408/Theater and Televisions

Theater and Televisions
Date of Scene:	12 September 2023
Location:	Abandoned Theme Park
Synopsis:	Hinote Kagari meets Runealy Waldia under more pleasant circumstances.
Cast of Characters:	Hinote Kagari, Runealy Waldia

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Hinote Kagari has posed:
Hinote Kagari comes to the stage where he usually practices and climbs up to the top of it from the front, and dusts his self off. Today's dress is a black T-shirt and a blue pair of pants- and a brown pair of sneakers. Nothing fancy today, unlike how he regularly dresses. He looks a little crestfallen more than he normally does. He always gets this way he looses the lead part and gets type cast into the villain role. Again.

Again he'll be playing the part of the antagonist and he was really looking forward to playing the knight in the Drama Club production of 'The Dragon and the Knight'.

He's brought with him a simple, closed backpack and a big, fake, foam sword from the Drama Club's prop supply with him as he sighs and opens the bag to produce a thick script. He begins to read it over in his head as he undoes a highlighter with his teeth and- cap still in mouth- starts to highlight portions of script. He quickly takes the cap out of his mouth and places the cap into the front pocket on his T-shirt and sighs a little.

"Give me a break." he talks to himself. All great people talk to himself, his dad always said.

"After all the hard work remembering the hero's lines you'd think I'd remember the badguy's lines too..." he says as he lower the script and thinks to himself. He leans down and picks up the oversized fake sword with it's foam covering and swings it around as he *ahems* loudly and prepares to read lines, apparently as he holds the script in one other hand as he narrows his eyes a little.

"Maybe I should had brought the costume, too...." he scoffs.

Runealy Waldia has posed:
From time to time, people filter through the abandoned park. Rune has learned to stay out of sight from most of these visitors, and they will eventually go away. Most of these individuals are ones she has never seen before, and will likely never see again - students with idle time will explore, drifters will drift, and people curious about the 'ruins' will seek to learn what happened here.

So when Hinote arrived, Rune hid at first. But he was staying here, not exploring, and he had been here at least once before. Eventually, curiosity took over.

Thus, she steps around the corner of one of the derelict supply closets and walks through the late afternoon sun to approach the stage. Her march is purposeful, heading straight for Hinote. When she speaks, there is no small talk or greetings; her tone is level and calm: "You accompanied us into what I am told is called a 'Labyrinth', the twisted and impossible home of a Witch. Others protested, and I insisted you must have some important design... some vital goal, that could only be served by facing danger you can only give the false fight to. Even now, I can scarcely understand your decisions. Might I inquire as to why you made that choice?"

She stops several steps away from Hinote, waiting.

Hinote Kagari has posed:
Hinote Kagari is about to start reciting lines when he sees movement beyond the pages he's holding up and he lowers them. "Ah. Rune." he says with a smile. That's what she wished to be called, right? He put down his fake sword and listens to the question. He 'huhs' and closes his eyes as he opens them after a few seconds. "That is. A long story." he says. "Kinda." he admits.

"Do you remember uh. The incident. When we met at the mall? That got me. Uh. Poking around. I learned that. The fact I can even see what I did. and remember it, is because 'I'm special'. I was also told. This was not a good thing." he says.

"I..."

"I wanna know why." he says. "And everyone tells me I should ignore things. And go home." he says.

"I'm never going to learn that answer of why unless I. You know. Not ignore these things, if anyone else can't, or won't give me these answers." he says a little as he looks down a little.

"We never met. After the mall. But you seem to be recovering well. Is. Your friend okay too?" he asks. He looks back up.

"What's a witch? Because that wasn't a green hag with a pointy hat." he asks.

Runealy Waldia has posed:
"It is a tale I have some time to hear," Rune notes, then she quiets down to hear what Hinote has to say. She does not interrupt or interject until she is sure he has said everything he wants to, though Rune does make the occasional head-tilt.

Once he is done, she responds: "I will say this much... they speak rightly in asking you to withdraw. Curiosity is very compelling, yet it is a shield incapable of adequate wards and parries against a demon or a witch. However...?" Her voice trails as she stops to consider a few topics all at the same time.

After a moment's silence, Rune makes a single, sharp nod. "We are both well; my thanks for inquiring. As to the answers you seek, I can only share what Madoka Kaname related to me afterward... she was among those accompanying us that day, with hair of a similar hue to mine own. Madoka and her associates informed me that a witch is, in effect, an enemy of Puella Magi. An enemy they must slay not only to protect Tokyo, but because their very survival could well be forfeit if they do not."

Hinote Kagari has posed:
Hinote Kagari frowns a little. "Yeah. I get it." he says. "I just need answers as to what makes me capable of seeing these things for what they are. Apparently. Other people. Don't see what I do? Even if I can see it with my own two eyes while they're seeing it." he says. "It makes little sense to me." he admits.

"But thanks for backing me up when everyone was asking for me to leave. I'm sorry I didn't find what I was looking for in that. Circusy. Labyrinth. You called it?"

He listens and nods like he understands. Hinote doesn't understand.

"So uh. Another question. What's a Puella Magi. And why does their survival rely on slaying them? To me, It seems a lot of everyone's survival depends on them slaying them." he says, rubbing the back of his head. "Considering the danger involved."

Runealy Waldia has posed:
"It makes even less sense to one such as I. All I can do is accept that the citizenry of Tokyo are unaware of their Guardian Knights, and scarcely recall the monsters that beset them."

Rune then nods to the other question. "A 'Labyrinth', I am told, is the domicile of a witch. Puella Magi, contrary to other forms of Guardian Knight," Rune uses the wrong term to describe magical individuals in general, "do not replenish their power with care and rest. They must succeed against a witch and retrieve that strange orb, the so-called 'Grief Seed'. If they do not, they will..."

