2104/An Exposition Lunch

An Exposition Lunch
Date of Scene:	24 November 2024
Location:	The Shed
Synopsis:	It's that time of year, when everything is chaos and the Mahou have questions. Sometimes, people have answers. Usagi Tsukino decides to don her hosting cap, and gathers a group of her friends and allies to share the word on what's going on. Rashmi, Amy, Bow, Ahmya, and Mamoru all have news to share too. Aren't business lunches supposed to start after you're getting paid?!
Cast of Characters:	Usagi Tsukino, Haruka Tenoh, Rashmi Terios, Mamoru Chiba, Koji Silvia, Ahmya Karashima, Bow, Chrono Harlaown, Amanda Faust, Sugata Shindo

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Usagi Tsukino has posed:
It's lunch time on a Sunday, and Usagi Tsukino had spread the word through a certain grouping of her friends - the ones who had been involved in the escort quests that the Headmistress had initially tagged Setsuna and Kyouka to lead - that she had some more information to share on that situation, and that she'd be happy to share it with everyone, if they wanted to meet her for lunch.

She's not telling everyone she knows because she is possessed of some discretion, and she knows this is very much sort-of-a-secret, even if it's one that more and more people are learning about, but she's invited a lot of people to be here, to learn...

And because of that, she's practicing some of those housewife skills today, having organized an excellent lunch by spending Mamoru's money with Makoto to buy delicious ingredients for an incredible lunch spread! The whole Shed has been transformed, actually - the interior is freshly cleaned and scrubbed, the Christmas tree that's been lingering all year has been dusted and reorganized, new ornaments decorating it with stars and hearts and ribbons galore in a rainbow of colors, and most of the tables have been shoved together, creating a long double-thick table that can seat all of them along it for a communal meal.

At the front of the room, where all the blackboards and windows are, a row of tables have been pushed together and covered with a warm yellow tablecloth. On that table, is the aforementioned delicious lunch spread - and oh, is it a spread!

There's a large rice pot full of fluffy white right, a crockpot full of Japanese-style curry bubbling merrily with chunks of potatoes and carrots. On the side, is a covered dish of sliced chicken katsu and another of sliced pork katsu, for adding to bowls of rice and curry as desired. A second crockpot is full of miso soup, with plenty of soft tofu, and next to is a covered dish full of teriyaki glazed salmon, for those not interested in curry for the day. And next to that is a large fruit salad, with slices of oranges, peaches, and apples, along with halved cherries and strawberries. A minifridge has been brought into the Shed to store dessert - creampuffs, with fillings in strawberry, vanilla, and matcha. These are the only things not homemade by Makoto herself, because Usagi had craved Beard Papa's, and decided to treat everyone.

And by treat everyone, she means Mamoru had given her full and glorious rein.

By all the food is Usagi, dressed in a large purple coat, because Fall is quickly giving way to Winter it feels like, with a bright green sweater-shirt and a white collared shirt underneath, and a bright pink skirt, and matching bright green leggings to warm her up. She's reading the messages on the Shed corkboard with an expression of 'wow, everything really has been happening, huh?'.

"Hey, everyone," she greets as people start pouring in. "Come in, come in, grab a pale and a bowl, there's plenty for everyone, I promise! Makochan made just about everything, so you know it's all delicious.

Haruka Tenoh has posed:
    Haruka Tenou hadn't been at any of the box retrieval operations, but she was Usagi's friend, and a fellow Sailor Soldier. So it's not impossible for her to have been asked here... or maybe she just smelled Makoto Kino's cooking and came in, and in any case she's here early enough to pull off the 'mysterious presence leaning against a wall' trick. Today she's dressing boymode, in an outfit that she enjoys wearing because honestly nobody should be able to pull it off sucessfully. It's a suit jacket and slacks that could at best charitably be called 'mustard' with a black shirt and a large gold pendant.

    She's got her hands stuffed into the pockets and is waiting for more people to show up, standing near the Shed corkboard herself and reading it.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Downside: Rashmi has absolutely been *going through it* this last week.

Upside (for Chrono): It's also winter, and thus after learning the exposition lunch will be happening in the Shed, Rashmi elected to brave the elements in Chrono's favorite matching pale-cream sweater, knit beanie, and mittens.

As she enters the Shed with an rm around Chrono's shoulders, she still looks *absolutely done with everything ever*-- right up until Usagi says hello and she sees the spread.

In the Terios household, food is love. A big dinner is not just a lot of work and a lot of tasty treats, it's an expression of just how much you care for someone, that you want to see them as well-fed as possible and riding a happiness high for hours. So upon laying eyes on *that much amazing food,* Rashmi cannot help but just have her entire day brightened. Moving the pair aside so that they're not in the way of the Shed's door, she looks from the food to Usagi, and her eyes are just a bit watery behind her glasses. "Oh wow... Thanks, Usa-chan. I really... *really* needed this. And thank Makochan too."

And she does, indeed, grab a pail and a bowl, and starts loading up.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru is already there, too, folded into one of the corner seats of the long 'table' and eating a big plate with a little bit of everything except soup. He's dressed in black skinny jeans, a purple t-shirt with a cartoonish picture and HI*STANDARD written below, his leather jacket, and very fancy leather shoes.

His mouth is full, so he doesn't greet anyone, just serenely gestures at the tables behind him like Vanna White.

Koji Silvia has posed:
As a rule, Koji gets samples of everything onto a plate so that he can try them all out... for research purposes as much as to actually enjoy the food. This leads to a double-stack plate to support the weight of the curry, the miso, the katsu, the salad, and one of the Beard Papa's. Though in the case of the fruit salad, he's artifully picked past all of the peaches somehow.

That and a big mug of hot tea are all his as he moves to sit down someplace close by and waves to Usagi. For now he's quiet and just picks at his food with chopsticks and a small spoon, snacking as he waits.

Ahmya Karashima has posed:
     It's a good thing they have a specific shed for this because Ahmya is not very good at subtle, as the gentle ~tak~ of geta can be heard from her footsteps as she approaches the door to the shed. She was otherwise wearing her school uniform today, but she usually wears her geta anyway.

..It's partially because of the soft ~tak~ sound that it makes each time she takes a step, let's be honest. Also they're comfy.

Upon entering, she dips into a soft bow towards those already assembled, straightening up. "Hello, my friends~. I have come to partake of this exposition lunch~." She says, trying to speak cheerfully mysteriously. It uh. It really doesn't work mostly she just sounds a bit goofy. Also she doesn't know a good chunk of the people there. Including the person who is wearing a /mustard suit/ and yet somehow in spite of that is weirdly pretty???

Hachi is here of course, but is presently in her small form and hiding in Ahmya's clothing somewhere, most likely.

Bow has posed:
Arriving in the Shed, Bow has another post to add to the corkboard. Placing the picture of Entrapta and the note in place, he stretches out with a groan. "Setsuna's shot knocked me on my ass." he mutters as he goes to find a place to sit. Dressed in a sweatshirt with two kids playing with archery supplies and targets reading: Archery for Beginners.

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A pair of jeans are worn beneath that along with tennis shoes as he glances at the spread, grabbing a bottle of water for the moment to chug on. "Hey everyone." he finally greets as he takes out his tech pad to take notes on.

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown was, indeed, quite fortunate. He got to spend an evening with Rashmi, got to see in her absolutely precious mittens and... was wearing the bomber jacket today.

Over his TSAB uniform, sans spikes. Now, one might think he was in henshin.

He was not. He had commissioned a 'non-magic uniform', so he could be in uniform when not in uniform.

