308/The quiet prisoner

The quiet prisoner
Date of Scene:	17 August 2015
Location:	Mitakihara - Easter Corp. Skyscraper - Dark Laboratory
Synopsis:	Suzuki chats with Helix.
Cast of Characters:	Suzuki Natsume, Euphemia Barchetta

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Suzuki Natsume has posed:
     In the cells, there is a certain Knight. Though right now, she was just Suzuki Natsumi, the descendant of samurai. At present, she was simply sitting there in the center of her cell, her legs crossed in a relatively standard 'meditation' pose. Flexibility shown off by the fact that Suzuki's feet were both up on her ankles, and she seemed to be relatively amicable to her situation, in spite of having been kept in a cell.

     Her eyes were open in her meditation, staring through her bars silently at whoever was currently guarding her cell. Probably some NPC who largely just didn't care about the fact they were being stared at by the girl. She wasn't even necessarily doing it for any reason, it was just something for her eyes to focus on during her meditation.

Euphemia Barchetta has posed:
    There was a lot of research to be done with Verdrehen Sturm now that the Belkan Device was 'safely' in the hands of Eclipse, and Riventon more specifically. Bulwark had helped but wasn't enough of an extra help to Axion and Riventon to warrant Euphemia being there, as her helpful suggestions mainly included things such as 'Just break it apart and study the pieces!' without thought to how it might be wise to figure out how to put it back together beforehand.

    Thus she's been allowed to leave and find other things to do. Fate also didn't seem to be around so her first choice of what to do for fun was gone. Normally she'd just head out into the city, but right now there's someone else around that's interesting who she'd like to get to know a bit better.

    And so it comes to pass that the silence and still of the cell block is broken, the click clack of the inch-high heels on her boots. The girl is currently wearing her thick Barrier Jacket, not wanting Suzuki to be able to put her civilian face together with her actions- especially when she's been specifically warned and instructed to maintain a proper non-magical cover.

    The sound of her boots stop when she appears in front of Suzuki's cell, and the girl tilts her head a bit for a moment. If Suzuki is still meditating she'll just watch for a few moments, but otherwise her words will come immediately.

    "Hi! I'm glad to see you didn't need any medical attention after last night. Sorry if that draining was painful but, you know, orders are orders~" Her voice is high and chipper, childish and friendly. This is perhaps at odds with both her previous actions and the fact she's dressed for battle.

Suzuki Natsume has posed:
     Click clack click clack. The sounds of heels coming down the hallway were unmistakable. Suzuki remained still and silent for the most part even as the sound of someone approaching was audible. Suzuki's gaze continued to silently be on that guard outside of her cell, watching them with that impassive gaze. It would be likely that, perhaps, Suzuki was the most well-behaved prisoner that Eclipse had had thus far!

     At least, now that she was captured. Suzuki shifts slightly as Helix comes to stand in front of her cell, looking towards her. The knight stayed more or less in place, her gaze lifting up towards her face silently. She still was in that meditating pose, even as she looks up towards Helix. Calm and composed. Doing her best to take care of herself. Slowly, she eventually shifts out of that cross-legged pose.

     Soon, Suzuki is in a traditional japanese kneeling pose, her hands on her knees and feet beneath her rear, folded inwards as she looks up towards Helix. She doesn't respond immediately, simply listening and examining the woman. Cheerful, chipper, and efficient. The girl seemed like she might be a good girl, she wasn't sure. She wasn't entirely sure that they weren't with the same organization as Lena, after all. They could have captured her just because she had the device! ... Well really that was true. But she was relatively certain that Takashi wasn't a good person.

     "...The largest amount of damage was probably caused by your ranged attack. Magnum Boulder, I believe you called it?" Suzuki says towards Helix. She shifts slightly after a moment, before giving a small stretch. "I apologize for not making a more thorough attempt to understand why you wanted my Device yesterday, you can understand the panic of suddenly being approached by four people, one of which sends a trio of magical attacks floating at my back. Might I know that now, since you already have me in your cells to begin with?"

Euphemia Barchetta has posed:
    Is Suzuki about to press her forehead to the floor and grovel on her knees?!

    No. No, that isn't what she's doing at all, but for a moment it might have looked like it.

    Helix is surprised by just how cool and calm Suzuki seems to be, especially with how hard she fought to try and escape during the battle. Also surprising is that she's apologizing and using polite manners! The cyan haired girl certainly wouldn't be so calm if she were the one behind bars.

