2046/Making Deals By Moonlight

Making Deals By Moonlight
Date of Scene:	06 November 2024
Location:	Radiant Heart Academy
Synopsis:	After getting a short message from *Riventon* of all people, Rashmi meets him on the rooftop of Radiant Heart Academy to discuss what can be done to help Norie. Riventon agrees to help with both the long-term and short-term studies, because Norie means just that much to him (however much he refuses to admit it.) Will Rashmi regret giving him the tech that'll help the short-term problem? Probably!
Cast of Characters:	Rashmi Terios, Takashi Agera

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Rashmi Terios has posed:
While Rashmi hadn't recognized the Device signature of the -- extremely terse -- message that dropped into Nicomachea's inbox... The fact that it was almost impressive how the sender managed to pack that much jerk into a bare few sentences, only reminded her of one person.

And it meant that Norie had made her pitch to Riventon.

...Rashmi was absolutely going to regret everything she did after this moment, the odds were so certain that no smart mahou would even bet on it.

After a brief henshin, Rashmi climbed out of her third-story dorm window, and soared to the rooftop of the primary classroom building. With the moon a slim crescent in the sky, and the light-pollution of Tokyo providing the bulk of the night's faint visibility, the rooftop seems the best place to have this... discussion? Deal?

Disaster-in-the-making, that works.

<< I'm on the roof, >> she has sent to the mystery signature. << The main building. I've sent you a waypoint to follow. >>

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Takashi Agera wasn't usually the kind to seek, or even accept, any help. The issue that he ran into was there was just so much work to do, so many problems to solve. And sort of like leaning on his AI in fights where he was overwhelmed, he could... somewhat... kind of... see accepting someone who wanted to provide some help in order to relax his mental load. Even if he was... perpetually annoyed... at an inability to solve every problem himself.

    So Riventon sent the message, and it reflected his terse opinion on the matter clearly - but it also signaled his acceptance of the situation.

    So, Takashi recieved the message via Axion and henshined into Riventon to go and meet the Page Mage once again, and this time to not blast her. Probably.

    There's a level of silent-running being used, because he doesn't want the entire magical population of Radiant Heart to sense him and try to come out and fight. But that also means no sudden teleportation, no super-speed, and so it results in him appearing by silently loom-floating up to the roof and over the fencing at the top.

    How does one begin this sort of conversation? He thinks for a moment, gives up, and just notes "Well, here I am."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Theeeere you are," Rashmi echoes, almost as lost on how to even begin. Then, she simply takes a deep breath and dives in headfirst. "So... Norie-chan. If she trusts you enough to ask you to help me... Good enough. I have a short-term solution, and I'm willing to trade for your help on it, but for the long-term... I just *do not know* enough about Dark Energy fundamentals to make any kind of sense of what's happened to her."

Spreading her hands, she lifts her shoulders in a brief shrug. "So... will you help with that?"

Lay out the problem, highlight her shortcomings, petition his superior knowledge. From everything she's gleaned about his basic personality, this is the approach with the best chance of success.

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Riventon tilts his head. "I've seen a couple short-term solutions to her problem, yes." he says, choosing his words carefully. Riventon can be polite, when he tries. He can be personable, when he tries. He just usually doesn't try.

    "Unfortunantly, 'Dark Energy Fundamentals' is a bit of a pipe dream. Much like other forms of magic the same general energy seems to affect people differently, depending on several unknown factors." Riventon admits. "Now, despite that, I can probably give you the information you need - but it may only be information that we can apply to Okana-san's specific case." he says.

    "If you can help Okana-san I don't see why I would need to trade with you." Because right now Riventon has enough stuff to research and work on he actually needs positive PR more than he needs more stuff to look at. And he actually does recognize a benefit to positive PR, even if he spends most of his day driving back and forth across PR bridges in a burning wheel. "She's my employee and I'd like to see her situation improved. I came here because she thought you might be able to help her. It's a different sort of thing than our usual meeting."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"I mean... I had figured it wouldn't be as easy as that," the Page Mage sighs. "And when I say 'trade,' it's really more of a 'I have a thing that will help but I don't have the parts or very specific technical expertise to finish it, and I'm willing to not hate the idea of you reverse-engineering it.' I'll explain that second."

Shaking her head, she leans against an HVAC unit. "Still. I did a pretty high-resolution scan of her, and it *seems* like Dark Energy's trying to fake nor-- um. Mid-Childan-understood human biology. But... well, here."

She holds up a hand, and the book, floating ominously behind her right shoulder, swoops down to open itself in the air, millimeters above her palm.

See, Riventon? He can loom too.

With a gesture, a multitude of screens blip into existence over the book's pages, displaying the usual sorts of scanning graphics, numbers, and two idealized person-like silhouettes.

One is green, with a golden blob in its chest and radiating golden lines throughout the figure. The other?

Is Dark purple, and where the 'map' of mana channels throughout the body would be, is just a tangled, quivering skein, a child's scribble animated and raging against the boundaries of the silhouette.

"I mean... Does this track with your data?"

Takashi Agera has posed:
    "Yeah, she's more Dark Energy than I am, but she's managed to retain her intellect in a way that youma normally don't - and then when you look at the way her energy flows, it's clear that there's a little bit more to it than just 'faking' humanity. Youma do that all the time." he notes, casually.

    "There's something specific to her condition that... makes it hard to just solve. Unique, so hard to square against the greater amounts of data I have from other situations."

