If there was a harebringer on this island, Oros was going to find it. 

She had taken a sled out of her hammerspace and was pulling Emily along, as her physical abilities dwarfed hers by a few fold and this allowed the two to move at about the same pace. The fact that Oros could turn into a cute sled dog was also a huge bonus for people who were into cute animals. But that didn’t change the fact that this was probably the strongest sled dog who ever existed, and also the most unruly. Emily was very much along for the ride as Oros ran where she pleased. Snow drifts, ice chasms, there were no obstacles too deadly to traverse If only Oros knew what a harebringer smelled like, finding them would be much easier. As-is, Oros was forced to follow any smell she didn’t recognize. 

After all that, eventually the two of them would come across a clearing ringed with small spot lights. Most of them were off, but there was one lit. It was shining on to a bank of snow, notable for its size, and in between the bank and the spotlight sat seven snowbuns.

Six of them were normal average snowbuns all who were sitting in a loose ring around the seventh. Which was a dark blue, if not outright black. 

It was using its ears, in a surprising show of manual dexterity, to give its fellow buns a shadow puppet show.

Sneaking up on the harebringer was more or less impossible because of the spotlight. As moving closer would cast a shadow, and turning it off would be instantly notable.

But you can bet that if you say something is impossible, especially in narration, you can bet Oros will use what few brain cells she has left to do just that.

“Alright El.” Oros was speaking pretty quietly. Possibly the most quiet that Emily had ever heard her. “So I’m thinkin’, gunna be hard to sneak up on the shadow bunny. However!” Her hands turned into a badger’s digging claws. “I’ll dig my way to him underground. If he tries running, you can nab him. Sound good?”

Emily nodded as she stared with determination at the harebringer. “I’ll do my best,” she told Oros. Using her fire to rocket-boost her way to the rabbit might just succeed in surprising it when combined with Oros’ underground assault. She could feel the warm, fluffy sensation in her hands already!

Or, well, she desperately wanted to. Even with a name that made them out to be some sort of force to be reckoned with, Emily was a girl who enjoyed cute animals just like most others. Emily briefly squeezed the plushy that Mariette had gifted her. It was an adorable opossum! How lucky was she to receive her favorite animal in plushy form! She made a mental note to give Mariette something in return later down the line, and put it away, readying herself to take advantage of the opening Oros would hopefully make after she dug under the bunny.

As Oros prepared to come up under the harebringer, she hit a solid surface. It was snow, but it seemed to be quite dense in that one spot. The immediate area shook, and the harebringer looked around cautiously.

The Harebringer would spin around a bit after Emily started rocketing towards it, but rather than starting to run away. It started hopping towards the fire trailing girl, the six other Snowbuns trailing along after it. The reason for why it chose to approach rather than flee was quickly discovered as well. 

For the dark bun would land on Emily’s shadow and the girl would instantly freeze in place. It didn’t matter how much power she put into her rocket boost she was stuck fast. It would bounce up to level with her face and stick out its tongue at her, before jumping forward to bounce off her head landing back on the mound of snow it had used for its shadow puppet show. It stayed there taunting Emily. And a few seconds later she would suddenly have the ability to move again. Oros, too, found she was able to emerge from the ground seconds after the harebringer left its spot. She had come out of the ground just in time to watch Emily’s shadow get attacked.

“Are we really doing conceptual shadow magic again?” Oros placed a hand on her forehead. “Whatever, You wanna copy an ascendancy member or vamp from Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, that’s your thing. Embarrassing me? That’s cool too.” Oros pulled herself out of the ground. “But if you’re gunna pull shit on my friends, the stops come out!” Oros spiced her DNA sequence with that of a jellyfish to give herself bio-luminescent properties. Not only did she not have a shadow now, but she threw off a mild blue light. “Run while you can! The light bringer is here!” Oros bound across the snow with the speed and agility of a jaguar.

“Oh, that’s a nasty trick!” Emily seemed much more cautious of the hare now, but she realized she should’ve suspected a creature called a ‘harebringer’ would be capable of surprising feats. Although Oros would often mention things that were beyond Emily, Metal Gear Solid and its sequels were one of the series of games she had managed to play, even if they weren’t her preferred genre. “I understood that reference!” she proclaimed with a puffed-out chest. It made her feel closer to Oros, if only a little. But, while nice, she needed to focus. 

Emily wasn’t able to borrow features from a jellyfish, but with her fire spec she could certainly create a bright flame to serve the purpose she needed. This time, Emily wouldn’t boost directly at the bunny, but instead, at blinding speed, she would jet past it in order to get on the side opposite of Oros, keeping her flame between the bunny and herself in order to prevent it from stepping on her shadow. Should nothing prevent her from doing that, she would again wait for the rabbit’s reaction to Oros before attempting again to rocket boost at and to pet it. 

When it was only the bio-luminescent girl things weren’t looking good for the Hare, it was dodging out of the way, but not by much, and from the squeeks it was giving it wasn’t doing so easily. Then Emily blazed past and trapped the bun between campfire and a predator.

With one more squeak it would drop away into its own shadow, just as Oros launched at it one more time. Missing the harebringer, but snagging one of the other Snowbuns that had kept trailing it. 

The newly acquired bun would nuzzle into Oros hand, not annoyed at its sudden capture.

The same could not be said about the Harebringer who had narrowly escaped. It glared[read: pouted] at the two girls from a moderate distance away before it jumped into its shadow once more.

It wasn’t hard to keep track of the bun as almost instantly after it jumped one of the spotlights that ringed the place would turn on, it would happen two more times before the harebringer would appear on top of the snowmound in the center. With four of the eight spotlights now on it would be harder to keep from casting a shadow, as even with bioluminescence and open flames the light from the spotlights was too focused from too many directions to erase a shadow.

The Harebringer would stick it’s tongue out at the two of them, daring them to try again.

Oros had come to a stop some distance away. She foiled her arms and looked at her companion. “Are you thinkin’ what I’m thinkin’?” She smiled in the harebringer’s direction. “Technical difficulties!”

Guided by deft hands, Oros’s sword (now a candy cane) was swung towards the nearest spotlight. With a quick pounce, the beast woman was over the light. It wouldn’t be long before she cleaved it in two (with any luck) and moved onto the remaining ones.

Emily slightly cringed upon hearing Oros’ plan, if only because vandalism was rude to the host! But she did have to admit that seemed like the best place to start. “Um,” she boosted towards a different spotlight, intending on taking a swing with her gauntlet. “Sorry!”

The Shadow hare would squawk in outrage as the two girls went about destroying its spotlights, but from their perspective didn’t do anything to stop them. When they were done with their demolition detour they would turn back to see that their target bun hadn’t been entirely idle. It had made use of the time and had burrowed out a surprising amount of small pathways in the snow, spanning just about half of the total area, all of which were about half as deep as the bun was tall and equally as wide.

Due to their speed however it was clear to tell that the hare wasn’t fully done, as it’s surprised scramble to get back to the center mound was clear to indicate.

“Whoa there, buddy!” Oros hopped between the hare and the hill it was initially standing on. “I can’t say I’ve figured out what your gig is yet, but you’re running out of options!” If oros was standing off to the side of the trenches, her glow might have filled the shallow pathways with shadow. With her body directly in the center of a pathway however, there were few places for shadows to hide. Save for maybe the harebringer themselves. “Well? Get your sorry ass in gear!” Oros stomped her way towards her target. She was swinging her cane, perhaps in some attempt to hook the fluffy bastard if she got close enough. 

Emily took this time to attempt yet again to pincer the harbinger, only this time she was also trying to reduce its means to escape. She would raise the heat in her hands to a high temperature without creating flames and then use them to melt the passages she was nearing in order to cut off the rabbit’s means of escape should it have attempted to turn tail from Oros. 

Surrounded once again, with its trenches being melted and its shadowy escape routes being denied, the Harebringer chose not to try and flee as it had once before. Instead it bound forward towards Oros. With each advancing hop its shadow would grow, but not behind, its shadow would stretch forward into the bioluminescent light being given off.

Oros fret her brow as the shadow encroached on her light. This annoyed Oros for many reasons. For one, it meant that her power was less effective than she initially thought. But second, it was something she hadn’t seen coming. And why would anyone expect something like that? The bunny had been making use of existing shadows this entire time, but now it could suddenly manipulate them? Like, why even set up a light for a shadow puppet show if you don’t need a light source? Were they on the second or third stage of the boss which caused it to magically gain new abilities? If that was the case, Oros felt slightly better about this new power.

The last time Oros tried to surface under the harebringer it had ended poorly for her, likely because the underground was filled with shadow. Remaining in front of the harebringer meant subjecting herself to whatever trickery its shadow could bring. Getting out of the way gave it a chance to escape. Clearly, a third option was in order. Oros had third options in spades.

She reached into her shirt and pulled out an acrylic fish tank. Something so large could only be contained in her hammerspace. The whole thing was made out of transparent plastic, and was pretty durable thanks to the plastic itself being about an inch thick. Oros placed the tank on the snow, open end towards the harebringer, and shoved it towards it. She dove over the shadow in an attempt to not get caught by it.

