Scene Listing || Scene Schedule || Scene Schedule RSS
Owner Pose
Guest Psyber     The weather in Boston is actually pretty crummy today. Light snowfalls, chilly winds off the water, and low temperatures all around. Psyber looks fairly chilled as he heads into the lobby of the office and speaks into the cuff of his coat. He's carrying what looks like a large box, "I have 11 burritos for Elsa, an order of extra spicy nachos for Duet, and a chorizo burrito for myself. Everyone come down and get your food!" He calls, making sure it hits the generally in-building comms so people living here can know to come get food in the lobby.

    The half-angel drops the box down on the front desk and plops into the seat behind said desk, unwrapping a foil burrito and putting what looks like a plastic cup of lemonade(???) with a straw in it in front of himself before beginning to chow down.
Elsa Maria     A shadow slinks into the room, crawling up along the wall, with tiny fingers reaching out... to wrap around Psyber's neck. At least, watching the shadows would see a young girl attempting to choke the life out of the half angel with sadistic glee.

    Elsa flounces in with a skip to her step, and goes right for the burritos. "Thank you, Psyber!" She immediately gives a bow, then sits down and unwraps the first with the eager hunger that she has been demonstrating.
Ellestaria     Ellestaria doesn't live in the tower, she lives in another world. She can still reach it pretty quickly if need be, though. She hasn't been here in a LONG while though, so the Atlantean walking in, wearing a heavy coat for the cold, is looking around more curiously than might be expected. Her eyes settle first on Psyber, giving him a nod... and then stare at the shadow play acting completely different from how Elsa is acting.

    Well. "You're looking well, Elsa Maria," she says. "Hello, Psyber. Been a while. I hope you don't mind if we make this a working dinner? Now that she's stable, I can hopefully take a look at Elsa."
Guest Psyber     Psyber munches on the burrito looking pretty relaxed. He takes a sip from his drink and sets it down again. The half-angel then follows Ellestaria's gaze to the shadow puppets on the floor and tilts his head, "Elsa, your shadow appears to be strangling mine. You should probably talk to a therapist about that."

    And then he looks over at Ellestaria again, "A working dinner is fine. If Ainsley manages to make it over tonight, I think she was on her way, we can crack out a few exams and experiments at once. I was gonna try one of my own after Elsa had a good meal in her."
Elsa Maria     Elsa takes one look at her shadow, and then scoots her chair some distance to the side. The shadow makes grabby motions at Psyber's shadow, can't reach, and then curls up to sulk a little that it can't try to murder anyone. Elsa mumbles after swallowing her mouthful, "I'm sorry, it keeps doing things like that."

    Ellestaria comes in, and Elsa waves politely. "Hello again. I don't mind. I have as many questions as you do. Maybe even more."
Ainsley     Someone in a long black coat and what looks like a police uniform comes in, her hood pulled up over her head. This diminutive creature pulls her hood down and grimaces at the cold feeling of her face... Ainsley is a reptile, and even the warming coat that Heinkel gave her only does the bare minimum to keep her from collapsing in the street. She adjusts her white gloves as she steps up to the front desk where people are gathering.

    Ainsley says, her voice showing her reptilian lethargy from the cold, "Aaalright... Let's get started. As soon as I warm up..." She rubs at her own arms, even though it doesn't do much for her. The most she can do is wait for her stylish and functional winter coat to bring her back up to happy levels of warmth eventually.

    She closes her eyes and rubs at her face, too, a great big frown on her lizardy muzzle. She hasn't even openly acknowledged anyone beyond a glance because of how distracting winter is to her.
Ellestaria     "Not to worry, this shouldn't take long," Ellestaria reassures. Ainsley arriving just makes things simpler, and Ellestaria pulls up a chair to, for the moment, just watch Elsa eat. Why not? It gave her a chance to prepare her spells for analysis.

