BrokenPromise

Symphony on High

Alright everyone, here's the scoop.

“Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men."

― John F. Kennedy, American president... Quoting Phillips Brooks, clergyman

With the current operations over, machinations, for good or for ill, have made certain entities in the city of blood stronger. Fortunately, you are among those who have grown in power.

SoH has a "pyramid" level up system. You may chose to upgrade a core glamor (Instrument, Style, Genre, Leitmotif) by one grade if you have at least one other glamour of the same grade. As an example, Finn has three silver glamors and one bronze. They may upgrade any of their silver glamors to gold rank. Meanwhile, Mika has one gold, one silver, and two bronze. They cannot upgrade a glamor to gold because they only have one silver. They will have to upgrade one of their bronze glamors to silver. If you like to plan out your levels far into the future, you should have one Diamond, Gold, Silver, and Bronze glamor by the time the final operation rolls around. Elroy has been added to my detailed NPC list if you want to see what your character would compare to. Upgrades won't be implemented until downtime starts next week, but you're free to prepare and get set up for when they do.

The two supplemental glamors (PR, Backup) are upgraded/downgraded based on events that transpire in the RP, and are more closely tied to your character's performance. In the case of PR, this is improved by rising through the ranks of your chosen faction. For Gemini, this means getting on Fritzi's good side by being an obedient little agent. For Maverick Alternative, this means being a rootin' tootin' maverick with Billy. For Freelancers, this means doing your job and satisfying all of your employer's criteria. I think for this first operation we're not going to see a whole lot of changes here. GEMINI totally owned those weretigers, but it was a rather straightforward operation. Meanwhile, the Freelancers were served a total fluster cluck that involved runaway dragons, a second set of theives, and Oros the flippin' Mad. It was no freelancer's shining moment, but can you blame them? Do keep in mind that with higher rank/pay comes higher expectations. This is especially true if you're above silver, so don't go promotion hunting if you can't take more difficult assignments. Oh, and then there's backup. Basically an esper can get a totem object from someone they've interacted with over downtime. It would be easier to explain how this is acquired once downtime starts.

Now for the slightly less fun stuff. There's going to be some "patch updates" to the DoCS, but it's mostly going to be to clarify a few things that weren't executed 100% in this operation. It's fairly minute, and I'm mostly bringing it up now because it didn't seem worthwhile to do during the RP because it wasn't going to have a huge effect on the outcome of events.

#1: Effect notes (particularly push and pull) and the Aoe/Zone note

The idea for these has always been that the origin of those modification notes is at their center, and they just kind of "blow out" like an explosion. So in the case of a push/pull note being used, it's going to treat the center of the effect as the spot that's getting pushed/pulled to.

#2: Targeting parts of a target (Restrain/Suspend)

Restrain essentially binds part of a target to something nearby, be it a foot to the ground or a wrist to a shoulder. It targets part of a target. Suspend freezes a character's center of mass in a 3d space. Being able to target specific areas with suspend causes a lot of uncomfortable situations to arise. If you can target weapons, does that mean that if you shoot someone in the pants, they can just kind of, undress, to restore their movement? Suspend needs to work on the entire target to prevent the thirstier of you from getting ideas!

#3: "Targets" are assumed to be human in size

A sort of addendum to the above, if something is larger than a human, you can expect notes to behave differently. Weightless is a nifty note if you don't want to worry about gravity for a moment, but you can't just turn a kaiju into a parade float and kick them into the stratosphere. Monsters that are larger than humans will usually be effected properly by weightless due to being a monster and thus weaker to arcane effects. But if it's massive enough, even that won't be enough to justify a melody working.

#4: Flight/Speedster + Push/Pull combo

Flight/Speedster are buffs with a duration. They allow for faster movement, and in the case of Flight, they also allow you to fly. Push/Pull is an instantaneous effect that moves a target a set distance in a set direction. There is no overlap between these notes. If used together, You'd get shoved/pulled in a direction and then your speed buff would take over, which is based on your esper's SPEED score and not your momentum. This has its uses for a quick strafe into a speed boost, but they don't combined to grant SSS++APEX/CHAD rank SPEED.

In addition to clarifying above, a lot of the element specific notes don't feel special enough and will be getting some pretty interesting buffs/changes over downtime. Might even add a new type of supplemental glamor. Though it's probably one most of you aren't going to want to use... anyway, more details about the updates will be available after their implementation.

hello world

@randoseru Welcome to the forum. If you don't have an ad blocker installed on your device, please get one. The ads are bugging out and showing up all over the place. Here's an article about it. roleplayerguild.com/topics/192128-adv….

Limbus Company, I think I saw that game in a youtube documentary about Korean F2P games. I've never played it, but if you're interested in RPs with "mostly" oppressive atmospheres, supernatural powers and monsters, shady government agents, cults and mobsters, as well as a magic system that's only slightly more complicated than it needs to be, we'd love to have you over at Symphony on High.

Otherwise, there's a lot of roleplayers here that have been writing for about that long and have similar interests.

Symphony on High

_{@Ponn@ERode@Izurich}

Elise rose a brow as she leaned against the wall next to the cell. Of course they’re still wary of any booby traps or fake outs, for all they knew Binky could’ve been a damn shapeshifter. ”Feel free ta’ double check, but I’m tellin’ ya’, most of ‘em were upstairs!” She added. It’d take a while to clear out the rest of the cells regardless, but with Binky and her grimoire freed they could call in some back-up to properly secure the area and get her back to HQ along with the arrested.

Mission accomplished, as far as the agents were concerned.

---

_{@The World@Nyahahameha@Nakushita@TaintedMushroom@FamishedPants}

"Ho ho! You’re approaching me?"

— Oros The Mad

Oros watched with no small amount of amusement as Marrie tried to heal Finn. The effectiveness of any healing magic was largely dependent on how bad an injury was and the strength of the weapon that caused it. The wound was grievous, and the weapon was fearsome. There was little the meager healing magic could do, but the stabilization magic at least ensured he wouldn’t bleed out. Though perhaps stronger than the melody’s effect was what the gesture represented in present company.

"If you knew what that little runt did a few weeks ago, I wonder if you’d take his side." Oros looked away with a “humph!” while keeping her arms folded. "But fine, I guess I’ll depart for now. I’ll just call you or something and we can get something set up." She held her chin. "Now that I think about it, she could just go on a date with me. But where would we go? All the good grocery stores are closed…"

While Oros was considering her options, she was rudely interrupted by some masked freak. She was monologing about her while also coming across as a shady venture capitalist. But what was Oros but the queen of rambling thoughts? "Oh yea, I’m like, super mysterious and stuff. Very deep. So deep. If your dad was as deep as my agenda was, you’d probably climax." Oros waved her sword a few inches in front of Himiko’s nose. "But it’s like you said, I did a number on the kid. Meanwhile, you struggled with mooks. I could have slain them faster than Rachel Zegler can kill interest in her own movie." That joke would age horribly, as most celebrity jokes do. But Oros didn’t care. "I think a test of your abilities is in order. For starters, you will get Mika Fang to St. Bianchi church. The time does not matter, so long as it’s within four days and the place isn’t crowded. She also needs to come alone. Secondly, your patron needs to remove the insinuation that you are an ‘oros’ from your champion script. Once you’ve taken care of that, I’ll treat your words as more than just the lip service of a charlatan." The mad esper pointed her sword off in the distance. With a roar, her form was covered in a cloud of hair and teeth. The cloud fell to the ground and scattered, and Oros was no longer there.

