2248/Okujoo Chatting

Okujoo Chatting
Date of Scene:	19 January 2025
Location:	Okujoo Ramen
Synopsis:	Rashmi meets Molly at Okujoo Ramen, for food and a chat -- about things both serious and light-hearted.
Cast of Characters:	Molly Skyline, Rashmi Terios

---

Molly Skyline has posed:
It's mid evening in Tokyo, and Okujoo Ramen is, as usual, pretty packed -- but that doesn't stop Molly from getting her favorite table in the corner. Being the owner's kid has it's advantages, right up there alongside helping with dishes at least one night a week, unless she's got homework -- which tonight, she's got. Or, at least, she had. She actually finished a pretty significant pile of math homework a few minutes ago.

Now, while she's waiting for her best friend to arrive, the purplenette is humming cheerfully to herself while she flips through a RIFTs book, oggling all the various character classes and equipment and cybernetic upgrades and everything else that goes with that setting, all while she's waiting for her Best Friend to show up -- and quietly wondering if she's going to show up using the elevator, or arrive in flight and come out of henshin behind the kitchen or something.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
This time, Rashmi takes the elevator. Not to say she didn't henshin and fly *to* the building, but, even an outdoor ramen shop is likely to be hopping in the evening hours, and it's just simpler to wait the extra few seconds it takes to ride the elevator up, then try to find a spot she can de-henshin away from *all* those people.

And while Molly gets a grin and wave, as Rashmi approaches the reserved table, the redhead also looks a bit... distracted, as if part of her mind is somewhere else, as she sits down.

"Hey, Molly-chan! How're you doing?"

Molly Skyline has posed:
No matter how deeply her nose is burried in an RPG book or a car magazine or something equally fascinating, Molly never fails to notice certain things, and when the elevator doors open she looks up and waves with a big grin on her face. "Hey Rashmi-chan!" she greets as the redhead gets close enough, and boots a chair away from the table for her friend (which is apparently a British thing to do).

"I'm good! I chose to do homework instead of dishes, and now I'm finished the homework so... pretty sure Mom will work out that I've finished working and a friend has arrived so there'll probably be ramen in front of us soon." She puts her RIFTs book down (it's the South America source book) on top of her homework and pushes it to a corner of the table.

"I'm pretty good. I showed up... a bit late to a battle at the Baseball Pitch yesterday, and that was a thing. ...How're you? Everything alright?"

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Slipping into the offered chair, Rashmi beams at Molly. "And you're gonna have to tell me all about it! Um, me? Oh... well. Chrono figured out a way to test me so I could undeniably qualify as a Meister to the TSAB, so I'm working on that. Basically I have to take Nicomachea apart, upgrade him, and complete a full stress-test. I have to use only Device parts I can find here. If Nicomachea breaks, I fail. If he doesn't, I pass."

Her eyes widen, and she lets out a long breath. "...So you can imagine I've been spending the last two weeks learning and designing, because this is one test I *cannot* fail, y'know? ....Lucky thing that Alo-chan's whole deal is giving me *so many* Device parts to work with."

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly bobs her head, "I will, but I showed up late. But, hey, better late than never I guess!" The purplenette shrugs her shoulders, and listens to Rashmi talking about her upcoming challenge. Well, ongoing challenge sounds more like it. She leans forwards, reaching one hand across the table.

"You won't fail," she states as though it is, to her, a pretty obvious fact. "Rashmi Terios is the smartest person I know. Nicomachea is in good hands, and I'm betting he's on board with this whole thing too."

Molly grins, leaning back in her chair and clasping her hands behind her head. "Okay, seriously though. If you need any help with anything, and there's anything a dweeb like me can do, just ask, alright? And heck, I dunno if anything in my Mom's shop helps, but you're always welcome to through up a Time/Space Barrier and use the place as a workshop if you wanna."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Molly's belief in Rashmi, rock-solid and unquestioning, cannot help but cheer the redhead. "Yeah okay... but that doesn't mean I shouldn't give it my all, right? Nicomachea *deserves* my absolute best work. So... probably I will show up at the shop a few times, yeah. It's *way* better than the Shop Club for some things I'll need."

Leaning back in her own seat, she clasps her hands together, tilting her head. "So! Tell me what happened at baseball?"

