1481/Curiosity Befriended the Cat

Curiosity Befriended the Cat
Date of Scene:	15 May 2016
Location:	Mikoto's Warehouse
Synopsis:	Chloe and Yoru join Mikoto in trying to repair a damaged Armed Device. Things do not go as well as expected.
Cast of Characters:	Mikoto Nakajima, Chloe Stingray, Ikuto Tsukiyomi

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Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
    Another day, another trip to the Secret Lair, aka Nakajima Industries Warehouse Number Seventeen, near the Uminari dockside. On her way there, Mikoto pages her way through her homework on a screen Carnwennan projects into her mind. Much of it she finishes with ease, though she leaves a couple of essays for later - she hasn't read the appropriate text yet, and it isn't due until Thursday anyway.

    By the time she's finished that much, she's made it to the warehouse, and heads in.

    "Right then," she says to no one in particular. "Carnwennan, research log, May 16, 2016. As decided Friday I will be attempting to construct an Armed Device from the parts available, by preference repairing one of the existing units."

    She takes a look around the lab, to see if Yoru or Hikari is present. She doesn't see either, and she knew Hikari was going to be heading for Akihabara today, so she shrugs and walks over to the workbench.

Chloe Stingray has posed:
    Another one arrives at the warehouse a little bit after Mikoto. Chloe opens, and closes the door when she walks in. "At least you make some....reasonable friends, Miko-chan." She calls out across the warehouse as she slinks her way through the maze of parts. On her way through, her jacket and device are retracting to a stand-by position. it also serves as a way to advertise that Chloe's there....so Mikoto doesn't get startled by her.

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
    Scratch. Scratchscratch. Scritch. Scratch scratch scritch.

    That's probably an annoying sound there at the window. But luckily it's accompanied by a voice. "Heeeeeey! Miko-chaaaaaan! Lemme in-nyaaaaaa!"

    Cat scratching at the window!

    And it is indeed Yoru, the tiny Chara floating outside the window, scratching firmly enough to be heard but gentle enough not to damage the window. A moment later he pushes his face against the glass, which looks pretty silly. "Miko-chan, are you here-nya?" These words are muffled by the glass, since he's got his face pressed against it.

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
    A mental gesture pauses the recording, and Mikoto offers a friendly nod and smile to Chloe. "Most of the time," she agrees. "Some of them can be a bit ... out there. Ms White has her moments, for example."

    She blinks, hearing a scratching at the window. What's that, some kid throwing pebbles at her warehouse? Maybe she ought to give them a piece of her mind. Or at least an example of her vocabulary.

    The voice that accompanies it, however, is more certain to grab her attention. "Oh, hey, Yoru-chan. Sure, sure, hang on a sec." A few steps carry her to the window and she slides it open to let the little Chara in. "You've been out and about for a while... any sign of Ikuto-kun?"

Chloe Stingray has posed:
    "Is that a chara guardian?" Chloe says as she sees Yoru. This would be the third Chara guardian she's ever seen, so she knows what she's looking at....at least partly. "And...I'm going to assume this is one of your friends, Mikoto?"

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
    The window opens, and Yoru enters... then immediately tries to hug Mikoto's cheek! He doesn't immediately notice Chloe due to this PDA. Hit or miss, he moves back from Mikoto and answers her question. "Nothin' yet-nya," he replies, with a shake of his head. "Plenty 'a others, though. None of 'em have seen Ikuto--"

    He pauses, as he notices Chloe, looking to her and blinking large yellow feline eyes. "Oh hi there," he offers. Then points out, "I don't know you-nya!" He assumes if this person is in Mikoto's space, it's someone she trusts. So he ventures, "I'm Yoru!"

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
    Mikoto hmms softly, reaching up to scritch at the base of Yoru's ears. "Dang. It's been too long... who knows what they're doing to him." She sighs and looks down, trying to stay calm.

    She keeps on moving over to the workbench, where a number of parts are laid out, including one of the damaged Devices Chloe recovered. "That he is," she says, scritching the feline again. "If you haven't gathered already, he's Ikuto's. Yoru-chan, this is my good friend, Chloe. She's a Mage like me."

