[Chuubo's] Fortitude: The Glass-Maker's Dragon IC

[Tengu_temp]

"Is that Professor Hayashi?", Natalia asks, as if expecting all the locals to know each other.

[Terraoblivion]

Jasper looked at the man with curiosity. "Maybe?" Really, it was a very good question, even if she wasn't quite sure who Professor Hayashi was other than the man running the library.

[The_Snark]

"Glnk!" Miramie says, which most likely means "Yes, please, that would be very kind of you." It's sinking in that not only is there a person on top of her, it is a boy-type person. This is not proper in the least.

[Geostationary]

"I think it's the professor. He doesn't get out much, so you don't really see him around all that often. Do you think we should ask him for help? He may have insights into our problems! He'd also know how to check out these books we've found. Miramie never specified how that worked."

[Tengu_temp]

"She asked us not to bother him, unless it's very important.", Natalia reminds the other two. She's curious herself, but she trusts her own ability to guide them through the archive. Also, looking at a sad and disappointed Miramie would... probably not break her heart, it's frozen too hard for that, but certainly sting a little.

[Sanguine]

After scrambling up onto his feet Leonardo offers his hand to Miramie to help her up and asks. "Is this normal? The Outside thing I mean, not me knocking you over."

[Terraoblivion]

"We can just find them ourselves, right?" Jasper looked completely unaffected by the risk of getting lost or digging through books forever to find the right section. "And surely a place as impressive as this will have helpful spirits to tell us where they are. Like that filing system, but more specific."

[Tengu_temp]

"Library spirits. Do they float around like bedsheets, wearing glasses and eating text from old books for sustenance?", Natalia asks, in a stoic but unamused way.

[The_Snark]

"Um. Yes?" Miramie says, flustered but not so flustered that she's forgotten the comment about glass dragons. "Everything is fine here. I'm fine. This is... normal."

But all around them, she is aware, are the leftover shards of Melanie Malakh: broken masks, daggerlike slivers of glass ranging from needle-size to the length of her forearm, a full-length mirror leaning against one wall, and a dozen other things lurking on the shelves, all cruel and broken and cold. The only bright spot comes from a ray of sunlight at the end of the hall, where the door to her hidden room stands open a crack.

[Geostationary]

"That would be silly. They eat old library cards and people who don't return books. Actually, wait! This gives me an idea!"
Rinley somehow manages to boisterously quiet as a sudden look of realization spreads across her face.
She closes her eyes and concentrates. When she opens them again, a small light pops into being!
"Crewman Wish Spirit! Can you help us find the check-out desk for the archive?"

Spoiler

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I think I shall *gasp* spend an MP to summon a wish spirit to aid us in our task, because why not.

[Terraoblivion]

"So you do have them...But it's probably a bit excessive to eat people just for returning books late. I mean, evil-doers is one thing, but people who are slow to return books?" Jasper frowned slightly. What was wrong with the lower world to have malicious spirits like that to serve helpful roles? They should get some proper, helpful ones instead.

[Crinias]

As Rinley speaks Natalia and Jasper they are able to get a good look at the wish spirit. It appears to be a small ball of light, glowing gently, something along the lines of a will-o-wisp, or what a will-o-wisp probably looks like, considering none of the group has ever seen one before.

Its light blinks in understanding and it begins to head in the general direction from whence the group came, radiating a powerful aura of presence that makes them want to be guided by it.

As the group begins to follow the wish spirit they can't help but take one last look at the brown-haired bespectacled man who is presumably Professor Hayashi, and some details of his room - like the shelves that line up his walls, the many post-its that cover parts of his desk, and his windows, which oddly appear to be glass-less.

It might have been nice to talk to him, maybe, though he seems a bit cold. Maybe some other time?

Spoiler: OOC

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The wish spirit emotes "I'll totally guide you! Yeah!", and for good measure uses its Superior Encourage Wishing 3 skill, with 2 Will, to form the Intention "Encourage these kids to wish to be guided by me".

Despite reaching a level of 5 and ensuring this Intention's productivity, this isn't very useful at all, aside from making you want more stuff. I suppose it could be worse - it could have wished for you all to be happy, and I don't want to see what Natalia could do to it and any future wish spirits in such a case. Oh, the wish-manity...

This should be about it for this scene for this group, the rest (getting all the books, etc) can be concluded after Leonardo and Miramie finish their conversation.