    "Magnum Boulder, yep!" She replies, holding one arm out to the side while the shield swings forward and reveals the cannon barrel. <Hybrid Mode> "These aren't just for show~" Only a moment later it reverts right back to the way it was before. <Device Mode>

    "Don't worry about it," she offers with a wave of her hand, "We showed up and jumped you four on one in the middle of the night to take your things, it's no surprise you'd try to fight back. It just might have been easier for you to give up instead of trying to run."

    A smile appears on the girls face then, "I don't blame you for that either, though. We'd go down fighting in a blaze of glory too, wouldn't we, Bulwark?"

    <Yes, Master. I will do my best to make sure such a time never befalls us,> the device responds in a feminine American South accented English.

    The girl stretches a bit herself, seeming to have trouble being still for very long at all, holding her arms behind herself and locking her fingers together- about the best she can do with those shields on her arms. "I'm surprised you don't already know why we'd want it so badly. It's special- an ancient artifact. If there were more of them around we wouldn't need yours specifically."

    Helix pokes her cheek with the tip of one of her shields, trying to think how much she should actually say. "Simply put, we want to find out how it works so we can replicate it- or at least parts of it. I'm actually not sure on the specifics!"

    Then she giggles a little and waves for Suzuki to come closer. "Want to know a 'secret'?" She walks up to the bars and gets right up too them, head almost sticking between two of them. "It was a lot like that for me too! Only instead of fighting I asked to join them, and they let me." She flashes a bright smile to Suzuki, "If you want to, I'm sure you could join too if you just let Riventon study your Device."

Suzuki Natsume has posed:
     Nope. Suzuki was definitely not going to grovel like that. That would just be demeaning.

     She was just getting into a more comfortable position, more or less. Really, getting comfortable in a cell was all but impossible though. And there was no point in getting upset over the situation. It just wasted energy that could be put towards trying to figure out either how to escape, or something along those lines.

     "I noticed yesterday." Suzuki says, looking towards the device as it shifts between Hybrid and Device mode, quietly taking in what information she could. Shifting seemed fast enough that it couldn't be taken advantage of, but the 'device' mode was probably less dangerous than the hybrid mode. Probably. Suzuki gives a soft chuckle.

     "Good, you can definitely understand the panic and fight or flight that occured last night, then." Suzuki says softly, slowly beginning to push herself up onto her feet. "I wouldn't call last night a blaze of glory, though I do somewhat regret the misunderstanding with the fox lady, who seemed to believe I attacked with intent to remove the scythe-bearer's feet. While I was aiming to temporarily cripple... I wouldn't aim to permanently cripple even my worst enemy." Suzuki says, beginning to step up towards the bars of the cell.

     "Ah, right. It's a Belkan device, Lena mentioned that bit. I didn't think it was anything special though. Still... if there's one thing you don't copy from it, I highly suggest against copying the Cartridge system." Suzuki says softly. "I use it out of necessity, so far, and it's really harsh on my body. It leaves my woozy and everything aches afterwards." She says, giving a simple warning. It wasn't even a lie.

     "Which... since I haven't seen anyone else use them, I'd assume that's what they're looking at." She pauses, tilting her head at the mention of the 'secret'. "...Mmm. I see. So they're recruiting." Suzuki says softly, thinking on that. "...I hope you know who you've gotten yourself involved with. The rest of you seemed fine, but that man... Riventon? ... Mm. That much willingness to kill, even if he didn't act on it... he's a dangerous man. He might turn you the moment you stop being useful." Don't mind her as she /warns the person who mugged her last night/. It might help pull information out of Helix. Maybe. "Do you know why he wants to get stronger?"

Euphemia Barchetta has posed:
    "I wouldn't worry about it too much," Helix replies about Ayana, "I don't think the person you targeted agrees. I don't really either, but I admit you gave me a bit of a scare! I like her and want to be her friend, so I'd have been pretty upset if you had even temporarily hurt her very badly. Probably best for you that she was able to dodge out of the way."

    She gives a little shrug, "She could have slashed at you a thousand times with her scythe and it'd never cause permanent harm unless she told it to, but you were swinging an edged weapon at her. Maybe that's what Fox-san was talking about?" Truth be told she doesn't entirely understand what all that was about herself.

    Suzuki's words on the danger of the cartridge system make her eyes widen a bit. ...and sparkle a bit. "If it has that big of a downside, it must be really powerful! You're probably right about that being what we're looking for, but it's probably not the only thing. That Belkan Device has an entirely different programming language than the rest of them- who knows what other secrets are locked away inside?" Just talking about locked away secrets has her voice picking up speed as she gets excited.

