The Flamebringer
She was rather easily distracted by cats.
Then she registered Wo's comment. "That's... normal?"
All are significantly abnormal in a normal world... All are significantly normal in an abnormal world.
Hikaru quietly listened to Fate's discussion with Hayate with an ever increasing frown. When the time came for her to speak to Hayate herself, she simply nodded.
"Very well then."
At that, she sighed before making her way over to the device and taking Fate's place in front of it assuming Fate would let her.
"Greetings. My name is Hikaru," she started, "Before anything else, I must apologize for taking one of your operatives without so much as a warning. The spell I used to bring her here was...unfocused, and she just so happened to be one of the people chosen by it. As soon as I figure out the means, I promise I will return her to you. But for now...."
From there, she proceeded to explain some more about the overall situation.
"...In a way, I suppose it's fortunate Fate was brought here, as she brought me into contact with a group such as yourselves. That being said, we're dealing with a literally infinite expanse here. Trying to cover all of it would force you to stretch yourselves extremely thin and perhaps leave your own realm overly vulnerable to threats from within. Just because the Zero Collapse exists doesn't mean that the rest of reality will stop moving until it's dealt with."
She frowned. "So...I suppose my request would be to leave my group to collect the Alpha Devices as a whole. But if it wouldn't be too taxing for your forces, I would also like to ask that you keep an eye out for anything that might be off in and around your world. The Alpha Devices have a very distinctive signal that would likely not match anything you'd be used to. And furthermore, if possible...it would be nice if you could help me with a way to let the rest of these girls return home, should they desire it."
Sayaka would find that the contents of Hikaru's refrigerator had a very conspicuous lack of dairy products. Beyond that, it was full of things such as a bowl of already prepared salad that consisted of a variety of leafy greens, various bread products in sealed bags, bottles of condiments and various flavorings on shelves on the doors, pitchers of various juices, and various other fruits and vegetables carefully organized into their own specialized drawers.
Of particular note were a number of large, round, green-brown fruits covered with thorns that seemed to have their own dedicated drawer that seemed to be more covered than the rest.
Icon by Civvi the Civilian!
Hikaru's Utility Room
While Fate and Hikaru concerned themselves with talking through the device, Inori smiled from ear to ear as she casually pulled up a panel in her field of view, establishing a wifi connection with the other side.It wasn't her world, but it was a place with technology, which meant it was also a place with culture. With a little multi-tasking help from her computer parts, she opened up different sessions scanning the internet, usenet, IRC, and other accessible means of communication in order to add to her music library and catch up on some extraterrestrial memes.
Ether continued to be pretty cool, but she really perked up when someone opened the fridge. Smelling food, she practically began to beg anyone and everyone who was nearby for a tasty snack.
"See? You are weird too, welcome aboard" Raquel told Sayaka after the latter explained her role in fighting witches which were apparently really bad people. She fit right in with the tentacle-girl and the one with a computer.
As evidenced by her stomach growling, the magical girl was hungry and headed to open the white tall container in the kitchen. Wo stopped her dead on her tracks, though, demanding her to explain the sounds she had just made. Maia had already made it clear that sort of thing was normal but if Wo really wanted an explanation, Raquel was going to give it to her.
"Yeah, it's this new thing called hunger" she joked, before realizing that Wo could very well be from a world where that concept didn't even exist "Wait a minute... don't tell me you don't eat. Do you?"
Hikaru's 'fridge' was a container with all sorts of food. But what was more strange about the thing was it lighted up as soon as Sayaka opened it and that it was a bit cold inside the thing.
"Oh! This thing has lights, too" while that was weird, as much as everything had been so far, Raquel couldn't pass up the opportunity of eating free food. In this case, bread seemed like the best choice. It certainly was on the more normal side of things—bag of unidentified transparent material not withstanding—when compared to whatever those spiky things were. She took one of the bags, surprised at just how smooth whatever it was made of was. Her best bet right now was that it was some sort of really thin paper that somehow didn't immediately fall into pieces when you held it. But right now there was a more important question in her mind.
"How do you open this?"
"What? No, no, I eat! I eat just like anything that lives," she said to Raquel, recoiling away from Sayaka. "I'm just a bit curious is all! You see...I don't have a mouth on my stomach like you do. I feel hungry, just not...you know, it doesn't talk to you."
