1424/The Meloncholy of Setsuna Meiou Episode 1424: Flight 3 Nonstop to Nagoya

The Meloncholy of Setsuna Meiou Episode 1424: Flight 3 Nonstop to Nagoya
Date of Scene:	18 April 2024
Location:	Plot Room 2
Synopsis:	Setsuna takes a few friends on a helicoptor ride.
Cast of Characters:	Setsuna Meiou, Rashmi Terios, Amanda Faust, Molly Skyline

---

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
A week or two after the Prom where Nurse Meiou promised to take Amy, Molly, and Rashmi on a flight in her helicopter...schedules were checked and a Sunday was picked.

The meetup point was the parking lot at the Academy (because it's unused on the weekends)...but the time designated was a bit odd...namely a 7am meetup and a request to make sure they have the whole day free.

Still, when the day and time come about...those watching the skies will first hear, then see the approaching helicopter.

Those with an eye for aviation will be able to identify it as a Bell 222...a fairly common airframe for executive transport.

Those with an eye for old television shows will identify it as the same model of helicopter they used for the old show 'Airwolf'...a connection made easier since it sports the same 'mostly black with a white underbelly' paint scheme the titular aircraft sported.

As it comes in for a landing, the door on the side of the aircraft pops unlatched...an obvious invitation for the girls to come aboard.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Rashmi should probably not be *quite* as awestruck as she is. She's known Setsuna long enough, and been to the house often enough, that 'an entire-ass helicopter' should not be met with quite as wonder-struck a state as Rashmi is currently displaying.

But, y'know. When you grow up acclimated to a certain level of wealth, proof of vastly higher strata never really ceases to amaze.

Thus Rashmi stands, jaw handing open and eyes wide behind her glasses, as the not-the-Airwolf rotors in for its landing. ...At least, her mouth is open *exactly* as long as it takes for the downdraft to blow dust into it.

"Aughpthtthlplthphpbptth," she opines, rubbing frantically at her mouth... Until the door pops open.

"Welp," she says to the girls with her. "That's our cue! Time to go touristing in style~!"

And onto the helicopter she hops, remaining standing for just as long as it takes for Molly and Amy to climb aboard; as the one who learned how helicopter seatbelts worked recently, it falls to her to help the other two.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    A Sunday? Sure, Amy's got no particular plan on Sundays. If not this she'd be bingeing some new comic she found but OH MY GOSH SHE GETS TO RIDE IN A HELICOPTER?

    Honestly, she would have been unsurprised if she'd gone her whole life without such an opportunity.

    She's shown up in a red sweatshirt, black slacks, and sneakers, with light additional cold weather protection in the form of a wool cap and a pair of fingerless fabric gloves.

    And she's standing next to Rashmi, gawping with an identical awed expression until both of them learn why not to do that around helicopters. "Aaackpthptbhptbhpthbh!"

    At the suggestion this is their cue, she looks up at the spinning blades, and at the door, and, well, at 4'11" she certainly doesn't have to worry about being too close to those helicopter blades on approach, so she walks up with an awed smile--

    --and her hair blows all around in the wind, ack! She tries to hold it out of her face with a hand as she climbs in. "Uh, did any of you girls bring a spare scrunchie?" she asks over the noise.

    She certainly didn't know about helicopter seatbelts but she can follow instructions! She has a generally curious attitude about how everything works!

Molly Skyline has posed:
Convincing Molly's Moms that going for a helicopter ride offered by someone neither of them had ever met took some doing; at least until she pointed out that she was the nurse at the Academy, at which point she got one of her Moms on her side and the other one eventually had to cave in to overwhelming feminine pressure. And that was that.

"Aaaackgpbbhbbhbhrpphth!" Molly spits, making exactly the same mistake as Amy and Rashmi, and turning beet red as a result of it. At least, until she notices that she's not alone.

She's wearing exactly the same jacket as she wore to the Prom, except now it's got a fresh patch on one shoulder; a Glitter Boy patch, on the opposite shoulder from the Ex Vigilo X-Com emblem. And while she tries to hide it, she's damn proud of it. At Amy's request, she reaches into a pocket and pulls out a black scrunchie with little whie skulls with pink and yellow bows on them, which she offers to her. "Scrunchie!" she declares, proudly. (She seems to have given up trying to get her own hair to behave a long time ago.)

Molly knows next to nothing about being on a helicopter, so she just waits for Amy to board and then follows her and Rashmi in, and then stands there and waits to be told what to do, on the aircraft she recognizes from neither Airwolf nor anywhere else. (It goes wapwapwapwap and it flies, is all she knows.)

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
The furnishings within the helicopter make it obvious that this particular one was made for executive transport...as there are four comfy-looking seats upholstered in black, two facing forward, two backward.

A large console separates each of the pair of seats...the rear facing ones with four obvious cupholders, the front facing one with a set of small cabinets set in the back and a flat area on the console, with a small screen mounted on the rear of the cabin above them.

Sitting on the flat area are three adjustable headseats with micropohnes...along with a note that instructs to put them on.

Upon doing so, one will find that they are apparently very high end...as they sport noise canceling tech that reduces the normal sound of a helicopter in operation from a roar to a faintly audible background noise...one easily ignored if desired.

Once all three have their headseats on, Setsuna's voice comes through crisp and clear over the headsets, "Welcome, ladies. Rashmi-chan, if you could please make sure Amy and Molly are buckled in and the door is properly secured, we'll get this bird back in the air."

While that is getting taken care of, one can hear her talking, "...Tokyo ATC, this is Bell 222, tail number P1u70. Picking up passengers in the city, then proceeding VFR to Nagoya Airport."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Once the helmet is slipped on and instructions received, Rashmi bobs her head... then flushes, realizing Setsuna can't hear her nod. "Ryokai!" she chirps, seeing to the seatbelts and door, then triple-checking her own belting in.

"All secure!" she reports, falling silent as Setsuna talks to Tokyo's airspace.