This. This was that boy. But, there was something... else about him. Something different. Like... maybe he seemed, somehow, a little... nah. Probably nothing. Maybe he just wasn't slouching* as much today. That had to be it. He grabbed the tools necessary for such an assault, and began to grab some as well. A little curry, a little katsu, a smidge of tofu, some oranges and a strawberry and vanilla creampuff (one of each).

And then, of course, taking a seat by Rashmi. Occasionally glancing over at her.

Yup, the bomber jacket was the right choice. He'd never be able to match the glory that was Haruka Tenno... But it often left an impression, taking off the bomber jacket... to show the TSAB uniform beneath it.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy walks to the shed in her winter uniform and sneakers. The only thing sticking out about it is that on her back is one of those long cylindrical carrying cases with a strap across her body over her shoulder. The kind that could carry perhaps a woodwind or a poster or a map or something, but which anyone who's seen too much anime would immediately wonder if it's a sword.

    After stepping inside the Shed, she hesitates for a moment. There's a lot of people here.

    ...And you know they're all cool. Be you, be weird! It's not that weird! It's OK! she thinks to herself. Pink sparkles change the upper half of her outfit to a pleasantly soft red sweatshirt, with a pride flag armband on her right upper arm -- although not any of the well-known ones, with stripes going from pink to blue and a combined-male-and-female-gender-symbol symbol on it, one could reasonably guess it's an alternate trans flag design or something.

    Also the sweatshirt has the head of a cartoon tiger on the front and the romaji 'nyo' above it, not even so much about the dumb pun as because it's cutesy, and as she thinks that it occurs to her that she could also just go out and buy shirts with cute things on them and it would be okay, which makes her feel even sillier for being anxious and weird about anything.

    Anything else her mind is on kind of evaporates as she comes into the room and sees familiar, beloved friends and hot food! She smiles and gives a quick wave, hugging Usagi and Rashmi -- if she can catch them without hands full of plate of food -- and offering Mamoru a hug-or-handshake, before gathering up food -- IS THAT SALMON?! That is salmon she is getting some of that with rice and some of the fruit salad on the side to start...

    Everyone else gets a warm smile of recognition, although there's a bit of nervousness when she looks at Chrono for some reason.

    When she goes to sit down she forgets the carrying case is on her back as she tries to sit in the chair, and awkwardly pulls it off and props it next to her seat and re-sits.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Rashmi is greeted with a hug, a tight squeezing one, because she walks in looking done with the world and seems like she's just going through it. The food seems to be doing its job of cheering her up though, and hopefully this squeezing hug will do something to help. Those messages on the board go a looong way to explaining how sad her friend looks.

"Of course, Rashmi-chan! I think we all needed this - it sounds like you've got plenty to talk about today too.

Then she bounces off, giving Haruka a quick side-hug and a grin, because she's pleased to see her here, and giving Amy a quick squeeze hug too, and she greets everyone else, as well, as they're getting food.

Only when everyone has plated up, does she take a seat next to Mamoru, with a tray to carry her food - a plate of curry loaded with rice and pork katsu, and a bowl of miso soup, and another smaller bowl with some of the fruit salad, and she looks around at everyone.

"Okay, now that we've all got food, I called us all here because I'm pretty sure just about all of us has ended up helping with a fight for a wooden box, that we had to get across town to the school, and keep safe from Obsidian. Right?"

Once people have variably responded, she continues. "But, considering all these notices, it's obvious a lot is going on, so, how about we all share what we have? I'll start, with what's in the boxes, and then Rashmi-chan can tell us what's up with the jar, and Aloisia-chan, and Bow can tell us about Entrapta? And anyone else who has news can share, too, add it to the agenda."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru watches as Bow puts up another notice, and then !! as an Amy comes in to lunch; she gets a hug from the seated boy, and he's careful to keep his psychic walls up for her. He waves to Chrono and Rashmi as they come in, squinting at Koji as he sits down and waves to Usagi but not him.

"Look," he starts in Koji's direction, voice low, and then Usagi sits down with her plate and Mamoru drops whatever was going to say, smiling at his fiancee.

He bumps her lightly, then goes back to eating as Usagi goes to talking; he's almost done, but he got here early and mooched.

Oh but at the end after he's using a napkin instead of licking his fingers, like a big boy, he says, "Our pink gremlin probably goes on the list of topics."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
The hug is returned *gratefully,* And Rashmi looses a gusty sigh. "You have *no idea,*" she says with feeling. "Yet. Thanks again for all of this."

Once she's loaded up and settling in to do some proper demolishment of her food -- pausing to lean against Chrono dnow and again -- while greetings are made. Since there's not a single person she doesn't know in attendance, *everyone* gets a smile and a bob of the head in turn, but when Usagi starts speaking, and is about to reveal The Secret Of The Deliveries, she perks almost immediately. This sounds like interesting news that *might not* be about something awful, and *good* news seems in rare supply!

Ahmya Karashima has posed:
Ahmya had, in fact, plated up pretty quickly, including a small plate which she sets aside in a corner of the room carefully, the subtle ripple of a stealthed creature briefly visible moving up to it. Don't mind the Hachi in the corner. The warm smile from Amy is returned with a quick little wave from Ahmya, who smiles right back at her~.

"Oh-ho-ho-ho~. I knew you were also magic." She says, her one eye glimmering with bemusement.

She eventually settles in nearby Chrono and Rashmi, taking dainty, polite little bites of her food.

Trying to ignore the still-gnawing hunger after the other day.

She would lean in to give Rashmi a quick little hug too though, in between Chrono-leans. Because I mean, girl needed the support! And Ahmya is nothing if not a supportive friend!

"Hachi says the food is delicious." Ahmya comments towards Usagi and Mamoru. "That's my addition to the agenda, otherwise there's not much going on in my life at the moment that isn't already being covered i think. People know about the Dark Twilight Pact, right? I've been trying to keep them from getting into too much trouble playing with a magic item but other than that..."

Bow has posed:
As Usagi runs down the list of items, Bow finally makes himself some food as he leans back in his chair. Reaching up to push his hair back slightly, he blows out a breath. "We definetly could use some good news." he admits, as he starts to tuck into his meal. He doesn't ask any questions yet, after all, he needs to know what's happening before he can ask about it.

As Ahmya shares her information, he shakes his head.

But if he's the only one that doesn't know, he can ask about it later. But Ahmya brings up another point he needs to address as he gives a smile to Usagi and Mamoru. "Thank you for the meal, I appreciate it."

Haruka Tenoh has posed:
     Haruka squeezes the brighter-haired blonde back when she gives the hug and finally makes her way over to the food, picking up only a few things here and there for a sparse plate. "Admittedly, I'm just here to get information, and food." Haruka says. "I've been kind of out of the loop, and out of the country as well." she notes. She doesn't directly elaborate, looking around the room. "It's good that there's so many here, though."

Koji Silvia has posed:
Mamoru's indicator towards Koji was noted by said Koji, and he sort of... hunches his shoulders a little, and anything he might have been about to say ends up being cut off when Usagi starts to address the group.

Pastry is a great way of not TALKING. Can't speak, mouth full of noms...

Trying to look anywhere but his former roommate, the young and long-haired boy stares around the room to take in who is here, and ends up looking at Haruka.

Thirty seconds later he remembers he has food in his lap, if only because it starts losing it's balance and he almost spills curry on himself! As it stands, about half of his fruit salad bounces off his pants and lands on the floor, causing him to shift his plate to a chair and get his napkin to clean it up.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy does a double-take at Ahmya when she hears her comment. Checking her memories for where she knows Ahmya from and getting only a dimly-recalled conversation in the Occult Club. "Wait, so you really are magic?!" Amy shrugs a little, smiling despite the slight awkwardness of the situation. "I mean, given, y'know, how things are, I didn't think there was no chance, but..."

