Scene #929: The results are in...!

Owner	Pose
Hinoiri Kirara	Hinoiri Kirara finally, after many hours of study, a lot of assistance and terms that, frankly, to BOTH of them made no sense... Hinoiri was ready. When they arrived, she motioned to three folders. "Here you go, for your respective divisions. You may want to brush up on things. For them as a whole, I triangulated all of the leylines, where their sources are, key points to setup shop, as it were, to absorb energy. Most of which they already knew and so it's not going to do much. I also setup a few things of my own, but that won't really cause much issue." "... Now, onto the brunt of the matter and that which is the real reason I came here. You two can tell whoever you like, but just be careful. There are certain idiots in Obsidian who should not know this. You two, at least, are not on plan 'blow the planet up', so that's why I'm sharing it with you. If you don't want to know, you're welcome to leave and I'll just keep it to myself... otherwise..." She waited for them a moment and, assuming they stuck around... "The leylines were artificially moved. That likely doesn't mean much to you two, but trust me. That is a world shaking affair. Moving ONE leyline can take years. I could move one large one or a dozen small one with about... two years of windup. IF I had no interruptions and IF I had access to enough energy." "There are dozens of large ones and hundreds of small ones. Even Sora would struggle to do this and, well..." She motioned outside. "Sun and moon lifting. So please understand when I say this movement is massive. Nearly all of them have been focused on three points. A minor gathering point in seattle, a slightly larger one in paris... and then a massive focal point in Tokyo. Pretty much every single leyline was focused there. A project like this could have taken decades, possibly centuries. With armies of mages working on it." "And as far as I can tell, there is no records anywhere. Nothing about a massive gathering. Now the leylines are well worn, so they could have been done anytime withing the last like... before a few hundred years ago. Maybe millenia ago. Perhaps it even predates known civilization." "... This is why sparkle skirts keep popping up there. There is so much gathered power that they can't help it. This is why almost all of the 'passive energy gain' systems that different forces have been using give such small returns. And this, well... this is why there's really no other option than Tokyo to setup shop. It's there or nowhere. But because of that, there's going to always be a lot of competition." "So any of your projects? If you want to have access to what you need, I'd keep this under your hat. Unless you want to start being 'bumped' when they realize there's no other options from there. Any questions?"
Double Trouble	Dianora Lagorio already knew all this. Hinoiri told her in Seattle, and had told her not to tell anyone, not even Takashi. This kind of magical theory stuff was way beyond what she cared about, but she was curious. So while Hinoiri talked, Dianora flipped through the stack of papers in her folder. She didn't have a division, not yet at least, she was a freelancer. "So this explains why there's so many magical people in Tokyo. Do you think it explains why so many of us off-worlders ended up here too?"
Takashi Agera	Takashi muses on this mostly silently for a little bit. "Well, I don't think most people need to know this, yeah. It could only make what I'm trying to do and you're trying to do more complicated." he says. "So, by 'for my division' do you mean what's in these papers is santiized enough to be basically useless coverstory fodder?" He asks. While he likes Tomoe well enough, he's on the Board, and so he has to consider him a possible issue. "And yeah, the data I've been able to dig up supports the idea this was done a really, really long time ago. Nothing in magical information I've ever been able to find from any time says anything other than these three spots as hotspots with Tokyo as the hottest. "I'd guess that since magic is basically impossible not to walk into face-first in Tokyo, any portal that opens up to Earth is going to open there. Same deal with the fragments of that warship, the Artha, always falling near the three wards. It's like a center of gravity for magic."
Hinoiri Kirara	Hinoiri Kirara gave a small nod. "Exactly. On top of that... imagine a leyline as like... a magical light. In most worlds, it'd be more spread out. Little lights all over the place, tiny little dots. One thing might crop up, another thing. You might have one pretty cure show up in one city, three hundred miles away you get a Sailor Moon, then on a small island you get one of those puella magi. However, this? This is like ALL of the lights have been gathered and forcefully dragged to one section. For some things? It makes it basically a great lighthouse of magic. Things looking for a place to settle will likely end up here, thinking there's a massive planet of magic, while instead it's all focused on one area." "This is also likely why there's no magic appearing anywhere else. It physically can't appear in most cases. When all the magic ONLY appears in a few places, it won't spread well either. People outside it won't notice and it's not like you can take the magic to them. The further you go, the less magic you can draw on. Eventually you'd run out. Considering where you arrived, I'm sure you've noticed it has been easier to maintain your forms in Tokyo than where you initially ended up." "But in the end, the magic isn't spread out. Gathered as it is, a lot of things will come looking, see that big bundle of tasty magic and try to come for it. And they'll only have Tokyo to nibble on, as it were. Something happened, or was planned to have happened, to create this. Because... well... the veil. I don't know if it was a part of this, or was added later, or possibly even a result of this. I'm... guessing the second, though. Likely a defense by those using the leylines to ensure people wouldn't come looking for the magic, so it would just be theirs. Likely by a user of dark energy.... considering dark energy users are less affected by it as they age."
