1957/Getting Help

Getting Help
Date of Scene:	17 September 2024
Location:	Club Building
Synopsis:	Amy has convinced Norie that the people on her side will want to help. Rashmi proves that true.
Cast of Characters:	Norie Okana, Amanda Faust, Rashmi Terios

---

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana is in the math club's room. She's chosen thr msth club's room because it's sparse, and is far away from the dance club's room, of which she is banned from. She sighs and stands there, miserably as she walks back and forth.

"Are you sure she's going to show up?" she asks Amy, sighing some as she sulks into a corner of the room and leans back, looking up into the ceiling as she sighs.

"Maybe... this is what I get. For hurting people... no help." she says quietly.

Even though Rashmi has no idea who she is here.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "You know," Amy wonders, as they sit around waiting, "I don't remember if we had a math club at my old school. What do you even do in math club? Study calculus for fun? No, it must be something about discussing interesting things involving math." She taps her phone screen and whatever manga she's reading begins a tournament arc. "...Or preparing for competitions. I did one of those as a kid. They gave me a little bust of Euclid as a tropy, it's still on a shelf in my childhood bedroom."

    At Norie's sulking, she sighs, standing up before she remembers she can't give the poor girl a hug. "Yes she's going to show up. If she wasn't going to help, she'd have just said no. Lying and ghosting people is... probably pretty common behavior, but not here." She shakes her head. "Not at Radiant Heart."

    Amy sits back down. "Perhaps most people would say you deserve it. Most people never consider how anyone else feels outside their closed little lives, and blame the things people can't help, or struggle with, on bad morals or laziness so they don't have to do anything to help, or so they can feel superior to people."

    Beat. "...I did, once."

    "But Rashmi's not like that, nor are the people who've fought monsters at my side this past year... this past 14 months." She looks up from the phone at Norie.

    "...I guess remembering that is a good thing you can't feel, huh? Damn it." She really wants to comfort Norie but can't, and so tries to distract herself while waiting.

    Tap. Tap. Tap. "...Mahoutube? Is that a thing? If not, I wonder if we should make it, as a way to share knowledge within the magical community..."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Now that things have found their new equilibrium, Rashmi has been finding herself busier than ever before. But overall, the busy-ness was a *good* thing. Projects to work on, mysteries to chase down, and so many ways in which she felt she could be a real, tangible benefit for their side.

So when Amy texted, asking for her help, Rashmi was *glad* to say yes. After all... being a help is essentially her primary life goal.

So when she strides into the Math Club room with a bright and cheery smile, it's in full henshin, the redhead eager to knuckle down and get ready to work.

And... oh no.

It's one of the girls who was fighting for Hannah's life, when Norie nearly took her head.

And she has *no idea who this third girl is.*

"Hi Amy-chan! Hi, also you! I'm Rashmi Terios, Amy-chan said you needed help?"

Norie Okana has posed:
Oh Rashmi is the....page mage? She blinks a little and frowns some as the black haired girl in the school summer uniform gets up from her sulky position because the girl did arrive after all. "I am... Norie Okana. I am. Also known as Lacrima." she says quietly.

She looks back towards Amy. "Mahoutube,,,, huh?" she asks curiously as she blinks. "Isn't such a thing exploitable...?" she asks. She then looks back to Rashmi. She blinks a moment.

"I need.... someone not...affiliated with Obsidian... to act as a secondary doctor. I trust Riventon-senpai a lot. But. I need second, non-dark energy opinions." she says quietly.

"Your name has come up a few times. I understand. If you don't wish to help me." she says quieter. "I just. trying to get help. Do you understand?" she asks, glumly.

Amanda Faust has posed:
Exploitable? Amy shrugs.

