Scene #3530: Coffee Chat

Owner	Pose
Kyra Hyral	With respective schoolworkloads to be handled by the pair of students, it isn't unusual for one or both to experience delays. The offer of coffee, though accepted by Kyra Hyral, is not acted upon until hours later. Kyra is even a little late for it, though only by five minutes, and is quick to apologize profusely when she shows up and meets Scarlet. Minutes pass as she retrieves her own coffee to later drink alongside her magus friend. Kyra currently does not wear her school uniform, having changed into a set of dyed red jeans since leaving Galianda. The top remains the same-mostly, as she wears a slightly different Moogle hoodie that was tailored by Tomoyo a while ago. Instead of the diabolos patch on the back (or former patch-Kyra had that removed after encountering the REAL Diabolos in Ezroa), there is a caduceus embroidered in gold thread. She seems, understandably, a little sad today and is definitely not her usual cheerful and curious self.
Scarlet Everille	In the interests of the gesture, Scarlet has settled on a more 'neutral' location in Urbania rather than one of her favourite places on her home turf, but there's no mistaking that the spot Kyra joins her at is distinctly upscale. Not ludicrously expensive, but the kind of place where someone could easily expect to get some quiet and privacy with attentive staff and a nice atmosphere rather than a bustling Starbucks equivalent first thing in the morning. It's late enough that she's had plenty of time to change out of her own uniform as well, though she's still wearing long sleeves and stockings after the weather has changed from those lovely summer months, all in dark, flattering colours with a couple of silver pins here and there. She waves the white mage over as she enters, looking up from a familiar, hefty textbook, which she's already an alarming way through, assuming she hasn't skipped any pages. For some reason, sitting down across from her almost immediately feels relaxing somehow, like coming out of the cold and into a toasty warm storefront, though it might just be the corner shop ambiance; who knows. Scarlet herself doesn't seem terribly hurried, or even remotely impatient, waiting a minute in empathetic silence as Kyra settles in before saying anything. "Are you absolutely sure you're okay with being here? I don't want to think I pressured you into it if you really aren't well."
Kyra Hyral	Were Kyra feeling more self conscious in the particular dimension of fashion today, she'd think herself underdressed for this place. As it stood right now, she really doesn't care if her attire fits in or not. With more energy on her, she'd /definitely/ not care, proud of her clothing in its unique stylings. It's merely one more way for her to show off her rebellious soul. She sets her coffee on the table and leans forward, pushing her hood off her head. It's in part politeness, part respect for Scarlet, and mostly so she can rub her fingers through her red hair. As she does, she feels more relaxed, green eyes flicking up to peer at the magus. "Oh no. I am absolutely okay with being out and about. I'm just kind of...bleh over how badly the mission went. In particular the Grigori lady that was taken. I hope she's alright." She waves a hand, "Besides, we haven't seen each other in a while so we're way overdue for a visit."
Scarlet Everille	Seeing Kyra pull the hood back to at least make eye contact brings a small smile of relief to Scarlet's lips, easing some of the worry plainly visible in express despite its subtle composure. "I haven't been able to see much of anyone recently, I'm afraid. Christmas at home is when I start taking on the family magic, and next year is when I have my MFM. It's a pain trying to keep up with people I'm only just getting to know with all of this going on, but at least it means I'll finally have some more time." She doesn't actually seem to bookmark the page, simply glancing at the number, and supremely confident that she will remember it, closes the textbook. "We all have our bad days when things don't turn out quite how we'd have liked them to. It's healthy to feel some disappointment over it, but try not to beat yourself up, alright?" She's already started on her own coffee, and continues through it to give Kyra a moment of clear quiet; some kind of full-bodied dark roast with some bittersweet extra. "Do you want to talk about it? I don't think I've found a report yet. I know Psyber says that Nathan Hall has it handled now, but you'll have to excuse me for being still just a little bit wary. I start to worry when these things involve someone smart enough to call a bluff that doesn't work against them."
Kyra Hyral	"I'm not that surprised, Scarlet, given what I know of the demands of your school. Especially this time of year...do you have exams? Before the holidays start? I hear that's pretty common!" She reaches forward and takes a sip of her coffee, her eyes wandering down to the textbook. Before it's closed, she tries to get a snatch of what the contents are, ever curious even on her off days such as these. "I'm trying. It's...difficult." Kyra looks up, meeting the eyes of her friend, "I can't stop reviewing the last night, noting all the places I went wrong. What I could have done differently." Her eyes drop down to the coffee, "Unhealthy, I know." That at least answers that: she's definitely willing to talk. "Smart enough...I wish I had known that Adelyn would have not let that offer slide past. As I said earlier, I didn't think she'd take me seriously. It's...when I make suggestions, Scarlet, people usually don't?"
