BrokenPromise

Darkest Before the Dawn: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

“Justine and I with our open mouth face claims catching flies together.”

— Oros

Justine didn’t seem surprised by Alex’ revelation of his relationship with Lily, and nodded slowly to his words.
”I see that she hasn’t slowed down one bit," she added, as she glanced at the green-haired girl from one end of the room to the other. She blinked, surprised by the small animals and the familiarity Alex expressed with them, but decided not to inquire upon it.
”Doesn’t seem like it," she answered his question, as Lily was now over at the Christmas tree, hopping up in an attempt to reach a crookedly placed decoration.
”But it is honestly only a matter of time before we cross paths again. She seems to know nearly everyone here. How enviable..."

Justine’s enthralling weekly post conversation with Alex would soon be interrupted by a girl that wanted to collab with her.

“Hey! Lez-bean!” Taking Betty’s seat was some pink haired punk that wasn’t Sakura. She had looked rather pleased for most of the party thus far, if Justine had cared to watch her. Though even a less astute individual would notice her ‘nog-stash on her upper lip. “So you’re supposed to be pure and stuff now, right? No connection to Father, no longer a monster, ready to repent, maybe get a waifu or three?” she lifted her glass to her lips. “That last one’s for a friend of course.”

By this point Justine was no longer startled by the appearance of sudden visitors, and sighed in relief as she also came to peacefully talk instead of berating her. However, she did look a bit befuddled by Oros’ sequence of questions, and she placed her bat plushie on the table to join her hands together on her lap. She hoped Alex didn’t mind the sudden interruption between their conversation.

”Well, uh...I’m definitely not connected to Father anymore, that much I’m sure of. And I...I no longer feel the same drive that pushed me before. That must have been the influence of corruption. Yeah, these wings are not as powerful as before," she said as she gestured to her back, where her white wings could be seen.
”But, umm, did you mean to say wife with that last question?"

The jovial girl’s demeanor changed in an instant when Justine posed her own question. When Oros’s cup lowered to the table, there was a sneer on her face.

“You mean to tell me you’ve been around the block for five-hundred years and haven’t integrated into weeb culture at all? We’re truckin’ called magical girls because of a bunch of Chinese cartoons for crying out loud! Jesus Christ, your old boss was an ass hole!” Justine leaned back, confused and regretting that she brought the semantics up in the first place. Oros shoved her glass off to the side, and it slid aaaaaaaaaall the way down the table before coming to a stop at the other end. Oros wiped off her nog-stash, and her sneer seemed to come off with it as she was smiling again. “But hey! Now you can get on Glimmr and figure out what the hell a waifu is, you old grandma!” She laughed.

”Glimmr, huh..." She mumbled, clearly having lived in a very different world from Oros.
”I’ve heard of that service. I could try making an account there as well."

“Now I was going to ask you something before you committed that heinous sin right before my eyes, just let me regain my train of thought.” She lifted her finger to her lips and did just that. A few seconds later, she spoke. “That’s right!” she folded her hands together under her chin. “Your reception seems a little mixed, huh? Seems like a lot of your old enemies are willing to let sleeping dogs purify, and then you have. mmmm…” She glanced around. “Most everyone in Cradle hates you?”

Justine sighed. ”Something like that," she answered, and took the plushie back from the table.
”I’d need to prove to them that I can be trusted. Do you know of any good methods to do so?" She asked.

“Well, I don’t want to toot my own horn, but as a former monster girl who went from being hated by most everyone to loved by most everyone, and a good friend of the Cradle, I’d say that I’m probably the most qualified to help you. Possibly the only one.” Oros placed her hands together in front of her face, like she was praying. “Trust isn’t what you need. Seems like most of the people at this party don’t really care that you almost doomed love and killed Mariette, or that you are responsible for countless magical girl deaths. Understandable really. I mean, everyone’s going to come back in fifteen or so years, and it’s not like you personally executed their loved ones. Besides, it’s really, really obvious you’ve been purified now. All you have to do is not be an ass hole and the bulk of everyone will keep not giving a shit about lez-bean-von-this-smell. Most view the influence of a horror or monstrous mutation as something that is impossible to resist.” She pointed at Justine. “But you and I know differently. While it’s difficult, it’s not impossible, and those who can resist don’t look favorably on those that don’t. Cradle is made of those that resist their dark urges, and they don’t see that strength in you. It’s also important to remember that most everyone else would care just as little had you been killed. But while the bulk don’t give a hoot, you can bet that there are a few people who are right pissed that you didn’t get the ax. Maura’s choice to spare you gave the Cradle a lot of negative PR. You can imagine how shockedthe Cradle agents are. Veronica always put the good of her agents first, and now Maura’s out here trying to do the pacifist route in Undertale.” Oros rolled her shoulders before lowering her hands onto the table. ”You don’t want trust, you want respect. Stop acting like a sniveling mouse. You can regret what you did, but let’s be honest; even if you’ve been purified, those dark desires were always a part of you.” She swung her arm towards the staircase that Eliza had run up. “I could tell myself that I don’t care about chasing tail anymore. But I’ve decided to embrace that part of myself. I just don’t need nearly as much tail as I thought I did. What did you enjoy most when you were corrupt?”

Justine occasionally nodded as she listened to Oros' advice, and bit her lip.
”What I enjoyed most? Well, it's hard to say exactly, but it was the high tension. When I wove those grand plans or surrounded myself with thralls, I felt like a divine being who had the right to mold the destiny of the world. But more than that, when I faced off against my enemies, it was like a great fire was lit in my soul, a never-ending ride of thrills and excitement. It wasn't just about winning or losing, but living the drama."

“In other words, megalomania: The obsession with your own power or delusions of grandeur.” Oros sighed. “But that was then. You’ve been purified, so those desires can’t be that intense anymore. Do you miss anything, Lez-bean? Your mansion? Your power? Your thralls? Your maid?”

For a moment, Justine was silent. A single tear dropped into her bat plushie.

”My sister, Caroline. She has disappeared for what must have been months now. I dearly wish to find her, so that I could release her from Father's curse as well."
She wiped her tears.
”Have you also lost people you'd wish to see again, Miss…?"
She looked awkward as she realized she didn't know her name.

“Oros? Manager of the Golden Trove? Newest sensation in Penrose? Guess they let you go sooner rather than earlier.” Oros chuckled. “But no. I didn’t have any siblings and my parents weren’t around much. Outside of them I’ve never had a relationship last longer than a few months, and I probably never will.” After flashing a smile she scratched the side of her head. “But we’re getting off point. What I’m trying to get you to do is address your shadow self. There’s some dark part of yourself that’s intrinsic to your nature, and ignoring it is what’s holding you back." Justine irked at the idea of coming to terms with her 'shadow self', but Oros continued. “Here, let’s take your embarrassing exchange with Betty and use that as an example. Hold on, this will be more fun with props.” Oros scooped Justine’s madcap up and placed it on her head, which caused Justine to gasp.

”Hey-!" She exclaimed. But Oros couldn't be stopped by words. She then slouched, squared her shoulders, and avoided making eye contact with Justine.

“Do I look like a divine being who has the right to mold destiny to my very whims?” She pulled her hat over her eyes and hugged her pig plush. “I’m sorry Betty, the whole mind whammy thing was just done on a whim for the lulz. I-I didn’t really think it through, and I’m really sorry now that I have to face repercussions for m-my actions. You probably think I care more about what people think about me than actually being a good person. A-and-” Oros exploded with confidence. Her hands fell on her hips, her shoulders were rolled back, and her chest was puffed out. She was also bearing the toothiest grin that Justine had ever seen, and Justine was a former vampire. “You bet your sweet ASS I care what people think about me! I’m not proud of what I did in the past, but I’m settling the score right now! And you wanna know why I mind whammied you, Betty? Because ‘Ronica made it super easy! You’re also a dynamite babe, and in the heat of the moment I thought it would be good to have you at my side. But when I got a hold of myself later, I realized I’d need to take care of Cradle first. So I passed you over to the Mint with the idea that I’d reclaim you later. Phu phu phu phu phu!” She plopped Justine’s hat back on her head. “Wasn’t my second impersonation of you strangely more charismatic?”

