1766/Kiruna Group

Kiruna Group
Date of Scene:	17 July 2024
Location:	Mitakihara Ward
Synopsis:	Takashi brings Hinoiri to the Secreter Secret Lab.
Cast of Characters:	Takashi Agera, Hinoiri Kirara

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Takashi Agera has posed:
    Mitakihara is a ward of towering skyscrapers, neon lights, busy streets and masses of people. It's an easy place to get lost in - and an easy place to hide things, even large things. Like a fully equipped personal laboratory, in this case; a painstakingly sourced (and also, about half stolen) array of technology designed to rival what he Takashi had access to when he worked for the Witches 5 and Dr. Souchi Tomoe. It's taken him months - a project underway before Hinoiri became Sunbreaker - though the way Obsidian reacted to her put a sort of emphasis on it.

    It's up in the middle floors of one of Mitakihara's towers - a long hallway of nondescript doors with boring lettering, indicating things like real estate offices, legal groups, etc. And it's here, in front of one of those otherwise uninteresting doors that has a sign just like all of the others. "Kiruna Group" it says. Through the metal-reinforced security glass on the left side of the door one can peer in, and see nothing more than an entryway for another boring office, like so many others.

    But the number of the place matches the information Hinoiri Kirara got - all that is left is to text Takashi when she's arrived, as he asked - since there's no doorbell or knocker on the nondescript door.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara had been texting Takashi for a while and, after the recent rose storm? She.... more than ever... loathed being powerless. And so after a bit of texting between the two, he had told her to come here. His lab. Another place she could study magic.

Sure, she had the stuff that Yellow Pearl Voice had been working with, but honestly? She missed the resources and tools Obsidian had. And while she would *never* work with them again, she did trust Takashi. A bit.

But she also knew he was kiiiiind of a dick. And so a part of her wondered, as she walked towards the room in the tower, if this was all just an elaborate prank. There was no lab. He was just... messing with her. 'Ha ha, you're a civilian now'. Sure, she was the smartest person he knew, but he didn't know that. Well. When it came to magic, at least.

... But she didn't want to pass this opportunity up. She was no closer to using magic and dark energy wasn't an option. So... maybe.... this would be an option. With a deep sigh, she pulled out her phone and texted him. She was here.

Now all she had to do... was wait. And wonder if this was all just a mistake. He... likely couldn't help her. Nobody could. Maybe?

... But if he could... wasn't that what friendship was all about?

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Takashi didn't rush to the door or anything - he had no idea of Hinoiri's doubt. Why would she doubt him - he'd never been anything but forthright with her. So he finished up the work he was doing first; coming to a stopping point and then finally sending "otw" to the once-unicorn.

    Eventually, Takashi did in fact walk through the office and to the door of "Kiruna Group", opening it from the other side.

    "Okay, all of this is just for show." he says, gesturing at the empty office. "C'mon, let's go to the actual workspace." he says. He leads her past a couple empty office rooms - filled only with cardboard boxes - an empty conference room with a cheap table and chairs - and to a series of double doors. "I've got a keycard for you." he says, passing her a magnetic card. It too, looks boring. A visitor pass for the same Kiruna Group. "Try it on the reader there, I want to be sure it works for you."

    It's on the other side of those doors that everything changes. The two robotic-youma guards from back when Takashi had the closet-office with the Witches 5 are there, and beyond them - a cavernous workspace that she could tell (and possibly feel) was extending beyond its standard bounds, like so many of Obsidian's offices did.

    Inside it's what she wanted - clean workspaces, and a lot of it, with equipment scientific and technological and magical.

    "Now, that card won't get you into anywhere you shouldn't be - pretty much it'll get you to this room. The black doors on the other end lead to a lab I do Dark Energy stuff in, and your keycard won't work so you don't get tempted." Perhaps he does care? "If you're gonna play around with Dark Energy again you should do it under supervision." Sort of.

    "But the rest of the workspace here is open to you, just make sure you're not being followed or anything. It's mostly security through obscurity here. Anything that'd actually keep Obsidian out would paradoxically draw them to us, so the biggest defense we have is them not looking at it. If anybody ever asks you can say Kiruna Group is some sort of legal aid group that you're using to get your identity sorted."

    Then he pauses. "But I mean it. This only works for both of us if it's super, super secret. I don't event want you telling Double Trouble about it - I haven't brought Mami here yet either. If you can agree to that, the 'guest' access card is yours."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara would take the card, blinking a few times. Then, slowly, she'd use the card to test it. Huh. So, well. At least her trust in him wasn't a bad idea. It was... nice. And it felt familiar. In a way? It felt like she was home.

