1727/Let me teach you...

Let me teach you...
Date of Scene:	05 July 2024
Location:	Function Hall
Synopsis:	Hinoiri and Niji finally begin studying Loyalty's magic and, together, start making some breakthroughs...
Cast of Characters:	Hinoiri Kirara, Niji Dasshu

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Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara was having some mild success, yay! Working with Yellow Voice was doing wonders and, despite what she would have said months ago.... there was some benefit to not having to use dark energy only. She was managing to pick up a few minor things just from using the positive magic. But, it didn't mean she didn't still wish she had her own magic.

However, as she didn't have that and, instead, she was forced to use others, she was now planning to make do with what she'd once promised... as an apology. To one Niji. 'I know your magic, I can teach you how to better use it. If you'd like.'

Reaching out and offering a hand to someone you hurt was not easy... and she, admittedly, half expected the girl to slap her hand away. It would have been well deserved. Instead, it was accepted. She... did not... entirely like that. Because now she had to try and make up for her buck up. Joy.

But, making up for it she would (try). And she had a few notebooks filled with calculations, and had the things she'd been working to study Yellow Voice's voice ready to go, and... well... Now? Now she just had to wait.

She'd asked Niji to meet her in the music room, after clubs, and if there was any instrument she liked to play, please bring it. Music would likely make this easier.

Niji Dasshu has posed:
    When Hinoiri offered help, Niji's first reaction was honestly to slap her hand away and punch her in the face. But... well, she probably wouldn't have found her geode if she was the kind of girl to actually do that. So she pushed down her first reaction and took the offer with gritted teeth. Because people should be allowed to make up for their mistakes. If they genuinely wanted to. It didn't mean it was easy, though. Or that Niji felt particularly inclined to make it easy.

    So when Hinoiri asked her to bring an instrument, well, Niji did have one instrument she played in her downtime, something she kind of messed around with. But it wasn't a flute or a clarinet or any of those normal school instruments. No, Niji's walking into the music room with an electric guitar in her hand.

    "I dunno what you meant about music or song, but I figured I should also bring something heavy enough to hit you with if you go all crazy fire again." She is not, entirely, joking. Just mostly.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara glanced over and... "Huh. So you play guitar too?" She did, however, snort at the hitting her part.

"Yeah... if it comes to that? The microphone stand will probably work better. It's all metal. But no."

She then motioned towards the notes. "So, Kirakirafantastica magic is all about study, memorizing different calculations, charting out constellations, considering the mathematical..." She trailed off as she saw Niji's eyes start to glaze over. "But, I thought about it a bunch more and realized that was unicorn magic."

She, fortunately, had PLENTY of time to consider all of this. Why? Because she had been avoiding it for a while and when one avoids their problems, they can find SO MUCH free time!

"Considering you get wings it is most likely that you use pegasus magic." Pause. "Pegasi are ponies with wings. THAT kind of magic tends to be more about... speed. Agility. Passion. While a unicorn will spend weeks calculating all of the variables on how to teleport a dragon out of a cave and across to the dragon land's, a pegasus will be more likely to run in and kick it in the face to make it chase them. We have a few legends about them, actually."

"In the end, though, if I'm correct, I should be able to teach you a few... simple... spells from Kirakirafantastica. Like summon sports equipment. But, if you'd be interested in learning more advanced things, I'd be happy to train you some of the equations needed to perform the more difficult spells?" She looked... a little hopeful.

"If you'd like to get started, though, I'll just need you to sit by the microphone and, if you could, could you henshin and then try playing a song for me? Nothing too wild to start."

Niji Dasshu has posed:
    "Yeah, Microphone stand is cheaper, too." Niji agrees, looking over at one of them. "And not mine."

    "Unicorn magic? Like, did I hear that right?" Niji asks, skeptical. She kind of follows along with some of what Hinoiri is talking about, though. "Yeaaaaah I'm really more likely to be the kicking things in the face, type." she agrees.

    She drifts off a bit... and then comes back, her eyes fixed on Hinoiri. "Well, let's try the simple stuff first." she offers. She can hear the hopeful tone in her voice. "But uh. What did you say this was? Kirawhatchawhahuh?" she asks, tilting her head and leaning in a little bit. "You're gonna need to say that a little slower."

    And then she pauses and looks down at her geode. "I'm not sure if I -can-. Like. Usually when I transform it's after this thing has lead me to some trouble. And then I can transform." she admits. "But it's not like I know some chant or something that makes it work. It's not glowing right now so I don't know if I can."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara gave a small nod. "Yeah, it really is. And yes, I'm... I was a unicorn, back home. There's a lot of different types of magic. But... Kirakirafantastica is where I'm from. The same place your geode is getting its magic from. But, ummm. It's not... like mine, exactly."

"Mine came from the world, and kind of... helps... keep me from using dark energy. It kind of burns it away, as it were. Yours is more akin to a... siphon, I guess. It taps into the magic of Kirakirafantastica, so you can use it."