    While the two greet each other, she takes the inactive Device and triggers its Maintenance mode, letting the components spread out over the empty worktables.

Chloe Stingray has posed:
    "I'm going to assume this Ikuto is connected to you, somehow, Yoru?" Chloe says in a minor stretch of logic. She then looks to Mikoto. "and He's connected somhow to Easter." She then chuckles to Yoru. "yeah, I'm Chloe, and I'm a mage like Miko-chan over there." She even touches the blue orb on her choker, as proof.

As Mikoto works, Chloe sits in a chair. "if I can be blunt Yoru....have you asked Utau for help? Or is she one of the ones looking?"

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
    Scritches! Yes, this is good! Yoru emits a happy 'Nyaaaa~' at the scritches, and attempts to occupy the top of Mikoto's head. He's light, there's that, though he makes a poor hat, since he moves. On the other hand, he's warm and purrs, so there's that!

    "Pleased to meet you, Chloe!" Yoru offers, after Mikoto's introduction. He's a bit of a blunt Chara himself it seems! The question from Chloe about his connection has him nodding. "Yup! I'm kinna like your talking magic thingie-nya." To the feline Chara, 'a mage like Mikoto' means 'uses a Device like Mikoto', even if he doesn't quite remember the term for the 'talking magic thingie'.

    The question gets a nod. "She's been looking too," he confirms. "Her and her Charas. But all she knows is he's definitely at Easter Tower. Not where. They won't let her in to see him anymore-nya."

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
    "Yes, but you're much funnier," is Mikoto's opinion of the comparison of a Chara to a Device. She seems content to have a cat-hat for now, as she goes over the Device spread over the table.

    She bites her lip, holding back her first reply. "So very tempting to just bring down the whole building... if he weren't in it..."

    She pushes the thought aside, forcibly, and turns her attention back to the Device. One of the tools taken from the wreckage is of use here, severing the links that hold the burnt-out components in place, and she sets each aside in turn, making careful notes of exactly what she removes from where, and any identifying markings on it.

Chloe Stingray has posed:
    "You think we should write things down, and separate components that look like it, Miko-chan?" Chloe saysbefore she idly scritches Yoru's back. "The things I've heard Yoru, I think you'd better stay with us when you're not looking for Ikuto in the future. I wouldn't want you to get hurt." She then lets out a breath from her nose. "When Miss White mentioned a gun that took people's heart eggs......Just kinda....put two and two together as Utau, a few days before, mentioned Easter." She then looks to Mikoto. "You're not the only one who wants to bring down that building....if it wasn't for Ikuto." She then smiles to Yoru. "and.....if Yoru is any indication, he must be a sweet guy."

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
    On the bright side, Yoru's perch on Mikoto's head means he's out of her way. And he's capable of keeping himself in place while she looks down at the table. Talk of bringing the building down gets a frown, though. "Everybody else inside would die too-nya," he points out. From his tone, he doesn't like that idea. "Sure, I don't like a lot of 'em. But I wouldn't want 'em to die."

    Chloe's words get a blink. "...Utau doesn't use a gun for that," Yoru points out. "She doesn't need it. Only reason someone'd need a machine t'do that is if they couldn't do it naturally-nya. So it'd have to be someone without a Chara. And Utau-chan has two!" The mention of Ikuto being a sweet guy gets a happyface cat expression, and a 'hehe' from Yoru. "He's not as bad as he wants people to think he is-nya."

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
    "He most certainly is," Mikoto says, with a definite fondness to her tone. There have been rumors that they were dating, after all.

    "And yeah, if you could check each component... see if you can find something that looks the same, and has the same markings, or as close as we can get. We might have to cannibalize one of the other Devices to get this one working..."

    She lets out a little sigh, then sets another burnt-out component down. "I know, Yoru-chan. I know. But they chose to work for Easter. Many of them choose to continue to work for them, even knowing what they do. And I do blame each and every one of them for what's happening to Ikuto right now."

