Dark does not mean cold; especially in the humidity of a Japanese summer. Nevertheless, there is an odd chill to Penguin Park; as if something has drawn the heat out of the air and replaced it with the cool of a winter snow. It's a sharp and comfortable chill, but not quite so pervasive as to be uncomfortably cold.
Standing on the bridge over the koipond is a woman with blue hair, dressed in blue and gold filligreed battle armor: a breastplate and pauldrons over white leotard, a skirt of leather strips, and knee-high plated boots. Resting against the railing next to her is a glimmering trident made of some alien blue metal, with sharpened edges like the blades of an axe.
Frost Knight Mercury looks tired, and a little sad, as she stares down at the pond; deep in thought as she waits for the mysterious texter.
Suffice it to say, Eilam was not really... dressed in anything fancy. At least as far as magic was concerned. The sound of him approaching was really only foot steps and the occasional sound of a stave tip touching on the ground. Tonight Eilam was dressed as he normally was in fact, a nice looking black business suit, with a crips white dress shirt and red tie, all rather expensive-looking in fact. He seemed a bit tired as he walked along, but was by himself as he made his way over towards the bridge.
"Do you always insist on meeting someplace so late? Not all of us are good at staying awake at all times of the day." His choice in words, speaking as he was, sounded rather like formal Japanese. He certainly didn't speak it naturally, there was an accent, but his manner of speaking was certainly formal and almost old-man stuffy. In fact he mostly just said that aloud, assuming this Mercury was going to be the only one around at this point.
Mercury turns away from the pond and looks up at the voice. She studies the teen curiously a moment, then makes a soft noise in her throat before nodding. "Unfortunately, I have a real life as well as my life as a magical girl. Today was ... busy," she explains quietly. "I'm sorry it's so late."
The apology is genuine, though she still seems slightly distracted; as if her thoughts are still focused on anothe problem entirely. Nevertheless, she bows faintly and introduces herself, "I'm Sailor Mercury. Or just Mercury if you prefer. How may I help you?"
When Mercury finally came into his view, Eilam looked her over, trying to process the whole look and the fact that he still felt a bit like an idiot for talking to someone who looked like they came out of a comic this seriously. But... magic was real, or so seems to be the case. "Your name... moniker? Came up in a conversation I was having with one Homura Akemi. She suggested I speak to you, seemed to think you would be able to offer some idea on my condition. Something about a scan?" Eilam finally makes his way close enough to stand before her. "I admit I know nothing of you, nor your ... capacities or magic or whatnot. This is still fairly strange to me, as i have just come to learn that magic is real. ...enough. As old as I am I still feel like I am playing along with a child at a tea party, haha." There was a bit of a sigh with the laugh as he said that, looking towards the water below, the koi swimming about. Ironic, that. Koi being his real first 'introduction' to magic as it was, courtesy of Reiko.
Mercury studies Eilam in silence for a moment, not offering a response to his query. "I see," she replies eventually, then frowns just a little. "Interesting that Akemi-san would send you to me, if you are not yourself magical. But I suppose she must have had her reasons," she says quietly.
"I am ... well I suppose what I am doesn't matter. I'm the Senshi of Wisdom and Intellect; understanding is my purpose," she explains. "I gather from your words that you suffer some condition which Akemi-san believes is of a magical origin. Can you tell me about it?"
"I simply do not know. I have lived for hundreds of years now not knowing much about what exactly I have, or... what caused it, if such is even knowable. I was unaware magic was real. I simply lived. Because I could not die." Reaching into his back pocket, Eilam pulls out a handkerchief wrapped around a small knife, which he unwraps. "There is... some measure of something about me that is keeping me how I was when I was young. When I was still a child, I got deathly sick. Some illness that even now I am unsure what it was, if it even has a name in modern science, ate away at my health and energy. And before it killed me, my parents, fearing I would get them and the rest of my family sick... took me far away from our village and left me for nature to take its' course. However, it did not. Something kept me... stuck like that. Forever dying, for hundreds of years. Even now. No injury I sustain stays, everything... just goes back to that point. I cannot really get better, or worse."
As Eilam spoke, the unwrapped knife he showed to her as he turned to lean against the railing of the bridge, his stave trapped between his arms and his body against the rails to keep it there. To which he used the blade to cut his palm rather starkly, the blood evidence of such, including a wince, before he took the cloth and held it in his hand, wiping away the blood. And soon enough after the wound could be seen closing, with only the stain of the red left as he worked idly to clean the knife. "Trapped. She seemed to think you could... tell me what, perhaps, is the case? I do not know. I never associated this as magic, just... how I am."
To her credit, Mercury's widening eyes are the only indication that she's surprised by Eilam's story. She otherwise manages to keep her calm as he continues to explain his condition to her. When he cuts his palm, she watches in morbid curiosity, but doesn't interrupt or try to stop him.