And as the helicopter lifts off the ground, she can't help but shoot excited looks at her seat-mates, bouncing in place on the seat because OH MY GOSH THIS IS REALLY, REALLY HAPPENING.

Once the airspace permissions are navigated, Rashmi gets onto the helmet comms. "Setsuchan thank you *so, so much* again, by the way. This is *already so awesome.*"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    (Upon seeing the patch in the parking lot, Amy exclaimed "WHERE DID YOU EVEN FIND THAT?!")

    (Also, she has her messenger bag slung over her shoulder since this is to be a day trip.)

    "Thank you!" Amanda replies to Molly as she takes the scrunchie. She has learned this much: twist it once, put thumb and three fingers through the doubled loop, gather hair with both hands, grab hair with the scrunchie hand, pull through, once it's all the way through, stretch scrunchie and twist again, then grab hair and pull it through the third loop. Easy! It's not even an unfamiliar motion anymore.

    Once that's done, she goes for a front-facing seat, commenting "Oh, wow." at the noise-cancelling and how crisp it is.

    She grins excitedly back at Rashmi and Molly.

    After Rashmi speaks on the comms, Amy adds, "Yeah, I never got to-- I never thought I'd get to do this. Thank you." Although, talking about that makes her feel a little anxious and nervous. Does she really deserve this...?

Molly Skyline has posed:
"Etsy!" Molly replies, proudly. "Took me four hours to find it. I'll send you the link later."

Once she's in a seat and properly buckled in, and Setsuna's voice comes over the intercom, and she clues in that Setsuna is in fact FLYING the thing, her eyes just kind of pop a little bit. "She's flying it?!" she exclaims, forgetting that Setsuna can in fact hear her and not just Amy and Rashmi, "I thought she paid a pilot! She's even cooler than I-- Err... uhm..."

Finally figured it out.

For the moment, Molly just kind of looks at Rashmi instinctively for help. What do you do in Japan when you blurt something out? In England you just kind of look like a twerp for a minute or two. Surely in Japan there's a better solution.

One can hope.

There isn't, is there.

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Once the door is secured and all the girls are strapped in and on comms, Setsuna says, "Thank you, Tokyo ATC. P1u70, proceeding to Nagoya."

There's a pause as she audibly clicks over to the interior channel, "Hello, ladies. We're taking off now. Winds are from the northeast at about 6 knots. Time to Nagoya should be about an hour, give or take."

There's a brief pause where Setsuna goes quiet...though Rashmi at least can probably figure that the older woman has turned her mic off for a moment.

Which she has, because there's no need for the girls to hear her giggle in delight at the reactions they all have.

After a few moments, she comes back on comms, "It's no problem, Rashmi-chan. And yes, Miss Skyline, I'm the pilot. And since I need to put in a certain amount of hours each month to keep my rating anyway...giving a few delightful young women a fun afternoon was by no means an imposition."

As she speaks, the helicopter eases off it's wheels...then lifts more or less straight up for a few moments before easing into a wide, slow turn towards the direction best defined as 'East South East' as it gains altitude.

Once aligned properly, the airframe leans forwards slightly as Setsuna builds up the speed...eventually hitting the airframe's cruising speed of 140kt (160mph/260kph).

A moment later, Setsuna's voice comes back, "Oh! If you'll look inside the flat cabinet that's the divider next to Miss Faust, you'll find a cooler with several flavors of Ramune. Given you all seemed to have made the mistake of forgetting about dust during a helicopter landing, I imagine you'll appreciate them."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Thaaaaanks, Setsuchan," Rashmi says, scrubbing at her tongue for a moment as the *memory* of dust in the mouth reignites the taste of dust in the mouth, and leans over to pop open the divider in question. "Anyway I'm just glad you came with, Amy! I barely see you outside of school and fights, and you mean a *lot* to Hannah-chan, it's nice to do stuff like this! ...Well. 'This' being 'going to places with people,' irrespective of the whole TAKING A HELICOPTER RIDE TO THE MIDDLE OF JAPAN THAT WILL NEVER NOT SOUND SO COOL."

Trailing off, she seems to come to the realization how silly she might look, and takes a moment to sip at her drink, and calm the hell down. "...Uhm. Yes. Also I've really missed doing stuff with you too, Molly-chan. I'm still practicing those drift-turns when I get the chance to go to the arcade. ...And it's not being attacked by body-possessing demons. Because magic has made our lives weird and awesome."

Mostly awesome, on balance, in her mind.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Wait, Setsuna is flying it?! Oh right, yeah, she said this was part of staying in practice, but like, Amy was so distracted with HOLY COW A HELICOPTER RIDE that she hasn't thought about that yet (nor was she listening closely to the radio chatter yet). Her eyes also widen.

    Seeing Rashmi scrubbing her tongue, Amy retrieves a water bottle from her bag, swishes her mouth with just a little, and spits into a kleenex which she stuffs in her back pocket. She offers the bottle and another kleenex to Rashmi... who already has a drink, oh, OK.

    At someone being so enthusiastic to have her around in a civilian context, she blushes and smiles, glancing away awkwardly, even moreso at someone mentioning how much she means to Hannah.

    "Y-yeah. I didn't get to... I'm not used to having friends. I'm... bad at it, I guess. Even though I... always hoped I could do stuff like this, someday, just doing stuff with people not like helicopter rides specifically, and now s-someday is here..." She could almost cry at how wonderful all that is.

    Magic has made their lives weird and awesome. "Yeah!" She raises her water bottle as if in a toast, grinning. "It's really great."

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly claims a Coconut Ramune, which is clearly the best flavor because it's coconut. This is logic that cannot be disputed, at least not to Molly's mind. And that basically settles that, as she downs half the bottle in one long gulp to get the taste of, well, dirt and a little grass (and maybe a bug) out of her mouth.

"Amy-chan, you're awesome, and I think we'll be great friends," Molly offers. "And," she adds, getting impulsive, "I was thinking I might take you up on what you said the other day, and see if I can get a Savage Rifts game going, and I'd love to invite you and Rashmi to it."