    "But alright, tell me what this thing you have that you think will help is. Maybe I can put it together. What you've got here seems to make the most sense."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Rashmi pauses for a moment... then lifts her head, sighs, and with another gesture, Nicomachea closes. She taps the great red cabochon on the Device's cover, drawing out a small, glass-walled cylinder, capped on either ends with technological-looking bits. "I call it a mana accumulator," she begins. "All it does is store and release energy. The problems I'm running into are; so far it just discharges the whole thing all at once, and for Norie-chan I need something more like a battery, that just releases according to how much what it's connected to draws. If you can do that, then... I'm pretty sure you've salvaged more Device stuff than I have access to, so. Once you've solved the discharge problem, hook it to an emitter and I could program in a Barrier Jacket, so she can at least have *something* like physical contact without draining anyone."

Offering the little cylinder out, she tilts her head and smiles wryly. "...And I mean I'd *appreciate* you sharing the answer to the design problem, if you're feeling generous."

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Riventon nods. "I've salvaged more not-Device stuff too. If I can't make it work with what I've got I can probably still make it work. Depending on what you want it to do." he says. And then Rashmi explains what she intends to do with it. "Oh, so kind of like a Storage Device but only for a barrier jacket." he muses.

    "Well, it's kind of like the opposite of how Mami-san used to deal with it - instead of making another safe person to touch Norie you put her in magic saran-wrap kinda." he continues. "But it's not really fixing the problem, per se. Just fixing the symptoms." he says. "I'm sure I can put together some sort of solution and I don't mind sharing it with you... but..." he visibly stops, putting his hands behind his back and looking up.

    "No, maybe treating the symptom in the meantime is good. Maybe I'm too focused on an overall cure that I'm letting things deterioriate in the moment. Yeah, I'll see if I can throw something together and explain why it's just discharging and how to make it do so in a more controlled manner, yes."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Yeah," Rashmi says, nodding. "Long-term's a long ways off, but if there's a way to mitigate for the short-term, that's valid too. And yeah... A rechargeable Barrier Jacket, with a simple on-off button. Just something to give her more than she has now, y'know?"

But she *saw* that Taka had to pull himself back from 'his' direction, and inside the secrecy of her own mind she nods.

Sometimes being right about people can be a pain... But this little joint project hasn't fallen apart *yet,* so, that's good.

"And I know you're willing to go *lengths* to help your people, but... I appreciate this, Riventon. Thank you."

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Riventon shakes his head. "You don't really need to appreicate it, because I'm not doing this for you - it's for Okana-san." he says, bluntly. "She's been... generally quite helpful to me, and I try to help the ones that help me. But you still have this tendency to show up and get in my way." he says.

    "So I'm going to work with you to help her out, and I don't mind sharing a little harmless information with you, but let's just say it's a good thing you're asking for help on her behalf and not your own - at least as long as you're committed to showing up alongside the guy who thinks his jurisdiction includes my business." he says, reaching out to take the item.

    "We've got common ground here, but if you really want to help the most people, the best thing you can do is not interrupt me when I'm working and get your dangerous spikey-shouldered friend to likewise stay clear."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"I could ask you the same thing," Rashmi says, but there's a smile on her face as she shakes her head. "You *could* stop helping Obsidian if you wanted to... the world isn't an omelet and people aren't eggs, and all that... but. We both know that's not gonna happen either. But I can at least promise you -- for what it's worth -- that fighting you, or fighting *Norie-chan,* doesn't mean I'm ever gonna stop trying to help her properly."

Crossing her arms, she raises one eyebrow behind her glasses. "But that's out there. Over this problem? Norie-chan needs help, and I'm gonna give it to her. And I can tell you for fact that Chrono would approve. The only reason I haven't told him is, Norie asked me to keep it secret."

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Riventon looks at her and tilts his head. "I'm glad we can still see eye to eye on some things. And I don't agree with everything Obsidian does either, but believe it or not, the best chance to prevent the world from ending runs through them." He says, and pauses. "Of course, a lot of chances for the world ending does run through them, but I'm doing the best I can here. Dark Energy... we can't save everything without it, even if some people think so." he says, and then looks down at the item in his hand, the thing she gave him to work on.

    "Anyways. I'll page your Device when I have something for you to look at. I'm assuming if I put the relevant documentation on a USB drive you have a laptop that can open documents?" he asks.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"I mean... You've got a high row to hoe if you want to convince me of that," Rashmi points out. "But in the end, people like you and Norie-chan are *gonna* need to be factored in if any plan to make the world better is gonna be worth the effort. So I'm not gonna fight your *theories,* just your methods. Theories get proven or not in their own time."

As he looks down to examine the accumulator in his hand, Rashmi closes her eyes for a moment. She is *well* aware she has given him the vaccuum-tube version of dangerous Belkan technology, and it's like the headaches are reverberating back in time to punish her *now.*

"Converting formats is part of Nicomachea's entire thing. USB drive, SIM card... Wax cylinder'd take some time, but I believe in him."

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Riventon laughs a bit. "The thing about being right all of the time is that eventually other people come around." Riventon says. "The problem is all of the time I wait for people to catch up, feels like a waste. But I suppose it is what it is." he says, sighing like the most put-upon human.

    "In any case, in this, I'm glad we can work together. Just as much as I'm sure you hope one day I 'see the light' I hope you learn to not be 'afraid of the dark'." Riventon says, looking up. "The sky is dark but it's beautiful." And that pithy remark may well be the last thing he says before he floats (slowly) away.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Rashmi is silent, in the face of that pontification. Indeed, she seems more than content to let him have the last word, as she simply stays where she is, waiting for Axion's signal to get far enough away, that anything she might have to say would only be picked up by Catra's hearing.

As which point she wheels and strides toward the other side of the roof, hurls herself off, and flutters indignantly toward the girls' dorms.

"'Afraid of the dark,' *ugh!* *Seriously?!*"

"Note to self: Dark Energy makes for Awful Poetry..."