Scene #7988: Symphogear: Anti-Noise Armaments

Owner	Pose
Staren	If Bikki (and, perhaps, anyone from the organization employing her who has a good reason to tag along) wishes, she's offered a free cab ride from the Grand Dorado warpgate to Elysium Apex; Directions and her visitor pass lead her down into Concord R&D, although there isn't much actual craziness in the halls, the snatches of conversation she can hear from personnel sound about like what you'd expect walking the halls of something like Aperture Science. There are safety posters on the wall on which a cutesy, chibi version of Priscilla cheerfully reminds you to follow various safety procedures, and that if you don't you'd better get results or else. Someone in a labcoat runs by her muttering "Oh shit it's loose." Things are probably fine. Staren's waiting in a meeting room. There's a box of donuts on the table from some fancy shmancy Grand Dorado place. Staren looks up from her tablet and smiles at Hibiki's arrival, "Hibiki! Glad you could make it!" She rushes over to give the other girl a hug. "I was hoping Candy could make it too, but... we'll have to meet with him another time, I think he had some ideas he wanted to share. But I figured that now is as good a time as any to start thinking about what the Multiverse can do to help the people of your world fight the Noise. ...Would you like a donut?"
Hibiki Tachibana	Hibiki is more than fine taking a free ride, especially in an unfamiliar place she'd otherwise not have much in the way of knowing how to get around. Maybe there are a few members of the Watch who would have some concerns about casually stepping foot into one of the metaphorical hearts of the Concord, but she doesn't have any reason to be worried...well, mostly. Probably. Maybe. While there might not be anything absurd going through the halls, that is a /worrying/ comment. Looking away from a strangely cute safety poster that took her attention, she watches them go on past with a noticeable frown. Fortunately(?), the one individual who's come along with her both feels and looks far more natural in this environment, tails of a white labcoat swishing behind her with every step while humming happily. Inside the meeting room, Hibiki immediately falls victim to a sudden hug--which she seems surprised about at first to the point of freezing up a bit, before making a very small chuckle and looping one arm back around Staren, patting her on the back a few times. "...Nice to see you, too. Candy did, huh? I'm not surprised he does...I'll get in touch with him later myself." She sounds like she's musing on something. When her plus one makes a much more bombastic entry, careening right on in and falling into one of the table seats as casually as if she lived here, folding one leg over the other. Staren might recognize the hair-done-up, glasses-wearing, eccentric woman as one Ryoko Sakurai, who styled herself as the head of SONG's research division when they visited her world before. "And I thought it'd be something exactly along those lines, so I just had to come along myself~! Besides, I've been wanting to have another chat again myself. But to think you two were so close..." That is definitely a tease after that hug.
Staren	At Hibiki freezing up, Staren whispers, "Are you okay?" She just seems confused at Ryoko's comment. "Huh?" Once she's let go of Hibiki and steps back, she addresses Ryoko with "I thought you might come too, Doctor." The lights dim and a projector screen unrolls along one wall. "Let's discuss ideas after I show you what reminded me of this endeavor." Staren gestures at the screen with a little remote. The video is being recorded in the Crystal Tower's ballroom, in Wonder, in Secundus. A control center with lots of computer equipment has been set up in one corner, and the far wall has a target range set up with metal barriers behind the targets so the tower doesn't get smashed up. Staren is standing there with Knight, the teenage girl slightly taller than her, with darker hair, wearing a teal hero scarf, red t-shirt, and blue cargo pants. Knight is examining something that looks like a large metal card -- it certainly wouldn't look out of place as part of a Kamen Rider's henshin system -- with a large crack in it; the card has gotten Staren's techno-wizardry greebled all over it. The Staren on-screen says, "Just