She took in a sharp intake of air when he mentioned the lab with dark energy. "No," she said quickly. "That's... fine. I'm fine just here. Away from... that."

She looked down at the card, then hmmed. "Okay, yeah. I'll keep it from them. If anything, it'll make them happy. They'd love the chance to find out I was working on some hidden porject or another. She's such a little drama baby."

Her Drama-meleon.

She slid it into her wallet. "And that's fine, most people wouldn't try to follow me on my motorcycle, anyway." Though, impressively, she'd become a better driver now that she had no dark energy. "So, what are we working on first?"

Takashi Agera has posed:
    "That's good to know." Takashi replies. "Just keep your wits about you okay? I went to a lot of trouble to build this, and it's kind of my hideout if I ever end up with people trying to assassinate me. I'm putting a lot of trust in you here. Don't screw it up." he says, bluntly. "I wouldn't have brought you here but I miss working with you." he admits.

    "...and on that note, I think... maybe... I have a way to help you get some powers unlocked. Without Dark Energy. If you're interested." He teases. "Because, frankly, I'm tired of visiting you in the hospital."

    "And it'll need your participation anyways, because instead of Dark Energy we're going to use energy from your horseworld, and I can't touch that stuff without burning. Plus the ever present threat of breaking out into song."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara couldn't help it. She gave him a big grin. "D'awwww, you missed me? I missed working with you too. It was nice having someone who could keep up with my theories," she said in a very amused, playful and teasing tone.

However, her eyes did narrow when he mentioned... a way to help get her powers. She took a slow, deep breath. "I'm listening. And, trust me. I don't want to be in the hospital any more either. It, frankly, sucks. The food isn't that good and a lot of the nurses know me on a first name basis. And I swear Niji, err, a kid I know, told her parents we were best friends or something. Every time I end up there they *know* and.... they're really sweet. But a bit clingy."

"... Still sweet though. And you get used to the songs."

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Takashi blinks, and shakes his head at that. "Don't make me regret missing you." he says, wagging a finger at her. As often is, it's hard to tell if he's really warning her or joking around.

    "I really don't want to get used to the singing. I'm exposed entirely too much if I ever get used to it." he says, sighing. "But it's got a real connection 'to you' so I think it's the best chance we have at awakening something within you that we can use without me convincing you to give DE another shot." he notes.

    "So, in the back of this room there are several sealed cases - the one labeled K-2 is the gear I want to try pulling data and energy from today. It's from the raid on the storeroom, so. You may have a better familiarity with them than I do."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara gave a light snort. "Oh, too late, Takashi. Now I know and you can never make me un-know," she said. And she was fully teasing and it was hard to tell. "But fine, no musicals for you. Music is, literally, just the song of my people."

She'd start walking towards the back of the room, humming lightly before grabbing the one marked K-2. And well, she just jumped riiiiiight into it. She pulled it out, opened it and... snorted. "Oh, Takashi... you're going to hate this," she said, before holding up the thing within. Some kind... of... magic file?

"It's a hoof filer. Automatic, you see, they bite down on it and..." Why were the ponies like this? Wait, she actually bit down on the handle and WHY DID THEY-- oh, right, no hands.

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Takashi sighs, but she can also see him smiling. "So... why the hell was that in the room full of loot that we ran through? I swore we raided an armory, not a podiatrist." he says.

    "Also you're right, I do hate it. Well, if you can guess from my elite filing system, the other boxes that start with K are full of other stuff from your world. K-1 is in the other room right now, but there should be a few more bits of magic, all isolated." He offers.

    "Preferably something that's more... combat or utility magic, not vanity magic." he says. "If you'd please pick one out. Before I spend the evening and it turns out all I have done is try to weaponize a horse backscratcher."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara cocked an eye. "Because taking care of the soldiers is very important, ensuring they are well tended to. You'd be amazed the amount of effort that goes into maintaining morale in battle." She paused, going through them before... she pulled out a... stick. "This? This is actually more combat oriented, it's for summoning arrows." Then pulled out a small orb. "Ohhhhh, we found one of these? Neat. Pocket pond, if you release it in a dirty filled area, it'll summon moisture and make a little pond. Perfect for bathing and..."

And oh my gosh, there were so many useless things. BUT!

"Oh, freezing arrows. When they hit something, they'll make ice. We have competitions with these." Some of the stuff DID have... weird, magical uses.

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Takashi squints at her. "I dunno, I'd feel a lot higher morale with a giant energy cannon or something over a hoof filer." he grumbles. Both in combat, and now, that'd make his morale higher.

    After a moment he sighs. "So you're telling me we looted an entire military storeroom, to come away with the grand total of weaponry that mimics one sparklesquaddie's trick, except it doesn't since he can summon more than one type of arrow?" He grumbles.

