Scene #2270:

Owner	Pose
Septette Arcubielle	The robot girl hugs her cloak tightly around her shoulders as she stares at the three cups of tea arrayed on the table in front of her, feeling just a tad bit nervous. It's been a long time since she's entertained guests- let alone guests from another world. The hopelessly-messy workshop is securely locked up; the foyer is dusted; the telepad is properly calibrated... Oh gods, is the tea getting cold? Switching to thermals for a moment, Septette notices it's a couple degrees below its optimal temperature, and silently casts a minor fire spell to warm it back up. There. Perfect for squishies. After drumming her fingers on the table anxiously, Septette hops to her feet and peeks around the doorframe into the foyer. Are they here yet? No; not quite. Musn't be impatient- good hostesses are gracious. Did she ask what kinds of cookies they like? What if they don't like any of the kinds of cookies she has? What if they're allergic?! ... Breathe, Septette. It's going to be just fine...
Frederica	Being in medical is one of those things. It's tedious and terrifying both. And that's when Frederica's only WORKING there. Actually recovering from psychic trauma, well, that's just downright unpleasant. Still, she's mostly recovered from that. The psychic girl's eyes are still a little bloodshot, but it's the cast about her arm that'll draw more attention by now. It won't take long to repair and regenerate bone, given medical tech and her own regenerative capabilities, but you still don't heal a broken bone overnight. Right now, she's mostly healed and mostly bored. And this Septette sounds pleasant and intriguing and it's always good to get out and meet new people. Even if they're robots. Coming from Medical, it doesn't take her long to get to this relatively-nearby Njorun zone. Before long she's at the entrance, considering it carefully to determine the self-announce protocol. It's RUDE to enter unannounced, and Frederica's only rude when she wants to be. Figuring it out, she takes the appropriate actions before proceeding. "Well, hello there~" she greets, eventually. Peering at Septette in a somewhat less than polite manner. Okay, so she's sometimes rude without intending it. But not in a bad way... probably.
Sakura Kinomoto	What a coincidence. Sakura has been in medical lately, too! Actually she's been in and out of medical a horrifying amount the past week. First she got stabbed through the leg by Hiei, then she got covered in horrible chemical burns... She's fine now, though. Wearing her school uniform, as school just let out and she thinks she looks adorable in it. Her skin has that shiny brand-new look to it... for some reason. "Hellooo!" she calls as she steps off the teleport pad - likely with Kaede on her shoulder. Seeing Septette causes her to break into a bright, beaming smile - the sort that seems to light up the room a little.
Kaede	Kaede is here, perched in her customary place on the teen's shoulder, legs crossed and hands folded in her lap. She's not wearing her helmet, but the twin pods of her flight pack twitch like mechanical wings, helping maintain her balance as Sakura walks. She lifts a hand, and smiles pleasantly. "Hi~!"
Septette Arcubielle	Septette visibly brightens as she steps into the foyer to greet her guests, her metal talons clinking as they hit the stone floor. Her eyes literally light up in a pretty lavender color as her anxiety fades, and something in her chest faintly glows through her cloak. The Yggdroid's reactor core may only be barely visible to the naked eye, but to anyone with a decent sensor array or any magical affinity, it's staggeringly obvious: the thing's radiating enough energy to wash out other nearby signals, though it doesn't appear to be dangerous... "Hello, everyone! Welcome to my humble abode," Septette says in a cheery synthesized alto as she takes a small bow. "Tea's in the foyer-" she gestures with one clawed hand at the comfortable-looking room behind her- "and I've taken the liberty of setting out cookies and cake as well. Feel free to leave your coats and such on the rack; I can adjust the temperature to your liking."
Frederica	Frederica is a bit of a Multiversal veteran, and the skeletal aspects of Septette shouldn't bother her. Much. Besides she's already made up her mind, before seeing her, that the android girl seemed cute... and she's a bit reluctant to let go of even an entirely unfounded opinion. A bit weird, she supposes as she finishes her staring, but nice. At the invitation to leave coats and such aside, Frederica shrugs out of her hood, fluffing her twintails forward in a reflexive flourish. "Don't worry about me~ I don't need a coat to be warm." she smiles. Indeed, her hood is obviously there for fashion rather than warmth. Anyone truly concerned about keeping warm wouldn't show nearly as much bare arm, shoulder and thigh as Frederica typically does. Style is more important. "Do... do you drink tea?" she asks, fascinated. This is a robot girl, right? Or is she a total-conversion cyborg or something else from some weird science fiction?
