1734/Hatching Questions

Hatching Questions
Date of Scene:	09 July 2024
Location:	Dorms #1
Synopsis:	Seiko gets an eggcelent surprise, and that motivates her to talk about it with Laura, Rashmk and Amy.
Cast of Characters:	Laura La Mer, Seiko Akai, Rashmi Terios, Amanda Faust

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Laura La Mer has posed:
Laura does actually have a dorm room, for all the use she gets out of it. If one were to make a routine inspection of her place, they would be unable to tell anybody lived there at all, from the complete lack of decorative items, to the fact the chairs look like they have never been moved, to a bed that seemed like nobody had ever slept in it. And she really doesn't have any incentive to use it that way, not when she has her own portable home that is fitted with everything she would need. And, as new as she is to Radiant Heart, she hasn't started meeting people to the point of having guests over.

That doesn't prevent her from being able to hear the steps of people passing around in front of her dorm door, which wasn't a thing she had to deal with back home, for obvious reason. Much the same way, she would also here someone knocking. For the time being though, she and Kururun are playing around, repeatedly tossing a ball at each other inside the Aqua Pot. Admittedly, the seal fairy wasn't really being subtle, her cries of "Kururun!" everytime she managed to catch the ball very well audible even outside.

Seiko Akai has posed:
Seiko has had one heck of a morning. She looks like she has seen a ghost as she goes out of her dorm and makes her way to Laura's dorm. The whole egg thing has her almost ready to get herself commited. She quickly knocks on Laura's door as she looks into her bag, checking the egg. Part of her hoped the egg was gone and it was all a dream. No such luck. The egg is there and looking just as pretty as it was when she found it.

"Ummm Hello? Laura-san?" She calls out softly. Probably just loud enough to be heard. No one else is in the hallway and thankfully, she didn't disturb anyone. "I just needed someone to talk to!" She explains. She didn't try Rashmi's dorm or Amy's room. Laura's room was just closer is all.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
While it's *always wonderful* to accomplish something complicated and important on your own... Being on one's own, focus tends to trump things like 'sleeping.' So when Rashmi decides to check up on the new girls, she looks decidedly more rumpled than usual. Rounding the corner, she lifts her glasses to knuckle the sleepiness out of an eye, offering Seiko a tired smile and a wave. "Hiiii, Seiko-chan~! How was your first ni--"

She trails off, waking up a bit more as she registers the absolute frazzledness of the new young girl. "Seiko-chan are you okay? What happened?"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy is on her way back from brushing her teeth, and is in her around-the-dorm clothes of slippers, PJ pants, and an oversized black sleepshirt with the worn text ¤APERTURE LABORATORIES on it in white. Somehow her hair, pre-brushing, always manages to look like anime bedhead rather than cousin Itt. She approaches from the direction opposite Rashmi, and just looking at how sleepy the other redhead is makes her yawn. " ...Hi, Rashmi-chan, uh, Akai-san. What's up?" She starts to rouse to alertness as she sees the expression on Seiko's face. "Did something happen?"

Laura La Mer has posed:
Laura stops playing with Kururun when she hears someone calling to her from all the way outside the dorm room. "Let's stop here, Kururun, we will get to play more later", she tells her fairy companion before leaving her house and going to open the door. "Of course, Seiko-san, you have come to the right place!" she says brightly her before looking her over at her condition. She really, didn't look well at all.

"Just a second!", she says, before going inside the room again and diving into the Aqua Pot, coming back out with a giant shell full of cookies as big as one's hand, each coloured differently depending on the taste. There were lemon cookies roughly fish-shaped, orange cookies vaguely similar to octopi, chocolate star-shaped cookies, rhomboidal strawberry cookies and pistachio oval cookies, that she immediately places on the otherwise unused table.

"Come- Oh, hi, Rashmi-san, Amy-san", Laura greets when she sees who else has joined Seiko at the door. "Seiko-san was about to tell me something that was pressing her and I was going to invite her in. We can discuss it inside, and I have some sweets from home for the occasion."

Seiko Akai has posed:
The frazzled girl looks like her heart is skipping beats. "I umm... Something weird happened. I don't wanna talk about it out here." She states as she stands in the hallway. Quickly she slips into Laura's Dorm Room and immediately pulls out a chair to sit on. "Sorry. I just am kinda freaking out."

She immediately begins, "I umm... I woke up and there was an egg in my bed." She looks at the girls and its clear this is what has her freaked out. "They didn't teach us about eggs like this in health class! I mean I know girls have eggs but not like this! This egg is like an emu egg or something. Its big!"