Double Trouble	Tuscany had been brutal. Double Trouble had been living in the woods hunting like an ''animal'' when Majorina found them. Being brought to Tokyo and let loose with a device that could keep them human-looking without expending their own energy was such a gift. They didn't really believe in loyalty, but they certainly appreciated the support Obsidian had given them. So Dianora nodded her head. "I ''have'' noticed that, yes." They consider the rest of what she said for a moment. It really isn't their thing. They care so little about the bigger picture of what's going on. All they care about is the drama. But in order to manufacture drama, they have to know what's going on. So, she pays attention, and she listens. And then a question pops into her head. "So do you think this explains how I got de-aged when I came here?"
Takashi Agera	Takashi muses on all of it, quietly. It's being added to a series of ideas and theories and knowledge that will all coalesce now and in the future. "I could absolutely feel the loss of magic and access to the Dusk Zone when I left Tokyo and spent some time in Scandinavia - there's almost no magic in that area to speak of. At least by comparison. I had a hard time dragging Dark Energy to myself and that's basically been something natural to me since forever." he adds. "Well, as to why you got knocked down in age? Maybe it's the same deal as Hinoiri not being on four legs." he offers. "This world must change people - but not everyone. Catra's still pretty much just her, as far as she's told me. Maybe it's dependent on... something." "I kinda hate magic. It seems to have rules sometimes and then other times it's just like 'yeah whatever do what it wants'." he grouches.
Hinoiri Kirara	Hinoiri Kirara shook her head. "Ah, no, actually. That's just standard dimensional transferrence. So, even on this world people are aware that time is relative, things like gravity can affect it. Magic also has an effect on it, dimensional magic most of all. For example..." She hmmed and tapped her chin, wishing she had more visual representations, but alas. She did not. "So, some dimensions move faster, some move slower. Some have times that bounce back and forth. One day here will be ten years there this week, but next week one day here will be only a few minutes there. Think of it like a time orbit, much like how your planets revolve around the sun. While, yes, they do move in a circle around it, during some times they move closer, other times further from it. While finding out the exact axis upon which the time fluctuates would take years of research, possibly an impossibility unless you do it over multiple lifetimes." "Now, knowing that, sometimes dimensional magic will have you shift, one way or another. It may give you a different body, such as when you came to my realm you had a... shapeshifting insect body or a uhhhh... kirin." Only the smallest HINT of red in her cheeks. "But here, I'm a human. Your change, Dee, is likely on the same paradigm. While you may have thirty years of memories, your body was shifted to this form, a younger one. Were you able to uhhhh... have access to both, you would likely find there were other changes, as well. Ones less noticeable, but that make this world fit with your own. It's possibly why you're not able to shapeshift as easily, and require dark energy to do it." "But yes. In theory, if you could bounce back and forth between the two worlds, you could possibly return to your home, live and experience life there for say... whatever the life expectency of your people is. Then come back here and possibly find out you've only aged a few seconds. Though the world would have likely changed without you. Or it wouldn't, it'd be hard to say." "It doesn't help that, apparently, the thing that sent you here is also different for many people. Catra seems to have, at least mentally, regressed. Adora seems to have been at the time where it occured, or at least further along. Her... alicorn... friend..." And you could FEEL the rage bubbling up when she said that. "Is also unaffected aside from being smaller. In the end, the dimensional magic that transferred you gave you these bodies and, should you return home, you'll find yourselves exactly as you were. I wouldn't worry about it, though. It's not the only dimension like this. There's a chaos realm back home that I've heard tales about. It is mind warping. Do not recommend." She then glanced to Takashi. "You know, your world has the weirdest relationship with magic. There are rules, they're just... a little harder to follow at times than others."
