Evening would be falling by now, the surroundings most likely cleared out from the warehouse' area. It looked like something from the wars era that just got abandoned, surrounded by new buildings, patches of nature trying to retake the rundown building filled with rust and perhaps some tiny rodents. This was the type of places no one would touch out of fear of some ancestral spirit or a rumor going around. This was a place Nagina found on her exploration runs of the areas surrounding her home to mentally map the place.
This might even become a hideout if she ever needed one.
Speaking of the girl, she'd slip by the half opened front gates, careful not to touch the metal out of fear any movement might make enough noise to stand out, the only exposure to the building's ground floor, what with the rest walled off. (Not as if the girl was very good at being sneaky in her travels..) This was used by Nagina to quickly hide from the public eye.. Though the road to the building itself was somewhat more akin to an alleyway... The girl carried a schoolbag with her, wearing that white ribbon in her auburn hair she always did, a black shirt that seemed slightly too big for her, as if one told her to just 'grow into it', as well as a red skirt to match it, running down to her knees and black stockings up to below the skirt.
Once past the yard large enough to house a truck or two, the girl slipped indoors where beams of light gently cascaded through the large windows to reveal some rafters, some old industrial printing presses and a fairly large open space for moving about loads, placing her backpack rather carefully on the floor by a pillar where she opened up a zipper, slipped her hand in for a few seconds and pulling out a few small little cages... As well as a tiny snake wrapped around her wrist now, masking itself as a bracelet, yet it too held a white little ribbon, though around its neck. With that she took a few deep breaths, as if rather nervous, attempting to calm herself, mumbling to herself... Those that might have sharp enough hearing, might her the whispers 'Shall we, Kuraken?'
Jiaying Maki is already in the building, not even bothering to hide herself since it's an abandoned warehouse with lots of dangerous things, who else would be sily enough to come here anyway? She's wearing a sleeveless hoodie and a pair of fitted jeans and boots, better to avoid snagging on things after all! Poking through things, she's talking to a floating figure next to her in Chinese, which seems to be replying in a joking or sarcastic manner, it's hard to tell with Chinese when you don't know the language though.
Swatting through the ghost a few times, she makes a frustrated sound and says something else to herself in Chinese, which turns into a startled yelp of surprise when she hears someone approaching. Ducking out of the way into some shadows, the ghost fades away and her tail does too before she calls out, "Hellloooooo?" nevermind that it's probably too late and she's probably already been seen, ears and all.
It is a terrible reason to go roaming around in stupid places in the evening. It is an EVEN more terrible reason for the one who is usually best described as 'Monster Bait' to be in what could be described as a set for a horror move.
But there's a Pinsir nearby, and somehow that seems like a really good idea to tromp through abandoned buildings paying more attention to one's phone than one's surroundings. To be fair, this didn't go so well for Naru last time /either/.
Naru has tracked her virtual little monster through the yard, wriggling into the building to pause in that main room, the dim of evening lit up by her phone.
The youma that is today's youma has tracked Naru through the yard, wriggling into the building to approach her slowly, while she's not paying attention.
Section Two's noticed the Noise in this area, and sent out Tsubasa to dispatch them. She's already taken care of most, most Noise are frail and easily dispatched, only a threat to people without magical protection or in numbers. The latter isn't true, and the former doesn't apply to the Symphogear user.
As the singing magical girl notices a mundane, the girl makes sure to rush to put herself in between Naru and the Noise, unaware of anyone else being in the area for the time being. Then, she takes out her sword, which glows blue and rearranges itself to become a much bigger sword, accompanied by a crescendo in Tsubasa's song
She swings it, and a glowing blue shockwave flies out, right as Tsubasa's song reaches a climax in volume, it tears apart the youma and does some mild damage to the building as well. It seems whoever this magical girl is, property damage is not something she worries about.
Still humming, she approaches Naru, though she stops humming a moment to talk. "It's not safe to go into places like this." She warns, in a fairly emotionless voice.