Sakura Kinomoto	Sakura is, to be honest, a ltitle surprised by Septette's appearance. But it doesn't register in her expression at all, just continuing to smile warmly. She does put her hand to the side of her head and wince a bit after a while, though. "...Oh, man, that's... some aura. Haha..." Is she blushing? That's weird. "...Might take a while to get used to that..." She's not wearing a coat! She just smiles again. "Don't worry, I'm fine with whatever temperature. If I get too cold I'll just get Frderica to set fire to something~" she jokes playfully.
Kaede	Kaede stares at Septette for a few moments, then with a quick headtilt, and a burst of her jetpack, the little robofairy flits over, doing several quick orbits of the Yggdroid. "Ohwowyoulooksocoolwasthisadesignchoicebyyourmanufacturerordidyoupickityourself?" she blurts out in one giant running 'wordsentence', before popping up in front of Septette's face, beaming happily. "I'm Kaede!"
Septette Arcubielle	Septette pulls her arm back inside her cloak swiftly and nods at Frederica. She doesn't seem to mind the attention at all- if she weren't still kicking, the robot would belong in a museum, so she's altogether used to being stared at. That said, Sept clearly doesn't want to alarm anyone with her unnatural-looking frame, taking any and all opportunities to keep everything but her hands and head concealed. Apparently, it's not enough to hide her chassis from Kaede's keen little eyes! An instant after the Shinki's jetpack flares, Septette switches mental gears, and the outside world slows down from her perspective as nearly all of her processing power is redirected to sensory data interpretation. Little metal thing; high velocity; jet-propelled; apparently sapient; humanoid design. Improvised kamikaze attack? No; insufficient payload and velocity to incur significant damage. Is that an arm cannon? Initial assessment indicates a 'harrier' design favoring ranged combat, yet it's closing to melee range. Probing for weaknesses? Unlikely; its sensors seem acute enough to do so from afar... A fraction of a second after Kaede first took off, Septette decides not to attempt to intercept her with an elemental magic attack. By the time that the Shinki completes her first orbit, Septette's decided not to attempt active defense maneuvers either. By the second orbit, the Yggdroid stands down, tension slowly leaving her frame despite the fact that she's scarcely moved. Her eyes flicker in a simulated 'blink' when the tiny ball of energy finally comes to rest in front of her, and the smile returns to her lips when she finally processes the little one's words. "A bit of both," she replies in an amiable tone. "I was designed by Yggdrasil, but between upgrades and replacement parts, I've had plenty of chances to alter this chassis to suit me. Glad you appreciate the design- you're quite a little marvel yourself, though I suspect I've only scratched the surface by looking at you." Glancing past Kaede, Septette gives Sakura a puzzled look before finally answering Frederica's half-forgotten question. "I can convert ingested matter into energy, and while tea is hardly optimal fuel, I find it quite tasty. Please, come in- you don't need to stay standing." With that, she turns and steps into the living room, motioning for her guests to follow.
Frederica	"Mmmm." muses Frederica. She hasn't seen much of Septette's skeletal frame, but her probing eyes are sharper than most and the cloak does drape a bit... inhumanly. "Tea isn't very good fuel unless it's got a LOT of sugar in it." she agrees. "But it's good for being social!" she adds, grinning. Kaede's antics gain another grin. Frederica knows Shinki, somewhat, and is used to their ways. More to the point, she doesn't consider them a threat. Well, they can be a threat if they attack of course... but she just doesn't imagine them as wanting to do that, most of the time. She follows the robot girl. The, uh, BIGGER robot girl. "This is a very nice place." she says amiably, appreciating design and cleanliness even if they're not entirely her own strengths. She's a bit easily-distracted. "So, how are you finding it here? I gather this is quite different from the world you're used to." This, of course, goes for everyone. No great insight from the pyro girl required to make that claim.
