2667/An Armored Problem

An Armored Problem
Date of Scene:	02 July 2025
Location:	Penguin Park - Museums
Synopsis:	Norie's been in mourning, but now she's ready to cause trouble once more. Laisa, Amy, Rashmi, and Veronica come to solve the problem.
Cast of Characters:	Norie Okana, Rashmi Terios, Laisa Samuiko, Amanda Faust, Veronica Perenna

---

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana finally got out of her sad sack of mourning over her passed on father to visit the museum, specifically the magic in the making exhibit. She's looking over the paintings and looks at one of a bizarre landscape of a craggy hill that looks like it's out of the The Nightmare Before Christmas. Norie blinks. She recognizes this as a picture of the Dusk Zone. It's bizarre seeing a painting of it here.

She's moving along into another room of the exhibit as she comes across a pictures and portraits of various figures and in glass cases, some possessions of said person that ties them to the portraits and paintings. She's looking along the various faces and items. An old 1800's picture of a cowboy... his firearm in the case. A painting of a regal princess, her tiara in the case. And various others until she gets to a portrait of a man with slick back black hair, an un-nerving gaze and in thick armor. In a large case, next to the portrait is said armor, on a standee mannequin. She blinks and head tilts at the picture and reads the plaque...

-----

Sir Dullahan is a knight who served an unknown Spanish lord. He was a vicious, cruel man who met his end when he was executed for his crimes with a beheading. This armor is all that's left of him.

-----

"...Sir... Dullahan..." she says looking to the armor as she closes her eyes. She grabs her head as visions from her sleep move through her head as she reopens her eyes, blue pupils now red.

"Sir Dullahan... your service is not yet complete. The contract you made still stands...! SIR DULLAHAN, DEATH IS NOT THE END, FOOL!" she calls out as a red bolt shoots from her body, into the mannequin and armor, shattering the glass as dark energy violently is released.

Her eyes roll back into her head as Norie falls over with a thump as the mannequin is replaced with the headless body of a knight in armor, much like the picture. In one hand, he carries a heavy, sword made of dark energy, glowing with malice. In his other hand... his ghastly severed head as it laughs heartily.

It lifts it's sword and fires a bolt of dark energy across the room, causing people to duck!

Fight BGM!?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nfzAf9HLKY

Rashmi Terios has posed:
With *most* of her life settling down, and school properly out for the month, Rashmi has been... *extremely glad* to be doing things that have little to no bearing on actual mahou life. But sometimes curiosity and part-time work intersect, like the Magic in the Making exhibit. The last time she was here, she found a *startlingly* dense amount of references to actual probable mahou across the history of the world. This time? She's here hunting for *specific* imagery and artifacts. Because if Device aesthetics can show up on pottery, what *else* might this exhibit show? And how much of it could be traced back to the Arthra?

...Her hunt will have to be postposed, however, as Nicomachea registers a Dark Energy surge -- thankfully not a similar one to her present recurring plague -- and a blast can be heard in the next room over.

This will not do.

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

As the yellow-black bubble of staticky light expands to cover the museum grounds and sweep the fight half a dimension to the left, a henshined Rashmi darts into the room, eyes darting about to take the scene in.

Unconscious Norie-chan... concern.
Guesome knight with Dark armaments and decpaitated head in hand... *big* concern.

Barrets are summoned and launched toward the monster, in the hopes that his attention will leave whatever it *was* on, and move to her instead.

Laisa Samuiko has posed:
    Laisa was having a pretty descent day. She was even allowing herself some out-of-henshin time so that she could actually enjoy her more gentle, warm feelings for the moment. Sure, being at this part of the museum was, essentially, 'work' in the magical sense, but it was work she was interested in. Work that mattered to her.

    Yet the Rime Rosary was always there, hanging from her neck, and whenever her bare hand or other part of her skin brushed against it she could feel the sudden coldness on her heart.

    Laisa awaits her girlfriend's arrival. They had agreed to meet here, and Laisa is spending her time looking at the different portraits and art pieces at this exhibit.

    Minutes ago she had passed by the Dullahan armor and wondered, for a moment, if the myths about them had been true at some point. The idea of a headless knight was... admittedly a bit unnerving. If such a thing existed ever, it was probably a long time ago. Laisa walked right past it and pushed it out of her mind.