in case this video falls into the wrong hands, I want to be clear: This prototype is bound to her and only works for her. So there's no point in stealing it." Ren flies into the room on the recording, the other two seemingly ignoring her, and looks right at the camera before adding: "That's right! If someone hurts her for something like this, I've got a promise to keep, OK?" She winks and flies off. In the present, Staren's eyes widen. "That... she wasn't there when we recorded this..." On the video, Knight is instructed to press buttons and flip little switches on the device; "You can set up voice cues later, if you prefer." as it transforms into other shapes like a watch and a henshin wand. Finally, Knight flips a switch and holds it high before being engulfed in an orb of scintillating light for a moment -- when it disappears, she's wearing... it looks like a copy of Sailor Moon's outfit with slightly darker colors. Staren explains that armor enchantments protect her like magic plate armor, enchantments which will refill near a source of magic. "Here, check this out." Staren pulls a pistol from her bag and shoots at Knight's leg, the girl yelping an instant after the bullet shatters against invisible force. Further testing shows that the henshin, in a wand or a sword shape, has had spells put into it to shoot blasts of fire and ice, or a spray of ions like an atomic sandblaster. Knight additionally discovers she really can call forth some kind of elemental wind-water-lightning mix and fire it as a beam or shape it into a ball and fling it, "Now THAT's interesting, I didn't put that in there. That must have been part of the artifact itself..." video-Staren observes. Also, activating the henshin differently instead clads Knight in full-body red and blue armor, with a helmet with a darkened eyeshield and golden crest. ("So you can have either look".) Also, there's general physical enhancement in there for speed and strength and the like. Knight is pretty darn stoked to have the option of being a henshin hero, and is still holding the card when the video ends. The lights come back on and the screen rolls back up. "So... That was a prototype, but I think I can make more, though perhaps a bit less elaborate. Especially using the resources recovered from Secundus. What do you think??"
Hibiki Tachibana	Hibiki shakes her head, still with that smile - though one she's actively trying very hard to maintain in the face of ignoring her older accomplice's comment. "Nah, not at all. Just a warmer welcome than I expected." She doesn't elaborate, though it might have something to do with a bit of lingering awkwardness over what happened on Mars. She grabs a donut while getting a seat herself, while Ryoko leans forward to fold her hands beneath her chin, eyes alight on the recording. Staren's reaction to Ren's appearance, however, gets a completely unhidden giggle out of her at the girl's expense. After that however, it's all laser focus as the explanation and demonstration of the transformation device are closely observed and considered, with the occasional curious sound coming from her. When it's over and the lights back on, Hibiki puts a hand on her own chin, only for it to soon drop beneath her jacket collar and pull up the crimson pendant tucked underneath it. "So...it's sorta like the combos of tech stuff and magic I usually see you using out in the field, Staren? Except flavored to be like magical girl transformations." "And in more than one form at that, hmmmm?" Ryoko has gone back to sitting up straight, an arm resting beneath her bust while a finger taps away at her cheek. "Classical! Armored up! Even different weapons, and all sorts of attacks! Aah, the creativity of youth. Not quiiiite as expansive as my Symphogear System, but it seems it doesn't have to be. I'm seeing where you're coming from~!" That sounds like another tease. Looking to Staren, only a little more seriously, "So, to get everything in order. Your plan is to mass produce similar devices to these that /anyone/ can use, and thus, our forces will have much better baseline effectiveness against the Noise; after all, we're already on record showing that things have a magical nature aren't perfect, but still have a whole lot more effectiveness than the bullets and ballistics our non-Symphogear users have to use as is. Is that correct?"
