open //

[cambium]

Who: Keigo, et al.
What: gestures broadly
When: end of may
Where: gestures broadly again
Warnings: none yet

[ Keigo opens their eyes to find themselves standing in the mirror room, staring at their own tired reflection a large mirror — with a pounding headache and the last vestiges of vertigo before the world rights itself again. Thinking back, the last thing they remember is being warm and comfortable under the covers on a cool winter night, the taste of hot chocolate still on their lips, the sound of a movie still playing in the background growing more distant and the lights dimming as their consciousness fades. Their joints are stiff and their mouth dry, their wrist sore from the extra tally mark now etched into it.


...


They spend a long time in that mirror room, sinking down onto the floor at rubbing at their wrist as they stare at the mirrors around them, gaze lingering on dense forest and wooden floorboards, flicking this way and that around halls of the school as if trying to find something— someone. It still feels like winter with how cold it is despite long sleeves and pants, breath fogging the glass even with them sitting an arm's length away, red ribbon loosened then removed from around their neck to replace the empty space around their left ankle.

Muddled memories aside, they're certain they've never been down here before, neither the mirror room nor any of these other rooms in the basement once they finally tear themselves away from the mirrors, letting out a terrified scream when something grabs at them when they try to leave and possibly shattering a mirror or four in the process of getting away, but if they don't turn around and look to confirm then it didn't happen and they don't get bad luck, they decided this rule just now.

Not even going to look inside the bloody summoning room, why is there a summoning room.

The hidden entrances and exits are still hidden to them, but hallways only have two ends: one looks like a shaft they're certain they don't have the upper body strength to climb up more than several meters without handholds, and the other leads out to the forest where they're going to walk out into and get hopelessly lost and eventually make their way back to campus maybe if they're lucky.

Then they'll be around wherever and whenever convenient. ]

Comments

[sisters]

It's not that kind of compass.

( he says, as if that's not kind of the point of all compasses, but he keeps the polite distance and tries to keep the amusement off his face as keigo looks so immediately unsatisfied with it. )

It points to people you care about. I'm not a suspicious guy, really, but if you don't believe me... maybe we can find someone you trust a little more.

[cambium]

[ Still unconvinced... it sounds to them like a fortune telling thing, or like a mood ring— they've read about that once before, how thermochromic crystals are capable of changing color depending on temperature, and it wouldn't be too far a stretch to imagine the same property used to affect the direction of a needle.

Like... maybe the blunt end points towards the heat source, aka the person holding it, and then if somebody is standing across from you and they turn the compass around in their hand, moving to Amami's side and watching the needle point... hmm... moving stand in front of Amami and turning around so their back is against his chest and squinting down at the compass silent all the while, like "do NOT tell me how this works, I'm going to figure it out myself" ]

[sisters]

( oh, that's cute. they really are the curious type, huh? it's one thing to read and hear about something like that, but another entirely to watch as they try to puzzle out the compass. he can't say he blames them for the doubt, but... if their back is to his chest, and if he's close enough... can he peek to see if he can get a glance at the direction? it should just be pointing to the school, if anything, but maybe it is broken? )

... It's how I found you out here.

( maybe that'll help clear it up for them. )

[cambium]

Shh! No hints!

[ They're figuring! it out! themselves!!

It's just hard, because their temperature hypothesis isn't holding water, the needle still pointing towards them even though they move the compass around, left right up and down, but then away again when they pull away from Amami and turn towards him, giving the side of the compass a tap with a finger because maybe it's stuck? but it's not stuck, it has to be something else.

What's the difference between themselves and Amami? He's taller, so... no, it can't have anything to do with temperature or mass or electrical signal or anything like that, because they saw it—-

and they can confirm by taking one of Amami's hand and positioning it palm face up so they can place the compass back on his hand and watch the needle swing back towards him, doesn't make sense when Amami would still have the higher/larger temperature/mass/electrical signal/whatever is making this work

They've overthinking this. It points at "the other person" as far as they can tell, so what they need is a third variable. ]

...You're right, we need another test subject.

[sisters]

( there's a bit of a laugh at that, but oh... oh no... there's something soft and warm in his chest at that, even if he's still a little sad, but it's hard to stay down when they're so determined. nodding his head off in one of the directions the compass isn't pointing, he offers a smile instead. )

The school's over that way. Want to test it out with some of the others? Komaeda-kun or Ranger-kun would be easy ones.

( because the compass would point to the other if they had one of those two hold it — an easy proof for amami's claim. )

[cambium]

[ Hmm... Yeah, those two would be easy ones, though it isn't until Amami mentions the names that they recall Komaeda being freakishly cold and Ranger being freakishly warm. Both good controls for the temperature hypothesis.