Double Trouble	Dianora Lagorio blinks. She's not stupid about magic, but this kind of magic is way out of her realm of experience. She's was always good with illusions and minor teleportation. That's the kind of magic that's important in her line of work. But lately she's been getting good with dark energy manipulation. She's got to really ''sell'' Shadow Weaver when she decides to do more than troll adora with her, and that bitch would absolutely take to dark energy like a fish to water. But Hinoiri manages to explain it to a fifth grader. Dianora nods and says, "Huh. You explained that really well, onee-chan. Thank you!" And she beams the cutest smile at Hinoiri. In other circumstances she might have launched into a hug, but she was ''trying'' to be ''professional''." Looking aside toward Takashi, she says, "We're the same age now, but I was almost twice her age before. Maybe she didn't change because she didn't ''have to''. Isn't there a thing about magic fading away from folks after they get too old?" Except for dark energy users, which is good news for all of them. To Hinoiri, she says, "Maybe the Fade affects the dimensional exchange you're talking about. Do you think ''that'' is related to whatever did this to the ley lines?"
Takashi Agera	"I've been trying to approach magic-as-a-science for years now. I have lists and lists of cause and effect, and those seem to often be close, but it's never just quite right. Like there's always elements I just can't correct for. You've been that way too from what I can tell. You know what SHOULD be the case, but it's always off just a bit here or there." "Anyways. I don't know. I've got a lot of theories about the Fade and what causes it. I think other people are looking into it too. I can't imagine what it would be like to ''not'' have Dark Energy, to be one of those sparkleskirts and be staring down a time limit on ''being awesome''. But maybe that's what makes Dark Energy so much more dangerous to some people." Not to Takashi, of course. "I've never met a light energy youma, either. Maybe it's intentionally limited somehow. Given somebody went through the trouble of moving what are... as far as I can gather, magic's very blood vessels, maybe changing what passes for rules would have been doable too, and maybe that's why nothing makes any damn sense." "I'm probably being a little overdramatic..." as if anybody in this group would "... I mean I understand a lot about magic. Just the holes feel like they're taunting me."
Hinoiri Kirara	Hinoiri Kirara gave a small nod. "Possibly. But, dark energy wouldn't affect your ability to use magic when you get older. But you are, mentally, physically... heck. Even emotionally, you're a teenager again. You're likely more mature than most of our classmates but then... well... who amongst us isn't?" Hinoiri asked with a light chuckle. "It's possible that the veil is the cause, but there's no way to confirm it and it's just as likely to be unrelated as it is related. If something called you, or you get a 'mascot' who claims to be wanting to train you in the path of the Sparkle Skirt? Then I'd say whatever called you here possibly is responsible." She then glanced to Takashi. "And I cannot believe I'm going to say this... but Agera? It took my people LITERALLY MILLENIA to study and understand magic. The sovereign has literally been a ruler during most of that time. It has taken countless years, countless studies, to measure and understand all of the different types of magic our world has, even with all the time." "This would likely has less different variants of magic than my world, but you and I being the ones to uncover every little facet about it is incredibly unlikely. While it doesn't make sense to us now, in a year or two we may find what we're missing. Or we may find three new sparkle skirts that change everything." "... And as much as I hate to say it, the magic here is different. I'm more or less having to beat it into submission. It feels... frustratingly distant at times. But that's part of the fun. We're the trendsetters. The things we're studying is something nobody else has ever considered. In a way, it's exciting." For a moment, she was silent, glancing between the two of them, before... "There's a reason you two are the only ones I've invited on this trip. I trust you. But you are also both clever. Dee, you understand the way people's minds work in a way that only an expert like yourself could. You're expertise when it comes to... mental machinations? Is unparalleled. Agera, you have managed to study and understand magic in a world with literally no history to pull from. Sure, you've got the knowledge of a magic kindergartener in many cases... but that curriculum was built on centuries of training and mages working together. There are a lot of idiots out there who don't understand these things as well as we do. Who will only break everything, like a child with a new toy, unaware that the toy is an explosive device. So just be careful who you share this with." "... As for why there's no light energy youma... well. It's likely that youma are just the end result of mismanaged dark energy use. It has an effect on the mental state of the wielder. If you use it, unlimited, without proper control? Then you'd likely end up the exact same way. That's why I set rules. So long as I don't tread on those rules, I remain in control." While she didn't mention it... there was one little thing Dee likely noticed. How Hinoiri had stood up just a hint straighter, with a tiny bit of a smile growing at the mention of how well she explained it. That little small sign of pride in her work.