Justine couldn't believe how abrasive this girl was...But in her own way, she was trying to help her.

”So you're saying I should be more confident about myself? That I...accept my past as a personal strength rather than a burden?"

She looked down at the table.

”That's surprisingly inspiring."

“Well it should hardly be inspiring coming from me. They don’t exactly air just anyone on the radio. My charisma is no joke.” She patted Justine’s funny hat and straightened out the ribbons. “You’re a bad bitch lez-bean, but so was ‘Ronica, and that didn’t stop people from trusting her.” She looked towards Emily and Tetrad. “Oh shit, they’re all going to ditch me if I’m not careful. ” Oros stood up. “I know I said I haven’t had a relationship last more than a few months, but I’m trying to change that. If your relationship with your sister lasted five-hundred years, perhaps you can go at least half as long with Cradle. But it’s not going to happen if you mope around here.”

Justine nodded, looking a bit better than before.
”Yeah...That’s right, I shouldn’t be sitting here. I should be out there, talking to people. Even if some won’t like it, it means I’m making a difference, that I’m moving forward. Oros, thank you so mu-"

But Oros had already left, off to join her friends. But, Justine didn’t feel bad about it.
Justine clenched her fist.
”My past...I won’t let it shadow me. My future is mine to make. Do you agree, mister Alexander?"

---

Oros didn't get far before she was stopped by that nameless girl that participated in the Lord of Change's game. She just looked at Oros with her arms folded.

“What? I can't screw around a little bit?” The girl shook her head dismissively and walked off. Oros just smiled to herself and shrugged. She grabbed Emily by the back and hoisted her up into the air. Oros then shook her just enough to force her to release Tetrad, and carried the girl outside. “See you later tit-rad!”

”That is not my name!”

But Oros was too wrapped up in her own thoughts to care much about what Tetrad was saying. “Oh yea, it's all coming together.”

Darkest Before the Dawn: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

”Why couldn't the octopus join the navy? He was too army! Hah! I crack myself up!”

— Betty “Biohazard” Barton

"Our text colors are actually different.”

— Tonya “Mac” Murphy

Tonya “Mac” Murphy

Age: 24/11 | Gender: Female/Female | Illusion, Gravity
Body | Power of Friendship, Regeneration, Third Eye | Moirai
Coercion, Soul Jar, Martial Training, True Sight, Parasite, Gifted, Awareness, Overcity Shift, Mystic Artifact

Magical Overload, Paragon, Blessing, Gifted Item | Monster Form, Big Brother, Arrogance, Vendetta
Redirected Magic, Second Specialization | Non-Standard Limbs, Destroyer

STR: 05 | AGI: 04 | VIT: 05 | MAG: 03 | LCK: 03
+46
STR: 21 | AGI: 21 | VIT: 21 | MAG: 20 | LCK: 20

Earnings this post: Harebringer = pet, 1 Gold

Remaining: 7 Gold, 28 Silver, 38 Bronze
Total: 11 Gold, 160 Silver, 182 Bronze

Betty was on the hunt, ready to pet a Harebringer no matter the cost. Soon enough, she found herself at a small hill ringed by trees, which she found suspicious due to an oddity with the place; it was completely swarming with Snowbuns. There were Snowbuns sliding down the hill, Snowbuns climbing up, Snowbuns shaking tree branches, stacked like totems or even sleeping in little bundles. Some kind of phenomenon was drawing all these Snowbuns here. Then, Betty saw a glimpse of the Harebringer at the top of the hill; it was white like the other Snowbuns, but it wore a bunny-themed army helmet with a playing card sticking out of it. Based on its chittering at a row of three Snowbuns with goofy oversized helmets before it, it seemed to be talking to them, or perhaps even lecturing them.

The Cradle agent’s past woes, from Justine to her breakdown to the Lord of Change’s trick were all out of her mind. right now it was all about her petting one of those harebringers.

She was hiding behind a tree, hoping her pale skin and white hair would help hide her position. Betty had initially planned on a stealthy approach, but the terrain made that hard. It was hard to cover your tracks in snow, which also made a crunching sound when you stepped on it unless you were a snowbun. The trees were a better option, but they were also covered in snow, and so much as a snapping twig could alert everyone to her position. It wouldn’t be as simple as just walking up behind the harebringer and petting them. They were even wearing a helmet, which likely had to be removed before she could brush her fingers across its plush scalp.

But the commando inspired helmet did give Betty an idea. Doing things the stealthy way wasn’t entirely out of the question. Instead of being a ghost, she could use guerrila tactics to get closer to the harebringer that way. All of her bladed weapons had turned into candy canes of varying lengths. They were the perfect tools for pulling critters towards herself. She didn’t have to sneak past an army of snowbuns, she just needed to get close enough to them so that she could take them out, then move on to the commando harebringer before they became too suspicious.

Betty took to the trees. Some snow might fall from the branches, but the trunk of a tree was really the best way to hide her red and black suit. She had rubbed some snow on it, but it wasn’t quite the same as rolling in mud in vietnam. She was ready.

A snowbun had slid down the hill and was getting ready to head back up when a candy cane reached out from the evergreens and yanked it into the branches.

Another one decided to shake a tree for pine cones, only to have a pile of snow fall onto it’s head. Soon it too was scooped up by a candy cane and pulled into the trees.

A pile of sleeping snowbuns was sleeping a bit too close to the treeline. One at a time, they were pulled into the greenery when there were no eyes to watch them.

Not even the totems were safe. The bottom one would get yanked into the trees, and the falling snowbuns would get collected by candy canes held in place by wind magic.

Betty was picking off the snowbuns one at a time. Giving them a pet and returning them to the petting zoo. she planned to do this until she had thinned them out enough to where she could climb the hill without being noticed.

Of course, Betty was being noticed. But that was only because Mac had followed her here. While Betty was being careful, stealth wasn't really her forte. So why not give her a hand with some illusion magic? It was the least she could do for someone as broken as she was right now.

Like a legendary reptilian soldier, Betty solidly snaked her way through Snowbun after Snowbun, the oblivious little creatures having been stealthily taken out by tactical petting action.
As Snowbuns came down the hill to investigate the disappearance of their fellow comrades, even more of them were petted, until only the Harebringer and his trusted soldiers remained.
Luckily, the general himself was too distracted by his chittering to notice the growing silence on the hill, allowing Betty the chance to climb up the hill. However, Betty happened to accidentally step on a twig hidden underneath the snowy coating of the hill; the Harebringer was prepared for sneaking hunters. He turned to see Betty approach, surprised by the disappearance of his fluffy troops.

Betty froze in place. Her eyes flicked between the harebringer and her foot. It was always a bit disappointing when your 100% stealth run was forfeit by something so small, doubly so when you’re supposed to be a Cradle agent. Today it was just a twig, but what if it had been a pitfall trap? What if it had been a snare that did something humiliating like hang her upside down from a tree? What if the snare also reverted her back to human form, and suppressed all of her magical powers so that she couldn’t escape? What if the harebringers had a recipe for Betty stew, and had a spit set up so that they could grill her? What if they were so barbaric that they’d just eat her alive? What if this was all a clever ruse Justine worked out with Dan to have her removed so that Maura could be taken off the map? Clearly, Betty’s screw up was unforgivable, and she’d reprimand herself for it later. Even if the idea of a bunch of snowbuns nibbling her was kind of cute, it was still bad!

Mac on the other hand knew the twig was an illusion she herself had placed there. She wanted to help Betty as much as the next person, but without a little bit of chase, this hunt would be rather stale.

Betty steeled herself, preparing for a split second change of plans. She held her candy cane over her shoulder like a batter and attempted to teleport right beside the harebringer. With any luck, she’d knock the helmet off of his head.

