BrokenPromise

Symphony on High

@Vertigo

Joshua was having a pretty interesting day.

He had really just come here for a few days to visit his family, and was using the hotel because his parents didn’t have enough room in their house to accommodate him. In truth, he didn’t like to move around very much, and would have preferred to stay home. But he did genuinely care about his parents well being, even if it was kind of a hassle to hire a ‘figurine sitter’ to protect his collection when he was away for an extended period of time. Not only that, but Pax Septimus had some pretty high crime rates and was experiencing all kinds of weird weather phenomena. Though that was also why he was here. He planned to help them a bit and return home. It was just a shame there weren’t any stores around that catered to his very specific tastes.

Then some totally hot oni cosplayer jumped through his window, along with someone in a bigfoot costume. She flashed him a pretty disgusted look, which just made him more curious. Her outfit looked well made, and the beauty wearing it was very in character. He couldn’t tell if she was a tsundere, dominatrix, or something else. The situation was a little strange, and he figured it was best to not give chase. The guy in the bigfoot suit was probably her boyfriend, and if she was single, she might have just been a very well dressed thug. He sighed, thankful for the chance encounter, and prepared to boot his favorite website for looking at scantily clad anime girls.

Then someone fired a shotgun.

This was very confusing. The oni girl didn’t look like she could conceal a sawed off. It seemed inconceivable that a fight had broken out on his floor, but then again, how often do really cute cosplayers run through your room? Maybe something happened to her, and he could be the one who saved her. Only when he rushed to the door to open it again, his punk oni princess dove on top of him, just in time to avoid the buck shot.

Was this real, or fantasy?

He’d be lying if he said he didn’t enjoy how assertive she was. This was the closest a woman had ever been to him, and he could feel the warmth from her finger as she shoved it into his nose. She smelled nice too. But more importantly, she needed his help. So as soon as she got up, Joshua screamed. It was shrill, unmanly, and drained his dignity faster than it did his lungs. His eyes darted between the empty doorway and the Oni gir- Hey, where did she go?

Thensomeone in pillaged military gear stepped in the doorway and aimed their gun inside the room. It was at this point that Josua wondered why he was asked to scream like that. Surely, if this soldier person was hunting them, wouldn’t they have naturally come into the room anyway, him screaming or not? Well, he wasn’t going to stop screaming anyway. His eyes darted to where the cute oni girl was last seen, and then back at the soldier. He must have been pissing them off, because it looked like they were going to shoot him.

Then a bolt of darkness slammed into the side of the soldier’s head. It looked powerful. He fully expected the soldier’s head to explode. It certainly looked like it might with the helmet fragments flying everywhere, but there was no blood. Only lots and lots of cyan hair swirling in the air. It eventually came to rest on the soldiers' back. Though their face didn’t look like it belonged to a soldier. Aside from their aqua colored hair, they were wearing a gas mask that had glowing yellow rods sticking out of it and… Holy shit, was this a girl too?! It was hard to tell with the mask, but the face shape did look kind of feminine.

The soldier/gasmask girl pointed her shotgun down the hall, only for a shadow creature to barrel into her back and shove her out of the way. There were a few more shotgun blasts, some sounds that he couldn’t comprehend, and then…

Joshua looked out the window. It looked like the three of them had left the hotel and were running through the street. Well, the soldier girl and the shadow thing was running, but the oni was sitting on the shadow creature’s shoulder.

This was the best day of his life.



@Ponn@Majoraa@ERode

Just the Shadow Wizard Money Gang and Dante now.

The wizard “holding Estelle at gunpoint” didn’t exactly look relieved. While still holding the gun at Estelle, he looked to the pile of dead bodies by the door, the window that Ashley “opened” to let plenty of fresh air in, and the flames that were being fed by all that fresh air. It wasn’t clear if Estelle was mistaken or just making a threat, but the wizard pulled his gun off of Estelle and started to walk around the Diner. The flames around him faded and went out, as if there was some oxygen deprivation bubble around him that was suffocating the flames.