Scarlet Everille	"Well, nobody ever got anywhere without working hard, right? We don't have to fight actual monsters every week, so we make up for it in other ways~" Scarlet replies to Kyra on the subject, teasing just a little bit. "Exams, final assignments, practical exercises. One of them was a group exam, since we're going to be getting into multiple-magus circle work next year, and it took a lot of time to sort out with who I was assigned." Her lips momentarily reflect some kind of imagined, unpleasant taste. "It all worked out though. Grades are still satisfactory. No cuts to my spare time and my parents can't complain about me spending it with the Union if everything else is in order. As long as it doesn't hurt my grades, finances, or the family reputation, they don't really care what I do." Eventually she has to transition out of the relaxing smalltalk though, or else risk letting Kyra feel ignored. "Unhealthy, maybe, but not exactly unexpected. Everyone does it. Even if it's only those arguments we replay in our heads in the shower, where we come up with the perfect comeback an hour too late. In this case though, I don't think there really is anything you could have realistically done. It's easy to examine everything in hindsight, and hard to do it with the same mindset and only the knowledge you had at the time. She knew a lot about you because you're a big face in the Union, you knew nothing about her because she's only come out of stasis recently, you're someone who's gotten where they are with integrity and guts, she's someone who's gotten where she is with manipulation and opportunism. It wasn't a great situation to be put in and expected to play social mindgames, for anyone under the same circumstances."
Kyra Hyral	"...heheh.." Kyra giggles just a little, "I think a group exam counts as a monster. In that one you actually have to work with other people, I assume, and based on what I've seen with your world, that can be rather difficult to pull off between magi from other families, can't it?" By the sound of it, Scarlet might have had just that sort of trouble during her exam. "But that's good to hear. I'd hate to see you pulled from working with the Union. Parents can be..." She hesitates, "...tricky to deal with." She looks down again, staring into her coffee. "You're...right. I don't think there was anything we could have done with the way things went. Short of summoning Nero, no. Nobody anticipated the bunker being broken into like that. We were counting on having more warning." Still, the thought makes her look a little miserable, though that clears up a little as Scarlet continues. In fact it clears up a lot. She smiles. "Oh, so I'm Multiverse Famous now because of the Union stuff? I actually didn't know that. I mean, internet famous, sure, but that's a carefully curated rep. A...yeah. I didn't see it coming and frankly I didn't know very much about her. I didn't even know she was in charge of that Tower nation of mages until she snarked at me about it yesterday. I was...outmanuvered."
Scarlet Everille	"There's less of a chance of someone being killed at least, or so I'd think." Scarlet says airily, taking another go at her coffee. "Other Families aren't really the issue. The students from the other three founding lines are all in different years from me, and a group final is the last place you want to be getting into sabotage. It's actually the opposite. I wound up with the one girl with no history whatsoever." The way she says it implies that there is some dissatisfaction with this person that is entirely different from simple snobbishness, curtailed by a helpless shrug. "I wouldn't really know, I'm afraid. I don't see mine all that much. I know what they expect, why they do, and why they're right to do it, so I give it to them; then whatever I do reflects on their ability to make good decisions and so they can assume I know what I'm doing if they have any faith in themselves. There's not a lot of time for really divisive opinions or beliefs, never mind poor choices of friends or hobbies." Seeing Kyra smile brings one of her own to Scarlet's face "Are you kidding? Almost everyone in the Union, and everyone with any real activity in the Confederacy, knows you, or at least knows of you, and all of those on our side love you. Few of them even know your internet handle, never mind that side of your reputation. Don't underestimate how likable you are~" She does get a little more serious at the end however. "I wouldn't say outmaneuvered. That would imply a strategy on someone's part. Adelyn got you because whatever she could have possibly done would have been a surprise, and I sincerely doubt she was waiting in the dark for a year just to get at you specifically over just that. A lack of intelligence, and I mean information, not your brains, is what leads to this kind of thing, and unfortunately isn't always avoidable, even if it is the most crucial thing to pay attention to. I do more research than you'd believe and even then I'm still usually only 80% right when I springboard off of it here."