    And Rashmi is here! Amy stands up again and bows slightly to Rashmi as it... somehow feels like the thing to do when Rashmi steps in in her magical girl outfit to help. "We thought maybe a Device-user could scan her and determine the workings of and thus maybe a possible cure for her curse... Molly told us that for that sort of thing it's really you we should talk to."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Rashmi blinks owlishly, as Norie introduces herself, and again as La Crima. And one can *see* the puzzle-piece falling into place, in the widening of her eyes, and the startled look to Amy.

But it's only another few moments, until her eyes soften, and she nods slowly. "Okay," the Indian girl says quietly, taking a breath and putting her smile back on for Norie. "Okay. I'd probably help how I can anyway... But Amy-chan's got a good heart, and I don't *ever* want to disappoint her. So..."

Crossing the room, she sets her large, armored book down on a table, where it opens itself. "C'mon over here, Norie-san. Before I scan you, please tell me exactly what the problem is, and why you need a second opinion? Also, I'm gonna be upfront; I'm not a doctor, and Riventon is much more a scientist than I am. But what I *am* is a pretty good analyst, and Nicomachea likes to stress how he has an *excellent* sensor suite. So I would be *shocked* if I had a ready answer for you, but I do promise to do everything I can to *find* one."

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie is the one thst tried to kill Hannah, yes. But she's also here with Amy? It's a weird juxtaposition. She sighs and says. "Unsure." she finally says. Looking over at Amy carefully and back to Rashmi. "I can't... touch anyone .. anything living without. Draining it. I don't have... good emotions... My body is now a dark energy construct and I'm doing a bad human impression." she says quietly.

"Scan me. Tell me what you see. I might understand a little of the speak. I've absorbed a lot of language and jargon working with Obsidian." she says quietly.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy looks confused at Rashmi's shock. Wait, what? There's no way she didn't tell Rashmi this! If she was watching an anime where someone left out such critical information, she would be yelling at the screen what an idiot they were!

-- Earlier --

    Amy is texting Rashmi. Asking if she can meet together to scan someone and help with a curse. So far, so good. Now, how best to explain that the person in question is La Crima, who everyone else seems to just remember as Hannah's almost-assassin and not as someone who herself needs help. She'll have to word this carefully.

    1 incoming notification.

    Amy checks the message. Ooh, Helldivers 2 is on sale for only 30 bucks? She has been meaning to try that out. It seems like something Usagi might be willing to play together! Hang on, she'd better check a few other sites to be sure she gets the best deal...

-- Now --

    ...What could possibly have prevented her from telling Rashmi? She can't remember. But she sees Rashmi decide to be kind, and praise her own heart, and she blushes and starts to look away and then reddens more at the thought that someone who has to go through everything the mahou do would be worried about dissapointing little old her. She doesn't deserve that!

    Hearing Norie speak refocuses her attention, and Amy looks towards them again. "You said Riventon can touch you because of the dark energy. And Tomoe-san can do it through her ribbons but anyone else trying, like, hugging through a thick blanket only sometimes works, and it doesn't seem like it can normally be done remotely."

    Amy looks at Rashmi. "I tried walking away from my soul gem to hug her and it still' drained me through my body, somehow."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
'I can't touch anyone' 'my body is a Dark Energy construct' 'I can't feel good emotions'

If Rashmi only knew that about La Crima, it would be more than enough to want to help in some way, *any* way. And so, she simply looks down at her book, and Nicomachea answers with an affirmative <<*BONG!*>>

    << *BONG!* >> << TIME-SPACE BARRIER >>

A bubble of green-black static appears above the book, and expands rapidly to mold itself to the walls of the clubroom. It's a snug fit, too; if one were to go to the door and open it, one would find the Barrier sitting less than a millimeter from the walls. "That's in case anyone has an issue with magic at all happening here, considering..."

    << *BONG!* >> << MANA INVESTIGATION >>

A half-dozen holographics screens blip to life over Nicomachea's pages, and circles composed of golden light, like rune-inscribed ribbons, sketch themselves into being. "Okay, Norie-san," Rashmi says gently. "I'm gonna need you to transform, so I have a clean scan, okay? If you trust Amy-chan, you can trust me, nobody's gonna attack you like this."