Dark Sun, what choices have I...?
Sayaka hardly had a second to examine the contents of the fridge before Wo, the multi-armed girl, demanded she explain her...stomach rumbling? The others seemed as baffled by the question as she was, with Raquel seriously wondering if this girl even needed to eat (apparently she did).
"I feel hungry, just not...you know, it doesn't talk to you."
"It...doesn't?"
She glanced again at the various food products inside the food-preserving device, the large and extensively-guarded stash of durians in particular catching her notice, before seeing Raquel take one of the packaged breads and struggle to open it. Sayaka extended a hand, and if given the bread would remove the little plastic clip at the top and open it, then hand the bag back.
i guess you can watch me shitpost i guess
Hikaru's House (Utility Room)Â - Friends in high places
Hayate seemed to listening attentively as Hikaru explained everything about the dire situation. She mostly frowned all the way through, though her eyes did widen from sheer horror at certain points, such as the unimaginable destructible potential of the Zero Collapse.Â
After Hikaru was through with all of it, Hayate sighed, perhaps in frustation at the impossibly difficult situation being present and then said, "I really don't like the sound of any of this. Normally, I would insist on us getting involved but ... If it is anything like what you described, then there is not much even we can do. We would really be spreading ourselves thin trying to cover such almost unconceivably large ground. And if this frankly mad king or anyone loyal to him are still around, too much of our presence would probably cause even more drastic measures from them ... "Â
Fate watched as the conflict until then present on her friend's expression gave away to conviction, as she then said, "I will leave the matter to you and the group you have gathered then. I have full confidence that Fate will be of great help in this endeavour. Â
Regarding Hikaru's request for transport for the stranded girls she then said "It should be theoretically possible, but ... If things exist on the unbelievably massive scale you describe  ... Then, even for us it might take a while, even with the benefit of knowing exactly where you are, which we don't have. We can try, but it would definitely takes us a while to reach you. In anycase, we can certainly spare a dimensional ship or two without compromise our situation by much, but there's also the matter of who to involve in such a sensitive situation."Â
"Yes, I might figure that would be the case. This might takes us a while and assuming it's not necessary to take anyone back before we're through with averting this disaster, either Hikaru or us, possibly both should, have figured something to get all of us back," Fate commented, stepping closer to the device again, then pausing and looking thoughtful before adding, Â "As for who to send ... Why not send Chrono with the Arthra? We can certainly trust him to handle this properly."
Hayate seemed to consider the matter, before nodding and replying "Yes, I suppose if there is anyone we could trust the most with this, it would have to be your brother. Very well. I will see about contacting him once we are finished here ... Now, regarding these Alpha Devices ... From what was described, it would seem that they are possibly much like Lost Logia and if that holds true, we should have detected something like that by now, specially if they emmit a strong signal. On the other hand, if they are different enough, we could have overlooked them. I'll try to see if we can something to find any if they are present, but that could also take a while."
"Understood ...There is something else I would like to ask that would greatly help. You see, since I had just gotten back from that previous mission and was expected to be off duty, my cartridge count is rather low. I would like to request permission to have Hikaru here retreive a few such supplies with her abilities,"Fate then said.Â
In response, Hayate firmly nodded her head and said, "I can certainly spare you that much. It wouldn't do to have you on anything less than your fullest capabilities when faced with such a important task, on a dire situation like this."Â
Fate bowed respecfully and the flashed her friend a warm smile, as she said, "Thank you. That should be of great help in this endeavour."Â
"Indeed. Well then, are we about finished here? I'm certain that Fate would like to speak to her family next. I can transfer the connection right over once we are done here," Hayate then said, returning with a smile of her own.
Smiling tenderly and with a clear look of longing, Fate then said, "That would be great. I wouldn't want to leave them worried any longer."
edited 27th May '17 10:14:40 PM by JamesShields
Sayaka approached the problem of the bag by simply getting rid of the pesky clip at the top of it. In hindsight, that should have been obvious but Raquel wasn't going to admit that to a kid's face.
"Oh. I... I was about to do that. I'm not used to this transparent thing is all" Raquel said, taking the bag of bread without even looking at Sayaka in the eye.
Wo, meanwhile, assured everyone that she needed to eat just like everyone else but that she didn't have a 'mouth in her stomach' as she called it.
