507/Questions and souls

Questions and souls
Date of Scene:	26 September 2023
Location:	Administrative Office
Synopsis:	Naru has some questions for Kyouka about souls and witches and the stealing of them.
Cast of Characters:	Naru Osaka, Kyouka Inai

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Naru Osaka has posed:
It's early enough that Naru appears in the doorway to Kyouka's office with coffees in hand. Not quite 'straight from the gym' levels of early, Kyouka wouldn't be at school yet, but early enough.

Naru knocks on the office door, peeking in to see if Kyouka is in yet. "Good morning! I brought coffee." She offers optimistically.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Kyouka is apparently still in the process of getting settled, hanging her jacket on the back of her office chair, when Naru enters. She turns at the sound of the greeting, quirking a brow over the lens of the sunglasses she still wears, although a moment later she pulls them off, folding them and hanging them in the neck of her button-down shirt by the arm.

    "I'm not going to say no to coffee. But I have to question the purpose of such an early visit." She glances at the clock on the wall. "Classes don't even start for another 30 minutes."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"I've been up for ages. It's a gym morning." Naru points out as she steps forward to set one of the coffees on Kyouka's desk for her.

Sleep? That's for other people. Like her roommate who might well still be in bed, no matter that classes start in 30 minutes.

"I was hoping to access the mahou to mundane dictionary." Naru flashes a smile. "Or at least see if ther'es precident after yesterday's fight."

For once, she doesn't look like she was in a fight yesterday. No signs of drain, or dark energy, or injuries, which might be a first for post-fight Naru.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "You can get up whenever you want," Kyouka opines, as she reaches for the coffee set on her desk, lifting it to sniff for a moment before taking a sip. She seems pleased, over all.

    "There was a fight yesterday?" Kyouka seems more interested than distressed- there's always a fight, so the fact that one happened yesterday is not in and of itself distressing.

    She does give Naru a quick glance over, and seeing no sign of distress or injury, feels not need to ask if the girl is alright.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Yeah, it was over pretty quickly. A trio of mahou took down the youma, but it had someone with it with a gun." Naru also sips her coffee, now that Kyouka has accepted the caffeine offering.

"So.. is there a term or phrase, or common concept for yanking out someone's.. essense? Spirit? Soul? Not quite sure what to call it. He wasn't dead, but he certainly wasn't all there anymore either, and it becamse like a crystal thing." Naru frowns a little as she attempts to put the notion into words that will make sense outside her own head.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "A gun? A magic gun? The regular sort aren't generally that effective against non-human or magical adversaries, so you don't see them getting used that often." Kyouka muses, sipping again. The presence of someone with a gun is interesting to her.

    She shrugs at the question about yanking out someone's soul. "I wouldn't say there is a unified term for it. The soul is real, as I'm sure you've gathered- the ethereal force that animates the flesh. It is the source of magic, and some would argue the source of 'self' and intelligence, the body and brain more of a.. vehicle for interacting with the world than the actual origin of our persons. The presence of actual ghosts walking around, who I might add can text me on my cell phone, supports this view, I think."

    She sips again,crossing her arms with the coffee still held in one hand. "Being the source of magic, the 'soul' is desirable for certain malefactors for a variety of purposes. And it can be accessed, harnessed, or stolen in a variety of ways- several that I'm aware of and I'm sure plenty I'm not, since I don't make a habit of researching soul-stealing technology."

    She frowns herself. "Who had their soul crystallized? And by whom?"

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Assuredly a magical gun." Naru nods firmly on that. "Getting shot by it was what did the soul yanking." She sips on her coffee as she listens and nods at various points. Kyouka's words are confirmation to her own theories and research, and experience.

"Some obnoxiously arrogant woman who is working with Riventon." Naru replies as to the who. "Terrible driver too." Because yanking people's souls out isn't high crime enough, mowing them down on the sidewalk just adds to the issue. "I get the sense that it was fairly experimental, based on what Riventon was yelling about."