Chloe Stingray has posed:
    "Might be a good idea to do that. Cannibalizing other devices. As much as I dislike doing that." Chloe says running her fingers over the blue orb at her throat. "How about we find a way to get them all to work, even if we're not going to use them."

Yoru gets a look and a smile. "And it seems Yoru has the right idea." Then she hears the rest of it. "SO Utau could do it on her own. But whoever did it with that weapon couldn't do it themselves." She says....still petting Yoru.

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
    Yoru's ears droop when Mikoto speaks about the people working for Easter. He can't really dispute it. They COULD choose to do something different. "I bet it's Director-san. He's really scary. He knows how to make people mind. With all the times he's threatened Ikuto, I wouldn't doubt it if he did the same to his other employees-nya."

    Yoru seems to like his perch on Mikoto's head, but he will definitely come down if it means pets! So Mikoto may have a shoulder cat now, while Yoru purrs happily for Chloe-pets. Yoru is, after all, the part of Ikuto's heart that is the most honest. And Yoru likes pets. It's fortunate that he's good at hanging onto shoulders and whatnot too; that tended to be how he'd travel with Ikuto.

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
    Mikoto picks out the last of the burnt-out bits from the Device and sets it aside. "I'd like to. We'd need more parts, though." She mulls. "I don't think White-san would be kind enough to let us rumble another of her labs for them."

    She doesn't like the idea of stealing hearts. And she's glad that Hannah isn't doing it anymore. It still burns her to watch it happening, to know that Utau is helping with it, while they search for a way to retrieve Ikuto.

    "Villains often rule through fear, that's right. I prefer honest, respectful leadership. It gets a lot better performance out of the underlings, and it gives them a lot less reason to turn on you." She actually went through and plotted it out, once, how she'd form her own organization to take over the world... of course, that was before she had magic powers.

Chloe Stingray has posed:
    "The question is...how." Chloe says as she looks to the burned out parts. "Well....we'll figure something out I think. Eventually. For now, we'll have to cannibalize. We'll get them all working eventually...but right now, practicality."

She looks to Yoru and shakes her head. "Just like a cat, I swear." back to Mikoto. "First hand experience here. Respectful leadership gets more out of a person."

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
    "He's a meanie," Yoru agrees with Mikoto, regarding Kazuomi. "He's been like that as long as I've known him-nya. He's never thought of Ikuto as anything but a tool. He makes Ikuto work when he's sick, or tired, and never gives him any kind of praise, not even when he does a real good job-nya."

    Yoru snickers at Chloe's statement of being just like a cat. "Free as an alley cat, that was the dream-nya!" He's been sort of not commenting on the building of Devices thus far, since he doesn't know much about them. Here, though, he asks, "What'cha doin'? I know building magical things, but what kinda magical things?"

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
    Mikoto hmmms softly as she turns to the table laden with parts. Carnwennan overlays the list on her vision, and she starts searching through them for possible matches. "We'll work something out," she agrees, and sets aside the first match she's found.

    "Sounds to me like the Director needs to go. And not come back." She can't find a match for the next on her list, but she does found a closely similar one.

    "This is what an Intelligent Device - or in this case, technically an Armed Device - looks like on the inside, Yoru." All that is packed in that tiny little amulet she wears? That's pretty good packing! "We're trying to fix this one."

Chloe Stingray has posed:
    Chloe holds up her own device. "It's what Blazing Soul is, Yoru. An Intelligent device." The blue orb even speaks to Yoru as it's held up. 'HELLO!', it says in arcane script and an echoing female voice.

The entire time she's talking though, she's separating parts and putting them with look-alike parts....where the burned out ones get set 'above' the clean ones on the table. clearly marked 'burned out'.

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
    Yoru's ears droop again at the mention of Kazuomi going away and never coming back. But he doesn't deny it. That would be good for a lot of people. He just doesn't like the idea of hurting anybody. That's a part of Ikuto's situation even he's smart enough not to just announce-- Kazuomi's connection to Ikuto, that is. Even if Mikoto already knows.