Staren	> Except flavored to be like magical girl transformations. Staren nods. "And some space warping." A picture is projected on the wall of Staren working in the armory, with an unfinished version of the device that shows all the pieces wired up, including both 'armors', a sword, and three longarms, as well as the henshin device forms and a coppery cylinder. And in more than one form! Etc. "Well..." Staren rubs the back of her head. "This one was special. I thought I would never see alt-Mom again, so I wanted to make sure she could protect herself if she ever wound up in trouble." (There was a conversation on the video about that, too, Staren insisting to never go chasing after criminals or the like, this is for life-and-death situations.) Staren nods. "That's the idea! For a mass-produced version, just including a TK force gun should do it, right? And we could just attach it to actual sealed body armor without a transformation... although, I suppose there's something to be said for the weight reduction of using a spell, the armor's pretty expensive too... but we don't know if that'd work on the Noise. The most expensive part is the battery, even without adding the ability to recharge at a leyline without a mage's help. But certainly, you can store enough magic to last for a few minutes of combat use."
Staren	Staren adds, "That's without incorporating the artifacts recovered from some parts of Secundus, although materials I got from Autocthonia certainly play a part in making this more doable now. We might be able to make a few more powerful versions, but I haven't actually tried using weird magic items as a base and power source besides that one -- I have no idea yet if it's practical, or how hard it would be to adapt the system to them. Still, it's a possibility."
Hibiki Tachibana	"Makes sense," Hibiki intones while glancing at the image. "All that stuff has to be stored away somewhere and somehow when it's not being used, right? Seems like it's pretty complicated to do. For me, it's just like..." She holds up an arm, makes vague motions over where Gungnir's gauntlet would be, then makes a 'woosh' sound and throws it to the side to simulate it getting bigger. Ryoko nods in understanding, letting out a few 'hmm hmm hmm~' noises as some gears seem to turn in her head. "Such a devoted daughter~! But yes, that's exactly right. Much as I'd love to say we want the very best for all our brave troops, mass production doesn't work like that. Not if you want it to be feasible, at least. If you'd like me to be blunt - armor would be a waste of resources. We have yet to find any physical material will completely prevent the Noise from phasing right through them, and the only reason that even my Symphogear can stop them is from a combination of their Relic bases and their ability to tune them--you can think of them as constantly having a barrier of 'song' around them you can't even see!" "That barrier is also why I can fight in space or underwater...I think," Hibiki chimes in, in the middle of biting down on a donut. Still wearing a smile, Ryoko sits back and glances up towards the ceiling. "You might find some success with a sorcery-based barrier system of your own, but besides that...yes, just a single weapon is more than enough. In most cases, we won't need them to be able to fight off a sudden incursion all on their own, or have all that much effective combat time. Even just being able to actually keep them contained until the our hard-working girls can get there would be an amazing first step forward." She closes her eyes briefly, and when she opens them again, she looks back to Staren with a curious glint behind them. "But! Artifacts from 'Secundus', you say? You did mention resources from there, too. I'd love to hear all about it, /and/ your ideas on how you think it's possible! You already have a proof of concept right there, after all, so that seems like plenty of merit to me!" Apparently catching herself getting a bit too excited, she chuckles and reins it back. But only a little. "Aha. Sorry! As you know, the Symphogear are built around fragments of magical artifacts, so I can't help but be interested in said possibility. And unless you have so many lying around that I'd just /have/ to take some off of your hands, that doesn't have anything to do with these mass production plans, so one thing at a time!"