    Helix then shakes her head a bit, "Actively recruiting? I'm not sure. But you showed that you're strong willed and have a lot of potential to grow, so I think if you offered they'd at least consider it. Don't worry about me, though. I know exactly what I've gotten myself involved in." The girl's smile widens into a bit of a grin, "They're the exact type of people the Time Space Administration Bureau would -hate-, and that's good enough for me. They'd probably hate you, too just for having your Belkan Device."

    She starts to put her hands on her hips, only to realize that's not really feasible with Bulwark active, and instead just shifts around uncomfortably. "He might, but I think he'd regret it if he thought getting rid of me would be an easy proposition." The girl then lets out a laugh at the question. She answers it with one of her own, though not directed at Suzuki.

    "Bulwark, do you want to get stronger?"

    <Yes, Master.>

    "And why's that?"

    <To protect that which is most important to me; you, Master.>

    "Funny, I want power to protect 'me' too!" She tilts her head a little again and does her best to gesture towards Suzuki without clanging a shield against the cell bars, " You talked a lot about being duty bound to protect people. You want to become stronger in order to protect them too, don't you? Be honest."

Suzuki Natsume has posed:
     "She approached quickly. In the end, the targetting of her legs was simply to attempt to reduce the movement of the person I thought the biggest immediate threat that I could reach." Suzuki says simply, giving a helpless shrug. "It seemed the most tactically viable option at the moment, considering everyone else was out of reach, or I'd have to go through her first." Suzuki says calmly. Sure, calmly killing someone was bad, but crippling them temporarily was /totally/ fine! Really! ... That was just a part of battle.

     "Mmm. Really? That scythe looked rather dangerous; it seemed to be crackling with electricity, and made of energy. I assumed that it was similar to anime in that it cut better than my bladed weapon." Suzuki murmurs, thinking a few moments. "Verdrehen Sturm isn't that sharp, she's got an edge, but it's a bit blunted unless I pour energy into her to make a blade similar to the scythe girl's."

     Aaand widening eyes, and sparkling. Suzuki lifts her hand to rest it over her face, giving a sigh. "Yes, and since you're probably going to copy it regardless of that warning, I'm going to give the same warning that was given to me. Don't ever use more than one in a battle." Suzuki says simply, lowering her hand. "Your guess is as good as mine on secrets locked inside of Verdrehen Sturm. I have truthfully only known her for a couple of months." And she didn't speak german, but she wasn't going to outright state that.

     "I'm the descendent of the noble Samurai. Being of strong will and constantly growing is important when your parents are having you follow ancient teachings such as that." Suzuki says, there was very little pride in her voice. "...Still, it was growing difficult to grow until I discovered the magical world." That probably explained why she didn't seem to know her device well, or know about /magic/ well either. She was a total newbie to magic.

     The TSAB would hate her for having a Belkan Device? Would she be forced to fight against 'good' people, and people like Lena? Hmm. That would be un-ideal. She somewhat likes Lena. She seemed like a nice enough girl. "...I suppose that was a silly question, asking why he wanted to get stronger. I suppose his plan would be a more important question, over why he wanted to get stronger..." She pauses, looking towards Helix's face, meeting her gaze silently. "I do. ...I haven't the faintest idea why you would say to be honest. I gain literally nothing from being dishonest in this situation."

Euphemia Barchetta has posed:
    Helix smiles, "From my perspective you had literally nothing to gain from trying to run, but you did it anyway." Then a small shake of her head, "I don't know you well enough to know anything about what you think you'd gain from answering my question untruthfully. But! I'm willing to learn."

    Her smile widens a bit, a genuinely happy and smile gesture, "You seem nice, and it doesn't look like you're holding much of a grudge against me personally." Then comes a sigh, tinged with annoyance, "I'd tell you more about myself but I have to be careful not to let you figure out who I am. Secret identities seem like a pain, but they're kinda necessary if you're going to go around taking people's things from them." Is that what she's going to be doing? At least partially, it looks like.

    "I can tell you some things, though!" she comments cheerfully, "I've only been using magic for a few months myself, though I've known about it my whole life. It's just as fun as I've always imagined it to be!" Then a tad more seriously, "Though yes, the TSAB would be pretty upset at your Belkan Device. All modern Midchildan Devices have safeties built into them that prevent them from doing serious harm or killing- the scythe blade you saw is no different; it's still a magic spell being cast from a Midchildan Device- the safeties are on by default."