    After she sat down, Amy raises a hand when Usagi calls for things to add to the agenda. "No, I don't know who the Dark Twilight Pact are. Also, others were there too, but we've got an ancient Belkan artifact on the loose, and also if anybody has leads on Witches or has any grief seeds let me know." She tries to think of if there was anything else -- there's something with Catra but obviously that's for Rashmi to explain. Also Equivalence betraying them but ditto. Just as the magical pink-haired child possibly-Usagi-from-a-different-universe is for Usahi-chan and Mamoru to talk about.

    There's probably something she's forgetting. The Device with her is something she'll bring up when how she got it is discussed.

    So she lowers her hand and asks Ahmya, "Also, who's Hachi?" before she takes a bite of salmon.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"It was quite a while ago that Usa and I ran into them, you've been keeping them out of it pretty well, I think-- but everyone should hear it from you," says Mamoru to Ahmya, pushing his plate away so he can lean his elbows on the desk, "so that goes on the list too--"

He gestures with one hand at Usagi and grins at Bow. "We'll tell Makoto, too, she made all this! And you are very very welcome."

Then he looks up at the approaching-ish Haruka and smiles, and there's something impish about it. "Remind me later to ask you about motorcycle lesso--" he starts and then Koji, who he keeps eyeing on and off, has had a MAJOR ACCIDENT. "Oh, damn, you okay? Here, let me help with that--"

And he gets some more napkins and gets up, coming over to help Koji!! with the problem! Because he's a good friend who happened to move out two weeks ago!

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"I almost forgot about her for a minute," Usagi says mournfully, when Mamoru mentions their little pink gremlin. "But you're right, she definitely goes on the agenda."

The little girl who fell from the sky and demanded her Silver Crystal is definitely not going to just... quiet down and settle in has her roommate. She smiles at everyone and puts down her chopsticks, spreading her hands on the table.

"Okay, so, inside those boxes are pieces of a like, magical artifact the Headmistress told me about; it's called the Crystal Heart, when all the pieces are together, when it's here, it's going to make it so this whole school is our territory. It's going to put this like, ward up, that will weaken Dark Energy - it won't hurt the people who have it, but they'll be weak here, like how we are in those Eclipse Zones - oh shoot, is one of those still up, Hinoiri mentioned that a while go, we have to put that on the agenda - but anyway, so, it's going to make it so it's almost impossible to summon a monster here, or for them to attack us or - oh noooo, thanks Mamochan, for helping Koji-kun," that is a big old wince for that disaster of a situation.

Ahmya Karashima has posed:
     A shake of his head indicates lack of knowledge on Bow's part!

"They're more or less just a group of kids that saw someone be saved by some Mahou, decided they wanted to be saved by Mahou, and ended up finding a magic item that seems to produce some sort of illusions. They're not really much of a threat so much as more likely to get themselves in trouble if they do some mischief and accidentally draw the ire of someone more likely to be extremely violent." Ahmya says towards Bow, dipping her head towards him.

"Also, I hope you're feeling better than the other day. You seemed quite distressed. If you ever need to talk, I live at a shrine in town and we have some very good tea and my mom makes delicious snacks." She offers gently towards Bow.

Haruka gets a brief one-eyed look from Ahmya, who is VERY TEMPTED to ask things. She does not though. She's behaving! ... For now! She does meet Koji's eyes briefly with a 'yeah I know, right?' kind of glance.

"Yep! It's okay not many other people believe me either, honestly it makes for a good obfuscation of being magical to just... not pretend not to be because everyone just assumes you're being weird when you have an eyepatch." She says, running a finger over the sashi. 'Who's Hachi?' "Oh she's my familiar, I'm not going to reveal her though, most people aren't a huge fan of spiders."

Mamoru gets a little nod. "Yeah, I hear Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen gave them a pretty firm talking-to and they mostly just have been waiting to ask for people to come out and play when things don't seem as super dangerous. They're good -- if mischievous -- girls to be honest."

The talk of the crystal heart gets a small nod from Ahmya. "...Huh I thought there was some sort of truce while on the grounds of RHM anyway but you know what having insurance is probably not a bad thing..." Ahmya comments thoughtfully.

Bow has posed:
When Koji spills his food, Bow winces. "Crap, here, let me get that." he says, having been sitting near by. Kneeling down to grab the plate off the floor as he joins Mamoru with the clean up, he asks. "Can you pass me one of those napkins, he's got a little..." once he has the napkin, he moves to brush off Koji's leg. "There we go!" he offers with a grin as he moves to rise back up.

But with the conversation turning back to the boxes, Bow looks confused. "The Crystal Heart? Is it any relation to those colored gems that Obsidian was after when I first arrived on Earth?" comes the curious querry as he brushes off his knees to return to his own seat and settle back in.

"So... no more library youma? Or the mystery meat lunch rising up on the attack? Oh thank Brightmoon!"

As Ahmya explains the kids, his brows rise. "So... they're wanna be mahou? It sounds like their hearts are in the right place, but could get in over their head in the wrong situation. Do you think that it would be better if we took away their device, then?" He bites on his lower lip in thought, before the conversation turns over to him. "Oh! It's nothing. Just a lot on my plate and working on figuring it all out. But I mean, everyone has a lot going on, right?"

Haruka Tenoh has posed:
    Haruka notes casually, after she finishes her food. "For there to be a truce we'd have to be something like organized on our side." she says with an impish grin. "I think meetings like this is about as organized as we get - 'cept for Chrono over there, anyways." she continues.

    "Chrono, did you sign any treaties with the crazy demon people?"

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Oh *excellent,*" Rashmi says of the Crystal Heart, echoing Bow's relief. "It'll be nice to know that we can not have to worry about things farther out than just *in here.* But it sounds like the Rainbow Crystals are a different thing altogether... Mamo-kun, did anything ever come of that? I might have missed some stuff, there's just too much going on it's hard to keep track of it all."

By the time she speaks up, both soup and plate are nearly empty, and she nudges those aside to take hold of Chrono's hand.

"Also did we *find* that girl? Because if she's still wandering the streets..." Shaking her head, she pauses to filter in all the gossip and woes flying about, keeping careful notes. Dark Twilight Pact: Chuuni wannabees who will probably trip facefirst into a disaster. Koji: Only just now experiencing the glory that is Haru-chan. Amy: Needs to fight a Witch or five soonest. Escort Missions: To end in a safer school for everyone, Absolute Good.

Koji Silvia has posed:
He had it in hand, but now there's a Mamoru trying to help him, "Wait, I-"

But of course that he's helping, and so he tries to reach for another napkin to get some of what's left as Mamoru is coming back up to say something... and his chin tags the top of Mamoru's head. He ends up falling back and bumping into Bow's knees as he's gripping at his chin, "Ow... owow..." But then he looks up at Bow, and says towards him, "Sorry."

Sitting on the floor, he tries to get things rearranged so that what IS left of his food doesn't spill or anything else happens, but from his spot, he manages to finally stand, wipe some stuff off his pants, "There's a new player on the board. Not sure if anyone else has seen them in person. They're some kind of summoner. Large, wolf-like monsters with white skull heads and claws, bodies almost like solid shadow or black fire..."

