we have. Eh... Do not worry how strange or fantastical anything you may say will sound. I am friends with a zombie pirate, a moon princess, two mermaids and a unicorn."
Setsuna Meiou	Setsuna sits back and interjects in a very casual, matter-of-fact tone, "...don't forget the werewolf, a number of planetary guardians, several Punch Wizards, and your interdimensional alien boyfriend." She then glances over at the covered item in question, "...I do feel the urge to ask, Miss Vautrin...was the trapping of those within an accident...or was it an act of desperation?" After a moment, Setsuna sighs and shakes her head, "...from the bits you told me and the state you showed up in...I get the sense that there was some kind of climactic battle that rather went pear-shaped on you."
Elodie Vautrin	Elodie Vautrin's cheeks puff as she exhales at the questions asked. Pain flashes across her face. Not the mere, momentary wince of an aching muscle, nothing so pedestrian as that, but the very real agony of someone immediately falling back into a memory from which there's clearly no escape for them. She closes her eyes for a long moment, then lets out a weary sigh. "Yes, I will tell you a story," she all but whispers. ELodie sets aside her meal -- she's eaten some, but it's clear that while she's hungry, preoccupation is weighing on her appetite and her equally. "You must understand. There is a great deal I myself don't even know. The Woundglass is a thing of darkness. When one stares into it, it holds your darkness within it. It remembers every pain, every scar, every secret you have. Those who know how can ... extract them from within. Use another's pain to strengthen yourself. It has seen so many faces, been so many people. Elise tried to break it, and when she did, a little piece of that darkness must have entered her. We didn't see it at first, none of us did, and by the time I knew, it was too late. Not only had she fallen to its lure, she had brought our friends, the Loyal Five in total, into darkness with her. I couldn't let their story end like that, so I didn't."
Rashmi Terios	Rashmi knows the look that crosses Elodie's face. She has seen it in the mirror, more times than she'd be happy contemplating, and seen it in others. When the blond begins speaking, she shifts slightly in her chair, making certain her posture is one of Total Attention. And the story that Elodie tells is a terrible one. The Woundglass she speaks of earns a furtive look, but it's not time to ask, or interrogate; it's time to listen, and Rashmi holds her Coke bottle like a warding talisman, only taking the smallest of sips when her mouth is dry.
Elodie Vautrin	Elodie is stretching her english skills here. Searching for words. Little pauses. "The moment they were in was froze and they -- we -- I waited. And then ... something happened. I don't know what happened but something ... loosened began unweaving what I had done. The trail of that magic led here, to this place. I could sense ... light? Yes?" She pinches the bridge of her nose for a long moment and then continues, "So I came here. To find help. While my sister is trapped within the Woundglass itself, the others, broken as they are, are still loyal to her as much as they are to their own ambitions. They will seek her out, and the power she now holds. She was always the strongest of us. Always, and even now she strives to break free of the prison holding her. In time, she may -- no -- she will find a way. I can see it when I look on it. Little by little, she moves. There is no one more determined than she. And if the others get to her first..." She lets out another breath, her cheeks puffing a second time. "There will be no stopping them once they reunite and then only God knows what will happen." The haunted look in her eyes alone suggests that it is nothing pleasent.
Rashmi Terios	When the tale winds down to its conclusion, Rashmi echoes Elodie's cheek-puffing sigh... But shows precisely zero sign of disbelief. "So... Many things I may say, but this I am certain most of all; you have found hope, Elodie-san. For as long as we are on this Academy, the power of all Darkness is less. This is the first hope. The second hope... I understand that my seal will be temporary. That it will not be enough. But it will serve for now, and we will prepare. The third hope... You were five, and you could not contest its power. We are... eh... Ten, fifteen, twenty, thirty, thirty-five... a lot. A lot. We are a lot. And we mahou of Tokyo... Of all of us, two things are true. The first is that we all know that we are stronger together, than apart. The second is that there is no threat to the world, that will not have to get past us first. Many have tried, and many more will try. But they will fail, because hope lives in this school, Elodie-san." Pausing, she blinks. "...More true than I meant for it to be, thinking about it... eheh... But you are not alone, Elodie-san. Just perhaps... in a very strange place, with many strange friends you have yet to meet."
Elodie Vautrin	A smile cracks her lips, though it remains a ghost of one. "I have hope," she tells Rashmi, "and I choose to believe that we can change their fates. I say again: we will light the flame of hope and joy alight again within each one of them when the time comes, but until then, do not underestimate them. Together, we ... they ... under Elise's leadership, they defeated Monsieur Lierre and the legion of the Mains Grises and the Memrorialist and her fantomes emotionnels, and countless others. Now, let us see to this safe space, yes? I can handle the woundglass safely in a way that others can not when bared." She folds her hands across her lap. "We do have some time. As Setsuna said, it will take time for the others to free themselves and for now only Bloomheart seems like she is free, and she will likely be able to follow the same trail that I was through different means. She may already be in Tokyo."