    She then pauses for a moment, having to think since she's not trying to lie herself right now, even by omission. "Your polearm, though, has a blade, even blunted, built right into it. If you put your energy into it, maybe it would be able to cut people up- TSAB doesn't like that one bit. I'm not sure if spells you cast using it are lethal or safe by default, or even if it doesn't have safeties at all. If that's the case you would at the very least go on trial just for being in possession of such a dangerous weapon, let alone actually using it in combat."

    She steps away from the bars so she can throw her hands up in disgust, "And -that- is why I think they're nothing but a bunch or holier-than-thou jerks! Only an idiot would throw you in jail for self defense. But the TSAB just might."

    After a moment she makes a dismissive hand gesture, "All this is different, of course. We're holding onto you for now but not because 'you did wrong'."

Suzuki Natsume has posed:
     "Running meant there was a chance I could have escaped with Verdrehen Sturm, rather than ending up in this cell without verdrehen sturm. It It was also a relatively stupid idea to try to stay and fight, as there was a clear numbers advantage against me. Unfortunately for me, your people seem to have the training to handle people moving at extreme speeds." Suzuki responds, giving a helpless shrug.

     That and her own grasp of her own magic was a bit ... lacking. Which they gathered last night. "I do generally try to be a nice and relatively helpful person, yes. I'd like to think that I succeed, but as such things are opinion-driven..." She frowns thoughtfully. "Mmm... still. Grudges are... grudges are wasteful things. Energy spent on hating someone that could be put towards training so that next time, you won't catch me."

     "Chances are we don't know each other, considering you don't seem to have any particularly major signs of recognition on your face when you saw me, though I suppose you could have already gotten that out of your system while I was unconscious." Suzuki says with a thoughtful look. "Since you don't seem particularly old, that means that most likely we go to different schools, and it's unlikely that we'll even meet in our day-to-day lives unless we actively seek each other out. Considering my present situation, however, I don't imagine that's going to be happening much on my own end." It wasn't an unkind statement, but, well... being friends with someone who attacked you is mildly foolish, after all.

     "...I see, so my device is dangerous because it does not have safeties to prevent me from causing serious harm. That is actually important information for me to know, thank you. I've been avoiding lethal strikes just on principal, this just confirms that was a good idea." That did get a small frown from Suzuki; she had been risking serious injury to people when she attacked them, even aiming for non-lethal blows could cripple semi-permanently. Luckily, almost everyone had some sort of armor.

     "I can actually put my energy into it, yes. In fact, the blade seems almost to be built for it... I can't confirm if it's lethal or nonlethal, however, as I've largely fought either people who can defend against me, or the ... monsters ... that seem to disintegrate when defeated, regardless of if you strike them lethally or not. I'm going to assume at present that my device does not have safeties, and that it is dangerous at present, but I cannot confirm or deny either way on that. Your examination will likely tell you that more effectively than I can." She was a random human who just randomly found her device, after all.

     "I wouldn't necessarily say it's holier-than-thou jerks, if I'd been given the option to use a Midchildan device, knowing all of the information that I have now... and I actively chose the more lethal and illegal option, I would still be breaking the law. It may be a harsh law, mind you, but still a law. However, due to ignorance of the law, I could likely get away with being put in jail at present, as I did not get that option. In fact, when I recieved Verdrehen Sturm, I simply believed her to be a good luck charm." Yep. She was COMPLETELY unaware she had a potentially dangerous ancient artifact when she first got it. Funny how that works. "My captivity right now is likely so that I don't come after you to try to recover her, I'm assuming. When you take a weapon from a samurai or knight, usually they come seeking it out again if they have the option. It's simply common sense to somehow make me unable to attempt to do such." Yep, she's surprisingly reasonable. She also suspected that this was the 'company' Miss White worked with, as they seemed to similarly not be terrible people, just going about things the wrong way.

Euphemia Barchetta has posed:
    Despite the fact that she did indeed participate in capturing and detaining Suzuki while taking her Device away from her Helix is visibly let down when she's informed (politely!) that she doesn't have much interest in being friends once this incarceration is over. "Aww... I guess I can't blame you."

    She looks to the girl behind the bars again and hums softly, "I suppose that means you're likewise not very interested in joining us. If you were wanting to be my ally it would be best for us to get to know each other better and you seem quick enough to realize that." She shakes her head a bit then, "You're right about that- we can't have you getting your Device back before we're done researching it. Quite frankly I'm not sure you'll ever be getting it back, but you never know. In any case that's not up to me. Even if it was I'd probably need you to offer some pretty good proof that you wouldn't interfere with our operations in the future or it'd probably do more harm than good."