"It's just a bunch of sounds your body makes. And certainly not the worst kind. What's the big deal?"
Now it was time to finally taste some of that bread. It didn't look like the ones back home but bread was still bread, right? Even if it was saved in a weird metallic box that was somehow colder than the rest of the kitchen. The flavour was interesting. It was a bit bland but strangely addicting. Raquel didn't quite get why but she wanted to eat more and more even if it wasn't particularly pleasing.
"Hau do ya it tith? Ith two soff" she asked to no one in particular, with bits of bread escaping her mouth as she did so.
edited 27th May '17 11:58:36 PM by DeisTheAlcano
Okay, now that just raised another question. Why would someone create an organ capable of non-vocal communication with no input or response from the rest of the body? What purpose did a growling digestive tract serve in the greater form of the whole? What kind of biological organism could make even worse-Oh yeah, food. Wo peeked into the fridge along with the rest of the group.
The first thing that caught her eye was the small, brown flotation mines given their own drawer, but asking questions about these things had already caused some stuff to go down, so she kept mum. Perhaps they're just decoration?
There was a notion in human culture that had been preserved 'till Wo's time, and that was that talking with your mouth full was rude, even underwater. Real good job, Raquel did, in bridging the gap between their worlds. She did her best to ignore her, with only a little glancing, as she took her food: a condiment bottle, which she recognized as a bottle of strange, white speckled with black nutrient gel.
She tasted it with a firm squirt into her mouth. Very strong, and foreign-tasting, if that made any sense, but she could dig it.
"So! I don't know how much time we have before we set out," she said to the group, trying to distract from Raquel's impropriety, "but what do you guys do for fun?"
Hikaru frowned thoughtfully upon hearing the description of the ship.
"I could possibly try summoning such a ship directly here, but depending on the size and relative power of it chances are it'd be past my limits. In any event, I'll certainly be looking up ways of my own, so I suppose we can keep each other updated on the matter?"
She then made a small bow. "In any event, I can't thank you enough for your help. As long as Fate is under my care, I'll do whatever I can to ensure that she returns safely." She then gave Fate a small smile. "And I see nothing wrong with letting her speak with her family before we move on. It's the least I can do for her...."
At that, she frowned and turned back towards the device. "...Actually, that reminds me. Upon her arrival, Fate said something about my being a criminal. I'm not sure just what kind of laws of yours I might have violated by bringing her here, but...once all this is over, I'll be more than happy to submit myself to your judgment, should you feel it necessary."
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The Flamebringer
Raquel was eating things. Wo asked what they all did for fun. Maia spoke up. "I read, mostly. Or play chess."
All are significantly abnormal in a normal world... All are significantly normal in an abnormal world.
Hikaru's House (Utility Room)
Upon Hikaru's comment regarding the ship, Fate frowned as well, as she then said, "I would indeed advice against. The Arthra is of considerable size," another holographic screen appeared off their side, displaying an image of said ship
, as she then continued, "not mentioned that something powerful enough to cross the Dimension Sea alone would probably make it above anyone's summoning capabilities, even your own, as impressive as they may seem."
Frowning as well, Hayate nodded and concurred, "Indeed. We wouldn't you to possibly gravely strain yourself. The Arthra should hopefully get there eventually ..." As the other girl asked to continue cooperation to figure out a way to get the girls back to their homes, she then brightened a bit and added, "Of course. I'm rarely sent out into the field myself, so I should be easily reacheable in this office. In the event that one of those Devices does appear in our area, I will be sure to make contact as soon as possible as well."
"And despite the unusual circunstances, I thank you as well," Hayate then said, getting up return the bow, then adding ," To me, she is not just a most valuable officer, but a very dear friend as well. All of which makes certain that if there is anyone who can help solve such a grave , she would be the one."
Smiling brightly and bowing a bit as well, Fate then replied, "Your confidence in me is very much appreciated. I will do my best to not only solve this as soon as possible and stay safe while at it."
As Hikaru then mentioned the possibility of herself possibly being branded as a dimensional criminal, Hayate's expression turned somber and she crossed her hands, as she then spoke, "Well, you did technically kidnap her ... Although as more often than not, this is a rather complex case ... I do probably lie far outside any reasonable jurisdiction of ours, but the act was commited against of our own, even if not intentionally on that specific ... In confident, thought, that the fact that your comotivation was to try to stop such an unspeakeable tragedy, one that would affect us as well, certainly should mitigate it. Your willingness to submit yourself to us once this all over also does help ..."