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Hurrying in behind Seiko, Rashmi beams at Laura, bobbing her head in greeting. As Seiko describes the problem, Rashmi's eyes get wider and wider, and she looks over her shoulder at Amy. "...*I should have guessed,*" she starts, and drops her face into both hands, shoulders quivering with suppressed laughter.

"Okay... okay. So. Okay. Seiko-chan? You don't have anything to be scared of. I... think I actually know what's going on, in fact, and it's *really good news* for you."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy nods at the decision to not talk about it in the hall, and follows into the dorm. Cookies are cool but Seiko is more pressing.

    She watches the new girl sit and explain. An egg in her bed. The natural concern that she might have laid it. Amy recalls the chapter of Futaba-kun Change where Futaba thinks he laid an egg; to be fair 'well I didn't know my body could turn into a girl, what else might it do?' was entirely understandable reasoning. Amy can imagine how freaked out she'd be in Seiko's place. And with all the crazy magic shenanigans that happen in real life--

    Wait. Magic?

    "Hey, isn't that about the size of a Chara egg?" She's seen Gretchen floating around with her shell, after all, and nods at Rashmi as she seems to be thinking the same thing.

Laura La Mer has posed:
"An egg? As big as an emu?" Laura repeats. She doesn't know too much about human biology, but she is fairly sure that is unnatural. Even mermaids don't do that, as much as someone might posit the theory that they do. They are all born from shells! At least in Grand Ocean. She is aware that with the exception of the 7 princesses, Aqua Regina's mermaids do things differently from Grand Ocean's kind.

"I am sure we can get to the bottom of the the mystery, if you just let me have a look ar this mysterious egg", she says making a grab for the Aqua Pot. "I am sure my Mermaid Aqua Pot will be able to determine if it has any magic. So stay there, take a deep breath, eat something and let me have a crack at it!"

"I don't think there is anything to worry about, Rashmi-san. If it had been dangerous, it likely would have become a problem already", she says assured, finding her laugh weird, but not really commenting on it. "Both of you can help yourselves, you know", she insists towards the sweets. Because Kururun has come out of the Pot and has started staring at them too.

Seiko Akai has posed:
Seiko reaches into her bag and pulls out the egg. Its definitely a big egg. Much bigger than a chicken egg. The egg is bright yellow with white stripes and stars all over it. "This is it. I didn't decorate it. It was like this when I found it."

She lets Laura take it. "Wait, Magic?" She looks completely clueless. "Magic isn't real, is it?" She asks nervously. "I mean, if magic is real than Magical people exist. Like Magical Girls!" Part of her is excited. The other part is terrified because that also means villains exist.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
As soon as the egg comes out, Rashmi is nodding furiously, like it was something she'd expected to see. "Okay! So! First off, magic *is* real. Second off, we're all magical girls. Third -- and you're gonna wanna sit down for this one -- that means you, too. Laura-chan's probably gonna see it's magical, and if I'm *right,* that is a Chara Egg. Which... I mean I don't know everything, but this is how it was explained to me."

Sitting down at the foot of Laura's unused bed, she looks up at Seiko, grinning. "Y'know how you said your dream was to be an idol singer? Well... Sometimes, when certain kinds of people have dreams like that, their dreams are *so powerful* the dream brings itself to life. It might take a few days, but that egg's gonna hatch, and when it does you'll have a... friend. Kind of. It'll be the embodiment of the dream that gave it life, and it'll probably be a little ridiculous and embarrassing. And if it decides *it* knows what to do better than *you,* it might, um... take over. Briefly. The friend who explained it to me, well... his dream was to be a PI. And Tracy's what hatched out of the egg, a perfect little noir detective complete with monologuing, it's so precious."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "Phrasing!" Amy interjects when Laura asks to take a crack at the egg. She stares in wonder and curiousity when Seiko brings it out; she hasn't gotten to see an unhatched Chara egg much if at all!

    She does not have a good poker face at all when Seiko says that magic isn't real, and nods in agreement, smiling in awkward relief when Rashmi goes ahead and says it is real.

    After the explanation, she stretches. May as well make sure to eliminate any doubt in her new classmate's -- and comrade's! -- mind. "Yes, just to be clear, we are magical girls. Here:" She steps well back from the others, not that the SFX of her transformation actually do any harm if she doesn't want them to, and swipes her right hand over the ring on her left.

