744/Stop Throwing Rocks!

Stop Throwing Rocks!
Date of Scene:	23 December 2015
Location:	Uminari City - Central Harbor
Synopsis:	Euphemia and Fate search for Jewel Seeds and eventually resort to dubious but fun methods, but are soon caught up in conversations. Nanoha doesn't fall for the silliest con job ever.
Cast of Characters:	Fate T. Waldia, Nanoha Takamachi, Euphemia Barchetta, Mikoto Nakajima

---

Euphemia Barchetta has posed:
    Euphemia had been serious when she told Fate about helping her out trying to find Jewel Seeds, and the day had finally come when she had made good on her promise. She sought out the young UMBRA girl and offered to help, and so for the last few hours they'd been doing this the normal way; search patterns and scanning. The fact that Fate was a much faster flier than Helix limited her direct usefulness like this, and she hadn't learned any especially powerful search spells to aid in this. If any jewel seeds activated Bulwark would easily pick them up- but then Lost Logia tended to give off enough energy to let the entire city know even if they didn't have strong passive detection.

    Eventually the cyan haired girl grew faintly frustrated, and decided to change things up. She had Bulwark ping Bardiche to ask Fate to meet her over above the harbor, and told her about her plan. There was a decent chance a Lost Logia falling from the sky would end up in the harbor or the bay. It was also known that magic or other powerful forces could cause them to activate.

    A short while later Euphemia and Bulwark had helped teach Fate and Bardiche learn a new spell. About a thousand feet up above the water they would cast what is effectively a specialized Dimensional Transfer to summon boulders before accelerating them downwards with magic.

    "I call it 'Meteor Crash'! Pretty great, huh? What do you bet if we drop one of these," she waves an arm up to a hovering boulder above and a bit in front of her, "right next to a Jewel Seed the shock will be enough to at least get a blip?" A winning smile, and Helix sweeps her arm down. The boulder shoots down from the sky and hits the water with a tremendous splash, sending a pillar of water streaking skyward. "The best part is, we can have fun while we search- whoever makes the biggest splash wins!"

    She summons a second boulder and flings it down into the harbor below a short ways away from where the first one landed. It looks like she's at least using an proper search grid pattern for this! It also lands close enough to a passing cargo ship for some of the spray to land on the deck. The sailors don't seem to appreciate it.

Fate T. Waldia has posed:
Fate wasn't sure what to think about Euphemia's new plan.

About all she could really think about it was .oO(My plan isn't working at all, and this actually has a non-zero chance of success)

Wait... whoever can make the biggest splash wins? Is this a game now?

Fate spends a few moments thinking about it before she says, "Well, okay. I mean... if we got close the Jewel Seeds might activate. At least... the one I do have responded that way."

If they're down there, then Fate has to wonder why some fish hasn't picked it up and become a fishmonster yet, but... then again it's a very large sea. Maybe it got buried?

After seeing the boulder almost hit the cargo vessel, Fate shouts, "Sorry!" ... though it's likely they can't even hear her. She joins in on the boulder tossing, aiming her boulders for a different part of the harbor. This way Euphemia and Fate can split the workload... and also there's no question about who's splash is who's!

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
It's the boulder-splashing that gets Mikoto's attention, the blue-clad girl just leaving the warehouse where she's settled Ikuto in for the night. It isn't far from the docks, so she heads in that direction.

With her energy still low after her recent battle, however, she doesn't really want to spend it on flying there. So it's fortunate that she has other transportation.

The first thing to do, of course, is to find out who's throwing rocks at the ships, and that's something that Carnwennan's sensors are more than up to without too much drain.

(("Wide Area Search.")) the Device declares, a pair of gleaming blue sphers splitting off to start narrowing down the source.

It doesn't take long for her to start giving Reese, her driver, more precise instructions as to where to go to find the casters. The car lets her off a short walk from the pier nearest the pair, and she sets off down the length of it towards them.