Still frowning, he goes on, "There isn't much I can tell you except that the last time we ran into them, they were at a public event with one of those energy-draining towers. They brought in a new type, a flying one, that Hope Concept shot down at the Thanksgiving Labor event. But they seem to be energy drainers... and they summon their beasts in large groups. The smallest I ran into was eight with one of the Star-people. The stoic one who does a LOT of property damage... I didn't get a name. I think Rashmi knows him. Anyways... Whoever this new player is... they're careful. Which is rare for the other side."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy listens to the explanation of the Dark Twilight Pact. "So they... make illusory monsters so that they can be saved by magical girls?" She holds a hand to her head. "I hate that I kinda get that now... well, maybe not hate, but, I'm... I'm just thinking that if you'd told me about them when this all started I'd have been ready to go off on them about how reckless and irresponsible that is and why would you do it..." She sighs.

    Ahmya mentions her cover is to not pretend not to be and just accept the weirdness. "I FEEL YOU." Amy blurts out. "I'm terrible at lying and double life stuff and pretending to be normal."

    Amy listens with interest to the explanation about the Crystal Heart.

    Mystery meat lunch attack?? "When did that happen?!" Amy pipes up, alarmed at the prospect of being attacked by her lunch.

    Koji describes the incident the other day. "Yeah, there were like... over two dozen, maybe three? A lotta those monsters. They went down pretty quick, but they seemed bigger and stronger and more aggressive than kindabads."

    She gives Koji a curtious look. "So... are you just magic-aware? Or were you at another part of the fight I didn't see...?"

    Right, Crystal Heart. She raises her hand -- the past 16 months have got her in that habit right quick -- and asks, "So, which world is that from? Or... if it's from Earth, is it from mermaids or ancient youkai or fourteen thousand years ago or what?"

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown glanced over toward Haruka and... "No, I haven't made any treaties with any demon people since arriving here, and the TSAB has only made treeaties with four planets of demons at this point, none of which would apply to this planet."

There was a very, very good chance he was messing with them.

He then glanced to Rashmi and gave her hand a very, very gentle, and affectionate squeeze.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"I remember those kids, Ahmya-chan! Mamochan and I gave them a burner cell, so they could call if they wanted to play, instead of causing trouble and dealing with real danger. So hopefully, they won't be too much trouble, but yeah, Bow-kun, they're kind of just overexcited and want to play, instead of like, dangerous. And yes! No more library youma! No more plant youma in the courtyard! No more danger butterflies that have to get eaten by my cat! ...while we're on campus, anyway."

Sure, there's danger in the city, but soon, there won't be anymore here.

"There's one more piece of the Crystal Heart, and then it's going to be finished, and they'll be able to activate it. Um, I think it's from here, but the Headmistress didn't give me a like, whole background on it. Apparently the reason it took so long to get it is, well... the people who have it didn't want to give it up before they absolutely had too, but, after the everything that's been happening, they got convinced to do it. I can't blame them too much... apparently they need to be close to the pieces, if they want to remember magic is, well... real."

The topic of the Fade is often a damper, so she carries on, pushing forth.

"And yes, sorry I should have sent out a blast to everyone, but the magic little girl who fell out of the air in Mamochan's apartment lives with me now." Her expression shows exactly how (un)joyous she finds this reunion to be. "I'm... pretty sure she brainwashed the RA? I mean, there's no way they'd usually move a toddler in with two teenagers like me and Naruchan."

Ahmya Karashima has posed:
Ahmya's gaze on Bow lingers a moment at his comment that it's nothing, the ever-so-slightest concerned frown creasing the edges of her lips. "Still, keep it in mind. Sometimes, it is good to get things off your chest to someone with few stakes in what is going on."

It's nothing usually means it's something but a relative stranger is probably not going to be able to get that something out of him. Oh well.

"Oh, right, I don't believe I've met ~all~ of you." Ahmya says, taking a dainty little bite of salmon, before standing up and dipping into a polite bow. "For those that I do not know, I am Ahmya Karashima, otherwise known as Yorotsuchi of the Golden Web. My specialties lie in support through silken bindings and enhancement through spider-runes, though I am capable of holding myself in a fight as well. If you ever need to find me outside of magical businesses, you may usually find me at either the Occult Club, Animal Club, or at the old shrine to Ta-no-Kami generally."

To Amy and Usagi she gives a simple nod. "Well, that and, it /does/ feel good to have someone care about you, so perhaps the girls have hard home lives or something along the sort, I don't think I've ever seen them with any parental figures or anything of the sort beyond I'm fairly certain two of them are siblings." She goes quiet after that, gently nibbling on her food and listening to others politely as they touch on their own specific issues.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Rubbing his head and sitting back on his heels, Mamoru clears his throat. "Ow. Uh. Rainbow crystals: we have all of them in here except for Indigo, which Riventon is not admitting he has. But as long as they're kept separate, nobody can open that can of worms until we're ready for it. Which we're so not, kami-sama we are not ready for that can of worms."

He picks himself up off the floor and then pats the back of Bow's shoulder before starting to offer Koji a hand up... but he pulls it back, and he hopes that it's before Koji notices it.

He blinks at Amy asking Koji about-- oh, oh man. Right. Koji is extremely uptight about his identity. Right. "Haha. He's been my roommate for like two years," he says, relaxing. "Well, until two weeks ago, when I moved out of the dorms."

He goes to get himself a can of coffee and get rid of his plate before sitting back down next to Usagi, "Which, don't let me forget to put my new address on the corkboard. Since I'm not in the dorms anymore, if anyone needs me."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"...Okay that makes sense," Rashmi says of why the pieces weren't given up sooner. But then something occurs to her, and she frowns in thought for a moment... before shaking her head and putting that aside for now.

"So... First the more immediate problem, and I don't think many of you are gonna get the issue at first. ...So this Dark General named Joker showed up in the Korma when Catra-san had come in to talk to me..."

Here Rashmi pauses, waiting for the people who have met Joker to get their swearing out early.

"...Apparently Catra-san's been... well, a cat, about the whole 'working for Obsidian' thing. So he just showed up in the Korma, right in front of everyone, and was *incredibly creepy* the whole time. Like... Did you know his tongue is made of Dark Energy or something, and I can never wash my hand enough anymore? *That kind of creepy.* ...Anyway. Point is, Catra-san has... eleven days, now? Eleven days. To get as much Dark Energy as possible -- I think a whole jar's worth -- or something bad will happen. And he implied it would happen to me and/or her. So like... use your judgment on how to handle that?"

And that was just *one* of the two notes she put up. Girl *has* been through it.

"...Also side note, watch Equivalence *really really closely* when she shows up to a fight. Girl apparently does not know how to not be solo, and when she's in a corner her decision-making skills are just the worst."

The way she detaches a suspiciously *cracked* Nicomachea, and cups the Device's standby form in her hand, might be telling.

Koji Silvia has posed:
Wincing his eyes shut, Koji realizes he nearly outed himself to Amy and Mamoru gets this 'glance' that is a fraction of the old thankful looks from the pre-Mamoru days when there was a lot more that was left... Not Said. Instead, he just nods and says towards Amy, but then adds, "It's... most people here know anyways, and you're all terrible with secrets. I'm Hanzo out in the field."

And as if to make the point for Amy, he takes his hand and covers his mouth and part of his nose, then takes off his glasses for her.

This motion makes him miss what Rashmi is doing, or how frayed her voice is as he stands there like that for a few moments and then puts everything back in place.

It's only then that what the over Devicer is saying catches up to him, and he frowns, "Great... so basically, we have to make it look like we're fighting her, minimize the damage but LET HER get away with enough to make whoever this is happy? Basically... they win. We stop her, they come for you... we let her through, none of us may as well have these abilities. Because now whoever this is knows they can do it again. Pick one of Obsidian's girl squad, show up at a fight, and pick a victim... because they know we'll cave."

