Iris

[Code Name] Iris

[Gender] Female

[Combat Experience] None

[Place of Birth] Victoria

[Date of Birth] April 2

[Race] Feline

[Height] 147cm

[Infection Status]

Medical tests have confirmed that no infection is present.

[Physical Strength] Normal

[Mobility] Normal

[Physical Resilience] Standard

[Tactical Acumen] Standard

[Combat Skill] Normal

[Originium Arts Assimilation] Excellent

A Victorian Caster who came to Rhodes Island to return a certain Operator's safekept items, temporarily residing at Rhodes Island until all related matters are dealt with.

Uses peculiar Originium Arts, able to induce sleep in people and control the contents of their dreams.

Imaging tests reveal clear, normal outlines of internal organs, and no abnormal shadows have been detected. Originium granules have not been detected in the circulatory system and there is no sign of infection. At this time, this operator is believed to be uninfected.

[Cell-Originium Assimilation] 0%

Operator Iris shows no signs of Originium infection.

[Blood Originium-Crystal Density] 0.12u/L

Operator Iris rarely comes into contact with Originium.

'Can she really do field work dressed like that?' —Medical Department anonymous remark

Iris came looking for an Operator.

At first, we thought this Operator would be Iris's blood relative, or perhaps one removed, or the beneficiary of her will. After deeper discussion, though, Iris informed us that she'd come to return an Operator's safekept item—an old-fashioned radio. The only information she knew was this Operator's real name and external appearance; after all, Iris's true age may be younger than that of the radio before us. As for how she received this from the Operator twenty years ago, and why she's returning it twenty years later, we haven't the faintest clue, but seeing as Iris is here, we have an obligation to her and said Operator in resolving this property's ownership. As this will involve some formalities, processes, and raising of complex personal issues, until these matters are solved, Iris is required to stay aboard in the long-term, and after consulting her own views, we've registered her as an Operator for the time being.

Mabel, the owner of the radio, was—following confirmation—the deceased Operator Bluishsilver of the Rosmontis Squad. After repeated discussion, Rhodes Island accepted this item, and sent it to a suitable place as per Bluishsilver's request for her personal belongings in her will. When we took it on, we also arranged for Iris and Rosmontis to meet. It seemed this was the first time she'd met with such a situation while delivering items, and when she saw Rosmontis, Iris spilled with sorrow and a sense of loss. After first contact, however, she began to narrate to Rosmontis a fairytale from Victoria, doing her utmost to convey to Rosmontis the idea that 'Bluishsilver may not be with us any longer, but in the country of the fairies, she'll rest peacefully.' Though this wasn't enough to console an elite operator, or better said, Rosmontis herself didn't need such consoling, those words filled with kindness still had some purpose in the end—at least Iris could successfully convince, and console, herself. Not long after, their conversation then ended in a lighter place.

We still don't know just what kind of duty Iris shoulders, but out of respect for her, we have not asked her to disclose the details. Perhaps at a more fitting time, she'll pass this information on to the relevant Rhodes Island personnel.

Since becoming an interim Operator, Iris has had free movement privileges in the common areas aboard. Her favorite place is the glistening golden playroom, and she'll accompany the children there in play. For those children receiving treatment aboard Rhodes Island, these times of carefree happiness deserve to be cherished. Outside of when a mission requires her, she's always around the children—she sings songs for them, tells them stories, gives them sweets. She favors spending time with them to the point that for a period, the Security Department's operators were skeptical of Iris's true intentions aboard. After conducting a meticulous investigation, they realized that Iris 'tried' no more than to ask the children if they had anything they'd be forced to give up before too long; perhaps this has some relation to her 'duty.' Most people who've lived in Victoria before have heard a fairytale that goes like this:

Good children may enter a castle in their dreams, be welcomed by the castle's master, and have a merry time. When waking, about to leave the castle, they may choose to leave their own most precious belongings to the castle and make an agreement with its master, the agreement being something like this: at some precise time when they've grown up, they'll receive this gift from the castle's collection, from their childhood.

As for the details, Iris's conduct bears some similarities to this fairytale, but seeing as many parts of Victoria's own fairytales would pain the heart, we have no understanding of this fairytale's full picture, nor secure motive. It may be more appropriate to treat it as Iris's individual behavior for now.

Recently, many young Operators have been discussing what they've run across in their dreams. Each dream's contents are different, but their descriptions all share a magnificent moving castle with an amiable, patient Feline master, and a banquet to bring cheer. This story rooted in Victorian childhood is now sown throughout the hearts of the children of Rhodes Island. No suffering, no regret—all that is left is hopes for a beautiful life, and wishes for the future. Aside from the children, everyone knows who's doing it, but what's the matter with that? Children having distant hopes—is there anything wrong with it? I've already seen a child hand a treasure over to Iris, an ordinary and mundane wooden box, with a silk-wrapped sweet inside. A few days after, a lissom Cautus took that box away. Presumably, their safekeeping techniques are enough to store things without harm until the agreed day.

I have plenty of misgivings, honestly. Would the children really remember this so many years later? A pretty dream? An amiable young miss? A treasure entrusted? At the least... in Bluishsilver's will, I hadn't seen any clause relating to that radio. Yet that doesn't prove that this agreement left behind was meaningless from the start. If she'd... actually received this 'gift,' surely she'd be so happy...

From what I see, Iris is totally unused to this 'business' of hers, or perhaps she's only just taken over this hereditary sort of 'public service'—sorry, I can't find any other way of describing it. It's altruistic, there's no pay, you spend such an extreme amount of resources to do it. Probably, more than the children who take them up, Iris is the one who truly believes in fairytales.

For many, fairytale stories languish in the backs of their minds when they've grown up, but Iris? I can put it this way:

She's the one who makes fairytales real.

Iris's Originium Arts can induce peaceful sleep in people. Casting with full power, she could very well sink the most focused adult into slumber, but this level of casting takes a lot out of her, and she'll only use it while on missions. At other times, results are about as effective as a decent dose of long-release sleeping aids. She usually casts within cozy environments so that over a quarter of an hour, the target's mood will steadily settle, and they fall asleep safe and snug. After that, Iris may fully apply the most important part of her Originium Arts: operating dreamlands.

This ability can put off many people when they first hear it, since falling asleep and giving rise to a dreamland is one internalized expression of the unconscious mind, and if someone could mess around in it, to put it loosely, it wouldn't be much different from indirectly controlling someone.

But we believe Iris wouldn't do that—a conclusion we've come to after her arriving at Rhodes Island, and our interaction with her. She's never shown such inclinations in her nature, and going by our surface understanding, her duty and dignity wouldn't allow her to play wantonly with others' dreamlands.

Besides, Miss Iris's so-called 'operating dreamlands' actually has some strict limits. She needs to have had prior contact, prior awareness and prior understanding before she can reconstruct key elements within dreamlands. Moreover, the everyday things Miss Iris comes into contact with are most, if not all, good and nice things. Even her most beloved fairytales—we know Victoria has many that would strike fear into people—are ones she only knows the revisions of, sanitized and upright editions, their contents portraying wonderlands that would never exist upon this world. Thus, what Miss Iris portrays to others likely are, and can only be, in such form.

As for why a castle, master and banquet are bound to appear in everyone's dreams?

If you may look at the attachments; one photo of Miss Iris herself casting, one of Miss Iris's estate—a small-scale nomadic castle—and one of its interior decoration. I invite any Operators able to recall their dreamlands' contents to compare with these.

The conclusion goes without saying.

'I get it! Miss Iris is a faerie from the stories!' —A certain HR operator's comment

'And you're a goofball!' —A certain operator's comment on a comment