"And I can vouch that Bureau does tend to be rather fair, specially in such extraordinary circunstances. I do have found myself on both sides of the issue, after all ... " Fate then commented.
Relaxing considerably, Hayate then flashed then a smile and said, "Well then, I believe this is it for now. Let me connect you straight to your house," as keyed a few commands into her own device, "There, you should be connecting in a moment."
"Thank you, Hayate. Until later then," Fate replied, as the screen began to shift.
Hayate nodded and made her final comment for now, "Until then. Say hello to them for me."
"I'll be sure to," Fate manage to say, before the connection was then suddenly rerouted and the scene on the screen changed completely.
Instead of an office, the interior of a house was now displayed. Close by, two people were now shown : One was awoman apparently of a similar age to Fate's, with auburn hair tied in a lopsided ponytail, wearing a similar but different colored, in this case white and blue, uniform. The other was a little girl, who had long blond hair, tied with blue ribbons and one eye of a very similar color to Fate's, while the other was of a deep green color.
Both seemed surprised by the sudden appearence of the screen and even more so by who was shown on it. They both rushed to stand in front of it, with the woman picking up the little girl so she could take a better look at it.
"Fate? Where are you? Weren't you supposed to be back by now?" The woman asked, a mix of relief and worry clear in her tone.
"Fate-Mama!" The little girl exclaimed, evidently feeling much less ambiguous about the situation, judging by the clearly happy tone.
Fate in turn flashed an apologetic smile and said, adressing the woman first "Yes, Nanoha, I thought I would be home by now too, but ... Something really important come up, after I finished doing my report to Hayate," then turning to the little girl, smiling warmly in return, she then said, "Hello there, Vivio. I'm happy to see you again too. I really wish I could be there with you right now."
Vivio's bright smile faltered a bit as Fate said the last bit and then she said, "But why? Why can't be with us, Fate-Mama? Nanoha-Mama said what you to do for Miss Hayate was over, so why?"
Still with quite a concerned look, Nanoha added, "Yes, that's right. I heard from Hayate that you had done your report to her and weren't expected to be back out in the field for a few days. You weren't supposed to be back on a mission so soon, so what is going on?"
Fate hesitated a bit before answering. This time around, she would have to be careful with what she revealed. Not because she didn't trust them, quite the opposite, they were her precious family after all, but because Vivio was there. If it had been just Nanoha she were speaking with it, she would have no problem disclosing the full truth of what she had told and asked to do. But with their daughter there, it was an entirely different situation. The whole thing, with the sheer scale of the Zero Collapse and its destructive potential, was still beyond even her capability to barely grasp. What would such information do to a six year old who clearly had been through enough already in her short life? Hearing any of it would certainly scarred her little heart and she had enough to deal with at it was.
After pondering over this for a while, she finally answered, "Well ... It wasn't anyone on the Bureau who has asked me to do this. It was someone from outside us, who really help with something really important."
Nanoha raised an eyebrow questionally, as she asked, "But then, who did this person find and contact you and why you and not anybody else?"
"Well ... Let's just that she wasn't looking for me, or anyone for that matter, specifically. Just for people wiht the ability to help. I can't say I would exactly agree with the recruitment method, so to speak, but I can't refuse to do what I was asked to do."
"Why was what? What is so important they had to drag you, apparently against your will at first by what you implied?" Nanoha asked concernedly.
Fate had to pause again. It was obvious she couldn't reveal the exact nature of the situation, anything to do with the Zero Collapse, while Vivio was present. That would certainly scare the little girl far too much. At the same time, she had to inform them, specially Nanoha, of at least of some of it. The rest, she would have to leave up to Hayate to explain to her.
"Well, there is someone trying to do something really terrible by using something really powerful and ancient. So I and a few other girls have to stop them, in order to keep everyone safe," she managed after a while, hoping that would suffice.
"Like what those bad people try to use Vivio for? Like that, Fate-Mama?" Vivio innocently asked.
Looking directly at her daughter, Fate smiled warmly, saying, "Yes, like that, Vivio. We protected you and everyone back home back then and now I have to do it for a lot more people."