Staren	Devoted daughter? Staren's cheeks pink a bit. "W-well... She has the chance at a normal life, but it'd be stupidly tragic if she got in a bad situation and couldn't protect herself..." Armor doesn't work?! Staren looks shocked. "What?! But... I saw, they didn't seem able to get through inorganic material! Or is it only one of many kinds of Noise that can't?" That discovery had been key to this whole endeavor, thinking she could protect anti-Noise warriors that way. Although, testing with defensive magics might still find them viable. "...If no protection works, I guess at least having a magic gun is still something. They have to retreat from the Noise now, being able to shoot back is only a step up." Staren takes a deep breath. "The resources gained from Secundus..." (Continued)
Staren	"Well, they come in all manner of forms. From basic things like metals and fossil fuels, to more esoteric materials... to devices, and soldiers, and magic items... salvaged wrecks of war machines... frankly there hasn't been time to catalogue all of them yet. The magical materials from Autocthonia in particular -- although the Paladins ended up with control of it, I got a fair bit of resources from it in the early days of the expedition -- are ideal for use in my devices. You've seen how they incorporate bits of jade... their jade is moreso, and the magical metals make the direction of magical energy into sorcerous effects more efficient, as well as having the side benefit of an attuned wielder of magic being able to carry heavy devices like they're a fraction of the weight." She turns to the wall again as the tablet's display of her zones is put up on it, and points to the two indicated. "I ended up with uninterrupted access to two zones that are home to "dungeons" of a sort which contain unusual, even 'magical' items of all kinds: Wonder, and Dimension 73737, which I call the Land of Towers and Dungeons for short." Beat. "Well, okay, it's easier to remember and say, anyway." Staren takes a breath and turns back towards the two guests. "It's possible that that particular damaged artifact is the one my mother -- that version of her -- was going to get but never did, as that is the sort of thing that results in people ending up in Secundus according to Arthur's theories. So it's especially suitable. There might be more like it, or perhaps not -- still... Gungnir was a lance, right? And from pieces of it, you made armor and an entirely different type of weapon. So, while such items as recovered from 'dungeons' may not be as powerful, I imagine they can still be repurposed, their energy and properties used towards different ends."
Hibiki Tachibana	"Ah, I should elaborate!" Ryoko adjusts her glasses in only the way someone who's done it a thousand times before in the process of explaining something can do it. "Remember, I said 'completely'. The machines you used back then were fairly effective at keeping them at bay for a reason. Inorganic materials, from the asphault of a street to the metals used in those very same robots, are perfectly able to be phased right through--with some stipulations." "For one, doing it in order to move through solid matter slows them down considerably, and that scales upwards with how much mass and density they're trying to move through. Letting bullets pass through is simple, as is pushing right through a soldier's thin layer of body armor. Going through the wall of a building, or more on topic, a big and thickly armored battle bot that's also constantly moving and pressuring them? Not so easy." She switches up which leg is folded over the other. "And if they ever want to go on the offensive, to get an especially annoying obstacle out of their way, they have to phase back in to our world to interact with it--which puts them at risk of actually being damaged. In a way, those machines of yours made a near perfect blockade, even if not one that was overwhelmingly effective at actually /destroying/ them. If they were actually piloted, that'd be another story. The Noise would probably tread and slough right through the mess to try and get to the cockpit, and then...!" She makes a small gesture with her hand, shaking her head before sighing. "As for this Secundus business...~"
Hibiki Tachibana	After a moment of letting some excitement bleed back into her voice, the bespectacled scientist makes some thoughtful noises. "Efficiency, weight lowering..." It sounds almost like she's marking them down to memory, before glancing over to the display to look over the two marked zones. There's that glint in her eye, hanging onto every word. There's some particular shifting in her seat hearin about those 'dungeons' full of magical goodies. Hibiki, who has been taking the backseat in all of this science-oriented mumbo jumbo she can't really make heads or tails of, actually finds a reason to get a word in again--thanks to Staren bringing up Gungnir. "...That's right. The reason it isn't actually a 'lance', though...that's because of me. It ended up manifesting differently, even though that's what it should be. It was different for the last user..." She seems to think about something, before continuing. "...But that's kinda the general idea, yeah. And I know better than anyone how having affinity for something can make a huge difference." "Hibiki-chan was a bit of a special case," Ryoko adds on without elaborating, before clapping her hands together loudly. "But if you ask me, it sounds like you have a whole veritable treasure trove at your hands! Pun intended. We may or may not be able to find users who have a certain synchronization with them, the way your mother does, or the way our girls do with certain Relics...but repurposing them like that? That, I can /definitely/ do. Or, well, you can do--they're yours, after all! But I'd be more than happy to lend a hand in making the most of them. Aah, I'd love to get into one of those 'dungeons' myself and go over the properties of everything I can find..." She clears her throat. "Though, given my position, I should ask you something. Are you truly wishing to use all of those precious resources for our sake? I can't promise we can repay you in equal value for everything you're trying to do."