    Now she hears Norie's words. With wide, red eyes she turns around and sees... exactly the thing she did not want to see today! "Well! That's pretty yikes!"

    Laisa runs into the nearest bathroom, and Snow Angel Mou Fubuki runs back out. She forms a tower shield out of ice and holds it in front of her as she feels the Time Space Barrier form around them. "Thanks!" she calls out, her eyes darting between the unconscious Norie and the beheaded knight.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Curiousity takes you places! Like on internet deep dives, or to the museum.

    Amanda's always felt a little isolated, the only person she's ever heard of in such a situation in real life. Early on, she had hope of meeting another, but once she got to know the local mahou... well, it's not like she can go to an internet support group.

    But she just remembered there's a museum exhibit about actual magical history, and maybe, just maybe, there will be something... She may be the only one now, but perhaps not the only one ever.

    Unfortunately, given the way historians have been about recording matters of gender, it probably won't be just stated and she'll have to look closely and read everything for clues. She's been here at least forty-five minutes and so far nothing...

    ...and then her reading is interupted by the familiar feeling of dark energy nearby, and was someone just yelling?

    The barrier's already up by the time she reaches that room. "Okana-san?! What happen-- was this guy sealed in one of the artifacts?! Hey!"

    She conjures her launcher, and then rethinks using that in a museum, and switches to the gyrojet, firing high-caliber homing bullets at the dullahan's head. "Hey! What'd you do to our friend?!"

Veronica Perenna has posed:
Today is a slightly unusual day for Veronica, for no other reason that she has decided to use her henshin powers to change her look completely, for no other reason that she felt curious what using it to that end felt like. She also wanted to examine once more the exhibition on magic too, so this outing ends up giving her twice the benefits all by itself.

Visiting the museum is a girl with purple eyes, long pink hair reaching down to just above her legs and with a few strands of hair reaching from her forehead to her collarbone. She is 5'0 tall, wears an off-shoulder white dress with no sleeves with golden double-lined bands both at the top and the bottom. The one at the top bears an amethyst, and she also wears a golden sash cinching her waist. Her feet are covered by heeled mid-calf boots with a double-lined silver band at the top.

She has sent a photo of herself to Laisa, so she wouldn't be surprised if they were to come across each other. It's to her understanding that her girlfriend is also visiting the exhibit right now. Maybe if meet each other, they can turn it into an impromptu date.

She has just stepped close to the area where the other mahoujin have all gathered, when she hears Norie's invocation, a chill running down her spine when she hears the strong course of dark energy. Why would ehe want to do that, she grumbles to herself, immediately diving towards an isolated corner.

In her situation, it's a mere drop of her disguise that follows rather than a henshin, and the Princess of Sarek jumps over to the armor, cane pointed at the knight. At least, she can breathe a sigh of relief with the ready barrier covering the place.

"It really sucks when you have been invited here, but prepare to be kicked out!", she shouts, scoffing at the headless ghostly visage. What day does he think it is, Halloween?

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie lays on the ground, mumbling something under her breath, but otherwise has her eyes closed and is unconscious. She seems 'safe' for now as the Headless Knight has no interest in the unconscious girl.

Instead, the barrier comes into place JUST as the dark energy bolt reaches the far end of the room, blasting a wall apart. The knight roars from it's head as if upset it's fun has been stymied.

Rashmi's energy shots ricochet off the armor. Is it that tough? But Amy's launcher sends it flying backwards through a wall into the next exhibit room in the barrier world.

The knight lashes out and leaps through the wall and makes another hole, roaring as it slashes it's sword towards Amy, leaving a dark afterimage in it's swings.

It doesn't seem bothered by Veronica's threats, instead laughing heartily again as if to say 'you can try to do that. You'll fail!'.

Laisa Samuiko has posed:
    Mou Fubuki sees Amy swap away from a rocket launcher and then thinks two things:

-Why? We're in a barrier. Anything non-magical wouldn't be damaged.

-Yeah, but we're in a magical exhibit and several things have turned out to be actually magic so far. Including whatever that is.

    The end result being that Mou looks for a moment like she wants to say something to Amy, then closes her mouth without speaking a word.

    Then she glances over at her beautiful girlfriend and spends half a second thinking 'so pretty...' before remembering that right now is absolutely not the time to gawk. Her compliments will have to wait.

