1675/Snowe-White Demonstration Time!

Snowe-White Demonstration Time!
Date of Scene:	29 June 2016
Location:	Witchhunter Professional Services
Synopsis:	(Content warning: Mad science, biological variety.) 'Ms. Snowe' consults with Miss White on how exactly Devices work. Say. THIS Device, right here, this frosted-over halberd...
Cast of Characters:	Hannah Sharpe, Ami Mizuno

---

Hannah Sharpe has posed:
Miss White has been spending far too much time either in the lab, or going through her brutal training regime. Her new Eclipse 'coworkers' have made Hannah's research all the more important, and her little discovery has had a nice effect on her funding.

When 'Miss Snowe' arrives, she'll be ushered to the labs by one of the magical employees through a teleport. She can't be too careful right now, as much as she likes the woman.

It also should be noted that Hannah warned her in advance to not eat lunch if she has a weak stomach. The reason would become abundantly clear as the bluenette arrives, for an operating table is in the main lab area. Chained down on the slab is a Witch's Familiar, the slightly bulbous, vaguely carnival freak shaped creature split open. Currently, Hannah's going to town with a scalpel inside the thing's head. It twitches occasionally.

On the table nearby, there's lots of Device parts in orderly little rows, and a complete Armed Device is also on the table.

Hannah perks up when Ami arrives. "Snowe! How ya doing? Heh, I'd get you coffee, but I'm a little dirty right now. Cups, sugar, creamer are over there by the fridge. Feel free to get whatever you want. Just gimme a minute and I'll start learnin' ya."

Poke prod slice.

"Tch. No reaction. Familiar anatomy's annoying, things that you'd think would make it move just don't work out like a human."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Ami Mizuno's guise as 'Ms. Snowe' is not exactly stellar: lab coat, glasses, a slinky dress, high heels, and lipstick. It all makes her look just a little older, just a little taller, and just a little more officious. It does wonders for concealing her true identity, since Hannah already knows she's Sailor Mercury. And it does wonders for keeping Eclipse from looking too closely at Hannah for having one of Virtue's more prominent members visiting her.

Such a pleasant mutual arrangement.

When she steps out of the teleportation into Hannah's lab, however, Ms. Snowe is about as far from losing her lunch as possible. Curious of Miss White's activities, she approaches the table gingerly and peers over the American's shoulder. "Well they're beings of pure magic," she observes, once she's identified it. "I don't suspect their anatomy would make any sense. Think of them less as organisms, and more as constructs made of dreams, and I think it may start to make more sense."

Then she clears her throat and steps back, "Err, sorry, I don't mean to interrupt."

Stepping away, Ms. Snowe moves to one of the side tables and sets down a small tablet computer with a teal case bearing the golden symbol of Mercury on its back. Then, she reaches up her hand and Hannah can immediately sense the working of some small subspace magic. From nowhere, Ms. Snowe draws a massive halberd cloaked in frost and rhime. It doesn't chill Ms. Snowe to hold it, but it's clear she's frowning at the obviously Belkan magical device, and perhaps the device is frowning back. With it out, she sits back to wait for Hannah to be free.

Hannah Sharpe has posed:
A deep, deep sigh. "Yeah, I guess that's true. Problem is, hard to control the things if you can't puzzle out how they work. There's /got/ to be some kind of order to it, dream or not. If I can figure that out, then I can really put them to work in killing Witches faster."

Finally, though, she decides this one's of no more use. She strips off the gloves, chucks them in a biohazard container, then starts washing her hands thoroughly. Five minutes later, she waves over to Ami.

"Step away from the table for a sec. Oh, and don't look at it unless you want to find out what it's like to be me."

She'll give Ami a minute, then pushes a button. An arc welder descends from the ceiling and slowly burns the thing to slag. The remains get dumped down into another chamber through a chute.

"There we go. Gotta keep things nice and clean."

Grin. She pauses though. That is /real/ familiar, what's in Ami's hand. And does not at all bode well for Takashi.

"...Huh. Long time no see, Halberd-chan."

She really doesn't need to study this Device for too long, she's seen it in action. Walking over, she checks it out close up after acquiring some coffee.

"Yup, that's a Belkan Device. Alright, first up, how much do you know about types of Devices, oh frigid one?"

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Ms. Snowe leans away when Hannah asks her to, but she doesn't stop watching. When Hannah finally turns her attention to the matter at hand--and greets the device--it pings softly in response, but doesn't speak.

Snowe glances up at the device curiously, then looks back to Hannah. "Honestly, I know very little about them. Storm Knight's device is similar. I've actually seen this one taken apart, inside and out, down to its subspace components. And I have no small skill in subspace manipulation myself."

Ami offers the device towardss Hannah, in case she does want to study it closer, then observes, "My study of magic is not limited by the Moon Kingdom's history, but it is heavily influenced by it. In the short term, I am interested in binding this device to myself. Long term ... well there's someone who's eventually going to want it back. I'm holding onto it until they're ready."

Hannah Sharpe has posed:
The Device is taken, and given a long look over.

"...So you're just borrowing it, huh? Well, I won't ask about the circumstances. I probably don't want to know." Shrug.

"Right then. That's what's known as an 'Armed Device'. It uses the Belkan magic system. Find somebody else if you want to know the history, but Belakn device users are designed as anti-personelle devices. In other words, you're there to get up in their grill and beat them up. Don't bother with ranged attacks with those things. And they're not, uh...well, to be blunt, they're not as smart as an Intelligent Device, so don't go relying on it to cast all your spells for you all the time. Uh. No offense." A little pat on the halberd in. She hands it back.