    An ovoid of flame-colored light growing from her gem to surround her, enveloping her, lifting into the air with her unclothed silhouette curled up inside, long hair floating as if she's under water before the light cracks and shatters and Amy, now covered in flames as if from an explosion, snaps back, and the flames fade to leave her new outfit in place.

    For the sake of Seiko seeing someone's transformation for the first time, we'll imagine this as a longer sequence, with the flames disappearing from each part of her body in turn to leave that part of her magical girl outfit -- red chestplate, red circle skirt with a black belt with a pair of pouches, armored red kneepads and armored white boots with red trim, a white bodysuit from the neck down under it all, white gloves with red trim, and finally a white hooded cloak--

    --but for all practical purposes the whole outfit kind of appears at once, the red-themed Puella Magi landing back on her feet as the last of the flames vanish from her body.

    She smiles and throws her arms out to her sides. "Tadaaaaaaa!"

Laura La Mer has posed:
"Yeah, that wasn't the best phrasing, but it doesn't matter right now!", Laura scoffs, incredibly embarrassed at her faux-pas. "Finding out if the egg has magic is what is most important!"

"If magic isn't real, how was Kururun able to come out of the Aqua Pot? Or how do you think I would be able to do this?", she says to Seiko, putting her entire arm through the window of the Aqua Pot. "Anyway, I know my deal around magic, you can trust me. It's not for nothing that I am Grand Ocean's own Queen candidate", she smiles proudly.

"So, let's do this! Mermaid Aqua Pot, search!", Laura exclaims, pressing the shell button on the item and it starts identifying the egg. If turns off shortly after, but not before showing the picture of the egg on the Pot's surface glowing. "Yep, this thing contains magic no doubt. Wait, did you say it is a materialised dream!?" She turns to Rashmi once she hears what she has to say.

"That's absurd. You are telling me that Seiko-san materialised her dream into reality just by sleeping on it?" She looks flabvergasted at Rashmi, then at Seiko. "How great is your motivation power if you can manage that? You might just be able to... I don't know! But you could be just who the Mermaid Queen was talking about. And yet you aren't a Pretty Cure. You really have to join my team, Seiko-san!" If she says yes, she would have great news to the Mermaid Queen!

A dream... laying in front of her in the form if an egg... "Wait a second", Laura says as a thought catches up to her. "How come this has never happened to me? I am definitely motivated and I strive hard towards my dream every day!" she asks Rashmi.

Seiko Akai has posed:
Seiko blinks a few times. The first time is at Laura showing magic with her aqua pot. The second was finding out that Magical girls are real and the third time was seeing Amy transform right in front of her. The girl is just standing there, jaw practically on the floor from all of this. Her world just got turned upside down, That was for certain. What does one even say to the existence of Magic in such a mundane world?

A thousand questions start to fill her mind as she looks at Amy. "What is that like? Did it hurt or no. How did it feel?" She asks curiously. She turns to Laura and blinks a few times, "I dunno how it happened. I just wanted to be someone brave enough to chase my dream and then... Boom. Egg."

Turning to Rashmi she raises her eyebrows, "So The egg is going to hatch and a little person is going to pop out?! And they are going to be able to change me? That sounds really freaky. What are they going to change me into! I don't want to wind up some kind of monster." She shudders at the thought of being a monster. Then back to Laura, "Umm I guess I could help. I dunno anything about magic or this Chara Egg. But I will do what I can."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"First she has to learn how her power works, Laura-chan," Rashmi chuckles. "And... like... okay bear in mind none of this is *my* magic, so everything I know, I know secondhand." Reaching out to the shell, she takes a rhomboidal cookie, and takes a bite... then pauses, to blink at how *wondefully* strawberry it tastes. "...These are *really good,* Laura-chan! So okay..."