Going back to school, though, effectively snaps them back to the reality of their situation, and reality comes with a healthy dose of apprehension that's difficult to swallow.

... ]

Where do you think they'll be?

[sisters]

Ranger-kun seems to spend a lot of time in the workshop, so we could check there.

( if not, then there's always the possibility that they could use someone else who's around there instead. nanami is nice enough, and he doesn't mind her company by any means. and either way, the point is that amami would feel a lot safer with them being in the school rather than outside of it. )

[cambium]

Okay.

[ ...

They stand there and stare at Amami, clearly waiting for him to take the lead since they're the one who was wandering around lost in the middle of the woods, compass reclaimed and held loose in their hand.

... ]

Can I hold your hand? So I don't get lost.

[ Because no they're not going to watch where they're going, they're going to be staring down at this compass the entire time so they can keep working on it, it's probably something electromagnetic and they just have to think harder about it, maybe there's some tools in the workshop that'll help them solve this as well. ]

[sisters]

Of course.

( with a bit of renewed confidence to his voice no less — or maybe it would be better called hopefulness. he'd be a pretty poor excuse for an older brother figure if he refused such a simple request after all, so he holds out his hand for keigo to take, and when they do, he'll start them down the path towards the school. that said, keigo may have told him not to spoil the surprise, but... he kind of already did, so he may as well see it through on the convincing them end. )

So what are your theories for the compass then? It doesn't look like you believe me on it.

( even though he'd like to hear a better explanation for how he figured out exactly where in the woods to look for them. )

[cambium]

[ They don't, because the only explanation Amami has is ~*~*magic*~*~ and that's a copout when there has to be an answer rooted in math and science, there has to be because the world has to be based off fact and reason, it has to be because otherwise— otherwise...

They take a deep breath, let their hand swing with Amami's, and launch into their thought dump: ]

At first I was thinking it has something to do with thermal radiation, 'cause if it points to a person, that's one of the distinguishing characteristics that sets a person apart from their environment. Electromagnetic radiation is also a possibility, although the switch between person to person still presents a problem. There are other sorts of compasses out there, like one that uses a gyroscope, or uses the alignment of the stars, or even velocity and acceleration— maybe it's a combination of automatic heading finding methods, or it could be manual, if, for example, you had an external device which could change the needle direction remotely to point wherever you want. But that would be cheating.

[ Because that's not science, so Amami's not allowed to use that method. ]

Am I on the right track?

[sisters]

Guess there's only one way to find out, isn't there?

( they'll need to keep testing it. it's the only way to prove to them that it's magic, after all — which, yeah, that really is the best amami can offer. but hey, what's wrong with magic as an answer? it's kind of nice, he thinks, to have a little wonder in things, rather than "revealing the trick" so to speak. )

I can promise you I'm not cheating though — I don't think I could've cheated my way out here to you.

( not if he tried, so he'll just to take that off the table right now. )

[cambium]

[ Hhhhhh—- okay, okay, no, no, they're not allowed to get mad when they were the one who said no hints in the first place. ]

I bet I could...

[ Cheat their way out to him. Find him anywhere, with or without a compass. ]

Where'd you get the compass? It wasn't at the student store, was it?

[sisters]

( oh? could they? amami grins at that, expression brightening from where it was before even despite the way their words trail off. oh, but he's being asked a question to go along with it, huh? he'll have to shake his head at that one. )

Nope. Well, I'm pretty sure I didn't — if they had those in stock, they'd be best-sellers, don't you think? Couldn't tell you where I actually got it from though.

( rip his memory. )

[cambium]

[ Amami: I can't tell you bc I don't remem—-
Keigo: what do you MEAN you refuse to tell me ]

Depends on the salesperson's ability to sell, more than the product itself. [ Like, they were able to sell plain normal boring rocks like what you'd find at the side of the road? they were awesome. it's such a stupid thing, which makes it more and more convincing like that was all just a dream. ]

I'll stop by later, I guess... Where's the workshop?

[ Upstairs? most of their dreams took place in like... the same two or three rooms. ]

1/2

[sisters]

Guess that's true enough. And it's over this way, I'm pretty sure.

( he doesn't exactly spend a ton of time there himself, but he's dropped by to visit ranger here and there, curious about whatever the other's been working on lately. it's not hard for him to figure out which floor they're supposed to be on, and before long he's rapping his knuckles lightly against the door.

knock knock, he's going to lean in to get a look around. )

Ranger-kun, you around?

2/2 the way i thought i responded to this

[rearranger]

Yeppers. What's up?

[ He twists his torso, resting his arm on the back as he looks over his shoulder to see the pair... Ah, there's a face he hasn't seem in awhile. He opts not comment on it, finding that if they haven't had their fill of shock and amazement at their reappearance, they will soon. ]