The little girl nodded her and with a bright smile back in her face, said, "Well, then I guess you really have to do it. Keep everyone safe, Fate-Mama. But please stay safe too."
"Don't worry, Vivio. I'll return safely too and I will try to make do it as soon as possible," Fate replied, hoping that would hold true.
"Promise?" The little girl said, while holding her hand out, almost touching the screen.
Fate responded in kind, reaching out so it almost seemed like they were touching each other, while desperately wishing she could actually do that for real.
"Of course, with all my heart, Vivio. Mama will be safe. There are lots of really nice people here to help," She commented back.
Nanoha, having been watching the heartfelt scene quietly for a while, then inquired, "I don't suppose you can speak of what exactly is going right now?" flickering her glance towards Vivio for a moment as she said it.
"Well, I spoke to Hayate right before, since I had some things to discuss about the situation with her and also because I'm calling for far away and it would be easier to have her transfer the connection as well. You can ask her about it later, Nanoha. I figured it would be easier that way," Fate measurely explained.
"Alright then. I'll be sure to," Nanoha simply replied.
"Well ... I mostly called so you knew that I was OK. Please speak with Caro and Erio for me, once you through with Hayate. Tell them that I will talk with them soon as well, probably still before we depart into this mission. The others girl here need to speak to their loved ones as well and I still gotta figure out a way for most of them to do it," Fate said, clearly a bit conflicted about it, "I'll make sure to try to speak to you as well again as soon as possible."
"Please do, Fate-Mama. We'll miss you lots," Vivio said, clearly trying to stay bright despite probably feeling as such anymore.
"Yes, we sure will. Please stay safe and try to come back soon," Nanoha said, also clearly trying to stay positive despite the circunstances.
"I'll as soon as I can again, I promise. I'll miss you both too. I love you very much,"
"Love you too, Fate-Mama," Vivio said, with a very bright and sweet smile despite the circunstances, before reaching and wrapping her little arms around Nanoha, adding, "And I love you too, Nanoha-Mama."
Nanoha gently petted the little girl's head in response, looking at her and then at Fate, saying, "And I love you both, very much ... Well, I guess this it for then ... "
"Yes ... I'll have to go for now. So until we can speak again, which I will be soon enough," Fate said, trying to stay brave for their daughter while with it, keeping a warm smile despite not wanting to finish yet, even she thought she had to.
"Bye, mama. Until later. See you soon," Vivio said, while waving.
"Yes, until then, Fate. Please make back it soon," Nanoha replied, adding her own waving.
"I will certainly do my best to ... Bye then, Nanoha, Vivio. Don't worry, soon enough, I'll be back with you for real," her smile finally faltering as she keyed in the commands to end the connection. A few moments later, the screen shimmered before turning into a dull gray display.
She then finally turned back again to the others in the room, saying, "Well then, let's see about trying make this work for the rest of the girls here. We should probably start with you, Inori, since your reality seem to be close enough to one existing in mine and one that has possibly compatible technology as well. In anycase, I don't know how much of a use it will be , but it is probably better to have any basis to work from rather than none, so these are the coordinates for the Earth from my reality," as another screen with flashing letters and numbers appeared, quite different from the previous one.
edited 2nd Jun '17 6:12:34 PM by JamesShields
Hikaru Completely Legitimate Utility Room
"That. Was. ADORABLE!" Inori said, crying. "She was so cute, and called you mama, and she had two different eyes and one of them was like yours and one of them was like your wife's but I think her hair is more like yours and then she had her little tiny hands and waved goodbye and and, and- and-"She wiped at her eyes and took a breath. "And it's so sad that you're so far away now." She wiped her nose on her sleeve. "Uh, oh, right, Earth. Yeah. It's Earth alright. I don't really know how much help we can get from my Earth though, I sort of... um... I got fired."
Dark Sun, what choices have I...?
Raquel's part of the multiverse didn't have plastic, apparently. Probably not somewhere Sayaka would call modern. She took note of that.
Besides the experience of having opened a plastic bag without help before, Raquel also lacked the etiquette to not talk while shoveling food down your mouth. Not that Sayaka had never done that herself, but it did sorta bother Hitomi at times so she had a sense of when to avoid it. Like when someone was trying not to stare in the immediate area. On the upside, in her attempts to distract herself from the unladylike act, Wo asked what sorts of things everyone liked to do in their leisure time.