She lets the offer hang in the air, as she turns her head to look out the window. Sure, Molly can fly with the help of Starcrash, and it's pretty cool, but it definitely is not the same experience as being in a helicopter. Like, an actual *helicopter*. And maybe for just a moment she's imagining it as some kind of attack helicopter, stolen from the Coalition; but only for a moment.

"This is basically the coolest thing ever," she pronounces. "I've never been in a helicopter before, I always just kinda figured it'd be similar to being in a plane but it's nothing like that. This is infinitely cooler than being packed into a seat that's sort of beside a little oval window, and if you're in England then there's probably someone behind you sticking their stinky foot up on your armrest."

She pauses, and tilts her head towards Rashmi, "I'm sorry I haven't been available for me! Mom's needed help in the kitchen, but I think she's finally hired someone. let's go to the arcade again tomorrow? I wanna see your new moves!"

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
For the moment, Setsuna is happy to just listen to the three chatter a bit, but before more than a few more minutes have gone by, one can feel the aircraft banking a bit to the left.

A few moments after that, her voice comes back onto the comms, "Ladies...if you'd care to look out the port side windows..."

There's a brief pause as she recalls the terminology might not be familiar to all, then she continues, "...that's the left side of the aircraft for those not familiar with nautical terms...you'll get to see something you may not have before...Mount Fuji, but from a point about parallel to the snowline."

And indeed, such is easily visible from the two windows facing that direction.

A sharper eye, however, might ALSO note via a glance downwards that the helicopter's direction of travel is actually such that the windows on the left of the airframe are actually the ones oriented in their direction of travel.

Because if one is going to take someone on a helicopter ride...one might as well do things only really possible in a helicopter.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Sure, text me!" Rashmi says to Molly, giving the Brit a thumbs-up. "I've promised some of my Sundays to my parents now that I don't live over the restaurant anymore, but as long as that's okay?"

Taking merciless advantage of her magical nature, Rashmi has Nicomachea send a quick text message to Starcrash. << It's also worth asking Setsuchan, since she's the one with all the dice? I get the feeling she'd either be a lot of fun, or a lot of headache *and* fun. Also you'd get to see her gremlin side, and that's always worth it. >>

As the prospect of simple friendship seems to overwhelm Amy, Rashmi's lambent grin softens, and she reaches over to pat her fellow redhead's shoulder. "Honestly? I wasn't really good at it either," she says, "but it's okay. You can't get good at something if you haven't had practice. ...Also we should do a double-date sometime. Chrono and I are *awful* at karaoke, but half of the fun *is* being terrible."

And all thoughts of games and double dates are, for the moment, banished as Setsuna directs them to an *utterly* unique view of Mt. Fuji... and the realization that *they are flying sideways.*

Because, let's be honest; it's hard for a *lot* of things to win out over that.

"...Setsuchan are you *sure* you didn't get your license when this exact helicopter was for war-fighting?"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    And then Molly adds to the compliments and Amy tries to shrink into her seat with a squeak. But, she's also given an offer she has to respond to, so she looks to Molly and nods. "That'd be great!" And then she follows the other girl's gaze to look down at the receding city below.

    She's been on planes a few times, but you can't just look down and see your school from the plane. Smiling in amazement. "Nothing is cooler than... well... This is certainly one of the coolest non-magical things I've done, yeah."

    At the discussion of arcades, she asks, "What arcade games do you play? Do you play Virtual On?!"

    She startles slightly at the shoulderpat but doesn't mind it at all as she looks back at Rashmi. "I... um..." she tries to reply, and then a double date is suggested and she grins and nods, "That'd be cool! Oooh, I'd love to sing karaoke with this voice! If you wanna get better and your problem isn't just being tone-deaf, maybe I can help you out!" She does look a bit confused at the suggestion that it's fun to be bad at karaoke. That'd be like saying it's fun to be bad at videogames! She does not understand.

    Once they're high in the air... Amy does indeed know port and starboard! (And there's a little thrill at being included in 'ladies', outside of the context of in class at school.)

    She takes in the view for a long moment, before it occurs to her to take out her phone and snap some pictures, and even a brief video of Mt. Fuji approaching.

    She blinks at Rashmi's comment about Setsuna's license and looks at her curiously. "What?"

Molly Skyline has posed:
"...I've never played Virtual On!" Molly flashes a grin at Amy, "You'll have to teach us!" She glances to Rashmi, "I mean, unless you've played it before, in which case both of you can teach me. ...But last time we were playing a racing game..." she pauses, "It was Initial D we were playing, right? Based on the anime? That game's so much fun, I've got cards for like... eight cars now. Because I can't just have one apparently. ...Turns out my Moms also play it 'cause they're some of the coolest parents ever but they only have on car each that they work on, they think I'm going to be ridiculous when I start driving now. ...And I've been forbidden to watch Tokyo Drift."

And then, what Molly was gonna say just kind of dies on the vine. Starcrash is busy trying to tell her she should act on, or at least acknowledge, Rashmi's advice sent via Nicomachea, but she's too busy oggling Mount Fuji. She just stares, and eventually finds the presence of mind to take a couple pictures with her cellphone.

"...Okay, I've been on mountains before," she admits, eventually. "I even got to go up Crib Goch once, and that view was incredible, but I've *never* seen anything like that."

And that it seems, is that. She finally acknowledges Starcrash, and sends an acknowledgement back to Nicomachea, but asking about tabletop RPGs while Mount Fuji is looming large in the window of a helicopter seems like... poor timing, somehow.

"...Hold up, this used to be a military helicopter? With, like, missiles and stuff?! Are you serious?"

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
The line goes suspiciously silent for a few moments, then Setsuna's voice comes back, "To the best of my knowledge, Miss Skyline, the Bell 222 has never ACTUALLY been used in combat."

