Iryi is walking past the old Wall remnant, running her hand against (newer) fense posts and smiling at the sun when she disappears.
Iryi is walking past the old Wall remnant, running her hand against (newer) fense posts and smiling at the sun when she disappears.
! ! (She lights up, pretty visibly even though she's trying to restrain it a little.)
"I'm glad."
She is pretty obviously waiting for Nausicaa to tell her what to do next.
Then, after a few more shaky breaths, she'll lead the way - including Sue and Sakura, as well as Iryi - to a small two-bedroom apartment. It's decorated in a mixture of plain, simply styled things and a riot of warm colors (at least one of the girls has a fondness for swirls and spirals and the color orange).
The city's modern, glass-walled buildings and asphalt and cars, though Nausicaa keeps them away from the more trafficked footpaths. "So, uh, where're you from?" she asks, once they're inside. " - And, uh, want something to drink?" Help she has no idea how to host guests...
"Yes, thank you. If it's not trouble."
She has never seen any of these things in person before. She's seen pictures and made-images of things kind of like them. (It's kind of starting to hit her now that she's fallen into another world (and found her beloved there! Like a legend!), though a lot of her is still too focused on Nausicaa and worrying and not knowing things yet for it to hit her the whole way).
"Um - somewhere else? I'm - not sure how to explain?" How did people explain this in Legends?
She takes a little wind of light, pulls it apart until it makes an image in the air - a cozy looking village, neat paths and little gardens, though if you look closer you'll notice unusual things like arcs of water taking care of a garden on their own, or road-stones that shine.
"I think some people say we're another world, but we're not really entirely a world like a lot of other worlds are. Like a little world, or a piece of a world? But we're - not a crossroads, but like something off a crossroads. People stumble in. Sometimes we can go out. Or fall out, even though we didn't mean to."
"Do you know how it works?" Sakura asks, leaning in a bit. "That sounds fascinating... Probably possible to make with a wish, though you'd need a lot of potential..."
She ducks her head. "I'm sorry, I don't really. I don't think any of us know all the way. There are mages that work with the edges, but I hadn't learned yet." She should have studied more. (This emotion, like most of hers, is probably pretty visible.)
"A wish?"
"It's cool, most people can't answer all my questions. Why I like research."
"Here, you get magic when you make a wish - one per person, most people never get the chance - and what the wish does and how powerful your magic is varies with your wish. Usually your powers are kind of related."
She brightens, partially at the mention of research.
"What kind of research do you do? If that's ok to ask.
Oh! What kind of wish?"
"I'm still a student, so, pretty much random stuff, but I'm trying to focus on medicine right now. Biology, anatomy, all that. Helps with magical healing."
"And most magical girls consider their wish really personal, sorry."
"I was also a student!
You do healing?
Oh, I'm sorry."
She looks distressed at the thought of Nausicaa being so lonely, and also around at Nausicaa's friends.
"Yeah, my main focus has been healing. Not really necessary with Sue, but someone's got to look after Nausicaa."
Weak smile. "I do have friends now, I just... Though the spell would make someone, or - arrange for me to meet someone - like a fate manipulation power - it was a pretty dumb wish, though."
She looks at Sue, as if this will show why it is healing would not be necessary.
"It's not dumb!"
(...can she feel the power can she?)
Sue doesn't seem to be visibly different, though she doesn't even have any scrapes or bruises or old scars, unlike Sakura and Nausicaa.
Scrapes and bruises and scars on Sakura and Nausicaa(!) are alarming!
"Do you know what decides what it does?"
"We don't know. Wording matters, intent matters, how strongly you feel matters, but..." She shrugs. "We also don't talk about wishes, much, so it's hard to get data."