One of his hands clenches into a fist, "Someone just made a very short list of people who need to... visit Paris."

To which he glances towards Usagi and Mamoru, and then back over at Rashmi and Chrono before he lets it go.

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown had been very slow, and quiet, and methodical throughout the whole meeting. He hadn't spoken much, aside from one comment. Mostly just listening, recording, monitoring...

Some people, however, might notice the way he tensed up, the way his smile flickered slightly when Rashmi mentioned the things about joker. And when she pulled out Nicomachea. Might notice the way his chopsticks made a cracking sound, as if they were suddenly being squeezed just a pinch too tightly.

But he was still, definitely, calm. Yup. Not at all messed up. Not. At. All. He was fiiiiiiine. Definitely hadn't spent a time plotting the demise of certain people at all. Not one bit. He was an Enforcer, that would be irresponsible.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Ahmya points out that it's just nice to have someone care about you and Amy looks away, "Yeah, it sure does." She then looks back at Ahmya. "Ah. I don't think I've seen anyone's parental figures but Silvia-san's. And Coco's mom. And like, I've seen Molly's moms and Rashmi's," she's rambling now, "but not really talked to, well, anyone but Queen Aqua. ...Although I guess that makes sense, it's not like any of them but her can talk about magic."

    Chrono brings up Demons and doesn't seem like the type to joke. Amy raises her hand again. "What, exactly, makes the Bureau classify a species as 'demons'?"

    Koji is Hanzo. Everyone can see the by-now-familiar expression of someone suddenly becoming aware of Recognition Inhibition on her face. "You're the ninja dude?!" She's just surprised! And points! "You were there my very first night as a magical girl!"

    Amy blinks. "...You know I'm the red Puella Magi, right?" Amy tries to recall if she's ever transformed in front of him or mentioned it. "With the rocket launcher. I eventually came up with 'Magical Rocket Girl Red' with a name so no one would call me something worse."

    Rashmi explains Catra. And someone called Joker. "He licked your hand?!" Amy is shocked. The Dark Generals have generally not been touchy unless grabbing mermaids to kidnap them.

    As for the matter of Catra gathering dark energy. "Urgh. And if we let her, or help her, get the energy, then he'll just keep using the same strategy again to gather it. We'll need to defang him somehow."

    The sight of Nichomachea's cracked standby mode makes her wince, remembering Lulu's cracked soul gem, so long ago. It's not her, Amy reminds herself. It's not even her Linker Core.

    The short list of people to 'visit Paris.' "Ooh, I like that. Euphemism might be a little confusing if the wrong people hear it, though."

Haruka Tenoh has posed:
    Haruka laughs. "Yeah, I'm not sure Paris deserves being associated with that directly. Beautiful city. Great racetrack." she says offhandedly. "But visiting the paris catacombs... maybe staying quite a while... that would work."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Oh shit," Mamoru swears on cue, just hearing that Joker showed up. "He's tremendously powerful. And yeah he's always that creepy."

But Rashmi is still talking, so he shuts up, and then grimaces. "That's awful. Can we help by donating energy? I mean it's gonna go where we don't want it to go, but if it saves your lives or sanity..."

And then he stares at Koji. "I'm not going back to Paris. But if you meant like, Joker goes on the boss battle list, yes."

Then he looks at Rashmi and says, slowly, "If I knew who Equivalence was, I couldn't tell you, and she thought I would, so she didn't tell me. But she knew where I lived and she knew to come to me for healing, and I could tell I've healed her before. She said, when I offered help, she said something about needing to work alone because of keeping people safe."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"He licked you?!" Usagi's voice lifts, louder than she intended, but she's horrified, staring at Rashmi with chopsticks in hand, looking genuinely furious on her behalf. "And now he's threatening you to make Catra do her job - what's going to make him stop, then?"

Koji is right, this is... this is bad. Because they are the type of people, all of them, to offer their energy, to want to help, for Rashmi, if not for Catra, and what do they do, then?

"...And Equivalence attacked you?" This, because she certainly didn't miss the cracks in poor Nico-kun, or the way Rashmi cradles him. "Because... because, what? What kind of bad decision makes it make sense to just, turn on you? Were you fighting Catra when that happened?!"

What? What? Why would someone do that?!

"If this is the kind of thing she does when she works with people... but she was there, during Walpurgisnacht, and she didn't stab anyone in the back then, so, what's the deal with her?"

This question clearly isn't one looking for an answer - she's just muttering to herself, at this point, looking down in frustrated confusion.

Koji Silvia has posed:
Interjecting on that almost immediately Koji says, "I can guarantee you that working alone and keeping people safe are two VERY different things. I work alone... it's not a healthy habit, especially these days when things seem to be escalating. But... I'm a lot harder to nail down than most of the rest of you."

But then he glances towards Rashmi, but the light obscures his eyes as he gives her a small smile, "We should all have friends who drag us out of our shells and remind us do things we enjoy... because a lot of us tend to end up so up in our heads about the bad things going on, we forget about the good stuff."

He goes on, "Rashmi is working on a new project based partly on our people's technology, adapted with Earth tech. Basically... a centralized all-magical communication system that anyone can carry, and anyone can use. There's kinks to work out, but once her idea is ready, she'll be giving everyone earbud style items that we can all carry, that will let us use here as a central base for communications for just this kind of thing. I've worked with her to sketch out a prototype, but if anyone here knows anything about electrical engineering or how magic and conventional technology connect... you'd be a big help. She want us all to keep talking and stay safe... I say we all help her."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
The moment the chopsticks crackle, Rashmi pats Chrono's hand, then lets go to reach across the table for another pair. "You can make the offer, Mamo-kun. I don't know if it'll get *accepted,* because Catra-san *lives* in almost the same headspace that Adora 1.0 dipped into when she got Dark'd. She doesn't trust anyone or anything, and the moment she gets to feel like she's become the problem, she latches on and won't let go. But absolutely if you want to *try* to make it easier you're welcome to."

Loosing a quiet sigh, she rubs a thumb over the red 'glass' that makes up the center of Nicomachea's charm. "Koji-kun... I *get* why you're angry, but like... you're forgetting that 'creepy clown' seems like a *big* part of his deal. He had *me* determine how long it'd take, and the only reason he didn't make it *harder* for Catra-san was because I ended up drawing thirteen cards. And *that alone* tickled him enough to change the game in our favor. So 'being creepy' and 'making people miserable' might be more important than being effective. What's more boring than pulling out the same joke twice, y'know?"

Shaking her head, she's about to go on when Koji drops the secret of the Mahounet project, and for a moment she just has that open-mouthed fish face... which subsides as her cheeks pinken. "Yeah," she finally says. "We're working with Hinoiri-chan on it, because it's the kind of project that's right up her alley and if we give her *good* things to do, she has less room to decide to do *dumb* things."

Bow has posed:
"It's all good!" That to Koji when he bumps Bow, and he grins. "Partly my fault for just jumping in there to help. Do you have any other information on the wolves?" he asks. "Is there a pattern of where they appear? Places that they frequent?" he asks curiously, even as he is moving back to his seat to settle back in. The pat to his shoulder from Mamoru draws a quick smile from the archer as he reseats himself.

Swiveling to Usagi, Bow nods. "I'll keep an eye out for them and make sure they don't get too deep in trouble if they end up in a situation."