Without his instrument in his hand, Finn reverted back to his true form, as did his sword.

But there were still other dangers.

Marrie was running towards danger, but Bardo was attempting to run away from it. The mantis abomination shambled along, but picked up speed as it learned how to control its limbs. The secret slayer flew right past the thing and sliced into a lamp post. While Bardo did have a solid idea when he threw away his weapon, the timing was wrong. Rather than firing the lamp post towards the palmaster, it launched the lamp post straight into the air. Perhaps a well-timed delay note would have allowed the lamp post enough time to fall to the correct trajectory before being fired off.

Bardo continued to panic, and Marrie had difficulty seeing down the street with so little lighting. Too late would she notice Bardo stumbling out of the darkness. They tumbled to the ground with the mantis hot on his trail. It stopped before the two espers before releasing some guttural warcry. It raised one of its scythe claws into the air, but the next thing to fall would be a lamp post, which pierced the creature through the back. It seemed that Bardo’s improvised ballista shot had decided to take a less direct route to its target. A monster would have easily resisted the attack, but the human palemancer at the mantis’s core did not enjoy such protection. The abomination collapsed into a heap, occasionally spasming

The only remaining loose end was the semi’s fate.

The driver struggled to keep the vehicle on the road. The loss of the trailer’s left-rear most tires made for uneven weight distribution, not to mention weaker traction on one side. But that didn’t stop the driver from trying to get away. The petal was on the floor, and he continued to drive further away from Pax. Even the suburbs were starting to thin out as they entered cow country.

Justin was able to target the semi’s door with their melody, and grab a hold for dear life. But there was about to be a slight complication. The driver of the semi wasn’t a normal human. Nor were they a paleguard, or even a palemancer. The driver was a man with a dragon’s head wearing a tuxedo. It was quite surreal. If you ignored his head, he looked like a regular guy dressed up for a formal event. Instead, the driver stared at Justin in shock. ”Static scare!?“ The dragon used one hand to keep Justin at bay, and the other to keep driving. But one hand wasn’t enough to keep Justin out of the vehicle. He managed to unclip the dragon’s seatbelt before attempting to wrench him out of the vehicle. What ensued was a game of tug of war as the vehicle swerved around more and more. The dragon braced himself against his seat. One foot was pressed against the dash while the other was on the accelerator. Justin had one of the dragon’s arms, and the other was trying to keep the vehicle going straight. But it very much felt like a stalemate.

Until Kira intervened with a kick.

Justin and the dragon were thrown clear from the vehicle. Justin’s fate depended on how gracefully he landed, but the dragon man tumbled out of the truck with hardly a scratch. He immediately got up and ran.

Needless to say, having an unstable, unmanned vehicle is never a good thing. Kira took the steering wheel and kept the Semi on the road. She didn’t even need to apply the brakes. With the trailer dragging behind her, the vehicle gradually came to a stop on its own. Out the side window, she could see the dragon man running for the hills. A series of golden sparkles twinkled behind the dragon man, and in the blink of an eye, he turned into a dragon. It spread its wings and took off into the night sky, where all could see the golden luster of its scales fade in the shadow of the night.

The water had been recovered, and the threat had been dealt with.

A successful operation?

Symphony on High

Before long, we'll all be back on skype.

Anyway, fixed the first post.

Symphony on High

"’I see no need to give Ashley a lot to comment on this time.."

— Mika Fang

The cat girl raised an eyebrow when Ashley attempted to heal the teller, though she was far more interested in what their leader thought of her idea. Her suggested alteration had Mika raising her other eyebrow. "’You want the gun nut to stay topside?” If they were expecting the rent-a-cops to come back, sure, a spray of lead would be fine. But weretigers were monsters, and guns were not the ideal weapon to dispatch them with. That, and it wasn’t hard to picture the dimwitted esper accidentally spraying the elevator controls with her bullets. Come to think of it, wasn’t a narrow passage exactly the type of terrain that would be ideal for Angelie? Just hose down the other side with bullets? Oh! But this was a rescue operation. Mika had almost forgotten. And if she almost forgot, Angelie probably did forget. At least the likelihood of someone throwing her was lower.

"’Whatever.” Mika said with a roll of her eyes. "’Let’s just get this wrapped up.”

During the ride down, Mika looked at the corner of the elevator. The upper right corner over the elevator controls. There was nothing too interesting about it, but there wasn’t a lot of other places to look. The alternative was to talk with the other agents, but why? It wasn’t like Elise was trustworthy. Mika had initially thought she was just a teller, but it was becoming apparent she was involved with things a bit more than Mika had suspected. When the door finally opened, Mika was one of the first ones out. She didn’t bother looking into any of the cells. The blood from her enemies was starting to coagulate on her skin. There was too much to wipe away, and it would be impossible to ring out of her outfit.

They found Binky. Ashley’s shout initially got Mika’s attention, but this discovery didn’t stir anything inside Mika. It was just a woman she barely knew who was important for reasons she didn’t understand. It was hard to believe this was it. There was no big boss, no last stand from a weretiger army. It was almost anticlimactic. There was still the possibility that someone was hiding in here. Maybe…

"’If we are going to release everyone, we should verify none of them are weretigers in disguise.” That was exactly the sort of underhanded trick Mika would expect from a monster.

Mika Stat Block

16 | Female | Gemini | Somebody's Watching Me!
Nails | Hands | Arcane | Cat Scratch Fever
Eye of the Tiger | Survivor
Spirit Animals | Nature | ANIMAL
[Poison, Transform], Pull, Restrain, Construction, Heal, Stabilize, Extend

DAMAGE: C | SPEED: B | SENTINEL: E | 500

PHYSICAL: D | ARCANE: B | CHAOS: C | 404

Symphony on High

_{@Ponn@ERode@Izurich}

The teller gave Angel a side eye when she disregarded her offer and promptly sprinted back to the main hall to regroup with the others, but at least Cerberus actually acknowledged her offer. She looked back at the cat girl with a slight grin and was about to explain, but she was pulled by the free hand down the hall instead.