"Well, I like to go out and get lunch with my friends sometimes, and we talk about all kinds of stuff. And sometimes I stop by the music store to pick up some tunes. Um, it's gotten a little harder to squeeze that stuff in since I became a magical girl, though."
i guess you can watch me shitpost i guess
Raquel continued enjoying the bread without a care in the world, although she did notice Wo glancing at her a few times. What was the deal with her? Maybe she wanted to see how other people ate? That was a bit creepy.
Regardless, Raquel was taken aback when Wo asked what everyone did to pass the time. She didn't want to come off as boring in front of people with clearly more interesting lives than hers. So, picking her nose all day wasn't exactly the kind of hobby they were talking about and Raquel wasn't going to mention she enjoyed needlework.
Maia had mentioned chess. Huh, another brainy type like Gabriel "Of course you like playing chess" She also read books so maybe talking about that could work.
"I like reading, too. There is this great book about airship maintenance I have back home... Wait, do you even know what an airships is?"
Hikaru's House (Utility Room)
As Inori had what could be best described as a cuteness overload reaction to Vivio, Fate beamed widely with maternal pride and said, "Thank you. She really is precious, isn't she? And yeah, I really wish I could be there as well right now ... But it is for their sake, as well as my other children's, as much as anyone else's that I must do this ..."
As the other girl then confessed that they wouldn't be able get much help from her Earth, due to her having been fired from whatever organization she had been part of, she gently shook her head a bit and flashed her a hopefully comforting smile, saying, "That is not really the intent with this. I mean, if anyone else does manage to contact someone that could lend some aid in all ths, it would be great, but really, this is more about getting everyone in touch with the people that care about them and that would worried over such a sudden disappearence and our subsequent absence for goodness knows how long ..."
"Farewell for now," Hikaru said with another small bow, "And thank you again."
From there she simply remained quiet as Fate spoke with the rest of her family. As she watched, she frowned. She looked a little envious and a little guilty, but on the whole she seemed almost wistful. She was quiet for a few long moments, up until Inori started crying and exclaiming about the whole affair.
"...Yes. Quite," she managed, before shaking her head and turning to Fate.
"From the looks of things, the biggest hurdle here is this dimensional coordinate system. Not all worlds would use something like that, and given the nature of reality chances are a certain world's not always going to be in the same place." She frowned thoughtfully. "I think that if we were to replace that bit with the system my society used for multiversal travel, then perhaps that would do the job." She turned towards the device. "Though I was also thinking that I could use this to keep contact with you while you're out in the field, which might complicate things more...."
Hikaru wasn't quite sure how long it had been since they first started messing with the communication device. It could had been minutes, it could had been hours. Furthermore, while they did make some notable progress, it turned out that messing with technology of a world she was unfamiliar with was more complicated than she expected. Who would have thought?
She let out a sigh before looking up from the mess the workbench had turned into towards Fate and Inori.
"I was hoping to have gotten this done and had everyone be able to contact their homes before too long, but...at this point, I feel all I did was just give the Zero Collapse more time to bring destruction." She shook her head. "I'm thinking that I should probably go ahead and have you go to the world of the first Alpha Device. I'll keep fiddling with this in the meantime. Maybe I'll have figured something out by the time you return."
She stood up and turned to a doorway. "I'm going to see if the others have had time to settle in, first. I probably should have given you time as well as opposed to having you help me mess with this for however long it's been, but...."
Provided Fate and Inori didn't have anything more to say to her, she'd head out to where the others had gathered, wherever that may had been.
"Have you all had time to adjust?" she asked, "Because if so, I'm thinking it's about time to try and retrieve the first Alpha Device. But only if you're ready; if not, take all the time you need."
Icon by Civvi the Civilian!
Inori - Hikaru's House. Utility Room -> Kitchen
"Sounds like a plan," Inori said, giving Hikaru a thumbs up. Around that time, Ether came back, the kitty hopping up onto her shoulder and tugging her. "Oops, it must be lunch time."She went in the direction of the kitchen, stopping when the cat jumped off her shoulder and landed on the ground, then started tapping the door to the pantry. Inori opened the door, finding a can of albacore tuna. "Oh ho ho, looks like Ether smelled that you have the good stuff," she said with a giggle, pulling the tab to open the can and then setting it on the far corner of the counter, out of the way of people. As soon as she set it down, the cat jumped up and started to leisurely munch on the fish.