Once she gets close enough to see the two mages hovering there, she settles herself on a bench, near the end of the pier, to watch and talk. Telepathically, that is.

~Hello, neighbors. Is there a new water monster I haven't heard about running around the area, or something?~

Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
Nanoha Takamachi was out and about, flying in the air with those little pink wings on her shoes and in her barrier jacket- searching for Jewel Seeds. Sometimes Yunno just got a hunch, and he'd send her out. Most of the time it ended in something else harrowing, but surely- if you kept trying and never gave up, you'd run into what you were searching for eventually!

She also has her area search up when---well, she doesn't need a wide area search to see two giant splashes in the water. She takes off at a faster clip and gets closer to this all. She sort of looks around and looks up. To see Fate- someone she has some basic familiarity with- who gets a smile and a wave, and Helix- who she does not know, but also gets a smile and a wave-- and Mikoto- who-- you guesses it, she doesn't know but also gets a smile and a wave.

So far this doesn't seem like an attack? So she's content to hold Raising Heart in her hands casually and non-threatingly. "Fate! And--- um. Others I don't know! Hello!"

"...What are you all doing out here tonight? Are you practicing?" she peeks down at the Cargo ship.

"Hey--- shouldn't you be careful of the ship?" she calls out.

Euphemia Barchetta has posed:
    Helix nods excitedly, "Exactly! And it's way less draining, destructive, and dangerous than just pouring Mana into the water or just blowing the whole harbor up and seeing if anything comes out." Which is actually an option- though even Helix isn't going to go that far without being given reason.

    She peeks over at Fate when the blonde girl calls down an apology for the ship getting splashed. She cares about a few people getting wet and the ship maybe getting shaken a bit? That strikes Helix as slightly odd, but she shrugs and chucks another few rocks into the water. "Oh, that was a nice one!" she compliments Fate. "I wonder if being fast also means you throw things faster with magic, too."

    A ping from Bulwark tells her someone is trying to communicate with her and where they are, and with a shrug she goes ahead and allows the connection. ~Funny you mention that- we're trying to find out! If there is we'll flush it out for sure.~

    Another mage flies up, one she doesn't recognize, holding a staff style Device of some kind in her hands. Nanoha gets more of Helix' attention for that, but also because she seems to know Fate. She considers for a moment how to respond before flashing a grin of her own and waving before flinging another boulder into the water to make an impressive splash. By virtue of the pattern she's using this one is farther away from the ship than the previous ones.

    "Hello! I'm Helix, Fate's self-appointed big sister!" Yet another big grin. Wait, big sister? Well, at least she's admitting she's more or less declaring that as a unilateral decision. As for what they're doing exactly? She'll let Fate handle that since she knows the girl

    The ship again? "Oh yeah, don't worry. It'd mess up the results if I hit it. I'd probably have to try again in the same spot."

Fate T. Waldia has posed:
Fate hears a response from a stranger on a pier. Being the quiet type, she lets her self-appointed big sister handle the response to that one. Water monster, yeah, that sounds... fairly close... to what they're doing? Maybe? Technically if there's a Jewel Seed down there then a water monster is probably also down there.

Nanoha's approach gets a bit more of a response from her. "Oh... hi."

Should she mention the Jewel Seed hunt to her Jewel Seed hunting RIVAL?! That somehow seems like a bad idea. On the other hand she really wonders how much of a lie she could actually away with if she had to sustain it under a barrage of questions.

"We're throwing rocks into the harbor. For scientific purposes."

She says this as she summons up another rock and throws it into the harbor. Bardiche records the results. The difference between messing around and science is recording it, right?

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
Mikoto notes the approach of the third flier, and waves to her as she passes, a light smile touching her lips. She hasn't seen this one around before, but she's seen Fate and Euphemia, certainly. It was one of her first outings in the city. She learned something by scientific experimentation that night, too: Fate is a faster flier than she is.

