“- Remote Control Twuck?” you finish. Well, why not - there was no doubt it would be fully charged by now and you couldn't see any real reason not to show it off. You frown slightly in thought, “I always wanted to play with one of those when I was a kid,” you murmur. “Ah well, I'm sure whoever owns it won't mind if I have a little fun showing how it works - right?”

You mentally smile to yourself as you spot Utsuho giving you a strange look for a moment before grinning. You had suspected that perhaps the twuck was hers, and it looked like you had been right in your suspicions. “But first,” you say, “Who wants some to drink along with their sweets?” You pause for a second then glance at Suika, who was already practically standing in her seat waving one arm in the air like an over-ambitious schoolchild. “Other than alcohol.” At that her arm drops and she sits back in her seat, folding her arms and pouting like a scolded child. “Because I already knew what you were going to have miss Suika, so I didn't need to ask.” The horned girl brightens as you say that and grins happily. Honestly, that girl seemed so damn easy to mess with that it was hard to avoid teasing her simply because of that.

Shortly you and the others were gathered around in the living room as you had been on all the previous show-and-tell sessions. With a bit of assistance from Suika you had manhandled (or was that perhaps oni-handled, as Suika had done all the actual work) a number of large-ish items in order to make some obstacles for your remote control twuck demonstration. They also provided handy places for people to perch their drinks and chocolate cakes as well, which was definitely a bonus.

“Right then,” you begin, holding up the newly charged twuck in one hand and controller in the other. You'd made something of a show about fitting their batteries in, and explaining that these kinds could be recharged in a manner similar to everyones mobile phones. “So now we come to the fun part.” Gently placing it on the ground you look at the girls and take careful hold of the controller. “Remote control means the ability to control a device from a distant, or remote, location.”

“Like puppets on strings?” Cirno pipes up, making you nod.

“Sort of,” you state, “except imagine it without the strings - or, at least, without strings you can see or feel.” Quickly you flick one of the control sticks with your thumb, causing the twuck to leap forwards in a burst of speed and both Cirno and Suika to leap up in surprise. “as I play with the controls on this box, the twuck responds accordingly - turning left, right and moving forwards and backwards as I tell it to.” You demonstrate, guiding the toy around the obstacles you had set up. “Technically it receives it's instructions via radio-waves, where are kind of like...” you pause for a moment and frown, “Well... for now I guess you can consider them invisible messages being sent through the air. They can pass through some walls and suchlike too, but their range is limited to how much power you put into them.” Gesturing to the controller you indicate the length of metal wire sticking out the top. “And the length of the aerial too.”

“How does it work?” You glance over at Cirno as she asks this, noting a curious little expression on her face. “Is it... uhm...” She seems to scrunch her face up in thought, “Is it an en-jean?” You hear a slight noise from Ran at that, and your eyes quickly flick over to see her stiffening slightly in her seat. Inwardly you frown, was it you or did it seem that Ran reacted negatively every time Cirno seemed to make any personal strides forwards in regards to learning? Was there something wrong with her being able to find out things by herself or something? Whatever the reason for it, you were sure you'd have to speak with Ran about her strange behavior sooner or later.

“Not exactly,” you say, pushing thoughts of Ran to one side, “An 'engine' is what would be used to power a full size motor vehicle, like the car you all came here in and the one we all took into town.” You note a several girls nod. “An engine is... well, it's a device which creates movement, or kinetic, energy from a fuel source. I'd really need to show you a model or something to explain it properly, but they usually involve burning something as a fuel.” Driving the twuck within reach, you pick it up and use one finger to spin one of the wheels. “This, however, uses a motor - rather than burning a fuel, it instead uses electricity to create movement.” Looking up for a moment you soon look back down and scan over the girls. “And thus we come to the first rule of the science of physics - energy cannot be destroyed, it can only be moved about or changed into some other form.” You note some of the girls, Meiling in particular, giving you a disbelieving look. “Well, it's true.” you state, “But it's not like we know everything about the world... so it's entirely possible there are energies out there that we cannot yet detect. I mean, I, and most of this modern world, don't know about magic - and I assume that's a type of energy too.”

“Uhm...” Utsuho raises her hand. “I don't get it...” she mumbles and you can see Hina nodding her agreement. Meiling looks thoughtful and Ran you can tell knows this already, Suika is... evidently too drunk to care, and Cirno has her face scrunched up in deep thought.

“I think I get it...” she says at last, “a little bit...” She looks at Utsuho, “I think it means... you can turn 'lectricy into moving, or moving into 'lectricy... but you can't make 'lectricy or moving just vanish, it always turns into something else - even if we don't know what?”

“Ah!” The raven-haired hell-raven smacks one fist into a palm. “I get it!” She looks at you and raises one eyebrow. “... but I don't get what it has to do with my cool toy...” Suddenly she holds out her hands expectantly, “I wanna play with it now!” She declares, “It's my awesome toy!”

“That was not particularly polite now, was it?.” you hear Hina murmur, causing Utsuho to glare at her and stick her tongue out before turning back to you.

“I wanna play with it now, please.” She states, holding her hands out once again. Not seeing any particular reason to refuse, and she had admittedly used 'the magic word' this time, you hand over the controller and sit back as she starts directing the twuck around the obstacle course you had set up.

Eventually the girls seem to tire and, one by one, drift off towards their rooms until eventually only yourself, a snoozing Suika and a silent Renko are left behind.

“I'll head off in the morning,” She states, standing up from her seat. “But I'll be back whenever I can - my store isn't open over the weekends, and I can wrangle a few days here and there if I leave my assistants to cover for me.” Glancing in the direction the girls had left, she sighs, “This is so weird.” She mutters, “They flip between being scary and innocent so easily it's hard to keep track of them.”

“I know,” you reply, “It's something i'm still getting used to - their mood swings I mean.” A thought occurs to you then, “hey, if by some chance you do contact Maribel... you think you can, maybe, rack her mind for any information on the girls here? I have the feeling I should be trying to find out as much as I can - and I don't think some of them are going to be entirely upfront about things.”

“I can do that,” Renko responds, “Anyway... g'night.”

You watch as your old friend heads off to the room she had temporarily claimed as her own and sigh. A snore from Suika causes you to glance over at her, sprawled out on a sofa thanks to her massive alcohol intake. Standing up yourself you move to gently nudge her into a somewhat more comfortable sleeping position then head off back to your own room.