There's a brief pause, then she goes on, "...well, at least in real life. There WAS a show that I used to watch when it came on back in the 90s called 'Airwolf' that featured a Bell 222 that they put some set dressing on to make it look like it had wingtip cannons and a rocket launcher. The stunt flying in the first three seasons was pretty good, too. If you're going to watch it, though, you'll need to be up on your English, as I don't believe it was ever translated to Japanese."

There's a brief pause as if something comes to mind, "...oh, and for the most part you can stop watching after the end of season 3. It was picked up for a fourth season, but the company that did more or less just halfassed it long enough to get the episode count high enough that it could be syndicated."

While she speaks, one can feel the airframe slowly reorient and resume it's course towards Nagoya.

As it does, Setsuna goes on, "...which, yes, was what made me pick this model when I decided to get a helicopter."

Which kind of implies that Setsuna is OLD enough to have watched and appreciate a show when it aired almost 30 years ago.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Well you told the right people about it, Setsuchan," Rashmi chuckles. "And Amy-chan, it's a really really long story and not mine to tell. Just... assume that when Setsuchan tells a story like she was there, she's telling the truth. It's actually a lot less weird that way. Also I actually have a lot of fun being awful at things sometimes, but... I wouldn't mind learning singing! Ask Molly-chan, I was *horrid* at that driving game before she showed me a few tricks. Now I'm awful with *style!*"

<< Seriously Molly-chan, ask Setsuchan if she'd like to join. It'd probably make her feel really nice to be asked, no matter what the answer is. >>

As the helicopter slides back into its regular orientation, Rashmi settles back in her chair, sipping from her drink and considering. "So... Since it's the spring, most of what's gonna be at Nagoya is the gardens and cherry blossom walks-- Hey Setsuchan, d'you know if there's a festival going on right now?"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Teach Molly? "I'd be happy to! Although I am not an amazing player by any means... I'm like that old Onion article, 'Tragic: Area Man too good at videogames to play with friends, not good enough to play in tournaments.'

    Molly's been up mountains before? "I've been a couple of times, in America though. Not Mount Fuji. Whoof, hiking up a mountain was not pleasant, though..."

    Setsuna talks about an old TV show that she used to watch in the 90's. "Isn't she from England?" ...Wait a minute.

    Rashmi no doubt sees her expression as she then explains that Nurse Meiou is older than she seems.

    She kind of misses the rest of what Rashmi says as this works its way through her brain.

    She turns her head towards the pilot seat, in front of her. Not exactly angry, but... clearly feeling she has perhaps wrongfully been left out of something. "You could have told me! All this time I thought I was the only one! Do you have any idea how lonely I've been with nobody to talk to?!" She blinks and then holds a hand to her face. "Okay, yeah, you probably have..." She takes a breath. "Um... were you also, uh..." and then she trails off as Molly and Rashmi are no doubt giving her weird looks and she looks away awkwardly, not having planned what to say at all when she started talking.

Molly Skyline has posed:
"I--"

Molly is just working up to say something, but then she trails off when Amy makes her admission, and goes silent partway through. But it isn't a weird look she gets from Molly; just a smile and a look with big eyes. "Amy-Chan, you can talk to me any time," she offers. All while probably getting the honorariums used in Japan wrong, she's still not acclimated to that yet. "I'll give you my cell number when we land, okay? There's no need for anyone ever to be lonely."

The purple haired girl flashes a nod to Rashmi, before looking back out the window. DOn't wanna miss this, afterall. She sips her Coconut drink, silently working up a measure of courage, which is totally different to working up the courage to fight a semi-truck turned into a monster. That's becoming strangely less stressful as time goes on.

"Hey, uhm, Setsuchan," she begins, mimicking the term Rashmi's been using and hoping she's getting it right, "Remember I was saying about seeing if a Savage RIFTs campaign could work? D'You wanna come too? Because I know I'd love to have you along, and I bet Rashmi and Amy would too!" Well, she knows at least for a fact that Rashmi would, that much is obvious. "I even ordered a couple books!"

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Setsuna starts to respond, "Well...it IS the season, so..." A brief pause, then she says, "Hold one."

Then the line cuts, though one can still hear her responding to something that is being radioed to her, "Understood, Shizouka Control. p1u70 coming to heading 245 to avoid the air ambulance."

After a few moments and a felt shift in course, she comes back on the line, "As far as I know, there's no SPECIFIC festival going, but there should be viewings at the Nagoya Agricultural Center all month long."

And then Amy makes her comment...and silence comes from the line for a good few minutes before Setsuna comes back on, her voice sympathetic, "...Miss...Amy-chan...I apologize. I was unaware that you were feeling lonely due to your circumstances. Trust me, I KNOW from lonliness...in the future, if you ever feel the need to reminisce about things past...please, feel free to come visit."

After a slight pause, she audibly chuckles a bit, "And as well, Amy-chan, in case you were wondering, I'm not just 'in the know' as it were. In point of fact, all three of you have met me magically...though I imagine Rashmi-chan is the only one who realizes it."

And then Molly finally asks the question Rashmi has been trying to get her to ask all flight.

The line goes dead for a few moments...perhaps just long enough to make one wonder if it was perhaps the wrong thing to ask...and then Setsuna comes back on the line, "...Molly-chan, I would be delighted to."

There's a pause, then she asks with actual curiousity, "...isn't RIFTS that one where you can play almost anything from almost anywhere...even stuff from that really WEIRD localization they did of Macross?"

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Oh good I'm the only one this is all new to," Rashmi says faintly, already mentally riffling through her schedule to figure out where gaming homework can fit in alongside regular homework, Meistering homework, magical laser-shoot-fight homework, boyfriend-assisted-TSAB-paperwork homework...

<< Told you so, >> she texts Starcrash, and if text could sound smug, the message would be *radiating* self-satisfaction.