Then Usagi is talking about a child that is now living with her, and he raises an eyebrow in confusion. "Are you in danger from her, Usagi?" comes his question as he cleans off his hand to start to eat again. How Usagi could be in danger from a toddler... but this world is strange enough, and well, he didn't think Flutterina was a threat, until she was.

The mention of Catra has Bow running a hand over his face. "I'm so sorry she dragged you down with her, Rashmi." he offers with a sigh. "But... since we're on the subject. A couple of things to go over. The first in Entrapta. Like my note on the board says - I tried to carry out a communication experiment with Etheria, trying to connect the reformated runestone that Scorpia wears with it's energy back on Etheria. Instead, it contacted Entrapta, who's a mechanical genius, but she's very extra with her curiosity and will take apart your smartphone in front of you if you don't keep an eye on her. She... well, she had robots for friends back on Etheria. No real friends. Correctuion, she built herself friends."

"The other one is Glimmer. When she first arrived here, she made me promise not to tell Adora about it... but, I've been puzzling it since she arrived. The fact of the matter is, that when Scorpia arrived, her runestone was made to be travel sized so she could carry it with her. She-Ra carries hers in the Sword of Protection." he closes his eyes. "Glimmer's came in full size. And I know it has to be in Obsidian Tower someplace. It's the only explanation as to why she's still there. As to why her runestone didn't change? I have a working theory and..."

He looks at his pad, debating. Speaking out, would it break Glimmer's trust? "I'm doing this for her. Glimmer has been part of my life since I could remember and I care deeply for her and I love her as my best friend, and I can't keep up this charade that she's playing at anymore."

Hands balling into fists, he looks down at the pad. "My working theory is that there is something... someone trapped in the runestone, and it is not collapsing because it would cause great harm to what's inside. And... she needs my help. And I can never turn her away, so sometime soon, we're going to try to get the Moonstone out of the Tower, wherever it is, and if the moons align right, maybe, finally, she can show you all what a great friend and wonderful person and how truly beautiful she is." There's so much more he wants to say. About how angry he is with her. He doesn't know why, it's not just what's happened since they arrived on Earth. Something is much much deeper.

There's a soft breath. For the moment... Bow feels better.

Ahmya Karashima has posed:
Rashmi goes into her first issue, and Ahmya's gentle crease at the corner of her lips turns more pronounced at the talk of what this Joker person did. "Mm. I see. So a problem to be handled ASAP, understood." Ahmya says simply. "Yes, visiting paris sounds about right." She adds, shifting slightly in her chair. Ugh, That all sounded pretty awful, as the description of Catra's situation and such sounds pretty nasty.

She crosses her arms over her chest. "I sadly lack much useful knowledge in the matter. I have a fairly extensive knowledge of the occult, but, a lot of that is also nonsense that I suspect only functions because my own magic makes it work, frankly." And then Bow begins to talk.

About all of the stuff going on with the Etherians and also Catra and Entrapta and also ...

Getting something out of the tower. "I know that you likely feel like this is necessary to do." Ahmya says softly.

"But ensure that your plan is /airtight/ before going after it. I am relatively new to all of this magic stuff and know very little about it, however. Going to their /base of operations/ ... I'm not telling you not to go because it sounds like the sort of issue where that is pointless, but just. Be careful, okay?" Ahmya says softly. "Bring people you can trust. Bring people you know can handle themselves if things go wrong and you get separated somehow. I know it probably doesn't need to be said, that you already know all of this, but I'm serious."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"I don't really feel threatened by her, she's just - she says her name is Usagi Tsukino, and she's after the Silver Crystal. Except I'm Usagi Tsukino, and I have the Silver Crystal. So, you know, it's a weird situation, but at least it's not a... a problem that needs a permanent solution."

Unlike Joker, who is sounding more and more like someone who... needs to be handled. But still...

"We don't have a truce with them, but... they haven't killed any of us," she says, slow and careful, feeling out her words. "Beryl wasn't one of them, anymore - she ditched them to make her final play, and that meant she was a problem for them and us. But this Joker... he sounds like he's doing what they want him to do. Which means when we take him out... we need to be aware that... that we might really piss them off, this time."

Enough to change the game.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    If this is the kind of thing she does when she works with people... but she was there, during Walpurgisnacht, and she didn't stab anyone in the back then, so, what's the deal with her?

    Amy thinks about that for several seconds.

    "...What if it wasn't Equivalence? What if she got bodyswapped or something? No really, magic's done some pretty crazy stuff, I've been turned into a doll twice. It, it could be two people sharing a henshin. Or twins? Can twins become identical magical girls? Wait, didn't Beryl mind-control people multiple times? Could it be something like that?"

    "Plus... I mean, we have one magical girl who can copy others' appearances, if there's someone on Obsidian's side who could..." Amy winces as her mouth ran ahead of her head. It feels like she's betraying someone, to even suggest 'shapeshifter' as an explanation. How many people know about Dianora? ...Wait, they couldn't have copied someone's magic, so that wouldn't work.

    As far as you know. part of Amy's brain goes, but no. She will not suspect everyone with shapeshifting powers the moment something hinky happens. No, she is very firm on this.

    Koji says he's working with 'our peoples' technology. "YOU'RE AN ALIEN?!" She blurts out, shocked. "...Wait, but I heard your dad..."

    As for whether she could help, she hangs her head. "It's been a long time since electronics class. If you're already working on this, you probably know more than me already. Can you get Devices to put out a digital signal?"

    Amy blinks. "Actually, that reminds me." She stands up, and pulls the cap off the case leaned against her desk, and pulls out A MAGIC SWORD, holding it over her head. "...I feel like I should shout Thunder, Thunder, Thundercats or something." Chrono can probably recognize it as a Belkan Storage Device.

    She lowers it, holding it carefully with one hand on her hilt and the flat of the blade resting across her other hand. "I really wanna study this but I don't know the first thing about alien magitech. I know the Prime Directive," she points with her hand at Chrono briefly, "probably forbids it, but... come on. A chance to study alien technology!"

    As for where she got it: Getting to that!

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru nods to Ahmya, then looks at Bow. "Airtight, yeah. I'm not the best at strategy, but I can make you fairly accurate maps of what the most likely relevant floors are, and annotations. I don't know if it's a good idea for me to go with, because as an ex-employee I'm a favorite target, but if I get the go-ahead I'd like to come along."

Then the tall boy folded into the desk gives Rashmi a thumbs-up. "I'll do my best. I'll try to make it a challenge she can win." A beat. "Can you make them slightly noise-canceling? I have a habit of wearing earplugs when things are too much, and I can swap one out..."

Then Mamoru's watching Usagi, and he frowns-- and he says, quietly, "Then it's a good thing the school will be safer soon."

He has nothing, however, to say about Belkan storage devices.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Exactly," Rashmi says to Usagi. "I've been doing a lot of thinking about this, and it's not *playing* at fighting. It's just the goal's different; mitigate the damage, because Catra-san *also* does not deserve the treatment she's getting. The problem is she *puts herself* where she gets treated like that, and I think she feels she *deserves it.*"

Shaking her head, she goes back on the subject of Mahounet when Mamoru asks his question. "The big barrier right now is, setting up some kind of self-sustaining magic that'll be compatible with *everyone.* Once we figure that out, the plan was to basically glue it into earphones. So like... the plan was *gonna* be to get some cheap mass-produced stuff but theoretically I could install it into whatever you want. You want noise-canceling communicators? I will accept your donation of RayCons."

Which point she looks to Bow, and actually rises from her chair to move around and give the archer a shoulders-hug, briefly. "We'd help *anyone* who's that important to our friend, Bow-kun. We got you."