Right now, she seems content to stay ground-bound, without a very good reason to do otherwise. And a couple of girls throwing rocks... well, it may annoy some sailors, but as long as they aren't really hurting anyone, who cares?

The real difference between messing around and science isn't just recording the results, though, it's analyzing them, and drawing conclusions based on that. Still, it isn't terribly important.

~Well, if you do find anything, let me know and I'll help fight it. Or you could introduce me to the others.~ Helix, at least, will certainly recognize 'Miss Blue' in her Barrier Jacket, from several outings with 'Miss White'.

Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
Nanoha Takamachi head tilts. "Scientific purposes...?" she places a finger to the bottom of her lip and tries to imagine a bunch of dudes in labcoats flinging rocks into the ocean with a catapault then jotting down stuff in a notepad. Hrmmmmmmm.

Something seems off because that doesn't sound like a thing people in labcoats do.

However.

This still isn't an attack and it seems to be just kind of harmlessly throwing boulders in the ocean. She then smiles. "Oh! Hello Helix, then!" she beams with a smile.

"So how are you doing that....and..."

"Can I help!?" she asks.

"Oh...right.."

"I forgot!" she says with a smile. "My name is Nanoha Takamachi!" she says. No secret IDs here it seems, sheesh.

Euphemia Barchetta has posed:
    ~If we find something you'll probably know it!~ She then scratches at her cheek with the tip of one of Bulwark's shields and gives a little shrug. With a motion towards Mikoto down on the pier she notes to Fate and Nanoha, "That's Miss Blue. She works with Miss White from time to time." Which is about as much as she knows. Actually that's kind of odd, isn't it? Miss White has a few people working with her that doesn't seem to actually be a members of Eclipse. Maybe she'll have to ask about that some time.

    Helix attention turns to Nanoha as she asks if she can help and the cyan haired girl gives her a curious look. "Probably, if you can manage the spell. All you have to do is throw rocks really hard into the water and see if anything happens! Oh- and we're also having a contest to see who makes the biggest splash." A short pause and she asks, "Hey Bulwark, who's winning?"

    <Are you judging by geyser height or overall volume, Master?> The Device replies in her usual Southern accent.

    "Oh, crud. Height, I guess? We never really said."

    <Fate's last geyser measured thirty-five point two meters in height, the highest so far.>

    "Tch! Sounds like I have to step it up!" Helix holds her hand up and concentrates to try to summon an extra large boulder, "Science!" She flings it down into the water to great effect. "Rules!"

    Yeah, she's having a blast right now.

Fate T. Waldia has posed:
Fate holds Bardiche over her head, keeping a large boulder in stasis up above. She waves down to 'Ms. Blue' as Helix tells her who she is, and doesn't give her name. She really is the quiet type.

She turns to Helix, and Bardiche privately transmits a message to Bulwark. ~Are these people really going to help if a Jewel Seed shows up? I know that the girl in white is also after the Jewel Seeds, but I don't know about the person down by the pier.~

To Nanoha, she says, "Um... we're using a spell called Meteor Crash. I think it's based on earth magic, but it actually shouldn't need earth-element to cast it. We just teleport rocks from somewhere else and accellerate them downwards."

Fate throws the boulder she's been holding downwards. She actually avoids getting close to hitting anyone with it. She might be intentionally picking targets that are not close to anyone.

"You can help if you want. All we're doing is throwing rocks at the moment."

Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
Nanoha Takamachi peeks at Helix, and looks down at Raising Heart. "Raising Heart do we know that one? Meteror Crash?" she asks to her device. It chimes back negativly. She frowns and taps the staff against her other hand. Oh. Wait. Why doesn't she---just ask!?

"Um--- how do you cast that spell then?" she asks with a softer smile, at Helix.

She peeks down to Fate. "I'll help then!" she says. Because of course Nanoha is going to help! With...

Oh is this just a game? Or testing out a new spell? She taps her chin in thought. She looks back down to Raising Heart thoughtfully.

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
"Meteor crash, hm? That sounds ... messy." She shrugs.