Clapping her hands together like a teacher getting the attention of a roomful of students, she takes a deep breath. "So there's *lots* of different kinds of magic, more than any of us really know about. Like... Amy-chan's magic comes from a wish she made -- and don't ask right now, that's a whole rabbit hole of stuff that wouldn't do anything but scare you -- mine comes from an alien digital assistant, Laura-chan seems to be a mermaid Cure. And there are a *bunch* of different kinds of Cure alone. Seiko-chan's special magic is she had the potential to be a Chara Bearer. And you absolutely won't turn into a monster, that only happens when someone's dreams for the future get corrupted. One day you'll be able to merge with your Chara to be a pretty powerful magical girl, but until then you can still call on its power to help you out. And that... is *all* I know about Chara. I'm gonna ask a friend of mine to look for you, Seiko-chan. Her name's Madoka, I *know* she can help you out when your Chara hatches. For now? Just, like... understand that your dream is so powerful, you have the power to make it real. And given your dream's to be an idol singer," she says with a grin, "I would *not at all be surprised* if your Chara was an idol, and you had magical singing powers."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    What is it like? "It's pretty crazy. Oh, transforming? It's over so fast, I don't really feel anything--" Amy blinks. "Wait, what does that actually look like from outside? I close my eyes, and then open them and there's the new clothes and a bit of flame... I'm gonna need to record it. And I guess I feel like..." She looks thoughtful and taps her chin. "I don't usually really think about it, but I am... aware that I am like a living, magical flesh-and-bone war-machine designed and equipped for fighting Witches. I know that I'm... how do I put this... Like an unstoppable terminator as long as I have magic left. And I can feel the armory of endless weapons within my reach if I just reach out and call them--" She summons her default launcher, pointed up, and then dismisses it after a second, it appearing and disappearing with a pink sparkly effect.

    She sort of snaps out of her thoughts and blinks, looking at the others awkwardly, "But, uh, that's probably different for other kinds of magical girls! Puella Magi are... unusual, heheh. For us it hurts the first time but I don't think it does for anyone else?" She glances to Rashmi.

    She looks back to Seiko and waves her hands in a 'stop, wait' gesture, "Ah, despite how I described that, you won't be a monster! You'll be a magical girl!"

    Then she looks to Laura. "I know, there's no rhyme or reason or fairness to it. Sometimes people become one kind of magical girl, or don't -- and in almost all cases we don't really know if they could have been another type, do we? Even Puella Magi clearly aren't something everyone can become or..." She imagines that and shivers. "The little rat would... well, you'd see us everywhere."

Laura La Mer has posed:
"Right! Well, then I will wait until she has gotten the gist of how to make use of them, and I will just stand by and intervene when she needs my help", she tells Rashmi, before the pinkette addresses the new Chara Bearer. "If you find something feel free to tell me, but I know I will become Queen one day. And besides, you don't have to worry, Seiko-san, you can rely on me! If your magic is powered by singing, then what's better than a real mermaid to help you with it! Our singing is legendary", she smiles brightly at the latter.

Laura shakes her head when she is called a mermaid Cure. "I am a mermaid, but that's precisely why I cannot become a Pretty Cure. Only humans have the ability to become one. The only thing we mermaids can do is allow them to resonate with us and achieve their potential. It's also why I have been sent here, to find the legendary warriors known as Pretty Cure. Though, I hadn't expected to find all these different types of magic. As I had told Amy-san, the reason the Queen sent me to look for Pretty Cures is a very long time ago, there had been a legendary Pretty Cure that had saved both humans and mermaids from the Witch of Delays."

A shade is cast over Laura's face as Amy mentions the rat would make Puellae pop up anyway. How dare he be so ruthless, and what reason would he have to take away Pretty Cures or Chara Bearers? They are much more useful as they are! "Remind me to punch this rat if I ever see him. Even better if I do it once my dream has been realises. Then he will realise how superfluous he is.

Seiko Akai has posed:
Seiko takes her egg in her hands. "So you are going to help me?" She asks the egg. "How am I going to be a magical anything? I mean I'm as normal as they come." She asks as she continues looking over the egg. "I guess my dream is going to come true one way or another." She laughs a little with a twinge of nervousness.

Seiko turns to Laura and she smiles. "Thank you! I will take you up on that at some point. I would love to sing with you." She smiles as she turns and listens to Amy. "What rat? Why would a rat make people Magical girls?" She asks imagining an actual rat making a bunch of magical girls. She kinda giggles about the thought.

She looks at Rashmi and smiles. "I look forward to meeting this Madoka. Anyone that can help would be wonderful right now. I mean, even though its really cool that I'm going to be a magical girl, I'm still really weirded out that I woke up with an egg in my bed."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Rashmi chuckles at this, lifting up the sunburst-shaped charm on its string around her neck. "I mean, I know the feeling. I was in a used bookstore, and this fell out of a book. Then there was a monster, and... The red 'glass' gem at the center of the charm flashes, and emits a cheery << *BONG!* >>

    << SET UP >>

The transformation takes only a moment, sheating Rashmi in bright golden light, which shatters outward into rapidly-disintegrating shards, leaving her in an ultra-futuristic-looking techy dress, with an armored book almost the size of her torso floating over her shoulder. "Then this happened. ...Oh, also. People who don't have any magic at all, which is most people? Won't be able to see or hear your Chara. Even if it's, like, stealing their lunch. It's gonna take some getting used to, but for most people, there *isn't* magic in the world."