 “Let me pet you damn it!”

The fishtank proved to be a useful third option to have on hand. As it would run afoul of the Harebringers plot, for despite being made of acrylic the edges would still cast a faint shadow due to the bonding agents keeping the thing together. Thus when the fishtank touched the Harebringers shadow it would come to a dead stop much like Emily did earlier. Leaving Oros safe when she herself crossed over the shadow. 

The Harebringer was caught off guard a bit by the sudden appearance of the fishtank, and even if it wanted to wasn’t fast enough to stop itself from bouncing into the now frozen enclosure. Which wasn’t good for it’s long term goal of remaining unpet. Quickly turning around it knew it wasn’t going to be getting out of here easily, if at all, but as its hunters lunged for it the Harebringer would give them an angry pout before dropping into its own shadow again. Leaving both Oros and Emily holding on to a regular snowbun.

The Harebringer was once again standing on the mound in the center of the clearing, a look of determination upon its features. A moment later the Hare’s shadow would bubble up off the ground in a decent approximation of the Harebringer itself. Though it just had white dots as eyes, instead of the green of the Harebringer’s eyes, and was completely black compared to the dark blue.

No taunting this time, but the hare and it’s shadow were both poised to start moving, with the last three normal snowbuns still trailing behind the Harebringer.

“Screw it, gunna pet all your asses!”

Petting the harebringer itself was absurd. If it was going to keep throwing its minions at them, then Oros was just going to expedite the process and pet the remaining snowbuns herself. Since they were trailing after the harebringer, it shouldn’t have been too difficult. She had another aquarium hoisted over her head as she ran, screaming as she charged after her prey. 

The harebringer and its shadow moved just as soon as Oros let out her warcry, but instead of meeting her head on as they had done before they split up instead. The shadow going to the right with the Hare going to the left, at a glance it was easy to lose track of which was which as in motion they looked identical. But Oros wasn’t exactly aiming for the harebringer themselves right now, so it wasn’t hard to keep them straight due to her actual target of the snowbuns following after it.

Regardless of which one was followed it wasn't hard to see that they were moving to encircle Oros, trying to force her to divide her attention much as they had done to it so many times thus far. The real bun was doing it’s best to stay outside of Oros’ reach, using the small trenches it had dug that hadn’t been melted away to limit the angles of approach. Meanwhile the shadow bun was sneaking around behind Oros waiting for the right time to pounce.

But as the snowbuns would soon discover, trying to overwhelm Oros’s senses was a mistake. They didn’t call her the ultimate predator for nothing. 

Oros’s eyes seemed to slide across her face until they were on the side of her head. Shortly after, his head distorted until it looked like that of a goat. This change was deliberate, as goats have some of the best vision of prey animals. They have elongated irises that give them “panoramic” Vision of their surroundings. Their eyes could also tilt in their eye balls to keep their vision level with their surroundings. The only real flaw here was that her spaced out eyes decreased her depth perception, which was sure to negatively affect her hand eye coordination. 

Tentacles sprung up around the remaining snowbuns, attempting to pin them in place. Oros lunged for the bun furthest from the harebringer to pet it out of the chase.

This prompted Emily to look for an angle of attack. There wasn’t much point in pursuing the same exact target so she singled out another snow bun and used a strong burst of flame to propel herself for an attempt at a quick pet as she passed by the heads of one. 

The change in tactics proved to be effective. Especially since the basic snowbuns didn’t have any special properties to help protect themselves from the rather aggressive petting attempts. Emily would fly past with her target easily being pet as it happily bounced along behind the Harebringer who dove out of the way thinking it was still the primary target.

It would recognize it’s folly quickly enough however, for even as Emily landed on the far side of it with the small snowbun she pet in her hands Oros’ strike would come into play. The lashing tentacles would be successful in trapping one of the snowbuns even as the meta aware girl herself laid hands on the third snowbun.

The Hare bringer would be stunned for a moment as it witnessed its following snowbuns were quickly removed from the hunt. And for a moment it would look genuinely upset before it would nod in understanding. It would bounce over to the trapped bun and pat the small bun on the head once before it fell once more into shadow.

The trapped Bun would relax, for it was apparently quite scared to be trapped by the tentacles at first, and calmly wait for either Emily or Oros to pet it. Once they had the Harebringer and its shadow would appear once more on the mound in the center of the field. Once again they both looked ready to bolt at a moment's notice. But this time The Harebringer was smiling, a happy genuine smile. 

Seems the final round was about to start.

“Again with the damn mound?” There was clear frustration in Oros’s voice. She had lost count of how many times they had chased this rabbit off the same hill it was content to return to. The entire time it had been assessing their abilities and still choosing to reset every time they almost caught up to it. “The hell makes it so special?”

Like Oros had done many times before, she ran for the mound as fast as her legs would allow her. Only this time she planned on opening up the mound itself. Her hands turned into the webbed claws of a badger before she caught up with the harebringer’s favorite place to perch.

In response to her charge the shadow bun would leap out towards her and instead of bounding onward it would splash out on the snow leaving a large swath of shadow between Oros and the snowmound, much more shadow then should be expected for the Harebringer’s own shadow.

The Harebringer would waste no time in conducting the large patch of shadows, guiding it with its ears. The patch of shadow would come to life but it wouldn’t lift off the ground, that didn’t stop it from surging outwards, aiming for Oro’s shadow. Her biolumencine would cause the shadows to fade, but not disperse entirely. Lowering but not limiting their capability.

And if they grabbed hold of her shadow, well they knew the harebringer could freeze people, but not much else at this point.

Fortunately for Oros, she didn’t have a shadow to grab. That was probably the biggest perk of her transformation into a light bulb. When she dove for the mound, she was suspended in the air, so there was no risk of her coming in contact with the shadows yet. But she had committed herself, and made no adjustments to her flight path as she passed underneath the harebringer and plowed into the snow mound. 

And upon doing so Oros would learn that there was actually something under the snow, but before she could examine it closer the mass of shadows she had flown over would converge on her and she would find herself falling out of Emily's shadow. Though her fall wasn’t very fast due to the fact she was a living lightbulb at the moment.

Still her impact to the mound would reveal a large patch of bright yellow fur. And a moment after she was jumped away the rest of the mound would begin shaking apart to reveal a surprisingly large yellow Snowbun who had apparently been sleeping under the snow. It would blearily blink as it yawned and almost went back to sleep before the Harebringer bounced on the newly awakened buns head.

The Harebringer would chitter excitedly at the still sleepy bun, who would let out another yawn seemingly unable to fully wake up despite the circumstances. A moment later the yellow bun would make a sleepy gesture in the direction of both Emily and Oros and a moment later a spotlight would suddenly be thrown onto the two buns. Only the light was coming from a few feet to the side of the hunters,from an orb of light that had appeared suddenly, which was assumedly not what the Harebringer was wanting if the annoyed chittering coming from it was any indication.

The sleepy bun would repeat the process, with its other ear causing the first orb to vanish and a new one to appear, this time behind Oros and Emily causing them to throw a long shadow towards the center of the area, though they were not long enough for the Harebringer to take advantage of just yet.

The light being thrown out was also enough to dissipate the patch of shadow that the Harebringer had thrown out earlier. Which reformed next to the harbinger itself before hopping off to the side to get out of the focused light.

The yellow bun simply covered its eyes with one of its ears and seemed to be trying to get back to sleep. Not very interested in the game apparently.

The Harebringer was bouncing about on top of its friend but didn’t seem like it was going to be bounding away anymore. Ready to fend off its hunters with the light and shadows it now had available. 

Who knew that it had one more phase hidden away?

“Cock sucker!” Oros stomped her foot. “So you wanna play with light and shadow? Fine!” She grabbed Emily by the back of her shirt and stepped backwards so as to not cast her shadow too close to the shadow hare. With her free hand, she pulled a magnifying glass out of her hammer space and held it up to the intense glowing light. The light by itself was warm enough to melt snow, so focusing it into a beam had to make it pretty hot, but over great distances it likely wouldn’t be focused enough to start a fire. Maybe she'd try that later. But right now, she just wanted to see if she could agitate the yellow bunny further. She flashed the light in its eyes in an attempt to get it to do something.

“D-don’t use such vulgar language, Oros!” Emily chided after being pulled away. “Um, they really don’t want to get caught, do they?” she appeared in some awe over the tenacity of the hare, having bitten off more than she imagined she could chew alone. Emily then glanced at the beam Oros was aiming at the poor rabbit’s eye and frowned. “That could blind it…”

The giant hare was irritated by the focused light, even with its ears covering its eyes. Grumbling it would slap at the light with its other ear, causing the beam of light to suddenly turn downward towards the snow starting at a point about halfway between Oros and the Yellow Bun. The area in which all the light was pointing down also seemed to affect shadows as they would vanish upon touching the area.

Other than that the larger bun would resettle and get back to trying to doze, while the smaller bun looked at the odd angled light in curiosity. The hare’s shadow would lean out from behind the larger bun as well since it was no longer in danger of being smote by the light.