Nagina Hasane could have sworn she heard something echo in the large building. A yelp, maybe? Were some of the rumors of hauntings and curses true? All the more reason for her to try and do what she came there for. Taking another deep breath, just to hear the calling out! Seems Nagina herself was not quite expecting people.. Let alone some already being there.. Let alone someone she knew! There went her attempt, it seems, not quite willing to change before another so easily. One leg mmoved to the side to sloooowly slide one or two of the seemingly made-for-mice-cages being the pillar by the backpack "A-ah, hi! What.. What are you doing here?" She could have sworn people called it abandoned!
Then someone she had never seen before entered.. Then she gets the feeling of being watched by something in hiding... This place was not as abandoned, nor hidden, as she initially expected when seeing the place on her first scouting tour, huh.. Well, surely that would have to be the last..- What's that sound coming closer? Now she just deadpans. The girl's surprise' limit got broken! The damage made got measure by the girl, holding her hands together, using the pose to brush a fingertip gently along Kuraken's scales, still pretending to be an ouroboros bracelet. Was the latest newcomer not entirely human? She pondered.. Well.. There were enhanced humans.. Part humans.. Non humans.. So much new information to take in since her coming to the city! Still. The girl was a touch flabbergasted, and needed a moment or two to recover and try and absorb all the new information, to repair her surprise meter and just get some comprehension, only managing a little 'Uhhh... Hello?' In the general direction of all the people. In the direction of empty air if people were spread out enough.
Jiaying Maki recognizes the voice! Which means a girl pokes her head around the corner, followed by the ghostly image of a Chinese peasant. She's got an impish grin, the ghost that is, which indicates Jia probably told her to hide in Chinese earlier. "What are you doing in this place? I'm here because it's supposed to be haunted and I'm trying to find the ghost to see what kind of haunting it is. Besides, I love these old places. All the stuff to climb over." There's probably more too.
This is all interrupted by the whole singing and fighting a monster thing though. What with there being a monster in the area for some reason. She holds a finger up to her lips for Nagina, dropping her disguise without ceremony as she darts past the girl and her snake and after the source of the sound, a second ghost springing out of her shadow and keeping pace with her, almost like it's mirroring her movements.
That's when she spots Naru and a new girl. Calling out to Naru, "Hey over here, away from th-" beat, "Away from the giant sword too!" hey she doesn't know the new girl and you know, giant swords. The new girl gets a call out too, "Hey!" trying to go for the easy route of determining friend or foe
"Hmm?" Naru turns from her phone at the extra glow first and she has enough coherence to dart away backwards as Tsubasa slices it down with a cresendo of music.
"Okay. That one was a new one." Naru comments to the other girl pointing to where the youma was, clearly not doing the panicing, freaking out or usual reaction of a mundane to the fact that a youma was creeping on her. "Thanks. I appreciate the save. Are there more?"
Naru turns towards a familiar voice and lifts a hand to wave to Jiaying, moving a little more cautiously in case of more youma in her direction.
Tsubasa's sword gets down to a more reasonable size, and is split in two in the process. Then, they dematerialize. She's still humming however, fuelling her transformation with constant musical output. She something near her head, "I think that's all, please confirm? There are civilians here."
Upon apparently hearing confirmation, Tsubsa turns to the others. "Hello." Terse, but she notices magic coming from Jiaying, so she's a little on edge. Like Jiaying, she doesn't know whether the other girl is friend or foe. "Area confirmed to be clear, there are no more Noise."
Nagina Hasane slowly turned her head to look at Jia and the ghost, giving a slight little wave via the curling and uncurling of her fingers, then looking off to the rest as Jia spoke, pointing slowly to the what-must-soon-be-splatters, one might guess, saying softly "I, ah... Think I see the source of those rumors now. Figured they were nothing more than rumors..." Still not quite answering the question on why she was there. Her voice seemed somewhat quiet, too! Blinking, taking a moment to let the fox's speed sink in, then turning around to face the group. This was definitely curious, to put it lightly, especially at the calm reaction from the seemingly most normal person whom she recognizes from... Somewhere... How do people stay so calm in this strange city?