Her throat tightens, causing Rune to stop talking for a moment as she forces herself to conclude: "...will eventually perish, I am lead to understand. They, more than any among us, must not be placed in situations where they shall give the false fight to a witch."

Hinote Kagari has posed:
Hinote Kagari huhs as Runealy doesn't get it either. He listens to Runealy talk about the witches. "Okay so. Puella Magi... needed the thing these witches drop? Or they.... die?" he blinks a little. "Alright, I think I get it now." he says. He sighs and walks on over to the edge of the stage and has a seat on the edge as he rests his hands on his lap after putting his script down.

He looks out into the abandoned park as he thinks. "Rune. I don't think I asked before. What where exactly are you from? You don't sound like you're from around here. You kind of speak, sometimes like..."

"Well one of my drama characters." he says with a little lopsided smile, looking back at her as he motions. "Have a seat if you want. I didn't feel like practicing tonight anyways. But I was going to give it a go anyways." he admits. "Until you came along. Which is fine. It's a welcome distraction." he admits.

Runealy Waldia has posed:
Someone was, sooner or later, going to call Rune out on her unusual way of talking. Rune follows Hinote over to the edge, but does not sit - she looks down and aside to face him. The question does not surprise her, and she has an immediate answer.

"I am the Princess of Europe." This is a lie. This is a blatant lie. But it is one Rune makes with no hesitation, no flinching, and no waver in her voice. "And it is true... in Europe, we speak in a fashion much different from your own. I hope that if my presence is welcome, that my speech at least is not jarring or unpleasant?"

Hinote Kagari has posed:
Hinote Kagari blinks. E...Europe. Just Europe. No country or province or even a postal code just. 'Europe'. His eyes cross a little as he looks back out to the abandoned park again and he quickly shakes it off. Okay. Europe. He wants to question this. He really does. He wants to start quizzing Runealy on geography right now. But that's rude. And he isn't going to do it. Instead. He says the only thing he can.

A defeated. "Okay. Is Europe nice?" he asks, curiously. He doesn't say he's been to Europe at least twice in his life. He doesn't say it he just asks. The real question is probably 'Is where you're from actually nice' and he isn't asking that.

Runealy Waldia has posed:
Rune would fail virtually any quiz on Earth geography. But she has practiced her answers about where she is from, and is always ready to mix truths and lies about it. So when Hinote asks about her home, she makes a single deep nod down to him. "It is. However... it is different. Tokyo, to me, is utterly alien. In Europe, we lack your televisions. We do not have the small televisions that may be easily held within a garment or bag, nor the televisions that deprive a merchant of work and tender products while producing no bill of sale."

She takes a breath, admitting with a slight waver to her voice: "The televisions built into the very walls of your glass towers are inconceivable in Europe, as are the steel carriages that race underground to convey thousands of citizens at a time."

Hinote Kagari has posed:
Hintoe Kagari listens. Europe is nice. And then Runealy talks about televisions. Like she did after the mall fight. His eyes light up and he 'ohs!' as he listens. "You don't have. Televisions. Or the smaller televisions we keep in in your hands. Or like the televisions I used in the mall?" he asks curiously.

"Uhm. Televisions have. Various uses here. But we call them different things. Like. The 'Television' I used at the mall is called a 'Vending Machine'. Because it replaces a 'Vendor' of goods. The smaller ones..." he pulls out his smartphone, and holds it up. "Is called a telephone. Or a 'Phone' for short. It..."

And then the phone starts beeping and he "Oh! Excuse me." he says as he answers the phone.

"Uh huh."

"Uh huh."

"Okay. Love you, too mom." he says with a smile as he puts the phone down. "That was my mom and I need to get home now. I am sorry."

He starts a mad dash to pack. "Uhm." he says. "Is this a place to find you in the future?" he asks, curiously.

Runealy Waldia has posed:
"There are no televisions in Europe," Rune insists in much the same way she did to Madoka a few weeks ago. Despite her ignorance, she tries to pay attention and even leans in to look at Hinote's phone. "I see... so there is the television machine, the vending machine, and the telephone machi--" She is interrupted by its ringtone, and actually jumps backward from Hinote with a startled shout!

Yet Hinote acts like it isn't the least bit weird that his phone makes noise, and he starts having conversations with it. He ends the call.

Rune stares at him in wide-eyed astonishment. "Th... I... y... yes... it... would not be uncommon to see me here. However, I..."

She looks down at Hinote's phone. Then at his face. Phone, face, alternating between them several times. "Truly, Tokyo's televisions are capable of feats I would deem impossible! To imagine that a telephone machine is your mother...!" Rune's sentence trails off with a stunned gasp, as she tries to figure out how that could possibly be the true. It's an odd enough idea that she is visibly stagger-stepping away from Hinote, mind blown.

Hinote Kagari has posed:
Hinote Kagari blinks a little. "No--no it isn't my mother. My mother is speaking through it." she says.. "She has her own telephone that she used to call me. Like....a..."

"Like a letter sent, using your voice." he says. "Instead of sending it via a mail carrier." he says. "Two different locations. Two different people. A faster way to send a message." he says.

"Does .. does that make sense?" he says as he finishes packing his bag and picking up the fake sword.

"I should get home now. As you heard. I'm wanted there!" he says.

"Be well Runealy. If you're around here, we'll meet again soon no doubt." he says. And unless Runealy stops him, he starts to leave. Because as much as he wants to stay here and try to explain modern Japan to someone his mom is gonna be upset if he's too late home.