She motioned to the chair. "Right. So, get in and I'll run some tests, I'll just need to..." She'd need to put some sensor pads on her arms, her forehead, legs...

"Okay, so... you said your magic was tied to loyalty, right? You're in luck, that is something I had some lessons on back home. But, to start with..." She turned on the machine and it began to lightly... hum.

"Can you tell me, what does loyalty mean to *you*?"

Niji Dasshu has posed:
    "You're a 'unicorn'?!" Niji exclaims, confused. "Like, I'd call you crazy but the other day I had to play a game of baseball against a giant monster while Super-Size Jiminy Cricket complained, so." When Hinoiri says Kirakirafantastic, she can see Niji mouthing the words - or trying to - when she does. Every time she says the word.

    "What are you..." she asks as Hinoiri connects up the sensors. "uhhh... oh no, you're like, an egghead, aren't you. You're quizzing me?! I thought you were going to 'help' me." she says, crossing her arms grumpily.

    "Loyalty is... a name I didn't get to choose. Like. It just pops in my head and I know I'm Geode Girl Loyalty, but like. Couldn't I have a little cooler name? Like. Twenty percent cooler, at least." she says.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara blinked a few times, mouthing those words. Slowly, she pulled out her phone, started to tap on it... Then snorted. "Heh. Yeah, I guess he is kind of a Jiminy Cricket, isn't he? And sorry, we didn't have Pinochio back home. I'll need to read it." READ IT! SHE SAID READ IT! Not watch. READ!

"I am going to help you. How do you expect to better understand your magic and how it works, if you don't study it?"

She then eyed Niji. She spun the pen around in her hand, looking down at her clipboard... and... "Okay. So... going over the metrics won't help. Would you mind if I run you through some thought exercises? Just a couple... what-if situations."

"A close friend of yours is struggling with their math homework and, if they fail the upcoming test, they'll miss out on... ummm... they got tickets to a baseball game for their favorite team. What do you do?"

"You catch a friend of yours..." She trailed off, eying Niji. "Is caught stealing football equipment from the school, they say they only needed it for a few days and they'd return it, what do you do?"

Then back to the list...

"A kind of... continuation of the second question. You're blamed for stealing the equipment and being yelled at by your coach... what do you do?"

Niji Dasshu has posed:
    "Like a really grumpy Jiminy Cricket." Niji agrees. "You know you could just watch it. Like an hour and a half disney movie, or something." she suggests.

    "Thought exercises are noooooooot exactly my 'favorite' kind of exercise..." Niji begins, but Hinoiri keeps going and Niji sighs, exhaling air dramatically upwards, making one of her colors of hair fly up in the air for a moment.

    "I mean, if it's math homework I probably just try to like. push them to do it? Because I'm not the greatest at math... and I wouldn't want to make things worse. But I know a couple of people who are pretty good and I'd try to get them to all work together like a team. Best I can do is like... cheer them on, kinda." she says.

    "I mean, if somebody steals that's not right. I'm going to tell them to put the stuff back and ask permission to borrow it. Cause' if the only need it for a bit it's probably fine, but we need to know where it is. Like, what if there's a game tomorrow and she's taking somebody's safety equipment!?" Niji suggests. "Nah, they have to ask."

    "I mean if I'm blamed I'm just gonna tell them I didn't do it. I don't have anything to worry about if they can't prove it's me cause I didn't do it. I'm probably gonna tell my friend that she needs to come forward or other people are gonna get in trouble, though. Cause like. If they're my friend they're not gonna leave me out to dry."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara nodded along, listening and writing some things down on the clipboard... Well, it seemed so far... Now, she supposed... Hmmm... She spun the pen in her hand a few more times, thinking. Finally, she spoke up. "Have you ever had anyone who looked up to you? Someone you mentored, a protege of sorts?"

Upon confirmation, she'd nod. "Okay. Let's say... they've been practicing for months, and they got onto the football team. Their big game is on saturday. You say you'll be there. Then, however..."

Flipping the pen, thinking. "On friday, one of the... other... teams you're a part of. Let's say baseball team, one of their players get injured. And they *need* you to be there, or they can't play, even though you'd already cleared to be off that day. If you can't show up, they'll have to give up on the game. What do you do?"

She was taking notes as she worked. Silent for a long while after that one.

"Can you play a song on your guitar? Any song, really. So long as it's special to you. Kirakirafantastica doesn't necessarily use music to cast magic, however the magic itself tends to respond strongly to music. I'll be checking to see if there's any readings as you do."

Niji Dasshu has posed:
    And here's a little bit of pride. "I'm sure a lot of people look up to me... I mean, I'm awesome." she notes, and without a hint of joking on that one.

    "But... okay... yeah..." she says, listening to Hinoiri's questions. "Well, I'm not sure what this has to do with shooting lasers or anything, but... I mean, if they're someone who looks up to me... then I hope they understand and I'll go tell them, what's going on. If they have spent enough time looking up to me, they'll understand that sometimes there are things you want to do, but you can't do, because you have to do other things." she says.