Looking at Amy and Laura, Rashmi frowns, shaking her head. "I don't know that attacking it would do much, if it has the power to grant wishes... But I mean... There's a lot tangled up in Puellae that I know absolutely nothing about, so I'm not gonna say anything about it other than you're definitely safe from Kyubey now, Seiko-chan."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Only humans have the ability to become one. "Maybe you can become another kind of magical girl?" Amy wonders. Punch the rat? Amy shrugs, "Go ahead, I don't think it matters to him."

    She blinks at Seiko. "I mean. Isn't a talking animal recruiting people pretty common? Or like... animal... fairy thing? Anyway, he's more like a ... cat...fox thing? With floppy ears. Red eyes and circles on his body, you'll know him if you see him. He said Madoka had the potential to become a Puella Magi, but..." She gestures at the egg Seiko's holding. "That happened before she made a wish, and he says she can't become a Puella Magi now. It's... probably for the best."

    It's still really weird to wake up with an egg in my bed. Amy blinks. "Boy, after everything I've been through... Give it most of a year, it won't seem that weird."

    She blinks, and lifts her right hand and looks at it. Small and dainty. She de-henshins. "I take that back." She smiles. "Even with all the magic craziness, regular life stuff is still freaking weird. And amazing. And incredible. Even when it's a regular occurance. Sometimes I wish I could see stuff as normal, but... Maybe there's something to be said for seeing the magic in regular life too, instead of worrying that that's weird."

    She says, reflecting on the everyday while Rashmi transforms right there.

Laura La Mer has posed:
"You are already magical from the moment that egg appeared, Seiko-san", Laura points to it. "And once you have figured out how to use it, you are only going to get better at it. One day it's going to feel like it's a second nature. And I look forward to singing with you too. After all, when you sing together, your heart grows warm inside", Laura sings out.

"Hmm, I see", Laura murmurs once Rashmi explains herself. "Sounds like you were really lucky to find it at the time. Or perhaps it was meant for you to find? Do you know anybody that would have left it where you found it?" That wasn't really her style, but if somebody liked doing things that way, more power to them.

"I will actually be fine as is, Amy-san", Laura tells the red Puella. "A queen doesn't have to become a Pretty Cure herself. You will be able to manage, I am sure of it. I am not really missing that opportunity", she nods self-assuredly, because really, her mission was to find a team and her dream to become queen, not anything else.

Seiko Akai has posed:
Seiko blushes a little. "Its just, everything is changing so fast. I mean not only am I at a new school and starting everything over. Add to that I am now going to be a Magical Girl at some point. Not to mention I'm going to have a little person following me around. Its just a lot of changes really fast.

She smiles as Laura sings. "That is really pretty." Then Rashmi transforms and it gets Seiko's attention. She looks at her and smiles. "Oooh I like your dress! That is so cool that you can do that. I wonder what I will look like when I transform?" She looks to Amy and Shrugs, "I guess. I mean I haven't watched that much Anime. Just a little bit and it happened to be Magical Girls. So, a Cat-Fox thing that grants Wishes. Sounds like its not a terrible deal?" She questions not understanding just how Kyubey is. "At least I won't be a villain. I won't let that happen. That would be super bad. I don't want to be Evil!"

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"There is a *lot* of magic in normal life," Rashmi says, nodding. "And you're right, Amy-chan, the magic side sometimes makes the normal all that much more valuable. ...But then it lets you do things like have dinner on top of a skyscraper while the sun sets." At this, she chuckles. "And I get you head's probably spinning right now, Seiko-chan. But think about it like this; you're gonna have *all kinds* of friends now, who'll help you whenever you need it. Remember those self-defense classes I talked about? Well... After the regular classes, she has one for magical people. So you'll get to meet a *bunch* of magical friends."

Then a thought strikes her, and she turns to peer at Laura for a moment. "Wait... so... You *are* the powers-granting fairy for your Cures? That's... okay that's pretty cool!"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    It's just a lot of changes really fast! Amy is not able to hold in what would be a "HA!" but she at least doesn't open her mouth so it comes out her nose instead. "I've been there, sister. My whole life changed. I'm still learning how to-- well, anyway, then I got an invitation to Radiant Heart and found friends here. I dunno what I would've done without them! So, now we help you!" She smiles.

    Amy adds to Laura's melody, "And I look forward to singing with you toooooo!" She beams.