At hearing the supposed confirmation of the area being clear, she put two and two together, speaking "that's... Huh... Well.. Hello, everyone.. What, uhm... What just happened?" Giving the snake on her wrist another little pat with a fingertip, right behind the back of the head, though it would likely just seem like some nervous little touch "Guessing... Guessing we're all friends here? I mean.. Ah.... Welp.." This wasn't skittishness as much as simply being at a loss for words for a touch "Seems the wall might need some wooden planks... And if no one comes to inspect the source of that noise.. I mean, loud sound, that is, then it must be pretty isolated here, huh?" Turning her head to look at Jia, with whom she was most familiar, as if to seek social/verbal help, wondering if she was still in such a rush.. If so, some visual tracking/searching had to be done before looking at the other!
Jiaying Maki looks between Naru, then back at Nagina, then finally back to Tsubasa. "There's plenty of noise here-" beat, "She's not deaf is she?" What, she's calling it noise. What else would it be! She said something in reply though. That's just more confusing, "Who are you talking to?" She eventually asks. The second ghost ducks through the wall and slowly stalks around, keeping a close eye on Tsubasa. "Thanks for saving her?" She says finally, pointing to Naru, "It's a rite of passage these days."
She still doesn't leave her spot though, maybe a touch hesitant since you know, giant sword. Seems dangerous. And she's between the sword lady and the snake lady. With a few more moments passed, she calls back, "Hey, come on up, I think it's okay?" She shrugs and steps out into the open, not that the stranger looking ghost does the same yet. To Naru, she waves back and says, "You didn't try to seek that one out did you?"
"I don't generally go looking for them." Naru comments to Jiaying. "In fact, I cannot think of a single time that I've gone 'hey, y'know what would make my night complete? A hunt for something trying to chew my face off', but they are /really/ good at finding me."
Naru turns to Tsubasa and considers the other girl before just asking. "I'm going to run with the assumption that we're all on the same side here, cause of .. whatever that was. Noise you said?" Naru gestures towards where the youma was. "Which is not something that's tried to eat me before, can you tell me more about them?"
"I'm with the Mobile Disaster Response Team, Section Two." Tsubasa introduces herself calmly, "We protect the people of Japan from the threat of the Noise, a kind of 'youma' I cannot tell you much more, our work is classified." That might explain some of the terseness, "Unless you're Noise, using Noise for your own purposes, or doing actions that would harm the people I'm sworn to protect, I've got no problem with you." She answers Nagina's 'we're all friends here' line.
"I was talking to my superiors in Section Two, we coordinate to make sure everything is taken care of." She goes back to humming a little, until Naru asks that question, "In Short, Noise are a class of youma that is attracted by phonic events, such as concerts, musicals, and the like. They're extremely dangerous, practically immune to conventional weaponry and can turn unprotected people to dust with a touch."
Nagina Hasane then deadpanned Naru for a moment.. Were they /that/ used to it? For it to just about be a rite of passage? The poor girl! Though the lack of surprise to what just happened make it hard to feel concern, only trust that they'll be well.. I mean.. They have been so far! At being called out she looked for Jia's ghost friends, just to check if they were referred to before walking on over, herself. With a little bow of her head, she greeted both Naru and Tsubasa, feeling like exposition took presidence over introductions, at the least for now.
At being answered, her head tilted a touch, she wasn't going to to object to being given more knowledge. After all, others were the one risking going to the b orderline of classification, not her. She just nodded and listened, slowly stepping back, backing off as she did. Not to avoid anything, as much as to just go back to her backpack, grab the little cages and start roaming the building, staying in sight for most of the time, so she could be seen placing some of the cages around places where mice might wander
Jiaying Maki sticks her tongue out at Naru and says, "I don't know, I go hunting for things that want to chew on my face. Then again, I also can do more to them than them me. Eh." She sheugs and focuses back on Nagina, "Are you secretly noisy quiet Hasane? Maybe you yell when we're not around?" Beat, "Why noise? do they look like those weird screen saver things?" She didn't really see it before it was killed, not clearly. Maybe it does!
Finally, to Tsubasa proper, "None of us use noise except Naru crying for help. I have no idea what she uses" gesturing to Nagina, "And I use ghosts and magic because that's what I do. WooooOOoo" She might be in a bad mood. Or a good mood and just being silly. Who knows.
