2291/Wellness Check: Hinoiri and Entrapta

Wellness Check: Hinoiri and Entrapta
Date of Scene:	03 February 2025
Location:	Dorms #1
Synopsis:	Worried about Rashmi's slide into depression, Entrapta and Hinoiri, separately, converge on her dorm room to offer help, comfort, hot cocoa, and videogames. The scene is fraught, but at the end of it, two of Rashmi's smartest friends now know each other, and Rashmi has cause to be proud of Hinoiri, and even fonder of her kohai, Entrapta.
Cast of Characters:	Rashmi Terios, 281, Hinoiri Kirara

---

Rashmi Terios has posed:
It's been close to a week since that awful day, and Rashmi has been... not difficult to find, per se, but very much not as visible as she has been. Between the Black Moon Clan and other various threats, people have a lot to worry about. And while intellectually she knows it's the wrong choice... it's really, really hard to argue against 'causing already worried people more trouble,' and thus Rashmi has simply... faded back from social interaction, in ways that Entrapta may recognize;

When people offer to help, 'it's okay.'
When people ask how she's doing, simply a smile and a 'I'm dealing.'
When people ask for help, help is given, but silently.

In short, Rashmi seems to be trying very, very hard to get back to the point in her life where she faded into the wallpaper. Why?

Perhaps she needs to be called on it.

One thing that hasn't stopped though, is that Rashmi regularly checks to make sure Entrapta's been eating, and brings food if the answer is no.

But she's awfully quiet these days.

And she hasn't showed up to class, today, though if texted about it, the answer comes fairly quickly. << It's okay, I just needed today off. >>

Nevermind that being a Good Student is one of Rashmi's top fi-- eig-- --ten priorities.

Entrapta (281) has posed:
Doors are hard. Well, no, doors are simple. Specific social situations which include doors are mindbogglingly difficult, though. And Entrapta is standing staring at Rashmi's door as if it has the secrets to the universe and she wants them to disgorge, right nao!

"Okay, so she wants to be cheered up or she doesn't, and both of those have shown signs of equal levels of support with limited situations from which to draw the data but no matter which it is I am socially bound to check and find out but she's in her room and I've never been on this side of the door before without you know, breaking in behind their back, but someone's always been out when I did that and you just go up and knock? Or let yourself in? Or is there another path that's required to this thing?"

She actually keeps talking, but it seems a bit disjointed. She isn't sure how to 'check on someone', having never had someone to check on before. But she's holding a hot cocoa, in three layers of cup to protect her hands, and looks as stymied as a video game chracter who has come up on a door without an 'open' prompt.

Hm. Truly a quandary.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
If there was one thing that Hinoiri understood, it was... okay, there was a lot of things Hinoiri understood. But having heard that Molly had died recently had... hit her hard. For a multitude of reasons. One of which being she'd threatened the girl once and left her deeply, emotionally scarred.

The other was she knew the girl mattered a lot to Rashmi.

And third... well... Hinoiri understood the signs of 'withdrawal'. She'd done it enough times herself. And she knew it could suck. When you needed someone and nobody was there. But, in this place? People had been there for her and so she was going to try and be there for her. And so she'd come up with a plan. This plan had involved going to the Korma first... which was why she had a big bag in hand as she made her way towards Rashmi's room. You see, when she'd been down, Rashmi had done one thing to help her cheer up... and she was hoping this thing would help Rashmi cheer up this time.

She did not expect a strange girl outside Rashmi's room, though. "Heyyyyy. Ummm... friend of Rashmi's? Or Agemaki-san or Sakai-san?" she asked, grinning to her... before... reaching by her and just knocking. Knock-knock-knock-knock-knock, knock-knock.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
When Nicomachea arranged for her being blocked from making use of his simulations, Rashmi... was *so upset* for awhile, but eventually worked through the logic. Being a problem-solver and a worrier by nature, she understood how the ability to recreate a scenario and try and game it until you get desired results... might not actually be as helpful as one might initially assume. So she put a less temporary lock in place, to be lifted under specific verbal and biofeedback conditions, and... simply dwelled on the issue the old-fashioned way.