She holds up Raging Tempest. "Now, R.T. here uses the Midchildan type, since she's an I.D. Those tend to focus on ranged attacks, but I'm sure you realize she's a bit unique. See, Raging Tempest is as much partner than anything else. Your little buddy there is more like a slightly smart calculator in temperment. So it'll mostly do whatever you say if you synch up right, but it's not going to get any bright ideas. The thinking is on you."

Miss White makes a mental command, and two sections of her Device raise out not unlike a very odd double-shotgun. She takes out a shotgun-shell like object.

"See this? It's known as a Cartridge, something inherent to Belkan stuff. I had a friend of mine jury rig the right module into R.T. Basically, it's a container of magic that you charge up, and in a fight, you can drain it to give you a massive, temporary boost in power. That's the biggest advantage of an Armed Device. It's pretty blunt, but you can't ignore the pure power in it. Following me so far? From what I've seen of you, you tend to sit back and coordinate, right? You did good in getting that one. Gives you an option to surprise people when Miss Frigid IceQueen is suddenly in their face trying to break them."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Ms. Snowe listens and learns. She doesn't interrupt, she doesn't fidget; if every student were as attentive, teachers everywhere would rejoice. When Hannah explains the cartridges, Ami leans forward just a little to study it closer, then looks at the device in her hand curiously. "I guess that goes here," she says, reaching up to touch a section on the rear of the halberd's head. It pops open, revealing a place where a cartridge could be inserted. "Not that it matters much; I haven't got any cartridges."

She considers that a moment, then closes the panel again and looks back to Hannah. "The two most important questions I have, then, are: what do I need to do to sync with the device properly, and how do I access the device's base code. I know it's written in a Belkan programming language, so I'm not going to be able to parse it, but I'm still curious enough to want to look."

Hannah Sharpe has posed:
The wind mage takes on a thoughtful look.

"Honestly, I'd love to give you some. But they're pretty rare as it stands. Only reason I have a decent supply is that a cut a few deals with some people that make /me/ look a saint. Oh, and a lot of looting. Do some research into something called the 'Artha'. You might luck out. Just if you find anything really interesting, do me a favor and at least give me a peek." Grin.

"Second question's easy. That little computer of yours, from what I'm guessing, has quite a few interfaces, right? Devices in general are pretty adaptive. Heck, see my lab equipment? USB 3.0. Seriously. Plugs riiiight into R.T. real nice. Thing is, you have to ask for permission to see a Device's base code. I mean, you're basically looking into their soul when you do that. I saw a mage who tried /that/ without being nice. Didn't know somebody could facetank a bombardment spell point blank. Kinda impressive." A sadistic little chuckle there. Being around Bob brings out the worst in the woman.

"That first one's a rougher question. See, for a /mage/, all you do is...basically you open up your Linker Core, and you and the Device directly interface. Demonstration time!"

Hannah takes a small breath, and the emerald green linker core of hers floats out from her body, still shot through with black thanks to so many experiments with grief seeds. Hannah grabs one of the spikes, it gets yanked out on a connecting cable, and the two interface directly in a showy spark of magic.

She soon de-interfaces. "Something like that. The actual process has a lot of ceremony behind it. I hate that kind of stuff, but it's real important you do it right. It's best to have another mage with you, too, but here that's kinda hard. Good thing you know me, right?" Her laugh her is far warmer and more genuine.

"But that's where we hit a wall. You're not a mage. Now, I'm just theorizing here. But I'm thinking with a lot of binding spells, I could probably force a connection with your friend there. Thing is, you're going to have to do something pretty dangerous. I'll need some kind of proof of your magic. Something somewhat physical that I can bind controls to. And it might not even work, and it sure as heck won't be anywhere near to a real mage's synch levels. But I really think it might just work with enough stubborn pride."

Both hands open up to her sides in a placating gesture. "So basically you're going to have to trust a shadey person like me to not just grab hold of your magic and steal it for myself. And if it's not obvious, I'm a real greedy woman. I like you. I don't /want/ to do that to somebody I respect. But I'm going to level with you. I don't know if I have the self control to /not/ try it. Let's just say I've had issues like that with a mutual buddy of ours." Poor Mamo.

"But that's the risk you'll need to take. Just wanted to make sure you knew. I'm many things, but no one's going to say Kasagami White makes deals without spelling out what risks you'll have to incur with them."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
The explanation of how one binds themself to a device is clearly offputting to Ami. She leans back just a little, then looks at the device, then back to Hannah. "I see," she replies quietly, thoughtfully. "That's not the kind of decision I intend to enter into lightly."

But it's clearly one she's considering nonetheless. "I appreciate that you're willing to consider it, but you clearly know as well as I do that trusting you is a big risk. Today, it's not a risk I'm willing to take; and besides, I don't believe in taking risks like that without spelling out the details for both sides. I will want to make sure you are compensated for an effort like that, to help reduce your temptation to abuse the power you would wield during the procedure."

Oh but that said, "I will take it under consideration. Meanwhile, for your benefit," Ami reaches up and taps the screen on her device. Almost instantly, Raging Tempest flares to life with an incoming data dump. "These are all of the notes I took during the recent affairs of the incoming asteroid, and the Xenstalks which invaded earth. It's more than Riventon was able to collect, although not by a large margin." How does she even know that? "Maybe you can use it in your research. I hope you will consider it a fair trade for the general knowledge of how devices such as this one work."