For the briefest moment, the Harebringer and Betty exchanged looks, the military-themed Snowbun visibly impressed by Betty’s skills. However, he was not going to be petted without a fight. The moment he chittered a command to his soldier buns, Betty made her move; she teleported up to the Harebringer in a motion similar to punting the round creature as if it was an oversized golf ball. To her surprise, that exactly happened, though it wasn’t her goal, as she aimed to knock a helmet off. Instead, a soldier bun leapt in the way, sacrificing themselves with a teary look as it flew far to the distance, blinking like a star in the sky.

Betty’s eyes traced the snowbun through the sky. Her jaw hung lower and lower until the snow bun vanished from sight. The Cradle agent finally looked away, feeling nothing but regret for what had happened. She’d have to see if she could find that snow bun later. But for now she had to avoid thinking about the horrors of war so that she could complete her mission. Her eyes became intense when she refocused them on the harebringer.

Mac knew this would be good, and was glad she kept her distance.

Now left to two soldier buns, the Harebringer’s eyebrows furrowed, and a magic circle formed vertically around him; suddenly, a wave of Snowbuns crashed through the portal, piling up like a stream of Cocoa Puffs in a cereal bowl, overflowing to the rest of the hill and knocking Betty back about one-third down the hill. That was when Betty realized what the lagomorph leader had in mind; the Snowbuns began to stick together in a single shape, forming a giant bipedal humanoid construct made entirely out of the fluffy creatures. The two soldier buns popped out of the shoulders of the mecha-like combination, in control of the arm Snowbuns, while the Harebringer’s face popped out of the center of the chest and was in control of the legs. With a chittering command, the soldier bun on the right prepared to slam a massive fluffy fist down at Betty, while the soldier bun on the left pointed a cannon arm at her, shooting a scattershot of Snowbuns. Mac now wished that she had picked a spot behind the treeline. She laid on her back and allowed the plush bodies of the snowbuns pass over her. Some of their ultra-soft bodies smacked into her, but it wouldn't have any lasting effects on the former police officer.

Betty had just managed to stand up again when the, hmm, she needed a name for it. Snowbun Prime would have been okay, but the way the harebringer and their soldiers were working together, it was more reminiscent of the megazord from the Power Rangers. Yes, this was the Snowbun Megazord! No, that was still too long. It wasn’t entirely correct but maybe she could call it the Snowazord? Yes! Now that was a name that embodied the ferocious cuteness of the adorable monstrosity in front of-

Betty dodged the shot of Snowbuns that bounced on the snow, and managed to side step the snowazord’s fist just moments before it crashed on top of her. The entire arm compressed like jello from the impact, and the impact kicked up snow onto her. Betty ignored the snow for now and used the opportunity to jump onto the arm and scale it up to the shoulder. The arm’s fluffy, gelatin-like nature meant that she had to be on her toes to avoid getting struck by flying snowbuns. With any luck, she’d be able to pet the soldier controlling the arm.

The shoulder Snowbun’s helmet dropped off after the impact of the punch shook the Snowazord, leaving the little lagomorph vulnerable to a sudden petting thanks to Betty running up the arm of the ridiculous mech and plucking the Snowbun out of the white mass.
The Harebringer seemed to realize that a giant mecha was unsuited in a fight against one as agile as Betty was, and chittered again; now, the mass of Snowbuns bounced Betty off, and transformed into a sphere of Snowbuns, before it flattened into a pool of the creatures. That was when Betty realized the general’s helmet flew into the snow next to her; it had now blended in with the mass of Snowbuns thanks to its white fur. The mass of fluff now slowly began to hop around in an attempt to overwhelm Betty.

it was fortunate that the snow was so soft, because being thrown repeatedly from any hight was sure to rattle her poor brain at some point. And having a working brain was something she felt like she’d need, especially with the absolutely ludicrous number of snow buns hopping around. Maybe it was too late. She had no idea what she was going to do. Panic started to set in as she was unsure how to deal with the problem. She wasn’t a snowbunologist. Neither was Mac. In fact, mac was at a loss for words as to how to deal with something like this. It wasn't like her third eye could pick a harebringer out of a crowd of snowbuns. But Betty wasn't dettered. She was a Cradle agent, and steeled herself again.

The Cradle agent picked up the helmet and wiped the snow off of it. She then placed it on her head. it was a little big, but she felt like it it was bestowing some of the harebringer’s power on her (it wasn't, actually). She flexed her fingers and prepared to charge into the pile of snowbuns. But then she had a random thought: had the harebringer abandoned his helmet? a pool of snowbuns was intimidating, but couldn’t she just pet them all?

Before she did anything else, Betty stomped, and a gust of wind blew away from her in all directions, scattering the snow in the immediate vicinity. She had come too far to let the harebringer escape now.

The sudden strong breeze caused the tide of Snowbuns to part, like Moses parting the seas.
Chittering noises accompanied the spectacle, as surprised Snowbuns reacted to being thrown around. That's when Betty spotted a Waldo in the crowd; one of the Snowbuns did not chitter or even blink as the wind swept them.

The genuine article? A ruse? Betty wasn’t sure. There was still a soldier unaccounted for, but she didn’t have time to second guess herself. She focused her mana, and with a quick hop, teleported to the snowbun’s position to stroke the rascal’s head.

Betty succeeded in running her fingers through the creature’s warm, fluffy fur...That seemed to stick. In fact, she couldn’t remove her hand from the Snowbun, who now blinked, as if confused by what was happening. She realized that it was the last soldier bun, and he was enchanted by the Harebringer to have adhesive fur. That is also when Betty felt something round and fluffy slam into her back, and turned to see the Harebringer; he was visibly furious, with furrowed eyebrows, frowning mouth, and a red aura that glowed around him.

After the first slam, Betty noticed something strange pop up in the upper right corner of her vision: a bar had appeared titled “STAMINA”, which had been depleted one-fifth after the slam.
Betty noticed that she was beginning to get a bit hungry. The Harebringer slammed again, and that feeling of hunger grew stronger, weakening her; the Harebringer’s final tactic was to reduce her STAMINA to zero and knock her out.

Mac was powerless to do anything. She could resolve the situation easily, but not without giving away her possition. Betty needed to do something if she wanted any help.

Betty whimpered. It took the harebringer a moment to find a tactic to subdue a slippery opponent like her, but they finally did it. Her impressive agility meant nothing with her hand pinned in place, and she wasn’t going to just blink away after blinking towards the snowbun soldier. Since just her hand was stuck, she could orientate herself differently, but as long as she was stuck to this snowbun, could she expect to pet the harebringer? Her mind immediately flashed to the rave, a moment she could barely remember. She felt just as vulnerable now as she was then. Betty braced herself as the harebringer struck her a third time. This could be the end. Or at least it would be if the harebringer hadn’t underestimated her determination.

Betty’s weapons had all become candy canes, which made cutting through her arm impossible. But she was still able to break her humerus with a single swing. She winced in pain, but had already committed herself to winning at all costs. She gave the harebringer an equally furious glare over her shoulder. Between the last three strikes, Betty had worked out the tempo of the harebringer’s attacks. As the harebringer drew closer, she hopped over the soldier in front of her. She couldn’t go very far, as her hand was still stuck to the head of the soldier bunny, but the sticky snowbun was now between the harebringer and herself. If the soldier didn’t stop the harebringer, what happened next most certainly would.

Betty bit through her bicep while pulling away from her trapped arm. She didn’t have Trixy’s bite, but did have enough strength to tear the rest of her body free. A spray of crimson soaked the harebringer and the soldier. With her determination to win and pain overriding all of her other senses, Betty let out a war cry and Rushed towards the harebringer.

To give it a gentle pet.

The Harebringer expected Betty to jump and avoid its attack, and dodged to the side of the soldier bun, who by now had realized it did not want to be in this precarious position, and began to wiggle in an attempt to break free of Betty’s hand.
The Harebringer dashed hopped to the side of the soldier bun, ready to give one last hard slam to end Betty’s hunt, when something happened even the battle-hardened ball of fluff couldn’t have seen coming; blood. The Harebringer turned away to avoid being blinded by the spray, but when he turned it was already too late: Betty’s hand now rested atop him. At that moment, the Harebringer turned docile, and removed the spells he had made on the soldier bun and the other Snowbuns. Then, it slumped down, partially flattening like a pancake as it now closed its eyes, exhausted from the intense battle.