    "Evening, Ainsley," she says casually.
Guest Psyber     Luckily for Ainsley, Psyber is something of a savior in this aspect. Rather than waiting for her coat to warm her up again, Psyber heads across the room to grab a large paper cup and pour her some hot chocolate into it. He figures it to be a safer bet for her tastes than the other pot on the boiler, which is black coffee. He walks over towards her and offers the cup, "Here. Sorry about the weather. Northeast winters are a bitch. This oughta help."

    And then the half-angel is careful to sit back down in his chair and remain outside the reach of Elsa's rather antagonistic shadow, "So. I want to try an experiment, you two wanna check out what's going on. I think we can knock out some work tonight while we all eat. Should be pretty quick."
Elsa Maria     "Psyber wants me to eat him," Elsa says seriously. That's the theory! She nomfs another burrito before swallowing, and setting it down to give some room. "Um, I mean. What makes you think that I feed on negative emotions anyway? Why not happy ones? Or something else?" Hey that's a good question! Why negative? Someone should explain about Witches soon.
Ainsley     "Unless you're some sort of weather-aligned half-angel, it's fine, I expected it to be cold," Ainsley replies, murmuring a soft 'Thank you' as she receives the hot chocolate. She seems quite pleased with the choice and the kind words, her face going from frowny to bright and cheerful in an instant. "Yes," she confirms to Psyber when he suggests they get started. She smiles over in Ellestaria's direction, finally.

    Ainsley sips at the hot cocoa while Elsa eats, eyes closed... When her eyes open again, they are glowing. Small magical circles can be seen rotating gently on her irises, circling her slitted pupils. It's a very blatantly magical ability. She turns her sight toward Elsa and begins scanning to see if this hunger for negative emotion can be picked out. It has some overlap with what she can see, or at least that's the hypothesis. As she searches the magical, conceptual space that is 'Elsa Maria,' the magical circles spin like a camera lens focusing and unfocusing. She has to pick out the important bits among the basic concepts like native or body language, which can cause background noise. Her off-hand moves as if making little magical hand gestures to help adjust her focus, which is supported by the gentle blue glow that emits from her fingertips.

    "I will likely notice immediately if this causes discomfort but don't be afraid to mention if you get uncomfortable anyways," she tells Elsa in a voice fit for a kind doctor.

    As for negative emotions, she explains, "You may consume negative emotion because you could have the appetite of a Witch, an entity that exhibits similar abilities to you but to a much larger scale, but tends to lack the human... sanity you are displaying. You are far nicer than any Witch I have seen or heard of, despite how rude your shadow appears to be," with a calm and clinical kind of voice. "A Witch feeds solely on negativity, but you... may be different. Maybe your current state is something unique to you, like a rare genetic trait. We're here to understand what makes you different."
Ellestaria     Ellestaria is prodding mystically at a different angle, trying to be passive about it and examine if Elsa's soul is properly seated. Or something. It's a more gentle touch than most of what she does, but since she IS a biomancer, she also tries to figure out if anything is wrong biologically. "Mn..."

    There's more to it. "Well... to be specific, a Witch feeds on /creating/ those negative emotions, in a way. It's possible you feed on positive ones. We just don't know yet."
Guest Psyber     "In my case, it's a theory based off of basic deductive reasoning. Every single abberant incident in Homura's world has either been tied to the exploitation, consumption, or harvesting of negative emotions in some fashion," Psyber pauses, "Therefore, if there's something we can't accurately attribute, negative emotions are a logical starting point. That said, if you were going to be able to feed off negativity, guilt, or negative emotions, I would be a prime candidate."

    He says this last part flatly and without much connection or investment to the statement. It's more of an assessment than it is a statement that is meant to evoke emotion from other people. Following it, he casually drops down in his chair and munches on his burrito while he lets Lest and Ainsley run their scans.
Elsa Maria     Elsa fidgets some under all the examination. A 'tug' tries to keep her shadow under control, but now it is chewing on Ainsley. It doesn't appear to actually cause any harm, or do any draining at all, but it is definitely aggressive.

