Shakti watched the conversation between the costumed girls with avid interest, trying to tease out the pecking order from their interactions. She noticed Delia dismiss her weapon magically, in fact, she noted unique weapons belonging to each of the girls and wondered if she should expect something similar for herself in the near future.

When the portal was opened, Shakti went inside without complaint, she knew she was not in control and being dragged around, but it wasn't something a little patience could overcome. When they arrived at Delia's garden, the girls began introducing themselves. Always the eager one, Camila introduced herself first after the hosts. Shakti decided to go next, not too eager, but definitely not too reluctant. Despite her rather inappropriate manner of dress, Shakti kept her dignity and poise. "Shakti Subramaniam," she introduced herself simply, hoping to get the formalities out of the way.

I was scared, it was bad enough with this strange world and it's devouring shadows. the blue ballroom gown girl now know as Delia with her fighting skills and speed made it seem that much unnatural. Now three more girls each seeming to have just frightening powers as Delia had appeared. When Delia asked us all to be on our best behaviour, I found it to be prudent to keep my mouth shut and just nod slightly.

Then Delia opened the ground up with a palm slam into it, and even if I want to, I couldn't flee as Cleo made it clear to follow.

I closed my eyes and fell into the pit.

"Welcome to my garden. Don't touch the roses, though go ahead and help yourselves to a grape if you want."

I opened my eyes and found myself, with everyone else, standing in a garden. Where the world we had all appeared in was dark, this was a very pleasnat contrast. I couldn't quite place their hierarchy, but I tried my best as I bowed to each in turn.

"Thank you all for your intervention against the shadows. Delia, Renfred, Tio, Cleo. I am Tanizaki Kagami" I bowed again as some of the other girls that appeared with me did not yet know my name. "My given name being Kagami." Having introduced myself, I felt a little hungry after the events and with the generous offer of Delia, I helped myself to a bunch of grapes and took my place on the lush grass. I knelt near to Winnie, she had after all tried to rescue the Yuuki Asuna figurine. I split the bunch and offered some to Winnie, and stared to slowly eat the delicious grapes. they were so nice.

Waiting patiently for an answer from the trio, Katerina was more than a bit annoyed to find that they were basically ignoring her, as if they couldn't understand what she was saying at all. And here she had thought that she had found someone she could communicate with. it wasn't as if anyone else here had demonstrated the ability to talk Russian, even if they seemed like they could talk with each other. But nope, it seemed as though she was the unlucky one.

Of course, the girl in blue arriving tended to be something of a distraction, and Katerina watched with interest as she examined the returned girl. So was she....like her? Or something similar? At that moment it didn't seem unreasonable, that she could become something like that, a feeling in her bones. She knew she had changed, and was that part of it?

Weapons vanished as the girls argued, Katerina left to wait in annoyance and impatience for the answers she would never get. It was strange to see the discontent, but there was an element to it that suggested it wasn't mean spirited. She huffed at the pointed finger, as if she was being insulted. Seriously, the only reason she wouldn't behave was because they kept persistently ignoring her in favor of the others.

.....This was going to become a thing, wasn't it?

Suddenly one of the girls slammed her spear into the ground, opening up a strange hole that everyone quickly jumped inside. After all that had happened it didn't seem so odd, and Katerina wasted no time in joining them inside it. Yet almost immediately she regretted the decision, surrounded by an all consuming void. She could yell, yet no one could hear her. She could move, yet would get nowhere. And she was slow, like she was drugged up to have some teeth knocked out or something, as if time itself had slowed to a crawl.

At last she emerged, Katerina looking around in surprise. It was like she was in some folk tale or the ancient past, a castle in the distance, and a verdant green that was not typical to Russia. Though by now she was getting used to that fact. Indeed all the girls seemed like they were folk tale Princesses, dressed in white, red, black, (and she managed to keep from averting her gaze from Tryo) If it hadn't been everything that had taken place before, this would have been as unbelievable as the terror she had just been in.

Introductions began again, and as she stood near the collection of girls Katerina finally introduced herself, though she kept it succinct and only her name, since apparently no one could understand a thing she was saying anyways. "Katerina Nikolaev," she said before falling silent, letting everyone else introduce themselves.

An Awakening, huh? So that’s what they called this whole naked-with-superpowers dealio. Winnie found herself relaxing after the magical girls showed up. They were finally safe from those monsters. She watched as the girls bantered among themselves. She knew better than to intrude, though being ignored was a bit of a bummer. The blue one, the girl they encountered first, the one called Delia, she said something that caught Winnie’s attention.

Fifty years?! she thought.

She must have been talking about her family that lived in the mansion or something. There was no way these girls could be any older than sixteen.

The party of normals fell with the strange girls through the portal thing. Camila screamed through the whole thing for some reason, that was kinda funny. A little warning would have been nice though. And then they were in a castle. Holy damn, it was pretty. Yep, Winnie could always appreciate some good landscaping. The girls had somehow changed into their casual clothes. Now that she paid proper attention, Winnie noted some details about the girls.

Amanita Muse Renfred. Winnie had no clue which country or language that name came from, seemed to be a mixture of Spanish and German. And wow, she was seriously pretty too. Winnie blinked her eyes rapidly and shook her head to try and prevent the blush that was creeping up the back of her neck.
Cleo Fabiola. She seemed pretty friendly. Winnie hoped that they would get along; she looked like she would be a blast to hang out with.
Tio Fawlker. She looked the youngest, probably was if the table manners were anything to go by. Winnie could relate though, she got always told off at dinner.
Delia Juliette le Bl- wow, that was a mouthful. She was obviously quite proud of her name. Another obvious thing: she was the leader of this little team and knew it well. Winnie wondered if the smugness was there even before she was appointed leader. Probably was, considering those French types.

Camila spoke first as usual, luckily voicing all the questions that Winnie had intended to ask. Shakti, Kagami and Katerina (oh, so that was her name) introduced themselves too. Kagami even offered to share some grapes! Winnie grinned in return and sat down with the Japanese girl to eat.

“Ah right. I’m Winnie Tran, from Australia,” she said in between chewing the grapes. They were seriously really tasty.

“Are you guys 100% sure about the no-clothes thing?”

I looked around as I ate next to Winnie, everyone seemed to have fallen silent since we introduced ourselves. It was a little unnerving and though it didn't seem proper for me to it, I decided to speak up.

"Your aid in saving all us from those shadows is very much appreciated, would it be too much trouble for one of you to explain what they are, how we came to be here and how you cam to be....superheroes." it probably wasn't the correct thing to call them, but the word eluded me as I asked.

I wanted to know how to return home but too many answers at once would be confusing. I gave the three girls a sidelong glance wondering about any side effects from eating the shade flesh, but that would have to wait as well.

@banjoanjo@Flamelord@Stern Algorithm@Blight Bug@TheHangedMan