With a sigh, Betty turned around and fell backwards onto the resting harebringer. She didn’t need a stamina gauge to tell her that her body had been pushed to its limits. She reached for her dismembered arm and shoved it onto her stump. Fortunately, Betty always kept her healing artifact on her person. the tiny lantern’s glow went to work mending her arm back together. Even for a cradle artifact, a severed limb was something that would take time to heal. But the pain was starting to subside as bone and flesh knit themselves together again. Her breathing slowed, and the frenzied look in her eyes softened. It was fortunate she had chosen to wear a lot of red, as Betty wasn’t sure if her healing magic would clean her outfit. She doubted it would.

While her arm healed, she removed the army helmet she had borrowed from the harebringer commando and placed it back on his head. It was a difficult chase, and she wasn’t entirely satisfied with how all of her choices played out. But in the end, her willingness to use desperate tactics enabled her to triumph over her opponent. But with the operation completed, her mind drifted to other things. Maura, Justine, the friend raffle. She found her breathing started to accelerate again.

But wait, the opperation wasn’t over.

She had sent all but 1 soldier to the zoo. Even if this was an intense game of tag, surely swatting a snowbun into the stratosphere was overkill. Betty felt a strange kinship with the soldier. She too had been seperated from her group for a time, and the idea that such a noble creature was still out there didn’t sit right with her.

Her arm still ached, but that didn’t stop Betty from pushing herself to her feet. She vaguely remembered which direction she had swatted the soldier in. Perhapse if she kept walking in that direction, she could find and pet it.

...

Mac breathed.

She too petted the rabbit before departing. As stressful as the situation was for Betty, Mac was also concerned for her in that moment. All that blood and work to touch a bunny. Mac could almost drink after watching that spectacle.

Though she also understood Betty's struggle. That desire to be accepted by others.

In a way, Mac had it easy. She didn't need to care what anyone wanted, but that was because her parents showered her with love. It was also somewhat flattering to be chosen by fate to save other worlds. Fate itself felt like she was important enough to carry out its tasks. Though Mac also felt like she could learn something from Betty. Seeing how far she was willing to go for her faction was inspiring. That wasn't something Mac could do, and she knew it. Recently at least, she hadn't been too good at her job. At least as far as making fate happen that was. Even if Betty was a little screwy and vulnerable, her effort was something to learn from.

What a wonderful holiday. How many more interesting characters would she encounter?

Darkest Before the Dawn: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

"You know what I need? Mo money.”

— Tonya “Mac” Murphy

Tonya “Mac” Murphy

Age: 24/11 | Gender: Female/Female | Illusion, Gravity
Body | Power of Friendship, Regeneration, Third Eye | Moirai
Coercion, Soul Jar, Martial Training, True Sight, Parasite, Gifted, Awareness, Overcity Shift, Mystic Artifact

Magical Overload, Paragon, Blessing, Gifted Item | Monster Form, Big Brother, Arrogance, Vendetta
Redirected Magic, Second Specialization | Non-Standard Limbs, Destroyer

STR: 05 | AGI: 04 | VIT: 05 | MAG: 03 | LCK: 03
+46
STR: 21 | AGI: 21 | VIT: 21 | MAG: 20 | LCK: 20

Earnings this post: Zilch

Remaining: 6 Gold, 28 Silver, 38 Bronze
Total: 10 Gold, 160 Silver, 182 Bronze

In the end, Mac decided to let the opportunity pass her by. Yes, meeting an old friend was something she wanted to do more than anything else in the entire world, but there was too much at stake. Just because she had some of the most impressive illusion magic in Penrose, that didn't mean it was a get out of jail free card if she abused it. Like here, it was very likely that the horror would have called out her name if she had won, regardless of how potent her illusion magic was. Even if that didn't happen, it would be odd if someone was summoned who no one recognized. But perhaps it was best that the dead stay dead. IT turned out to be the right move, as the horror was just fishing for dark emotions. But that didn't make her feel any better about the ordeal.

Maybe she'd go with Betty and see about hunting one of those harebringers.

“Bitch be stealin’ my hoes!”

— Oros

Oros wasn’t at all disappointed that her vote didn’t go through. She had a pretty good idea Eden wouldn’t have shown up anyway. She had just originally been designed with Eden in mind, and it was a little upsetting that they’d never get to meet. Such was the way of play by post roleplays. What did irritate Oros however was that she was in squeezing distance of both Em and El, and Em ran over to some bimbo who wasn’t even a PC anymore. But this irritation was short lived, as Oni came wandering over to her.

“Hey Oni!”

Now Em was sickly sweet, something Oni couldn’t quite live up to. But there was some naivety there, and her shyness made her that much more endearing to the hotel owner. Oros’s heart skipped a beat when she was handed a gift. She examined the careful wrapping job, and was prepared to open it herself when Oni mentioned who it was for.

“…Oh yea, her.” The corners of Oros’s smile twitched. “Yea, bananas. She’d really like something like that. We share a patron, so locating her shouldn’t be too hard.” Her eyes suddenly became very big. “So what did you get me?”

Oros could sense El was uneasy about something. She was aware of the newly arrived guest. Personally, Oros didn’t really care about some secret reveal character during an event. She was already the coolest character at the party, paired with El who had to be the best dressed out of everyone there. But if she had to go… “Guess we’ll meet up later for fun stuff?”

”Hey ah-” Tetrad looked around nervously. ”I mean, yea? I’m pretty sure I am. What’s with the emotional response? It hasn’t even been two weeks since I left!” There was no way Tetrad was going to escape this bear hug. It’s a known fact that the glomp of a cinna-bon is inescapable. ”Guess if I was thinking I’d have invited Trixy. She really wanted to see Betty again, not like they haven’t been texting each other non stop. Speaking of, I should probably Personally thank Oros for-” It was a bit difficult to figure out who was speaking to her, given that their pronouns seemed to switch mid-paragraph. Come to think of it, didn’t some other attractive “woman” come on strong like that? ”Hold on.” She fret her brow, ”are you cross-dressing?”

@Majoras End@FamishedPants@Ponn[@Aribaby]

---

”My Figma came today. Now I’m the main character!”

— Betty “Biohazard” Barton

It wouldn’t have been so bad if Betty’s vote had just not been picked. But it had been picked, and then she was told that her vote was forefit because apparently some horror with the power to control causality somehow couldn’t bring Kate to the party. Furthermore, she was not allowed to make another vote. Why had the Lord of Change chosen to have her recieve a text from Kate if it wasn’t someone they could bring to the party? Betty was sure her jaws were going to crush her teeth, but she just couldn’t relax. Fortunately, the events from before were so exhausting she didn’t have the strength to get upset about it anymore.

”Maura, I’m going to go see if I can catch a bunny.”

Catching a harebringer was likely more aggravation than it was worth, but Betty needed something to focus on. She always did better when she had a clear objective or goal to accomplish. She didn’t wait for a response before leaving.

Darkest Before the Dawn: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

”There’s just enough of me to go around.”

— Binky

Some people might think Binky felt left out by not being at the party, but they would be thinking wrong. As delightful as a sip of eggnog with Betty would be, she hadn’t exactly enjoyed her vacation in the beech dimension. With her luck, the lower half of her body would be frozen in an ice cube, and she wouldn’t have enough mana to thaw herself out. No, it was best she remained here. It was just a shame she couldn’t be there to comfort Betty.

Just as well. Someone had to manage the hotel. Of course, that was well under way thanks to Binkies many clones. There wasn’t a lot of things for her to do. It was kind of upsetting, really. Ever since Binky became a magical girl, she had pretty much been slaving away making coins. Under veronica, she made coins, under beacon, she made coins, and even now she was working on coins. IT was a shame she couldn’t do anything else. She hadn’t ever slain a monster before, and Sammy chasing her was the closest she had gotten to a real fight. Even if the red coin helped a few people, she felt like she wasn’t doing enough. Even when Betty got captured, there was nothing Binky could do to really help her. Some outside girl ended up getting her back.