While trying to escape from the entire problem by diving into her light novels. 'Rune Sky Rhapsody -- Volume 28,' in this particular moment. Her head pops up, upon hearing the knock, and confusion reigns on her face for a moment. There's the urge to just tell them to go away please, but... being impolite would cause more problems than it probably would solve. Thus, she sighs, clambers off her bunkbed, and toward the door, which she cracks open enough for half her face to be visible.

And it's really not a pretty sight; she's either forgotten to brush her hair or didn't see the point, and definitely didn't tie it up in her favored hairstyle. So a frizzy, crumpled mess of hair frames a face gone puffy and sore from crying, and falls all the way to the floor.

"...Entrapta-chan? Hinoiri-chan? What's up?"

Entrapta (281) has posed:
Oh. Well then. It's that simple. Entrapta looks entirely normal for her, which is halfway confused and about ten percent lost. But she does not panic. No reason to panic. "Hello. Do I know you?" she asks, as the...person, she assumes? Knocks on the door by her. Literally by her. The phrase has multiple meanings, none of which are important at this moment pay attention self!

"I do not know," she says honestly to respond to Rashmi's question. "There were many suggested details to allow me to make assumptions but they are no substitute for real data."

She pauses, looking from messy Rashmi to Flame-hair Newperson Mcsomethingsomething, then says, "I brought cocoa. And I did not break into your room." Wait, was that an option?

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara shook her head. "No, but nice to meet you. I'm Hinoiri Kirara." Then Rashmi was there and... oof. She looked like crap. "Uhhhhh... Wait, Entrapta? Like... the one Catra mentioned? Or someone else? And I... brought violence, and also did not break into your room."

She opened the bag to show Rashmi what was inside. It was... a game console. With a game, smash bros! "Your parents let me borrow it. What do you say, wanna play princess for a bit and get lit on fire?" Because... well... Hinoiri stil lwasn't the best at it, but she often chose characters who had fire. She had a thing. Especially villains. Oh, she loved playing the villains.

"... Also, I brought hugs if you want one. You look like you need one..."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Already the Entrapta magic is working; if you have a good enough understanding how her mind works, what the younger girl says is perhaps the most heartfelt sign of worry Rashmi has ever heard.

After all, at what other point would Entrapta take action without having sufficient data to *have a plan?*

and Hinoiri *borrowed her family's Playcube* to bring her entertainment and company.

...You really, *really* can't deny that kind of effort. It just sends all the wrong messages.

With a quiet sigh, Rashmi steps back to open the door further, gathering up her frizzy hair. "C'mon, both of you... and thanks." Snatching a hair tie from her desk, she pauses for a moment, staring at the desk/bunkbed she's claimed as hers. "So uh... I have my desk, and my bed, for sitting," she says as she bundles her hair up in a *very* temporary arrangement just to get it off the floor. "Oh... also, Hinoiri-chan? Yeah that one, and she's my kohai. Entrapta-chan... thank you *very* much for the cocoa, that's very nice of you."

As she talks, she rummages in her section of the dorm closet, finally coming out with an adapter for the Playcube.

Entrapta (281) has posed:
We are ALL about the wrong messages, around here. "I don't know a Cat-Ra yet. Or I might, I don't remember anyone's name until they have moved past a certain data level." What that means, is that she doesn't memorize anything until it's valuable enough to her to fill her memory with. Which is actually -really- important, as a way to understand her.

Turning from Red to Rashmi, Entrapta glances at the room as it's opened. She knows this room. This is her room when she's down. That tells her a lot more than anything social would have. "I did not bring enough chocolate," she says firmly. Then she taps her phone with a loose finger. "Send a drone with chocolate. Full load."