(("It appears to be a low-grade dimensional displacementi, Meister. Repeated casting is not recommended at current mana reserve levels."))

"That's alright, Carnwennan," she murmurs back to the Device. "Just go ahead and keep recording them for now."

~It's a pleasure to meet you, by the way, Takamachi-san. Normally I'd come up and join you all, but ... circumstances do not allow it at the moment.~

Euphemia Barchetta has posed:
    Helix looks over to Fate and gives her a slightly conflicted look, ~Someone who works for Miss White should really be on our side, but there's no way to be sure. Maybe they'd help us seal it, but they might try to take it for themselves after. If it's you and me working as a team against two people fighting for themselves we'd probably get it though!~

    Still, Fate has a point. They've drawn enough attention to themselves with this method of trying to draw out the Jewel Seeds that if one did activate it'd probably be a fight, and since they're the ones expending the effort they'd be at a slight disadvantage. Definitely not optimal.

    Her eyes then turn down to Miss Blue and she makes a curious face and asks so that all can hear, ~What kind of circumstances?~ She's not very subtle about her questioning. ~Did you forget how to fly?~

    As Nanoha asks her device about the spell and comes up negative Helix shakes her head, "Of course not, because I made it up myself!" Though it's unlikely she's the first person to ever come up with 'summon heavy object to drop on things' as a spell.

    She studies Nanoha for a few moments and then beams a smile, "Actually, I could teach you to use it and Bulwark could give your Raising Heart the information on where we're getting the boulders from. But giving away spells like that to people we don't really know well isn't exactly the best idea..."

    Helix play-acts at looks concerned for a moment before looking over to Nanoha, "I've got it! I'll trade you. I'll teach you the spell for the price of one Jewel Seed." Another one of her ultra bright winning smiles.

Fate T. Waldia has posed:
Fate opens her mouth to say something after Nanoha asks about how to cast the spell, but Helix speaks up first and she closes her mouth. Instead of responding, she summons another boulder and launches it down into the ocean again.

Then she gives Nanoha a curious look and says, "Do you even have any Jewel Seeds?"

Ms Blue says that circumstances keep her from coming up there. That's... pretty interesting, especially considering that as far as Fate can tell, she's using a Device. She repeats Helix's question. ~What circumstances?~

Fate remains the strong, silent type. Or at least the silent type who happens to also be strong. Summon boulder. Launch Boulder. Splash. Scan splash. Repeat.

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
'Miss Blue' leans back on the bench, fingers idly tapping on the sun-bleached wood, her hair tumbling down behind her as an errant breeze catches it. She's pretty sure she could reverse-engineer the spell from Carnwennan's sensor readings, given a day or so to work it through. (She isn't the spell-inventing prodigy that someone like Precia, or Nanoha, might be.)

Well, it isn't as if she has any particular reason to mistrust them. So she might as well explain. She just... leaves out unimportant details.

~I was rather busy last night,~ she eventually answers. ~Pushed my Linker Core a bit too hard, and burned through a lot of mana. I'll be fine in another day or three.~

Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
Nanoha Takamachi is many things. Nice. Kind. Caring. A little Naieve, maybe- you want to belive in the best in people right?-- but Nanoha isn't that naieve. In fact, when the Jewel Seed is mentioned she suddenly flits back a foot and lifts Raising Heart in front of her. She doesn't change it's mode though.

"....what?" she asks. "That isn't even a little fair and those things are dangerous!" she says, sputtering a bit. She looks over to Fate a moment- then back to Helix.

She looks back at Fate and frowns. "I wouldn't know about them if I didn't have at least one. Right?" she asks.

She lowers her device. "If you don't want to teach me a spell, that's fine!" she finally says.

Euphemia Barchetta has posed:
    Helix realizes that she's quickly being outdone by Fate and flings several stones one after another into the water below, sending splashes high into the air. No especially large ones though, since for a moment she's focusing on volume of fire rather than especially large splashdowns. Getting distracted with conversations isn't very conducive to winning contests; Fate has an advantage over her in that.