Staren	Battle bots: "Ah, I see. So power armor might be hard for them to deal with, although if the pilot let their guard down for even a moment, poof, toner." She emphasizes the 'poof' with a hand gesture. "Although, I suppose we could also try remotely-piloted machines. I wonder if putting a plant or something inside it would fool the Noise into phasing back in, and then the drone operator can take them out?" Staren folds her arms and holds a hand to her chin. "I'll make a few armored drones in various configurations to deploy next time and see how they fare -- including magically-armored ones, before we risk putting a real person in harm's way." She closes her eyes and takes a breath. "It's also possible that cybernetic brain augmentation could unlock a reserve of psychic power they can use to power devices without batteries... or let someone body-hop, like me, into a specially-prepared robot body... But, that's hard to do at scale." "Well... I focused on using them for efficiency. Who knows what else can be done with them? But the real deal is hard to get, I've had Concord mages making imitations to get some of the efficiency, but it's not the same." "I see. Affinity. Then Mom's results with the artifact could be completely anomalous... I guess we won't know without more experiments, though." Staren blinks. "I mean, you're welcome to go take a look? I can't clear out every dungeon, myself, so I don't much mind others taking a few... I can give you drones for backup, but you'll probably want to bring some people... Hey, you wanna take a look around LoTaD, I've been trying to get people together for a, like... celebration of the expedition, for days now. There's a convenient beach right near the warpgate." Staren blinks at the question, and rubs the back of her head, looking away awkwardly. "Ah... well, it wasn't my intent to use all things I'd recovered this way... But it seems like using some of them to help you would certainly be better than hoarding them all. I'm not even sure how much of it can be used, anyway. We need to experiment and find out. But I wanted you both, and Candy, to know about the possibility."
Hibiki Tachibana	"Essentially!" Ryoko is in agreement with Staren's thoughts on machines. "Or well, I doubt you can try and fool them with something like a plant; in what few experiments along those lines we could manage, Noise seem to be naturally drawn towards humans and only humans. They'll get rid of things posing an obstacle, but it's almost scary how hard-wired that goal seems to be." Hibiki intones again, specifically on the subject of psychic augmentation. "That does seem like it'd be a lot of trouble...to do to a whole lot of people, anyway. And if you're only doing it to a few people, I guess you'd just end up with only a few more people who can fight Noise better than normal, just like me and Tsubasa..." She perks up out of her thinking at the offer. "A convenient beach...? Oh yeah, I guess it's starting to get to be that part of the year in most places," as if she hadn't actually considered that until now. "It'd feel kind of weird coming to a celebration for something I didn't have any part of, but..." "Happily!" That answers that. "You could even bring along Miku-chan for a beach trip, hmmm~?" "N-Not if we're going there on business, and definitely not for going into dungeons!" Ryoko clicks her tongue, otherwise unphased by the shut-down to her matchmaking attempts, and instead lean forward a bit on the table to enter Staren's peripheral vision while she turns away. "You really are a good girl, aren't you?" That one is strangely hard to discern as a tease or not, despite the near-everpresent grin on her face. "If that's how it is, then you can consider at least part of my repayment being helping you figure out as much as possible about these mysterious little things, if you'd like. Working alongside you and that Candy boy sounds like an interesting experience, if nothing else, and now my curiosity has been all fired up~!" "Well, for right now at least, it sounds like at least fitting out some of our agents with some better stuff is gonna end up being possible, right?" Hibiki just has to make sure she's getting the gist of all of this, and after asking, she glances to Staren. "...It does mean a lot you're willing to do all of this, Staren. You and everyone else. Even if it's not really costing you all that much."