    The displaying of the workings of the Devices gets an interested look, and Yoru's ears perk up again. He doesn't get the layout, no, but he can see it's an electronic device. Or, well, something like it. Chloe's Device speaking to him gets a surprised 'Nya!', and he hides behind Mikoto's shoulder, eyes wide in surprise! "They all talk?" he asks. "So... these are all little tiny people?" This seems a bit concerning, considering they're strewed all over the table...

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
    Mikoto continues separating out the parts she'll need, and finally there are at least very close matches for all of them. A couple she isn't sure about, but there isn't anything closer in what they have.

    "And yes, they all talk. Some more than others. Most of them keep quiet most of the time, though."

    ("That is because it is not our part to interject without good reason, Meister.")

    "But yes, in a way, they are people. At least as much as, say, you are."

Chloe Stingray has posed:
    Chloe smiles. "Yeah. That's pretty much it, Yoru. That's....the main reason why I'd like to fix them all up eventually." Chloe says with a smile. "Blazing Soul.....saved my life...and the life of my friends. So.....she's a good friend of mine too."

'THANK YOU, MY MASTER!' Blazing Soul says. Which makes Chloe smile.

"And I don't abandon my friends if I can help it." Chloe says firmly.

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
    Mikoto and Chloe both confirming that the Devices are indeed people, at least in a way, makes Yoru put his hand-paws to his mouth in shock. Though when Chloe seems to be adamant about fixing all the Devices, he nods. "They need fixed and to be put with people, right-nya?" he questions.

    And then he does something odd. He flies down to the table and tries to gently pat one of the broken Devices, as if reassuring it.

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
    Mikoto smiles lightly, reaching down to pat Yoru's head. "Yes. Once they're fixed, we'll find each of them someone to work with. I'm still learning all of this, though, so this is kind of an experiment."

    She picks up the first component and moves down to where it seems to be intended to go. "Connecting item number one," she says, adding a description of the item and her hypothesis about its function. The same tool she used to remove the parts is now used to connect this one...

Chloe Stingray has posed:
    "I figured each of them would find their own ways about, but yeah, I guess giving them a good home is better." Chloe says looking to Yoru as he pats one of the devices. "Yeah.....we'll do our best for them, Yoru."

Chloe looks over towards a blue orb, like her own and opens it up in maintenece mode........looking about as she has Blazing Soul scan the device......

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
    Yoru looks pleased with that head-pat from Mikoto, and looks up at her with a big smile. Though he does move away as she starts connecting stuff-- he doesn't want to get zapped or anything! Chloe's statement gets a tilted head. "They can move around, too?" he asks. It doesn't look to him like a stone in a necklace would be able to move around. Peeeeeer. "...I guess they can roll-nya," he admits.

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
    Mikoto nods and starts looking over the Device Chloe opened up. "Seeing any better matches there? We've got six near-matches and three maybe's..." The near matches are ones where she's sure she's at least got the right kind of part. The maybe's, she isn't so sure of.

    She chuckles softly at Yoru's comment. "Oh, there are plenty of things they can do. Like flying." After all, she' can fly, using them. It wouldn't be such a surprise to see them do so on their own.

Chloe Stingray has posed:
    "Not yet. Though, I'm probably looking at an armed device too. I don't know the difference yet." Chloe says as she pets Yoru. "yes they can fly.....and with Blazing Soul, so can I." She then chuckles. "but you fly everywhere, doncha?" She then perks up. "OH! I knew I forgot something. I brought food." She then looks to Yoru. "If Miko-chan's willing to share, so am I....but I brought beef ramen." She says putting a bag on a separate table.

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
    Yoru blinks. "They can fly alone too?" A look at the broken Device he'd patted, a suspicious one, as if he expected it to start trying to fly away. Then again, it's broken, it probably can't do that unless it's made un-broken first. Though Chloe does point something out, that Yoru flies almost everywhere too. He nods. "Almost," he agrees. "Sometimes I get too tired to fly-nya."