And as she's moving back to sit next to Chrono, Amy reveals her spils of Aloisia's ship, and can't help but laugh. "Oh wow you *kept them all.* I'm not surprised, but I am a little surprised. Which reminds me, now we need to tell you all about Alo-chan."

Koji Silvia has posed:
Sounding almost more quiet than he intends, he says to Amy, "It's... complicated, but please... my dad is a touchy subject... I'd appreciate it if you don't say anything more."

Turning... He gives Bow a quiet little hug. Just around his arms, and in close for a few moments but nothing more to possibly cause more issues, and then holds onto his shoulders and looks at him, "Listen... Bow... You're dealing with a lot. These are people you know, and what's happening with them sounds like it's rough on you. If you need some time away from it, just text me. I gave you my phone number on that camping trip we all took. You can hang out in the room, we can watch a movie or just... hang out. Trust me... being up in your own head can sometimes be a very lonely place. More than one of us has been there."

He then speaks up a little louder, "Going after Obsidian as an entity is a bad idea. Capital Letters. I did it once, and I barely survived. Mamoru has seen it for himself. I've got a scar going down my back as proof that when it comes to their home turf, they do NOT mess around. My Device is made to crack into places like that, and they even beat Hanzo. All the data I got? Self-deleted... caused bad systems in him to get worse."

He pauses, and takes a breath, "We need someone on the inside to find out where it is, and then somehow convince them to move it. The best bet you have to get one of their stuff is to do what they've been trying to do with us and the Crystal Heart. Hit it in transit. So we use their playbook against them."

"And if you work with us, Bow... we'll help you. We'll make a plan, we'll make it work, and we'll make it so your friend can finally stop acting like she's not trying to outrun all her problems."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Oh, that... that explains why she almost seems to treat this whole thing like a joke," Usagi frowns a little, looking at Bow with worry. "It's not funny, but it's not - she's not loyal to Obsidian, they just have another hostage.'

She's really, really not liking this hostage situation thing.

"I can offer some of my energy to help Catra too, but, yeah, I... can't just stand by while she's attacking innocent people, either. I'll be there, if you need me, Rashmi-chan, and heck, I'll stake out your place, when those days are up, too, but -"

Her eyes are worried, tired. They need to hope this is a one time thing, otherwise...

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown gave a sigh and held out his hand, offering to let Amy give it to him. "So, here's the thing about this, Amy-chan? It's a belkan parade weapon." He'd then... Slash it down on his hand.

... No damage.

"It's a parade weapon, nowhere near as powerful or effective as a custom weapon. But the important thing to consider, if you showed anyone this, is it won't work well with many bits of earth technology. On top of that, it's not something that can be recreated with earth technology. It's designed and only works with magic. As advanced as it is, for many people it'd effectively be a paperweight."

".... but yes, I would ask for you to not spread Midchildian technology across the planet. If tit could be used here, I wouldn't want to imagine the things people would do in an attempt to horde it." Honestly, the very idea already gave him a headache. Without considering all the OTHER stuff going on...

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy nods in acknowledgement at Koji's request to not say more about his dad.

    Oh wow you kept them all. "Of course I fuckin' did!" Amy grins. "All these years of RPGs and finally my very first actual magic loot??? Also, alien technology! The secrets of science it could tell us!"

    Chrono then walks up and... reveals that it is not even an effective weapon. She can't help but be kind of disappointed, but alien tech, even like this!

    "There's really not... anything reverse-engineerable on it? It's 100% magic?" Amy grasps for straws, hopefully.

    "Even... advanced metallurgical techniques?" As if you're a materials engineer.

    Amy slumps her shoulders a bit. "If we spread anything across the planet that would mean we learned something that does work without magic, I mean, did advance science. ...Honestly, if we did find something like that we could do a lot of good for the world when we're grown-ups, too."

    Amy brightens up a bit at the thought. It has... bothered her, that she can see no way to fix the, well, normal society, outside magic, that they're (almost?) all destined for. "Wait, like, seriously? Think about it. Some technological advancement that becomes critical? Patent it, license it, redistribute wealth and make the world more equitable." She looks at Chrono. "I dunno if you know anything that's just technology, but... think about it."

    Beat.

    Amy blinks. "Oh yeah so there's an ancient Belkan artifact that's corrupting miss Aloisia... Um... I was gonna lead with that but then Silvia-san mentioned his project..."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Yeah, so Alo-chan," Rashmi repeats. "...And yeah Amy-chan functionally you've got a nifty trophy to put on your wall and not good for much else besides parts. But Alo-chan."

Standing up, she refills her bowl with more rice and teriyaki salmon... then after a moment's thought balances one of each kind of cream puff on top. "So those of you who know Otto know that he's out to kill Hannah, and claim rulership of their county. Well... turns out even *Aloisia* didn't know at first, but she's his daughter. And the last time we tangled with her, Otto told her that much, *and* that he has her mom hostage offworld against her compliance. Well... he ordered her to get a thing from the remains of her ship. Turns out that thing was a Belkan artifact that begins a succession trial."

Rashmi sits back down, moves the bowl aside, and takes a moment to *deeply* sigh and let her forehead hit the desks. "So she decided to break it rather than give it to him. And *that's how you start the trial.*"

Raising her head, she gives the room a jaundiced look. "And that the stupid thing was Dark-corrupted! That was a surprise to *all of us!* So... now she's a Dark-corrupted berserker, forced to fight in trials to determine her worthiness to rule Tharkad. Yaaaaayyyyyyy. The upside is, she doesn't seem inclined to attack people on sight. You have to *attack* her before she decides you're a problem. The downside is... she's the 'Wide-area removal' kind of problem-solver."

Sugata Shindo has posed:
At the back of the room, completely unnoticed, has been a blue-haired clamp noodle. He's been casually listening in, and when the subject turns, he speaks up, "About that... does it seem likely that she'll take purification as an attack against her?"

He thinks so, but, then again, he's never been purified. Maybe someone here will have the experience to say yay or nay.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Shindo-san, I didn't see you," says Mamoru, eyebrows up; he props his head up with a fist. "Getting purified hurts. The stronger the purification, the more it hurts, even if you're not resisting it. Agemaki-san would purify me now and then when I was Hematite, just a little bit, taking some off the top? And that was low-grade, and deeply uncomfortable."

A beat. "So a bunch of people overwhelm her at once and then fling the purification in the mix while she's already busy."

Bow has posed:
Bow listened intently, his brows drawn into a thoughtful furrow as Ahmya, Mamoru, Rashmi, and the others laid out their concerns and suggestions. Their words carried the weight of experience, caution, and genuine care, and he took each one seriously. When Ahmya finished, he gave her a small, grateful smile.

"You're right, Ahmya. Rushing in isn't the answer here. My first instinct is to act, but I know better than to let that override caution. And believe me, I'll make sure the plan is airtight. I'm not going to take risks with people I care about or myself, if there's any way to avoid it."

He glanced at Mamoru, his expression softening further at the offer of maps. "Thank you for that. Having accurate intel on their layout could make all the difference. And I'd understand if you choose to sit this one out, it's your call, but I won't ask you to put yourself at risk more than you're ready for. Same goes for everyone."

When Rashmi hugged him, Bow's shoulders relaxed, and he briefly closed his eyes, taking comfort in her words and the support being offered. "Thank you, Rashmi," he murmured. "All of you. It means a lot to know I don't have to face this alone. These people, Adora, Glimmer, they're not just my friends. They're my family. Glimmer is closer to me than my parents are. And I can't stand by while she's stuck in something like this."