Molly Skyline has posed:
"of course!!" Molly beams, "You should absolutely give it your best. Nicomachea deserves it and honestly, so do you. There is absolutely nobody I'd rather have on the battlefield with me, and if you're about to make Nicomachea better and yourself in the process? I mean that's fantastic." She flashes a grin, "I'll slip you a key to the shop on Monday at school. Don't tell my Moms. But as long as you've got the barrier up you can slip in any time you need without issue."

Molly pauses, about to start in on talking about baseball, when as predicted a couple bowls of ramen show up -- it's the weekend's special (Hakata Ramen today). Both bowls have extra egg, too. Someone knows her daughter's habits and isn't about to short her friend in the process.

"Okay, so," Molly begins, "It was already like, halfway over by the time I got there. Apparently these two wenches from the Black Moon Clan -- not the purple-haired one, the other two -- were really upset that their team lost so they decided to basically just break everything. And apparently they don't like Usagi-chan for... reasons. They're from the future? I--" She pauses abruptly. "Uhm, how much do you know about Usagi-chan's future? I don't wanna accidentally give away a secret I'm not supposed to tell."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Ooooh, Hakata ramen! Bobbing her head in delighted thanks to her server, she turns her attention back to her friend, eating quietly as Molly tells the story. Which... is *all* apparently news to her. "So wait... they're... from the future? And... Usa-chan's who they're after?"

This alone is revelation enough that she just sort of sits back in her chair, staring off into the middle distance. "...Oh good, because we don't have enough people from *now* trying to get rid of us..."

Shaking her head, she lets out a quiet breath. "So if Usa-chan wants me to know, she'll tell me. Don't worry if you're keeping secrets, that's okay. Just, wow, now we have *future* villains to deal with..."

Molly Skyline has posed:
"Okay, well, I'm betting Usagi-chan will tell you, but yeah that's her call to make and not mine. So I'll just... think silent thoughts about those details. Anyway, Usagi-chan and Amy-chan and a few other people had done a lot of the heavy lifting by the time I got there. And, I think Amy is trying out something new, but that's... it's just a guess. I hope she is though, anything that gets her away from that Kyubey wanker is good in my books."

Molly pauses to slrup up some of her ramen, too, along with one of the pieces of egg. Gotta love that egg!

"Anyawy, when I got there it was just before someone put up a Time/Space Barrier, and like, there were a lot of people running and screaming. But just when I thought the battle was ending, it... it got weird. I mean really weird. Suddenly I was tossed into this weird... vision? I dunno what to call it. And I wasn't the only one who saw it."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Another vision?" Rashmi pauses her eating, leaning forward. "...Molly-chan, what happened this time?" Her face betrays her worry; *another* vision of doom, which is generally all but unheard-of, but a *shared* vision... The redhead's spine begins to feel chilly.

Even the egg is given a poke, rather than an immediate chomp; that is how worried Rashmi seems to be.

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly slows her own eating, sensing her friend's worry. Not that it's hard to sense. Not that she didn't know this would cause worry, but her friend asked and she wants to be honest.

"It was like... One moment I was up in the air, getting my next spell ready. The next, I was walking across this, I dunno how to describe it... wasteland? Like, everything was dead, all around. I was barefoot, the ground hurt, the air was full of poison and it hurt to breath, and all I had was this bucket of water that I had to carry very carefully, because even though the water in it was pretty gross, drinking it was the only thing that helped my throat feel okay with the air I was breathing."

Molly takes a moment to eat some noodles and slurp up a little broth. "But that's not the weirdest part. There was this crack in the ground, with what was just obviously dark energy billowing out of it, but I just... It was like, I knew, if I took the dark energy then not only would all the suffering stop but I could have everything I ever wanted. ...It's not supposed to be like that, is it?" she asks, quietly, her own brow knit in serious concern.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"That..." What Molly describes is, honestly, a vision of absolute horror, and Rashmi's face pales to hear it. To roam an endless, poisoned waste, with stagnant water your only reprieve, and Dark Energy your only promise of salvation...

Rashmi looks down at her bowl for a moment, then leans back, thinking very hard. "I mean... it *sounds* like the kind of thing Dark Energy promises... if you're the kind of person desperate for easy power. Ask Chrono about how it got his thoughts twisted sometime..."