"...And anyway Amy-chan, Molly-chan and Setsuchan are dead right; sometimes it's hard to *see* someone's lonely, and I know that from personal experience. I was *really* good at faking it. But all three of us know now, and between us and Hannah-chan and all that, you don't ever *have* to be lonely again."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy nods slightly to Molly, but "That's... Thanks. Of course I'll talk to you, it's just..." she trails off.

    Eventually Setsuna answers. She looks kind of shocked at Setsuna saying she was unaware, but nods at the offer of future visits. "Thanks." She relaxes a bit, relieved.

    Wait, Nurse Meiou is a magical girl too? "I have? Huh. Man, that effect is weird." Although, that reminds her. "Hey, have you met the other magical girl doctor? I think Sailor Moon said one of the other senshi has medical training too. ...Come to think of it, that'd be pretty unusual for a teenager, so maybe they used to be older, too. Orrrr this is past life reincarnation stuff?"

    Ooh, Setsuna's in! "That's right! Although, if everyone plays characters from other settings, it can make it hard to learn the setting. So I'd suggest at least considering playing someone from RIFTS Earth if you're not already pretty familiar."

    She nods to Rashmi and cocks her head to the side slightly. "I mean. I wasn't lonely in general, everyone's been great! It's just that..." She looks down and fidgets in her seat. "I'm in kind of a unique circumstance and there's nobody else who's had to adjust to suddenly being a teenager again, or... um..."

    Geeze, sometimes she can say it so easily, even almost advertise it, other times, it's suddenly so hard to admit. She hangs her head more, as if trying to curl up a bit and take up less space. Her voice comes out much quieter, although with the headsets the words are still crisp and clear. "...to being a girl."

    She tries to hunch down even smaller, as best she can in the seat harness anyway, still looking away. There's still a lot of feelings she hasn't really been able to process around that and it makes her feel incredibly awkward about the whole thing sometimes, even though she's so happy she wants to shout from the rooftops at other times.

Molly Skyline has posed:
"You totally can play anything!" Molly affirms, beaming when Setsuna says she's in. She's in! Ohmigod the totally cool lady with the HELICOPTER wants to play RIFTS. How awesome is that?! "But I mean... I dunno, honestly I'd say just play what you want. It's not about learning the rules to make the strongest character, it's about having *fun*." She pauses, debating how to drop this next tidbit, having just stated plainly that it's not about making the strongest character. "...That said, I totally wanna play a Glitterboy, unless I wind up GMing," she adds. "Or well. Glitter Girl. I was telling Amy-chan at the Prom that I really like the South America version, which is made mostly for female pilots. It's the best thing ever. So cool."

<< Yeah you did >> she texts back to Nicomachea, followed by << Purple Valkyrie has self confidence issues and needs food >>, also followed by << You might not get that reference, if you don't I'm taking you back to the arcade and we're spending four hours straight playing Gauntlet. >>

Molly nods as the commitment is made to make sure Amy is never again lonely, and it is a solemn gesture indeed. "Hey, whatever feelings you have, you can talk about them any time," she offers. "Or, even if you don't wanna talk about them, that's okay too and we can just be friends and be here for you either way, okay? You're cool and you liked my Glitterboy patch and that makes you awesome in my books." She pauses, and flashes a grin, "And if you wanna talk about girl stuff, we can help with that too."

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
At Amy's question about 'other magical girl doctor', one can hear Setsuna snorfle.

As in, she makes a sound somewhat between a snort and a giggle.

After a few moments, however, it proceeds to full-on giggles, "I'm sorry, Amy-chan. I'm not laughing at YOU, per se...more at the absurdities that disguise magicks can cause at times. Yes, we've met before in costume...though I'll grant that the dust-up at the Soryuu Shrine was kind of a madhouse. But I was also with Sailor Moon at the presentation Hannah gave a while back that you attended about her Uncle."

The way she mentions the man makes it quite clear that on the inside, she's making some comments that she can't voice or else it'd likely get rid of our PG rating.

She then goes on, "...still, if you want another clue, it's hidden in my helicopter's tail number."

A slight adjustment can be felt as the helicopter banks for a moment, then Setsuna goes on, "...well, one of my favorite characters was always Milia...that one Zentradi who got herself micronized and started flying the red Valkyrie off the Macross? So being a stranded Valkyrie pilot sounds like it might be neat."

At a hint...it might be because of the green hair.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
For a moment, the look that Amy gets from Rashmi might be a little uncomfortable, but not for any of the usual reasons; there's no pity, or disgust, just that moment of things *clicking* is much more visible on someone as habitually genuine as Rashmi. And then, it's gone with a shake of the head. "...I wish I could say I understand how either of those things feel, but... I can at least imagine how hard *both* of those things could be."

Which is when she looks again at Amy's hair, bound up in its scrunchie, and tilts her head. "So um... If I were to ask what your hair care routine is... I'm gonna guess 'shampoo,' right? No wrong answers, seriously! It's just... I have an idea about something that might help you feel... better? More comfortable? I mean, if you don't mind."

<< Then I guess we're playing Gauntlet? Is that still a thing? >>

The guessing game about Setsuna's magical identity, she leaves for the other girls to figure out, but she *does* have one of those 'When you get it you're gonna be *so* surprised' looks on her face.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "Ah, you do know her... friends? Makes sense." It takes her a moment to try and remember who was at Hannah's meeting. If she had to guess, Sailor Pluto has a pretty similar body type, and hair color... and skin color... and purple eyes...

    She thinks about that for a moment. And about chibi-Setsuna sharing those unique colors. And she was the one who--

    "You knew about the Evil Overlord list!" Amy shouts, pointing.

    She then holds her hand to her head. "Jesus, that's weird. It's... like... it's so obvious. The coloration. The same as when you were--" oh wait, Setsuna seemed really embarassed about that. "I mean, people can't recognize me and there's not many students with red hair and eyes... It's funny, I spend my whole life going yes, my hair is naturally white, and now it's, oh right I have red eyes and that's kinda weird."

    She sits up straight and and looks at her reflection in the window. "Although I guess it's pretty common in fiction. Sometimes I think that might be why they changed."

