Scene #3080: Unexpected Side Effects

Owner	Pose
Xiao Li Yu	It had been a day or two since Xiao had inadvertently drained that corrupted Wind Elemental's aether back in the Twelveswood. Back then, the pain was tremendous, permeating throughout her system in constant cycles. It was impossible to get any sleep and it didn't feel like it was going away even if she cast wasteful spells or waited it out. Figuring it was just taking a while longer, the researcher let it go and proceeded on with her daily activities, ignoring the pain and frustration as much as she could. And she was doing a rather good job of it. Anyone that was acquainted with the girl probably couldn't immediately tell something was wrong with a passing glance. She was still snarky, nosy, and forever bothering people with creepy things. By this time, Xiao had finished her classes and was seated in the school courtyard, at a large table all by herself. Her Mogtop opened and being typed on rapidly. "...Seriously, who in their right mind decided that removing methods from AlBhed Script was a good idea? People use that function! Gods..." She sighed and rolled her eyes, teeth lightly gritting annoyance. Having to do roundabout solutions to what should have been a simple issue. So inefficient. Yes, she was totally okay. Totally.
Kyra Hyral	Indeed, even Kyra would have assumed that Xiao was her usual sassy self had Bertram not told her of Xiao's deeds in Twelveswood. Though she didn't know the exact mechanics to which Xiao had drained the Aether, process of elimination put it on either Osmose or Drain or something similar. For the most part of the day, Kyra had gone about it normally. She already knew, vaguely, a little bit about Xiao's schedule since she is her BESTEST FRIEND. It doesn't take her much time to locate the scientist after classes had officially ended for the day. Normally she herself would run off to school clubs or some multiverse thing but instead, she is here in the courtyard, first observing Xiao from afar. Superficially, she looks fine. Still, at this distance, Kyra immediately fires of a Scan spell aimed at the girl to quickly assess her vitals. Once that's finished, she approaches, calling out to her. "XIAO!" she greets in that overly cheerful way, "How is my FELLOW SCIENTIST doing today?"
Xiao Li Yu	The Scan spell would reveal that she's actually mostly fine. But, as if hiding, there was sightly vague taint circulating through her MP, if Kyra could see such things. But hey, the girl was a Dark Knight anyway! Taint was normal, right? ...Right? ...No way. Xiao meanwhile continued to frustratedly wrestle with code, at least until a voice cut through the air, taking a sledgehammer to her thoughts and making her grit her teeth even harder. "......" For a moment, she rubbed the side of her head, as if she had a headache, but after that moment was gone, the girl put on her usual smile and turned towards the sound of Kyra's voice. "Well, if it isn't KYRA, my BESTEST FRIEND!" She gestured towards the computer, containing the offending code. "Nothing much today. Just wresting with some programming and wondering why new versions of programs seem to remove useful features if only for the sole purpose of frustrating the end user." That was said with a heavy tone of sarcasm to accompany it.
Kyra Hyral	Mostly fine to Kyra...except for that weirdness that /looks/ like a status effect. Almost like poison but definitely not any poison that Kyra is familiar with. Either Xiao is sporting a new disease or the alien-ness could be accounted for by the offworld nature of the taint. Plus Kyra is semi-friends with Cirra. She's kind of familiar with what the Dark Knight Angsttaint looks like already. Privately, Kyra giggles to herself at Xiao's reaction. Kyra herself hates it when people interrupt her at her computer, especially if she's 'in the zone' and making a new mix. Xiao might be the same way so the sudden scramble for forced civility is kind of funny. "Well duh." Kyra sliiiides in to sit next to her, "They remove it so you'll be forced to shell out for the /plus/ version of the program. Why just become a generous donor and you can get extra features!" Kyra gestures grandoisely with her hands before using them to prop herself up on either side. "Sooooo...I hear you've been questing lately and may have 'consumed an energy field bigger than your head'. Is there any truth to this rumor?"
Xiao Li Yu	A roll of the eyes is what Kyra got for her answer to the question that needed no answer. Nonetheless, Xiao let Kyra slide right in and she turned back to her computer, rooting through the code as she spoke. "Hmm? Well now, the grapevine certainly extends a long way. I wonder which little bird told you that?" She chuckled and shook her head. "Oh, it hardly matters, on the other hand." She had a hunch that it was either N'raha, or Bertram. Maybe Alwyn, but she never saw much of the Lancer to be sure of how he felt about her. A shrug followed. "I suppose I may have pulled a Marisa on a recent occasion." Xiao smiled pleasantly, giving the White Mage a sidelong glance. "Is that what brings you here? Come to try SCIENCING at me? Hm?"
