1130/Radiant Infirmary Episode 1130

Radiant Infirmary Episode 1130
Date of Scene:	18 February 2024
Location:	Administrative Office
Synopsis:	Chiyo stops by the Nurse's Office for some help from Setsuna! She also shares some interesting news, on two fronts.
Cast of Characters:	Setsuna Meiou, Chiyo Sakai

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Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Ah, the school infirmary. A staple of the high school experience...where students go to deal with the various cuts, scrapes, strains and the like common amongst a building full of 1000 or so hormone-soaked adolescents. Not to mention all the ones trying to scam the nurse to let them skive off of class.

Generally, the infirmary's a fairly small office for the nurse and some equipment. At least, that's the general rule. Given the budget Radiant Heart boasts, the infirmary's a bit bigger and more well appointed than most. There are several beds (which are currently not in use) and to an eye familiar with the medical world, there's enough well-laid-out kit that it's quite likely that, in extremis, one could actually do surgery here.

Still, most of the room is broken up with little rolling-wall medical dividers, with the bulk of the area set up for the kind of service one would need for a typical average assortment of students. Reasonably nice chairs, little triage areas, that kind of thing. The walls have various posters one might see in a doctor's office, though most of them are a bit more aimed at student-level things like common adolescent illnesses and the like. One particular poster, however, probably catches the eye:

This one's photo surrounded by a black frame in the style of the common 'motivational' poster. The picture is of a woman in a maroon yoga suit who, from about the waist down is lying face down...but she's bent over comletely backwards so that her head is lying on the bed between her legs and her face and upper torso are face up with her arms lying next to her legs. There's a nurse behind her in the shot, and the text reads in large letters: 'GOOD NEWS' In smaller type underneath is added: "The Doctor found your problem'

For a change, however, Nurse Meiou ISN'T leaning against a counter and reading a book.

Instead, this moment finds her absently spinning a pair of pens through the fingers of her hands, each hand with a separate pen and spinning it in the opposite direction of the other.

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Chiyo Sakai rarely had reason to visit the infirmary other than to occasionally help stockpile the drawer of 'snacks' that were meant to do more than just increase blood sugar. Though likely there were a few of those supplied as well when needed. She'd told Mamoru she would visit however, so she does just that.

A light knock comes at the doorframe to help alert Setsuna to her arrival so she doesn't outright sneak up on the poor bored nurse. The light squeak of her shoes outside might also tip her off. Just in case though, she knocks, and flashes a smile toward the bored nurse.

"Meiou-sensei," she greets. "Would you have a bit of a, ah, consult?" The word is used uncertainly if only because she wasn't entirely sure what to call why she was visiting. After puzzling over it for a moment she clarifies, "Or check-up? That might be more accurate."

A little shake of her head comes and she can only shrug a bit with a wry grin. "Medical dramas aren't my usual fare so forgive me on the lack of terminology."

For the most part she certainly looks all right at the moment, decked out in her school uniform with her hair down. That's the only odd thing really: Her hair was usually up in a top bun with the rest left to hang. Today she'd let it completely loose with only the orange headband she wore that matched the school colors so she could get away with wearing it without being 'out of uniform.'

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
At the knock, the two pens in Nurse Meiou's hands spin to a sudden halt, and said nurse looks over and smiles, "Ah, Miss Sakai. Do come in."

She stands up and walks over towards the younger woman, the pens disappearing somewhere with an absent twist of her wrists, "Well, the main difference between the two is that the first is medical advice on a given situation, the second is a medical examination."

She absently waves a hand at her infirmary, "The usual order is the second happens before the first...but exeptions happen...and depending on what's going on, might not be needed at all."

She then waves towards some of her seats, "So please, come in and tell me what brings you in today."

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Chiyo Sakai nods slowly at the clarification of the terminology. "A bit of the second then, given I already was 'checked over' by Mamoru-kun." A quick glance is cast down the hall before she fully steps inside nudging the door shut behind her carefully so as to avoid any slamming or loud noises. Students were in class, there was absolutely no reason to draw attention or interrupt their studies. That was just grilled into her from a young age, as it was with most students.

A puff of breath is let out causing her bangs to flutter up out of her eyes. Almost time for a trim, she realizes absently while stepping over to the indicated seats with her hands fidgeting against the hem of her school jacket. Her feet tuck under the seat while she gets comfortable.

"I've met a couple of other Culinary Guardians. From what I've found out so far, both were in the states which is why I was the only one here," she states with vague amusement. The fact that she'd been alone in the city for so long had been something that worried her and her spirit guide. The thought earns a little shake of her head. "I don't know if that matters anyway. I was out on patrol last night with one of them, and we ran across a woman drained of energy that came out of a cyber cafe. He ran in and I followed, but... My powers went haywire shortly after I went inside."