    Instead she turns her attention to the Dullahan, or rather the hole in the wall that it was launched through. "I don't know what you did to Norie, but that's snow way to treat a person! We'll going to freeze you in your tracks."

    The wind begins to get chilly. Is the A/C going into overdrive? No, it's just the cold air blowing out from Mou Fubuki. The ground around the Dullahan's feet begins to ice over, making it more slippery or, if the possessed armor stands still long enough, freezes its feet in place.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Simple Barrets weren't *likely* to do more than annoy the creature, but it *is* just a touch upsetting that it didn't even seem to notice. But, when Amy's tiny rockets send them flying through the wall, Rashmi looks a touch relieved; at least it's not a *juggernaut,* just tougher than her own base output.

Which is fine. She has answers for that.

    << *BONG!* >> << TELEPATHY >>

<< Anyone have any idea where this thing came from? >> she asks over her comms net. << And what happened to Norie-chan? >>

Meanwhile she's slipping from cover to cover, circling around to the wall the youma busted through. Frontal assaults are great, but even better is an assault from where a youma *isn't* paying attention.

    << *BONG!* >> << SOLAR STINGER >>

Three more Barretsresolve into being, then dart towards the Dullahan's head. These, however are tuned for *endurance,* and when they hit their target, fly out and loop back around for another attack. And another. And another.

It's like being assaulted by moths, if a moth hit like a boxer with each impact.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    In truth, Amy simply forgot they were in a barrier when choosing her weapon in a split-second decision.

    (I guess we'll treat it as she *decided* to use gyrojets but somehow using rockets also happened with no implication of her choice or her powers ignoring it. Fastest way to move the scene along.)

    It then leaps through the wall in a different spot and comes after her, "Geeze, you're a destructive one!" << Thanks for the barrier, Rashmi! >>

    She jukes to the side and swings her rocket launcher around, but rather than actually firing a shell in melee she just conjures and instantly detonates a high-explosive shell in front of the muzzle, though it's a bit of a glancing angle rather than the direct shot she was hoping for.

    It knocks her back as well to put some range between them, though. "So, you've been imprisoned here for like centuries and that's all you've got to say? Or are you like, one of those single-minded youmas not capable of abstract thought?"

    << No idea, I assume it was sealed in one of the artifacts here? >>

Veronica Perenna has posed:
The cat thief's eyes briefly dart towards the spot where Norie is at, and she takes a deep breath at noticing that the vampire is still unconscious. She was feeling tempted to give her a piece of her mind for doing something that stops her from having any control over the youma, but at least the guy is not anything at her.

A confident smile sets on her face when she hears the knight's laugh. A challenge it is, then? Well, she certainly doesn't mind proving him wrong, but he best be ready for the huge sets of attacks he has just sent an order for. After all, she counts no less than 4 mahoujin here to stop him.

She of course takes her time to happily wave at her beloved, an expression that is as lovestruck to see her as any other given day, and an air kiss is sent over to her snowsweet. Too bad they have something else taking up their time.

"I am afraid laughing will net you nothing, but even without an audience, let's make this a spectacle worthy of the greatest of stages", she snaps her fingers, a harmless mist spreading and settling onto most corners, decidedly giving the place a cheerful look. Transient Lunar Flare!, she exclaims, attacking the dullahan with a beam of moonlight.

<< Nothing she told me about, but I heard her shout something about his service not being complete yet. No idea why she has business with someone from centuries ago. Norie seems fine, just unconscious", she shrugs, replying to Rashmi.

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana suddenly opens her eyes, blue again and sits straight up, but doesn't get up, she grabs her head like she has the biggest headache, she starts cursing in Spanish under her breath and tries to get up, but her legs are too shaky to. "W-what happened?" she asks.

The Knight is best by Rashmi's barrets that aim for his head and start assaulting him, repeatedly. This allows him to slip, almost comically, as it's feet flail out from under it and it takes a tumble, sliding across the ice.

Blasted by Amy's charge, it gets thrown against the wall, breaking glass and drywall, before being hit with a beam of moonlight, causing it to writhe a moment as it grunts from it's head.

It raises it's head, and with a mighty roar.... fires a large sweeping beam of energy from it's *mouth* towards everyone in the room!