"Careful, I'm getting quicker and I might catch your tongue." Naru makes a grab for Jiaying as the girl sticks her tongue out, not even close, but its the principle of the thing. "I do not, because I am bait."
Naru has pretty much a supernaturally calm attitude about her propensity for getting chewed on and she gives a little wave to Nagina. "Hey! Were'd you at the art exhibit thing? That went all sorts of obnoxious in so many ways?"
Naru turns her attention back to Tsubasa and quirks her head. "Where is Section Two?" She asks, her tone curious. "I.. well that /is/ good to know. By conventional weaponry, I am assuming you mean non-magical? I usually get a /bit/ more warning than dead to a touch, so it's good to know I need to recalibrate for /that/ flavour of youma now too. What sort of protections are most effective?"
"A magical layer of clothing or other protections fueled magical power, ideally something optimized for the task but those are hard to come by." Tsubasa answers Naru flat-out, in effect telling her 'you need to be a magical girl, not just magically aware, to protect yourself properly' "Since none of the available choices are common, we try to make it so people don't need to worry about that."
Then she answers Jiaying, "Noise aren't the same as regular noise, I'm talking specifically about that kind of Youma." She sounds a little bit frustrated by the lackadaisical approach to it, "This isn't a game, you will die if you're not careful."
And if Nagina is waiting for Tsubasa to introduce herself, well... she's out of luck. The Symphogear wielder isn't planning to.
Nagina Hasane halted her little cage placing to look back at Jia with a deadpan "... ... ... ... ... ... Yes. That's why you heard me coming." Hoping the musical one could register a sarcastic little joke. Then she continues scurrying about, perking her head up at hearing the call out, giving a little nod "I was, and I wonder how the Dutch could ever cope with that loss. Still... Sorry if I do not quite remember you, it got a touch chaotic to say the least... Ah! I'm Hasane Nagina, by the by! A pleasure to meet you." Glancing at Tsubasa to extend the introductions to her, as well, whether it was taken or no, going back to trap/cage setting either way, occasionally poking her head over the railing of a staircase, or from behind machines, to try and make sure if people were still there or no.. Looking somewhat like a meerkat once she was in a bit more of a distance, really.
Jiaying Maki looks over her shoulder and says, "You're right, you're far too quiet. I'm getting you bells. Also I cheat because ears." She taps her head where her ears should be. The joke about the dutch gets a complete look of confusion. "What loss? Were they too loud too?" She really doesn't get it. What are they on about?
This is of course after Naru tried to grab her tongue. Looking at the fingers, she asks, "I thought you liked motorcycle in the rain guy?" She says this deadpan, "You should come train with us, me or anyone else really. You've got the stuff now. Or is it temporary? I still bet you're posessed or stepped in magical goo."
The exasperation gets a short laugh from Jia, "You know if you say noise enough, it just starts to turn into noise doesn't it?" What, the girl's too stiff! At least Norie was stiff and angry, it was something! Though as an after thought, she turns to face the peasant ghost and asks it a question. It gets a surprised look on it's face, looks down at itself and flails around. Then she looks at her other and asks, "Did you know you could die?" Which is met with nothing, but a flat stare. "Critic."
"Duly noted, thank you." Naru pauses a moment, thoughtful and frowns briefly at Tsubasa's words. "I've proper respect for the ones that are deadly, short term or long term. I do appreciate what you do, thank you for it."
Naru mmms to Jiaying and shrugs. "I do train, although probably in a more general sense than you're implying. I .. don't know if its temporary. I have been possessed, and cursed, a few times.. and this doesn't feel like that, so I'm going to vote with general 'no' on possession.
Naru smiles a touch to Nagina before she vanishes off to do whatever it is she's doing. "Nagina? Nice to meet you, I'm Naru."
"If you're going to have this attitude to magical threats, you'll die, and I won't have anything to do with you." Tsubasa tells Jiaying with just as stiff a tone as before, and she turns around and starts to walk away, though she does note to Nagina, "I'm the wielder of Ame no Habakiri. I have my reasons not to state my name." She informs the latter, "But it's nice to meet you, Hasane-san, Naru-san."
And then she jumps up a wall and starts to head for the roof.
