2228/Time Loops: Agera

Time Loops: Agera
Date of Scene:	12 January 2025
Location:	Plot Room 5
Synopsis:	Hinoiri goes to Riventon to ask him for help... and learns a lot about him. He is willing to do the right thing, sometimes. But also the wrong thing, MOST times. Also, he has something of someone she cares for. A lot.
Cast of Characters:	Hinoiri Kirara, Takashi Agera
Tinyplot:	Hinoiri's Endless Loop

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Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Mid Loop:

"Riventon!" Equivalence yelled as she struggled to hold the door closed. It cracked slightly from the assault on the opposite side, but damn if magic people didn't know how to make good doors. "How much longer? I don't think I can hold them back for long!" she said, the door moving an inch before she barely managed to shove it back again. "I knew this was a bad idea! If we make it out of this, how am I supposed to convince you without this happening again?"

She didn't even want to imagine what was out there now. If they could just... make it until midnight, they'd be fine. Right? Maybe? Probably?

... But unlikely to make it that long. Not with those forces against her... they needed to get back to the school. But there was no way, now...

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Riventon had found Hinoiri's story a little bit too difficult to believe, but eventually, she was able to prove it. Unfortunantly, she was able to prove it in a manner that also got the attention of the...less rational parts of Obsidian. And they realized as well as Riventon did what they could accomplish with even a tiny bit of access to Time. But Riventon - Riventon believed Hinoiri. Not just about what she could show him, but what she had to prove more generally, that she was stuck in a time loop that reset at midnight and thus, the loop -would- reset at midnight.

    "Kirara-san..." Riventon panted out. He was exhausted. It had taken everything he had to resist the onslaught Obsidian threw at them in the hopes of capturing Hinoiri and reverse-engineering the time lock for their own purposes. And Riventon figured if she was the source of that loop, she was their best chance to do it - which meant keeping her away from them had been the only way to keep time going forward. Or at least, stopped in the same spot.

    "Kirara-san, I'm not letting Obsidian get ahold of you and get the information. That and I'm pretty sure they still want to kill you extra-dead on top of that." He says, gasping for air. He was bleeding and his focus was fading, and the Midchildan circle he'd opened up was flickering and fading in and out. It had been all he could do to stop them. "I'm going to push this teleport through the school's barrier. Where you're going to be safe. I can only send one person so..." he doesn't elaborate, the situation's clear.

    "So look, next time, my mother's name. It's Ravenna Lilith Agera. Tell me that's my mother's name. Then you can skip the demonstration parade, I hope." he says. Then his eyes go wide.

    "Okay, I'm gonna *hope* I can get you to the school with what I've got ready - Father Obsidian is coming, and you're going NOW." he says, pushing the ring to appear around her. The walls, the doors, and it feels a bit like *reality itself* between Equivalence's current position start to crumble and fade into dust - an enormously powerful presence of evil that Hinoiri can feel in her heart is present for just a moment before she's shuttled about a block away from Radiant Heart Academy.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Who the buck had that name? Who in the world had a name like THAT. She came from a world of ponies, she was named after the setting sun. She knew people who were named bunny and all kinds of other names.

Ravenna Lilith Agera. There was no bucking way that was her name. Was it?

Oh my gosh it explained SO BUCKING MUCH!

"... Thank you, Riventon," she said before... wait. What? The disolving walls... that presence. She'd only felt it once before. Only seen him once, but it wasn't like this. Then she'd had power. Then she'd--

And then she was gone. She dashed, not wasting any time. Leaping down the street, towards the school.

There was no way for him to get to her in time, and there was likely... well... there might be more attacks. But you know what?

She let out some texts, the moment she was in. If Obsidian wanted to attack the school today? Let this be the day they lost a lot of their numbers. After all... they took Riventon. It was only fair.

Hinoiri wouldn't forget this, though. When push came to shove... he'd been there when she needed him.

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Riventon watched with a sly expression as Hinoiri made it out before the walls were no longer present, before it was just him, exhausted, battle damaged, bleeding, standing in the presence of such phenomenal power as he might himself aspire to and more. Father Obsidian, Joker, Kaorinite, Hawkmoth, and an assortment of other Directors and Generals, his eyes too bleary with exhaustion to count them all.