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana blinks as a time space barrier comes to life and this makers her jump, but Rashmi explains it quickly enough. She calms down and relaxes a little as she looks over to Amy and back to Rashmi. "I'll change to my basest form." she says. "For sake of better reading." she says as she takes a deep breath.

Norie transforms, in with a burst of dark energy, which the barrier hides from the rest of the school from prying senses, as she shifts into her dusky, shadowy form, the girl settling down into a floating in front pf the book.

She stays still. "Okay..." she says quietly, as she looks up at the two.

The first thing out of Nicomachea'a reading is probably something along the lines of 'are you suuuuuure this isn't a youma?'.

She looks back to Amy and says "The rules around touching me are weird." she says quietly.

"Sorry..."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    A barrier? "Who would have a problem with... Oh." She nods. "Good idea."

    Amy shakes her head at the apology. "It's fine. The rules for a lot of things are very weird, especially magic, but..." She waves her hand vaguely, "The rest of the world too. Consider electricity; why are some things conductors and some things insulators? Usually it's metal that conducts, but also, water? And that's just analog, to say nothing of the rules behind digital electronics."

    Amy smiles amiably. (Amyably?) "It's by figuring out those complex rules behind things that we learn how they work, and how to get the world to do what we want." She shakes the phone in her hand for emphasis. "Like tricking sand into doing math."

    "Anyway, you don't need to apologize for being complicated." Amy's expression softens into concern. "...Did you... have friends, before all this...?"

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"I'm actually not surprised, if she could drain you away from your Soul Gem," Rashmi murmurs, as the rings begin to rise and fall over the admittedly insanely spooky cloud of Dark Energy in a mostly humanoid shape. "Your body is still you, after all... I had to learn that lesson the hard way, there was a Rainbow Crystal I ran across, and I thought I was being clever by just putting it in Nicomachea's secure storage right away. Turns out, when a crystal is sealing a youma that will possess whoever bears it? 'To bear' casts a reeeeeal wide net."

The screens come to life, displaying scrolling information, numbers, bars charts and line graphs and proportion rings that do not stop moving, but most of them display mostly dark purple stuff. "We-e-ell, there's a *lot* of distortion," Rashmi says after a moment. "Probably because Dark Energy is really bad at showing anything other than itself... Could you hold out your arms for me? Like a T-pose... I'm gonna try to map your energy flow, and see if that can't tell me anything. Also, because I'm pretty sure what the answer's gonna be but I need to ask for the sake of having complete notes... Reaction to purification? Also... assuming a cure isn't found for a really long time, what would be a nice *short-term* thing to work toward for you, Norie-san?"

Norie Okana has posed:
Amy catches her off guard. She asks a question no one's cared enough to ask before. 'Did you... have friends, before all this...?'. She goes intensely quiet as she's scanned and looks down to the ground. "I had lots of friends." she says quietly. "Lots of supportive, good, friends. Then I became this thing. And I pushed my best friend off stage in Dance Club. She broke her leg. I lost all my friends." she says quietly. "I can't ... control myself. I'm sorry."

She gets into the T-pose as Rashmi asks and looks straight ahead.

"Short term? I...I don't know..." she says quietly. "M..maybe a hug barrier?..." she asks dumbly. She frowns. "Purification hurts. Can kill me." she says softly.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy nods at Rashmi. "Yes, I suppose magic wouldn't care so much and if anything counts as a magical connection between me and something it's the connection between me and my body, which I even subconsciously think of as my own even if I academically know it's not. Which... is new, actually. I remember that I used to feel like I was something driving a flesh-robot-slash-life-support-system around, so when I think about it, it's kind of weird how quickly that changed. I understand academically that that's more true now than it was before, but that's not how it feels, ya know?"

    She listens to Tears's tale of loss. "I'm sorry. That must have sucked. Especially suddenly feeling this way... or rather, not feeling the things that would have stopped you. I guess you've got a better handle on interacting with people now?"