Then she hands over what she's brought. "I do not need to sit. This is a mood day. I do not know how you handle those, but if you can tell me I'll ...get out of the way while this red person makes it happen."

Oh yeah, totally nailed that one. Also she knows how awful she is at this stuff and is admitting it. Go me.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara blinked a few times and just... eyed... Entrapta. Oh. This girl was... this girl was a person. That was really all she could say here. Of all the people that were, this girl was one of them. And she... certainly was.

She walked into the room and... "Sweet Sora..." she whispered softly. "Okay... wow..." She walked into the room and pushed open the blinds, letting some air in. Then paused, and opened a window. It was cold outside, sure, but some fresh air might do the girl some good. At least Rashmi had roommates so it likely... wasn't the worst thing ever?

"Trust me, if there was a decent guide on how to approach 'mood days' all of our lives would be so much easier," she said. "Just sit, grab a controller when it's offered and pretend you know what you're doing. Also, trust me. There's not enough chocolate in the world to fix every problem."

"I'll sit at the end of the bed. Rashmi, do try to control yourself and not make a move on me, I know how irresistable I am," Hinoiri said... complete with a hair flip. Obviously teasing and acting playful.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Upon hearing Entrapta volunteer to go away while someone else makes the mood day better, Rashmi freezes. Then looks down at herself for a moment, then back up... and a very pained expression crawls across her face, made all the more wincier by Hinoiri's frank commentary on the state of her third of this place. Sighing heavily, she looks down at the hot cocoa i her hands, then shakes her head. "...Entrapta-chan? I think it would actually help a lot if you *didn't* leave. You're here because you care, and... I know how hard it is for you when someone else's really big feelings are involved."

As Hinoiri tries to make a terrible joke to lift the mood, Rashmi manages a dry chuckle, wrinkling her nose. "I'll do my very best," she says gravely... then glances at Entrapta. "...For the people in this room who take words at face value, that was sarcasm, and can be ignored as humor. So..."

A fairly high-end laptop computer is plucked from the charm hanging around her neck, and the adapter fitted. Then, she sets up the old Playcube, and arranges the electronics on her desk.

"So we don't have a TV," she says. "...But there's a reason I supply for movie night, in this dorm."

And Nicomachea chimes, and with a tiny *bwip!* a large, flat rectangle of projected holographic light springs into being, right in front of the closets.

"...Nicomachea figured out Bluetooth *months* ago."

With that, she hops up onto the other end of the bed. "So... I know I told you, Hinoiri-chan, but I don't think I've told you *why* I'm so down, Entrapta-chan?"

Entrapta (281) has posed:
Don't go. A simple enough statement, and Entrapta responds by scratching her left cheek with her right hand. Do I care? She decides to gather the data on that, and maybe figure out if it's true. She's almost certain, but it's better to be sure.

A half-second later she sees Rashmi pull a computer out of her charms, which she wasn't fully aware was a physical possibility. However at this point she's seen so many things which are nearly impossible under what she would call Physics that she barely bats an eye.

"I have had some luck with adapting magical states to allow you to at least temporarily use the wrong type of magic to power your alternate system, but it's too unstable to actually use at this time." Just drops that out, as she looks at the window. And a drone whacks into it on the outside, falling to the ground with its load of chocolate. She frowns. "I should look at that programming..."

The screen lighting up? That's small stuff. But she pauses, looking at Hinoiri, and then says, "Oh. I mean, that's ...amazing?"

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara gave a small nod. "See? It's pretty easy to... well... it's pretty easy to shove people away when we're hurting, to try and hide the fact we're hurting. It's not healthy. I uhhhh, know that now," she said, a bit grudgingly, face red.

However, the bringing of the device was interesting. That had to mean Entrapta was in the know. She perked up a little. "Oh? So you're in on RHA's most poorly hidden secret?" she asked before taking a seat. "Well, then I guess I can fully introduce myself. Hinoiri Kirara, unicorn of Kirakirafantastica, put into a human body due to magic mirrors." Pause. "Rashmi was an earth pony," she whispered with a small grin.