Laisa Samuiko has posed:
    << Well, it looks like Norie's getting back up, >> comments Mou Fubuki. << Also, hi everyone.>> She calls out, "Hey, do you remember what happened? You seemed kinda out of it for a minute. You were saying some pretty weird stuff. Something about death not being the end of service?"

    It's possible that, whatever Norie did, it was under some kind of compulsion. At least, that's what Laisa suspects. Not that she has a lot of time to speculate about it.

    The energy beam coming out of the Dullahan's mouth slams into her icy shield, melting it almost instantly and launching Mou Fubuki into the wall behind her. It's a really good thing they're in barrier right now, because the snow angel just got tossed through a painting that was likely priceless.

    As she gets back up to her feet, the shattered remains of her shield get tossed to the ground, and she starts skating across the floor as a frigid spear forms in her hands. "You really have no chill, do you?" She skates up to the youma, and throws her chilly spear at the held severed head. Is that the weak spot, maybe?

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Norie-chan!" Rashmi calls, lunging toward the reclining shadow and raising a shield as she slides to a halt between Norie and the Dullahan. "Are you all right? What happe--UWAAAH!"

And it's a good thing she had the Shield up; as it is, the unexpected power of the Dullahan's attack slams home, then breaks through the spell before the sweep leaves her fully. The initial impact is enough to rock her back on one foot, then the beam knocks her spinning through a display with an explosion of drywall dust, and the shattering of Barrier-copied ancient pottery. "O-ow," the Devicer groans, hauling herself back through the hole with a hand on her back.

Amanda Faust has posed:
What happened?

    "You were shouting and there's a monster now! Was it sealed in something in here? Woah!" She hits the deck as a beam sweeps across the room, but she's not quite fast enough and gets clipped across the back by the edge of the beam, burning her cloak to a ragged mantle barely covering her shoulders. "Owwgh... I wonder what happens if we get the head away from it and freeze it? Could it still do anything? Dammit!" She holds out her hand and fires a gyrojet pistol several times as she quick-stands, high-caliber non-explosive bullets flying in the thing's general direction to keep the pressure up; some of them outright miss in her hurry.

    "Is he a servant of that guy, uh, the like dracula vampire guy?? Backblast clear!"

    And she's suddenly holding her usual launcher, moving like it weighs almost nothing as she snaps her forearm around to aim at the dullahan and fire!

    The wall behind it explodes. "Uhh, whoops... thankyouforthebarrierRashmi!"

Veronica Perenna has posed:
It may be fair for sir Dullahan to stop in order to consider what everyone else has been doing during the series of attacks, but if the shout is the response to getting so strongly pressed by the lot of them, it's no mystery how it might have broken past Laisa's icy shield.

She can barely put her own shield up, that prism of moonlight that sparkles bright for the few seconds of its existence before likewise cracking under the pressure, and pressing down'" onto the Princess of Sarek, pinning her to the ground with an impotent growl.

With how a similar fate has occurred to everyone else in the same room, showing Sir Dullahan some amount of frustration for the bruises she incurred is fairly in order. "Hey, ghostie! Why don't you kiss the ground next", she leaps up, reforming her prism of moonlight around herself, and letting gravity do the rest.

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana keeps a hand to her head and eyes look over at Mou Fubuki as she keeps a frown, as she looks over to...is that a rampaging headless knight? Oh..the armor...the head...it's... she ows and clutches her head. This hurts to think about too hard right now. Amy calls out at some Dracula guy. She's scowling through her eyes between her fingers right now. She has a migraine from the Dusk Zone right now and can't vocalize but she nods her head rapidly.

A prism of moonlight slams into the juggernaut of a beast, pinning it, allowing Snow Angel Mou Fubuki's icy spear to hit home into the head, and the head pops into dark energy smoke. The body is however, still writhing and making noise to try to get back up. It's sword is still there as missing shots and poorly aimed shots rain around it.

Eventually, it throws everyone off it with a massive swing from it's now free hand and gets back up.

It starts running for the prone Rashmi, lifting it's massive sword, in odd, eerie silence save for the thud and ring of it's armor.

Laisa Samuiko has posed:
    Okay! So. Going for the head didn't actually work as well as Mou thought that it would. Oops!

    << I... honestly don't know why I thought a headless knight needed a head in order to function. >>

    Mou Fubuki is absolutely knocked back by the now headless hand, since she was standing right next to it. It launches her through the air and she quickly drops a pile of snow beneath her as she lands in order to soften her fall. Even with that, she's still left sprawling on the floor..