"So um," she added, giving Raquel an odd look. "Are you just eating bread? By itself?"
...
...
"...No, I haven't," Wo concluded, giving a thumbs-up to Raquel like it was an accomplishment in critical thought. "I'd honestly like to hear about them, though! Anything about your guys' worlds has been pretty neat so far."
Just in time for everyone to start doing something fun together, like play a boardgame or view a televised performance of some ancestral hymn, Hikaru came along and spoiled the fun by reminding her that...oh yeah, they had to save existence. That kind of put a damper on things, didn't it?
Still, never one to let people down, Wo nodded to her and said "I'm ready as everyone else is. The sooner, the better." That notion of serious-time went by pretty quickly, because she had to ask Inori "What's the problem with eating the bread like that? Are you supposed to drink something with it?" as she squirted more ranch dressing into her mouth.
Wo unsurprisingly, didn't know anything about airships but was really interested in listening about them. Well, if she wanted an explanation, that's what she was going to get.
"You know... balloons attached to engines, basically. It's a bit more complex than that but that's the basic idea"
Inori came back from talking with Hikaru and Fate after a while. Apparently they were ready to go now "Finally" But there was something a bit more important going on: Inori asked Raquel if she was eating bread by itself, like she couldn't eat whatever she wanted. What did she know about food? Besides, this 'fridge' thing was filled with lots of things Raquel couldn't even recognize so right now bread was one of the few things she was willing to try.
"...yeah" she said, still chewing on some bread and not sure what Inori was getting at. Unless... "And no, I'm not giving you any!" she added, putting the bag away from where Inori could reach it.
The Flamebringer
Hikaru's Kitchen
"What! You don't drink bread!" Inori shouted. "Looks like I'm gonna have to introduce you girls and your stomachs to the twenty-first century!"She lifted her hands above her head and began to spin, a blue glow enveloping her. "Power of the Trident, show me the way! Chakra overflow!"
Then as soon as she was done she started running around the kitchen grabbing bread, deli meats, cheese, avocados, garden tomatoes, lettuce, slicing them with her hologram brain powers, and layering them together in sandwich-form with a generous amount of mayonnaise and dijon mustard.
"Okay. Done."
Hikaru's House (Kitchen) - Getting loaded up
She supposed that it had been too much to hope that differences between entire seperate realities would be overcome so easily. Hikaru was right, they didn't have much time to lose. Perhaps, since they were the basis of the multiversal travel that the summoner's society had been capable of, finding an Alpha Device might help on this front. So as Hikaru then to rejoin the others, she merely sighed a bit and nodded, folllowing her along.
Some of the others were ready to go, while the remaining ones seemed to be preoccupied with preparing lunches. Inori's rather flashy way of making sandwiches was particularly amusing.
Fate then turned back to Hikaru and then said, "I'm almost ready myself. I only have one final preparation to solve before we are to depart. It's regarding what I asked Hayate permission for ... As I said then, my cartridges stock is currently rather low, since I certainly didn't expect to be caught up in such an undertaking so soon. In anycase, those are used to power Bardiche's mode changes, as well my more potent spells, so I would be in a clear disadvantage if they were to be depleted as quickly as they would presenly be if any fightd do happen. So if you could bring in a couple or so full boxes, it would really go a long way ..."
Since the summoner would need to know more about her target, she then turned slightly turned her Device and said, "Here this shoud help ... Bardiche, dismantle magazine."
To which he then intoned , [[gold="Yes, Sir"]], as the cylinder built on his shaft entered to shifted and rotate, opening up to reveal a revolver-like chamber partially filled with what seemed to be ammunition.
Taking one the few remaining bullet-like objects, she held it up between two fingers for Hikaruto see it, "This is a Belkan cartridge. It is essentially hollow ammunition, filled with compressed magic. Here, take it if it will help you understand it better," as she then extended the hand holding towards her, the cartridg now resting balanced on her palm.
But, yeah, "That makes sense. Sorta. I don't really think anyone back home's ever tried that, to my knowledge," Wo replied to the both of them.