"So... you play with magic power sources? Tell me, how much do you know about crystal magic?" she asked, before taking a controller but, well...

She was going to let Rashmi set the pace, on that. And it seemed Rashmi was intending to tell Entrapta about what happened... and why she was so hurt...

Entrapta (281) has posed:
Oh, right. Too late and having missed it, Entrapta reviews the conversation up to this point and COMPLETELY MISSED SOMETHING! She pauses, blinking, then turns to Rashmi. "I was not entirely...I'm sorry, please can you say that again?" She has never in her life had to ask that. Yet, here we are.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"I said, I don't think I've told you what's got me so upset," Rashmi says, with the kind of gentleness that says that she doesn't have to *be* patient, because she understands. "Which is an off-angle way of asking if you wanted to know. Do you?"

Then Hinoiri asks about crystal magic, and the smile on Rashmi's face is small, but genuine. "Entrapta-chan, Hinoiri-chan was a *scholar* of magic on her world," Rashmi follows up. Because if two big brains in the magical disciplines can meet and create wonders... well, then *some* kind of good would have come out of her awful feelings. "I know Etherian magic won't be the same, but... Hinoiri-chan, Entrapta-chan's a genius engineer, and while *she* never had magic herself, Etheria might have been about as magical as Kirakirafantastica. Ask her about her hair, sometime. Later, though. For now-- Wait is your drone okay, Entrapta-chan? This is the third floor."

While the talk is talking, Nicomachea connects to the laptop, through it to the old Playcube, and chimes. Rashmi pushes the chonky, spring-loaded power button, and the game begins to boot up.

Entrapta (281) has posed:
So many things to handle at once. It's a bit much, and Rashmi's understanding would be appreciated if it were noticed. Someday Entrapta will be at a point where she sees what is happening around her, how much care is put, but right now she's trying to adapt to it all.

"...I'm having trouble deciding what to do first," she admits. Hinoiri's statement has some priority. Rashmi is hurt, and that's ...and her drone fell down and ...and Rashmi says that it's okay to check first O Thank Dawg!

"Oh thank you so much, I honestly had no idea what I was going to do there!" she blurts, then goes to the window to look at her drone. Which is coming back up. "That's a good girl, come on in. you dropped some, but it's okay. I'll carry you now." She tucks the drone away in her pocket, then turns back. "She brought more chocolate!"

Okay. Now that emergency is handled, she says in a stream of words, "YES I study magic Rashmi tell me everything I'm listening I SWEAR but I also have to answer this it's important!" Breathe! "I want to see you as a unicorn what's a unicorn I've never heard of one before is it magical tell me about the mirrors later but right now yes I know crystal magic! Our world is powered by crystals, and the magic is on a wavelength that's detectable using crystal amplifiers even now! There's some bleedthrough from the locations we came through to get here!"

Breathe. She takes another breath to go on.

Somebody stop her.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara blinked and shook her head. "Oh! No, I was a student, not a scholar! I hadn't gotten that far, yet. I uhhhh... was the student of our world's most powerful mage, though. And... had I not... run into difficulties, I would have, ummmm... likely been one."

As the drone came in, Hinoiri blinked. "Did... you make that? Out of this world's tech? That's incredible! And ummm... a unicorn is like... okay. You have a pony, right? Like, four legs, two colored manes, assorted coat colors? Well, we're like that, but with horns. Oh, and earth ponies have like... nature magic, where they can make things grow in the dirt better and such. Crystal magic is the kind of... magical technology my world makes. Gemstone magic, things like that. Rubies, sapphires, all kinds that we can put in different spells woven into. It's... advanced, in a way, but nothing like this world's technology. I've studied magic, but I haven't had a lot of success. Like, I understand a lot of how the singing magic of this world works, but I haven't had much success using it. I... do suspect our magic may be slightly different, at least. Catra and Adora never really seemed to understand what I was doing either, but... hey, you're welcome to take a look at some of it later. I don't have my notes, but... one second." She got up before taking off her boot and pausing. "Don't tell anyone about this," she said quickly. She then pulled off a secret compartment and held it out. "Here. What do you think of these?"