There's sounds of a chopper above the building now, and a big red-headed guy is waving towards Tsubasa as she heads towards the lowered rope ladder that comes from the chopper.
Nagina Hasane did not comment on the bells, though she did seem to walk silently, to those without cheater-ears. To the question for clarification, Nagina raises a hand from behind some conveyers, to clarify where she was this time "You know how carrots are orange? That's how much the Dutch love the colour." Assuming she could at least still remember the colour. At least it was pleasant to hear laughter confirming the fox's mood. Poking her head out to flash a little smile to Jia as well as Naru.
By the Tsubasa introduced her weapon, she had already ducked her head away... Conveniently hiding concern brought by the fact there was apparently a need to introduce that particular. Taking a moment before poking hand out to give a little wave.. Not sure if it was seen by the fleeing musician or no. Hoping nothing more was broken on the way to the sound of a chopper
Jiaying Maki looks over her shoulder and asks, "How does... why?" She pinches the bridge of her nose and says, "I have no idea how carrots relate to the Dutch, I'm sorry." She glances to Naru and asks, "Dutch and orange make any sense to you Naru?"
Crossing her arms and shifting from foot to foot, trying to think, maybe rattle a few thoughts loose. "I've never seen a possession, you know that? All these years of talking to ghosts and dealing with that, never saw it once. It was a story thing. Was it a ghost?" She actually sounds curious before leaning forward, "Are you eating magical vitamins maybe?"
Finally, Tsubasa gets flat laughter before she suddenly gets a lot more serious and scowls at her, "Die die die, change the cd over, I've heard it, seen it even." She makes a gesture, to which the Chinese ghost floats up and smiles before spinning around in a pirouette, showing off the ugly dark spot on the back of her tunic before it disappears. "I didn't get to experience it, but I'm surrounded by it. You've chosen to become a stiff and unyielding until you break, I've gone the other way." Then she suddenly smiles and adds, "Though I am practicing so I stop getting hurt so often." The ghost makes a face at Tsubasa and floats away with laughter.
"Um." Naru watches Tsubasa jump a wall and head for the roof, and leave the small group. A small hunh accompanies that, and thoughtful processing of some details. Slowly she turns back to the other conversations.
"I'm not sure /why/ the dutch are associated with the colour orange, but they are. It's not even on their flag, but it's just a /thing/."
"No, I've never .. to my knowledge.. be possessed by a ghost, but I've had things in my head trying to tell me what to do, and I always thought of that as pssession." Naru snorts softly and shakes her head. "No magical vitamins, unless someone's sneaking them into my lunch, but I make that myself, so seems unlikely."
Nagina Hasane calls out to Jia "Read a book!" From the other side of the warehouse, making her way back over, slowly, taking her time to let the others talk. Hearing the last of Jia's words in that moment, though, she decided to engage stealth mode. To speed up a little and keep just a hint low. Of course she'd be obvious if anyone was looking in her general direction, still she made her way to Jia. Even if she approached from the front, she'd, surprisingly, quickly swirl around Jia to give a quick little hug from behind "You spoke like you needed that."
It did not last long, soon she stepped back and to the side, asking "Magic vitamins? Those... Sound sugary.. Still! What, eh.. What brought you two here again?"
Jiaying Maki looks at Nagina and says flatly, "I read plenty of books. I have never read the Dutch orange thing. Should I be looking it up under myths from Holland?" That last question is said teasingly. Then there's a hug. She looks down at the arms around her, then returns the hug while saying something in Chinese. Probably did need a hug. She's fine though, really! Totally not upset just like she was at the apartment.
She shrugs to Naru's comments about being not-possess-possessed, "That sounds more like compulsion doesn't it? I imagine possession to be hard control right?" She looks to her two ghosts and adds quickly, "I don't think either of these two can actually do that though. I wouldn't ever try it." Beat, "Maybe on a youma, that would be a neat way to make them go away, but no. Nononono"
"Probably is more compulsion, come to think of it." Naru mmms softly. "Perhpas I havent' been possessed before, or it's part of my hazy bits, where I dont have a lot of good grasp on what was going on." There's a little bit of a shrug. "I really don't like things in my head, so I tend to be fairly stubborn about the whole compulsion thing. Or possessions. Or anything else trying to mess with my head."