    "I don't really want to hurt anyone," she says quietly. "I want... to see if I can help people. To make up for... ah... well I know I was a monster. Or hurting people."
Ainsley     Ainsley makes a few musing noises as she pinpoints something. Her swiveling magical circle 'glasses' seem to dilate, and she holds it like that for a few seconds. Her eyes don't really seem to focus on Elsa so much as her general direction, giving the distinct impression that this experience lacks precise physical anchoring. It /is/ magic, after all. She concludes her examination promptly, the magic dissipating with a soft blue shimmer. She sips at her cocoa again after this before she dares to make her observations.

    "You may very well get to do that," she says, happily, "It appears that..." she looks down, and speaks with a slower tone at the sight of the shadow trying to eat her, distracted by its harmless hostility, "That your abilities," she points at the shadow, "They rely on a pool of emotion, the same way a body would need calories in order to function, but you don't seem to need them to survive since there seems to be a minimum it can end up at when the emotion dries up. Though there may be something to that I can't see, I haven't observed a lot of emotion-powered abilities of this variety. I could see when you were trying to command your shadow, it used a certain amount of power to work. So in order to use these abilities, you will need to feed on emotion."

    "All that aside... you appear to be yourself, just with Witch powers," she says, eyes focusing with a morbid fascination on the shadow. Ssssip. She doesn't seem worried. "Such a curious ability."
Ellestaria     "Mnnn..." Ellestaria frowns. She's also being very blunt. "The good news is you are indeed, as Ainsley says, your own person. You do not have the... animation that a soul gem does. However, though you are somewhat living, you are also not exactly human any more."

    She hesitates, watching the shadow. "I'm guessing that food keeps your material body intact, but you're more like... possessing your body? It's very strange. I suppose that it's something of a side effect. You're you, though, so I guess in the end that's all that matters. Free will is a pleasure to see in a new being."
Guest Psyber     "So." Psyber sets his burrito down and dusts his hands off, "Some interesting findings there. Definitely not what I expected to be hearing. She's not a Witch, but she has a lot of Witch-like principles and attributes. Lacking a better term, I guess we could call this Witch-derivative entity a Stregonerian by name." Psyber takes a research journal out of his desk and starts taking some notes on the matter, writing in it with a fountain pen.

    "Okay, so. Elsa. Now that we've fed the body, I want you to try to lack onto some of the negativity that I have. I won't give you hints on what to look for, you should be able to instinctually find it. Try to close your eyes and transfer some of it from me to you, like you were feeding." He looks at her flatly.
Elsa Maria     Staring blankly at Psyber, Elsa rubs her head to think. "I.... um... thank you? I think?" The latter to Ellestaria and Ainsley. "I'm glad to know I'm me? I'm a little confused now. But that explains why I keep getting hungried. I fought a battle the other day... helped some people escape. It must have made me hungrier." She looks at the burrito, and back at Psyber. "I don't even know what I'm looking for."

    Well. She'll try. The girl rises up and reaches out to... poke Psyber. The energy transfer is easy to see, a good chunk sliding from Psyber into Elsa. She steps back immediately and bows. "I'm VERY sorry for troubling you. I apologize. I'll do whatever I can to make up for being this troublesome."
Ainsley     Ainsley activates her Sight again to scan for the emotional transfer, and seems satisfied with what she sees. She looks at Psyber afterwards, her Sight deactivating, to see if she can observe any difference the half-angel would be comfortable showing or explaining. Her eyes are wide and inquisitive.
Guest Psyber     Psyber half-lids his eyes when Elsa immediately begins bowing and apologizing, "You're not troublesome." He tells her candidly, taking another large bite of his burrito. He waves her off a couple times with his hand, "In fact, I feel..." He seems to think about it.

    "I can't say better. That's not the right word." Psyber muses the correct word to use and then looks between the other two, "It's like a shot of novocaine. Or... a painkiller. I can tell it's still there, but it's more numb right now. Less painful for the moment."
Ellestaria     "I think she may be feeling a little of what she took," Ellestaria murmurs. "She wasn't that apologetic before, just... polite. Let her relax and see if it fades." She sighs, glancing at AInsley. "I suppose we know what she needs to eat now, though. It could be far worse. Maybe we can teach her how to cleanse gems..."