The one holding onto the school girl drew his gun as soon as Ashley’s magic flared up, but he didn’t point his gun at anyone. It took a moment for the words to sink in. He looked back at his homies. Two of them were out cold, with the third pacing around like some fire sweeping roomba. With a nod, he gave the school girl a push. With a groan, she stumbled into Ashley’s arms. ”A’ight.” He pointed at the window with his finger. ”I ain’t goin out there with no pink nutjob though.”

Which left Dante, Finn, and his hallucinations.

Their arena was no longer the entire Diner, just the small space behind the counter. At one side was the world’s second largest man holding a hammer, and at the other was a small child with a chainsaw that barely had an effect, and magic that had no observable effect. A wall of sand against a firefly, and that was without considering the impossibly large demon lunging for Finn.

Finn looked for something to use, anything at all.

He found something.

Maybe he found something.

He just needed time.

And that was when Estelle swung her Dai-Katana. While she could feel the presence of the massive demon, it was a creature that only existed in Finn’s imagination. And a child’s imagination is a very powerful thing. The demon’s body split, not because Estelle cut it, but because it wished to avoid the incoming attack. As soon as her blade was free, the demon slammed back together and surged forth. Dante on the other hand was struck by the sword. The swirling barrier around the sword did more to disperse his body than the chainsword could. In fact, Dante was half spun by the attack, and was turned to face Estelle in the process. While he spun, one of his hands flew up and tossed a handful of sand at Estelle. After being burned, the sand hardly bothered her at all. But now she could see a second demon, one that more closely captured something she was afraid of. What did Estelle see?

Finn was not going to waste the opportunity afforded to him. He became quick, and immediately rushed to fling as many burning drinks at Dante as he could. The first one soared over Dante’s head, but the second one hit him square in the chest. He roared, as the flames hit his gut into glass, which fell to the ground and shattered. If these were normal flames, Dante might not have been affected by them. But they were arcane and devastating in nature. Momentary exposure was enough to do serious damage to him. Dante could not reassemble his body due to the curse Finn’s sword inflicted on him. Neither demon could protect him, as Finn and Estelle’s imaginations were incapable of affecting the real world. The next bottle turned his shoulder to glass, then he stumbled backwards into the flames and his leg turned to glass. Each new molotov he was struck with, his body would harden and shatter. His hammer fell out of his hands. Before long, he was just a torso and a head.

”Amanda! Ruuuu-

The last molotov struck Dante’s head, turning what remained of him into a glass sculpture. Half of his mustache cracked and fell off.

The demons disappeared instantly. There were no more hostiles, the battle was over.

Right?

What remained of Dante was parked directly in front of the doorway to out back, where he had been trying to keep the school girls and Finn out of. But now someone was emerging from the confines of the darkened room. It appeared to be a teenage girl, who couldn’t have been much older than Finn. She was wearing a few unusual accessories. She had a bluetooth headset on. It looked very space age, and had to be something designed for gamers if the boom mic was anything to go by. She had a long white shirt that came down to her knees, and it had a picture of a controller on it. She was also wearing a wrist computer, and a choker that had lights to show how strong the area’s wi-fi signal was.

Her gaze was fixed on the glass sculpture in front of her. Wide eyed, mouth agape, she sank to her knees beside the glass bust and wrapped her arms around its neck.

”Dad!”

She called to the glass sculpture several times, her voice cracking more and more every time. Finally she was sobbing too hard for her words to be understood.

Estelle could sense one more chaotic entity in the vicinity, and it was that girl grieving over her father.

---

@Vertigo!?!?!?

Viper dove out the window, and Ciri followed her on the back of her friend. There was a point where it looked like Viper might have been chasing the gold dragon, but she ducked into one of the side streets and disappeared mid chase. The dragon was running into Maverick territory, and Viper wisely chose to keep her head down.

That shadow bolt should have knocked her head clean off. It certainly should have done more than just shatter her helmet. But it wasn’t uncommon for some espers to have special forms of defense against possibly life-ending attacks. It was difficult to determine the exact nature of Viper’s defenses with just one attack. For good or for ill, it didn’t seem like Ciri would get the chance to experiment further.