Kyra Hyral	Given the rather obvious enmity between her and N'raha (or one-sided emnity, more like it), Kyra suspects that Xiao will suspect the Miqo'te! Which is perfectly fine and perfectly logical because N'raha /was/ a student here. "Well you know how fast stuff travels in school. Age of social media and all that." She can't help but laugh when Xiao calls her little stunt 'pulling a Marisa'. A grin creeps up onto her face, "Why yes! That's /exactly/ why I have sought you out today because I am /dreadfully/ curious about how your snack is effecting you. In fact." Kyra unzips her hoodie and detatches an empty, capped syringe from one of her bandoliers. "I would like to take a blood sample if that's not too much trouble."
Xiao Li Yu	"Of course, of course. Such a thing is to be expected in this day and age." A wave of the hand followed. She let that line of thought drop after, moving on to other things. The researcher arched a brow curiously as Kyra spoke of her own curiosity regarding her stunt from the other day. ...And then she pulled out an empty syringe. "...Hah?" Hey. Hey no! That was /Xiao's/ thing! No! The look on the girl's face went from curious, to confused, to just plain incredulous. "Wait. You want to get a blood sample from /me/?" And then an amused grin formed on her face. "Hah...ahahaha! Are you crazy? /I'm/ the one who does that! Oh my! Ahahahaha! To think that this would happen to me! Oh! Oh wow!"
Kyra Hyral	NOW THE TABLES ARE TURNED! MWAHAHHAHA!!!! Kyra actually does take samples of biological material when she can. The only difference between her and Xiao is Kyra isn't /quite/ as creepy about it! "Correct! I would like to get a blood sample from you so I can study that curious 'toxin' currently running through you. I can just /barely/ register it as a status effect, though no known status effect on our world. Isn't that fascinating? You could even have a /status effect/ named after you. Maybe Xiaoitis?" Clearly a status effect that causes CRAZY. With her free hand, she gives Xiao a playful shove. "Don't be silly! I'm a scientist! An eventual doctor! Taking samples of patients is part of the role, you don't have the market cornered, you know!" she wags a finger and scoots closer to Xiao, "So you're going to give me one, right?"
Xiao Li Yu	Xiao is shoved and she leans slightly aside from the momentum. "Of course I have the market cornered! It's what I do!" She wasn't really being too serious. It sounded more like she was pushing the actual issue aside. "Toxin running through me? Psssh." She waved a hand dismissively. "There's no need to worry. Miss Sage Fox said that it would pass in time." She straightened up fully and shook her head. "That being said, I don't particularly feel like parting with my own biological material right now." And with that said, she gently nudged Kyra's syringe holding arm back a bit. "So you can stow that implement away." Looks like it wouldn't be that easy.
Kyra Hyral	"Well you /can't/ have the market cornered on taking biological samples. It isn't fair to the rest of us." Kyra mock pouts, mentally filing away the bit where Xiaomu is mentioned. She'd have to go talk to her about this corruption thing later-maybe she knew something that she and Bertram didn't. But as for now. "So you're /refusing/ to cooperate with this scientific experiment, is that what I'm hearing right?" Kyra lowers her syringe-carrying arm, looking decidedly put out. "How disappointing. I thought you were all about furthering advances and boldly exploring the organic materials of abroad. Perhaps I read you wrong this whole time." She frowns, troubled. "Well..." she moves the syringe away, back to her hoodie, back to the bandolier she removed it from, lifting her other hand to help secure it. But then without warning, that other hand rips off the cap covering the needle of the syringe and Kyra lashes out, trying to stick Xiao with it!
Xiao Li Yu	"Yes. I'm refusing. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have work to continue." And Xiao focused her attention entirely on her Mtop, fingers proceeded to tap across the keyboard again. She gave Kyra one last glance out of the corner of her eye, taking note that seemed to be putting it away, before looking entirely at her screen. BUT THEN- Xiao felt a stab in the side of her arm. "Agh!" She immediately jumped back, taking the syringe with her. "What the hell, Kyra! I said no! Are you deaf!?" She pulled the syringe, which seemed to have drawn a bit of blood from her, and held it in her grasp angrily. ...An anger that was actually quite uncharacteristic of her. "You never do listen to people, do you?" Oddly enough, her eyes, which were supposed to be gold, pulsed purple occasionally. Just in time with the rise in emotion. Was that the effect of the toxin? "Well if you're going to be stealing biological material, then why don't I have some of yours, huh?" With an angry glare, she tossed Kyra's syringe aside and produced one of her own, uncapping it and stepping forward. "Fair's fair, /right/?" ...It sounded like she'd do much much worse. Something was definitely not right.