    She nods appreciatively at Rashmi trying to imagine what it's like. Hair care routine? "Uhhm... yeah. I used conditioner when I was a kid, but by high school my hair was really greasy, so--" She blinks, and runs a hand through her hair, which is now very much not greasy. "Ohhhhhh." She smiles. "And yeah, I'm open to advice! Um..." She rubs her head awkwardly, looking away. "Like, no one is teaching me this stuff, and... yeah. It... feels a little weird to ask, ya know? Like, it begs the question of why I don't know, which is, uh, kind of stretching credibility sometimes, I dunno, what Setsuna-san thought when she had to explain, um, basic things to me in the nurse's office."

Molly Skyline has posed:
<< Absolutely it's still a thing! >> comes a reply to Rashmi, followed by << There's a new version with really gritty graphics and it's super cool. Well, new as of like 1998 or something. Close enough. Hey, we could invite Amy and Setsuna too? >>

"...Wait, hold up," Molly interjects, "There's an Evil Overlord list?! Is that people we need to do something about?" She pauses, and tugs on her earring, which might just be because it's a mite uncomfortable under the noise cancelling headphones. "No, we don't need to do anything about it *right now*," she adds, trying to mumble it to basically just herself and Starcrash but she has a microphone and didn't think that through all the way to the finish.

Molly pauses, and tilts her gaze out the window once more, while the conversation goes on around her. "Amy-chan, if you need to ask *anything*, just ask, whenever you need to, as long as you're comfortable talking about it. I promise it will not be weird, no matter what it is."

Another pause, and Molly is racking her brains, trying to remember the helicopter's tail number. Which, she doesn't -- but she's also forced to accept that even if she did, it probably wouldn't mean anything to her anyway. She's not quite as... up to date on things like helicopter tail numbers. Now, if we were asking how many buttons there were on Samwise Gamgee's shirt in the film adaptation of Lord of the Rings, then we might have a shot at an answer.

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
A look outside will show that Setsuna is very slowly bleeding off altitude, "The first time around? That you'd either been raised by some VERY backwards people or perhaps one of those families you sometimes hear about who are INSISTENT that they had a boy, not a girl."

There's an almost audible shrug, "...but at least some of that might have been the disguise magic messing with my head. Trust me, I've been exposed to a LOT of it."

A beat, "Oh? And that weird feeling of mental realignment when you get an ID revealed to you? Sorry, but it never becomes less of a 'thing'."

Molly's question gets a chuckle over the comms from Setsuna, "No, Molly-chan. It's not a list of people to get rid of...it's a 'List of Things I'll Do If I Become An Evil Overlord'...and it's basically a creative and humorous list of all the mistakes evil overlords in fiction tend to make. Many of them are useful advice in general. Things like, 'When I employ people as advisors, I will occasionally listen to their advice.' or 'I will not turn into a snake. It never helps.', 'I will never build a sentient computer smarter than I am', 'My ventilation ducts will be too small to crawl through.', and the ever classic 'No matter how tempted I am with the prospect of unlimited power, I will not consume any energy field bigger than my head.'"

There's a pause, then she says, "One moment." There's a faint click, and you can hear her side of the conversation, "Nagoya Approach, this is Bell P1u70 requesting vector for landing at Nagoya International, over." There's a brief pause, then, "Roger Nagoya. P1u70 coming around to heading 312 true, descending to Flight Level 5, over."

The helicopter can be felt altering course slightly, then Setsuna comes back on the comm, "Alright, we're about 15 minutes from the airport, though there's a couple of heavies coming in around now, so they'll probably have us hold pattern while they get on the ground."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Honestly I don't know much about makeup," Rashmi admits. "I felt like a clown the few times I did try it out for myself, so I never really made an effort to learn. But, hair and skin care, I will *absolutely* tell you everything I know. Especially hair care," she says, slipping her copper-colored hair over her shoulder and allowing the thick braid at its bottom third to coil in her lap. "The longer you grow your hair, the more care it *needs,* so make sure you want to *deal* with long hair if you grow it out."

When Setsuna starts quoting from the Evil Overlord List, Rashmi can't help but snicker, *especially* since half the advice she's *seen* get ignored by actual villains and would-be overlords.

<< That sounds like a good plan! >> she answers Molly. << Everyone likes to feel included. >> And with that, she 'leaves' the conversation, seeing as they're getting close to landing.

"Did you have anything in particular you wanted to do here, Setsuchan?"

Amanda Faust has posed:
> The first time around? That you'd either been raised by some VERY backwards people or perhaps one of those families you sometimes hear about who are INSISTENT that they had a boy, not a girl. ...but at least some of that might have been the disguise magic messing with my head. Trust me, I've been exposed to a LOT of it.
    "Backwa-- how do... buh..." Amy sputters at the sheer absurdity suggested. "How backwards do you have to be?! I'm pretty sure that element of human biology hasn't changed since before we were homo sapiens!"

    She scratches her head. "Oh, yeah, I guess the first time was... disguise magic wise... I mean, you'd met me before and that mighta resulted in some weird things... In those first few weeks I asked a bunch of the staff if they'd ever heard of me -- old me I mean -- and they never did... frikken' weird..." At the mention of magical realignment weirdness, she just shrugs. "Eh. I've gotten used to bigger realignments..."

    And then she gives Setsuna a surprised but believing look, "And people really do that?! Insist their kid is..." She looks down at the floor. "What an terrible thing to do to a cis girl... that's crazy, it sounds like something out of a mang--" She stops, and looks at her hands. "...Oh right. I guess it did turn out that life is like a manga far more often than I used to think..."

> Rashmi re: Hair care
    Amy looks down at her own long red ponytail which is pulled around to her lap at the moment and runs her hand over it. "...I always wanted long hair and I think this looks pretty nice." She looks back to Rashmi. "I'll learn how to take care of it." she says, with a tinge of 'I am determined to take on this challenge!' in her voice. "How hard can it be?"