Double Trouble	Dianora Lagorio looks at Hinoiri with a sort of almost blank stare for a few moments. She's processing a lot of thoughts all at once. There's a reason she's here, and it's apparently not just to be an assistant, or a girlfriend, it's to be some sort of mastermind and spy? Well that's exactly what they're good at, so good on Hinoiri for paying attention to the loud signals again. But that leaves the question of what exactly they want her to mastermind for her. Their train of thought is interrupted when they notice Hinoiri preening at her praise. She giggles and grins. "Wow, onee-chan! You're so smart," she says. Then she looks toward Takashi, who has been very evidently competent the whole trip, and says, sweetly, smiling, "Agera-san, there's no such thing as ''over'' dramatic."
Takashi Agera	Takashi smirks. "Well, you're just here till you get your own world's magic squared away, right? But I'm gonna be here for the long haul. So it makes sense for me to try to understand it. You're just mastering the new stuff we have before you go home and kick Sora's butt." he says, shrugging. But at least it sounds like he thinks she could. "But if I ever end up in your four-legged world again I'm stealing ''books'' because maybe that could shunt me ahead in research. If you get your fancy apotheosis hat you should send Sora with some books over like a messenger girl." he suggests. "Teach her some manners. And funny when she tries to figure out how to human, right? Bet it takes her longer to get it than you." he adds. Takashi does know generally how to push people in directions amenable to him by figuring out what drives them. At least some people. He looks to Dianora, who he is NOT sure what drives. But the idea that she's just in it for the drama and chaos is alien to him. He thinks the shapeshifter must have an angle. So he just considers and keeps quiet about drama.
Hinoiri Kirara	Hinoiri Kirara was deeeefinitely preening a bit, giving a small nod. "Of course. I was the forefront of, well, every class back home. I could hardly allow my considerable talents to flounder now that I'm here, now could I?" she asked with a small smirk. Yup, that was some nice hot air blown up her skirt, as it were. "... Oh my gosh imagining SORA delivering books. THAT is a mental imagine I don't think I've ever had before but damn if it isn't a good one. Heh. Maybe I will. Still, you've managed to make considerable headway with what you do have and the guidance I've given you. If nothing else, you're doing better than a lot of the monkeys on this planet who just seem happy to linger and mold in their darkness." She then nudged each of the folders towards them. "So, on the trip home, feel free to look over these, so our stories are collaporated. If there's nothing else, I think we're good. I've got some plans of my own to prepare for, but those aren't starting until after the new year. I need to do a bit more research into dark energy music before I get started on it, anyway. The life of a genius never ends." She took a second to stretch after that. Still, it was nice to touch base with the team. Her 'support staff', as it were.
Double Trouble	Dianora Lagorio already leafed thru all the pages while Hinoiri was monologuing, but she picks up the folder when the other girl nudges it toward her. She almost considers asking what those plans ''are'' because she wants to know how ''she'' fits into them. Hinoiri is not the best at communication, and Dianora is not the best at improv. She realizes, though, that Hinoiri is probably being coy about her plans because Takashi's here. She glances toward him. She wouldn't want to share plans with that boy either. Then she looks back to Hinoiri and smiles. "And your ''true'' genius is paying attention to ''me'', come on, onee-chan, let's go." It's not as if they arrived ''separately''.
Takashi Agera	To be fair, that problem is not unique to Hinoiri - Takashi has plans upon plans, and not all of those are suitable for present company. Some of them aren't even suitable for his own employees. But there's good reasons why Hinoiri isn't part of his divison with the others. Takashi nods. "Already went over em'." he says. "But I will make sure there's nothing somebody could read between the lines and see that there's missing data, which is my real worry. Not everyone in Obsidian is an idiot. Some of them are dangerously smart idiots, after all." he notes. "Present company excluded, of course." He says. "But I'm looking forward to getting back. Been away from my lab for too long and there are things I have to deal with." He has no idea.