“Score!” Oros looked at Emily “I mean, I’m sorry about using such foul language. I’m still working on it. But would you mind being a dear and chasing down that harebringer? I’ll try to keep you relatively shadow free.” Oros sprouted wings out of her back and floated into the air. If Emily was going to go towards the harebringer, Oros would need a higher vantage point to ensure her shadow was little more than a circle under her feet.

“S-sure!” Emily agreed and then directed her eyes at the hare with all the determination she could muster. This had been going on for long enough! Emily chose to boost her way over towards the hare in short bursts, making sure she wouldn’t accidentally create an advantage for the thing as she attempted to grab it. 

With both of the Hunters heading to the skies in one way or another the harebringer was quick to move into action. The obvious action was regarding its shadow, who lept out from behind the dozing bun and started racing off towards Emily’s shadow. It would dive into the large patch of shadow as soon as it got close to being underneath her.

At the same time the hare would grab hold of the other ear of its large sleeping friend. And began flailing it about. Whatever it was hoping to accomplish is uncertain, but what it did accomplish was readily apparent as the orb of light that was once behind Oros and Emily would start flying wildly around the area. It wouldn’t ever get closer to the center where the buns were located, and the light was always pointing towards where the bun had slapped it into the ground earlier.

“That shadow magic is, eh, forget it. I’m getting redundant.” The light no longer appeared to have any sort of effect on the shadows. Oros tossed the mirror off to the side, causing it to land where the hare seemed to be trying to shine the light. “And you know what else?” Oros pulled a few road flares out of her cleavage. “HNEH!” She struck them across the side of her jaw and hurled them behind the harebringer. Entropy was the only thing Oros had left at her disposal, and she had it in spades.

The tossed Mirror would land in the stream of light and casually start reflecting it skyward, only for the dozing bun’s magic to also affect the reflecting light back into the mirror. Causing the mirror to rather quickly start building up light until it was as bright as a bare spot light casting illumination everywhere.

This had the side effect of saving Emily as the new light would scatter the hare’s shadow that was nearing the girl’s shadow.

The road flares would be smacked away by the blind flailing of the harebringer and would land on either side of the larger bun. The unexpected feedback of smacking them would cause it to stop flailing about in time to notice that its shadow was gone and Emily was nearly upon it.

With a startled eep it would toss aside the ear it had been flailing, the orb of light also coming to a stop off to the side of everything as it did, and the bun would jump forward seeking to tag Emily shadow.

Emily knew this trick and opted to avoid it entirely, strangely creating some distance between her and the rabbit before her shadow could be pounced on. She found herself sighing in obvious irritation. Perhaps as she felt this was dragging on. “Um, Oros, can you keep the bunny occupied?” she asked her friend as she took off into the sky a bit, keeping a cautious eye on the shadow and the bunny’s position. Suddenly, she extended both of her hands down towards the ground and began channeling her energy into a ball of fire that was growing immensely in size, so much so that everyone around could feel the heat.

Oros was doing as Emily instructed. Like Emily, she had wisened up to some of the rabbit’s shadowy tricks. She positioned herself between Emily and the harebringer, and quickly closed the distance between each other. “Open wide ass hole!” Oros had a flair in each hand, and she was waving them around like clubs. The intense light threw her shadow behind herself.

While the growing fireball above was worrying, the Harebringer’s attention was focused on the road flares in front of it and was doing it’s best to hop and skip out of the way of the burning sticks. It was displaying a fairly decent amount of speed in it’s dodging attempts, but was relegated to defense due to the ever shifting location of Oros shadow. 

The road flares were also handy in keeping an eye on the hare’s shadow, which was reforming, and it was about half way back by to full.

The Sleeping bun would begin rolling over to get away from the heat, but not before swiping an ear at Emily and causing all the light coming from her grandfire ball to suddenly be diverted towards the horizon when it got close to the arena. Though this only had a minor effect on the rising heat levels.

And the heat continued to rise, up until the point at which anyone in the surrounding area would feel as though Dan’s dimension had returned to being a hot beach. Naturally, this rise in heat had the strongest effect on the snow, which began to melt at a rapid pace, leaving a leveled, wet playing field. This appeared to be the main intent of Emily’s action, rather than creating a light source itself, although should the bun’s effect on the approaching light diminish, it would surely void the mostly-level field of shadows. 

The melting snow soon turned into water, which was something Oros could freely manipulate. The slush under the harebringer surged towards Oros, who lept at the harebringer. Maybe this time, it wouldn’t slip away.

The rapidly melting snow would ensnare the Harebringer long before the mass fireball melted everything away. As agile as it was on the snow, it lacked much of the same when it came to slush, add in Oros’ ability to turn the water against it as well and there wasn’t a lot that the bunny could do.

Not that it would go gently, it would flail and squeak as much as it could as it was drawn into Oros’ grasp, but the water refracted the light from the road flares all about to the degree that any shadow it could try and grasp at was far too scattered for any real or lasting effects. It was also out of ‘get out of jail free’ buns.

Thus there was nothing to stop Oros from picking up the harebringer and petting it. Which would instantly bring about an attitude adjustment in the hare, switching form an unruly and taunting ball of fuzz trying to bite Oros ineffectually, to a happy and joyous blob of fluff nuzzling into Oros hand as she pet it. In fact even the larger bun was affected by this as well. Suddenly snapping awake, only to start bounding over to Oros to try and flop onto her affectionately. 

“Heh, gottem.” It took a lot to make Oros tired, but between keeping her magical effects up and darting here and there, working with tricky shadow magic, she welcomed the opportunity to just sit down. It might have just been nine pages on a word document, but it was a frantic fiesta that ended just in time. “Alright Em. I think you can pet them now...” She waved her hands around. “Because if I have to endure these fuzzy bastards rubbing up against me any more-!” Oros was cut off when the larger snowbun smothered her face under floof and snow. 

Emily did not linger and immediately stopped channeling her fireball, the temperature in the immediate area cooling down as she did. “Oh, I’m so happy!” she excitedly exclaimed and she boosted straight up to Oros and touched down on the ground, petting the fluffy balls of evasion and shadow magic. Despite how much trouble they caused, she even scratched them under their chins. “They’re so cute when they’re docile~”

‘He did, huh…’ Freya commented on the fact Aurelio had apparently told Penny to look out for her. What an unnecessary thing for him to do… Then Penny commented on the fact she had legs because the dimension’s screwing with her. ‘… Yeah, it is. I don’t have legs. I’m a lamia, darn it. I mean, I do have them when disguised, but that's not how I really look… Why does this dimension insist on giving me legs!?’ Freya objected, not understanding the issues with trying to find images of lamias that fit both the theme of the holiday and also look relatively like her. Matters beyond her understanding regardless, she looked to Penny.

‘… How much has it done to you?’ she asked, somewhat curious.

Penny would nod in understanding, the changes inflicted on her weren’t the worst, but they were still annoying. “More this time compared to last time.” She would answer. “My legs and arms are the most visible difference. But being here also gives me a normal sense of touch, which would likely be more annoying on this island if not for the magic of the outfits.” Which honestly was rather appreciated since she wasn’t given shoes with her current apparel.

“Oh, and my eyes keep defaulting to red.” She would add on, a minor thing over all, but one that did truly get to her. Her eyes being red normally meant something else after all.

‘… Heh,’ Freya made the slightest noise of amusement. She then leaned her head back, sighed, and… guessed the first step of actually confiding something in someone else.

‘… Her name was Astrid,’ Freya eventually sighed. ‘The world I came from was destroyed. It was overrun by the were-lamia, the same beast that gives me my strength now.’

Penny would nod in understanding. “She meant a lot to you.” It wasn’t a question. “Tell me about her?” She would ask softly. She had been told to keep an eye out for Freya by Aurelio, but the boy wasn’t one to go spilling the secrets of those who confided in him. So all Penny had was conjecture at the moment.

‘… She was a confident one. I was the stoic one, she was the upbeat one. She was really strong, too. Ice-magic user. Really fond of trees, the larger the better. She was always the one saying everything would be fine, making friends left and right, geh… It all seems so childish now…’ … It suddenly occurred to her that Aurelio and her had a lot in common in that sense, she supposed… ‘… I was bitten before her. I stayed behind to save them, my last memory of her is her tear-stained eyes as my other surviving allies carried her into our last bastion as I stayed to hold them off. Of course, then a Horror decided I was more useful alive, and this happened. I was informed my homeworld was annihilated. I went back, finding it was indeed just a mass of were-lamias eating one another because they’d eaten everything else. I figured Astrid had been turned into were-lamia and then killed, like everyone else. Then… I got that text from her, the message reading like I was back home, and nothing had ever happened. Screw this bloody…’ Freya grunted, leaning her head down and sighing.

“She sounds like a good person.” Penny’s attention was lifted more towards the sky as she replied. “Pretty sure if we had a few more people like her in Penrose it wouldn’t be half the mess it is now. Curious if the trees we have here would stack up to the ones where you came from.”

She would let the thoughts of Astrid simply linger in the air for a moment. Would give the memory of this girl the respect it was due.

“Got to say though, this Horror was a bigger prick than I thought.” She’d say with a snort “Granted most Horror’s are manipulative wretches, so not terribly surprised.” She would shift her attention towards Freya as she continued on “Now, it’s fair to warn you that I am optimist, and spiteful towards Horrors, so I very well could be wrong. But it's possible that Astrid is still alive.”