    Oh hey, food! Yoru definitely perks at the sound of that. He's been out all day and hasn't eaten much else than what he could steal. He fairly POUNCES on the bag when it's placed on the table. It's kind of funny how he almost seems to try to hug the bag of ramen. It's only after he pounces that he remembers manners. He looks up at Chloe. "Can I have one?" If he wasn't a cat, one would call them 'puppy dog eyes'.

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
    "I'm pretty sure that one is also an Armed Device, yes."

    Mikoto hmms and turns to eye the bag. "Ramen, hmm? Well now. That's worth taking a lunch break for." She steps over to peel Yoru off of the bag and takes a sniff. "And you went to one of the good places, too."

    The bowls of soup are quickly extraced and opened. "Thanks!" She looks over at Yoru and waves him closer.

Chloe Stingray has posed:
    "Well...if you're going to visit on a regular basis, Yoru, I'll make sure to get you your own bowl." Chloe says as she opens one of the bowls herself. "but I did say 'share', didn't I? These bowls are enormous." She then laughs. "I'm sure you wouldn't mind sharing....."

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
    Yoru is easily peeled off the bag without complaints, and returns to Mikoto's shoulder. He sniffs at the food from his perch, too. The mention of visiting on a regular basis gets a nod. "I don't really have anyplace else to go-nya," he notes. "Well, aside from Amu's, and she's got that sister of hers that's all--" He reaches up and pulls his own face out to the sides comically "--geeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh to me." He lets go of his face again. "She wants to put me in her doll's dresses-nya."

    As for sharing? "I don't mind! I'm not as greedy as people think-nya. Just because I steal things..." He trails off, seeming to realize what he just said. "I mean. Borrow. That's it-nya."

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
    A smile spreads across Mikoto's face, and she nods. "Why don't you get another bowl from the kitchen, Yoru-chan? And the big spoon." She hmmms softly as she tastes the broth. "This is just right. Wonderful choicee, Chloe-chan."

    "And don't even get me started about Amu. She's a brat in her own right."

Chloe Stingray has posed:
    Chloe digs in as well....and they even used real beef. Yup, she got the good stuff. "I'll just have to remember the place where I got this." She says as she eats some of the noodles....and sighs. "mmmf. I couldn't even make it this good at home." She says looking at the blue orb she was working on earlier. "yeah, That's definitely an armed device. Just need a bit of help with it. I wonder if it'll boot up after I've tinkered with it."

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
    Yoru chuckles mischievously at the observation of Amu. But he's really more interested in the ramen! So, as Mikoto instructs, he goes to retrieve another bowl and the big spoon. He puts the spoon IN the bowl, and then balances the whole lot on his head as he brings them to the table. "Here ya go-nya!" he declares, putting them on that table. Chloe's statement gets a blink. "Boot up? Like a computer?"

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
    "Well, once we've got all the broken bits replaced, it should at least be able to try. I can't say for certain it'll succeed, however."

    Mikoto slurps down a big bite of noodles while Yoru fetches himself a bowl - and then uses the spoon and a spare set of chopsticks to serve up some soup for the Chara. With plenty of beef.

    "Well, that's exactly what they are, really. A computer - a really smart one - that runs on magic instead of electronics."

Chloe Stingray has posed:
    "Something like that Yoru." Chloe says. "Except this 'computer' has feelings." She then starts to eat the ramen and chuckles at Yoru balancing it on his head. "What Miko-chan said."

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
    "Thank you-nya!" Yoru replies as Mikoto pours some of the ramen into a bowl for him. He also uses the spare set of chopsticks to eat the noodles and beef. His mouth is thus occupied, but he listens to Mikoto and Chloe explain about the Devices. Chloe's mention of a computer with feelings has Yoru pausing in his meal though, his ears perking. "An AI? A magical AI? Oh, that's cool-nya!" he crows.

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
    Mikoto goes back to eating, once Yoru is served, and settles in to enjoy the meal. After all, she's got a good chunk of hard work ahead of her. And the ramen is really quite good.