”Ey’, just a scratch. Guessin’ they didn’t expect ya’ ta’ be THAT strong.” She chuckled. The next scene only cemented the fact. These guys were never gonna stand a chance. The agents got the code, and now they got someone to guide them to Binky. The teller moved her bloodied hand away from her wound when Ashley offered to patch her up. Even if healing notes don’t work as well with normal humans as they did espers it should be enough to stop the bleeding at least. She nodded in thanks. ”Th’ name’s Elise. Boss gave a heads up that you’d be poppin’ in, an’ I ain’t exactly a part of their lot, as ya’ can figure…” Elise explained, giving the corpses a side eye. ”Down there though’s where Tony does his dirty work. Should warn ya’, it ain’t pretty.”

With Angel guarding the elevator, the rest could go down to the lower floors.

The ride down could’ve felt like ages. And the colder atmosphere they were greeted with contrasted with the warm and inviting casino. Elise immediately stepped out first.

”This way, girls!”

Navigating through the winding corridors, the agents could get glimpses of the gang’s inner-workings. There was a notable lack of guards down there, were all of them stationed on the main floor? Soon enough they would come across where the human trafficking victims were being held. Man, woman, and child, some even noticed the unfamiliar group walking down the cells and tried to reach out to them, begging them for help, begging for their freedom. ”Awful, ain’t it? Cat’s gotta eat, doesn’t matter who ends up his lunch.” Elise solemnly spoke up as they walked. ”Ya’ hadn’t done a terrible numba’ on the hall besides tha’ stiffs. An’ somehow I’m doubtin’ you’re leavin’ ‘em here too, ‘ight?”

However the agents would respond, Elise wouldn’t answer. It wasn’t her funeral if they did. She eventually stopped at one cell and knocked on the bars. Inside laid their target. Binky, at a cursory glance at least, was left unharmed. ”Rise n’ shine, Cabbage Patch! Ya’ free to go!”

”Ngh!” Unharmed, but definitely stiff. Binky rose to her feet. She almost jumped out of her skin when she noticed all the new faces looking at her. ”Orion? Good to see you again. And, and, I… I don’t recognize the others.” With a sigh, Binky fell against the wall. ”Maybe we can get introduced later. My grimoire, they’re keeping it around here somewhere.”

---

_{@The World@Nyahahameha@Nakushita@TaintedMushroom@FamishedPants}

It was a good thing Kira practiced those one-armed push ups.

Few mundane humans could support their body without collapsing, least of all with a limb missing. But there was enough adrenaline coursing through Kira’s system that this was possible. While bending over backwards to avoid her opponent, she could see the palemancer behind her. He had his arm extended and was about to pull himself right back onto the semi trailer. But the pale guard Kira shot earlier was sling-shotted straight over her without so much as time to flail. The palemancer and his creation collided in mid air before tumbling into the street. Falling twelve feet to the ground was not an ideal situation for anyone, but falling from a vehicle that’s driving well over the speed limit The palemancer and pale guard seemed to blend together as they rolled across the pavement. But the semi kept driving, now with only Kira and its mysterious driver. Could the Semi be stopped?

Speaking of stopping, that was something Bardo felt might be a good idea. He conjured a slew of floating pages to slow himself down. Little by little, the pages slowed him down until he was suspended right beside a lamp post. This was good for Bardo,because his brain would remain in his skull. This was bad for bardo because it meant the incoming pale guard would have little difficulty targeting their suspended prey. They tumbled in place, with the pale guard biting and scratching Bardo, and Bardo retaliating with his sword. While his sword happily gobbled up mundane semi trucks, it didn’t have the same destructive power on monsters. It cut like a normal sword, but it still informed him about his target nonetheless. This pale guard used to be a human cadaver, but had since transformed into a full monster. While he could cut her, she was much more susceptible to arcane magic. He could also tell that she was dangerous to normal humans, but wouldn’t be able to do a lot of damage to bardo by herself. Her name used to be Peggy, and she was trying out a keto diet before being captured by weretigers. What actually killed her were some injuries she sustained during a human trafficking bust gone wrong. A gemini agent sniped the weretiger that was carrying her and she hit her head when the crate she was housed in was dropped to the ground. She later died from her injuries, and experienced her second death at Bardo’s hands. Bardo’s vestments were stained with his opponents blood, and yet, he didn’t have time to take it all in.

He could see the palemancer and the other pale guard rise from the ground. They were no longer separate entities. Tumbling across the pavement had worn away most of their clothes and flesh,and their bones were entwined into a single being. They looked like a mantis, with two bladed scythes for arms and their other limbs acting as legs. Even if they had no right being used as such. It tried to gurgle out something, but the way their throats fuzed together didn’t enable either creature to speak. The palemancer, or whatever they had become, hobbled towards Bardo.

The two remaining male pale guards at Himiko’s feet were vaporized by her melody. The heat alone was enough to do them in, but what little remained was set ablaze and burned into fine ash. She might have been stingy with her mana, but if the price was right…

Which just left the cultists.

Despite Finn freaking out over Oros’s sudden appearance, he flung his one melody at the monster cultist going after Eddy. He noticed the incoming projectile, but when he reached for his fellow “protectors,” they had all made the wise choice to distance themselves from their superior.

”This just ain’t right!"

The melody struck him square in the chest, turning his entire body into smoldering ash. His robes and golden jewelry fell to the ground in a heap. Between getting harassed by a sockpuppet and having one of their leaders just die, the cultists weren’t looking to stick around. It wasn’t like they could recover the water truck at this point anyway. They backed into the shadows, quietly uttering their lords name as they departed.

Though one was a bit more stubborn.

"Run, Finn, run!"

— Oros The Mad

"Holy shit your aim is bad. Are you seriously trying to outrun me? " There were a few espers that could outrun Oros, but Finn wasn’t one of them. She had little difficulty gaining on him as the distance between them closed. But what could he do but run? She was strong, fast, had potent melodies, and could shrug off most anything that was thrown at her. But that didn’t even factor in her most powerful ability.

Oros’s eyes glanced between the back of Finn’s head and her sword. A smile crept across her face. Her eyes continued to glow more intense shades of red, going from pink to a deep crimson. She whipped around and pointed her sword in Marrie’s direction. The two fired their beams. A gust of wind and a snake passed each other mid-air.

Simultaneously.

Finn was struck in the back. He was immediately transplanted with Marrie, but Oros had used her melody to teleport closer to where Marrie had been. Finn blinked his eyes, and he was suddenly running headlong towards Oros.

"Time to get shorter, pipsqueak!"

A swing of her sword, and Finn was parted from both of his legs. He fell forwards and managed to stop his face from hitting the pavement by catching it with his hands. The brass cogs in his legs were exposed, and oil spilled out onto the pavement. When he looked up, he could see Oros approaching him. But also, there was something else floating just over her shoulder.

"I’ve gotta say, I’m a little disappointed in our final match." She held her sword over her head. "I’d have preferred no interruptions, but it didn’t seem like you were going to fight me anyway. Maybe-"

Suddenly, sand started to pour out of Finn’s ears. And his eyes, his legs, even the gaps under his fingernails. His head collapsed into a mound of sand.