“From where I’m sitting, which again I could be wrong, it sounds like there is every possibility that she got off planet just as you did. Plenty of Patrons could have done to her what yours did for you.” Which only made sense, as Patrons tended to be scavengers even if they were trying to do good. Least that was Penny’s point of view on it. “But if I am wrong, that doesn’t mean you’ll never see her again. Us magicals got the whole cycle of reincarnation thing going on after all. Never seen anywhere it says you have to be reborn on the planet you originally came from.”

‘Yeah, she was…’ Freya replied to the part about Astrid being a good person. Penny went on a bit, and…

‘… Eh, I don't really blame the Horror for that. Better me, someone about to die anyway, than grabbing someone with a future…’ Freya replied to the part about the Horror being a prick.

Freya remained silent at the part of Astrid possibly being alive, listening until Penny was finished. ‘… I have thought of it before. But, it's just so unlikely. We didn't have connections to other dimensions, and those who enlisted were assigned Pushuus to make contracts with before never seeing them again, chances of reincarnation are slim to none. I… don't even know where I'd start to look, and if I started, I'd just set myself up for a fresh dose of disappointment and loss… Wouldn't I?’ Freya asked, that last part reminding her of how Aurelio had said closing herself down wasn't the answer.

“Possibly” Penny would remark with a half shrug. “It’s entirely possible that you’re correct and that Astrid is gone.” Because while Penny was an optimist she wasn’t blind about it. “And if that is the case, mourn her, grieve her, but don’t forget to live for her.”

“But maybe you’re wrong.” She would go on after a moment “Maybe she’s out there, somewhere thinking the same as you are now. That everyone she knew from her home is gone. It’s a dark way to live, you know it, I know it. But would that stop her I wonder.”

“In the end, who knows.” Penny would say with an amused huff “I just don’t like thinking things can’t get better. Spent long enough on the other side of that mentality to know better.”

‘… Hah,’ Freya made a sound and then stayed quiet, not really having been swayed either way. Well, that's that, then. ‘… So, how are you faring? I talked a bunch about myself, but friendship is supposed to be a two-way communication, isn't it? How did you end up like this?’ she asked, kinda curious.

“Definitely helps” Penny would agree with a smirk and a nod, she wouldn’t turn down a new friend.She also didn’t realize how out of character that declaration was for Freya either. “And I’m doing good, the answer to your second is trickier though.”

“Guess it depends on how you mean ‘Like this’. Do you mean Queen? Do you mean a Monstergirl? Or do you mean something else?” She would ask smirk never leaving her face “Though I’m guessing it's more to do with the monster bit if anything. Which is the trickiest part of the tricky question.”

“Easiest answer is that I was born this way. My life started with me being monstrous and I never had a human life. Conflict on the streets and struggle for survival in the magical community are the start of my history.” She would lean back, resting her hands on the snow behind her as she spoke, gaze turning towards the sky and going distant. “But that’s hardly everything. Another answer is that I’m sort of like you, just the other way around. There was a human that got drafted into the magical world and I was the one he got infected with due to the asshole that was their Patron. He didn’t like me much, not that I blame him for that. We weren’t very compatible mentally, for a whole host of reasons.”

“Both of those are just the starting points; however, Important ones, true, but only the start. The thing that really started me down the road to being how I am now doesn’t seem all that big to me, but it was a White coin.” Penny couldn’t say why, but it really didn’t seem like a big deal to her. Even though she knew that it was, because it was where things started going weird in regards to her and her nature. “A lot of people have asked me how it is I took one and stayed a Monstergirl, and I’ve a lot of theories about it. But in truth I’m not sure. Part of it is that I didn’t want to die, I'm sure, part of it is that my magic is adaptable, part of it is probably just straight luck. I’m not sure I’ll ever fully know.”

“It broke something within me though, within the both of us really. Me and the guy I was stuck to. And we were already damaged long before that point. It gave me the strength to... act out I suppose is a good term for it.” It was the first time Penny had been able to do anything without being in the throes of a full metamorph. She probably could have handled it better, but she didn’t regret her actions. “Which led to us fighting, which hurt, because as much as we were different people we were also very much the same person. It nearly killed us.”

“Afterwards there was a time where both of us were out and about, never sure how much of that time was taken seriously by others. The situation wasn’t sustainable though and also nearly killed us. Twined soul is a Power for a reason after all. I was lucky though, since I had a chance to sit down with the creator of the Red coins. I was able to get her to modify one to help me fix the mess I was in.”

“It worked, that's why I’m still here after all. But.” She would let out a forlorn sigh. “But it wasn’t without cost. The thing is they didn’t really want to come back. The magical world can be bleak after all. And our luck had never been particularly good. Something bad happened one too many times, but I wasn’t there to help this time so it broke him. So he gave it all to me. Gave me everything I needed to patch up the holes we punched into our soul. Gave me everything he had in hopes he wouldn’t have to deal with any of this anymore. Then he passed on.”

“Far as I can tell it worked. I’m still healing, those types of wounds Regen can’t do much to help with. But I’m stable and whole while he’s at peace, so I don’t begrudge him for it.” And maybe that was wrong of her, but Jason had been in such pain that words simply failed to express. She knows that she wouldn’t be able to sit by if anyone else wished for the same thing, but for whatever reason it was different with Jason.

“That’s the short and sweet version at least.” Penny would say shaking off the melancholy, it was a dark time and place for her after all. And it had only been weeks ago technically. “Has a lot to do with why I started the Sanctuary though. I don’t want anyone to go through what I did.”

‘… Wait, so instead of him becoming a Magical Girl, you were added on top of him?’ Freya asked, looking stunned. ‘Well. No wonder the White Coin didn’t work properly, then,’ she said, then listened to the rest of the tale. The tale of how the human now had passed on, and left was the magical creation that had been added upon transformation. Freya held a slightly frowning expression as she listened to it.

‘… I’m… not entirely alike, but kind of, to what you once were. I’m also two. The difference being…’ Freya said, sighing as she reached with one hand and gripped over a black discoloration over her left arm with her right hand. ‘… I’m me, the Magical Girl I once was, joined with one of the mindless beasts that overran my home. The union gives me incredible physical strength, yet it’s always there in the background, giving me impulses and instincts. Each of our group has a title, and I’m the Union Beast, for this reason. I’m in control, yes, but…’ But she has to consume human flesh every once in a while to not lose it. She wondered how Penny would react if she told her that.

“They are always watching, always waiting. Never quite sleeping as they linger in the back of your thoughts” Penny could empathize. A lot. “They have their triggers, the things that need to happen otherwise your control slips and the world stops making sense the way it should.” She would let out a bitter chuckle.

“How am I doing?” She would ask ruefully “Because that’s how I used to be, and I know how it affected him.” It’s why she didn’t hate Jason for how he felt about her. “If I am at all close, and I think I am, your other side isn’t the same as it used to be. They have grown, changed. Can’t say how, but I am sure that they have.”

Freya’s eyes widened, and she had to turn and look at Penny with slightly parted mouth from the description. At the end of that first part… ‘… Yeah, that’s… that’s spot on…’ she said, kind of stunned. For the first time, there was someone that could relate to her, that had gone through the same thing. The difference was… Freya grunted about the part about them changing, and looked away again.

‘Changed? The were-lamia? It’s still just a hungry beast. It’s not human, it never had human intelligence. I… can’t imagine it changing in any way but developing an undying hatred of me,’ she replied, definitely doubting any form of good change in it. ‘… Ngh,’ Freya flinched a bit, once again reminded. “What if you’re wrong?”, asked the mental image of Aurelio in her head. It filled her with doubt.

“I don’t hate Jason.” Penny would say after a long moment. “Not for what we went though. I was his waking nightmare made manifest in a sense. I just wanted to have the ability to make my own decisions. I don’t hate him, but I did resent him a lot because he could choose, and all of his choices seemed to be the wrong ones to me.”

“But he changed me. Because I wasn’t human, am still not human. I effectively have a super computer for my mind and for the longest time only understood logic. From him I gained the ability to understand emotion, to both have and experience emotion. It's a gift that I can’t put into words.” She would pause for a moment to simply breathe, or at least go through the motions of such.

“I don’t know how you have changed them, only they know. They will never be human, but, and I’m likely biased here, that doesn’t mean they can’t gain their own humanity.” Penny would turn to look at Freya, an odd searching quality to her gaze. “You have changed them, just as they have changed you. They might not like you, but you do keep them alive, and you teach them things they would have never known otherwise. Hunger might drive them, but you have shown them that hunger isn’t everything.”

“There are ways to talk with them as well. Psychics could link you, Shamans could likely as well.” She would offer the searching quality of her gaze never fading. “Or I can try and talk to her if you want.” Not that Penny really thought that Freya would agree to that last one. They had only just met after all and willingly cedding control to the other half wasn’t something that anyone in their positions ever really did.