Pulling her bowl back with a finger, she starts eating... slowly, carefully, as if the food is an excuse to organize her thoughts. "...And this happened because of those people from the future?"

Molly Skyline has posed:
"Well, the vision did," Molly affirms. "One of the two Black Moon Clan weirdos said something about it having lived it. But I don't know if she meant that literally." She pops a piece of pork in her mouth, so she can chew it slowly. Eating is always a really good excuse to get extra thinking time.

"I didn't take the energy," she murmurs. "I wanted to. but I knew I wasn't supposed to. it was weird, it was like... I'd kinda forgotten for a moment just... who Molly is? It was really weird. I just ended up screaming about it, not like in pain or anything, just, I dunno. Frustration."

The purplenette pauses, so she can have a bit more broth. "Anyawy. Then I woke up and instead of being up in the air when it all started, I was laying on the ground and it really hurt. ..Luckily Starcrash took it on himself to cast Starfall for me, so instead of waking up on the ground with half my bones broken, I woke up in a crater with a lot of bruises."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"*Really* need to find his other module," Rashmi murmurs. "There's like three other spells he could have used, one of which is *super* safe, but he did a really, really good job with what he had. Thank you, Starcrash," the redhead says to Molly's earring.

"Okay... That... actually makes a little *more* sense, which is weird to say but... Remember that time a bunch of us got trapped in that portal, last year? Well... turns out that was, like... a magical memory echo. Like if a ghost was an entire point in time? Feels like what you're talking about was something *like* that, and she made you relive her memories somehow."

It's a *weird* explanation, but it makes sense to Rashmi because there's not a whole lot of hedging and circular-talk.

Molly Skyline has posed:
<< AFFIRMATIVE. YOU ARE WELCOME >>

Molly smiles as Starcrash answers Rashmi. "He's been developing a bit more personality," she explains. "I don't think he knows what to do with it yet. But, he really, really likes Star Wars, and is pretty keen on us watching Skeleton Crew together. But not until the end of the month, I got school projects to do first."

"But anyway." Molly's face regains its seriousness. "So if she was making us relieve a memory, that... makes sense, yeah? But it was a terrible memory, honestly, I wouldn't wish that on anyone. And, Rashmi-chan. I know you're worried about me and my dreams, but I don't think that was related. It was caused by someone else, and we all experienced it. I don't think I'll be walking across a poisoned wasteland with a bucket of water like I'm in a bad Judge Dredd movie any time soon, either figuratively or literally."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"...I mean I'm not worried about *that specifically,*" Rashmi says with a wry chuckle. "And frankly I'm *glad* I don't. But still... When I qualify for Meister, Molly, and I'm finished rebuilding Aloisia's Devices... I think Starcrash is next on my list. Gonna give him a whole new upgrade so he won't *need* that missing module, you'll see."

Shaking her head, she takes a deep breath, and returns to her food, then pauses as a thought occurs to her. "...Oh! I need you to meet Entrapta-chan sometimes soon, too. She's an Etherian, but um... she's... a special case. Like, she is *extremely* unused to dealing with people. 'I built myself a robot mom and dad years ago' kind of unused to dealing with people. I pretty much made myself her senpai just so she'd have someone to look out for her, but she's... sweet. Lonely. Doing a little better now, but."

Molly Skyline has posed:
"...And I thought I had it rough waiting to get adopted," Molly observes, with a perked eyebrow. "I still haven't met any of the Etherians, I don't think? I've heard a bit about them, you clearly know more of 'em than I do. What're they like?" She tucks back into her ramen (even though it's halfway gone by now) and starts with a second piece of egg. (There's four pieces in each bowl, Molly's Mom does extra egg for her daughter and her friend like she really means it.)

"And, Entrapta-san, I'll make sure to remember that. ...Well, Entrapta-chan, anyone who's friends with you is more than okay in my books." She flashes a grin, "If you're looking out for her she's definitely in good hands, but you can give her my number if you want, if you see her before I do. If she's ever in trouble I'll be there for her."

Molly takes a moment to look out over the Tokyo skyline, "And... I know what loneliness is like, so... I wouldn't want her to have to be lonely."