"Hey!" Oros pointed at Finn’s head. "Talking is a free action! We went over this last time!" With a sigh, she turned away from Finn. "Whatever, we’ll have a proper duel later I guess. Unbelievable." The remaining cultist approached Marrie. "So, where was I?" She sheathed her sword. "Right, so, everyone around here, sans you, gets on my nerves. Since I managed to get through this event while only cutting off that psychopath’s legs, I think I deserve a reward, don’t you?" Oros folded her arms. "What do I get?"

Symphony on High

"’I’m not the last one to post? Wild!"

— Mika Fang

No surprises here. With nothing between Mika’s claws and Badger’s flesh, he was more than willing to give up the elevator password. There wasn’t much else to comment on. Mika was right, and her hunch played out the way she expected it to. Barring Angelie making a fool out of herself, it all unfolded the way she knew it would.

But for whatever reason, Mika found herself paralyzed once she had gotten what she wanted. She hadn’t considered her next course of action when Angelie promptly knocked him out with a chop of her hand. Was that the textbook way to knock someone unconscious? It didn’t feel very reliable. But Mika was already convinced that Angelie’s combat training involved watching lots and lots of foreign action movies. There was something she wanted to say, but there were too many people around. By the time Angelie recovered her gun, she was already back in the lobby with the others. That left Mika alone with the teller and Badger. She looked at the side of the man’s head.

"’Are you really just a human?” No response, of course. After staring at the side of his head, She pulled out a taser and stabbed him in the neck with it. His body twitched as she held the device against his skin. After a few seconds, she pulled back. "’Guess so.” She dropped him onto the floor and stepped over him. "’You still deserve to die, but we’ll keep you alive a bit longer I guess.”

Mika was about to follow Angelie out the door when she turned back to look at the teller. "’Wait, our friend? Then you know about all that?” She raised an eyebrow while examining the teller. She could be a weretiger or a dark web esper. But then she had no reason to get dragged around by a regular human. "’Never mind, come with me.” she grabbed the teller’s hand and walked into the lobby. "’I didn’t mean to hurt you. Are you okay?”

The teenage girl didn’t react to Lorenzo’s body or the eerie quiet that set over the place. As soon as she was in front of the other espers, she pointed at the teller. "’She says she knows where our friend is. The guy that had the password was using her as a shield. She kicked him in the balls. I think we can trust her. ” Mika spoke with the same deadpan expression she used during show and tell at school. "’But I think I should stay up here and guard the elevator in case more of them come. Witch Hunt would be more useful guarding Binky.”

Mika Stat Block

16 | Female | Gemini | Somebody's Watching Me!
Nails | Hands | Arcane | Cat Scratch Fever
Eye of the Tiger | Survivor
Spirit Animals | Nature | ANIMAL
[Poison, Transform], Pull, Restrain, Construction, Heal, Stabilize, Extend

DAMAGE: C | SPEED: B | SENTINEL: E | 500

PHYSICAL: D | ARCANE: B | CHAOS: C | 404

Symphony on High

_{@Ponn@ERode@Izurich}

Burning.

A burning sensation enveloped and raced across Lorenzo’s leg, the initial kick itself hadn’t even compared to him losing the strength from his limb. The weretiger lost his balance, something Ashley immediately took advantage of with a blast from her shield and a shot through the heart. Timekeeper had always aimed for the heart or the head for a reason. Lorenzo stumbled back a short distance, the shock only lasting long enough before he collapsed onto the ground. The Witch Hunter and the Knight of Tomorrow got a good look at the damages and the corpses painting the hall, and the chandelier still hanging high over it all. Everything’s finally quieted down. Guess that was all of them?

Well, all except for Spades McGraw, who shuffled over to the edge of the balcony to get a better view of the carnage. Don’t worry, he was still handcuffed. ”Well shit, Lorenzo too?” He spoke up to no one when he saw the dead tiger. These ladies mean business.

Angel went to assist Cerberus in obtaining the password in a rather eccentric matter. It must’ve been jarring to have your plans be hijacked by a winged redhead soaring at you with the speed of an olympian sprinter. Even more so seeing a cat girl willingly shoot herself in the head in order to boost herself even further and sink her claw into you. Honey Badger was forced backwards from his hostage before he could react, who quickly took the opportunity to free herself, grab the gun and swiftly kicked him in the nuts for good measure. ”Asshole! I ain’t gettin’ paid enough for this…” The teller scowled, and holding a hand over her wounds, slowly walked towards Angel’s direction. She held the weapon out for the winged esper to collect.

”Gah-!? What the fuck are you asking me for, I ain’t that-”

”Ah shut the hell up and tell ‘em, do ya’ really want ‘em to rip ya’ throat out before Tony does?!” She snapped back at Honey Badger before he finished yelling at Mika. The man groaned in annoyance.

”Fine, fine! The code’s 6137. Better you assholes getting killed for this than me!”

”You goin’ to th’ lower floors, eh?” The teller glanced back at the two. ”...I can lead ya’ where they’re keepin’ your friend, if ya’ want.”

---

_{@The World@Nyahahameha@Nakushita@TaintedMushroom@FamishedPants}

If something had a hole in it, it meant that there was no material in that area. If something was severed, it meant all the material that held it together had been removed. By that logic, you could sever something by aligning holes the right way. That was Himiko’s logic as she fired at the pale guard’s leg. It looked like a slice of swiss cheese, at least until the white creature stumbled onto its face. It wasn’t dead yet, neither was its companion who had been shocked into submission. But they weren’t going to be moving very far without a leg. The black ooze seeping out of their wounds didn’t bode well for them.

Justin zipped left, then right. The shopping cart wielding zombie lacked the super speed that Justin had, but he was armed with a large improvised weapon. He shoved the cart at the blue blur, but that didn’t stop Justin’s fist from flying through his head. Ivory chunks and gray matter were launched through the air. But speeding in the opposite direction was the shopping cart. Without Justin there to protect her, she was struck by the runaway cart. She fell inside it, at which point it slowed its roll to a crawl across the parking lot. Himiko would need to hustle if she wanted that golden age comic.

Meanwhile, Kira seemed to have a change of heart. Maybe she hit her head during the tumble, or seeing the cultists woke something up inside her, but it caused her to attempt diplomacy. A difficult thing to do in the middle of a fight with someone you just attacked. But when she extended her hand, the palemancer took it and pulled himself to his feet.

”I’m glad you feel that way. However...”

Pain.

While the palemancer still held Kira’s hand, her arm had detached from her shoulder and was dangling out of the palemancer’s grasp. His scythe was stained with her blood, and was just finishing its arc through to air.

”My flock is tired of empty promises from the rich.“ Not that the palemancer needed the help of espers anyway. Once he finished blessing the water, he could grow his army of pale guards to something far more numerous. He prepared to swing his scythe a second time.