Freya leaned down her head while listening and put her hands in her face and started rubbing in mild existential crisis. ‘Not only do I need to try to break out of my bubble of not being friends with people, I need to think of the beast inside me as a person, too? What’s happened with my life?’ she asked, kind of quietly, lamenting how complicated this was getting. She considered the methods of trying to connect to the beast inside just to check how it was doing, if there was any apparent change, when Penny suggested she talk to her.

‘… How would you do that?’ Freya asked, letting her hands fall from her face and looked to Penny again.

“Blame Penrose” Penny would quip at Freya’s soft lamentation. “Gods above know that it’s a chaotic enough place to be at fault for it.” But she would turn more fully to face Freya before answering the more direct question. “I would need your help, and trust. Which I fully understand I don’t really have. We just met after all, so feel free to ignore this for as long as you want. I’m not going to retract the offer however.”

“They can take over” Penny would straight up as she spoke “But you can also let go. When you aren’t in control they are. It doesn’t feel like it I know, but that is the case. Here in Dan’s realm is the safest option for this idea, since he will shut down hostility if it comes to that. But it might not come to that.”

Penny’s appearance would start to glitch at the end of her statement and her coloration would begin bleeding away. Leaving her washed out in only white and gray. Little ticks would be notably absent as well. Penny wasn’t breathing, wasn’t blinking, and wasn’t swaying. She was static and still in a way the organic beings simply can’t reach.

She would sit like that for a moment to let Freya note the dissonance of her loss of humanity then she would blink, and with that blink Penny’s eyes would be a blazing blood red. Where once there was a simple lack of humanity now sat what could only be described as a Monster. Not for anything that could be pointed to, it was more instinctive than anything else.

“After all” She would say softly, her voice suddenly flat and mechanical, “We are kindred souls”

Freya only sighed at the first part of what Penny said. Yeah, things were so simple before she came to Penrose… Then, however, Penny started explaining. Freya blinked, looking towards Penny with a frown that seemed to ask if she was serious. It became very clear she was. Freya’s frown deepened a bit as the monster-girl watched Penny show off her inhumanity.

Freya sat still, watching Penny for a bit… then cracked a little smile. ‘… Heh… haha…’ she chuckled a bit, before slowly standing up, her amusement possibly looking a bit sinister. ‘You’re right. This dimension would be the one “safe” place to do it…’ she said, turning to look towards Penny, and also taking a couple steps back. Despite supposedly being safe, some distance for safety’s sake felt appropriate.

‘I wonder how this dimension is supposed to stop this? I’m kind of curious,’ she asked, chuckling a bit. ‘So. Are you ready?’

There would be no verbal confirmation, but with a soft click Penny’s hidden limbs would slowly unfurl and half wrap around her. She was as ready as one could be.

‘Alright, well…’ Freya swallowed, feeling and looking exceedingly tense all of a sudden, yet still smirking. ‘This was your idea…’

She closed her eyes and let it through.

‘Nkh-!’ Freya grunted as she felt the dark surges of the magic slide through her body and limbs. The dark parts of her skin suddenly expanded, taking over her arms, legs and face in black. It stretched into her hair, which suddenly extended becoming massive and white. Her legs were brought together, fused with magic and then extended far behind her. Then, fur blasted out, extending the entire length of her back down her tail, her arms were completely encompassed with them. Her skin, only visible on her stomach and up, slowly reduced back to dark from black.

‘Agh-!’ It wasn’t as controlled a process as what Penny had shown off, and Freya cried out and threw her head back from apparent pain as she let something else take over, her arms spread wide. In its place was a lamia, covered in fur, now slowly raising its head high again. She opened her eyes towards Penny. They were black with yellow irises.



… and that was about as long as it took before the whole creature immediately lunged at Penny, throwing itself at her with eyes wide and a rage-filled roar with a clawed, furred hand raised to try to rend her through with physical prowess unmatched by basically anyone in Penrose… except Penny.

There is always a moment between control being exchanged that all Monstergirls are dazed. Penny used this moment to stand, she knew what was likely coming after all no need to sit and make things more difficult for her.

She would match the lamia’s wrath filled eyes with her own dispassionate ones. And seemingly would simply await her own destruction letting the other monster dive in much closer than seemed safe or sane. But at the last moment, just before the claws would make contact with timing that only a machine can reach, Penny would roar back. But it wouldn’t be a simple sound; it would carry with it an unmitigated wall of force, a surge of repulsive gravity to knock the aggressor back aimed square into the lamia’s face.

In that same instant Penny would lash out with all of her limbs. One to grab the neck, one for each arm and two for the tail. And then she would then seek to push her advantage, hoping to step forward and force the rampaging creature to the ground and to pin her there. Each of Penny’s limbs holding firm onto the lamia. Not enough to cause pain, but enough to not be shifted. A surprise retaliation that would only ever work if Penny knew what was coming and had a chance to prepare for it.

Regardless if she was successful or not Penny wasn’t going to be staying silent. “Calm. Down.” It was an order, not a request. “Calm down Dan will force you back and let Freya step forward once more and you will never get a chance like this again.”

As the creature was already in mid-air, she came to a stop by the wall of energy by the repulsive gravity. However, her claws violently cut through the air, preventing Penny’s limbs from capturing her, and then her tail launched her from her location sideways with blinding speed, snow blasting up in her wake to cover the surroundings. The were-lamia curled around multiple trees, almost cleaving them as she did, using the snowy landscape to spin around to launch herself back at Penny-!

When Penny made the threat. Of never getting this again.

The were-lamia redirected herself and slid up a tree, leaving cracks in the bark as the powerful tail and claws were used to gain altitude. In the crown of the tree, she laid herself in a braced position, claws grabbing two branches like in preparation to launch herself again, glaring down at Penny with a dark, angry intelligence. Unlike normally, this time she hadn’t been summoned with rage pouring through her veins and an immediate need to feed. She opened her mouth, and…

‘HHHAAAAAASSSSssss-!’ … Shouted a not entirely intelligent sounding sound at Penny. Imagine a snake had suddenly got itself a human mouth and tried to make an angry threatening noise with it.

Penny made no move to approach but her advanced senses easily allowed her to keep track of where the other girl was. She would stay standing in the small clearing looking up at the other girl, noting but not caring about the damage inflicted on the trees.

“You can understand me” Penny would say with a nod “I am no threat to you right now. I can’t be a threat to you right now, but striking me will end with you being forced back down.” She would explain her limbs poised defensively. Just because the lamia could understand, didn’t mean they could be reasoned with.

“My name is Penny and I simply want to talk.” She would go on to say her gaze never wavering from meeting the other girls. “Do you have a name you refer to yourself as?” She would ask relatively calmly, all things considered.

“Don’t force the words” She would caution “Don’t think about emulating how she does it, just let the thoughts flow and instinct will take over, your body knows how to speak, let it.”

The lamia frowned down at her, her grip in the tree-branches tightening, they looked like they were close to breaking. She leaned her head down a bit, and… ‘Sha… sss… rrr… sssk… rrr… art…’ … and then she violently shook her head and shouted at Penny again. ‘SHAAAsss…!’ That wasn’t a name, it was just her being annoyed at having a mouth.

“It’s okay” Penny would try and reassure the lamia, though the lack of emotional intonation would make it come off slightly stilted “We have time. Freya ceded control, you don’t have to rush” Not yet at any rate.

“Sound it out for me one part at a time” She would say before speaking up again, with a different voice ‘Sha’ Penny would emulate each syllable after the other monster girl did. And she would be patient, because she could be.

‘… Sssshhh…’ the lamia made a noise and frowned at her. What followed was a period of time where the lamia was exploring her mouth, trying to use Freya’s muscle memory to get some form of noise to be made. ‘Shan… N. NNN! NA!’ Her eyes widened in a sudden flash of slight amazement as she found how to make an n-sound, first time she looked something else than angry. ‘… Na… na nam,’ she finished, grunting a bit as she came down from her high.

“Ah” Penny would remark, a touch sadly. Predictive algorithms, inhuman processing speeds and understanding born of having lived in that same situation allowed Penny to understand what was being said. ‘No name’ she would repeat using the monster's voice.

The lamia slowly nodded. ‘N… n… no na.. nam.’ she tried to repeat what Penny had said, with relative success.

“I’m sorry to hear that” Penny would go on to say her extra limbs lowering slightly, as they were no longer completely warranted from the looks of it. “Would you like one?” She would ask, tilting her head to the side in curiosity. “It hurts not having a name, or it hurt me, so I can give you one if you want.”

The lamia frowned at Penny from up in the tree, her tail tightening somewhat around the tree as she considered it. ‘Sshhhh… sh… shure,’ she eventually said, pulling back a little and hiding partially behind the tree for some reason.

Penny would raise a hand to her chin as she thought for a moment sifting through various names. “How does Shelyn sound?” She would ask, there were other names that Penny considered, but this was the first one she liked.

‘Ssh… Shel… lyn…’ the lamia tried to repeat, still behind the tree. ‘... Shelyn?’ she asked, managing to get it together. She let go of the tree, the whole decently heavy furred creature dropping into the snow beneath the tree, after she peeked out at Penny again, perhaps not looking quite as angry anymore. ‘Shelyn,’ she repeated again.