    Eventually, however, the meal is eaten, and it's back to work. Several components end up removed from the Device that Chloe had laid out, replacing 'almosts' and 'maybes' from the ones Mikoto had picked out. It takes some time, but eventually, each one is in position, connected securely - or at least, as far as she can tell, they are.

    "That's the last of them," she says, and sits back to relax. "Give the welds a few minutes to set, and we can consider bringing up the central processing core."

Chloe Stingray has posed:
    "All right." Chloe says still chewing at the beef from her bowl. She even shared some with Yoru, as well as noodles with him. "Hopefully, it won't be too big of a straing for Blazing Soul to sync with this one.

'I'LL TRY, MY MASTER.' Blazing Soul answers to Chloe. Seems Chloe's let Blazing Soul speak more of late, now that she realized that they're supposed to.

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
    Yoru's mouth has been occupied with eating-- and he's all too willing to take treats when given!-- so he won't say a lot until the meal is over. And when the girls get back to work, Yoru takes to snoozing on a shelf out of the way. Cats get sleepy with a full belly, after all!

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
    Mikoto nods. "Right, then. Carnwennan, please connect to the target Device's transponder."

    ("Affirmative, Meister.") A brief pause, and then: ("I am detecting an active carrier frequency. The Device is receptive to stimuli.")

    Mikoto nods. "Better go wake up Yoru, he'll want to see this." She pauses to take several readings of energy levels and component performance, while Carnwennan probes the accessible Device circuits.

    And in time, she's ready to proceed with the activation. "Alright, 'wennan, link up with Blazing Soul and synchronize with Chloe's biorhythm. Feed that harmonic into the Device's activation filter."

    There's a brief hum, and several of the components of the spread-out Device start to glow. Among them are the ones Mikoto had picked out as processing nodes and power filters. There's a brief sound, a series of rising tones, coming from the Device's vocoder.

    And then the glow intensifies, centered around one of the 'power filters' - the last of Mikoto's 'maybe' selections, with no closer match found to replace it.

    Soon enough, the glow is blinding, and Mikoto covers her eyes and steps back. "Carnwennan! Protection! Wide-area!" A wall of force snaps into being, several of the rotating Belkan spell-glyphs lining it, as one panel at a time materializes in place around the too-bright-to-look-at Device on its worktable.

    It is, perhaps, a good thing that Mikoto acted when she did. The explosion is... impressively violent. The entire shield area is whited out with the blinding light, for a long moment.

    When the light fades, the Device rests on the table, silent and dark. Pillars of some sort of crystal rise from several of the components, glittering under the flourescent warehouse lighting.

    As the onlookers watch, one of the components - split in half by the crystal growing, apparently from within it - falls to pieces, quickly followed by the crystal itself.

    Mikoto stares at the result of her efforts, and her jaw drops in shock and dismay.

    And the so-often prim and proper young maiden has but one thing to say:

    "Well... fuck."

Chloe Stingray has posed:
    Chloe has her own shield up by the time Mikoto has hers up....AND she's grabbed Yoru and held him close to her. Always thinking of others it seems.

But when the device hits a snag, CHloe makes a bit of a face. "I agree. I guess we need to get some solid schematics, hmm?" She says softly.

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
    Yoru's ears perk when he hears his name called, and he flits up off his perch, zipping over to Chloe this time, and watching the Device carefully as it's started up. Suddenly it's too bright, and Yoru quickly shuts his eyes and grabs for Chloe's shoulder with a frightened "Nyaaaa!" He makes to budy his face in said shoulder to block out the light, his ears going back in fear.

    And then everything's quiet. Yoru pauses, then tilts his head up and opens one eye, ears still pinned back. "...Is it over? Are we still alive-nya?"

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
    Mikoto stands in silence for a long moment, still staring at the ruins of her work. She doesn't repeat her previous remark, but it's clear enough in her face.

    Finally, she looks up and over at the others.

    "... yes, Yoru-chan. We're still alive. ... If we aren't, then we're pretty solid for ghosts." She walks over and reaches up to peel Yoru off of Chloe's shoulder and hug the Chara tightly.

    "We'll rebuild. We'll try again. We'll get it right."