    "So like... I'd go because that's a whole team that's counting on me. But I'd explain it to the one that just made the football team and I'd sure go to the next one instead." she says.

    "MmM.. a SONG? Okay. Uhhh... there's one I've been like, working on myself. I don't think it can be much more special to me than that, right?" she says, standing up to plug in the guitar to the amp before she forgets she's plugged into things, causing her to make a sharp "waah" sound and almost fall over.

    She sits back down and offers the end of the plug to Hinoiri. "Would you, please?" she asks. Once it's plugged in she startsd to play, an upbeat song that has a lot of energy.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara would nod, listening... "Yeah, it's probably better to disappoint the one than the team." Which... she knew, logically, was the correct choice.

But sometimes it sucked to always be the one disappointed. Not that this was about her. But no wonder loyalty never really... connected to her.

Hinoiri would then quickly move forward, reconnecting the sensors, then plugging it back in. "Good. Now, I want you to close your eyes and play that song again. But, this time? I want you to imagine that your friends are in the audience, cheering you on as you sing. No. Imagine you're playing it FOR them. They're not just watching you. They need you to do well. They trust you to do well."

Niji Dasshu has posed:
    Niji sighs at Hinoiri's comment. "I mean, you don't wanna dissapoint any of them, but I figure it's easier to make it up to one than the team. And you said they looked up to me, so I would hope they'd understand better." she replies, having picked up on Hinoiri's dissapointment and felt the need to clarify.

    "Okay... playing for... my friends. Because they need me?" she says, closing her eyes. "I'll try, anyways." she says.

    And while at first nothing happens, the more Niji tells herself that it's her friends who need her - that others are in danger - the more a soft blue light starts to emanate from her geode.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara gave a small nod, taking notes as the other girl worked... and did notice the glowing of the geode. "Well... that, at least, makes sense. You're Geode Girl Loyalty. Your power? It isn't for you. It seems to react when you're being loyal to others. When you're doing things for others. So..."

"When you want to activate it, turn it on, as it were? Just hold it, close your eyes, and imagine the people you want to protect, the people you want to save. Even if they're not in danger, imagine that they are. And what you'd do, how hard you'd work, to keep them safe. It might take a while, but well... it's not like I got much more to do anymore but help you figure this out."

"After that, I'll see if I can teach you some... very basic spells. Maybe summon a bat or a net or something."

Niji Dasshu has posed:
    Niji pauses, and thinks about what Hinoiri said. She less studies it and more just speaks directly as she feels, though. "That makes sense. The first time I became Loyalty it was because I had to save somebody from a speeding truck. Like, it was almost an Isekai story in front of me, but I think it would have not been such a good ending." she says, unaware that this might give Hinoiri some insight into the things she does that are not sports and electric guitar. The things she hides under her bed. Adventure books.

    "And every time I've been at my best it's because I was helping someone, so yeah." she pauses. "Huh. You know. If I think about it that way, Geode Girl Loyalty... is not totally terrible." she says.

    "Like it's still not nearly awesome enough but it does have some good things."

    "Lemme try and think about... some of the times..." she says, grasping her geode. It glows blue, softly, she closes her hand around it, eventually the light grows to a point where it can be seen between her fingers - and then Hinoiri is probably way closer than she'd like to a multicolored laser light show of high brightness that ends with Niji being in full henshin as Geode Girl Loyalty, blue skin, wings, and all.

    "Yeah. Yeah I think that uh. That's the trick." she says.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara was standing there. Staring.

As she was now kind of... sparkling a bit. Her hair on end. A little... burnt. She gave a cough, a little rainbow-colored dust cloud poofing out.

"Yes. I'd say... that does it. I think I now have your henshin *burned into my retinas*," Hinoiri said, before looking down to her clipboard. Making a few more notes.

"Still... that's the first step. Now we can begin teaching you some magic. And, before long? How to summon..." Pause. Trailing off.

"We'll get it so you can summon a bat to your hands to knock someone's block off."

Niji Dasshu has posed:
    Niji-now-Loyalty puts a hand behind her head and laughs nervously. "I'm so sorry! There's a reason I try to go somewhere out of the way to henshin, and it's not just my identity. It's like REALLY bright." she says.

    Then after a moment, a bit more mischeviously, she mumbles (loud enough for Hinoiri to hear) "Hey, now we've both burned each other though."

    Then she grins at Hinoiri's offer. "Sure. Yeah I usually uh, have to go back and grab my bat. I run real fast so it's usually not an issue but like. If I get stuck inside one of those Barriers or Labyrnths it'd be nice to be able to like. Call it. Into my hand. To solve Problems."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara nodded, chuckling... but did cringe at the burn comment. "Yeah, I... probably deserved that. Don't worry. Kirakirafantastica magic is incredibly flexible with enough study and dedication..." Pause. "And I'm sure we can use that flexibility to setup an easy, simple method for you to summon, without having to do all that math stuff."

It was going to take a while... but she was sure, working together, they'd come up with a solution that would ensure the rainbow-haired girl would always be more trouble than she was worth to anyone who tried to fight her.