But the dragon was in view now, at least. They just needed to make sure he didn’t take to the sky. While there were wider streets that might be better suited to the dragon, it didn’t seem like it was pursuing them. Instead, it stuck to the backstreets. Maybe it felt it would have a better chance losing them in the narrow passages of the city. Or…

The trio had arrived at what looked to be a run down diner. Standing just outside was a girl in a pretty pink dress, a knight in pink, and now the dragon man. He had stopped running, and cast his eyes inside the smoldering building.

---

@The World@Nakushita@TaintedMushroom@FamishedPants

Expensive melodies were always a gamble. Sometimes they did what you wanted, sometimes they didn’t, and sometimes the results were greater than what you anticipated. Regardless of the outcome, it was always unexpected.

Lenore was already upon Marrie, hacking away at her. It almost felt like she was being played with. Several times, Lenore’s blade would make a shallow cut in her cheek, or swing through her ethereal skirt. Having your back to anything put you in a pretty bad spot. IT was fortunate that a melody only need a second or so to prepare.

Marrie could hold her weapon however she wanted, but anyone with experience with the paranormal, especially an esper, was going to know when a spell or melody was being prepared. Even something as swift as a projectile had tells that someone like Lenore could pick up on. What Lenore couldn’t pick up on was the nature of the melody, which would prove to be critical.

She had hopped backwards in preparation for what was coming, and raised her blade. But a sword was ill suited for protecting against a flurry of ice shards. Briefly, her eyes went wide and she attempted to roll out of the way. Her blade managed to cut through a few of them, but one of the shards found its mark in her ankle and severed her foot. With a groan, she rolled to her knee, just in time to raise her blade and meet Marrie’s Apexer.

After deflecting Marrie’s follow up attack, she fished a cigar out of a pocket and chomped down on it. The cigar immediately burned into ash, and a cloud of smoke connected her ankle to her foot. In no time at all, her foot and leg were one again. She stood back up with a grin.

”Not too shabby! Think you can do that again?” Her body surged with blacklight, her sword poised to strike, and then she disappeared in a spray of black particles. As the darklight faded, Angelie’s head fell out of the light and landed where Lenore had been standing.

Further down, Himiko rolled out of the way of incoming napalm and stood back up. The stabilizing cat that plugged her wounds did enable her to move like normal, but a single shot was all it would take to undo the melody. Not that Himiko had any sense of self preservation. It was her mana supply that she was primarily concerned with.

What is the definition of insanity? Himiko fired at her unseen adversaries, and it was unclear if she hit any of them. She couldn’t see it, but they turned their guns on her and were prepared to fire. However, not all of the variables were the same this time. Much like the rest of the freelancers, the construction workers had been ignoring the little duel between Marrie and Lenore. As such, they were woefully unaware of the guided ice shards flying in their direction. They were both struck down, as one lost his head while another was punched straight threw the chest. They both sunk to the ground without firing a single shot. Some of them even entered the fog where Nova was hiding. It was inconclusive if any of them hit, but everyone could hear her mumble an ”Aw shiiiiiiit!” from inside the smoke.

"If I had a nickel for every time I was disappointed…"

— Mika Fang

Justin had already exhausted enough burning wordplay on Bobo that Mika didn’t feel the need to mentally add any more. Yes, “flame off” had to be the lamest thing she had heard all fight. She wanted to be done with these nuns.

The air sparked in front of Bobo. Of course she was just going to notice it and jump over it, what was Justin expecting to accomplish with-

Suddenly, outta nowhere, Asher just up and teleported onto the burning bunny nun and tackled her out the open window. Normally grabbing onto anything that was on fire was a bad idea, but would that have been cool? Could Asher look at himself in the mirror if he let some scalding napalm get between him and a cool stunt? Was he going to totally wuss out and try to shield himself?

No.

Fuckin’.

Way!

”You imbecile!” Was all Bobo got out before the two of them tumbled out the window. Though part way through their decent, Bobo’s body started to fall slower. Asher was dangling from Bobo’s mace swinging arm, all while the napalm on her uniform tried to eat through his fingers. ”Let go of me, jackass!” It was a bit of a stalemate. Asher couldn’t get a hold of Bobo’s other arm, and Bobo couldn’t aim straight with Asher trying to wrench her mace out of her hand. Blobs of napalm flew past Asher and scorched the earth beneath them. Eventually, she channeled a force into her mace that shoved Asher away. By that point he was close enough to the ground to make a graceful landing. Bobo pointed her flamethrower at Asher, but a beckoning cat sprouted up between them. ”I hate you!”