When Mamoru hugged him, Bow returned the gesture, his expression serious but touched by the gesture of camaraderie. "I appreciate that, Mamoru. And you're right---being in your own head too much can really mess with you. I'll take you up on that offer, whether it's for a movie or just some quiet. Thank you."

Finally, he addressed the group as a whole, determination in his voice. "This is going to take precision and teamwork. We'll figure out how to intercept what we need without walking into their stronghold. You're right---it's too dangerous to go in blind. But if we plan this right, we can hit them where they least expect it. And maybe, just maybe, we can finally give Glimmer the chance to stop worrying about her runestone. Even if at times, it seems that she's enjoying being free of the constraints of her position."

He straightened, his resolve hardening as he looked around at the faces of his allies. "Let's make this work---for all of them. For everyone who's been hurt by these people. Together, we'll find a way."

When Koji hugs him, Bow stood silently for a moment, taking in the hug and the words that followed. His arms hung loosely at his sides at first, before slowly lifting to return the hug, a quiet, almost shy gesture of gratitude. When the other boy pulled back and rested his hands on Bow's shoulders, the archer met his gaze with a soft but determined expression.

"I... appreciate that. A lot," Bow said quietly, his voice steady but carrying the weight of everything he was holding back. "Sometimes it does feel like too much, like there's no space to breathe in all of it. But I'll take you up on that offer. I mean it. A break might be exactly what I need, just to clear my head, if nothing else."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "If a trophy is all it is..." Amy sighs. "Let me know if any Device-users can get spare parts from it, I guess. I don't even know how you'd take it apart..." she taps the gem.

    Amanda nods along at Rashmi's recounting of events. When Mamoru suggests overwhelming her, Amy raises her hand again. "Oh. Um. All the stuff we did? Barely damaged her. She had this cut-through-anything deletion ray, and it got reflected back at her, and that sliced off her armor, and... it... regenerated. It stabbed into her and drained her as a power source and regenerated."

    Amy holds out her other hand, palm-up, her ring becoming her soul gem--the 'egg' form--in her hand. The deep red is marred by roiling darkness filling the top, somewhere between a fourth and a third of it.

    Amy looks serious. "You've... you've seen us fight. You've seen that with magic running on soul power, I'm... I'm an unkillable Witch-hunting machine, until I'm out. And then..."

    Amy closes her eyes and shakes her head.

    She opens her eyes again. "I think... like I don't think Belkans have Kyubey's technology--magic, whatever-- but..."

    Amy's eyes widen at a memory.

    "...Oh my god. Hannah once told me that... that if Ancient Belka had this technology, they would weaponize Soul Gems if they could. I... couldn't imagine what that meant at the time, but now..."

    Amy shakes her head again. "Anyway, I don't think it's exactly the same, but..." She looks to Chrono, seriously. "Is there any any chance the makers of that crown found some way to make it run on soul power... Are there, is a Lost Logia like that possible? And if it is, then that means... well, I'm getting the impression that the people who'd make something like that, wouldn't particularly care about a candidate surviving if they fail the trial. I don't... I don't think she'll turn into a Witch, or anything, but y'know," she looks to Mamoru sadly, "if we don't want her dead, we probably need to get her free of that thing before we destroy it -- or purify it, if it can spend her life to resist it."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Amy-chan," Rashmi says quietly. "Those are all really good questions, but they're questions that have to wait until we can actually find answers, to answer them. We're not *gonna* get that now. All we can do is be careful, be ready, and keep an eye out."

It's difficult to tell whether Rashmi's sighing at the situation, or the empty bowl in front of her. They're not *equal* tragedies, but one is definitely more immediate. Then, a thought occurs.

"Oh hey Usa-chan. Setsuchan's planning on setting out a big American Thanksgiving in here, and she asked me if there was anything she could put out that Hinoiri-chan or other veggies would prefer. Which led me to the question... *Is* it okay if we let Hinoiri-chan in on the Shed now? Or should it wait until after Mahounet's ready to set up?"

Sugata Shindo has posed:
"If she'll take purification as an attack, then we'll just have to risk it, if we don't want to kill her," Sugata says, after a moment of consideration. "It's good to see you, Chiba-san. I slipped in while you were all busy. There didn't seem to be a reason to disturb you all."

A faint shrug.

"Purification is a powerful magic, and Wako-chan can hold back an enormous amount of power with her barriers. If she gets her caught in the 'hamster ball' as they usually call it, it's as worth a shot as anything else on actually saving her life. We're lacking information as to how this whole thing works; it could as well be that once she completes the succession trial, it will kill her anyway."

Koji Silvia has posed:
All of this, it's all pretty heavy stuff, so Koji steps back from Bow, and then he looks around...

When Amy speaks up, he says, "I... actually could use one of those. When Hannah rebuilt Hanzo, she used a lot of Belkan knowledge. It's why I'm more physically focused in combat than most of the other Mages here. Maybe there's something in one that we can use to update him. With everything going on... any little edge can help."

Exhaling, he says, "Being around Hannah, and what she talked about Belkan culture... everything is a test. A ruler has to be strong enough to defend the world, protect it's people, and to fight off any would-be pretenders. But... this thing... this Crown... it looked old. Older even. There's a chance that this predated what we would know as Modern Belkans. Chrono would know more about their history than I would. I have little bits and pieces from Hannah and Hanzo before he broke. What we need is the rules of the test... We heard what it called her. Princess of Nothing. Maybe because she didn't declare herself as the new Princess of Tharkad, the test changed. It could also be defective because it's so old. It might do us some good to go back to the wreck or check the Devices that Amy brought back. There might be old and recoverable data on the Crown, how it was used in the past, and how the tests work."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"An American-style Thanksgiving? Like in the movies?" Usagi hums, having clearly been distracted by the heavy subjects brought up, and nods, slowly, "I think... it's not that I don't trust Hinoiri-chan, the problem has always been, well... we come in here without our henshins up, and that means potentially trusting her with a lot of information... but, I don't think she's ever outed anyone, and I don't think keeping her out is really... worth it? I mean, she never sold me out, so it's got my vote of approval."

A little shrug, and a smile. "Naru-chan's mostly vegetarian too, so some veggie dishes and veggie-friendly ones would be really nice. American food tends to be pretty heavy, right?"

She hops up, to get more katsu, and then, after a moment, drops another chicken cutlet into Rashmi's bowl. Eat! Eat!

And then she looks at Bow, face serious, and nods, sharp.

"Exactly. For everyone hurting, and everyone that's suffered, we'll make this work. We'll help you get your family back. Obsidian doesn't get to do what they've done, and not get hit with everything we have."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru nods to Sugata, then addresses Amy: "I don't think purification works that way. It only attacks the dark energy. It hurts because the dark energy itself gets hooks in, like a burr or a tick or something. Not that ticks have hooks... but it's not a physical attack. The important thing is that it shouldn't be interrupted, which is why I was suggesting everyone go after her at once -- but you're right, I didn't see what happened."

He glances at Rashmi's bowl, then GeStUrEs?!?!? at the buffet behind them. There's so much left. So much.

"Uhhhh. I guess, sure," Mamoru says to Rashmi's question after glancing to Usagi, "But then we're moving the Rainbow Crystals."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy holds the sword out to Koji, then remembers they're on a school campus and puts it back in the case and holds that out. "Just, like... if there's anything left over, return that for others to use, I guess? And um... is there a chance I can see how you try to get data off it?"

    "...I don't have high hopes for any sort of historical records being on a modern Belkan parade weapon that was probably just flashed with the standard image at the OEM or whatever, but you never know, maybe we'll learn something about where her ship's from or been."