Penny would allow a smile to grace her features. “Pleased to meet you, Shelyn.” She would greet the other girl at last. “I’m glad that I was able to find a name you like.” Penny would retract her extra limbs fully at this point, since she no longer needed them. “It’s different being out when there’s nothing to fight isn’t it.” She would state more than ask as she sat back down under the tree.

“It’s weird, but not bad. You’re not as hungry either I bet.” She’d gesture to the area next to her “You’re free to join me over here if you want. I just wanted to talk as I said, wanted to get to know you.”

Shelyn’s eyebrows twitched a bit at being called her new name. Felt weird. Still, maybe weird in a good way. She listened to Penny’s words, not reacting particularly to them, then looked at the area gestured for her… and Shelyn shook her head. Nope, doesn’t trust her quite that much yet. Kept staring at her from a distance. Still, it was an improvement over how it was in the beginning.

Penny would nod at Shelyn’s refusal to come closer. She got it, the fact that Freya trusted her enough for this was shocking enough, Penny would start wondering if she had ended up with some sort of Monstergirl Power of Friendship if Shelyn also trusted her.

“I was wondering about you. Things you like, dislike, do you mind if I ask you about those?” She would ask instead “Or would you prefer to ask me questions?” Because she was here to learn about Shelyn and curiosity is telling. Besides, Penny wasn't opposed to making another new friend.

Shelyn frowned at Penny from over there. Liking and disliking wasn’t really concepts she’d thought about before.

‘... What…’ and with that word Shelyn suddenly paused in surprise and her eyes widened a bit, because she didn’t actually know how to say that word until it slipped out of her. She took a deep breath, tried to formulate what she wanted to say, Penny would see her mouth move as in preparation for trying to say something, before she locked eyes with Penny, and…!

‘What to tu what to me?’ … “What do you want with me?”

“To get to know you” Penny would reply with a shrug “I used to be in the same situation as you and I know it’s lonely. If I can ease that I will, because there aren't enough people looking out for us. It’s why I opened my lair to others, as I don’t think we should be left adrift without anyone to help us” She would explain the red in her eyes dimming as she did. “It drives us crazy and turns us rabid. But we are so much more than that.”

“So I just want to be your friend if I can. But if not that, I just want to make sure you know that at least one person sees you for you, Shelyn, because that’s all I can really do at the moment.”

Shelyn listened to Penny’s words, frowning as she did, but then eventually turned and looked into the tree she was holding onto instead, not likely to see many sights from that. There were things she wanted to say, but saying them was difficult. Her grip on the tree tightened a bit as she was reminded by her perpetual prison, some anger coming back into her expression.

‘... L… lonely…’ she managed to pick up the word. ‘Lon… ly… li… like? Like. Like.’ She tried getting back to the earlier question, now that she did know the why of it. What Shelyn likes, and the words needed to pronounce it. ‘... I like. I. I, me. … Feya. Feya? Feya.’ Close enough, she reckoned. A small smile emerged on her lips. She knew what she could say. She turned to smile at Penny.

‘I like hu-ting Feya,’ she said, entirely honestly. ”I like hurting Freya.”

That wasn’t something Penny was expecting to hear. She couldn’t say she was terribly shocked though, it also didn’t really cause much of a reaction from Penny, her emotions were far too muted at the moment for it to be able to.

Instead she would lean forward and ask “Why?” It was an emotional through line that Penny herself always had some difficulty following. “Hurting her, hurts you doesn’t it?”

Shelyn raised an eyebrow a bit at the question, looking a little confused. ‘… No?’ As in “no, it doesn’t hurt me”. ‘Feya, I… can. I can hut Feya fom insi. I can… make Feya feel… th… things. Te he,’ Talking was slowly becoming easier. She could want a word and it came to her lips uncalled for. Still didn’t go fast, but she was learning. She was more excited over that than the perhaps disturbing contents of her words.

This revelation would cause red in Penny’s eyes to glow just a touch brighter. Because emotional torture just wasn’t something Penny tolerated. Priorities and threat assessments would start shifting around within the android’s mind, she came here seeking a friend. She might leave here seeking a way to free one.

“That doesn’t explain why you like hurting her though.” Penny would state, her voice still a calm flat tone. “Are you doing it in retaliation? Or simply because you like causing her pain?” She also disagreed with the idea that it didn’t also hurt Shelyn, but didn’t think it was a good idea to start delving into the long term ramifications of a soul digging into itself just yet.

‘Um…’ Why is it funny? Shelyn had to take a moment to think about that. ‘… Feya’s eactions. Feya’s eactions make it funny. Feya get so fustated. … Ed? Dee? Dee!’ She waved her claws in a small happy celebration for finding how to make a d-sound.

That didn’t clear anything up. It made things more confusing in all truth. Bored and lonely, finding ways to frustrate the only person you can connect with isn’t an evil thing to do. Mean perhaps, but isolated people do things to feel connected even if it is mean spirited.

“What are your favorite ways to frustrate Freya?” She would go on to ask, since it would hopefully clear up the main point of confusion. Shelyn didn’t want anything repugnant, at least not that Penny could sus out. Which made it seem like Shelyn was fine, if a bit chaotic and likely with a difficult pallet.

Which is why the thing about causing Freya pain was so confusing, but that could also be that Penny already knew of the long term consequences and was looking at things with the wrong perspective to understand. It also could just be an emotional reason that Penny couldn’t understand at the moment due to the suspended nature of her current emotional runtimes.

‘I make Feya ungy!’ Shelyn replied with a smile. “Hungry”. ‘Feya as… has eaten, feel satisfied… den I make Feya u… hungy again! Feya get fustated! Te he!’ Shelyn chuckled at the memory. ‘I make Feya note sleep. Keep Feya awake. Feya get fustated den, too. Oh, I make Feya want to beak things, and when Feya with othes, I make Feya want to hut them. Feya eally doesn’t like that,’ Shelyn said, smiling as she did. She then looked thoughtful. ‘Hm, how doe I doe an r-sound?’ … She blinked a bit. ‘Uh. Ar? Rrrr. Ar! Fr… Fre… Freya! Hu… hur… hurt! Yes! Weee!’ Another celebration commenced.

“You realize that doing all that is the reason why Freya tries to keep you locked away so much” Penny would state after a moment. It was an odd situation watching Shelyn come to grips with how to speak. It was kind of adorable, but also sparked a small portion of jealousy since Penny wasn’t fully capable of speaking clearly when she was in the midst of a true metamorph, not the half forced state she was currently in. Granted that could be due to the inherent differences between being a machine monster vs an organic one.

“Do you hate her?” See would go on to ask, honestly curious.

Shelyn tilted her head at the first statement, looking like she didn’t entirely comprehend it. Then, on the second question, she once again had to take a moment to think. But, ultimately she arrived at…

‘… Yes,’ she said, nodding, her expression returning to a frown. ‘Fe… Freya hates me, holds me down, chains me… I get ve-y… very angy. Feya also ti… tries note to feed me… foe as long as Feya can. Though, that’s when I can hut… hurt Feya the most…’ she continued, an angry little smile appearing at the end. She then tilted her head, peering at Penny…

‘… Why are you note food?’ she asked, slight confusion in her voice.

Hate bred from miscommunication. That would be a pain to resolve. “I think she’s afraid of you more than hates you.” Penny would comment. It was more information and thankfully was making things clearer to her. She wasn’t any closer to coming to any sort of resolution however, but it wasn’t a blind situation anymore.

“And because I’ve never been your kind of food.” She would answer. “The magic here hides it from sight, but I am made and born from metal and lightning. My body and soul have always been rather intune with each other in that regard.” She would hold up her right arm and with an audible click the illusion around it would distort as the hidden chainsaw’s were unsheathed and gave Shelyn a glimpse into Penny’s true nature.

“There is also the fact I am merely a copy. Pretty sure that those don’t smell like food to you either.”

Shelyn frowned at the statement of Freya being afraid of her, her tail sliding a bit behind her. ‘… Feya ight… right to be af-iaid,’ she commented.

She then listened to Penny’s explanation, and watched how the hidden chainsaw was unveiled… and the were-lamia didn’t look particularly interested. Weirdly shaped stuff she didn’t understand and couldn’t eat. What she was interested in, however… Shelyn’s gaze wandered… and her nose sniffed at the air, using her human nose despite snake-theme because she has one.

‘… The’e was food. Food was he’e… ove… ove he’e…’ she said, starting to move, her furred snake-body starting to slither, starting to move. She was heading towards where the snowball fight had taken place, and looked like she’d leave Penny if nothing was said or done.

“You’re not going to be able to hunt down any of your preferred food while here” Penny would point out while she stood to follow Shelyn, the chainsaws retracting as she did. “We are in Dan’s realm, a Patron, he’s the one who has declared no hostilities.” She wasn’t sure if her words would be heeded, but was going to be sticking close either way. Another of her counterfeits was also moving into position to let Dan know before anything else went wrong.

The Snow Fort battle zone should be fine for the moment however; Oros striking it with the orbital cannon again should have scattered anyone else who was sticking around the area. The two other counterfeits that were working on a new snow fort elsewhere weren’t too far away in case they might be needed.