    Seeing the Dullahan going after Rashmi, and thinking she only has seconds to act before something happens, she raises her left hand to summon the cold. Icy wings form on her back, pinning her down as she channels more of her frigid curse, creating solid sharp icicles that float in the air for a moment before turning their points at the headless knight and launching themselves at it.

    Only after that attack does she try picking herself up, shaking the wings off of her back and letting them break of and shatter against the ground before getting back up to her knees, and then her feet.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
One of the downsides of sudden youma is, you can't be prepared for *every* trick one might pull out of its... head. One of the *upsides* is, neither can they. Which is why when Rashmi straightens, spotting the Dullahan straight up rushing her, she freezes for an instant... mostly because she has *more than one* answer to a charging enemy with a massive sword, and she actually has to *choose.*

    << *BONG!* >> << SOLAR SHIELD -- GLACE SHIFT >>

As the youma thuds closer, and closer, a wide disc of light appears in the air between it and Rashmi. Then, with a screeching *CRACK!* it turns into a curved, half-meter-thick disc of golden ice, festooned with jagged spikes. While this particular shield *doesn't* feature the same kinetic-kickback that most Mid-Childan shields use to counter an oncoming Belkan... It *does* mimic the physicality of a half-meter-thick, spiked disc of ice, giving the blade all sorts of opportunities to get snagged and caught.

Which is when Rashmi *twists* the shield outward, imparting just enough force to pull the youma off-balance... then turns her eyes to the severed head in the youma's other hand, and winks.

    << *BONG!* >> << TERA BARRET -- BOOST UP >>

As the monstrous knight is occupied, a trio of Boosts bwip into being, then speed out to dramatically increase her allies' ranged attacks. "Get to safety, Norie-chan! We got this!"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Well, whatever connection it has to Norie is something they can worry about after defeating it. Amy sighs in relief as Fubuki lands a head shot... only for that not to stop it?! "What was the head even for then?! A dec--? --OH NO YOU DON'T!"

    Amy didn't get close and so wasn't thrown away -- now as it charges, she counter-charges, leaping over it, her weapon vanishing as she flips through the air, upside down over its head with her hands held together in a two-handed fingergun grip, which she aims down at the neck hole as she passes over the dullahan.

    BOOST UP hits Amy just as bang! she blasts an anti-tank jet of hyperkinetic orange-hot metal down at the neck hole! (Though slightly more powerful than the usual form of her basic attack, she's not spending magic to upscale it right now, as she doesn't have a grief seed and Rashmi's shield means she's no longer in immediate danger)

    She lands on the other side of it, "Go down already! Or is this like a chicken with its head cut off? I'm trying thermite next if it doesn't... where's someone to cast 'heat metal' when your target is encased in armor..."

Veronica Perenna has posed:
The Princess of Sarek's lips curl when she slams into the creature and crashes the creature's head into a poof, letting out a sound halfway between a satisfied meow and a content grunt. When she told him to go kiss the ground, that's not what she imagined, but she will definitely take it!

A leap backwards occurs right after her improvised attack hits, letting her find safer ground in what she hopes is a though spot for Sir Dullahan to charge at (but who can say how the attacks of a monster that is specifically noted to he headless works?)

"Are you ok, my snowsweet?", a concerned voice is headed for the snow angel, and the cat thief is tempted to run over to her when the icy mahou demonstrates impressive recovery and sends several sharp icicles at the knight, under Veronica's admiring gaze.

It's dangerously charging at Rashmi, and serious responses are way more than warranted, she thinks to herself, taking her top hat off her head. Let's see how it likes charging right into a giant hat.

With a tap of her cane against the ground, her hat vanishes, and ripples of nonexistent waters spread throughout the whole room, illusionary waters that are still solid ground despite what the mahoujin's eyes are telling them, still very much solid ground. Silver light bathes the room from below, the product of an illusionary full moon peeking from the fake water surface.

"Moonlight Masquerade!", the Princess of Sarek smiles, and her hat, now gigantic, breaks the charge of the Dullahan, emerging with a loud rumble from the ground, passing through and trying to bloodlessly take away another part of him much like happened to the head, and at the same time, it strikes with purifying force.