[Tengu_temp]

"I don't know Rinley for long, but it's still enough to know to take most of what she says with a pinch of salt. Including this."
Natalia follows the ball of light with a serious expression, resisting the inner urge to cry catching it.
"How can you command spirits anyway? Is it in-born gift? Learned sorcery?"

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Just doing some banter while the other scene concludes.
Also, before I forget again, I'll claim bonus XP for The Golden Snake of the Rooftops from obtaining useful literature on the topic.

[Terraoblivion]

"Most spirits listen when you talk to them. They're there to be helpful after all and ignoring people would be rude and unhelpful. I mean, lower world spirits might be different..." She bit her lip slightly, once again lost in thought. Perhaps they really were, the lower world was quite weird so why not unhelpful spirits too?

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And taking a Shared Action for our random conversations as we navigate the archives. It's simple, honest action filtered through the profound weirdness of this bunch, after all.

[Sanguine]

For the first time since he has been up here Leonardo really looks at his surroundings. This was a place for broken things. The shattered remnants masks, dolls, and most disturbingly of all glass were scattered about, almost ritually. This was normal; and of all the places to run, Miramie ran here. That changed things. Not for the better, but now Leonardo knew that this problem, whatever it was, couldn't be solved by just waving some Nightmare Science at it.

After taking in the "normal" Leonardo turns to Miramie and speaks with surprisingly sincere empathy. "Miramie, you are not fine. This is not fine. If there is anything my miserable wretched life has taught me, it is what not fine looks like: and this is it. I won't press the issue, that wouldn't do either of us any good. But if you ever need to talk, I'm here for you. I want you to know that. Anyway, if there’s no immediate danger we should probably go find the others."

Spoiler: OOC

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Okay two things.

First, I'm going to declare this a Shared Reactions. Finishing up the groups XP actions for this chapter.

Second, is the "you can get a level 1 Connection to any other PC by mutual agreement" rule limited to one such Connection? If not I would like to give Leonardo a Connection with Miramie since he is starting to understand her a little bit better. Assuming it's cool with The_Snark of course.

[Geostationary]

Rinley smiles. "You hurt me, Natalia. As for the wish spirit, they've liked me for as long as I can remember. They're helpful, but not always the brightest. Figuratively speaking. I mean, look at him, he's pretty bright. I also have it on good authority that they beatbox pretty well, but I've not had occasion to do that and it's not helpful to our present situation. Though there are those spirits that go bad, but that's what the exorcists in Arcadia are for! And the Grey Man, I suppose, but he's kind of creepy."

"I think I see the check-out desk!"

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I figure that may be a good point to wait and end on?

[The_Snark]

"I'm not - " Miramie stops herself, because there's clearly not much point in continuing to insist that everything is OK. Leonardo isn't pressing for answers, which is... more than she expected from the boy who barged to the front of the line in the coffee shop this morning, honestly. A lot more. "I... thank you. Really."

But she doesn't go back downstairs. She finds she doesn't want him to walk away thinking that this is her refuge. She wants to show him it isn't as bad as all that -

So she takes his hand, and leads him past the mirrors and empty-eyed dolls to look at the sunlit room on the other side of the door.

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Aaand that seems like a good point to fade.

[Crinias]

Taking her hand, Leonardo follows Miramie into her Room with some trepidation. It’s probably not what he expects: a quiet, well organized room with sunlight pouring in from a window of the most beautiful glass he’s ever seen.

As Miramie shows Leonardo her Room, Rinley, Natalia and Jasper cannot help but get involved with other shenanigans related to getting lost and obtaining old books. History records, legends, tales and accounts of kaiju and Mysteries, all books thought important and relevant go into Natalia’s bag. It would later turn out that there was no actual check-out desk at the Archive, to Rinley’s great consternation.

All in all it had been an eventful day.

The entire group feels exhausted upon exiting the Archive later that day (or in Miramie’s case, saying goodbye to the rest), as though they’d spent a month and a day in it.

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The rest of the week proceeds slowly.

Between all the books that the group collected there’s enough material for at least a week of research on Outside storms, not to mention the need to cross-reference historical events and the like. Leonardo clearly has got his work cut out for him. The fact that his nightmares intensify a bit more after that day at the Archive didn’t help much. Still, even these fools deserved to be around his great presence, his subconscious be damned.

There are also the books on kaiju and Mysteries to consider for Natalia. Though not numerous, they serve as good reference points for the subject that she wishes to investigate – the great tales told of Typhon, and of heroes and heroines that fought against it or other monsters. She reads through them all in an hour or two, but they’re very entertaining and informative all the same. The literature books as well, not that she’d admit it to the others.