> There's an Evil Overlord list?! Is that people we need to do something about?
    Amy bursts out laughing, but Setsuna's got the explanation covered.

> Amy-chan, if you need to ask *anything*...I promise it will not be weird, no matter what it is.
    Amy is... not embarassed, so much as, isn't entirely used to being treated so kindly, or perhaps it's more that she still has a lot of memories of a world that told her being vulnerable or feminine is shameful. So she's still looking away, cheeks reddened, but smiling. "Th... thank you.

    After all that, she looks forward to Setsuna. "...What are 'heavies'? Like passenger airplanes and stuff?" She also wonders what the plan is, but Rashmi already asked.

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly smiles pleasantly at Amy, and bobs her head. "You're welcome!" she replies, cheerfully.

And, Molly doesn't really do much in the way of make-up herself, either, though she has been known to experiment with things like lipstick. Which is fun when she doesn't have a travel mug she doesn't want to get, like, irridescent blue all over. Or something like that.

"Not making your air ducts too small feels like good advice for Weyland-Yutani as well," she muses, "I think a number of... deaths... could have been avoided in at least two films starring Sigourney Weaver." She pauses, and adds, "Also, y'know, if they'd listened to her in the first one. Like, people ignored a woman's advice, and a bunch of people all died." She thinks through the rest of the list, and shrugs her shoulders, "Yeah, turning into a snake didn't work out overly well for Thulsa Doom either, I guess. And, I'd rather turn into a Unicorn anyway. ...Or like, a cat or a skunk or something, if it has to be a real-life animal. They're at least fluffy but with the chops to back it up if you mistreat them."

The teen turns her gaze back out the window, to watch the approaching airport. Hey, might as well enjoy being in a helicopter for as long as she can!! "Hey, question. Is it true that hot air balloons have right of way over literally everything else in the sky except birds? Y'know, sine they can't turn or.... control which way the wind blows or anything."

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
The frown is evident in Setsuna's voice, "Oh I have most certainly met people like that before, Amy-chan. And for your fund of knowledge, in pilot lingo, 'heavies' refer to, as you guessed, large passenger planes. 747s, A130s and the like."

There's a brief pause as a minor adustment to course is made, then Setsuna goes on, "...and to answer your question, Rashmi-chan, I didn't have any PARTICULAR plans. There IS a cherry blossom festival going on over at the Agricultural Center, but today is for you girls, so if there's anything that strikes your fancy, let me know. I've already got ground transport arranged for the afternoon."

Molly's question about hot air balloons does cause her to pause, "...you know, I'm not certain...but given what you said, I suspect that is the case. Their general lack of maneuverability WOULD tend to lead to everything else having to cede right of way to them."

"Roger Tower. P1u70 circling around, confirms third after the Airbus and the 747."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Plu70," Rashmi repeats to Molly, still suppressing the chuckles. "Turn the numbers into letters, and that's the answer of who Setsuchan is."

She seems about to go on, but then Amy had to go and challenge fate. "...Oh, *now* you're in for it, Amy-chan. Questions like that lead to split ends, perma-frizz, tangles, broken brushes..."

Shaking her head for a moment, she ponders Setsuna's reply, and nods to herself. "Honestly that sounds really nice. I know we've got botanical gardens too, but cherry-blossom festivals mean regional snacks, and if I am *any* kind of a tourist I am a food tourist."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Molly muses over the evil overlord list. Amy of course fixates on... well, she's Amy. "You've thought about this, huh? Did you read Animorphs as a kid too? Turning into a cat would be neat, as long as it's temporary. I think not being able to talk and the lack of hands would drive me nuts... This is why I never use biometrics, that way at least I could message someone for help even if I have to type with paws or something..."

    No plans today. Today is for you girls, and it makes her feel warm and fuzzy inside that she's included and welcome in that descriptor.

    Wait, ground transport pre-arranged? Right, if she can afford a helicopter...

    This time she catches the tail number, and the other girls can see her mouthing 'pee one you seven oh' as she thinks about it. "Oh! Hahaha!" she gets it just before Rashmi explains. "Hiding in plain sight, huh? Although I guess it's not like anyone's looking up here for the true identities of Sailor Senshi. ...Heh. Hiding in plane sight..."

    She blinks at Rashmi. "Yeah I uh. Already figured it out a minute ago..."

    Rashmi is concerned about hair. Amy slumps. "Does that really all... happen that much?" Given that Amy's never been seen with hair worse than 'anime girl bedhead' despite her stated lack of knowledge, one might begin to suspect magic is involved. (It is!)

    "You know. I wonder why we call them botanical gardens. Aren't most gardens botanical? Although, I guess 'zoo' is short for 'zoological garden', so perhaps 'garden' used to mean something else..." She blinks. "Wait, how do you break a brush? Like, lose some bristles, sure, but... break?"

Molly Skyline has posed:
"Well, even if a balloon doesn't have right of way, what're you gonna do? Demand that they move? Doesn't seem like you're overly likely to get results. Y'know, kinda like the aircraft carrier captain in the joke, who tries threatening a lighthouse operator to get out of his way." The purple-haired girl grins, turning her gaze back to her fellow passengers. "Cherry blossom garden? I'm in. Something to eat wouldn't be a bad thing either."

There's Molly, thinking with her stomach. It's not like she does it to the same proportion as a male teenager, but she definitely does it.

"You aren't likely to get *all* of those problems, Amy-Chan," Molly points out, "Or at least, not all at once, that would be like... hair hell or something. But they're all problems you can get. Fortunately, there's lots of easy things you can do to prevent it." And, she adds silently, Rashmi is considerably better at it.

"I..." she glances at Rashmi, "I feel like a dork, how did I not figure that out? I was sitting here this whole time thinking I don't know anything about helicopters except that they fly and they're awesome." She pauses. "Oh! Rashmi and I were planning a trip to the arcade, by the way. Some other day I mean, not like in the next ten minutes. If anyone wants to spend a whole bunch of yen playing Gauntlet that'd be the thing to do."