Bardo had been biding his time, but had found an opportunity to strike. He huffed on foot as fast as he could. While his speed surpassed human limits, so too did that of a semi. There were also fleeing homeless and cultists. He was nearly run over by the dispersing mob on his way towards the Semi. As time waned, the truck continued to accelerate. But not before Bardo could reach it.

He soared through the air, blade extended. It wouldn’t be enough to just slice into the tip of the outside tire. This had dual wheels on each axle, so Bardo needed to be close. His hungry sword cut through the rubber like it was styrofoam. What he hadn’t quite anticipated was the air pressure in those tires. They had been aired right up to a hundred pounds per square inch, and were taller than his waist. Specifically 315/80R22.5 tires to be precise. While the sword was hungry for material, Bardo was hungry for knowledge. Though neither were ready for the explosion of compressed air. The explosion only served to spin him, which cause him to slice into both tires on the second axle. This time, the tire that was exploiting was right next to him, and he was thrown clean away from the semi. Such an explosion might have been lethal to a normal human, or even an esper. But just like monsters, chaos weapons had a tendency to briefly afflict whatever they cut into. Only Bardo’s eardrums would suffer from the initial attack. But now he was flying full speed ahead towards a lamp post. Did he know how he was going to slow down?

Because the Semi certainly was. With all four of its left rear tires popped, it was forced to roll on its rims. This caused a loss of control at the front, as one side of the trailer was trying to move faster than the other. A rain of sparks flew out the back as the vehicle’s rear was slowly ground away. But most important to those on top, the sudden loss of tires caused the corner of the trailer to dip. The palemancer and Kira were thrown from the trailer, and the two paleguards hopped off as well. One tried to pounce on Kira mid air, while the other went after Bardo.

Things were getting intense with the cultists too. The homeless ranks had been broken and would become a problem shortly. This was evident to both Marrie and Finn, who shifted their attention to the new threat.

Finn released Eddy, who had little difficulty barreling through the cultists. As small as the puppet was, it had little difficulty assaulting the cultists. If Finn had ever watched “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” he might have compared Ed to the killer rabbit. But even with chaos erupting in their ranks, they wouldn’t break as easily as the homeless had.

With Eddy deployed, he then flung a bolt of glowing electricity at the grand wizard. The robe figure instantly noticed what was going on and shoved one of his followers in front of it. It burned clean through the cultist’s chest before he sunk to the ground. ”How cowardly!” He roared. ”I will deal with you once I catch your pet!” And with that, he waded through the cultists to deal with Eddy.

Marrie had a sound idea for launching herself, but it wouldn’t play out the way she wanted. She did get herself into the air, but then she started to spin. She was spinning quite fast, in fact. The pale guard had grabbed a hold of the chain and was swinging it around. The centrifugal force kept the chain taught, and Marrie’s body off the ground. She went around and around before the pale guard hurled her into the air.

Mission successful, right?

Marrie’s altitude made it a simple matter to rain her melody on top of the cultists. Drops of arcane water burned through the cultists, and many of them sank in a heap. The only problem now was worrying about the landing, as well as what Kira’s melody was supposed to be. She had demonstrated her formidable magic previously, and now Marrie was heading over enemy lines.

The cultist woman hadn’t done much since showing up. She’d occasionally glance inside her robes, but made no attempt to join the front lines or invoke a spell. Likewise, none of the espers had directed any attacks towards her in particular. But did turn to see the projectile and Marrie falling out of the sky. A crazed grin crossed her face when she darted towards the descending objects. With a leap, she caught Marrie in mid-air and drew a blade from her robes. It split the melody before it could activate, causing it to fade out of reality. When the woman landed on the ground, Marrie realized that she had seen her before. Pink hair, red eyes, a sword as dark as night, one that twinkled with the cosmic light of some far off stars.

The woman laughed.

Be careful who’s arms you lay in

"You thought I was a random cultist NPC, but it was me! Oros!"

— Oros The Mad

"Did you see that shit?" Oros looked Marrie dead in the eye while pointing in the air. "You were all like, flying through the air and shit, and then I was like, zoom, huzzah, shwing! Touchdown! I think it was amazing? Wasn’t it amazing? I know your patron likes it when you have close scrapes with danger so they’ve gotta be feeling all jittery right now. Like, what the actual fuck is Oros doing in a place like this?" She looked across the parking lot at the girl in the shopping cart. "The real one! Not some punk ass faker like you! _{Oros the greedy, what kind of name is that even?} So you just sit right where you are, Mrs Neubanheimer, and nothing too bad should happen to you." Oros scanned her surroundings. "Come to think of it, there’s a lot of people around here I wouldn’t mind taking a piece of. Like that paparazzi that copied my sword, or the hot blooded 'Wantanabe’ that replaced Sam, or ‘Street Smarts’ there with the big diplomacy mission who just gets on my nerves. But I guess we wouldn’t get very far if I killed every esper in Pax, would we?“ Oros dropped Marrie on a pile of dead cultists. "But I can thin the herd a little bit. And the one that’s got my goat the worst has got to be Penny Jr’ You’re gunna pay for what you did to Betty!“ Oros held her sword out in front of herself. Her eyes turned pink as her magic flowed through her body. "This time, I’m going to be the one that kills you!" Oros surged forward. "Boy is it great that talking is a free action. Wouldn't you agree, Neubanheimer!?"

STORYCRAFT: For Roleplayers

...

*Rubs back of neck*

It's easy to lose track of time at the end of the year.

I've been slowly working on a few other articles, but I didn't like any of them because it felt like different applications of what's already been explained in here. Did you know you can use subtext to mix emotions and action together in narration? Yes, yes you did.

But I know what I'm really trying to do here. I'm dancing around that collab article that I said I was going to write years ago. The funny thing is, I kind of started STORYCRAFT for the sole purpose of getting myself to write it. So I think the next thing I'll write will be our series finale. It should be worth the wait when it finally drops.

March of the White Rabbit: A Roll-Your-Own Magical Girl Roleplay

With Al MIA, Chloe had her work cut out for her. She’d love nothing more than to just relax in her home with a girl or tree, but she had meetings to attend and strings to pull. She always heard that being the boss was a lot of vacation time and getting paid a lot. And while that might have been true, it was also a lot of time wasting. Meeting people for conversations that could happen through her crystal ball, discussing strategies everyone was on board with, it was all so annoying. But that was to be expected when war was on the horizon.

She was walking around an overturned garbage can when she noticed what she thought was an ornate potion bottle sticking out of some trash. "Hmmm?“ It might have been a purification potion, or some other artifact, but Chloe had little use for it. She started to walk away when she had a thought.

It might be fun to see if she could break it.

The slender neck of the potion slid between Chloe’s fingers, and with a mighty heave, she tossed it as far down the alleyway as she could.

While the throw looked good at first, it veered to one side and bounced off a wall, an adjacent dumpster, the floor, and a trashcan like a pinball which sent it careening back toward Chloe. The throw might have been enough to crack the glass though as a trail or red smoke billowed out of it. It looked as though it might smack her in the face when a hand emerged from the plume and caught it short. Chloe’s raised arm to block the object would find a golden bracelet clasped around the wrist.