Kyra Hyral	"You mean as in magi from new lines? Though your magical lineage is interesting. I'd like to look at any magi geneology books your world might have. Or even better, population genetics. I assume, given how advanced your world is, studies along those lines have already been done." There is a pause and she nods, unsure what to make of Scarlet's issue with someone wiht no history is, especially since Scarlet never struck her as THAT snobby over bloodlines. Kyra sits up a little straighter at the compliments. "Well I guess I /am/ Multiverse famous then! Ehehehe~" She puts a hand to her mouth as she giggle-cackles, a sound that is a mix between schoolgirl and mad scientist. Scarlet can easily see the blush all of this puts on her cheeks thanks to Kyra's extremely pale skin. But onto more serious matters: "I agree. I think I must've bumbled into being a target of opportunity?" Kyra ventures, finishing her coffee after her thought. She doesn't get up again, remaining at the table with Scarlet. "I doubt it was really personal either, at that. It rarely is on field operations, come to think of it. But...you said earlier you had some experience negotiating with tricky people?"
Scarlet Everille	"My Family is one of the four that originally built Heliosanctus way back when, due to the lacking standards of magical education at the time. You saw that gaudy statue in the lobby, right?" She seems to have just about finished off her drink by now, cradling the leftovers so that the mug warms her hand. "You'd be right though. They've already figured out that there isn't an actual gene for it, but everyone wants to know why magus parents usually have magus children, and why sometimes a child with completely average parents develops magic out of nowhere. Every magus wants their son or daughter to be even better than them, and more than a small minority of average families want some magical blood in them to elevate their position, or to give their next generation a higher shot." She continues by slipping into the kind of tone that indicates something heavily memorized. "Our understanding of it isn't complete yet, but it's fairly workable. The United Kingdom is a well developed population in terms of magical advancement, education and population, so we have over 750,000 magic-capable individuals in the country. As a general rule, a young mage's ability develops extremely rapidly under basic instruction and practice until it plateus after 1-2 years, which is generally used as an indication of the potential they were born with, and an indicator of the maximum ability they can be expected to achieve. A serious professional will want to have moved up a rank after 5-7 years of education, and a second rank by 10-15, but it's exceptionally rare anyone manages to go up a third time, and it's essentially impossible to increase in ability only learning from a tutor of equal or lesser standing, so rank 7 is the practical cap in that sense, since nobody is ever born over 5." "Out of all mages currently legally living in the UK, 120,000 started at rank 1, 420,000 were at rank 2, 200,000 were rank 3, 9,500 were rank 4, and 500 were rank 5. Over 90% of ranks 1-3 and effectively all of 4-5 increase at least once, though most won't see a second gain outside of private or government sponsored education. That means among the working, adult population, a total rank of 4 is considered respectable, and 5 expert, with 3 being mediocre and 6 being sufficient to get you into any career you could possibly want. Slightly less than a third of 1-2 are spontaneous bloodlines, and a third have only been going for a few generations. As you go higher, it becomes exponentially less probable for a child to exceed their parents, until the chance of average parents suddenly having a daughter who passes their rank 5 test before finishing highschool is something like 1/150,000,000." She then abruptly cuts off the textbook lecture with a frown. "And I have to put up with her. Someone with no expectations, nothing to uphold and nothing riding on her. You can understand how that might affect someone's work ethic and attitude, right?" It seems she might be deliberately trying to edge Kyra away from stressing over what to categorize her perceived failure with how she's steering the conversation now. "Mother's in the House of Lords, father owns two umbrella companies, and I go to school with more than a few entitled and well connected sociopaths. It comes with the territory. I've done a few negotiation jobs for the Union already. I'm actually usually relieved at how straightforward the circumstances are, even if they do have higher stakes."