Catching Jasper’s eye, among the literature books Natalia collected is a beautifully illustrated tome about stories told of Jade Irinka. It’s only natural that stories would be written about her, she supposes, the sun is ever-present in most people’s lives. It feels odd to read about her, though – the idea of a stranger talking so highly of someone so close to her is… strange.

Rinley’s wishing spirit sticks around for a while, apparently very excited to meet such an interesting group of people. It tends to wander off every now and again, though, when it gets bored. As for Rinley herself, between hearing so many stories and hanging out with the others she has a pretty good time.

Miramie can’t help but be slightly concerned that on some days the places she frequents for her daily routine and work are filled with more Outside dust than is usual, and that she sometimes hears murmurs. It could be coincidence or bad luck… but really, lying to herself probably won’t help. She knows perfectly well why this sort of thing is happening. It’s her past coming back to bother her.

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After some minor discussion and general agreement the group decides to alternate from meeting on the Archive and other places around Fortitude, including some coffee shops. Natural meeting places that they were, the group spends a good number of hours in them, talking about the world, their books, or trivia, or other things.

On Saturday afternoon, the group met on a café on Lakeside Avenue, which is actually quite nice. As the name implied, the street was close to Big Lake, and it offered a great view to it. It was easy to get distracted in there while talking to others…

So much so that only Rinley noticed how, off in the distance, a pair of boys wearing School uniforms seemed to be talking to a small, rapidly blinking ball of light. One of the boys, who looked perfectly ordinary, looked expectantly at the other, who was red haired, freckled and nervous-looking. The latter looked back and forth between the ball of light and the other boy, and appeared to say something.

By his expression one would have assumed he was attempting to explain how something would be a Bad Idea – but if so the other boy paid no attention, as he proceeded to point his finger at the air dramatically, say something brief and drag his friend off into the distance.

Spoiler: OOC

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Whew. Feel free to add in anything else that you think your character will do for the rest of the week, like creating something or roaming the roofs of Fortitude or anything of the like, and we can conclude after that.

The Outside dust and murmurs are an effect of your Who You Were Affliction, Snark.

Some Intentions would probably be helpful here regarding research (I’ll just assume Natalia doesn’t even need that though, for obvious reasons).

One other thing: New chapters begin on Sundays. I neglected to mention this earlier, and we began on a Monday; this isn’t a terribly bad thing, but I just wanted you all to know about it.

[Tengu_temp]

Natalia is not the type to just hang out with people on her own - not only is she mostly a loner, but she also is too busy with important things, such as helping out random strangers, planning her next move when it comes to defeating Typhoon, or sitting alone in her room and playing video games in a failed attempt to distract herself from the void inside her. But those people could use help with their research, or so she tells herself, and it looks important. So here she is.

"Oh. Another one of those." The ball of light accompanying the boys grabbed Natalia's attention for a moment. Coincidentally, she's wearing the School's uniform herself, though black and gold rather than blue and white.

[Terraoblivion]

Over the course of the week, Jasper was quite busy. She still needed food and while she supposed she could just eat rocks if she really wanted to, they seemed quite unappetizing, so she was stuck doing various low paying odd jobs much of the time. Much of the rest of the time was spent marveling at the weirdness of how humans described her mother. It was just hard to see her described in such reverent tones, especially when you remembered her lack of naming skill and horrible taste in men and various broken flashes of her just being, well, mom. Yet it was still something to tie her to Jade Irinka and remind her of the love people felt for her.

She also did spend time with the others, except for Rinley they all seemed like they could use someone to be there and be just as weird as they apparently were. Hopefully they'd all become proper friends and help each other deal with their issues if they stuck together!

"Oooh, or maybe it's some other ball of light...Though if I remember correctly, most spirits are more animal-like than that."

[Geostationary]

"Hmm. It does look like a wish spirit, but glowing is not uncommon. Actually, isn't that Chuubo? And, whats-his-face, Seizhi? You know, he beat Chuubo at that soapbox derby last year. I wonder what they're up to. I remember him bragging about some sort of engine he's built. What did he call it... his magnificent? meticulous? moribund?... anyways, something involving wishes, I think."
Rinley stirs her drink absentmindedly, focusing on the departing figures. I wonder what they're doing? Chuubo seems like a cool guy. He feels... important, I suppose? Like everyone else here.

Spoiler

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I take it you're prompting us to actually meet Chuubo in this game of Chuubo? What nonsense is this! And I figure my plot senses are tingling regardless.