Norie Okana has posed:
Ice smacks into the creature from various points---Rashmi's shield catching it's sword and Mou Fubuki's heavy ice wings flying at it. Cooling it... then BANG! Orange hot metal impacts the armor, making it crack! And with a purifying force of Sarek's final attack, it can't take anymore. it gets down to it's knees as the creature(?).. being(?)... whatever inside starts dissipating and it crawls towards Norie, reaching out a hand.

Norie looks at it confused, is it .... asking for help? To be put out of it's misery? For validation. She mutters something under her breath.

"Rest forever, now."

And the creature disappears into black smoke, as the armor itself clatters to the ground in pieces.

Norie crosseyes a bit from between the fingers around her head as she seethes and finally pushes herself to her feet weakly.

Laisa Samuiko has posed:
    'Are you ok, my snowsweet?'

    Mou Fubuki smiles sheepishly at Veronica, rubbing the back of her neck. "I'll be fine, kitten!" she promises, though she thinks maybe she'll be a bit sore after all this.

    Though... if she's being honest, she's a bit concerned about Norie right now. Mou Fubuki can't help but be a little worried for her sake even if they are technically enemies. Also this is still Veronica's roommate. Snowy blue eyes turn towards her and ask, "Are you alright? Do you have any idea what that was? It seemed to respond to you, but... somehow I wonder if the words that came out of your mouth a while ago were really... yours."

    A pause.

    "... if that makes sense."

    Mou glances towards Sarek, and then back to Norie. "Do you need a minute?"

    Eventually she makes eye contact with Amy and Rashmi and smiles gratefully at each in turn. << Thanks for the help >> she tells them telepathically.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Rashmi's shield shines, then shatters into golden slivers, the mana dissipating into the air as the creature sinks to its knees. But then it starts crawling... *toward* Norie...? Asking for *help?*

Rashmi is very, very clearly puzzled as Norie murmurs something, and the Dullahan dissipates. There are a lot of conclusions one could leap to... but Rashmi does not have *that* much regard for leg day, and will wait to see what the whole story says, in time. Dusting herself off, she takes a step... then hunches, as the bruise on her back complains sharply.

    << *BONG!* >> << SOLAR HEAL >>

A few moments of battle-medic magic later, and the sharp pain becomes a dull ache, and the Devicer feels much better. << You too, >> she answers the Snow Angel. << If you're hurt, I can drop another healing spell. It won't be much, but it'll take the edge off. >>

She'll wait for heal requests later; for now, she simply approaches the woozy Norie, concern writ large on her face. "Are you gonna be all right, Norie-chan?"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Heat metal has nothing on an enemy being frozensplodepurified. Amy whistles, and watches Veronica's lightshow with wide eyes.

    Norie doesn't know what's up with this guy, yet...

Rest forever, now.

    "...So... no idea what's up between you and Raphael, here?" (This was a Spanish dullahan, not a French vampire, Amy!)

    Rashmi mentions healing, and Amy rubs her own back where her uniform is scorched, wincing. "Every little bit helps... And thanks so much... I just hope none of what just got destroyed turned out to be magic that was here for real... could that've been the plan all along...?"

    Yet she looks at Norie with worry and concern, rather than suspicion. Whatever just happened may be connected to her, but it doesn't feel like something Norie chose.

Veronica Perenna has posed:
The illusion starts receding, and water turns once more to stone, while the last sparkles of the moon's silver light hang in the hair, persisting for a few second more, until the Phantom Thief's hat is welcomed into her outstretched hand.

The cat thief bows with a flourish at the other mahoujin, and then places her hat solidly on her head, turning her attention towards the others, first of all a warm look to her girlfriend. "That's wonderful news, I am glad it did nothing. You were impressive there", she comes closer to whisper, gently brushing against her hand.

A look is given to Norie when Veronica tries to ponder what just happened. Was she trying to bury him once and for all, is this what it was about? Or did something push her despite herself. "How are you feeling, Norie-chan? Was that somehow you knew? Was something going on here that we didn't realise?", she asks her roommate inquisitively.

<< Well, this too concluded well. None of you need any help, right? >> She looks around at the chaos they caused. At least, this will all go away when Rashmi drops the barrier. << I think all the pieces are where they should be >> the Princess of Sarek adds after a cursory glance. She will find a hiding place to resume her disguise soon enough.