    Amy chuckles nervously, "Although if not, you're in good company."

    A hug barrier. There's an idea!

    Something else strikes Amy, too: "So what's it like, when your body goes all... cloud-y? Do you still see out of a certain part of it? Does moving your... cloud... still feel like moving muscles, or what? ...If you don't mind my asking. I've never been anything other than this, my original form, and a doll."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"It's still your body, Amy," Rashmi points out. "What's that American saying, 'possession is nine-tenths of the law'? Just because your soul is outside your body, doesn't mean your *mind* isn't. If you're still able to exist in it, it's still your-- what... the..."

Rashmi frowns at a set of numbers, poking uselessly at the non-solid hologram screens. "...Okay, *that* is a thing... Here."

With a gesture, she summons two, larger screens, to sit to the left and right of the main mass. "On the left is an approximate map of most mahou," she says, as a nondescript humanish outline resolves on the left screen, with a blob of blue somewhere in the chest, and snaky blue lines extending outward, branching into invisibility. "That's the mana channels that most people have; there's the Linker Core, or closest approximate thing, and the energy it collects and stores goes out to the body. Before you ask, Amy-chan, I haven't mapped a Puella yet so *at a guess* the only difference is where the Linker Core physically is. But that matters less than you might expect."

Drawing in a deep breath, she gestures to the right screen. "...And on the right here, is Nicomachea's best guess of Norie's mana channels."

A black silhouette of a humanoid body, legs trailing off into ghostly mist, appears on the right-hand screen. A big dotted-line circle covers the entirety of the torso, with a purple '???' in its center, and scribbly, squiggly purple lines lash all about throughout the body.

"So, you have Dark Energy that's acting *like* mana channels, and it's maintaining *something,* but we know so little *about* Dark Energy it's frankly impossible to filter out the signal from the noise."

Rashmi lifts her glasses, massaging the bridge of her nose. "End scan, Nicomachea," she says, and the book *pings* cheerily.

    << *BONG!* >> << COMMAND INPUT EXECUTE >>

The golden circles fade into nothingness, and Rashmi stands there in thought for a moment, before replacing her glasses. "So I'm gonna work on this some," Rashmi says. "Right now we're at the 'I don't know what I don't know' phase of learning anything about living mana, and I'm the farthest thing you can get from a doctor of any kind. But... I *do* have an idea on how I can get you a Hug Barrier..."

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana lets her form shift back to Norie Okana when the scans are gone. She feels more comfortable again and says to Amy. "It's alright." she says. "Having only the bad emotions...makes. Keeping normal friends difficult." she says quietly. "Nevermind the family the wanting to keep me at school since it." she says with a suffering sigh.

She looks to Rashmi. "So things." she says gently. "One is I wish to have this secret. I.. care for Riven-senpai a lot. If he knew I was looking for second opinions, I'd lose his help. He's one of two people I can hug so..." she says quietly....

"Secondly is. I can't promise we won't...end up fighting again. That's all. I'm sorry things can't be better between us." she says gently.

"I'm always trying and that's the sad part." she says quietly.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "I mean, yeah, in that sense, this is a body that is mine, yeah. And it does feel like my body subconsciously, regardless." She smiles at that. It's a small thing, but she dimly remembers seeing the face of the meat-robot her mind used to ride around in, and...

    ...This body is her.

    ...On all levels but the extremely technical. Or when she has to think about it as a magical regenerating teleoperated golem in a fight.

    Rashmi hasn't mapped a Puella yet-- "Well feel free!" Amy, still smiling, holds her arms out to her sides. "After this, I mean."

    She listens to the rest of the explanation, looking at the diagrams curiously. "So it sounds like what we need to do is share this data with a dark energy expert, like Riventon, and maybe he could make more sense of it?"