Binky picked up a red coin, examining it. She wanted so badly to use it, but Betty had already said she liked Binky just the way she was. But why? Who could possibly like someone so pathetic? Was Betty’s comment just a result of Stockholm syndrome, or was there something worthwhile for her to do here?

*knock knock*

Binky had locked herself away in her room. She was pretty sure no one had even seen her enter the door. Maybe if she just ignored it-

*knock knock*

It wasn’t Oros, she’d just invite herself inside. Same with Aria. Betty could teleport through the gap in the door. Maybe it was a confused guest? All she had to do was wait and-

*knock knock*

No, no it wasn’t possible. Had the Mint discovered her location? She lifted up her covers and prepared to climb under the bed. Before she could start, a voice called out to her.

”Binky.” The stranger’s voice caused the entire room to tremble, but she sounded like a relaxed sigh. Almost as if she was whispering directly into her ear. ”We haven’t met. But, Oros told me, you were here.” She breathed out.

Binky remembered Oros talking about a special guest. She sighed and turned towards the door. ”What do you want? I’m busy.”

”Bro.” She exhaled again. ”I want, to get paid, for my job.” there was a slow inhale from the other side of the door. ”You’re weak, Binky. But you want, to be strong, right?”

The coin forger folded her arms. ”I made the red coin, but I choose not to use it. If I want to get stronger-”

”Bro.” The stranger inhaled again. ”Transforming, is like, just one way to change, man.” Binky was pretty sure there was some golden smoke lealing into the room from under the door. ”Fast results, aren’t like, lasting, results. You can, get stronger, without coins.”

Binky was skeptical of the stranger’s words, but her interest had been piqued. As soon as she flicked the lock, the door creeked open.

”Ahhh.”

What walked in was some white haired girl with a body suit and the largest dart gun Binky had ever seen. And some stuff happened after this, but BP’s writing software took a big ol’ dump on him again. He has figured out why this keeps happening to him though, so that is good. Regardless, he’s not going to write out the rest of this scene again. We’ve got some other shizzle to frizzle!

---

“I was happy once, I’ll never do that again.”

— Lord of Change

Most of the magical girls present were hungrily sending texts to the Lord of Change. Each sent one caused a card to appear and fall into a pile. Even some late arrivals at the party were playing the game. Pac-a-fist had taken the day off to join in the magical girl fun, and someone else was sending a text as well. Even Aria’s familiar Rupy had taken out a cell phone and was texting on it.

”I can’t believe you would vote against me, Rupy. After all we’ve been through!”

The texting spree was over and done with pretty quickly. The lodge became deathly quiet as the Lord of Change lifted their head and glanced at those present.

“A total of 25 votes.” The Lord of Change cast their hand towards the cage spinner, and the pile shuffled itself into 5 neat stacks. “A number that can be divided by 5 easily enough. We will spin each of these piles separately, and a single winner will be drawn from each one.”

The cage spinner made no noise as it spun. The crackling fireplace was the only thing that could be heard as the first batch of cards were tossed. When the cage spinner stopped, the Lord of Change picked the card off the top, examined it, and placed it in a separate pile. The remaining cards turned to ashen dust and seeped through the bottom of the cage.

The second spin behaved much the same way. A single card was drawn while the rest turned to dust.

Then there was the third spin, and everything looked good until the Lord of Change pulled out a card. “While I have the ability to manifest anyone I wish in this space, not everyone wishes to be here. Katelyn’s card will be discarded for this reason.”

As the card turned to ash in the horror’s hands, Betty looked to the floor and balled her hand into a fist. But she could do little else to protest.

“Should this happen twice in a batch, all the votes will be discarded.” The remaining 4 cards were tumbled again. It felt a bit longer than last time. Some of the magical girls leaned in as the Lord of Change drew the next card. “Much better.”

The next two cage rolls were much like the first two, without the drama of an unusable card.

“We have our five winners.” The Lord of Change tossed the cards out in a perfect fan. Each one turned into a swirling portal, and someone started to step through. “Conflagrations to Eliza, Magical Dream Princess, Hilaria, Pac-a-fist, and Maribel. Your wishes have come true, if only for the duration of the party.” The Lord of Change swelled in size, gaining an extra foot or two on top of their height. “Though perhaps I am the real winner for being allowed to partake in the dark emotions permeating this party. Regardless, I bid you all adieu.” And with that, the horror vanished without a trace. Not even the cage spinner remained. All that was left was the plush that Mariette had handed it earlier.

Tetrad wandered through the first portal, wearing a pretty generic santa suit. Very tame for how she usually dresses. ”Wow, I didn’t think that would work!” Tetrad looked at everyone. ”Well hello everyone! Some fairy girl handed me a ticket to this party, so here I am!” She she casually approached the other cradle agents, but was stopped in her tracks by what happened next. The smug grin of a party girl was quickly replaced by a look of shock. ”No way…”

Cerise came out of the next portal. Needless to say, anyone who knew her knew she was very dead. Tetrad was one of the few who saw her body committed to the earth.

Next was, uh, “Justine.” We’ll just let Famished take it from there.

The fourth portal actually had two people, a boy and a girl. They looked oddly familiar. Two red-headed twins.

”Oh wow! There’s a lot of people here!” The girl said. ”You like crowded parties, don’t you?”

”Bet your ass I do!” The boy’s eyes scanned everyone with a particular hunger in them.

”Elroy!” Pac-a-fist chirped before diving into the boy’s arms.

”Gamer girl!” He chuckled. ”Yea, let’s you and I take a walk.”

The girl shrugged her shoulders. ”We you have fun! I’m going to finish decorating the garage!” And with that, the girl vanished through the portal.

The last portal contained a coven sister of some kind. I dunno, I didn’t ask a lot of questions. You do the thing, Majora.

[@everyone lolz]

=OOC stuff but I don’t wanna tipple post.

The total number of votes were 19 before adding my own characters. They were all separated from PCs and NPCs, and added to the loot tables in the order they came in. I sprinkled in my own characters which brought the number up to 22. I decided I wanted to have a nice round number for the loot tables, so I quickly added 3 of my own NPCs to give us this list.

Then I used RPG’s dice roller to get the numbers, which were 1 , 3 , 5 , 3 , 3. Because Betty voted for someone who can’t join the RP, a 4 sided dice was rolled and the result was 1

And that is how the votes were tallied.

Darkest Before the Dawn: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

"...No, not her.”

— Tonya “Mac” Murphy

Tonya “Mac” Murphy

Age: 24/11 | Gender: Female/Female | Illusion, Gravity
Body | Power of Friendship, Regeneration, Third Eye | Moirai
Coercion, Soul Jar, Martial Training, True Sight, Parasite, Gifted, Awareness, Overcity Shift, Mystic Artifact

Magical Overload, Paragon, Blessing, Gifted Item | Monster Form, Big Brother, Arrogance, Vendetta
Redirected Magic, Second Specialization | Non-Standard Limbs, Destroyer

STR: 05 | AGI: 04 | VIT: 05 | MAG: 03 | LCK: 03
+46
STR: 21 | AGI: 21 | VIT: 21 | MAG: 20 | LCK: 20

Remaining: 6 Gold, 28 Silver, 38 Bronze
Total: 10 Gold, 160 Silver, 182 Bronze

If there was something that could wipe the smile off of Mac's face, it was being reminded of an old acquaintance. It took a lot to make her frown while drinking eggnog, but seeing her name flash up on her phone was enough to do it.

Her head was filled with questions. This had to be a trick, right? There was no way she could be reunited with someone-

Hold on, why was she recieving a text at all? Could that thing sense her presence?

Mac looked to the Lord of Change, but he didn't make any movements. She wouldn't put it past an eldritch horror to know of her existence, certainly not a part of Aigorost. Sometimes she herself felt like she was beyond reality, especially with how few people she interacted with.