Naru gestures a little with her coffee. "Some poor bystander. He seemed alright after I put it back into him. A little dazed, but he walked off under his own steam, so that seemed promising."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "A gun which removes and crystallizes one's soul?" Kyouka muses on this fact as well, sipping from her coffee again. "Mmm.. not familiar with the name Riventon. And obnoxiously arrogant women are, unfortunately, all too common, especially on the other side." Not on this one though, nooo siree.

    "Still, that's somewhat concerning... especially since as you say, it was effective against some random bystander who assumedly was not magic. Stealing crystallized soul energy from mundanes is... concerning. Both for the mundanes and also because it means they could harvest quite a lot of energy quite quickly, if they put this method into regular use. And I don't know what they would want to use it for. I'm sure we wouldn't like it, though."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"He gave no signs of being magical." Naru confirms, although she doesn't point out that she doesn't really either. Save for the entire conversation that they are currently having.

"Riventon is a dark side magical researcher." Naru explains. "I don't know him well, but I've met him once before this. He wasn't actively involved though, other than watching." She's thoughtful a moment. "I am going to guess that the gun needs pretty significant recharge time, or something. When we inturrupted their gathering, they didn't just shoot someone else, they fought us for it. if the gun could be used in quick succession, I'd of just ignored us and gone and done it again around the corner while we were freaking out at the bystander. Which they might have done, but based on the yelling about ruining things, I'm going to say not."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "No doubt you're right," Kyouka says, on the topic of the gun being difficult to recharge or reuse quickly, "But if this was really just a test, I've no doubt they will be working to improve the thing. Next time, we may see one that functions more efficiently."

    She chews on her lip, then sips her coffee again. "Too bad you guys couldn't have stolen it. I'd love to get my hands on the thing... I have some contacts who could probably reverse-engineer it.."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Yeah, that's totally possible." Naru mms softly and nods a little on the notion of prototypes and the next one might be more effective.

"Alas, not only did I not think of that, I was pretty focused on getting the crystal back in the bystander guy, but they left it in the car with Riventon." There's a rueful twist of Naru's lips. "I can't take on even a nerdy mahou alone."

There's a little shrug after that acknwoledgement and Naru continues. "Still, if I run into it again, I'll see what I can do. I'm also interested in it from a theoretical standpoint."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "There's value in non-combat roles as much as combat." Kyouka points out generously. "It's possible, perhaps even likely, that you saved that man's life by returning the cystal to him. I'd rather have you do that than steal the gun anyway. And I appreciate you bringing me this information."

    She grins then. "But I won't say no if you manage to snag one in the future. There's nothing quite so satisfying as using the enemy's own weapons against them."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Having the luxury of choice is an underappreciated feature." Naru notes on the combat versus non combat roles. "I certainly saved him from a lengthy hospital stay with puzzled doctors. He was pretty catatonic, and I dont think the mundane machines would have known what to make it of it all."

"If I do get a hold of one, and your contacts come up with anything.. two might ifs, I grant you.. I'd appreciate if they shared their insights." Naru nods in agreement at the notion of snagging one of the guns. A hopeful thing to aspire to.

There's a lingering pause as Naru clearly is thinking about something. "I feel like I've forgotten something.. oh! I remember.. she called herself a witch. Which I've heard of in other contexts as well, but I'm still trying to sort out if its coincidence or relevant."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "I won't begrudge you the desire for the ability to defend yourself." Kyouka says placatingly. "After all, I run a self-defense class. I understand how important it is to feel you have power over at least yourself. I was just saying that the luxury of choice is not always something we have afforded to us... but that doesn't mean we can't still play important roles."

    Kyouka shrugs her shoulders. "I can't promise you anything. You seem like you have a good head on your shoulders, Osaka-san, but I don't know you well enough to trust you yet.. not completely." She smiles, lopsided and reassuring. "But time has the opportunity to change that. And if I learn anything that I don't deem too dangerous to share, then share I will."