One of the things were a little, damaged 'wing' clip... the other was... a piece... of a device. "I had a third, but ummm... it... wasn't... really mine and I gave it back to its owner. But I managed to cobble together a magic henshin with the three pieces."

Luckily, from this angle, Rashmi couldn't likely see the contents of the little container. And there was a game to be played!

Rashmi Terios has posed:
And Rashmi just lays a gentle hand on Entrapta's shoulder. "Thank you for the chocolate, Entrapta-chan," she begins. "But before you go on, just... let me get this out, so you can have the context, okay? You sit down, and write down the questions you have, and when you're done you can play back the words I said in your head."

Looking up from her kohai, she makes a complicated series of expressions at Hinoiri, as if to say 'I know this seems odd, but I've learned to understand it, and this has the best chance of helping her.'

Teenagers and their Morse Faces, man.

"So... I told you about Molly-chan, before. Well... last week, we were fighting a monster, almost like normal, but there were people who were dragged into..."

She pauses again, looks up at Hinoiri for a moment just to make sure what she says is as correct as possible. "...We call it the Dusk Zone, it's a world that seems completely made of Dark Energy. Apparently if you use that kind of magic, you can use the Dusk Zone to teleport, but... the only life it can really support is life made of Dark Energy, and if a non-magical person spends too long in there... they get turned into Dusk Zone creatures too. So of course we had to go rescue them... But to do that, we had to go into that world ourselves."

At the memory of that world, Rashmi shudders. "It's... corrosive, in every sense of the word. It feels like the air and the sand *hate you, personally,* and it infects your magic, your mind..."

Never once does she level an accusatory look at Hinoiri. Rashmi is known to the unicorn well enough by now, to know that she wouldn't have given *Sunbreaker* a dirty look over the memory of the Dusk Zone.

But the problem is, all the creatures that live there, they're *attracted* to the magic of our world. Like they *know* it, and they *hate it so much,* and want to stamp it out... So while the rest of us got the civilians out, Molly-chan... fought the monsters. And the more she fought, the more were drawn to the magic, and..."

The Devicer's throat closes, for a moment. "...Molly-chan destroyed the device that created the portal, because monsters were starting to go through it. And the last thing I saw before it closed, was her getting the kind of hurt people usually die from."

Closing her eyes for a moment, Rashmi sighs, and pushes down a fresh bubble of tears. "So yeah... that's why today is a mood day, Entrapta-chan. But I can promise you, I won't get mad at you for trying to help me feel better. Because it's not your fault, and it's not *your* fault, Hinoi--"

Her eyes fall to the bits, and she leans over to pick up the Device piece. "...Hinoiri-chan... where... did you find this?"

Entrapta (281) has posed:
There's a lot going on. Entrapta's face is calm, quiet, and thoughtful as she reaches for the thing that Rashmi just showed her. As she listens. Because that's what she was told to do.

She does pull out her pad and pencil and writes with one hand, when it's taken from her reach. She was going to...do as she's told. But she can't just sit quietly, she slips her drone out of her pocket and...fiddles? Just getting her hands doing something.

If anyone were to look, they'd see extremely precise manipulations of wings and parts, done with nothing but her fingers. Without even looking at the little device. For the moment she's not the center of attention, and that's absolutely fine.

Then she reaches and picks up the damaged wing clip, and runs her hands over it. Giving it a twist, she frowns then flicks it with her finger once. "It needs to be heated slightly for the repair. Give me a second."

Then she's got a lighter from a pocket and she's heating the metal. While holding it on the end of her pencil, as she jots down notes with the other end.