Kyra Hyral	"I do remember that statue! I have a few pictures of it." They're up on her blog in the Heliosanctus visit entry. Fortunately, they're just pictures. Kyra did not record the lecture that Psyber delivered-not personally, since she's sure some of the other students did. "That sort of mechanism would suggest it is hereditary...but to not actually show up in the genome? Hmm." She seems to be struggling with the mere thought of that for some reason. At this point, Kyra actually pulls a tablet from within her hoodie (turns out she has a special big pocket inside just for tablets), and makes a few notes about what Scarlet is telling her regarding the development of magi in her world. What is a very solid lecture on the population distribution of magic ranks through the UK also turns out to be an explanation on her animosity towards her group exam partner. "Oh, I see. She's at school without the kind of pressure you have so she doesn't work as hard. And why should she, with a bar so low. Man, still, to suddenly get magic and screw around with developing it? That's kind of a waste." Not unaware to the conversation being steered, Kyra's okay with this change, curious about the background that Scarlet's imparting on her. "'Well-connected sociopaths' sounds a little dangerous too." she titters. "It sounds like you need to have a lot of political savvy to get by in magi society, then? Lots of public face-saving and stuff like that?"
Scarlet Everille	"The statue was put up there ages ago as... well it's a little bit of a vanity item honestly. The four Families that came together only even came together in the first place because they were the four holders of the 66 in the country, and so pretty sure they were better than everyone else. It's supposed to be sort of a symbol of "you could have this too", and to be fair, the best mages in the country do mostly all come out of Heliosanctus. It's also why my tuition is practically free, and all of what you'd expect that comes out of it." She smiles as Kyra breaks out the tablet, quite visibly in approval at that. "I'm sure you'd do wonderfully you know. I mean, you have some issues with authority, sure, but not many people would actually start writing all that down. I only memorized it because I had to, back in first year." Her attitude shifts sideways again as the guest student is brought up again. "Alright, in all fairness, it's not as if she's lazy. She seems to at least realize the opportunity she'd be wasting if she did nothing. It's just the refusal to do anything the way she's meant to until she's tried absolutely everything else, and the lack of respect she has for the way things working the way they do because generations of people have figured out that it works. A lack of respect in general, even. She'll probably never see any of these people ever again and she's not headed anywhere that an instructor's recommendation will be necessary, so why should she try and forge a relationship? She just doesn't socialize well and she doesn't do what anyone asks, so she's a pain to work with. You'd be sick of her too at Alexander, I'm sure." She then waves vaguely dismissively. "It's something you learn like anything else. Most people don't have nearly as much social competition and so they don't pick up as much. Darwinian environments and all. It doesn't help that a lot of them /do/ become politicians. 1400 seats in parliament are high rank mages."
Kyra Hyral	"Er, I'm sorry, what are the 66 again? I swear I've heard it mentioned before while in your world." Heck, it might be somewhere in the notefile she's adding to about the magi distribution and hereditary patterns. "Oh, well-" she gets a little flustered now, "Heck, given how exclusive it is, it'd be an honor if I was admitted! But your workload does sound crazy...plus this linage of mages and spontaneous generation of magi amongst a family is interesting. Would you say that the number of magi in the world is growing or remaining constant over time?" No contestion of her authority issues. Even Kyra herself agrees with that. "A defeatist-ish attitude like that? Yeah, I'd be sick of her. Though..at the same time, experimenting like that isn't something I could necessarily /disapprove/ of, even if it's all been done before. Some people just need to experience it themselves all hands-onsy." A wry smile crosses her face. "It's kind of self inflicted on me. I checked out of the political scene on Galianda. Mostly. Given my friends at school, including the Prince of Ramuh, politics always leaks in to our club's chit chat. It's hard hearing about what he's going through sometimes."
Scarlet Everille	"It's the number of Nobodies capable of full communication with humans, so people refer to them as a set, partly because of how hard they are to get ahold of as well. Since there's so few of them, they're easy to track, so it becomes sort of a celebrity thing as well. I'm not the best person to ask since I'm one of the few people around actually used to the idea." The coffee cup clacks against the table as Scarlet finally sets it down, having gone cold after having been finished off a little while ago. "If you'd been a citizen already instead of being born and raised in a completely different world, I'm sure you would have been long ago~ The workload gets easier once you have the means to deal with it, or else it'd actually be impossible. As for the number? Growing, obviously because the population is, but also because established families are reliable in output and don't exactly die out all that often. Once a good bloodline gets going, people are pretty careful to keep it intact, and our understanding of it is a lot better than it used to be." Finally, she goes through the trouble of retrieving a physical credit card for this place, just to be safe. "Going to school with a prince, hm? You're underselling yourself more than I thought in that case~ Don't worry, I know how it is. I'll grab the tab as well, though I'd like to believe the company of my radiant personality to be adequate compensation~"