Molly pokes at her Ramen, but grins after a moment, "And I am definitely gonna be bouncing on the edge of my seat for anupgrade to Starcrash! He'll be thrilled as well. I do... kinda still wonder just what that module was that we almost got that one night, but maybe it doesn't matter! And hey, someday... I'll fix your car for you."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Deal," Rashmi grins. "And the Etherians..." Rashmi shakes her head. "...Molly-chan their *whole planet* has been at war for, like, longer than we've been alive. They're good people at heart, but... There's also a *lot* that none of them have really begun to unpack, so they're all hurting in one way or another. Entrapta-chan though... apparently she's supposed to be, like, closer to thirty in the time most of them come from. She's just a kid like us though, so she's from *way back* in their timeline."

With the conversation turning to better topics, Rashmi's appetite is back with a vengeance; egg three of the four is eaten, before she continues. "If you talk to her though, you need to like... really *listen* to her. Take everything she says at face value, y'know? And don't take it personally if she doesn't remember things like names or... that you're *there,* if she's working on a project. She's a *huge* engineering type so when she focuses on something it's like... there's nothing else in the world. I have to check in on her to make sure she's eaten, at least every other day."

Molly Skyline has posed:
"I'll try to make sure she eats when I meet her," Molly laughs. "Mind you, just bring her here. Mom can't let anyone leave hungry. Though she'll expect them to start paying after the second time, but you can't really fault her for that, she's trying to run a business." Molly also resumes eating her food at full speed; and it doesn't take overly long before she's polishing off the last bits of broth in her bowl.

"...I could eat two of those," she pronounces. "I didn't use overly much mana yesterday, but hitting the ground really hurt once I woke up, and I think I burned off mana or something healing it up. Ahh well, I'll get some beans on toast before I go to bed." She nods sagely. "And it's Saturday night and my homework's done, so I can stay up all night playing video games if I want to. Right?! Normal, non-magical teenager stuff, just for once?" she asks, grinning.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"About that," Rashmi sighs. "She can only eat tiny food. Like, every bite has to be small enough it won't touch her lips. It's... a phobia thing. I feel like once when she was really young she choked on food but didn't have anyone who would help her, so..."

Lifting her hands in a 'what can you do' motion, she turns back to finishing her own food. "That sounds like a really, really good plan, Molly-chan, and I hope you have fun with that! Me... I've got a Device I need to finish taking apart. It's been slow going because I've been asking Nicomachea to identify and catalog each part, and if I can put it back together just the same, I'll be confident enough to finish my design."

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly bobs her head, "Tiny food it is," she affirms. "I'll talk to Mom about it. I'll bet she can do ramen that has everything cut up small, even the noodles. Or just..." seh purses her lips. "Really small sushi? I wonder if that's a thing."

The purplenette grins, "I just gotta play something that isn't a horror game. If I pick tonight to go back to like, Alien Isolation or something and then scream and toss my controller out the window or something, at least one of my Moms will wake up and they won't be impressed."

About then, the server is back, with a couple generously sized pieces of Macha Tiramisu (which is like regular Tiramisu except it's sweeter and it's green). "Oh! Thanks!" Molly beams up at the server.

"Anyway! I'll keep my phone on. Text me while you're at it with Nicomachea and let me know how it goes! I wanna hear all about it!"

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Thank you *so much,*" Rashmi says as the cake is placed down. Delighted, she turns her attention to giving such a wonderful dessert the attention it is due.

"Sushi works," She says after coming up for air. "Teriyaki too. I've been cutting her katsu lengthwise before I go in her room with it, and I've been *seriously* considering practicing making bento boxes. But.... yeah. I'll introduce you soon, I told her about the kind of output you and Nanoha-chan can do, and she started getting really, really excited about putting together a testing range so she can study, like, Really High Energy Magic. She needs more friends anyway, so... yeah."

Chuckling, she shakes her head. "I swear, between Usagi-chan and I, she's gonna end up being *everybody's* kid sister before school starts back up."

With both ramen and cake finally finished, Rashmi slumps back in her chair. "Oooof, that was *amazing.* And yeah I'll *definitely* text you about Nicomachea, don't you worry."