When it is closed, she looks back up, then says, "Some define magic as anything which cannot presently be explained by science. I'm not sure I disagree with them," she notes, "and I say that as someone who is, before even a magical girl, a scientist. If you showed a cellular phone to someone from the time when you were born, they would assuredly call it magic."
At least she's not doubting his claims. "So you are," Mercury explains, "at least fundamentally, magical. Unfortunately, you are also something I've never encountered before."
She starts to reach up to touch her ear, where a trio of stud earings are located. Then she stops and frowns. "Right," she mmumbles, and reaches instead for the trident beside her. "Eiszapfen, analyze and evaluate," she instructs the weapon.
"Rasterung," comes the reply in a harsh, chilly voice.
"Unfortunately," Mercury explains, "I don't have access to the tools I might normally use for this. If it's not ... too much to ask, could you cut yourself again while my device scans you? I may need to repeat this at a later time, when I have my usual tools. They're far more capable of this."
Eventually, the device pings its completion, and Mercury turns towards it. "Rasterung komplett. Muster nicht gefundedn."
Mercury grimaces, then says, "Store for later. We'll interface with Eternity." Then she looks back to Eilam again. "I'm going to run this analysis through the archives. They're old, and have a good deal of data," she explains, "so if there's any other instances of something like you, it should be there. It may take a while, but I'll let you know if I find anything."
Something Mercury says makes Eilam snort. "I /am/ from that time and while I... do accept that that it is technology just as much as a lever or cog is... it still amazes me how much the world has changed, how fast... technology has come along in just the last hundred years. Then the last sixty... thirty, twenty, ten, five... how long until technology is evolving faster than we can keep up? It may seem like science fiction to you, or others... but to me, at least, such a thing seems imminent and it is terrifying."
As he spoke, and the... machine, device, whatever it was did its' thing, he obliged once again with the knife. "I will... refrain from doing anything more drastic than this without a need, but this extends as far as your imagination might go, including what would be fatal for others. Not a pleasant experience, but considering it has... kept me from actually dying for as long as it has, I think this is far from being specific."
And eventually when the hand was healed again, and cleaned off, he stopped for a moment. A pause, and then he points towards her weapon, "Considering they are now talking. I... saw another like that, just about two weeks ago. I cannot say I know much about the one who had it, but it was a woman who was all to happy to stab others with the daggers she had... and it seemed to respond to her voice and come when called. Are you associated with that woman? I should hope you are not, considering I watched her stab someone in the chest with that weapon. ...even if the one she was having at it with seemed content to return the favor." That got a shake of Eilam's head.
"Don't worry, I won't ask you to repeat anything without your full consent," Mercury replies. "And what you do with this small injury should be easily extrapolated to larger scale. I shouldn't need you to repeat the action or to take more drastic measures."
When he speaks of another using a similar device, Mercury glances towards her own. "A woman with knives?" she asks uncertainly. "I would not willingly associate with someone who so carelessly brings harm to others," she says, although there's a little shift of her expression towards the side. "As I mentioned, my role is wisdom and knowledge. I fight against those who would be so cruel."
"I will have to trust you in that case." Once Eilam cleaned his hand off before putting away the knife and handkerchief before asking, "Would you please not share this with anyone? I have... gotten along as well as I have for as long as I have controlling information about myself. It is never a good thing when those who... want to find out more, even if I do not want them to, decide they are going to do such anyways. And trusting you or not... well, I have had bad experiences in the past when others found out about my condition in some capacity who were not able to keep it secret."
That got a small sigh out of Eilam before he grasped his stave again and leaned against it while facing towards Mercury. "So... your 'scan', what would it possibly reveal? Is it just going to... check me against some magical database? To which I would ask you do not... save anything about me, or leave any logs of it. Please, I do not want information about me reaching places I cannot control. Call it paranoia, but you would not be the one having to live with the consequences forevermore.
Mercury glances towards the device again, considering the request. "Right now, the scan is in this device," Mercury notes. "It is an energy scan, showing what's actively taking place as your body heals and repairs itself on a biological and mystical level. It mostly tracks energy patterns and radiation. If you want, I can have Eiszapfen erase the data immediately; however, then I will not be able to compare it to my database. If I had access to my Visor right now, I would not need to store it for more than a few moments. As is, I will need to store it until I have completed my research against the archive. It's up to you; to find answers, I will need to store this data at least long enough to do the research. If you do not want those answers, then I will delete it now."
For a bit, Eilam was quiet. Thinking, likely, back to the railing and using the stave to lean against. "All I ask is please... do not leave information about me for others to find. I am trying to trust others, it worries me to. I have been burned before, and this whole magic thing is new to me. I am really hoping you can help. And maybe... you can somehow even figure out what is causing my sickness. Because it would be so very nice not to feel myself dying all day long, every day, for the rest of forever, hm?"
Sounded so very morbid, but really, that's just how it was for him. He's been locked in this state for as long as he has. Even if it's normal... it's not a normal he enjoys. He's just accepted his fate as much as a caged animal grows accustomed.