”I would appreciate it if you were more gentle with my home, Master Chloe.” Though she didn't quite look the same, it wasn't hard for the DMG to connect the dots that the one before her was a more mature Ruby, the one that had helped facilitate some of the city's more light-hearted events.

There was an opportunity here to tell Ruby that she hadn’t disturbed the trash can she found her in, but perhaps it would be best to keep that derogatory humor to a minimum for this encounter. That was what MDP would insist on. "Right, it was a simple misunderstanding. Had I taken a closer look at you, I’d have probably avoided that mistake. woops!“ she picked up the lamp and rubbed her arm on the side of it. "Looks like you’re a full fledged genie now. I won’t ask you how it happened. I suspect that’s the sort of thing people don’t stop asking about. But is there a reason you chose my path in particular to appear on?“

Shaking her head, Ruby would simply reply. ”I do not choose to be anywhere. The wheels of fate decide whom shall be my master so long as there is need.” Crypic, but it seemed that Ruby didn't have much if any say on where she ended up.

"I could have used something like you about a day ago. But my remaining problems are too big for you to solve, or too small to waste a wish on.“ She grunted in annoyance. Though after studying Ruby for a moment, a smile crept across her face. "Now remind me; genies typically grant three wishes. Is that how many I get?“

Nodding again, Ruby would put a hand on her hip and return the smile, even if it was just for formalities. ”That is correct. With your typical fare of limitations. Though some have been known to be creative.”

"That should make this easy. Let’s get them all out of the way.“ Chloe’s grin grew further. "I wish for you to have a second lamp. This lamp will be a magical artifact that will summon you to the side of whoever holds it, but does not require you to grant them any wishes. You will come when you are called at any time unless it would interfere with your duty of granting wishes for others. Perhaps there is a portal or something in one lamp that lets you move between the two? I don’t know, I'll let you figure that out. But the important part is that the lamp cannot be stolen from its owner, but it may be freely given to someone else.“

The smile was mildly disconcerting, but the job did not guarantee that someone wouldn’t try and be sneaky with their wishes. However, the wish itself wasn’t the worst thing in the world. If anything it offered at least some additional level of freedom. More importantly she could feel that it was doable. ”As you wish.” Leaning forward she would take hold of the existing magical bottle. As she drew her hand back the glass and gold began to glow a hot orange as if liquifying and split into two identical objects.

Ruby would hold it up to look it over. ”Interesting.”

Chloe swiped the second lamp out of Ruby’s hand, only for it to teleport back into the genie’s palm. While this seemed to annoy chloe at first, she placed her hands on her hips and smiled. "Working as intended! I hope I don’t have to expend a wish to ask you to give it to me?“ She held out her hand.

After a slow blink, Ruby’s gaze would drift down to the open hand of the magical girl. Rolling the bottle in her own palm, the Djinn would hold it up. ”A wish? Nonsense. Those were not the terms or transaction.” She would give a cheeky smile but it didn't stick around very long. Putting her hands on her hips she would add. ”However, you are free to make your case. What benefit is there for me to give you the lamp? I could think of worse candidates.” Though she hadn't pulled many punches with the terms of a wish in the past, most of those happened before she became a Djinn and few even less potentially amounted to entrapment. Already bound to servitude it did not behoove her to give up something so valuable to her own autonomy lightly.

Chloe folded her arms and gave Ruby a sideways glance. "I don’t think I specified you should have the second lamp either. I’ll never understand why djinn behave the way they do. It’s not that important though. We can talk about that later. At least I have a few wishes left, right?“ She thought a bit before speaking. "My second wish, let’s see…“ The gears were turning. "I wish for your genie magic to never inconvenience or harm me, be it from your wishes or the magic that grants you your powers. If someone makes a wish, it cannot be granted or should exclude me from its effects if it would be unwanted. If a wish is made for something unrelated to me, it will be enchanted or granted in a way so that it cannot harm me. And…“ She sighed. "This protection should extend to my friends as well.“

”Mhm. And who are your friends so I can be sure they are included?“

"Ummm...“ Chloe rummaged through the trash until she found a little note pad. She shook it until the banana peel fell off of the back of it. "I don’t have many friends right now, but I plan on changing that. So how about you give me something like this that I can write their names in? A notebook or something where I could jot their names down and you would know to protect them from your magic. Like a sort of, uhh…“ She raised an eyebrow. "Friend note?“

Reaching over, Ruby would take the scrap of paper. Raising her hand up she would bring the paper down against her other hand. In a puff of purple sparkles and a solid thump, the single page turned into a small purple hardback notebook, complete with a pen, small clasp, a locket, and a set of keys. Aesthetically, it matched with Chloe’s eldritch theme, but there was no writing on the outside. Handing it back to the magical girl, Chloe would feel the magic imbued within it release and surround her as her wish took effect. ”As requested. You shall be protected from the negative effects of my magic and the wishes thereafter. For your friends, you may write their names in this notebook and they will receive the same benefit. You are the only one who can write in any names. I will clarify that if you enter the name of someone that is not actually your friend then it will fade away and not provide them with protection.”

"So I can’t just write anyone's name in hea-“ Chloe looked at Ruby with a raised eyebrow. "Hold on, wasn’t the entire point of this to inform you of who my friends are? If you can make artifacts that already know this information, was something so convoluted really necessary?“

”I thought giving you the choice was what you meant. I was simply explaining that you can’t just put anybody’s name in it if it doesn’t apply.” The woman seemed a little taken back by Chloe’s question. It didn’t seem like that many more steps for such a trivial amount of effort as writing a name.

"...Makes sense, I guess.“ Chloe said, in a tone that very much made it sound like she didn’t think that made sense. "That’s two wishes down anyway. Now for my third!“ Chloe grinned. "I wish for Penrose’s mundane population to be protected from supernatural threats. The power source for this protection should not vanish just because a magical girl leaves the city. I am aware that any form of protection can be overwhelmed with enough effort, but with your newfound power, I’m sure you can bring it back better than ever!“

”I believe so.” Waving a hand through the air, she would pull on a magical thread. At first there was a rebuff to what she was trying to do, but the force backed away once the intent was understood. A wash of magic would pass over the both of them as Ruby weaved the wish into the very fabric of the Nexus. So long as the Nexus stood, the ordinary citizenry of Penrose would remain safe from magical threats. ”A noble wish, Master Chloe. I wasn’t sure anyone would ever try to bring that back to be honest.”

"There’s no need to call me master anymore. The wishes are gone.” Chloe opened the “friend note” Ruby had given her and she wrote “Violet Covington” on the first page. Under it was “Aurora Mackenzie.” She tapped the page with her pen a few times before adding Ruby’s name, but shut the book before she could see if it faded away or not.

"All that’s left now is to convince you to hand that second lamp to me.” Her mischievous grin returned. "Before I do, why do you think I wished for something like that?”