    And he laughed, an unsteady, exhausted, not entirely rational laugh. "And now, you kill me." he said, throwing his arms out wide. "Now, I finally get to rest. But before that, let me just say - it's so good to finally defy you openly after doing so in the shadows for so long. And also, you suck." He said. And then he opened his eye and looked at them.

    "Well? Kill me already." Instead lashes of shadow came up and wrapped around him. And the voice, cruel and wicked and malice, evil incarnate, echoed in his head, in his bones, and in his soul.

        We will not give you such mercy as death.

    The time on the clock read 11:58 PM as the shadows closed in.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Next Loop:

A text would be received by Riventon, to meet him in their lab. Immediately. She'd be sitting there, in the lab, a mildly frustrated look on her face. "Well... Riventon. Here's hoping you told me the truth. I'm stuck in a time loop, I've repeated this day over and over. Yesterday... well, past-today, Obsidian found out. You told me, in the next loop, to tell you... Your mother's name is Ravenna Lilith Agera."

Pause.

"Okay, seriously, is that really your mother's name? Because, no offense? But that kind of explains so, so much. And not entirely in the good way," she said, her voice a little curt. Mildly annoyed. Arms crossed, a frazzled look on her face. "Sorry. Just... last... loop was a loop. I need your help finding out the source."

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Riventon's face was one of annoyance at being summoned, like some sort of Uber Thinks, but that look softened to one of concerned confusion when he said that name, and he paused.

    "I told you to say that?" He asked, aloud. "Why would I say that?" He asked, though he knew giving someone that phrase was partly so he wouldn't have to ask such questions.

    He sighed. "No, of course not. That name's ridiculous." he says. "Which is why nobody would ever tell me that unless they were told by the one person I can always trust..." and there was only one person Riventon unequivocably always trusted. Riventon.

    "That name only works once." he says, after a moment, folding his arms. "Timeloop? What kind. What do you need my help with?" He asks, becoming equally curt. Because well, there was no reason to have such a passcode if he didn't work with it - if he didn't trust the person who said it. But it was a lot to take in, in a moment.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara blinked a few times, opening her mouth, then sighing. She face palmed. Of course. The one person Riventon could trust.

Riventon.

Bucking egotistical...

She bit her tongue, though, not saying it.

"Breaking out, namely. Finding out what's causing it. My connection to magic in this world is... limited. And while if I was back home, I'd probably be able to break it.... this isn't really a place where my magic works. So I came to the smartest mage this world has." Yup, a bit of flattery. He was the smartest mage from this world... just not from her world. She wasn't going to say that, though. "I need your help to find the source of it, though. Every day at midnight, the loop resets. I need help finding out why."

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Riventon sometimes could see flattery, and sometimes took it seriously. And sometimes it was hard to tell which it was. "Well, you're right, but just by saying that I can tell out loud how desperately you want my help." he replies, calmly.

    "...If it only affects you, are you sure it's this world's magic in the first place?" He asks. "Since you're not of this world. I think we should try to rule out Kirakira nonsense. Putting you into a loop feels a little bit more song-and-dance magic than the stuff that's local to here. Just because your magic is weird doesn't mean it all is nonfunctional here; we've got those artifacts and they'll still put us into singing showtunes if we don't handle them with care." He muses.

    "And then it could always be magic from another world, like Brightmoon-san's... ah, I guess we might as well get to work."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
"Admittedly... I'm not certain in the slgihtest," Hinoiri admitted. "It's going to take a lot of work, a lot of study. Figuring out where all the pieces come together. But if anyone can figure it out, it's us."

It took... loops, to figure out anything. Unfortunately, the only thing they figured out with certainty was that it was something of Kirakirafantastica, mixing with another magic. The cause was still unknown. They didn't even fully understand WHY she was spared the effects... however, they did manage to locate something that might help.

A tool of Pluto's. The keys of time.

It took Hinoiri many, many loops to get a hold of one of them. Each attempt having... unfortunate side effects.