Raising her eyes to Setsuna her lips purse together in clear worry. "Not draining. It was like a sudden surge of power that then lowered back to normal. When Mamoru looked at me with his powers he said it was like my energy had 'exploded.' He didn't know how to deal with that so I told him I'd follow up with you, just in case."

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Nurse Meiou sits down across from Chiyo in a chair of her own. At Chiyo's revelation on where the other Culinary Guardians were, she snorts, "I'd been WONDERING if anyone was going to show up over there." A shake of her head, "Frankly, I'm surprised there isn't MORE of a magical girl scene in the USA."

The comment about the victim outside the cyber cafe gets her to lean forward as she listens, then she blinks and leans back again once Chiyo describes her power as 'exploding'.

She frowns a little, "To mix some metaphors, did it feel more like someone put a kink in a water hose then straightened it out after a moment, or more like briefly getting hooked up to WAY more power than normal?

A frown as she taps her lips for a moment in thought, "...or maybe more like some kind of feedback loop?"

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Chiyo Sakai gives a little wry smile at the mention of the others. "Apparently he'd gone on a semester abroad due to family issues, but is back now. Another showed up last night too who said he was also from the states. I'm not sure the instances of that one. And then the third showed up after we were starting to fight, but she ran off right after."

The suggestion of what it felt like causes her to tip her head down, raising a hand to touch her lips thoughtfully. "Those are good ways to put it. It was... Hm. I had set my kine on fire to help light the way because the cafe was filled with pure darkness, but then it surged. So I guess it would be more like ..."

With a sigh she admits, "I'm not sure what a feedback loop is," she has to admit looking up again. "I'd say it's probably more like a power surge then. Only I wasn't controlling it. I had to fight to bring it back to normal, and I felt sick and off balance the whole time. Even after I changed back I was really weak and off balance."

"Mamoru helped with that part at least but he suggested I avoid changing for a few days."

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Nurse Meiou thinks for a bit, then says, "A good example of a feedback loop would be that squeal you get when you put a microphone too close to the speaker it outputs to. A sound gets picked up by the microphone which gets played by the speaker which gets heard by the microphone which gets played by the speaker, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera...until the original sound is lost and there's just an unrecognizable squeal left until you pull the microphone far enough away."

She then sits back and crosses her arms as she thinks, "...well, Mister Chiba's advice is actually fairly good. Pain is the primary way for the body to let our big dumb brains know that doing something is BAD and should be discouraged."

She then goes quiet for a few moments before snapping her fingers, "Doesn't your power come with an attatched guide? Have you tried talking to him about things?"

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
"Oh! That screech that's just really loud." Chiyo frowns again only to shake her head uncertainly. "I'm not sure there. I don't know that I can really equate my powers to sound. It's mostly fire, or applications of it. That ... could be kind of what it was like. One of those two at least."

Her hand rakes back through her hair only to pause at the hairband she wears which she pauses to pull off so she can actually sweep her hair back over her shoulders again. It kept her hands busy.

The further question earns a faint frown. "Yes, but he says he doesn't know what happened, either." Foregoing messing with her hair she pulls her cellphone out of her coat pocket. There's a little boa charm dangling from it that was, somehow, rigid. Moreso than a little charm ought to be. It's pulled free and she tosses it toward the floor where it transforms into a somewhat rotund white and orange cat who just glances between the pair.

"... Rude. I was sleeping."

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Nurse Meiou snorts, "I didn't mean your powers were like that specicifally, just that's a good example of a how a feedback look works. Something takes an input, amplifies it, only for somehow the output gets looped back into the input again to get amplified and output. That kind of loop can build STUNNINGLY quickly until something in the loop fails...often explosively."

When the other young woman begins playing around with her charm, the nurse just tilts her head before letting out a faint giggle that she hides behind one hand when Chiyo tosses said charm and brings forth her cat familiar/partner/mascot.

After a moment, she offers, "Well, that's almost a given if you're anything like other cats. Still, Miss Sakai and I were trying to figure out precisely what happened to her the other night so that we can help her avoid having that happen again...and as one tied quite closely to her source of empowerment, you were an obvious choice to ask."

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Bonito plops his rear down on the ground, tail swishing behind him while he just gives a mighty, toothy yawn. He might be a spirit but he was also in the form of a cat so it was pretty obvious the sleep thing was a given. "I'm not really a cat. I just like this form. People like cats, and feed them a lot. I'm a fire spirit."

His orange eyes sweep over to Chiyo then quickly away to regard Setsuna with as impassive an expression as one can expect from something currently wearing fur and whiskers for their physical form. "... I don't know what caused it. The flames burned wild. Which was *very* unnerving," he intones in his deep bass voice while shifting to streeeetch out with butt in the air and paws reaching forward. "Given I turn into her kine when she transforms."

Chiyo just nods a bit at that with a little frown of thought herself. "The only thing we've really kind of realized is it wasn't due to the darkness we were fighting against at the time. I'm going to rest a few days before trying to change again though, so I can recover properly." Biting donw on her lip she looks mildly guilty.