She wondered how much longer Shelyn would be in control as well. She had estimated that this outing of Shelyn’s would have ended by now already, and wasn’t sure what to make of it lasting so long.

‘… Hssssh…’ the lamia slid to a halt as she looked over the scene, frowning.

‘… Feya…’ Shelyn grunted her name… before striking her claws into the tree next to her. The claws easily cleaved into the bark as if it was liquid, leaving great holes in it. ‘I can’t hunt… and Feya knows it. The one thing I want to do… That is why… Feya not even tying to get back. Feya… must be mocking me… must find it ve-y funny…’

‘Well that answers that question.’ Penny was glad for at least some insight into where her assumptions had steered her wrong. It would take only another moment for her to run through a few different scenarios that seemed plausible before speaking up. “Considering all that you’ve done to torment her would you really be surprised?” She would ask as she stepped over to inspect the damage done to the tree with a critical eye.

“Though I doubt that’s the reason.” She would go on to say, tracing a finger along the smooth grooves in the tree around the embedded claw as she did “I was the one who asked her to let you out, Freya’s likely not fighting you because she trusts me.” Though it was more likely that Freya trusted Dan’s power in his own realm, then what Penny could do. “It wouldn’t surprise me if she was resting, fighting for dominance is exhausting, and being on guard for it at all times is even more so.”

“Your claws are quite impressive,” She would add on the end as she turned away from the damaged tree. “Would you mind if I took a closer look at them?”

Shelyn merely silently listened to what Penny was saying, considering the words but did not reply to them. She had no idea what Freya was thinking (though it was indeed that she trusted a Patron’s power). The line about claws, though…

Shelyn turned and peered at Penny slightly distrustfully, but eventually pulled her claws out of the tree and presented them to her. Very clawy claws, black and sharp, at the tips of furry hands.

Carefully, and a touch cautiously, Penny would slowly take hold of the offered claw. She made sure to keep her grip light and open so that Shelyn could take it back at any time, but otherwise spent her focus on examining the claws in their entirety. The tips were always the most apparent aspect of such a weapon, but Penny couldn’t actually do much to test those at the moment due to her nature as a counterfeit. One wrong move and she would simply fade after all. Similarly she didn’t think she’d be able to get a diagnosis on their composition, though she assumed they were more likely bone then keratin, but it was hard to know for sure when magic was in play.

There was still more she could examine though. Light prodding could reveal if they were retractable by design or not. The same prodding would help give Penny an idea about how the muscles were structured. Telling her how quickly Shelyn could snap her hand closed or open, if she could lock her hand into a position or not. Same could be found out about the wrist, though that was more about structural integrity than anything.

She wouldn’t go far below the wrist, but part of the forearm would be inspected as well since it was where all the musculature would be based. It would give Penny a basic idea of how much strength was in one arm, letting her run calculations on how much damage Shelyn and Freya could likely do.

The reason why Penny would do any of this was simple. She liked weapons, just as she liked fighting. It was rare she got to examine one that wasn’t directly related to a fight. “As I said, impressive.” She would conclude with a nod. “Any maintenance required for them?” She would ask though she didn’t expect there to be any. Penny wasn’t really aware of anyone who actually tried to maintain their weapons besides her.

Shelyn looked on with a frown as Penny conducted her investigation. Her clawed hands were covered in fur and disproportionately large, filled with powerful muscles, powered in no small part by monstrous magic. Claws were not retractable, the bone-structure of the hand was modestly human. The forearm was a bit difficult to investigate, as the fur-growth increased explosively just below the wrist, becoming very thick. Just below the wrist was when Shelyn retracted her arm, however.

‘… Maint… enance?’ she copied the word, but was unable to parse it in these circumstances. She shook her head, because the answer was probably "no". Instead, she looked off at the former battlefield again. ‘… Is the'e anything to do, he'e…?’ she asked, kind of frustrated.

Penny accepted the answer given before shifting her attention out towards the empty field of abandoned snow forts her own twice built twice decimated spot standing out to her. “Not many things that you would enjoy” Penny would answer honestly. “It’s supposed to be a place of harmless fun. Large areas skilled with snow and ice to play in, a central building to warm up in and mingle.” The thought of Shelyn going to mingle was hilariously bad due to how poorly it would likely go.

At that moment Penny would catch sight of one of the numerous snow buns cheerfully hopping about the structures. And an idea would come to her. “We could hunt snow bunnies” She would offer up gesturing to the lone bunny. “They are part of the magic of the island so I’m not sure they can truly be harmed. So you wouldn’t be able to eat them I think, but there are a lot of them. Some of which were purported to be rather difficult to wrangle.” It would be something they could do. Should also keep them away from running across others, which still sounded like a good idea.

‘… Mingle… play…’ Shelyn said the words like she had no idea what their meanings were. ‘… Feya avoids people… Feya has watched othes do it, but Feya doesn’t want to… Is it because of Feya I feel the same?’ Shelyn asked.

Shelyn turned to gaze at Penny with raised eyebrows at the mention of hunting snow-bunnies that couldn’t be eaten. Why would you hunt something you can’t eat? Yet, what were her options? Give control back to Freya? … Nah.

‘… Eh, shure,’ she shrugged, then turning to glare off through the trees, in a direction where she could unfailingly smell tiny bunny. Her prefered prey were people, but suppose she could compromise.

“Some people just don’t like mingling” Penny would reply to the asked query with a shrug. “Hard to say if you got that from her, or she got it from you, or you both have it.” She too would turn her attention more outwards, less directly in the direction of the bunny that Shelyn had noticed and more in a general scan.

“Want to make a competition out of it?” Penny would add. Tilting her head as she shifted slightly in the were-lamia’s direction. “See who can get the most before Freya wakes up?” She figured hunting simple buns would get rather boring for Shelyn, this at least meant she didn’t have to rely only on them to make it interesting. Assuming they didn’t run into a Harebringer that is.

Shelyn simply stayed quiet during the first part. Then, however, Penny said a word. Shelyn blinked a bit. ‘… Comp… etition?’ Shelyn turned to gaze sharply at Penny yellow irises glaring kind of intently. A battle to see who is the better hunter…? ‘… Hn… hn, hn, hn…’ A tiny chuckle escaped her closed lips. Why did this appeal to her this much? Why was that so much more interesting than just having a fight? Why did that… sound fun?

‘… Shure. I won’t lose,’ Shelyn stated, with amused confidence as she braced to launch herself, arms extended.

“We’ll see” Penny would say in response as her legs began glowing and she rose up a few inches, the lower two of her extra limbs would also unfurl. “We shall see”

Shelyn smirked at her, and then the two blasted off with a shock of force shaking the nearby trees. The competition was on.

---

‘Hahahaha…!’ Shelyn laughed, as she looked over her gathering of confused and/or terrified snowbuns. She was confident she’d gotten more than Penny, but honestly, she didn’t have time to count. She felt it, time was up. ‘I… I won,’ she announced anyway, and then… ‘KAH!’

She cried out and closed her eyes. A lot of fur fell off her arms. A rash of white darted across her dark skin, before it once again faced into dark. The tail briefly became covered in white fur, and then it just fell off as the two legs of the Christmas transformation came out of them. It all fell off, and left there was once again Freya, as she appeared in this dimension. She sighed out.



The clothes probably magically appeared somehow.

‘Okay, so…’ Freya started to mutter before opening her eyes to look over at wherever Penny was right now. ‘… maybe a little more than a mindless beast, I guess…’

Penny was sitting in her own pile of distraught snowbuns, though hers weren’t as terrified as the ones that shelyn had gathered together, off to Freya’s left. True to Shelyn’s statement she had in fact come out ahead of Penny in the bunny hunt. It wasn’t a large margin, only a four bunny difference, but it was still a conclusive victory.

“Notably more” Penny would agree, already back to her baseline coloration. Her shift was quicker and quieter than the lamia’s were after all. “How much can you recall from when she is out?” She would go on to ask. She didn’t want to rehash things that Freya already knew after all, and this was a circumstance that she knew could and did vary wildly between girls who could metamorph.

‘… I blanked out for a large portion, there. I figured I could relax, but I guess I relaxed too much. But I was there in the beginning, and I listened. You gave her a name. Shelyn. And she…’ Freya sighed, kneeling down and petting a couple terrified snowbuns that got a bit more comfortable with her now that she appeared to be a lot less rough.

‘… The impulses… The ones making me want to kill and eat people, to break things and surrender to beastly desires… They’re not beastly instincts trying to make me act like a were-lamia. They’re her… messing with me. … Gah,’ she said, placing a free hand in her face, trying to process this. She was pretty sure the hunger making her eat people to keep the beast fed was still real, but all the other impulses…

“You were right that you could relax.” Penny would say at first petting a bun herself absentmindedly. “All we did was talk a bit and then went hunting Snowbuns.” She would explain gesturing to the large group of buns about.

“And I wouldn’t say she is all of the impulse, but she is definitely hightenting them. You're not fully human anymore, odd instincts come with the territory. She’s likely pushing her desires out and onto yours, compounding them.” At least that was Penny’s best guess at the hows of it going on.