After that, it was time for another research discovery. The topic of bread evolved to the topic of sandwiches, a concept utterly foreign to her. Just how would a man hold these ingredients in between bread without it falling out?
Wo leaned up over the counter and probed the odd creation with a tentacle, as it yielded from the pressure by smooshing itself together. "What's the purpose of this, exactly?"
Hikaru's House (Utility Room)
Fate listened intently as Hikaru explained more of her magic and got somewhat curious on what exactly a "PMD" was. She guessed it was the Device-like magical equipment she had with her. She would leave those lesser concerns for later, for now, she needed to concetrate to her fullest on the task at hand if she wished for the call to suceed. Fortunately, as always, she did have Bardiche to assist in the matter.
When Hikaru spoke directly to her, concerning the call, she couldn't ignore it any longer, so she then said, "I suppose you're right ... Let's see I can get this done in the first place before we worry about any of that ..."
She then keyed in a more few commands, finishing estabilishing the connection with Hayate's office. She would be probably the one most approachable about all this, after all. She definitely outranked her, but she was a dear friend and quite reasonable as well.
Suddenly, the holographic screen changed to show the image of said office, with the certain brunnete girl she was looking for still being thankfully there.
For a short while it seemed like the image was frozen. However, this was simply a delay in transmittion due the distance involved. As it resumed however, when Hayate saw her on the other end of the screen, she somewhat narrowed her eyes and said, "Fate? Why are you doing an out of world call? Weren't you supposed to be on leave?"
Fate carefully considered her words, aided by the fact that it would probably covered by the delay, before saying, "Well, let's just say that I may have been unexpectedly drafted into an extra-official mission. And forget for the delay in this communication, but I'm afraid that I'm currently a great distance away."
Indeed, the ensuing conversation would take a while longer than it would otherwise, but not in a way that should impar it significantly.
That didn't seem to help matters much, for Hayate, exesperately responded, "What? Who would so irresponsibly ignore my request for you to remain off duty? And why would you, either?"
Fate carefully held up a hand and calmly said, "I'm afraid it wasn't anyone in the Bureau, Hayate. It was someone else entirely, who couldn't possibly know about any of that. And it is someone that has brought up a grave matter that I simply cannot ignore."
Hayate raised a eyebrow, but also had a somewhat curious look as she then replied, "What is going on then? Where are you? How did they bring you there?"
"Well, it seems that my ... Host has abilities similar to Caro's and somehow summoned me here, to another dimension entirely. As for what is happening ... You remember my report just earlier, don't you? About those mysterious black spots that are appearing everywhere and causing significant damage?" When the other nodded her head, she then added, "Well, turns out, they may be very well literally everywhere. There are a manisfetation of something that is threatning to destroy things on a much grander scale. It will cause severe dimension distortions practically across all of existence if it is not stopped."
Hayate's eyes widened in shock and she then said, 'What? Then, please, tell me everything you know and where you are so that can get the Navy on this. If it is as serious as that, then it warrants our full attention."
Fate looked conficted and took a moment to carefully think it over, before finally going with, "Actually ... It may be better if we don't get any more of the Bureau involved in this. You still need to be able to combat the local effects of all this, as well other dimension threats. And also, as you may have guessed, this is not a naturally ocurrijg phenomenon. It was caused by someone with a very powerful, ancient artifact, comparable to a high class Lost Logia. I'm afraid if we get any more involved in this and are noticed, they might take even more drastic actions. We cannot risk that either."
Hayate's expression mirrored the worry in her own as she spoke, "Even so, if it anything anywhere near as desperate as you have described, then we must act. It is our sworn duty to protect everyone from things such as that. We cannot afford any chance of it going unchecked."
Fate mulled this over, taking a glance at Hikaru before saying, "Perhaps you should speak with the one that brought me into this. She should be able explain it all much better than I ever could."
Hayate got a thoughtful look of her and took a moment before responding, "Alright then. I will give then the chance to explain this over. I would rather get us involved into a such a grave matter, but if it's proven that it also delicate like that, then I may reconsider my decision."
"Thank you, that's all I ask," before stepping away from the device and turning to Hikaru, saying "Hayate wishes to speak with you."
edited 25th May '17 11:17:19 AM by JamesShields