Behind her, Nova and Lenore ran out of the smoke barrier that blocked the front door. ”Come on, Bobo. Let’s get out of here.” Lenore waved her hand. ”One out of two ain’t bad, and we’re fresh out of support. We’ll have Lexi with us next time.”

Bobo seethed, staring directly at Asher through the transparent spirit cat. A wall of smoke erupted behind her courtesy of Nova. She pointed into her eyes, then pointed at Asher, before vanishing behind the smokey veil.

Mika was leaning against the edge of the window frame, observing Asher from above. He was kind of annoying, loud, and everything Fritzi had cautioned her about freelancers.But when the chips were down, he had taken the operation seriously.

"I… Didn’t think that was going to work." She raised an eyebrow. "Did you need any help putting out your fingers?"

Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido

"Did you say...anything?”

— Suki Oyama

"You don’t like your new nickname?” Nyxia’s response was what could be expected. Oros let out a heartfelt chuckle in response. "As a light girl, you get stronger by performing virtues.” She explained. "Helping old ladies across the street makes you stronger than slaying Miseria does. We’re not light girls, but I think it’s worth experimenting with!”

The window behind Oros opened up, and Earthshaker delivered her own idea. This caused Oros to erupt into laughter.

"Bedshaker thinks it’s a good idea! I can see it now, you and I in the front seats, holding hands, growing in power as we watch a show!” She sighed. "But if Bedshaker thinks it’s a good idea, it probably…” She paused to think of a way to explain it. "Really fucking sucks. I mean, I only have two tickets, so I couldn’t invite them. Which means that Boss Baby is going to have to buy a ticket for one of her yes girls who can spy on us and relay our actions to Bedshaker. And honestly? I don’t think I could relax in an environment like that. But as bad as that idea is, it’s gotta be more productive than these pointless get-togethers. My time’s more valuable than that, and I think yours is too.” She saluted Nyxia. ”Let’s revisit the theater idea tomorrow and see if we’ve changed our minds. My condolences with all the bullshit Bedshaker wants to do with you.”

And with that, Oros walked off.

Strangely, Tsubomi hadn’t shown up, despite the two being nearly inseparable during the day. Had something happened?

Yes, a few days ago.

…

…

…

”What happened Tsubomi? I thought I was the toesucker to your emu-yah?”

"Study finds depression hits losers the hardest."

A dangerous foe had issued the Detention Club a challenge. A wise magical girl would spend their time training up until the day of the challenge, not wasting a second on leisure or unproductive activities. Momentarily abstaining from pleasure to ensure one’s survival. But that day was so far away. Surely one night at the arcade wouldn’t have that big of an impact on their future?

Suki was used to getting to places before Tsubomi. The girl had no energy to do anything, and was only motivated by cold, unfeeling objectives. There was no reason to expect her to appear any earlier than she had to. Suki on the other hand was excited about the occasion. She didn’t usually do “extra” stuff very often, but she decided to put on some black lipstick and wear her double jolly rodger tube top with her fishnet today. Not only that, but she had arrived at the arcade a full half hour early. She hummed a tune, occasionally checking her phone. Suki’s heels bounced in anticipation of her friend’s arrival.

***

There she is… Kate Carson thought to herself as she observed the goth girl’s excited bouncing through her camera’s viewfinder. And it looks like she’s already living up to her name…

As she preferred to go unnoticed by her unwitting subjects, a preference that went triple for this particular individual, the diminutive photographer had chosen to hide herself in a darkened corner of the arcade and surreptitiously photograph Suki while peeking around the corner of an ancient Lunar Lander machine. Triple checking to ensure her flash was off, Kate focused on the perky goth, pressed down on the shutter button, and then…

***

Was it fear? Maybe a little. Apprehension? Some people might not realize that was even an emotion, but it was a bit more accurate than fear. Maybe she was just giddy, but whatever Kate may have been feeling, it was in enough supply to have caught Tsubomi's attention from far away. Enough variety that she wanted to get closer to drink it all in. Fortunately or not, the place she ended up was the arcade she was supposed to be at in twenty-ish minutes. She looked on from behind Kate as she watched the photographer line up a shot of… Suki? She tapped the girl on her shoulder.