[Tengu_temp]

"Are they? I couldn't tell, I'm afraid. I don't know the name of anyone else at school. Only faces in the crowd." Natalia returns to the book she was studying. There was a hint of regret in her voice just now. "And I arrived here less than 2 months ago. I don't know what happened last year."

[The_Snark]

"Is that his name?" Miramie asks, her eyes lingering on the pair. "I've seen him before, I think. Do you know if he's from around here?"

[Sanguine]

As the conversation moved to the topic of Chuubo Leonardo briefly pulled his attention away from the book in his hands. It was about the Glass Dragon that attacked Town several years ago, around the same time the storm records indicated there was an abnormally large number of Outside Storms. Unfortunately the book was written for entertainment not academic purposes, so it was proving to be of little use in determining if there was a genuine connection.

Closing the book on his index finger to mark his place the young scientist sighs and says. "Chuubo lives in Horizon."

Spoiler: OOC (Research Intention)

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I am going to use my Perseverance 2 and 2 Will to make a Level 4 Intention for researching the storm records and associated historical records.

[Terraoblivion]

Rinley's comment about an engine dealing with wishes got a very curious look from Jasper. "Really? So he made a machine feeding on wishes...Isn't that going to drain hope and dreams out of the world? Or..." Her expression turned more deadpan. It was probably just Rinley being Rinley, even an outsider like Jasper was starting to catch on to how the girl wasn't exactly the most reliable source of information. It was probably just another silly thing she'd made up.

[Tengu_temp]

"Navy and white, the Living Colors. Only students born in the Town are allowed to wear them. This means Chuubo is a local... But it seems we already have someone who knows him here and can tell you that." Natalia looks at Leonardo calmly, as if asking for confirmation of this relationship.

That look, however, is broken when she hears Jasper's comment. Natalia looks like she's about to sigh, but she stares up to the sky instead. She looks melancholic.
"It's okay. What use is hope anyway? You can't eat it, or build a house out of it, or use it to solve a problem, or pay for anything with it. And if the machine consumes enough dreams, maybe I'll finally wake up from this one..."

[Sanguine]

Leonardo sighed again. The conversation did not appear to be ending anytime soon. Grabbing a napkin from the table to serve as a bookmark in place of his finger Leonardo set the book down. Glaring at Natalia Leonardo reluctantly says. "Yes, me and Chuubo are acquainted, and yes as far as I know he was born in Town. Also if you think hope is useless you are sorely lacking in imagination Natalia." Standing up from his seat Leonardo begins to monologue. "Hope, hope is the energy of tomorrow. Imagine it perfectly clean, infinitely renewable energy. That is what hope can become. If we were to harness the power of hope for the betterment of mankind and the world all of the worlds problems could be solved. Global Warming? A thing of the past. Energy Crisis? What energy crisis? Imagine a world where anyone anywhere can power their lights, their heating, their t.v.s without having to rely upon soulless corporations. We can give the power to the people. I already have a working prototype of a hope-powered light bulb, and I am optimistic about applying the same principles to other technology. The problem however is mass-production, the technology relies upon materials that are incredibly difficult, and dangerous, to harvest, and I only have so much time."

Almost as an afterthought Leonardo adds. "Anyway, the Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine doesn't feed on wishes it grants them."

[Geostationary]

"Ah, yes! That's what it was called! The Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine! Wait, he has an engine that grants wishes! Think of the possibilities!"
Rinley's face lights up amongst this doubt and talk of the utility of hope.

[Tengu_temp]

Natalia just stares at Leonardo in disbelief as his monologue goes on.
"You found a way to turn emotions into an energy source? How? If it was chi, I could understand, but..."
She looks away. "I have to see this. If it will even work in my presence, that is. I have no hopes or dreams, no wishes that can be granted. Just responsibilities."

[Terraoblivion]

"Wouldn't that make the hope go away?" Jasper gave Leonardo a somewhat worried look, but it didn't last for long as there was a far more important matter. The Russian girl had clearly been hurt deeply and forgotten hope. Turning to look at Natalia, Jasper gave the girl a completely serene smile as she looked into her eyes and started vaguely shining. The sun too seemed to brighten. Her clothes started fluttering slightly and she even floated a bit in the air as the power of the sun coursed trough her.

"It's okay. You can complete them and move forward, you don't need this penance or to think that you need to be aloof from everyone. We're your friends and can help you with it so you can move on and dream again!" And then to completely break the mood, she moved to pull Natalia into a tight hug.

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And, yes, this is totally Light to Encourage Hope on Natalia.