It probably wasn't worth fretting over. There was a chance she was standing in the AoE of a mind altering spell, which would be one way she could be influenced by a spell like this even if the horror didn't know her exact location. But what was this all about? Mac had to hear more.

---

“Money money money we like to party. I know you hate it ‘cuz I bank with everybody, ”

— Oros

Oros, Eliza, and Emily were all enjoying the eggnog as the party happened all around them. The beast girl in particular had better impulse control now that she wasn’t a monster, but holding back on what seemed like a near infinite supply of “the nog” proved to be impossible. She had drank her daily calorie requirement in eggnog alone.

“Don’t worry about Samantha or Betty, I’m sure they’ll be fine.” Oros hugged her friends closer. She still had a firm grip on both of her mugs of eggnog. “It’s easy to get blue during the Christmas season. Why do you think they celebrate so much? Just ignore everyone’s problems, that’s what they’re suppose to be doing!”

Like most people, Oros was not above listening in on conversations. It wasn’t something she did on purpose (usually) but if someone in an area mentioned one of Oros’s trigger words, it would cause her ears to perk up a little bit higher. And that had most certainly happened.

“Hmm.”

Once the offender made themselves scarce, Oros’s grin swiftly returned. “Well silver is good, but we really gotta make sure we get those gold coins!” She looked between her friends. “We need to chase down a hairbringr and do some Keijo, because I guess there wasn’t enough of that this season.” Oros took a step backwards. “Yea, we should be able to catch some floof. Keijo we could do one on one or two on two. If you girls were both interested in that, someone owes me a favor.” She looked at a very specific magical girl at the lodge. “Isn’t that right, Shion?”

@Majoras End@FamishedPants@DarkwolfX37

---

”A girl with meta tendencies? Must have copied Oros!”

— Aria

”Ara ara~ <3!”

Believe it or not, but Aria, that merchant in the overcity, was pretty excited about the prospect of earning money while playing games. Though she was talking to someone who had yet to give her name.

”I was just asking what brought you to the Christmas party. I’m not too familiar with all the girls in Penrose. As for making it ‘last longer,’ are you saying you have difficulty keeping conversations going?”

That annoying girl from earlier leaned into the conversation. “You could try reacting to stuff that’s happening around you or inner monologing. If you want to make it interesting I’m afraid that’s outside my area of expertise.”

Aria sighed when Oros retracted her head. ”Right well-” She smiled. ”There’s gold to be earned. Did you want to try keijo or catching fluff balls?”

---

”I’ve been using the wrong color code all this time REEEEEEEE!”

— Betty “Biohazard” Barton

Between getting angry at Justine and having a breakdown, Betty felt pretty empty in the moment. Like she had exhausted all of her emotions and had nothing left to feel.

Maura was definitely a more caring person than Veronica ever was, but where Veronica felt like an immovable rock that could weather any storm, Maura was a tumbleweed bouncing with the current. She did have a lot sprung on her, and perhaps Betty was being unreasonable to expect her new boss to be like Veronica. As great as Veronica was, she ultimately chose to hand everything over to Maura. Betty knew that Maura could likely read her thoughts, but it was really difficult not to focus on the differences between the two.

Fortunately, something else would occupy her thoughts shortly. There were the money earning events, which partially interested Betty, and also…

”Kate?” Betty’s trembling hand could barely hold onto the phone. With everything going on, she couldn’t react properly. Her eyes turned to the elephant horror in the room.

---

“Imagine touching Mika’s boobs and regarding her as an acquaintance/rival when she sends you a text for pizza and chill.”

— Lord of Change

Aside from the Lord of Change’s pulsing external organs, they made no attempt to address any of the questions that were aimed at it. Several seconds passed by where it might have seemed like the entity hadn’t heard anything that had been asked of it.

“Has it been a week yet?” The Lord of change looked to Mia, swinging it’s entire body in her direction. The abomination’s massive, beautiful face was just a few feet away from hers. It spoke with all of it’s voices. “Asking a horror for knowledge is often ill advised for reasons you can probably understand. Surely an entity such as myself — one that can bend causality and logic at a whim — should have no problem with the temporary resurrection of a loved one?” There was no malice or aggravation in the horror’s voice. “I have no intention of resurrecting anyone as a mere demonstration. Who would kill them once I brought them into this world? I’m taking my chances with the rule’s of magic as is. If you doubt my abilities, play to get one of your living friends here instead. It might be more productive in the long run.”

With Mia addressed, the Lord of Change looked to Hilaria. “The game isn’t too difficult to grasp. In fact…”

Everyone would recieve another text, this time it would be from a mysterious sender. Not reading the text simply wasn’t optional, as it would override anything the users were doing on them at the moment.

The last text you received was an effect of the Christmas magic that permeates this place. There are no cell towers, and they are unlikely to receive your text if you sent one.

This was simply to draw your attention to a game I’m hosting. I will explain the game now:

The texts would then end in a video URL that played what was presently happening in the lodge around the Lord of Change.

“All you need to participate is the name of someone you’d like to join the party. You then simply text their name to me, and they will be added to one of these cards.” They reached into the cage spinner and pulled out one of the cards to show everyone. “The cards will be divided into batches, and the batches will then be spun separately. A single winner will be taken from each batch, who will join the party. The only requirement is that they are part of the magical world: a patron or the servant of a patron. They need not be alive. Though do keep in mind that regardless of where they are, that is where they will return when the party ends.” The Lord of Change tossed the card back into the spinner. “I see no reason to dally here. Text your requests and I will fill out the cards. Now.”

Please read the OOC post if you plan on participating.

[@everyone lolz]

Darkest Before the Dawn: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

If you’re interested in playing the Lord of Change’s game, here’s the OOC rules.

PARTICIPATION:

-Each character can vote on a single magical entity they would like to attend the party. That includes magical girls, patrons, monsters, etc. It does not matter if they are dead or alive, though ideally it would make sense for your character to vote for them.

-Posting who your character voted for IC isn’t mandatory. In fact, I discourage it! (though you can still do it if you’d like to. uwu)

-Best way to ensure your character’s vote is counted is to send me a DM on discord. I just need to know the character(s) that voted and who they voted for.

-NPCs and PCs can vote, so long as they are at the event.

-On the 26th (or sooner if everyone miraculously votes) Voting ends and we see who joins the party.

PICKING WINNERS:

-The votes will be divided into batches, which will be turned into “loot tables”, with a number assigned to each one.

-Each loot table will be rolled once via RPG dice roller to determine which character joins the party.

-The loot tables will be created in such a way as to allow the player characters a better chance at getting their dream friend into the RP. As an example, if Platinumskink enters all of his NPCs into this, they will be regulated to a single table as to not interfere with the chances of player characters.

-If it gets big enough, the player loot table may be rolled more than once. There may be more than one player loot table!

-Should a friend get drawn that doesn’t want to play their character, that table will be re-rolled without said friend on the list. If this happens more than two times on a single list, the loot list is discarded.

-The banner for this Gacha event is “BP’s characters.” So there is a 100% chance that you’ll pull at least one BP character from this event. How this will be achieved depends on how everyone votes.

If you have any questions, I'm on discord, like, every day.

How Do You Dress Your Non-Humanoid Characters?

What my humanoid creatures wear, human, goblin, or otherwise, depends entirely on their culture, level of intelligence, and how industrious their area is.

I once played a human tribesman who didn’t wear much more than the kobald posted above. Indigenous tribes tend to dress up both out of necessity and status. The ones in colder climates will wear furs to stay warm, while the ones in warmer areas wear practically nothing. I’m sure we’re all familiar with the feather war bonnets the chieftains wear so that they can be more easily spotted by their tribesman.

I’ve also seen tabaxi (DnD’s version of a feline anthro for the uninitiated) who typically live in a tribe. But this one had grown up around industrial cities, where what you wore was both a status symbol and what separated you from the savages. They wore fine clothing to try and distinguish themselves as a member of the upper class.