    She listens to Norie and nods. Again, they can see the twitch as she starts to turn towards the energy vampire to offer a hug but more quickly remembers she can't, this time. "It's... yeah. I think people mostly don't realize that trying... looks different for everyone." She offers a sad smile. "But if you weren't trying, you wouldn't be here searching for a cure with us, right?"

    She blinks as she realizes what else was said. "Wait, you could make a hug barrier???" She grins happily, for Norie!

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"To the first thing," Rashmi says quietly. "I don't *like* Riventon very much, and half the time when he opens his mouth I want to put a fist in it. But to help you I *want* to work with him on this. But... what you want it more important, Norie-san. I-- *we* will keep this secret, right Amy-chan?"

Picking Nicomachea off the desk, she calls him back into standby mode, her Barrier Jacket shattering into disintegrating shards of golden light and leaving her just in her school uniform. "And to the second thing? You'd be the... uh..." A quick count on her fingers. "five? Five. Fifth person I've made this deal with; even if we have to fight, I won't take it personally. You do what you feel you need to, and if I feel I have to stop that... then okay. I stop the thing, but I don't take it personally with *you,* Norie-san. Also... d'you still eat? Because as long as it stays neutral ground, you're completely welcome to come to the Korma Chameleon for food, whenever. Because Amy-chan's right... trying is different for everyone, and trying *matters.*"

At Amy's startled question, Rashmi blinks a bit. "Well, I mean... I have an *idea* for one. I'd just need to make a smaller version of something I made for myself, and figure out a way for it to output a little at a time instead of all at once. It was an Obsidian employee who gave me the idea, in fact, so if I can do that, and tie it to an emitter for a purpose-built single spell... Then I'd have a Barrier Jacket that ran on its own battery."

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana crosses her eyes. "You're willing to...work with Riventon on this? Then maybe I can bring it up. But it's gonna appear like it's his idea." she says. "It's...all about him. Yeah know? I get it. I do." she says a little softly. I'll... work on Riventon helping, okay?" she says.

She then nods. "Good. I still need to eat. I mean. In the vampire way. And the non-vampire way." she says. Then she cross eyes. "Your family owns the Korma Chamelon?" she asks.

She looks towards Amy as she looks between Rashmi aa they speak ideas about a 'hug barrier'."

"Oh. So like. a Barrier Jacket that might let e hug people through it temporarily?" she asks.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "I... understand if we have to fight, though I'll be annoyed. But don't try to kill anyone again." Amy looks like she doesn't want to have to set a hard line, but... yeah. "And if you get the chance to avoid it, prefer to avoid working with Otto."

    As for Riventon... she rolls her eyes and shakes her head a little, "I don't understand it -- while it's great to have your own achievements recognized, I'd feel awful if people made a big deal about giving me credit for something I didn't do. But... Helping you is what's important here. I'll try to hold my tongue."

    Amy nods to Rashmi. "Of course. If she wants to keep it a secret, we will."

    She listens to the idea. "A Hug Barrier. ...A Huggier Jacket. ...A Hug Jacket." She seems satisfied with that as a term for it.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Oh Otto's already got a line around the block of people who want to kick his face in," Rashmi says softly, one hand curling into a fist for a moment. Then the moment passes, and she lets it go, shaking her head. "But yeah, Norie-san... they do. And I make a point of being okay with anyone who wants to eat there, because even Obsidian workers want a nice meal, y'know? And yeah... If *you* can convince him to come forward about helping you, that's fine. But if you can't, he won't find out from me."

"As to the Hugs Jacket," she says, her mouth turning up at the name. "Well, you said Mami-chan can make it so you can her a hug from magic, right? How'd that work? Because if you ask *her* to work with me on that... She's pretty nice, and we're building a pretty good friendship. I can't imagine but that she'd jump at the chance, y'know? But yeah... Starting idea's a Barrier Jacket that covers the whole body, on a battery. We can test the idea once I've got a prototype, and if it doesn't work? Well, I'm okay with getting a little hurt if it's for a good reason. And allowing you to have hugs *is* a good reason."