    "The ice arrows are at least something maybe we can work with because freezing someone trying to stab you is a good idea, but I can't believe how much of this is totally worthless." he grumbles. "If I pulled the powers out of the first few sets of things and somehow gave them to you, it wouldn't stop you from becoming a corpse, you'd just be a really well done up corpse that possibly still sung showtunes."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara chuckles. "The party cannons can be pretty destructive, but we tend not to put those in the armory like that. Bigger weapons take-- ohhhhhh. A magic staff knob. If we could find out what spells are on it, it might be useful. Huh. Automatic wing cleaner. Sorry, Takashi. My people, in general, were more.... defensive oriented. Ohhhhh. Enchanted shield. Can withstand dragon's breath, even. I'll need to go through everything, but there's bound to be some useful stuff here. Don't get too worked up over it," she said, shaking her head.

"Besides, you should know as well as me. It's not the tool, it's how you use it. Ohhhhh! I love these!" She pulled out... "It's a magic pocket knife! It has a compass, a file, a..." Colt scouts.

"Sun channeler."

... Well, he wanted a laser.

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Takashi looks at her and tilts his head. "Worked up? I was a friggin pony. Or a kirin. Or whatever. It'd be nice to get something that's helpful here." He says, shaking his head. "If you can kill a youma with a hoof filer I'd love to watch it." he adds, on the subject of the tool versus the use.

    "I'm sure there's some more useful bits in some of this, yeah, just... I don't know if you have the time. Like, I've seen you in the hospital twice already. And things aren't going to get a whole lot smoother soon." he warns.

    "Now, the shield, maybe I can do something with." Then he pauses and turns. "A sun channeler? Channel how?"

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara froze for a moment, blinking. "Yeah. I guess.... yeah. If things keep... going like this. I might end up dead, before long." She reached up a hand to stroke her geode again. "Heh. Buck. I really... I really did buck it all up, didn't I?" she asked with a small, helpless little chuckle, before sighing.

"It's a weapon. Useful against windigos and frost giants, it channels the power of the sun into a beam of destruction. Also, there's some cloud walkers and emergency teleporters. Just... be careful with this stuff."

"I've noticed, when I was testing it, that this magic has some... strange effects in this world. Some of it works well. Other bits? Not... so much...."

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Takashi shakes his head. "Nah, if you died, I wouldn't let it stick." He says this as casually as if he was telling her that he'd buy her donuts or something else far more realistic. Then he smirks. "I mean you already owe me a lot, imagine how much you'd owe me if I had to shove your soul back in?" He asks, shrugging.

    "You may have screwed things up, but you're still alive, and you know as well as I do - the only way to be a failure is to stop trying. As long as you're still trying to move forward, it's just a really long, eventful, sometimes chaotic journey." He says.

    "Yeah, I noticed that too. But it's okay... because you're gonna have to test it in front of me, instead of me testing it. Still can't touch a lot of this, not without a protective shield, and often if it's good enough to protect my skin, it's good enough to disrupt readings." he says, a bit of grumbly in his voice. "Whatever the heck is going on in your world, the energy from it is NOT fond of me."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara gave a light snort. "Yeah. I'll try to avoid that fate. The last thing I need is someone trying to use necromancy on me. I read the necronomicron enough to know that never ends well."

Yeah. That. That was still likely... something he wanted to get his hands on.

"... I won't die, though. I... I know better. Besides, the sparkles wouldn't let that happen. They're... annoyingly likeable like that. Protecting even the people they should hate."

She picked up the sun channeler before grinning. "We should probably go out to the roof, then. I'll need sunlight. Real sunlight, not a lot of light. It'll require some... well. It's made to help channel Sora's power, after all. Shall we get started? There's going to be so much research for us to do." Then she gasped, her eyes lighting up. "Ohhhhh. I could make some flash cards going over the basic branches of Kirakirafantastica magic! It'll be fun!"

Nerrrrrd.

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Takashi tilted his head. "Look, just because a bunch of people who were incompetent did something, doesn't mean it's impossible to do competently. Failures - especially in magic - are probably more well known than successes." he notes. Ah, a life philosophy for him. Just because nobody else can do it doesn't mean he can't.

    "...Please no flash cards. Not only do I have a great memory, but I have a constantly listening digital assistant backing me up." Takashi points out. <<FLASHCARDS WILL BE UNNECESSARY. DIGITAL MEMORY LASTS FOREVER.>> Axion chimes in. Takashi chuckles.

    "But... we should totally go outside and you should totally explain to me how this works... and you know you don't have to dumb it down for me, I want the mathemagical details."