For example, being able to know the exact departure time of half the trains in Tokyo. Or speaking numbers backwards. Or times wrongside up.

But, eventually, she was successful, bringing the key to Riventon. Unfortunately...

... Welllll...

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Riventon snarled and blasted Equivalence after she'd knocked it from his hands, then soared over and picked the object up from where it had fallen and rolled his magnum opus, the Skeleton Key of Time - the time key Hinoiri had stolen and brought to him encased within a crystaline matrix and hooked up to several magitech parts, wedged together like some kind of frankenstenian monstrosity, a strange sphere of forbidden magic.

    "What are you doing? Trying to interupt me in my moment of triumph?!" he demanded of her as he held the strange object like a hurt baby.

    "Just think of what I'm about to accomplish!" The boy scientist yelled as the torrential winds on top of the building picked up. Above them, chunks of sky seemed to fade in and out, revealing other skies, other worlds, other times. "Once all of time is at my control, and all power follows, I can send you home with a snap of my finger, BEFORE you left if you like! I can end the threats to this world by mere will! Everyone's going to live happily and there won't be any need for anyone else to fight... and they won't be able to. I'm on the cusp of bringing everyone true safety and security and you want to take that away from them? FROM ME?! When I'm so close to breaking you out of your accursed timeloop and breaking the chains I've been placed under as well!"

    His labcoat whipped violently in the wind as the shape of the world seemed to shudder for a moment, energy pouring into the device. "In just a few moments, all of the power ever held in this world we be like a candle compared to my brilliant supernova!"

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
When the rules said don't eat energy fields bigger than your head, apparently ALL OF TIME COUNTED.

Equivalence glanced at the clock again. Three minutes. "Riventon! This isn't right!" she yelled. "You're not fixing anything! You're making things worse! I know right now you feel invincible, like oyu can do anything, but you're destroying the world! You're destroying a lot of worlds!" she yelled. "And you--"

and then she struck, lashing out and kicking the key away, off the side of the building... before reversing course and her other foot swinging around to hit him i nthe face. "And I WON'T let you!" she yelled.

Launching herself at him as ferociously as she could. Two minutes. She just had to hold him off for two more minutes. It was almost time... just... a little longer... Her left leg hanging limp at her side...

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Riventon snarled as the tool they'd painstakingly built together went just off side. He created a sudden Second Riventon - a dripping ink clone but physical enough to grab it - who dashed away.

    "If you don't want to accept the brighter future I want to create for everyone... Then I guess you'll be the last Hinoiri Kirara in any timeline." Riventon said. "It's a shame, but to be expected - you always did think you knew better than me." Riventon said. "Truly the height of foolishness. But it's just you - I've got an extra strength Barrier around this block, there's not going to be any sparkles showing up to help you, and there's no way you can beat me alone... because you turned your back on real power."

    ...

    Riventon took the orb from the Other Riventon and smiled. "It's almost charged... only a little slowdown because of your interference. But that's good news for you - it means I'll let you continue to exist. Would have been a shame to start a new universe without my lab partner anyways. Maybe this time you can start in this world instead. I'll have to see what that does to the timeline - I'm about to see it all..." he said, raising his hand with the device in it to the sky.

    And then the world was gone and Hinoiri's blurry eyes were focusing as her ears ached from the sound of the alarm - that morning's alarm - the same morning's alarm. She'd delayed him past midnight.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara sat up in bed, eyes wide, panting, a little sweaty from nightmares and... Oh, thank bucking goodness. Still in the timeloop.

"..." Note to self. No more stealing that key for him to use. No more... phenomenal cosmic power. He was helpful, but she could not depend on him for everything. Or anything too dangerous.

Bucking...

Still, he was useful. And now? She knew his code word. When the time came? Well... she could always use that when she needed help, no questions asked.

"Your mother's name... Is Ravenna Lilith Agera."

She was going to abuse the buck out of that.

However, during one of those loops she learned something else. Something... very important.

"IS THAT SAYAKA'S ARM?!" The amount of times you could slap someone with an unattached arm.