Sakura Kinomoto	Sakura giggles a little bit. "Kaede!" she calls good-naturedly. "I know you don't have to breathe, but it's easier to understand you if you pretend that you do~" she teases, while heading over to the table. Then she pauses. "..Oh! Uh, hold on one sec." She holds her left hand out - conjuring a bright pink -door- out of nowhere. It just kinda hangs there without any visible support. Sakura then opens it up, reaches into the very pink interior (apparently, it opens up onto the inside of a large hall??) and pulls out a brown school bag. Then she closes the door, and it vanishes again. Then she sits down as if nothing particularly out of the ordinary occured, reaching into her bag to produce a tea-flavoured jellycan.
Kaede	Kaede blinks a little, and pouts over at Sakura. It doesn't last long though, the little robofairy doing a quick little twirl and flitting over to give Frederica a cheek hug. "Hi again!" she greets, giggling then doing an orbit around the pyrokinetic's head, then dropping onto her shoulder. Kaede sits mostly quietly, she doesn't have much to offer this kind of gathering, after all, though the jellycan makes her eyes light up.
Septette Arcubielle	Septette pauses mid-stride, her 'ear' twitching, and glances over her shoulder at Sakura before raising an eyebrow. Teleportation isn't too hard in her world, but actually opening persistent portals is essentially impossible: she's never seen anything quite like that before. Still, she decides not to press it- it's hardly the first 'impossible' thing she's seen. Her smile widens as she watches Kaede's little cheek-hug: Yggdrasil designed her kind as companions to humans, but she's painfully aware of how little the tree understood about them and their preferences. These tiny robots were made by humans, for humans- and it warms her heart to see just how well they get along. The combat android easily weighs half a ton from the incredibly dense metals reinforcing her frame, but the furniture here is reinforced too, and doesn't complain when she collapses back onto the couch. "Tea is to society as grease is to a machine," Septette muses. "It makes things run more smoothly, and you get a lot of complaining if there's not enough." Feeling more comfortable now, the Yggdroid slips out of her cloak and lays it across the back of the couch, revealing a chassis inhuman enough that it hardly seems immodest. "The last time that my world changed so much in so little time was when the Abyssal God fell. That was a time for rejoicing; one that no mortal living now recalls, but that everyone remembers through stories and song. This... this is something else. The people seem unsure whether to be hopeful or afraid. Yggdrasil slumbers, as it has for centuries, and will not awake. And... they can no longer depend on my kind to defend them."
Frederica	Frederica positively beams at Kaede's display. She may not be the primary market for Shinki, being female and probably a little bit too old, but that doesn't stop her from adoring cuteness. And after all, who could possibly be intimidated by affection shown by a 6 inch tall doll-like weapon of destruction? And yes, she returns the hug... with a fingerpet. "I'd complain if there's too much grease." Frederica banters, not exactly serious. "Ugh, who wants too much smelly messy grease? Then again too much tea has its problems too~" she adds. She gets slightly more serious as Yggdrasil is mentioned. Somewhat more attentive, at least. It's almost enough to stop her staring at the revealed skeletal chassis. "Well, is there anything your world needs to defend against?" she asks, perhaps struggling to find something to discuss, to conceal her startled reaction to Septette's appearance. She reaches for the tea, perching forward so far on her chair that she's almost not sitting at all. Apparently that's natural for her. "Besides the Multiverse, I mean. That's plenty of trouble. We try to help, particularly with our allies."
Sakura Kinomoto	Sakura smiles lovingly at Kaede as she does her regular adorable shenanigans. She picks up the closest teacup, blowing on it gently before sipping it. All prim and proper. "Tea is a constant in the Multiverse, I find. I've yet to meet someone who won't drink it." Siiiip. "...They have -our- kind to depend on to defend them, though. I mean. Protecting people is what I'm -for-." That's a bit of an odd thing for a human to say, but.
Kaede	"And me Master!" chirps Kaede, as she flits over to snag the jellycan. She perches on Sakura's shoulder, uncaps the little flask, and sips from it, beaming happily. "I may not look tough, but I can hold my own in a fight!" she boasts happily, before hugging Sakura's cheek. "I'd do anything to help my awesome Master~."
Septette Arcubielle	"The mice here," Septette explains drily, "can decapitate a man with a bite. There are more poisonous plants than edible ones, and almost as many plants that will actively attempt to kill anything that moves. The dragons here are not animals so much as engines of death sculpted from flesh and bone. Eighty years ago, I shot a drake through the heart with a ballista bolt that was eight feet long and coated in poison; to this day it lives, with the head of the bolt protruding from between its wings and twitching with every pulse." She pauses to sip her tea. "... The gods are real, and they hate us. I know because one told me so after I gouged out its eye." "The cities are safe, of course," she continues. "We make sure of that. But we have no room to breathe; this world of ours is always at our throats. If one new threat from the Multiverse intrudes, I fear it will be one too many." Septette sighs, and shakes her head. "More cookies?"