So what my humanoid characters wear doesn’t depend on their race at all.

^{Also I apologize in advance if the idea was to get pictures of humanoids in interesting clothes, but I've GMed too many characters to pick just a few.}

Darkest Before the Dawn: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

“Good talk Justine! Let’s go eat some bon bons!”

”Not until after we kiss under the mistletoe!”

“Hah! Smooth move, Joker!”

— Betty “Biohazard” Barton and her good friend Justine "Joker" von Visceral

Betty was beside herself. No one could tell that by looking at her face, which was devoid of any real emotion. But they could hear her feet as she power walked across the floor. Oros might have been able to block her from following Maura, but the way her feet were moving she could probably walk over anyone. There were no three magical girls present that could contain her, and she might even be able to trample a Lord of Change in her current state.

Justine was seated just so, in front of a rectangular table that ran to either side of the lodge. The fire crackled and snapped behind her, lightly obscuring her features. At a distance she looked like a silhouette against the flames, albeit one that everyone recognized.

Justine did not look up when she heard Betty’s thunderous footsteps nor when a wooden chair was dragged across the floor. She positioned the chair between everyone else and Justine, before sitting in it hard enough to slide backwards a few inches. And then, she did nothing. With everyone behind her, Betty just stared into Justine’s eyes. Her shoulders were a bit rigid, but if no one had seen Betty’s approach, they might have assumed nothing was really wrong.

Justine kept her eyes to the table as she heard incoming footsteps, and clutched at her plushie as Betty took her seat. She then shyly looked up, to see Betty’s fiery gaze.
She closed her eyes, and slowly nodded.

”...”

Justine opened her mouth, as if to speak, but then closed it. An awkward silence passed until finally, in a meek voice, she spoke.

”I sold you to the Mint...So I could buy their services,” she stated, having returned back to looking at the table.
”I gained soldiers and information which was useful in my revenge against Mariette. For that...I’m sorry.”

A tiny sigh escaped her lips. “And of course, you don’t know what the Mint did to me. Doubt you even thought to ask.” Betty folded her arms on the table. “That was it then? I was just traded for services? You didn’t use me for anything else?”

Justine weakly shook her head. ”That's right. I knew of your affiliation with Veronica and the Crimson Cradle, which was why I didn't even consider using you as a servant. I simply handed you off, and didn't think on it...Until now."

“So where do we go from here?” Betty bit the corner of her lip. “Maura hasn’t told us anything. Are you going to work with us now? Can we really trust our backs to you?” She groaned. “Do you even trust us?”

Justine sniffled, and caressed her plushie.

”I trust in Mistress," Justine finally admitted.
"And I trust you too. It's just...I don't know how to show it. I've never trusted someone before, not even Sonia. I honestly haven't talked much with her about my duties..."

“Oh please, spare me the self pity!” Betty stood up, practically launching the chair out from under herself. “Is this really Justine von Visceral, sin of pride? You can’t even keep eye contact with one of your victims!” By this point, a few other girls had taken interest in Justine, and Betty’s side of the table was getting crowded. “Damn it!” After surveying those approaching, she looked at Justine. “Justine, I have no idea if anything you said was the truth, but you can believe me when I say that you most certainly shouldn’t trust your back to me. You have some serious ground to cover before we consider you one of us.” She turned part way from the table, only to look back in Justine’s direction. “My memories of the rave are a little hazy. I vaguely remember Veronica pushing you and I together…” She trailed off. After some thought, Betty crossed her brow. “You’re never going to get that close to me again.” Betty pushed her way past everyone who had gathered around. “Where the hell did Maura go? Is she crying too?” Betty was out the door before she even finished talking. She didn’t even react to her phone buzzing.

As Betty left, Justine could only nod, as she held back her tears.
”...I deserved that."

Darkest Before the Dawn: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

There's been some interest in the Lord of Change's game, so I'll put some deets here so that they don't get buried in memes and everyone has a chance to see them.

-The Lord of Change is giving everyone a chance to enjoy the Christmas party with a long departed friend, be they separated by distance or death.

-Everyone received a text message from one such friend of theirs. If I did not write one for you, you can assume they got one anyway. If they never knew any of my departed characters, they got one from someone else. If they don't have a cell phone, they do now. Causality warping horrors and their antics

-The friend that they wish to join the party does not have to be the one that sent them a text message, nor does it have to be one of my characters. But I'm only going to play my own characters at the party.

-The game itself has yet to be explained, but there is a roller cage present.

-The exact number of friends that will join the party will depend on the number of participants and how varied the requests are.

-The Lord of Change can be further questioned to learn more.

Darkest Before the Dawn: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

"Aw yiss. Sexy Santa suit!”

— Tonya “Mac” Murphy

Tonya “Mac” Murphy

Age: 24/11 | Gender: Female/Female | Illusion, Gravity
Body | Power of Friendship, Regeneration, Third Eye | Moirai
Coercion, Soul Jar, Martial Training, True Sight, Parasite, Gifted, Awareness, Overcity Shift, Mystic Artifact

Magical Overload, Paragon, Blessing, Gifted Item | Monster Form, Big Brother, Arrogance, Vendetta
Redirected Magic, Second Specialization | Non-Standard Limbs, Destroyer

STR: 05 | AGI: 04 | VIT: 05 | MAG: 03 | LCK: 03
+46
STR: 21 | AGI: 21 | VIT: 21 | MAG: 20 | LCK: 20

Earnings this post: Finally got around to correcting Stats per the perk/stat update, which means I get to refund some coins! (Reflected in remaining coins, not actually gaining any coins from this.)

Remaining: 6 Gold, 28 Silver, 38 Bronze
Total: 10 Gold, 160 Silver, 182 Bronze

It was that time, wasn't it?

Yes, Christmas. That time of year when people get together with their families and exchange gifts. Unless you were a magical girl. There had to be something wrong with someone who chose to spend their entire day in a dimension ruled by a perverted dolphin. One who, least we forget, tried to seal everyone inside his super sexy beach dimension to feed off everyone's good vibes. It took a special type of person to willingly subject themselves to something like that, but here Mac was.

At the very least, she had used illusion magic to give herself a suitably sexy Santa outfit. It was going to go unseen by almost everyone, but hey, it was her way of getting into the holiday spirit. Dressing up was hella fun, who cared if anyone saw her? Few people saw Santa, after all. Didn't stop them from leaving him cookies.

She used her ticket and appeared inside the lodge. There was no one she could talk to like this, but maybe she could have some nog and be merry. Mac wondered if she would find MDP more tolerable if she was drunk.

---

“Boy am I glad that ominous timer turned out to be nothing!”

— Oros

Christmas was an interesting holiday. When Oros used to be called Mika, she never really thought about it too much. It was a very special day where a man in red came down the chimney and left gifts for her. She never thought about how illogical it seemed. In truth, she didn’t care why the gifts were there. The point was that every Christmas she got something, and that made it just as good as her birthday.

Going into her teenage years, she did hear rumors in school. She distinctly remembered an underclassmen approaching her and smugly proclaiming that Santa wasn’t real. She didn’t know how to respond. Of course, it wasn’t hard to rule out Santa’s existence. Adults without children weren’t exactly cautious with hiding the truth, and even the smallest amount of scrutiny was enough to unmake the fat man. It wasn’t until much later that she discovered why this was a big deal. The reason why parents lie to their children about Santa is because it’s the most selfless way to give something. Her parents were willing to give her something even though they wouldn’t be thanked for it. Not directly at least. The child’s good will would go to some mythical figure who never existed. And maybe it was fun to see how gullible children were.

Weird.

Oros had some last minute perorations to do before her big Christmas plan(s) went into action. This was going to make her a bit late, but she was sure Eliza would forgive her.

Oros was in the same neighborhood as sanctuary. Tall, ruined buildings stood around her, and she dragged her feet behind herself. ”Ahhhh…” Being a normal magical girl working for a horror was hard. Now that her body needed sleep, Aigorost’s many voices made rest difficult. At least it made waking up early easier. ”Shit! Aria, where are you?!”