Kyra Hyral	The distraction gives Kyra just the moment she needs to strike! She lets out a little squeal of glee as she feels the needle strike true but once Xiao moves, the syringe slips out of her grasp, now held in Xiao's hand. "Well you're oddly /angry/ about this thing that you do to literally everybody else. What's the deal, you can dish it out but you can't take it?" Kyra huffs, reaching for the syringe that Xiao now holds, trying to reclaim her precious sample. Her exaspiration forms a mask to her worry since she knows Xiao and she knows this reaction is unusual. Purple pulsing eyes? Sure, Dark Knights could do some freaky things but eye color changes weren't one of them. She stands abruptly and takes a step back from Xiao. "Whoah now, I'd be happy to oblidge-" she sounds like she means it at least. Kyra doesn't believe her own blood to be so super special that she has to forbid others from touching it. "-but only once you've calmed the fuck down!" She doesn't linger around after that line, lunging for her discarded syringe so she can make a run for it.
Xiao Li Yu	Would Xiao get in trouble for using magic to attack another student on campus? Maybe. Did she care? NOT RIGHT NOW. SORRY BRAIN IS ON HIATUS. >> SPELL FENCER >>>> SWORD MAGIC >>>>>> PHANTOM WEAPON, BLIZZAGA As Kyra grabbed the fallen syringe and ran for it, Xiao held an arm back, a massive lance of ice forming above her palm, gathering mass and floating at the ready. Once it was deemed large enough, the girl let loose an uncharacteristic roar of anger, lurching forward and throwing the frozen lance towards the retreating Kyra with all her might. She didn't bother to actually give chase though. ....Annnd now everyone was staring. Well, more than they were before.
Kyra Hyral	Kyra scoops up the fallen syringe and flees across the courtyard. People don't start staring until Xiao roars out in anger which is something the good students of Alexander Academy have never heard in person! It's startling enough that everyone looks up and Kyra looks over her shoulder to see the gigantic ice spear hurling her way. The white mage shrieks in alarm and tries to zigzag out of the way. "XIAO WHAT THE HELL!!!" She's not successful but the motion at least means she doesn't get speared smack in the middle of the back. Instead, it sticks through her left shoulder and strikes her with enough force that she spins around and falls to the ground. Ice shatters around her as she hits the pavement of the courtyard sideways. "Nggh..." she groans in pain, "Over...overreact...much?" Grunting, she tries to pull the shards of ice out of her shoulder, murmuring the chant for a Cura spell. Nothing weird happens to her magic today.
Xiao Li Yu	Note to Self: Throw a Silence lance next time. Xiao huffed and puffed, still hunched over in throwing posture and glaring as if someone had just killed her dog. But once that was out of her system, the purple glow in her eyes faded. "......" She seemed to return mostly to her senses at that point and brought a hand to her head. "Ugh..." The pain. The pain would NOT go away! And all that shouting and exertion just made it worse now. Without addressing Kyra, not even an apology, or acknowledging anyone else around her, Xiao shakily closed her Mtop and tucked it away, rushing off at a brisk pace while rubbing her head. Today was a disaster. God damn it, it was going so well too! Just a little more time and the toxin should work it's way out. She was sure. It's not like it was stuck in her. She'd be taking measures to get rid of it. It was working. It was working! Shut up!
Kyra Hyral	Kyra pulls herself up to her knees, half-glaring at Xiao, half wincing in pain. The incantation finishes and the ice crumbles away, pushed out by the regeneration brought on by the white magic. A bloody patch is left in its wake staining her hoodie around the hole where the lance had entered. A growl of anger escapes her as Xiao doesn't even dignify that event with some kind of response save for up and leaving. "Hey!" she says angrily, forcing herself to her feet with a groan. "/Hey/!" She starts to move afterwards, reaching out with her hand, trying to tag Xiao with an esuna before she gets /too/ far away. She's not going to pursue otherwise because she knows who would win in a physical fight between the two. Not only that, it's a physical fight she's pretty sure Xiao would love to have, much like a certain monk she knows.
Xiao Li Yu	Hey. Hey! HEY! HEYHEYHEYHEYHEYHEYHEY! Somehow, that one word repeated in her mind rapidfire, causing Xiao to grit her teeth in anger again. Shut up. Shut up! SHUT UP! "JUST SHUT UP!" That last one escaped her mind and filtered out very loudly. Xiao realized that after the fact and covered her mouth. "...." Whoops. She could feel white magic wash over her, but she was too mentally distracted with the pain and her own thoughts to properly address it. It also did nothing. This foreign taint must have been more complicated than something a typical Esuna would wash away. Shaking her head of distractions, Xiao rushed off again, likely to escape campus and go somewhere actually quiet. People were going to be talking about this tomorrow. Greaaaaat.
Kyra Hyral	Kyra makes a face, swallowing a shudder, as Xiao yells at her and...doesn't seem to be that effected by the esuna. That actually scares her a little more than anything else she's seen so far. This corruption simply /wasn't/ effected by her white magic, not while incubating in Xiao. "...well Bertram's not going to like the sound of this." Kyra murmurs, carefully stowing her sample before leaving school entirely. She had some baking to do.