Giving a slight shrug the woman would look up and give it some thought. There were a lot of reasons one could choose to do such a thing. ”Hard to say. You have something of a reputation, but I don’t really keep up with why or the goings on. Gets in the way of what I do. Could be turning over a new leaf, could be the logical ‘good thing to do’, or maybe just appearances.” She would shake her head. ”Not sure I am the best judge of character given what I am.”

Chloe clicked her tongue. "I wasn’t looking to be psychoanalyzed, but fair enough. You don’t know. It could be any reason. Though it’s none of the reasons you mentioned. As fun as it is to mess around with authority figures, I don’t have the luxury of messing around any more. Nor do I think I could turn over a new leaf or do the right thing. I wished for Penrose’s safety because I care about the Mint’s future prospects. I wish to protect myself and my friends from your magic because who knows what will happen if the queen gets you. And my first wish… ” She shrugged her shoulders. "I can’t pretend to know what your life is like, but spending an eternity in a bottle sounds kind of dull to me. I can’t wish for your freedom, so I wished for a reprieve. Anyone who has that bottle can walk around with you like you’re friends. You can experience everything the world has to offer, with wish granting being your only interruption. But also…” Chloe inhaled.

"I weawwy weawwy weawwy think thawt we couwd be something speciaw. something abouwt the way uwu wook makes me think thiws couwd wowk. we'we juwst two wonewy souws destined tuwu be wonewy fowevew. But if thewe's something i've weawned fwom my time as a magicaw giww, iwt's thawt wove cawn bwidge any divide awnd make the impossibwe possibwe. But if uwu down't twust me, then maybe uwu shouwd howd onto thawt wamp untiw uwu find someone uwu duwu.”

Well it did seem as though she hadn’t landed on the answer. Listening to the explanation regarding the wishes, they seemed reasonable. Really, there wasn’t anything against Chloe. Ruby was cautious before becoming a Djinn, but since her transformation she was even less trusting. Even Mariette and Penny would be a stretch for her. The heel turn to some strange baby talk caught her off guard and took a strange turn.

Shaking her head slowly, Ruby would sit mid air with an amused smile. ”While I appreciate the compliment, you should know that if it is love that you desire then I will not be able to provide such comforts. I am by my nature chaotic and mischievous, not unlike some Puchuu. And unlike a magical girl that is not something that will change with time. I would enjoy the freedom, but I've no capacity for real affection. Does that understanding change anything?” She would pause and await for Chloe's response.

"Thawt iws fine. I incwuded the condition thawt awwowed uwu tuwu be twaded so thawt i couwd hawnd uwu tuwu someone mowe fitting if things didn't wowk out. Sowme peopwe wouwd considew me a chaotic awnd mischievous as weww. But i duwu nowt mean tuwu impwy thawt we have tuwu be wovews. Uwu have youw fweedom now awnd may choose how uwu spend iwt. I'm nowt weawwy wooking fow a owne awnd onwy. Iwt sounds wike uwu won't get jeawous if i find my favowite, which iws a pwus!”

Though she wasn't entirely asuaged on the matter, she wasn't sure she ever would be. They did have things in common. And realistically if someone decided to abuse the bottle, protection from her magic or not, she could make life a living hell. Something less important was bothering her as well. ”Why are you talking like that all the sudden?”

"Talking like what?” Chloe raised an eyebrow.

Narrowing here yes for a moment, Ruby would take the extra lamp and hand it over to Chloe. ”I like you. I think this could be a fun little adventure.“

Chloe accepted the lamp. She turned it over in her hand before passing it to one of her tentacles, which coiled around her waist like a ghetto tool belt. "I’m running behind schedule, but we can have some fun later.”

”I will see you later then.“ She would disappear in a cloud of smoke and her original lamp would vanish.

---

Chloe was starting to understand why secretaries were so important. When you had so much to do, sometimes it was nice to put scheduling and ordering events in someone else’s hands. It freed up her head space to think about the current task. She had enough things to juggle without also needing to worry about who she was supposed to meet up with and where. The downside was that it meant there could be a development without her being aware of it.

"I thought the lunch time slot was supposed to be cleared out.”

"I’m not sure what happened." Aurora apologized over the phone. "I don’t remember a lunch meeting being scheduled. Maybe one of the other agents put it here?"

"You sure you didn’t lean over the keyboard and press a bunch of keys with your new assets?”

Aurora coughed. "T-that only happened once! Either way, it’s too late to cancel. I’ll let Cradle know that you got held up with an emergency."

"Where did they want to meet up?”

"I’ll just e-mail everything to you. Sorry about this."

"Okay, well, take care.”

She’d be a lot more sorry if- No, this is your friend. Deep breaths. More contacts is a good thing. Her phone prompt beeped and she looked to see what she had been sent.

The meeting was set at an old Cafe and cigar shop. A local favorite for hush talks as they had private rooms and didn't ask questions. Al had been known to use it on occasion for things on the fringes of Mint business. The invite didn't look to come from the former Broker though, less formal and the footer had little emoji like some kind of social media post.

Upon arriving, Chloe would be directed to the room. Upon entering she would find a magical girl she'd never seen before. She looked like a hologram sitting across on the other side of the table. Some things were obvious, but her magic and Third Eye picked up on Spirit and Light. There was a third less obvious component, but clearly deeply intwined with her being. The table had some smaller hors d'oeuvres set out that hadn't been touched.

Standing up, the girl's legs phased through the chair she'd seemingly been sitting in. ”Chloe. Good to finally get to meet you. I hope putting the meeting on your calendar wasn't inconvenient for you. Seems you've become quite busy since Al left you in charge.”

"I almost didn’t show up.” Chloe picked up a creampuff and took a bite out of it. "Seems you’ve heard of me though, which I can’t say surprises me. Care to tell me who you are and why we’re here?”

”Of course. My name is Harmony. I've recently taken over management of the IT infrastructure in Penrose Mint and since you are lead here I thought it necessary to meet up and be sure that operations are meeting expectations.“

"I see.” Chloe had taken quite a few college courses, but it was mostly just to get grants and delay the inevitable. That was to say she didn’t retain a lot of what she had learned. She didn’t even fully understand what IT infrastructure was. "It hasn’t been an issue for us. Well…” She thought out loud. "We’ve had to change how we do things in Penrose. Presently we are developing a game and using a take out joint to cater to the programmers. It’s an attempt to cut development costs and have enough income to fund the project via serving the public. Infrastructure hasn’t been much of an issue. The developers all operate on a closed wired network and internet service is not important to them at this time. Nor is it important for the takeout joint as most sales are to walk-in customers.” She closed her eyes and sighed. "That said, I do have some concerns about future operations. We will be distributing the game digitally and will need a server with 24 hour internet access to function properly. This would not be an issue, but our greatest threat is a certain magical girl that starts with a ‘P’ and ends with a ‘Y’ and has a penchant for hacking anything in her ‘kingdom.’ Our contract forbids us from dealing with her using conventional methods, not that Mint has been too successful doing that in the past anyway. So tell me, can we defend our project from a magical super hacker?”