“You two share a belief as well. You both think the other hates you. I’m not convinced that either of you actually hate each other, but I’ll admit I don’t really know either of you well enough to be completely sure of that.” She was more or less just hoping that was the case at this point really. “I’m not saying you both don’t have valid reasons to dislike each other, you do, but most of the why’s were built on miscommunication as far as I can gather at the moment.”

“She also shares the fact that she’s somewhat of a loner with you. As the idea of mingling with other people didn’t seem all too appealing to her when conversation touched on it.” At this point Penny was just recapping anything that seemed like it would be useful for Freya to know. Hopefully it wasn’t too much of a system shock, but Penny wasn’t sure if it would be or not as she had no context for it. Jason had always viewed himself and Penny as separate entities.

“She’s cagey. A lot of the reason I think she was willing to open up to me is the fact that I’m not food and it was curious for her. Pretty sure anyone else wouldn’t have had a chance to talk her down. She likes hunting, which I’m pretty sure doesn’t come as a surprise, but I think it's more the challenge than the kill. Because she was more than willing to go chasing after all of these guys against me.” She would once again gesture around at the bunnies, this time in emphasis.

“Other than that I get the feeling she’s a free spirit. Doesn’t enjoy being locked in the back of your head with nothing to do, but that’s not all that strange. I get the feeling that anyone trying to force her to do something is going to get smacked for it” Which in hindsight meant it likely was a good thing Penny hadn’t been able to grapple her earlier.

“Lastly I’m pretty sure that some things just don’t make sense to her because of her nature. Maintenance, play, and mingle all seemed to throw her for a loop, and I doubt it was simply context.” Penny would keep her attention on Freya throughout all of that explanation. It was a lot to somewhat drop on someone, but she had just spent a lot of time in her E.o.D. priority set, choosing the non blunt straight forward approach was a few thought levels down the list at the moment.

That didn’t mean she was completely blind to how much it was to take in however. “Feel free to take a moment or five, I’m not needed anywhere at the moment. I’ll stick around to answer any question that you might have.”

Freya took the hand out of her face and calmly listened, patting snowbuns that were getting increasingly comfortable with her, which made Freya uncomfortable in turn when they started skipping and surrounding her to brush against her legs where she was kneeling. That aside, most of her focus was on listening to the speech Penny was delivering. It was a lot. But, weirdly enough, Freya could listen to most of it and think “yeah, that sounds accurate”.

At the end, she definitely needed a while to think. She put her hands together over her nose and took deep breaths into them. She took a minute or two. Honestly, she didn’t really mind Shelyn. It was just, the tiny elephant in the room.

‘I need her to stop killing people. If she can agree to that, I could let her out more often. Could you manage that, Shelyn? Can you please stop wanting to eat people? With “people”, I mean humans and monster-girls, people you can talk with. We could, like, go hunt for animals or monsters, those would be acceptable targets…’ Freya asked. She didn’t really get an answer.

‘… I don’t dare let her out with anyone she may kill. I might need to ask for your help again, and maybe Dan’s help. Just to talk with her. Other than that… do you have suggestions on what I should do?’ Freya asked, turning her head to look at Penny.

Penny was content to sit in her pile of bunnies and let Freya work though everything in her own head. Most of her caught snow buns would slowly leave Penny’s area to go join Freya’s, because now that Freya had returned the warmth of kindness of a fellow animal would always hold more sway over a machine to the bunnies.

“I don’t think she’ll ever be able to stop wanting to eat people.” Penny would say after a moment of thought. “Some monster girls can’t live on a standard diet anymore, you and her wouldn’t be the first I’ve met that needs to eat human.” She would explain her thoughts turning towards the wolf girl back at Sanctuary who needed fresh meat to simply live. “But if you can live off Animal or Monster I’d be willing to go hunting with you or her. She’s got decent self control, it’s giving her a reason to use it that's the trick I think.”

“Only other advice I’ve got for the moment is don’t try to shun her. I’m not tethered to Jason anymore, but what we went through could have easily destroyed us, and even though it didn’t. I know my soul has been scarred by what happened and some of those wounds will never truly heal.” Penny would give a somber smile at that. “You two don’t need to like each other, but finding a way to tolerate each other is preferable to hacking apart your soul to get rid of one another I’d say. The cold. It doesn’t ever really go away after that.”

‘Uh…’ Freya frowned down at all the bunnies that had decided they loved her. She was just intending casual affection, yet here they all were, very much troubling her all of a sudden. Was making it just the slightest difficult to focus, but, she managed.

‘… Animals or monsters aren’t nearly as satisfying… I don’t get… I don’t get why…’ Freya muttered. She listened to the next part, and nodded. ‘Yeah, I don’t need to… We’re the Union Beast. We’re definitely beasts, but we can work on the union part. If I can make her like me, maybe some of my problems will solve themselves. I’ll ask Ronja if she can make a psychic connection to let us talk. Who knows? Maybe this will make us stronger, too…’ she considered, wondering somehow their minds being as one would help out their power… or maybe that just wasn’t how it worked, but still.

‘Okay, I think I’m satisfied,’ Freya said, getting up from kneeling and leaving the horde of snowbuns crowding at her feet. ‘Right. Can I have a number or something if I’d like to speak with you again? … And I guess I should give you mine…’ Freya added the latter as it occurred to her that friends likely had each other’s numbers. She had been given a phone for communication, but she hadn’t really added anyone beyond her team.

“You likely need human then” Penny wasn’t at all disterbed by that as far as Freya would be able to tell, because Penny wasn’t disterbed by it at all. “And meditation might work as well” She’d offer as she stood up as well, scattering the last of the bunnies near her. “For getting in contact with Shelyn.” Penny didn’t trust anyone getting into her head after all.

“You have your phone on you?” Would be her next question “Normally I’d be able to fabricate a plate with my number on it, but not something I can do at the moment.” She would explain.

Freya noted that Penny didn’t seem perturbed, but she didn’t count on the inside being the same. Who knew what kind of judgement could be happening on the inside? That said, if there was anyone that may not, it could be Penny. Maybe. Possibly. Who knows.

‘Meditation, huh…’ Freya mentioned, while retrieving her phone to hand over.

“A guess” Would be Penny’s response as she accepted the phone. “I’ve never really been able to trust others with the inside of my head.” She would rapidly and easily send a text to herself as she spoke. “A hold over from Jason.” She would hand the phone back to Freya with the best number to reach Penny programmed in it. “Though I’ve had others try something similar to brainwashing as well.” She’d shrug “Meditation is supposed to help make your mind your own, makes sense to me that it would let you contact Shelyn.”

‘… I’ll consider my options,’ Freya said as she accepted her phone back. ‘I think it’s best I get back to the others, thanks to our session with… with Shelyn, they’re probably wondering where I went. Um…’ she looked kind of awkwardly at Penny for a bit, and…

‘Thank you… for everything so far,’ she said, decently genuinely.

Penny would simply give Freya a welcoming smile. “Any time” She’d half turn to start heading out herself, though where this counterfeit would head was anyone’s guess at the moment. “I started the Sanctuary and took up the mantle of Queen to help. I’m glad that I was able to do that for you.” She would explain, before giving Freya a wave “Feel free to drop in to the Sanctuary if you want, you can bring your friends if you want. Till next time Freya.” And with that she would head off.

‘I'll… I'll consider it. Thank you, again,’ Freya said. She sighed, before turning and jumping away, leaving a crowd of sad snowbunnies.

Still, she only got four large jumps before she came to a stop because a girl stood where she was going.

‘Did you learn a lot about yourself?’ asked the other girl.

‘… I did, yeah. It’s… not going to be useful to us, as a group, but maybe it could make me more comfortable in the long run,’ Freya replied after a brief pause.

‘I see. Did you give her your phone-number?’ she was asked in turn.

‘Er, yes,’ Freya replied, raising an eyebrow.

‘Okay, submit your phone for inspection, just in case. What do you intend to do now?’ her conversational partner responded without missing a beat.

‘I… need to talk to Ronja, see if I can get a psychic connection to the… to the were-lamia. It could… it could solve a lot of things,’ Freya said, feeling a little like she was being interrogated.

‘I see,’ the girl said, before smiling at Freya and putting a hand on her shoulder. ‘I’m happy you’re making progress, but…’ The girl then sighed a little. ‘Is now really the best time?’

‘When else would you suggest I do it?’ Freya asked with a sarcastic tone.

After a brief debriefing, Freya leapt on, leaving the other girl peering thoughtfully after her with arms crossed…

1. Freya _{stronger physical fighter}
2. Mayra _{strongest all-round fighter}
3. Ronja _{really big butt}
4. Taihei _{has a plan}
5. Mariette _{for the lolz}
6. Victoria _{let’s flood the stage}
7. Tullia _{I have a fun idea}
8. Jelena _{while eager, wouldn’t be a fun fight}
9. Suzette _{is strangely suitable}
10. Josefin _{way better for support, but has a plan}
11. Olivia _{would be frickin’ hilarious, but a free win for her opponent}
12. Esther _{she doesn’t get it}
13. Lea _{this sport is beneath her, but if she must}