Not another word.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara stared, her mouth falling open. She... she'd heard that Molly...

But that. "She... she died... she was... in the dusk zone? She... oh... oh Sora... no..." A hand moved to her mouth. "W-why didn't..." And stopped. No. Sunbreaker... was gone. And that meant what Sunbreaker could do was gone. She couldn't have saved her, even if she'd been contacted.

So instead, she was quiet. She didn't even object when Entrapta started playing with the remnants of her 'device'. Fortunately, Rashmi asked her a question!

"Oh, the wing thing? So, there's this sweet guy who runs this shop I helped like... a year ago. He has a lot of old stuff and when I was driving by I saw him struggling with this crate. I offered him a hand and well... I just go by every so often. He said I remind him of his granddaughter and has a lot of really neat, old stuff. I was there when he showed me this, then some grim came by and attacked the shop, I ended up keeping it since I think they might have been after it."

"The other thing is... oddly similiar. Grim were chasing me and I just felt this... magic... thing. In these tunnels. I ended up finding it and it worked with the other two pieces and allowed me to become Equivalence. I actually saw you right after, though I was a little... nervous at the time. Since I knew the last time you'd seen me with magic I uhhhh... yeah.... and so... I was trying to like... prove I could be... useful. You know? Before I showed it..."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"You found this... In the old amu--" Rashmi's breath cuts off, as if hewn by an ax, and for just a moment there is *real* anger in her eyes. But she doesn't say anything. She looks down at the bit of Device technology, turning it over in her hands as she does what she does, has learned to do, say nothing until you've worked through the chain of logic. She was desperate, she hadn't learned better, she wanted to not feel helpless and she had no idea what she found, just that it was magic, and with enough duct tape and good wishes, maybe she wouldn't feel so helpless...

Her father's gruff, kindly voice floats through her head. 'If you ever see someone stealin' food... no you didn't.'

And this... is not too far from that, is it? And she could tell Hinoiri who this belongs to, but after that outpouring of stunned grief... What would it serve?

And what would Entrapta think? The poor girl who wants so badly to help, that just fixing *a thing* is an attempt to fix *anything?*

And so Rashmi closes her eyes, and chooses to act kindly.

"Well, it's definitely Device tech, this thing... I'll hold onto it until I find its owner, if that's okay?"

She doesn't meet Hinoiri's eyes, when she says that. She's a terrible liar. But there's a part of her that really, really hopes her friend will choose this moment to let it go. The old Hinoiri probably wouldn't have, but she's changed. She's grown.

Please let her also be wise.

Instead, she focuses on Entrapta, watching her kohai multitask to a level she herself could only dream of.

Entrapta (281) has posed:
Entrapta takes the heated metal then begins to rub it on her coveralls. She rubs it fast, for a good two-three seconds, then glances around the room. Then she leans down to her boot, pulling out some kind of tool.

And slams a hammer down on the little clasp thing, once. Sharply. Then she blows on it, cooling it slightly, and taps it once with her fingertip.

"Okay, it'll hold a charge now," she says. "I reset the resistance inside the metal, the electrons were flowing all weird. Magnets are funny sometimes. Do you want it to do anything specific? I'd need better tools to do anything precise."

She just diagnosed a mixed up electron, and fixed it, with a lighter and a hammer. What does she consider 'precise'?

Then she looks at Rashmi, and blinks. "Should I ask questions now? I can keep them for later if we want to play the video game instead. There's nothing urgent on my list, but I don't know what's actually urgent because most of what you two are saying relies on previous experiences which I was not there for."

Pause.

And then, she adds, "And the person possibly dying sounds bad, very bad." She seems uncertain.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara glanced over to Entrapta as the girl started, well... She had a *hammer*. And so she missed the fury on Rashmi's face for a moment. Because she was focused on the work that Entrapta was doing.