"I did... Awhile back, when Ojiisan was being targeted by Sunbreaker, I *did* kind of go further into my powers than I had before. I haven't done much since then. I wonder if it's because I nearly... I neearly gave in to wanting to kill her."

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Nurse Meiou scowls for a moment, then shakes her head and makes a dismissive 'waving' motion, "Don't feel too bad about entertaining the desire to kill Ironbutt. A LOT of us have felt that urge, and she's uncommonly good at eliciting that desire in others..."

The older woman trails off for a moment, then huffs a sigh, "...but upon further reflection and exposure to her...I've been forced to conclude that while, yes, the girl can be phenominally, MONUMENTALLY stupid and shortsighted...killing her isn't the answer."

She frowns and trails off...then after a moment more, she shakes her head and goes on, "...so good on you for not giving in to a completly understandable desire."

She then looks over at the younger woman and smiles a bit, "...hopefully this episode didn't compliate your Valentine's Day preparations TOO much."

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
"Ojiisan had been sick for so long, and then she showed up and I snapped. ... Her through a few walls." Chiyo looks a little guilty but still finds herself grinning at this point because GOD that had felt SO good to do. She needed to let out the stress and anger and frustration. Sailor Moon had even let her--though she would have no doubt stopped her from going further.

Bonito on his part just remarks, "You accessed one of the other aspects of Sanbo-Kojin's powers that night. The one who metes out justice. That's why your apron burned off at the time as well." There's a pause just long enough for a thorough inspection of his belly fur with his tongue before he seems to catch himself, and rights to sit up properly. "Understandably so."

Chiyo just regards him a moment with a shake of her head. The mention of Valentine's Day earns a grin of amusement. "We were a bit back logged but I got Mamoru and Kazuo to help out a bit, and Koji stopped by too. Once Ojiisan was better we were able to catch up again. We *do* still have some boxes left," she adds knowingly, "If you're interested in some chocolates."

"Actually, let me know now if you want some before Usagi-chan gets ahold of them." Lifting her hand again she tugs at a bit of her purple curls while her grin starts to grow rather fondly large. "She brought her mother by the other day and ... It turns out Ojiisan knows her. Our grandmothers were sisters." How does this tie into the mention of chocolate? "Which now that Ojiisan knows Usagi is my cousin he's giving her a family discount and she's probably going to make good use of it knowing her," she adds with a chuckle. The girl did have an appetite.

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
At the revelation of Chiyo's distant relation to Usagi in the here-and-now, Nurse Meiou blinks and looks mildly surprised, "Oh really?"

She then smirks, "Well, I'd personally advise keeping that relationship in mind. It'll be important one day."

Being related, even distantly, to royalty DOES have certain perks, after all.

That said, Nurse Meiou hrms, "Well...I certainly wouldn't mind helping you clear your overstock. How much are we talking about, here?"

A absent twist of her wrist has an expensive-looking cell phone appearing in her hand.

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Chiyo Sakai seems actually very happy on this particular topic as her eyes sparkle along with her deep smile. A quick bouncing nod comes, and she laughs at keeping it in mind. "Of course. Now that we know, our families are going to catch up and make up for lost time. ... I've been an only child all my life. Having a cousin?" Her smile turns softer at this. "I'm really looking forward to it. We were even talking about a sleepover, maybe." It wasn't exactly life changing but for someone who had felt alone a good part of her childhood she was rather excited over the thought of it. Even if she didn't realize all the connotations that might come with down the road.

The question of stock earns a tip of her head as she runs over some mental numbers, humming. "Not too many, probably about thirty-two boxes. We rebranded them as 'friendship chocolates' now instead of 'sweetheart chocolates' so that we can move them before they start to bloom. Which is still a ways off, but fresh chocolate is better."

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Nurse Meiou waggles her phone, "As soon as you let me know how much they'll come to and where I can pick them up, that stock number will go down to zero."

She grins, "It may not have come up between us before, but it would not be inaccurate to say that I am, as the kids put it, 'absurdly loaded'...and I will admit that I plain forgot about Valentine's day traditions.

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Chiyo Sakai reaches down to scoop up Bonito who merely ... slinks down into Chiyo's lap with another yawn. Only to shimmer and transform back into the little boa charm that had been on her phone before. It's taken and reattached to her phone for now so she can slide it away again.

"I will. I wanted to save a few boxes for Usagi and Mamoru, but I'll let you know the rest." For now she rises to her feet dusting her hands off over her skirt absently. She was just so used to wearing an apron.

"Makoto-chan and I still need to have our cooking contest you wanted us to do, too. I haven't forgotten. I've got more time now for awhile. White Day doesn't sell nearly as much chocolate." There's a little pause, and roll of her eyes as she sighs, "Boys."

"Thank you for the help, Setsuna."

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Nurse Meiou shrugs, "Some people find them useful to have around and fun to look at."