    Her suggestion to Nanoha doesn't seem to go over very well and she heaaaaaves a sigh. "I never said it'd be a -fair- trade. I guess if you don't want to help though that's okay." She's doesn't really have any issues being rude; she is in her disguise after all.

    Though when she thinks about the other part of Nanoha's objection she laughs. Loudly. "Dangerous! She's worried they're dangerous! Hehehehehehe!" She sends a bright grin to Fate, and then back to Nanoha, "Dangerous is fun!" How best to explain it?

    "Bulwark? How many times have you warned me that I was about to do something with a two-percent or higher chance of killing myself since I met you?"

    <Seventy three, Master.>

    "And how many times did it stop me?"

    <None, Master.> the Intelligent Device replies in a long suffering tone.

    "And how many times did I do it -more-?"

    <Twice, Master.> Bulwark responds, sounding positively grumpy, for an AI.

    Another bright smile to Nanoha, "See? It's okay if it's dangerous, I don't mind." She casually flings a boulder into the water.

    Her eyes then turn back down to Miss Blue and she actually frowns a little. ~You might wanna be careful then just in case we do find a sea monster!~

    Then she has Bulwark ping Bardiche and moans to Fate only, ~What bad luck! If she didn't work for Miss White we could probably just take her Device right now since she's tapped out. Laaaaaaame!~

Fate T. Waldia has posed:
"I see. No, I suppose you wouldn't," says Fate to Nanoha. Of course she would have at least one Jewel Seed, and of course she wouldn't give it up to learn a single spell like this.

Fate looks to Nanoha and actually looks a bit... apologetic? "Sorry. It's her spell." In some way that means it's fair for her to have some kind of control over who learns it, right? She doesn't know much about Intellectual Property laws, but in her mind it makes some kind of sense that Helix doesn't have to teach if she doesn't want to.

Fate would probably feel bad about leaving Nanoha out if she didn't have the secret mission of finding Jewel Seeds. Granted, her mission is exactly why she's focusing on throwing rocks instead of talking.

Responding quietly to Helix via Bardiche, Fate transmits, ~If we did that it'd distract us from the mission. Do we really need another device?~

Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
Nanoha Takamachi frowns. "What about the others though? You might be able to take it- Fate might be able to take it and I know I can take it!---- but what about the people and animals and objects they hurt or destroy when they activate!?" she says. "The ones who /can't/ protect themselves like you or me and are at the whims of these things!?" she asks.

"You can't just care about yourself! That's super silly, you know!" she insists.

She looks back at Fate and frowns a little, but it doesn't quite seem to be at the fact she can't learn the spell. She seems at peace with that fact. But now it's her turn to look a little sad as she sighs.

"You don't need to teach me a spell, I got plenty of my own!" she smiles. "--and plenty more to learn on my own!" she says. "I'll get to this thing someday, maybe---or... something better for me!" she says, trying to get to a happier topic.

She looks down at 'Miss Blue' and head tilts. What happened, she wonders.

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
Mikoto smiles, casual and serene, watching the show and enjoying it. It's almost as good as fireworks. And a lot less expensive. And at least she has an idea what they mean by Jewel Seeds now.

~So, Takamachi-san, I don't think we've met before. Welcome to the Tokyo Home for Excessively Silly People. Hope you enjoy your stay.~ Really. Offering to trade a single spell, a simple dimensional displacement at that, for a Jewel Seed? Have they no respect for the new girl?

~Hmmm, is that an ice-cream vending machine I see?~ She peers down the docks towards one of the offices. Sure enough, there is such a machine there. So she gets up and walks down to it, feeds it some yen, and gets herself an ice-cream bar. ~Anyone else want one?~

Euphemia Barchetta has posed:
    ~Not this mission, but it fits perfectly into UMBRA's goals. ...but you're right, we're doing this for you and your mom today, not UMBRA!~ Helix relays to Fate. That actually does make her feel a bit better about missing a potential opportunity.