    When she asks who would leave the item in a book in a bookstore, though... "They probably forgot it was magic. There are... some things." She looks to Seiko... ah well, in for a penny, in for a pound. She's not sure if Laura knows this either. "There's something called the Fade. When you become an adult, you lose your magic and your ability to remember it. With very few exceptions, except for people who use dark energy. I don't know what happens to Puella Magi. I don't think anyone's heard of--" She blinks. And pats her pants where pockets might be. "--Right, I'll ask Inai-sensai if she knew any back when she was our age, and what happened to them." A conversational swerve which saves her having to voice her own suspicions.

    There would not be a continual supply of Witches if Puella Magi tended to last that long, after all.

    "She's one of the exceptions. The school nurse, Meiou-sensei, also knows about magic, so..." Amy pauses as she suddenly wonders how many times a chara bearer has gone to the school nurse and said 'help I think I laid an egg.' She cannot help smiling but manages to not giggle. "Umm. Anyway, Inai-sensei runs the defense classes we mentioned. There's magical ones, too."

    A wish for a magical girl sounds like not a bad deal? "It's complicated. For me and..." should she... say Mami's name? "...one other, it wasn't. But for most of us... look, humans have been telling stories about how wishes can go wrong since there have been humans, you know? It's not even... It's not even monkey's paw stuff, it's just... You got your wish. Your life will still have trials and tribulations. And now you're on the hook to fight monsters until you die. Which isn't as bad as I expected, but..." She shakes her head. "It's complicated. Don't worry about learning how we work right now."

    Laura is the powers-granting fairy for her group? Amy turns and looks at her. "Huh! And you don't even have to ride around in a backpack all day!" She smiles good-naturedly.

Laura La Mer has posed:
"Take a deep breath", Laura tells Seiko. "Even if it is a lot, panicking about it will get you nowhere. If you got your dream right there" - she points to the egg "is because you can do great things. But if you feel overwhelmed, just stop and try to take it one step at a time. Do you like chocolate?" Laura asks Seiko, grabbing one of the star cookies.

"I am not a fairy, that's Kururun, I am a mermaid", the pinkette tells Rashmi, pointing to the seal mascot, who has happily started eating one of the orange sweets. "But yes, humans with sparkling sunshine whose hearts resonate with mermaids become Pretty Cures. I would offer you all to try, but you already got your powers", she replies with a light shrug that has given up on that front. Not much anybody can do about that now.

"Still, my offer to take up the fight against the Witch of Delays still stands. What you were doing the other day was really impressive", Laura smiles to Rashmi, even if all she has to offer at this point are banalities like sweets.

"You have cautionary tales about beings choosing to grant wishes? Really?", Laura looks at Amy with surprise. "Could you give me some examples to read? I would have thought that with the Fade... You know... Any such stories would be lost." What new things would she learn there?

"I don't have to, but I totally can if I want to", Laura smirks at the last thing Amy said before proceeding to demonstrate and leaping inside the Aqua Pot. "See?" she waves from there.

Seiko Akai has posed:
"I don't know how to just be calm. The world is spinning backwards. My mind is racing and I don't know how to just go forward." Seiko sings softly. "Am I really magical? Do I really fit the bill? Just because an egg appears does it mean I've got the will?" She continues a little louder now. "I'm just a girl who is afraid to shine. Does being Magical make everything finnnnne." She sighs and looks down.

"I'm not fine." She softly speaks and looks up to Rashmi then to Laura and then to Amy. "There are plenty of people out there who are better equipped to be magical girls. Why am I so lucky?" She asks as she takes in the whole thing. Quietly she reaches out to the shell and takes a cookie. She takes a bite and smiles a little. "These are really good." Returning to the subject at hand, "I am just scared. Now things are going to be even harder and what if I mess up?" She asks in ernest.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Hey," Rashmi says gently. "I understand. Being new to the world is scary in a lot of ways, but there are things you *need* to remember, that make it easier. All of us were new to the whole thing, and barely had any idea what we were doing. You're gonna make mistakes, you'll probably lose some fights, but as long as you don't give up you'll be fine. But the most, most, *most* important thing?"

Reaching out, she rests a hand on Seiko's shoulder, looking intently into the new Chara Bearer's eyes. "You're not alone. There are *so many* people who'll help you if you need it. Because we're stronger together, than we can ever be alone."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "Yeah, I guess I'm not really a mermaid. I'm a different myth... or something."