She turns her head back to Amy, and shakes her head, "No, I've never read Animorphs," she admits, "But after the first D&D campaign I was in finished and we started up a new one I totally played a Druid and wildshaped every chance I got, and it was basically awesome." She shrugs, "Talking is overrated sometimes -- I know, coming from a girl who's basically a blabbermouth -- and there's lots of animals that have hands, or near enough. Be a squirrel or something!"

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Sadly nobody is in a position to see the grin on Setsuna's face as Rashmi helps them spell it out...

But Amy's pun a few moments later earns an audible groan over the comms, and Setsuna's voice calls out, "Rashmi-chan...please smack Amy-chan for that AWFUL pun for me, please."

A pause is taken as she thinks for a few moments, "...as I recall, the two most common regional dishes are misokatsu or fried pork cutlet with miso paste, hitsumabushi which is fried eel...and kishimen, I think? It's probably best described as rice noodles similar to fettucine in size and shape served hot in seafood broth like ramen."

Another pause, and some chatter between Setsuna and the tower, "...and don't feel too bad, Molly-chan. Disguise magic be like that. Back when the other Senshi first awoke in this time and I was trying to figure out who was who, Luna and I actually got hit by the whammy off of Sailor Venus' disguise so hard we couldn't remember Venus was a thing...so don't ever feel too bad about missing details that seem mind-shatteringly obvious in retrospect. We've all been there, done that, and in many cases have the t-shirt."

At Rashmi's comment about 'food tourist', Setsuna can be heard giggling, "Well, then, that sounds like a unanimous decision for the Gardenss, the Festival, and thus hitting up what food stalls they have. Which is just in time as the Airbus just touched down. We should get clearance here in just a moment."

When molly comments about squirrels...Setsuna's line goes suspicously dead for a few moments as she has a mental image of Molly with chipmunk cheeks and needs a few moments to get her giggles under control.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"....Yup that sounds like reason enough for this entire trip," Rashmi says, eyes wide and sparkling behind her glasses as Setsuna explains the local fare. She's not salivating *quite* yet, but it's a near thing.

Dutifully on request, she leans forward and taps a single knuckle against the tip of Amy's nose, grinning and winking at her fellow redhead. "...No that was an *excellent* awful pun, Amy-chan."

Straightening, she shakes her head regarding the hair luck worries. "Not usually all at once, no... But you're the one who said 'how hard could it be,' and that's as bad as 'how bad can it get?' Brushes *can* break, if they're cheap and you hold them by the handle when you're trying to sort out tangles, but usually not. I'll show you what I mean, later on."

Then Setsuna cuts the feed, and Rashmi has to hide the giggles herself, simply at knowing *why* their pilot fell silent.

After this long, she's gotten a feel for when Nurse Meiou, Sailor Pluto, is trying to keep her dignity intact.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Setsuna describes the dishes. Amy listens to each one to try and determine what will be the best, but... "Those all sound good..."

    She nods at the suggested itinerary. "I'm just glad to... get to spend some time with you all. What kind of festival is it? Oh right, you said cherry blossom..."
    Amy beams at Rashmi's compliment about the pun. "You might say that one's got wings, eh?"

    Molly engages Amy in shapeshifting discussion! "Huh! I never actually played a druid. Although the limited number of wild shape uses really kinda discourages stuff like, just turning into a squirrel for fun, anyway. D&D makes it about turning into whatever's got the best stats." Amy stretches. "I wish the shapeshifters that could turn into humanoids weren't always cast as villains... people act as if the only reason we'd wanna do that is to deceive people, but then they turn around and..." She stares into space as some thought about something clicks into place. Huh.

    Amy is warned about what can happen to hair and nods. Duly noted!

Molly Skyline has posed:
"Ohmygod there was a pun and I missed it. I... I think I have to turn in my British citizenship for that, there's a law or something, it just... I... Oh good lord."

Molly has to turn to look out the window again, to try and hide her blushing. A pun happened and she didn't clue in?! "The hidey-pants magic hit me haaaaard," she whines, "Next I'll walk past a hobby store without noticing it or something! That'd be terrible." She holds up one hand, "But don't think I don't notice you all making more puns! I noticed!"

The purple haired girl pauses, taking a moment to readjust her spectacles and contemplating her overall existence. "However, I did notice you mention fried pork cutlet, and that's going to be something I need today, that sounds delicious. I cannot pass that up." She points towards Rashmi, "And Rashmi-chan is correct, brushes can break, I knew a girl at the orphanage who used to break one a week. And they'd always get her another of the SAME ONES and the same thing would happen like clockwork."

Finally, she turns her gaze back inwards towards Amy, "I dunno, it's not always that bad. Odo is an obvious good guy, in Deep Space Nine? I mean he's grumpy but there's nothing wrong with that, I liked his done-with-this energy, especially when the show first started." She shrugs lightly, "Role playing games don't have to be about doing whatever has the best stats. If you're in a group where eveyrone just wants to have fun, you can do that and not worry about, like, getting offed in battle or anything."

She taps her lips, "But now, food tourist... that I could get behind. Go places, see the sights, meet the people, eat them out of house and home."

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
A few moments later, the helicopter does a sweeping pass down the runway to settle in the helo park at one end of the airport, "Welcome to Nagoya International Airport. We are wheels down at Eight Twenty Seven and Fifty Six seconds in the morning. Winds are steady at six knots from the northeast, and the local temperature is a bracing eighteen degrees celsius. You ladies are all clear to exit the aircraft at your leisure, and if you will meet me in the large hangar off to the starboard side of the aircraft, our ground transport should be meeting us there shortly."

With that, the line cuts again, and Setsuna can be seen up front running a few checklists.

By the time the doors are opened, the main rotor is beginning to spin down, reducing the blow-around normally produced by quite a bit, and some of the local flight crew can be seen waving the passengers over towards the indicated hangar.