Until Rashmi said it was part of a device. "Huh?" she asked, glancing back at it. There it was... that worry. For a moment, as she weighed the options. She'd only needed one more piece, then she could be Equivalence again. Right?

... Right?

Did she want to be Equivalence again? Did she need to be?

She decided, just this once, to be wise. She nodded. "Yeah, I guess.... you're doing that test thing, right? On devices? And if you can use that, it'll probably help. I'm not sure what it was, though. I... want to say it was some kind of... shielding thing? I think the durability I had when Riventon tried to tear me apart as Equivalence probably saved my life. Especially when he sent me into that bus. I hope it's useful."

She then glanced back to Entrapta. "And... you know what? If you want it, you can have that, too. Equivalence... is gone. I'm not her, and I don't need to be her. That's... a past part of my life. Hopefully you can put it to better use than I can."

It... hadn't been easy. But, honestly? She felt better. Letting it go. She didn't need the hope she made... She had the hope all of her friends had given her.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"It is, Entrapta-chan," Rashmi says softly. "Because that person was my best, first ever friend, and I'm probably going to miss her forever." Then Hinoiri says that she suspects the module had something to do with shielding, and freezes for a moment... Before tucking the bit of technology into Nicomachea, to get it out of her hands before she finds out of you really *can* damage a Device by sheer unpowered squeezing.

( You probably can't. )

Instead, she nods to Entrapta, and starts to speak before Hinoiri just... gives up *both* bits, and puts Equivalence to bed completely.

Now, Rashmi knew that her friend had made some pretty big strides, as a side effect of having to live the same day over and over for months, if not years.

But if ever there needed to be *concrete proof* that the old Hinoiri was as close to gone as could ever be inspected, that would be it.

And even though she feels awful, even though there's a part of her raging and screaming WHAT IF SHE HAD THIS A WEEK AGO and even though it still hurts to mentally reach for those sims and find an answer to a problem that cannot be solved... She is also *so proud* of her friend, that she lunges across the bed to wrap her arms around Hinoiri's shoulders. "Wherever you go from here," she says quietly, "you are gonna do *so great.* I know it."

Leaning back with a sniffle, she dabs a tear from the corner of her eye, and clears her throat.

"No, let's play some video games now, Entrapta-chan," she says, once she can trust herself to speak. "You're my friends too, and I want to have fun together. And tomorrow, Entrapta-chan, d'you want to work on those target sensors we talked about?"

Maybe she's punished herself enough. Maybe she can come back into the world, a little bit.

As a treat.

Entrapta (281) has posed:
Entrapta just pockets the piece of metal. It's not earth tech, but then not all alien tech is complicated. Still, she's pretty certain that she can make some use of it.

She seriously does not know how to respond to what she's told, and the red haired one is talky too. In fact, it looks like she's just messing around with things, or ignoring. She is not.

"Video games are interesting studies in problem solving," she says, not using sheep power at all to get there. Though she could. "I'll bring my diagrams so you can see what's in my head?" Yeah, story of our lives, girl. If the world could only see what's going on in our heads.

But for now, it'll probably be enough.

"Your friend loved you," she says softly. There's hugging going on, and she doesn't want it to stop. Even if it's not for her. "Math never lies."

Aaaand that made sense, I swear it! Shush.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara let out a squeak as suddenly she was BEING hugged. "And... and we're hugging? Now? O-okay? I... uhhhh... t-thanks? Err, I didn't think I did anything... I... thanks. Just... thanks. I really hope so. I ust... after a point I knew I had to let it go, you know? And it's not like those things were ever really mind. They're just the junk I found. Maybe you'll be better able to use them than I was. I..." She then stopped and sighed. And just hugged her back. "And... I'm... sorry. I know this... hurts. And I know it won't become 'okay'... but we can at least try and make it okay."

Of course, once the hug came away? It was time... to game! And Hinoiri was only... slightly... overly competitive and fought with a cold blooded ruthlessness that almost made her seem like a dark general again. Almost.