    Laura is surprised that humans have... myths. "Um... no I mean they didn't really happen--" Amy blinks. Wait, what if they did? At least, tales might well be inspired by real events, then. "Umm. There's so many. I guess maybe a bit more common is less monkey's paw stories, but more... a wish doesn't solve your life? Or doesn't solve the underlying problem, or wasn't what you really wanted, but what you thought you wanted?"

    "Like, that's a common format for a children's cartoon. Every episode the kid uses magic to try and solve a problem in their life and after hijinx ensue they learn there's no easy answer and only hard work can really solve their problems. Which is um... missing a fair bit of nuance as far as life goes, but it's a common story nonetheless. Like, that's Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Fairly Oddparents, and Doraemon right there. Probably at least one magical girl show... Type I and II magical girls anyway, not so much magical warriors like us although I could imagine a show like that. Actually, I guess the original Type I magical girl was inspired by shows like that but with an adult protagonist. Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, that kind of thing. Where was I?"

    "Oh right. So there's those stories and then there's stuff like the Monkey's Paw where wishes come true in the worst possible way. Like you wish for a nice house and your beloved relative dies, leaving it to you. Or you wish for money and it's teleported from a bank vault so you can't use it because the serial numbers are stolen. Et cetera. Some stories about deals with fae are like that, but to be fair I kinda feel for the fae there, humans are so bad at communicating what they actially want."

    Seiko is freaking out. "Well, you improvised a song, that's certainly something!" And at hearing 'why am I so lucky' Amy rushes over to hug her.

    "I wonder that every day. I don't deserve this. Or if I do, then that others who do didn't get the chance I do is so unfair. And if I deserved it, why now? I could have a normal magical life like you if it'd happened 20 years ago. Instead I'm an... in-between thing."

    What if I mess up? Amy hugs harder, then steps back, putting her hand on Seiko's other shoulder after Rashmi to look her in the eyes in turn. "It's okay. We're all just people. Even the magical princesses are just people. If you mess up... That... happens. That's life. You're allowed. You're not... You're just teenagers. You're allowed to mess up." But her mouth went faster than her brain and as her brain catches up she looks at Rashmi. "...I'm allowed to mess up?"

Laura La Mer has posed:
"Both of you are allowed to mess up", Laura interjects, jumping out of the Aqua Pot with the same ease she leaped in. "Don't let your insecurities overtake you, you are really not at your best when you do. You will have many occasions to let your charm shine through, and if you have a problem you cannot solve, come to me, and I will start tackling whatever your problem is", the mermaid says, before briefly tilting her head towards Rashmi.

"Though, wasting all your life wondering about what could have been is an easy way to suck the joy out of what you are doing, so don't", she intimates to Amy.

"And she gives good suggestions too. This is all to show you have nothing to panic about", she adds, before addressing all the information Amy is giving her. "I suppose that's a fair point, but rather than that what about the wish givers? I am more interested in knowing about them. Surely they are not an omogeneous lot, right?"

"But I totally support not taking the easy way out. If you really care about something, you have to show it and achieve your goal yourself. Otherwise that's just a flight of fancy you are having at the moment, and you will lose interest in it before the day is over. Were I in the wish giver's position I would be quite irked at someone like that."

Taking Kururun in her arms, she stops her from eating yet another cookie, she has really been eating all of that before, that's enough. "Do you have specific books you could recommend? You humans have libraries too, right? I think I saw something like it on the map of the school grounds earlier. So, if you give me some titles, I will appreciate it lots. You could suggest some too, please", she tells Rashmi. It's not really the right time to ask Seiko.

Seiko Akai has posed:
"I get it. Its just hard to understand. I mean if I were the one issueing eggs or whatever I'd give one to someone who was bold and confident. Not some shy girl who is scared of her own shadow." Seiko comments as she beats herself up a little. "Its a lot to think about. I guess its a good thing I'm not the one issueing eggs out." She laughs as she looks at her egg. "I guess my life is going to be different now huh?"

She stretches, "I should go figure out breakfast. I didn't eat anything but the cookie. Maybe some french toast would be good?" She smiles and considers that for breakfast. "What do you all think?"

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Of *course* you can mess up, Amy-chan," Rashmi says with the sort of fond, sighing smile of someone who is just glad that it was the brick wall that gave way first, and not her friend's head. "You're absolutely allowed to not be any more perfect than the rest of us. Laura-chan's right, you'll do a lot better for yourself and everyone who cares about you to not worry about the 'why' so much. I have no *idea* why I tripped over Nicomachea, but... He's mine, and that gives me power that I *need* to use for the right reasons. And that responsibility might be scary... but as long as I follow my heart, I *should* be all right. ...And if I'm not, that's why I *have* friends, so they can help me when I need it like I do for them."