Staren	Fake humans need to be sophisticated, huh? Staren sighs. "Still, I wonder if there might be a way to fool them. Spoofing psychic presences or whatever it is they sense..." "It's not like you can only go to LoTaD once... I'm not policing the warpgates, nor can I practically... Come one time for a party, another time for business." > You really are a good girl, aren't you? ! "Hm?" Staren briefly stiffens and blushes at the unexpected use of those words, looking at Ryoko and then away awkwardly. And then she realizes Ryoko meant Hibiki. DUH. Her ears and tail, which had perked up, droop slightly. Working together is good though! Staren smiles, "Yeah! It'll be a pleasure working with you!" She extends a hand to shake. And she looks Hibiki in the eyes. "People need help. You understand, right? It's why you do what you do... even the Ghost of Maslow Peak, for all his problems, could understand that protecting people from the Noise was unambiguously good." She blinks and looks away, leaning back in her chair. "With how things are in the Multiverse... such simple, direct causes are a rare chance to do something good without constantly second-guessing, or worrying you're being politically manipulated or making things worse... Or fighting against a systemic issue you can't see how to stop. It's... something I'm glad to help with. Besides being the right thing to do, the simplicity and straightforwardness is kind of a relief."
Hibiki Tachibana	"Yeah, but..." Hibiki tries to think up a reason against the very simple solution of just coming multiple times. She fails, ending up rubbing at the back of her neck and looking very noticeably embarrassed. "...Oh, fine. I'm pretty sure I still got my swimsuit stashed away somewhere..." She drops into quiet murmuring. At least until Staren focuses on her in particular. Rather than answering right away, she silently holds the eye contact for several long seconds until the other girl breaks it, at which point she looks off to the side, her expression lightening up some. "...Yeah. Trust me, you're not the only one who thinks about it like that. No reason to hold back, no point trying to reason with them, and easy to solve just by destroying them...well, easy to solve for that moment anyway," she admits. "As much as I hate them, it's not complicated at all. It's...I'm not gonna say nice. But a lot simpler to deal with. If only everything was like that." She sounds like she's about to get a little heavy, but brushes it off after taking a deep breath and slowly letting it out. "Good grief, you two are just bundles of joy, aren't you? I think the both of you worry too much! Put those smiles back on, you're young!" Ryoko breaks any remaining tension by firmly taking Staren's hand for that offered shake. She really does not look /that/ old, maybe late twenties or a little more, which puts in some question to her talking to the both of them like they're kids compared to her. "And with this, there's plenty to smile about on both sides. On behalf of SONG /and/ myself, I'm looking forward to it~! You and everyone else worked so hard to help us out back then, and even now - so I'm more than happy to give a little back! Well, not that I'm not getting anything out of it myself~!" With how giddy she seems to be at future prospects, there's no surprise there. Hibiki has to stifle a groan, but she gives off the impression she's not actually as put off as she's trying to look. This is...good. Nice, even.
Staren	Staren tilts her head at Ryoko. "I'm thirty." And then hangs her head. "Although, at the same time, I may be the most immature elite operating in Sector Zero." She sighs. She does smile at Ryoko's earnest enthusiasm to take part in working together though! "I'm glad. Um, I'm happy to show you around the armory while you're here..."
Hibiki Tachibana	"Doesn't change a thing about what I said. Young!" There is not a hint of shame in what she says, though as the handshake breaks, she does give Staren a singular pat on the head followed by a ruffling of hair. There is also no concept of personal space, apparently. And there's that glint in her eye again. Curiosity, and a few other things included. "Weeeeeeelllllll, we did come all this way, it'd be a shame to go home without seeing everything there is to see..." She looks back at Hibiki. Who, like /she's/ the adult being asked for permission, gives a heavy sigh before tugging the box of donuts closer. Nope, she's not talking her out of that one even if she tried. "You guys have fun. I'll be good here."