“Gah!” Kate yelped in shock, before whirling around to face Tsubomi. “W-Where the heck did you come from?!”

Though before Tsubomi could respond, it seemed that she had received a voice message from Suki. More specifically, it was Oros the Joyful’s number.

”...” No response. Neither to Kate’s question, nor to the phone beeping at her. Several seconds later and Tsubomi finally reacted, slowly pulling out her phone to listen to the message, a blank look on her face. As it began to play, she spoke. ”Behind you.”

“Wha…?” Kate began, whipping her head around to see if Suki had moved, before turning to look back at Tsubomi when she realized the perky goth was still bouncing in place. “Wait… You mean you’ve been hiding back here this whole time?” the photographer asked, her voice and visage filled with confusion.

Kate wouldn’t see it, but as soon as she looked away, Tsubomi could see Suki stand up and walk out of view. Then her voice poured through the phone.

”Hey Rainbow! I’m already at the Yen Dungeon, but I’ve heard some enticing rumors and I wanted to share them with you since this isn’t going to be strictly for playing games.” She giggled. ”Another magical girl came to town, but this time it’s a light girl. She’s a foreign beauty named Kate Carson. She’s a brunette with hair that cradles her head like a helmet. It’s neck length with just a few rebellious strands sticking out here and there. Her eyes look like pretty blue sapphires that glisten like the ocean, with marble white skin that’s free of blemishes. She also wears a red blazer with a white hood, and she’s got a black undershirt that’s cut just low enough for her collar bones to peek out of. She’s sixteen, but looks younger because she’s on the short side and is as flat as you are. Oh but Rainbow, when she transforms, she’sinapristinewhiteweddingdressandicantevenqueeeeeeeeeee ~” At this part of the call Tsubomi would be forgiven if she thought a pig had decided to squeal into Oros’s phone. ”And the best part? She’s a photographer, and she’s planning on taking a picture of me! Even though she’s a light girl and a little shy, I guess she has a perverted side, so she takes pictures of girls she likes. I have it on good authority that she’s going to try and take a picture of me at the Yen Dungeon. She simply can’t leave without that photo. In fact, she’s so into the photography thing that she has a custom camera for it. I think it’s ‘Nickin’ this’ brand or something? Point is, Rainbow, this could be my big chance! So if you see a girl with that description, just call me.” The phone beeped again. Apparently Oros sent out another message while Tsubomi was listening to this one. ”Oh! I got a better idea! I just saw Mr Shen leave the Yen Dungeon. I’m going to sneak out back and look at everything through the surveillance system. If you see her enter the arcade, just stall her and I’ll give her the ol’ Oros the Joyful greeting!”

The message ended. While a voice asked if Tsubomi wanted to save or delete the messages, a camera’s eclectic motor hummed as it looked straight at their positions.

With each new word of Suki’s message, Kate’s eyes had widened ever larger and her “marble white skin” had grown increasingly paler, even as her body began to shudder in horror. It was fairly obvious to see that the photographer was screaming internally, yet, it only took a few seconds for her demeanor to shift from frantic horror to weary resignation.

“Alright, fine,” Kate sighed. “Let’s just get this over with. But just to clarify,” she added. “I’m not a ‘light girl’, or a pervert. I’m just an ordinary freelance photographer who was hired to take a picture. That’s all. So don’t get any crazy ideas, okay?”

As Kate began explaining her totally not a pervert status, Tsubomi finally registered the message. She clicked to save it, and lazily looked back up from her phone to look at Kate. ”Okay.”
Several seconds passed. ”Who hired you? Why do they want a picture?” If Suki was in potential danger, then Tsubomi had to know about it, even if she didn’t seem very interested. Her partner’s safety wasn’t enough to make her act, but it was enough to make her want to be careful in her own strange way.

“I was hired by my friend, Nikki,” Kate replied, sounding almost as tired and done with life as Tsubomi did. “She’s a fan of magical girls, and Suki caught her attention,” she explained, hoping it would be sufficient to mollify this strange girl’s concerns.