”Right here!” She popped out of a garbage can.

”You know, we really gotta get you a new face claim for the next season. That one doesn’t fit you any more.”

”I already picked one out!”

”Whah!?”

”I’m messing with you! Just playing along!” She laughed.

”Right well, screw you.” Oros folded her arms. ”Did you get the stuff?”

”But of course!” She opened her gourd and pulled out a tiny glass urn, which soon became a massive urn once it was out of her gourd. ”And you?”

Oros reached inside her shirt and pulled out a crate. ”I overestimated how well the purification potions were being protected. They practically had them laying at the front gate, just like two weeks ago.” She stashed the crate. ”Guess nobody wants to get purified. I’m pretty sure I could have just asked for a few.”

”Are the Binky clones in position?”

”Yup, how about yours?”

”Of course!”

”Suppose we can just go to the party then. Got a costume?”

”That wasn’t a serious question, was it?”

---

Oros was the first to appear in an outfit that is quite honestly too stylish and cute for words. It had a mid rift, it had thigh-highs, it had a plaid Christmas cowl with a bell attached to it, and it even had a neko mimi for people who are into that. ”Can’t wait to out cute that tater tot Emily goes everywhere with.”

”Ara ara~!”

In no time at all, Aria had appeared in an equally attention grabbing outfit, one that showed even more skin. It was a vest and skirt, with arm warmers and knee-high boots. The entire outfit seemed to glitter, and there were heart and star accessories all over it. And of course, she was wearing a Santa hat.

”Aren’t you cold in that?”

”Aren’t you?”

”I mean, yea, just a little.” Oros looked side to side. ”Seriously, Aria, you look like you wanna get laid or something.”

”Maybe I do.” She winked. ”But no, I’m just a little tired of blending into the background. People tend to take notice when you ‘open up’ a bit more. I’m sure you noticed.”

”Open up huh?” She grinned. ”Well, can’t say I disagree with you, but I’m not sure if you’re going to attract the attention you want with that.”

”You sound like my mother now!”

”What can I say? I learned from the best.”

Oros was able to pick a few faces out of the crowd. She spotted Mia, who she would be trying to avoid at all costs. After the thing at the orphanage, she wasn’t sure if she was ready to talk to her. Who the hell makes trees so big and with so many branches? She was sore for a bit after falling, and forgiving Mia for such a thing wasn’t going to happen any time soon. Penny was there, but she had decided to fuck off, so that was just as well. She noticed Shion was present, and would definitely approach her later. And then there was Eliza.

”Whoa…” Oros needed to rub her eyes. ”A pine is fine too!” She laughed at her own joke. ”Good luck Aria, I’ve got a scratching post to sink my claws into.” However, Oros didn’t get very far when Mariette approached her. She lowered her gaze onto the eyepatch girl. ”Mary?” She didn’t take her eyes off the girl as she plunged her hand into her gift bag. ”Don’t mind if I do, Mary! I hope you’ve given my offer from before a bit of thought.” When she pulled her hand back she had gotten… ”A pig(10)! Hah, I love his disproportionately big nose! And of course, everyone knows that a pig’s orgasm lasts fifteen minutes. They’re one of my favorite animals for that reason alone.” She shrugged. ”Well, I’ve got a date, so we’ll talk later.” The pig vanished into her hammerspace before she stood next to Eliza. ”Hey! Love the costume! Mind if I tuck some presents under there?” Before Oros could resume flirting/catcalling, she noticed Samantha was coming closer, with Emily and Betty in tow. ”Well if it isn’t my three favorite friends!” She spread her arms so that she could receive a hug. ”No punches this time, okay? I won’t pounce on you either!”

@Majoras End @FamishedPants

---

”For me?”

Aria reached into Mariette’s bag and pulled out…

”A tanooki! Wait, no it’s just a racoon(6). Still a lovely specimen.” She put it in her gourd. Before she could say anything more to Mariette, she had already run off.

It seemed that everyone was already forming in groups. This was unfortunate, as it had been Aria’s strategy to pick off a straggler. Despite her new occupation, Aria was actually an introvert. She preferred to toil away by herself or try to sell a single customer some awesome new product or service. Perhapse if she waited, she’d get her opening.

But salvation would come in the form of @DarkwolfX37’s characters the two newly arrived! She wasn’t sure which one to approach, but with the brown haired one walking away from the blue haired one, it seemed like she might be the friendlier of the two. And Aria needed that with so much stuff going on.

”Well hello there!” Aria slid in beside Summer. ”I don’t think we’ve met, I’m Aria rizzo, Monarch artificing! Er, guess I work for the Golden Trove now.” She extended her hand to shake. ”But enough about work, what’s your story?”

---

Unfortunately, Maura and Odin weren’t the only patrons to come to the event. A large portal opened up nearby, and something horrible tumbled through it. A conglomeration of living clay that howled like five different nocturnal animals. It did not take long for that clay to reform itself into something slightly more presentable.

“Thirsty? 😂 Only student🏊🏽 athletes 💯👌🏼 get thirsty 💦 ☝🏼we thirsty for motivation ☑️💪🏽 ROMANS 8:28 🙏🏼🙌🏽”

— Lord of Change

If Penny got a glimpse of the creature, she might notice an uncanny resemblance to Aigorost’s avatar. Anyone well read on horrors would be able to tell this was a lord of change. Simply one of a plethora of creatures that horrors have in their back pocket. Their very existence in reality can warp it in strange and unexpected ways. Even just one is enough to doom humanity or send a parallel reality hurdling towards oblivion. Magical girls do not fight lords of change, they prevent them from being summoned in the first place. But there were a few key differences with this one. For one, it was far smaller than a normal lord of change. Even if it was ten feet tall, it was just a fraction of the height they typically were. Their massive power also made passing through portals extremely difficult due to their high concentrations of mana. They usually required long rituals to be carried out to leave their dimensions and influence other worlds. The presence of a Santa hat on it’s head also didn’t go unmissed.

The lord of change prepared to speak, but stopped when Mariette approached it. “I find games of chance like this to be unsatisfying. There are no stakes, and all of the outcomes have the same basic effect. Though I appreciate an attempt at entropy.” They reached into the bag and pulled out a plush. “I do think it is commendable how the recipient does have the ability to alter their choices. As an example, this Lion(2) could have just as easily been a tiger. Not unlike the way magical girls are created, both at the whims of fate but able to steer themselves in one direction or another.” They placed the lion plush beside themselves.

Moments later, a giant cage spinner fell out of a portal beside the lord of change. “But I am not here to partake in festivities. I am here to elevate you out of despair before plunging you into it again, not unlike the tumbling cards in a cage spinner.” It waved one of its arms over the strange contraption beside them.. “Once you are all settled, perhaps you would be interested in playing a game? The winners will be united with distant friends, if only for the duration of the party. It doesn’t matter if they are separated by cities or death, I can return them here for a time.”

And with that, many magical girls would receive texts on their phones.

Lily got a text from Amber
“Arrr, what scurvy dog stole my ship!?”

Shane got a text from Regina
“Oof! Northern beacon is rough! But at least they aren’t the Ascendancy! :^>”

Aurelio got a text from Abigail
“You and Sally still dating?”

Emily got a text from Lupa
“Hey kiddo! How’s the party?”

Connie got a text from Lotus
“I hope you’ve been training, because I won’t go easy on you next time.”

Penny got a text from Mika
“We should have pizza at the party!”

Mia got a text from Faith
“Merry Christmass~!”

Deni got a text from Su
“Hello, Ronin. Are you and your sister okay?”

Maura got a text from Veronica
“We need to talk.”

Samantha got a text from Trixy
“Thinking of you and and that dynamite body!”

Sann got a text from Tetrad
“EDIT:Woops, wrong contact!”

Mac got a text from Glex
“I wait for thee, beyond reality!”

It did not seem to matter if they had ever handed their friends in question their numbers, they had been texted regardless. Those who had added their friends would see the text messages as if it came directly from their friends phone. If this was a trick, it was a very good one.