Rashmi Terios	Where a ghost of a smile touches Elodie's lips, a wide, sunny one spreads across Rashmi's face, like a flower in bloom. "Yeah. Let's do what we can, for now, but um..." Looking about the dorm space, she moves to the door, and nods. "Okay, I'm gonna need you to take the Woundglass out then, and hold it up. And then... we'll see how broadly it interperets 'looking,' because it's gonna be monitored all day every day. Nicomachea?" And the charm on her bow looses a << BONG! >> all out of proportion to its size. "Set Up!" << COMMAND INPUT EXECUTE >> From the outside, it's not a terribly elaborate thing, her transformation; a bubble of faceted, golden light surrounds her, shatters into disintegrating shards, leaving Rashmi... different. Her clothing is very obviously alien, very slightly military in cut, with armoring in spots. The charm is gone, and over her right shoulder floats a book the size of an entire lectern, with a great red crystal cabochon at the center of its cover. "Elodie-san," Rashmi says, gesturing to the floating book. "Meet Nicomachea. Nicomachea, Elodie Vautrin." << BONG! >> << IT IS AN HONOR AND A PLEASURE TO MAKE YOUR ACQUAINTANCE, SUBJECT 'Elodie Vautrin.' >> The voice is eerily mechanical, but also warm and professorial, like a kind history teacher warming up to their favorite subject. << WE ARE READY TO ASSIST YOU HOWEVER OPTIMALLY POSSIBLE. >>
Elodie Vautrin	"I ... I don't want to show it to you," admits Elodie, quietly, pain and grief splashed across her features immediately. It's not like she doesn't understand. It just -hurts-. "She is my twin, you understand? To see her like this, to show her to someone like this, is for someone to look into -my- soul too. It is a raw thing you ask me to do, like sandpaper over skin, or lemon juice in a cut still raw." She looks to the side, dropping her eyes towards the ground for a moment. "But if I must, I will." But then there is the transformation and the soft awe on her face of it all erases some of that immediate pain.
Rashmi Terios	"I promise, I do not need to see the mirror," Rashmi says, gently. "I just need you to hold it up. Or at least take it out of the bag... Its power will be muted, in this school, and if it would hurt you for me to look upon it with my own eyes... Then I simply will not." Reaching out, she rests a hand upon Elodie's. "I understand this is a hard thing to do. I will do all I can not to make it harder."
Elodie Vautrin	Another breath. Elodie is almost assuredly not telling Rashmi everything, or Setsuna for that matter, but who could blame her for holding things back with what she's already made herself to disclose? She closes her eyes again, then unwraps the paper-wrapped bundle from the bag Setsuna had sealed it within, then unwraps the paper all yellow with age from around it, and the twine. Even suppressed, the darkness is palpable. It is a thing of malignant power and, radiating pain, grief, and ... ... anger. Elodie uncovers a section of tarnished bronzed border, and a cracked and smudged surface in part. It feels aged and time lost.
Rashmi Terios	As Elodie removes the bundle from the bag, Nicomachea floats down and opens, its cover spreading open more like a folio than a regular book, and little rectangular screens bwip into existence. The malignant emotions grow ever more palpable, and information begins to move rapidly over the screens; on some, dense glyphs of some alien text. On others, wildly fluctuating bars. The information -- and it must have meaning, for Rashmi takes in the text and numbers and visualizations, and derives troubling meaning from it -- does not look good to the redhead, and when the twine is undone and the paper unfurled, Rashmi nods. "That is enough... Nicomachea? Register Lost Logia: Woundglass. << BONG! >> << WOUNDGLASS: REGISTERED >> "SEAL IT!" << COMMAND INPUT EXECUTE >> Ordinarily, fantastic amounts of violence need to be done, to render an artifact too quiescent to resist sealing. A golden bubble forms around the mirror, and Rashmi nods to Elodie that she can let go, where it will hang in the air. If it manages to be stored away without a fight? Then the bubble will shrink, with the great mirror inside, until all are rendered down to a point of golden light the size of a fingertip, which streaks back into the great red Crystal on the cover of the book.
Elodie Vautrin	Elodie Vautrin stares for a long moment as each of these events unfold in front of her. When it is done, she heaves a sigh and slumps her head before her, looking and feeling as small as one can be. Smaller. There will be time to sort out her feelings in the moment later, however, and instead she turns towards Rashmi and nods. "Thank you," she tells her. The level of trust required of her in this moment is ... immense, and here she is having given it. "There is much work to be done. ... whatever it is." She has no idea what comes next, or what to do next, but at least she has someone to help her figure it out.
Rashmi Terios	"More than you think," Rashmi sighs. "Because while we're figuring this out...? You're going to need to be enrolled in school here, Elodie-san. ...At least I can promise you'll actually pick up the Japanese quickly." At this, Setsuna gets a side-eye, because while she knows there is an 'accelerated learning program,' and that it's magically oriented somehow... Native speakers be native speakers. "Trust me... there will be days when standing against the dark powers that seek to rule the world, end it, or end it and rule the ashes? ...Is preferable next to final exams."
Elodie Vautrin	"Ah. Yes. School." "Fifty years and I still have to go to school. I suppose you could say I have been ... held back. Last in class! Ha! Haha!" Elodie's laughter rings clearly though it is not truly mirthful. "Yes, I will learn however I can and I have a great deal to catch up on anyway. It will help. I am concerned about what happens when my -- our -- parents awaken, however. Everything connected to us was frozen, including them. I will need to be watchful," she murmurs.