    Then to Nanoha she gives a little tilt of her head. All the people who can't protect themselves? "...so?"

    'You can't just care about yourself!'

    Her head tilts more and her mouth purses into a half line while one eyebrow raises skeptically. "Sure I can. I mean, I don't, I care a whole lot about Fate and my friends, but I totally could care only about myself if I wanted."

    She waves her hand across the city of Tokyo, laid out in front of them in full now since they're over the harbor, making small circles with her hand for emphasis. "If all of them can't protect themselves, they're out of luck. A monster of some kind or another could come along and eat them at any time and they're pretty much toast."

    Helix does her best impression of putting her hands on her hips that she can manage with having huge shields attached to her forearms, "With as much danger as is around here you'd think this planet would have a magical guardian stationed on every block, but most of them wouldn't even recognize magic if you hit them over the head with your staff!"

    She then gives another huge sigh, making a show of it, "Buuuuuut even if explosions are cool I -guess- it's best not to let the whole city go up in flames. So if there was a Jewel Seed I'd just put up a Barrier like a responsible Mage." Ew, responsible. She wrinkles her nose while saying the word.

    A roll of her eyes, "What kind of wimp-tier mage would I be if I couldn't make a barrier anyway?"

    The shield wielding mage girl then looks down to Miss Blue and shakes her head, ~That's okay! Maybe in a bit we can take a break, but I've spent so much time talking I'm letting Fate get the better of me. Again!~

    Okay, she decides, time to actually buckle down and do some proper searching. Boulder tossing ensues.

Fate T. Waldia has posed:
Fate begins to frown, and that frown grows more and more as she continues throwing rocks into the ocean. After a while, she lets out a heavy sigh.

"First off, of course we would set up a barrier if we found a Jewel Seed. There are a million reasons to and almost zero reason not to. We'd want to keep people out of our business, and we'd want to stop whatever monster the Jewel Seed made from fleeing. This also keeps people safe, provided that they take the hint and stay out of the way."

She throws another boulder, this time almost vengefully. Fortunately there's still no one around where she's throwing.

"Secondly, we're just as capable of keeping the Jewel Seeds safe as you are. I admit I don't know what my mother wants them for, but I'm pretty sure it's nothing that would endanger your city." Fate has so much faith in her mother.

"Thirdly..." With one final fling of a boulder into the sea, and with one final scan, Fate turns to Helix and says, "... I haven't found any. It was a good idea, but there might not be any in this area. At this point, I'm starting to wonder if there are any more in this city at--"

Bardiche pings. Fate listens to her device. Her eyes get wide, and her voice trembles, "I-- I have to go! Sorry!"

Within the span of a moment, Fate is soaring up and away. She's making really good time, too. Maybe she realized that she left the oven on at home?

Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
Nanoha Takamachi just keeps frowny a little. "So, you should try to protect them when you can!" she says.

She kind of frowns at Fate and goes to say something but she leaves.

"Hey, we'll talk later, Fate! You better come by for cupcakes again soon!" she tries to yell because she's only used telepathy once before- and Fate is going so fast- she might not hear her!

She just sort of gives the other two glances- looking at Mikoto and smiles. "Thanks for the offer, but I should go anyways...!" she sighhhhhhhs out loud- finally however- then waves. "Bye!" she says with a forced smile and begins to jet off and away!

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
Left behind by the departing Mages, Mikoto looks back out at the now-quiet ocean.

If nothing else, she's learned a fair bit about the motivations of the other Mages in her life. And she's met a new one. Takamachi Nanoha.

And then there are the Jewel Seeds. Some sort of Lost Logia, and a dangerous one, judging from the description of them. Well. It's not like she hasn't faced danger before.

Counting the day a success, she rises from her seat and returns to the waiting car, and thence back to her dorm at Infinity to rest. Another day will bring another day.