Whn Laura asks about stories and, more importantly, *libraries,* Rashmi's eyes light up like the bookworm that she is. "Oh there are *so many stories,* you wouldn't believe! And yeah the Tokyo Metropolitan Library has *millions* of books, so many of them are stories! I... hm. They're not all about wishes though... I'll have to look through my collection, but there's a series that *isn't* about the price of wishes that I just adore. It's called 'The Lord of the Rings,' and it's taught me a lot about how little things can change the whole world, and why people need to have hope."

"Honestly," she says, turning back to Seiko, "breakfast sounds *amazing.*"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy blinks and stares at Laura, but again gives a stifled chuckle at Laura offering to tackle her problems.

    What of the wish-givers? She can only shrug. Although, saying that someone like Kyubey would be irked... "Some wishes really are impossible without magic. And he really doesn't care. But he also doesn't ban you from falling in love."

    Media reccomendations? "What exactly are you looking for?"

    Rashmi says that it's okay to mess up and in this moment, at least... She looks like she could almost cry in relief, she can't find words...

    But Seiko... Amy looks at her. And takes a breath. "Yeah. Um. Look, if you need a break... like I said, Nurse Meiou knows about magic. I don't think she'd be averse to writing you an excuse from class today for having just found out you're a magical girl. It's a lot."

    She takes a breath, thinking about what else she said. "Akai-san... I think that it is a flaw of the human mind that we want to see a reason behind fortune and misfortune. That people must deserve what they get. But if that were the case, villains would not get power. Magical or nonmagical. Thinking they do deserve it... and that the people they hurt must also deserve it... Is a mindset that leads to great evil."

    How can she end this on a more positive note? "It's unfair that we got powers and others didn't. But we didn't choose that. We only get to choose how we'll use that power. We don't have to be perfect. No one is perfect. If all people that got power tried to use it to help... the world would be a much better place." She smiles.

    "Breakfast sounds nice. I'll get changed and see you there?"

Laura La Mer has posed:
"Right", Laura says unconvinced when the example Rashmi brings her is her favourite book. How little things can change the world. Like what, Kururun becoming s Pretty Cure. She snorts, imagining Cure Kururun bash the Witch of Delays in the face and ending her threat once and for all. It would be way too easy if the solution to their problems had been with them all along. "So, your favourite book. I will certainly give it a try and see why you like it, but my thoughts are over these new study materials right now, so I hope you don't mind if I focus on that first", she tells Rashmi.

"Forbidding you from falling in love?" she repeats, before she takes that chance to emphasize. "I don't know what that would be about, but that's exactly why I want to see what you people have to say about it."

She nods towards Seiko. "I don't mind delaying it till after breakfast, though. I will join you", she says, asking Kururun to go into the Aqua Pot and moving towards the door with that in her pocket. "I am starting to get the hang of human cuisine."

Seiko Akai has posed:
"Okay you all! I need to go get changed." Seiko looks down over her current attire. Its PJs featuring Sailor V. "I Don't think I look good for going to the cafeteria." She laughs and grabs her egg. "I will keep this on me just in case. Wait School? I didn't think school was in session just yet!" She starts panicking. "I gotta get ready for class!"

She quickly rushes out the door and runs to her dorm!

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Oh not at all!" Rashmi says, beaming at Laura. "I'll even loan you my books when you want to read them!"

Then Amy talks about Seiko getting excused from class, and Seiko rushes out the door to get changed, and Rashmi throws a startled glance at the remaining girls. "There's no class today!" she calls out after Seiko. "School's out till August!"

Sighing, she lets her Barrier Jacket shatter into shards of magic and fade away, lifting her glasses and rubbing at the bridge of her nose. "...I'll be down in a second," she chuckles. "I'm already ready for breakfast, but I got something that needs to be put away. Also Laura-chan, your cookies are literally *divine,* thank you so much! See you all downstairs!"

And with that, the taller redhead levers off the bed, and strolls out the door to the elevator.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Late for class? Oh no! "I gotcha!" Amy chases after and in the fortunately empty hallway points at Seiko's PJs and changes them into a school uniform with a pink sparkly effect.

    And then oh right school is out. If Seiko comes back to ask about it, she'll admit, "Um... I think they'll change back into PJs eventually? Or I can dismiss it now. I've never really experimented with using it on someone else before."

    Anyway, now that there is no rush, she *will* be sampling the cookies before heading to her dorm room and the cafeteria.