"I.. well.. I was out for a walk, and wanted to get a pokemon in here." Naru explains with a bit of a sheepish admission to Nagina. "I wasn't expecting people, or youma in here, although I probably should have, I suppose."
Nagina Hasane rolled her shoulders into a little shrug, saying "Basically.. There was a guy that had Orange for the last name. People loved him so much, they made carrots orange and name important groups Orange." Giving Jia a friendly, cheery smile "Care to repeat that in a language all of us can understand~?" Allowing a little giggle to escape, holding her hands together behind her back.
She looked at the ghosts when mentioned, asking "Why, would it be that dangerous? And, question .. If the supposed noise is dangerous to the mere touch.. What would happen if a ghost touched them?" Coking her head to the side. Then pok?mon got mentioned. "That game? May want to look up from the screen a bit more often... ... ... Please tell me it wasn't for a pidgey. "
Jiaying Maki looks at Nagina and says flatly, "Okay..." like she doesn't fully believe Nagina at the moment. Carrots were purple originally, sure, but the color cahnge was for other reasons right? They're totally orange elsewhere."
The question about a language all of them can understand says, "There isn't one! She doesn't speak anything, but Chinese!" pointing to Meifeng with an impish smile.
Tilting her head to Naru, she says, "You... really need to see if that power is permanent so we can help you just smacking them around instead. It can't be healthy otherwise." Beat, "Or a rattata."
"I have no idea of the why of Dutch and orange, I just know it's a thing." Naru comments on the topic of the Dutch. Still.
"I can't hear her either way, I don't think. Or I haven't realized it was her speaking." Naru adds on the topic of the ghost and then she mmms softly. "I'm not sure how to tell if they're temporary or not, short of just letting time pass and see if they vanish. I am training, it just doesn't go nearly as quickly as movie training montages lead you to believe."
Naru snorts softly. "No..not a pidgey, or a rattata.. a pinsir. I don't have one of those yet."
Nagina Hasane gave Jia a little shrug as if to leave her with that wonder, motivation to look things up! Or just something to keep her teased as she then got teased herself, slowly raising an eyebrow "Sooo, were you telling her something we shouldn't know, then~? Besides, I always figured ghosts ascended beyond language. Ah well!"
Her head turned to Naru, after, asking "Soooo... If I may be so curious, what might that power be?" Giving a little, almost too understanding, nod to the comment on movie montages and training, yet on the topic of pok?mon she spoke "You have my blessing then... Is it still around?"
Jiaying Maki glances over her shoulder at Nagina and asks, "What was I telling her? I was just talking to her, she doesn't speak any Japanese outside of what she hears on TV." Which means she's got a ghost that couch potatos. She thinks it's hilarious.
Stepping back and forth, watching Naru she begins laughing, "I never said it was going to be easy! But the sooner we get you started, the sooner you can punch bad things in the face. Which would be funny. And probably a great stress relief for you."
Naru gives Jiaying a wry little smile. "I cannot say that there is a lot of expectation of /easy/ in any of this, no. I do train, I have been for a while now, and yep, that keeps changing as my skills keep changing. I don't expect to punch things in the face, that's not really my style. No matter /how/ cathartic it was."
Naru glances between the two of them and then smiles. "But I should get myself home, and face up to homework. Take care Jiaying, nice to meet you Nagina."
Nagina Hasane looked at Jia with a little 'fiiiiiine', giving up a little on it for now, instead focusing on the task at hand- Wait.. Was that ghost learning to talk like an anime or game show? ..Ah, back on topic! "So, uhm.. I was here with the idea of making it a little home away from home.. It has potential! Just... Just needs some cleaning, but at least it should be away from any heavy distractions... Want in on it? Don't worry, I'll focus on cleaning it! But it should be a nice place for your training, I imagine? And just make it a nice place to get together, maybe make our own little after-school-club if need be! Think about it!" Pulling out her phone, opening Line and showing it to Naru "Add me on Line if you want! so you can let me know what you think of it!" Giving a moment to share contact details, it the offer is taken, before musing "Likewise, have a nice day~!"