2141/Baseline, With Bowl

Baseline, With Bowl
Date of Scene:	05 December 2024
Location:	Gullwing Coffee
Synopsis:	Kazuo is turning eighteen and the Fade is approaching. With that, opportunity - so Ami and Naru are given the task of collecting data as he grows, to see if the mahoujin can learn anything about the Fade.
Cast of Characters:	Kazuo Saitou, Ami Mizuno, Naru Osaka

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Kazuo Saitou has posed:
The request that Ami received for a meeting was a polite one; Kazuo is pretty much always polite to the Senshi, to the point at which Usagi has yelled at him for it. (Okay, his 'polite' with Makoto is a different variety, but they apparently have an established punching relationship, or something.) When he turns up at Gullwing to meet her for it, he has a moderately-sized box in hand, a little over the width of a shoebox and rather shorter lengthwise. He also has a Naru, whom he asked to come with on the basis that she might find it interesting, and also he'd buy her coffee.

Once her coffee and Ami's drink and, as an afterthought, his own coffee are all situated, and people are leaving them alone at their table, Kazuo says, in the kind of conversational casual voice that doesn't draw attention, "I have one offering and one request. The offering's the fast one, so let's get that over with first."

He nudges the box across the table toward Ami. "A couple of days ago, someone calling herself a 'level forty member of the Witches 3' sicced a monster on someone. It was a monster, not one of the heartstealer rifles. But it pulled his heart crystal out anyhow. A couple of people took it down and got the crystal back. It left behind the bowl it was probably created from - it was," he grimaces, "ramen-themed - but also a broken eggshell, that a bird-shape of black smoke drifted out of. I saved them on the off chance you two could get any information out of them, or draw any connections."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Ami Mizuno was always happy to meet up if needed. The fact that it's such a polite, formal request does make her worry just a tad however. The meeting place being the coffee shop helped just a bit. Her curiosity was gnawing at her though.

With both hands wrapped around her coffee cup to allow the heat of the beverage to seep into her fingers her attention is fixed on Kazuo and Naru. Moreso when he begins to explain and pulls out the box with such an odd item in it.

"How strange. So it was a youma, but it left remnants?" This conundrum earns a puzzled expression, eyebrows drawing together, as she reaches for the box to regard what's inside. "That's unusual for a youma. Unless it was perhaps some item that was corrupted into a youma. It was two different items though..." Her mind is already starting to consider possibilities as she mumbles beneath her breath.

Looking up she glances at Kazuo, then Naru, suggesting, "Is it possible the egg itself was the means of corruption to create the youma? If so then that means something is creating these 'eggs'."

Naru Osaka has posed:
There's a Naru! There was promise of coffee, always a feature, and curiosity. That is generally more than enough to have a Naru along. Honestly, just the company is sufficient, but the coffee and curiosity are an excellent compliment to it.

Naru leans in, not only to be able to hear Kazuo's quiet works for Ami, but also to be able to see what's in the box. "Oooh, more heart stealers? That's unfortunate. Full yank from the monster?" She asks, with a certain level of professional curisoity about the state of the crystals.

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
"The victim was talking and trying to crawl, so not as bad as the first and most recent waves. More like the intermediate version." At least, Kazuo guesses that's what Naru means by asking about full yank. "The Maiden would have more information; I wasn't handling that side of things."

The box holds one anonymous empty ramen bowl, presumably the item corrupted into a youma, and the promised little white egg, cracked and broken.

Kazuo inclines his head to Ami. "In some fashion or other. One instance isn't enough for me to draw conclusions from, but ... you have considerably more analysis ability than I do. Which is why I have the request, too." But they can get to that in a moment; he glances between the two to see if they have any other questions about the egg.

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Ami Mizuno raises her drink up to take a long sip. It was sugary, sweet, not the acrid dark black coffee she drank on occasion when she really needed to wake up. This was more for relaxation and a bit of energy to get the mental juices flowing. "Mm. I'll do some research on it," she agrees. "I can let the Mercury Computer run some analysis, maybe see if it's left any residual traces that we could track or use as an early warning system for if they attempt this method again. Maybe. I've been getting a lot of data with such things lately so it's possible."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"That's a good sign." Naru agrees as she sips from her coffee and considers the bowl and the egg. "Who is the Maiden? Do I know them?" She shakes her head a little, with a soft tsk at herself.

"There's a whole branch of magic that works from eggs, as being a part of their power?" Naru muses as she reaches for her phone and flicks thorugh her notes. "I mean, it's a common symbolism and likely not so directly related, but that's where my brain went first." She considers. "I'm also wondering if the monster evolved from Obsidian and the work on the guns, or if it was the other way around."

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
"You know her, maybe not by that name," Kazuo assures Naru. There's a quick little wave of his hand, and he grins, abruptly looking like an actual teenager instead of just someone pretending to be one. "She's the one that does the hamster balls."

He leans back, and adds, "The smoke did look like a bird, for a moment. But I was too busy to get a really good look. I'll be more careful if I get another round. I can say for certain that it's related to Obsidian; the woman who summoned it mentioned getting a promotion, and how the 'new design for pure heart collection' was working much better. So comparison might be a possibility, and we may see more of this design, or of other ones, to let the Computer have a wider range to work with."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"Hamster balls?" Ami blinks rapidly trying to peice it together only to finally go 'Oh!' "Ginga Otome? She uses the barriers." Otome, of course that makes sense. The Maiden.

Again she falls silent only to lean back in her chair regarding it all. It was a lot to take in. "There are Chara Bearers. They use 'eggs' for their charas, and in the case of a few I know the 'shell' was used to trap them away when they didn't want to deal with them." She might have had a bit of experience with them.

"I... May have gone on a date with one. Once." Her face was already red just admitting that. "It didn't quite work out."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Oh! Oh yes!" Naru looks reassured by the fact that she does know /soemone/ at least. "Yeah, not by that name." She gestures to Ami as she makes the connection and then she nods.

"And new design for the heart colleciton implies that they're expanding on what they've worked on before." Naru looks to Ami and flickers a smile. "Yes.. the Chara Bearers are who I was thiking of. Could one of them have gotten corrupted enough for.." She gestures at the bowl and the egg. "Or am I finding patterns where there are none?"

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
"Maybe," Kazuo says to Naru. It keeps his eyes away from Ami and gives her a chance to let the blush fade. "Or maybe someone tried to reverse-engineer the shells?" Or maybe it's unrelated, but speculation is useful for a good deal more than one individual situation.

A pause. And then he asks, slowly, "What does happen to the charas, and the eggs, when their bearers grow up?"

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"I'm not certain. I never really got to get that far in my research. At the time," Ami explains as she peels off the lid of her coffee to get to the creamy whipped goodness floating ontop. "I was trying to figure out how to keep him from turning into a megalomaniac whenever someone said the word 'prince.' His solution was to have someone put a bucket over his head," she explains.

"I really do need to begin looking into the fade more, though."