    Then she moves back the topic of TSAB and a frustrated look crosses her young features, "You don't know them like I do. They like to tell themselves they're protecting people, but a lot of the time they're just enforcing their own rigid morals and standards on others. The worst part is most of them are idiots or incompetent." It isn't very hard to tell that this is a personal opinion as much as a professional one.

    "You said you talked with Lena about your Device?" The girl does her best she can to cross her arms, effectively resting one on top of the others shield. "Ask her about TSAB. Ask her about reckless suicide missions. About her about being willing to send people to backwater planets but not being willing to rescue them when things go wrong. Ask her about training people to worry so much about their stupid rules they'd rather let themselves die than seek help!"

    As she continues on she gets more and more riled up, and by the end of her little tirade she's shouting and stomping one of her booted feet on the floor, her heel causing the sound to reverberate through the cell block. "Forget them, and forget their stupid rules. You can't throw away your own people like that and claim the moral high ground at the same time. You just can't."

    Having worked herself up to being huffing mad she seems to remember she's actually talking to someone rather than just spouting off, looking over to Suzuki and asking, "Anything else?"

    As if she wasn't the one who came here to talk in the first place.

Suzuki Natsume has posed:
     Okay, that visibly let down look did get a shift from Suzuki, and even a small smile, "...It's not impossible though. After all, I wouldn't even know it was you if you approached me outside of your transformation." Suzuki says softly, it was indirect and hesitant, because it would be honestly easy that Helix is mostly using her for information, or trying to get her to join them, and similar. She takes a small breath as she thinks on the next comment.

     "I won't leave the idea entirely out of the question, but joining right now would be a foolish decision; especially since I don't even know the motivations or goals of your organization. That said, I'm currently in your cell, so I also don't have that much room for negotiation." Suzuki murmurs softly, her eyes sliding mostly closed as she muses on that. She /could/ join them and then promptly betray them afterwards, just to escape... but that would be rather dishonorable. Ugh. "I'm sure I'll get it back eventually. Somehow. If I get it back functional is another matter entirely, though..." Suzuki murmurs. She was fairly certain she'd get her friend back. Even if she had to borrow the family heirloom sword and storm this place herself! ... She somewhat sets that thought aside relatively quickly though. That would be foolish, and probably get her killed.

     "Ah, I see. So they're one of those things that works in theory, but in reality they are somewhat... corrupt. ...That does not change the fact that, unfortunately, I would be breaking the law, unfair as they may or may not be." Suzuki says, rubbing her face. "And if I was under their jurisdiction, there would be very little I could do to make my situation better." Hmmm. The other girl was likely biased though, because of something that happened in the past.

     "I'll make sure to do that, assuming I get to leave here eventually. I haven't entirely ruled out the possibility that your organization comes to the conclusion I'm too dangerous to simply let free. Especially with Riventon commenting on the fact he should kill me for doing the reasonable response of trying not to get mugged." Suzuki murmurs, the statement... possibly unnervingly matter-of-fact.

     "Still, if they are actually doing that... I can understand your frustration and upset with them. It's justified... assuming they actually /are/ not mkaing any effort. It's possible they want to make an effort, but can't for whatever reason. Danger, infeasibility... similar." She murmurs with a small frown. The question of 'Anything else' gets a pause. "Mmmm... something to call you and the scythe girl?" She asks. "Otherwise, I can't think of anything too particular at the moment that would be reasonable to ask."

Euphemia Barchetta has posed:
    "You can call me Helix. It's what I go by on missions. I can't really give you a name for the girl with the sycthe though; I only know her real name and I'm not going give that away. Sorry." She isn't entirely unfriendly, but having gotten upset she's quite a bit more brusque. She even bites her cheek a little when Suzuki offers even the slightest bit of a defense for TSAB. "Maybe. Like I said, ask Lena. She used to be one of them, after all, and she won't deny anything I've said isn't true."

    Well, the blue haired girl seems to know Lena somehow! That's a bit more information than Suzuki had before, though might not be very useful. "I'm going to go now. I'd offer to play a game with you or something but, well," she taps Bulwark against the bars of the cell with a metal clang, "I can't move around in confined spaces very easily right now. I've also got a bit of energy I need to work off. Maybe I'll figure out a way to do something about the other thing too."

    With that she steps back away from the bars again. "It was nice talking to you."

    Then she looks down to one of her shields, "Bulwark? Take us to the forest. Lets... go practice shooting or something."

    <Yes, Master.>

    A bright circular column of light envelops the girl and before long she's gone to the AI voice of Bulwark announcing <Dimensional Transfer.>