Frederica	Frederica looks troubled at the description of the world. Not upset, not precisely. "Sounds a little like my world, before I lost track of it." she muses. Her world... a barren ruined landscape where the only living creatures are monstrous predators, and the rulers of the world would have cheerfully killed her and her family if they only learned where they were. A world in which billions died in a few short years. A world, in short, that she wouldn't wish on anyone even if it's where her loved ones live. "I wouldn't worry too much about outside threats then." Frederica says, more optimistically than perhaps is justified. "Sounds like your world can defend itself from intruders." she grins, though the grin's weak and probably looks more than a little forced.
Sakura Kinomoto	Sakura frowns a little bit at Septette's description of the world. It's... well. Utterly -unlike- her own world. So much so that Sakura isn't entirely sure she really gets the scope of it all. But... -her- smile is less forced than Frederica's. "I'm sure there's stuff Union people can do to help. Right? I mean. There's magic and technology you never even dreamed was -possible- out there, you know?"
Septette Arcubielle	"That's true," Septette replies in measured tones. "Hence why joining the Multiverse was not entirely a terrifying prospect for us- there's the opportunity to ease our strain, as well. My task has shifted somewhat, from directly ensuring the safety of the people in my care to ensuring that our relationship with the other worlds continues to be one of mutual benefit." The robot girl absentmindedly picks up a spoon instead of a cookie and bites into it; on noticing her mistake, she shrugs almost imperceptibly and finishes nomphing it. "As for you three... you seem quite capable of protecting others. Still, the prospect makes me unhappy- I'd rather protect you instead." Septette glances off to the side and rubs the back of her neck somewhat nervously. "As much as I might wish to spare you pain, and give you a happy childhood... that may no longer be within my power to grant. Dragons grow stronger with age, but machines do not: even if we do not rust, we do become obsolete."
Kaede	"That's only true if you don't replace old parts! There are Shinki that are as old as Master is, older even, and they can still compete with newer models like me!" blurts Kaede, hopping back into the air, and flitting over to the robogirl. "You just need to ask, the Union can help you with newer parts, replacements or upgrades! They can do anything!"
Frederica	Frederica, one forearm in a cast, probably shouldn't speak on the issue of needing protection. She eyes Septette eating a spoon, looking juuust a bit weirded-out. Still, she's nothing if not adaptable. That is to say, she's usually willing to ignore something that conflicts with her current world-view. She smiles. "I'm afraid I'm no child." Frederica says lightly. "Compared to you, perhaps... but that's a technicality. Technically, I'm your senior here." she adds teasingly. "As for getting stronger... well, experience counts as well. But nothing counts so much as will. You can't BUILD will. Well okay maybe you can, technically, but the shininess of a machine says nothing about its willpower!"
Sakura Kinomoto	Sakura's smile flickers a little bit. She rests her elbow on he table and props her head up with her chin. "I've been dealing with magical emergencies since I was nine years old. And I've been working with the Union since I was eleven. I've saved worlds, slain gods and mastered magics the likes of which your world has never seen. I don't think my childhood is really that salvageable by most standards, now~" "Anyway. Protecting people is what makes me happy." Shrug~
Septette Arcubielle	Septette lets out a chirp-like giggle, and shakes her head in feigned resignation. "It seems we're more alike than appearances suggest. If what protecting others is what makes you happy... well, it's not my place to discourage you. Not that I won't help whenever I can!" She does note the subtle shift in Sakura's expression, but isn't sure whether to attribute it to her own inconsiderateness or to the magical girl's painful past. "I was prematurely activated when the Deep Ones attacked the facility in which I was being constructed. Though perhaps being artificial gives me an unfair head start on that count," she teases. "As for you, Kaede... I'll take your advice. This old body was the best Yggdrasil could construct, but we've come a long way since then, and the resources it had then are nothing to the resources of the Multiverse. Perhaps it is finally time for a redesign," she muses. "Thank you, all of you. You've given me much to think about."