Nodding along with each item, it seemed as though she had a decent grasp of most of the things listed. Giving a brief moment to check in on something, Harmony would give a confident smile. Good to hear that the transition happened transparently on the user end. I have already taken steps to secure the Mint's electronic assets and should prove to be more than a match to prevent unwanted intruders. Speaking of the Queen of Penrose, I am meeting with her as we speak. I believe I can build that bridge so that hopefully we won't have to come to a one-on-one scenario and be on more cooperative terms.” She would rattle off each thing rather casually, moving on as if it wasn't much of a problem.

”The launch of the game shouldn't be too much trouble. I'm not sure how present you are on social media, but I have a fairly large following online that we should be able to leverage for some viral publicity.” She continued checking things off.

Chloe blinked. "Hold on, you’re, talking, with her?” She rubbed her eyes. "Uh, why?”

”A couple reasons.” She would hold up a finger. ”First, she and I are are both digital in nature. I would like to get to know her if I could. That is more a personal thing.“ Raising a second finger. ”Second, I have reason to believe that she presents a danger beyond her hostility toward the Mint. If my prediction is sound and nothing is done with she could succumb to vulnerabilities that could put Penrose and beyond at risk. I am hoping to find a resolution to that.“

"That’s fine, what I don’t understand is where IT infrastructure and diplomacy overlap. Was Al aware you were going to do this? Why wasn’t I notified?”

There was an awkward silence for a moment. Harmony's eyes wandered for a moment. ”No, Al was not aware. Thus far I have done what I believed was necessary. It later occurred to me that I needed to update someone, and that was you. So I'm trying to get to fix things.” She stood there somewhat awkwardly, but at the same time it didn't really seem like she regretted anything.

Chloe growled through her teeth. "Just now, huh?” She folded her arms. "Finish your little meeting. Do know I have no intention of allotting any more resources to satisfy her highness. So long as things don’t get botched further I’ll be willing to overlook this incident. But in the future, you will report to me, and you will ask me if you can act above your station. Mint doesn’t need any more rouge actors.” Chloe stood up. "That said, you seem to have a rare kind of competence. Keep doing a good job, and diplomacy may very well become your station.”

”Oh...” She would give a reassuring smile. ”I do not anticipate allocating further company resources for this encounter. That would definitely need some kind of approval outside my own capabilities. The only reason I considered it was because of the already agreed to terms. Otherwise, well… hard to say. I will make an effort to keep you better appraised in the future. I got carried away with all of… this.” She would wave her hands from top to bottom. Presumably referring to herself or her magic.

Chloe stared at the woman a moment longer. "I do have another meeting coming up later, but since I haven’t had lunch yet, let’s finish our date.” She picked up another pastry. "Must be nice being able to multitask like you can.” She popped the treat into her smiling mouth.

Harmony would take a seat as well. ”It has it’s benefits. Some other things not so much.” She would try and pick up one of the items and pass right through it. ”I’m mostly okay with that though. Feel free to order whatever you like. My treat.”

"Alright, but you’re ordering for two!” Chloe pulled an ornate bottle off of her hip and rubbed it. Shortly afterwards, Ruby appeared in a puff of smoke. "Harmony here can’t interact with the physical world, so you’re going to have to help me eat this food on her behalf.” Chloe stood back up. "I’ll order us some tea, be right back!”

---

After Chloe’s two surprise meetings, she was finally able to attend the one that she had actually planned for.

The meeting with Cradle took place in one of Penrose’s many abandoned warehouses. Only a very thorough look would reveal that it, like so many others, was very much not abandoned. Everything that was required to make the Penny bots could be found here. From the equipment to the plans to the penny bots themselves.

"I won’t lie." Chloe observed the Cradle agents as they worked. "I do underhanded things all the time, but I thought Maura held herself to higher standards than this."

"Maura isn’t here anymore, in case you forgot." Binky took note of everything she saw. Behind her, Mac was taking pictures of documentation. Page after page was recorded on a digital camera.

"I’m not judging you. It’s just that the lot of you are afraid of Penny. I’m surprised you’d sign a deal under the table that would let you make more of her."

Binky took a deep breath. "Normally, I wouldn’t dream of sharing this with you, but in the interest of cooperation..." She turned to look at Chloe. "We were shown a vision of the future. Part of that vision had Penny cloning herself and taking over the world. After hearing about the penny-bots, I’m almost one-hundred percent sure that was what I saw and not Penny." Binky shrugged her shoulders. "That said, I think one Penny is quite enough, which is why I’d never give her the means to make more of herself."

"Then wouldn’t destroying all the research be the best course of action?"

"Unlearning things is not very easy. Once something has been discovered, everyone will realize it is possible. It may take years or decades, but the technology will resurface. It would be better to keep a record of it and acknowledge how dangerous it is than try to bury it again. Not only that, but we already have one Penny walking around. Should something happen, these schematics will help us deal with her properly should the need arise."

"I was just curious if we were going to see cradle agents walking around with their own personal penny bots."

"I would prefer to have ‘Valorie-bots’ myself." Binky tapped her collar bone. "But Penny isn’t the most dangerous one to Penrose. She’ll become a threat under the right circumstances, but there’s another that is stronger and even more emotionally unstable."

Chloe thought for a moment. "Lily?"

"She was in the vision too. We need to make sure that she doesn’t do anything too drastic with her powers."

Mac approached Binky. ”Amanda and Valorie reported in. They scanned everything on the upper floors.”

"I guess we’ll be taking our leave then."

Chloe ran over to Binky. "Um." she sighed. "I’m going to do everything in my power to find them. It might take a while, but if they’re alive, I can bring them back."

”I’ll believe it when I see it.” Mac didn’t bother looking over her shoulder.

"I hope you do." Binky walked after Mac. "Samantha hasn’t come back, and I fear the worst. It would be nice to hear some good news for a change."

Everyone piled into an elevator and left the lair. Once everyone was outside, Chloe lifted up her magic ball and looked into it. ”We’re clear.”

With a crack, the warehouse caved in on itself. It was as if some supergravity anomaly had opened up beneath the building and crushed everything into nothing. All that was left was a pile of dirt and rubble. Maybe when Chloe’s business empire spread out this way, she could build another restaurant on top of it. But the contract had been maintained. The Penny project had been scrapped in its entirely, with the only surviving documentation being for an entirely different project that Chloe had no control over. There would be no Penny clones this day.

Chloe opened up her notebook again and wrote down Binky’s name. She started to write MAc’s name but hesitated. Would Mac ever want to be her friend? Would any of the Cradle agents forgive her?

Would they really be friends if I only cared about them conditionally?

She finished writing Mac’s name, and noticed it didn’t disappear. A grin crossed her face as she continued to jot down more names.