Norie Okana has posed:
Count Otto is talked about. She blinks a little. "What did Count Otto-sama do?" she asks curiously. "He hasn't asked me to do anything recently... but...." she trails off as she sighs a little. She brushes her hair and flips it a moment as she frowns a little. She crosses her arms and shifts uncomfortably.

"I'll need to speak to Riventon-senpai first. Then Mami-oneechan. For reasons." she says as her eyes peek to the right for no particular reason with a cough.

"Mami uses. Like. Ribbon clones of hers tp hug me." she says.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy nods about so many people wanting to kick Otto's butt. Rashmi asks about Mami hugs. "She has ribbon powers? So I guess she could like. Call ribbons and make them hug." Amy makes a sort of hugging-at-a-distance gesture.

    Amy scoffs at hearing -sama appended to Otto. "He asked you to kill Hannah, remember? Also, he ruined Aloisia's life and treated her as a game piece -- from when she was born." Amy shakes her head. "I don't know if you can't feel properly appalled at that, but... he is a bad man."

    "And if he wins, killing Hannah and somehow escapes this planet?" She makes a sweeping gesture, upwards. "He will cut a bloody swath across the stars, not caring who has to die, on how many planets, in order for him to carve out an interstellar empire for himself."

    Beat.

    "...So I guess that makes him like a real-life Darth Vader, if you want to look at it that way? Or perhaps, an aspiring Palpatine."

    Oh, okay, Mami uses ribbon clones.

    "...What?" Amy looks confused. "What is a 'ribbon clone?'"

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Basically that," Rashmi says. "He's basically the solar system's worst father and he's gonna need to make a million apologies to his daughter before I even think about being a tenth as nice to him as I am to you. And, 'ribbon clones,' so... She uses her ribbons to make copies of herself the way she makes guns? Okay... so that explains why they don't drain her, they're magic effects not parts of herself. That... doesn't actually say one way or another whether my idea's gonna work at all, cos under the ribbons is air, but... eh? Still willing to give it a try.

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana nods. "I remember that, but that was a while ago. Alosiia?" she asks. "Who is...Alosila?" she asks with confusion. She blinks when Rashmi mentions the word father. And this makes a connection in her head. "Oh." she says softly. "I didn't know Otto-sama had a daughter." she says.

She nods at Rashmi's summarization of Mami's ribbon clones.

"The ribbons are. Solid enough. For me." she says quietly.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy blinks at Rashmi. "Do you really think we can resolve the succession crisis without killing him?"

    Mami can make copies of herself out of ribbon. Okay. Surewhy not. How does magic even. :I

    "We didn't know until recently, either."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Aloisia is... well, *she* didn't know she was Otto's daughter, just... someone who fought under Otto's banner. She really believed that Hannah-chan wasn't worthy of succession, and all that... but honestly she's a decent, honorable Belkan Knight, and personally I *like* her. There are some people who just... can't thrive under Dark Energy, y'know? She's one of them, but... She can't get away, not yet. Someday, though..."

Sighing, Rashmi shakes her head. "Anyway. Ideally I *would* like to resolve it without someone dying. I even hope that it'll still happen. But not as things stand now. Something's gotta give, and I mean for it to not be Hannah-chan."

Drawing in a breath, she gives Norie a genuine smile. "Anyway... I should get started drafting plans, seeing what I can do with these scans, and figuing out how to use that information. But, honestly? I'm glad to finally meet you, Norie-san. Like, *really* meet you, in someplace other than the middle of a fight."

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana nods. "Alright...." she says quietly. "Thank you for the help." she says more straight face, monotone. Like 'there should be a good tone of feeling here, but 404, not found. She looks Amy. She looks to Rashmi. "Amy thank you for arranging this meeting. Hopefully. I might be able to hug you soon." she says. If no one stops her, she'll start walking out on her own foot power.

Away she goes!