    "Not," she says firmly, "That I am encouraging you to go try and steal a gun from the bad guys. But if the opportunity arises.. I think it would be valuable."

    On the topic of witches, she just shrugs again. "A buzzword for a female magic user, usually with negative connotations. It's also a term applied to certain types of youma. It's use in and of itself is not significant, most likely."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Of course." Naru nods in agreement on the notion of promises. "That's just my usual request for information sharing."

"Of course not, I'm not about to go wander into Riventon's laboratory and start helping myself to things." Naru laughs softly. "If I knew where it was to begin with." Although photocopies of his notes? No promises. Probably for the best she doesn't know where it is.

"It felt coincidental, but interesting." Naru clearly has not quite ruled it out, but it's not underlined or bolded as being key in her notes. "She didn't check any of the other boxes that related to the other use of Witch I'd heard. Apparently only so many words to go around, or something."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "I will share information as much as possible," Kyouka says, sipping from the coffee again, still leaning back on her desk with her arms crossed. "I just have to be cautious, that's all. Informational advantage is hard to gain.. and easy to lose."

    "I almost wonder if this is related to the other thing going on.." Kyouka muses, glancing back at the window behind her in thought. "You've seen the leyline map, right? Apparently there's been some attacks at some of the locations noted. Nezu Shrine, for example. I heard from Tsunashi-kun that he can Agemaki-san ran into some trouble there the other day. I can't really see how it might be related, but that doesn't mean it isn't."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"I'm trying to increase our informational advantage." Naru comments quietly. "In a broader sense than just amongst my closest friends. It's a challenge to coax people into talking, but I try."

"Interesting." Naru comments on the mention of the attacks. "That fits with what I was speculating on in terms of power locations, actually. I should talk to them, see what else they noticed. If they need extra power to create those guns, or recharge them, that might be a place they are getting it from."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "You have to understand," Kyouka says, "That secrecy is somewhat baked into this whole magic thing. The rules have changed, recently, and it's taking a lot of getting used to, especially for old hats like myself. But the informational advantage is definitely something to be pursued."

    She nods her head again at Naru's comments about the shrine. "We're not sure what they were after. There was some kind of attack, but Tsunashi-kun said it seemed like a diversion, as if the attack was meant to distract from what they were really doing there. If you could generate any insight into that, it would be most welcome."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Absolutely. I understand the secrecy. I try very hard not to make people toooo uncomfortable with the questions, but the working solo isn't doing us a lot of favours for information." Naru gives a little nod of understanding.

"I might have to go visit the shrine and see what I can see. There might be some lingering .. soemthing to notice." Naru mmms softly and then nods. "I'll see what I can do."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "Well, like I said. Things have changed." Kyouka says, heaving a little sigh. "The rules of the game are changing, and maybe it would be good for us to change operating procedures along with them. But old habits die hard. Keep asking questions- I think it's valuable."

    "You can try. I don't think you'll find much, but who knows." She shrugs. "Just make sure you talk to Tsunashi or Agemaki before you go. Get the low-down on what happened. That should give you some better perspective on what you might look for."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"I dont' really fit with the rules either." Naru gives another little shrug at that idea. "I'd be hardpressed not to ask questions."

Naru lifts her coffee cup in salute to Kyouka. "I'll touch base with them and see what they say. If nothing else, I'll have a lovely field trip and feel oll historically cultured and stuff. It's worth the trip even if there's ntohing magical at all." She gives a little half bow. "Thank you for your time and your insight."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Kyouka smiles, lifting her coffee cup in return. "No problem. And don't hesitate to stop by again. I appreciate having someone doing the legwork of trying to connect the dots. It's never been my particular strong suite. Just be careful, alright? Maybe let Usagi-chan know where you're going and when, just in case. Never hurts to be careful."

    She turns back to her desk, and then adds, "Oh, and thanks for the coffee."