And speaking of concerns, what little peace that may have existed within the arcade vanished as both girls could hear someone taking slow, labored breaths. Oros the Joyful peaked out from behind an arcade machine the two were “hiding” behind with a giant smile. Even the folks at Glasgow couldn’t smile like that. She stepped totally into view and looked down at Kate as if she was desert after an especially decadent meal.

”Ah! I see you overheard my conversation. That wasn’t really meant for you, I just talk to my friends in a particular way.” She poked her chest with all of her fingers. ”I’m the one you’re looking for. I had no idea I had a secret admirer. Do you think Nikki would like to meet me? Maybe if you brought me back with you and were like ‘I got you a picture, but look what else I got?’ And then I could pop out of her birthday cake and she’d cry tears of joy.”

Kate couldn’t help but cringe at Oros the Joyful’s sudden appearance, but she still managed to retain most of her composure.

“Well, first off, Nikki’s kinda socially awkward,” the photographer explained, holding up a finger for emphasis. “And second,” she added, holding up another finger. “She can get extremely violent, so I don’t really think havin’ ya show up to surprise her would be a particularly good idea.”

”In other words, she’s the opposite of you.” Oros spread her hands and stepped closer to Kate. ”Which is just as well! Honestly, I have a hard time picturing someone much cuter than you are! What I was told does not compare to what I see. Oh, I actually feel inspired.” She cleared her throat. ”Your hair is like my morning coffee: It’s dark in color, has a nice aroma, and I can’t wait to press my lips against it!”

Tsubomi, for her part, stood almost as still as a statue as Suki appeared and began her barely-restrained activities. It was lucky that Suki wasn’t doing as bad as she normally did, or someone might have called mall security. As the other girl began to give her compliments, Tsubomi put her phone away. ”No haiku, this time.”

Kate visibly recoiled when Oros started talking about kissing her hair. “Uh, t-that’s a nice, um, poem…?” the photographer replied with a nervous chuckle. “But I’m not really into girls that way, so, uh, I think whoever told you about me might’ve had the wrong idea,” she added, holding up her hands in a probably feeble effort to halt Oros’s advance. “S-So, um, I-I’ll just take that picture now and be on my way…”

”Oh you can take as many pictures as you want. But first you’ve gotta transform!” She was starting to pant like a dog. ”It’s not every day we get a new magical girl in town! Least of all one that doesn’t run away as soon as I show up!”

Tsubomi nodded, slowly but surely, in camaraderie with her partner. ”That’s rare.”

“Not like I had much choice…” Kate muttered. “Okay, look, I absolutely hate transforming, but if indulging your sick fetish is the only way I can get a picture, then fine, I’ll do it,” the photographer conceded with a tired sigh. “But first, I want you to promise me you’ll stick to staring. No touching,” she added, holding up a finger for emphasis. “Second, I’m only gonna stay transformed long enough to take the picture, then I’m changin’ right back, so try not to blink.”

”Not even hand holding?!”

“No touching,” Kate reiterated in a flat deadpan.

”B-but I wanted to do some marriage roleplay!” She pouted. ”But okay…”

”... Should Suki get a picture too?”

As quick as it had left, Oros’s smile returned. ”That’s a great idea!” She reached under Tsubomi’s armpits and picked her up like she were a cat. She then swapped places with Tsubomi before setting her back down again. ”Here, you can take a picture with this.” she handed Tsubomi one of her cellphones before looking back at Kate. ”You’d better be smiling when she takes your picture…” She straightened out her posture. ”I guess there’s no reason to hesitate. Show us what you’re made of!”

After sighing and rolling her eyes in exasperation, Kate muttered, “Picture perfect.” There was a swirling of mystical energies, followed by a bright flash. When it faded, the photographer was wearing an overwhelmingly elaborate and comically impractical wedding dress, while her hair had gone from black to blonde, and lengthened to such a degree that it rivaled even Rapunzel’s famous tresses. Looking up at Tsubomi, the blushing bride smiled as best as she could under the circumstances and, once the picture had been taken, she turned to give Suki a weary stare. “You happy now?” she asked, her annoyance clear in her voice.

But Suki wasn’t really in a position to answer Kate. Sure, she was there physically. The blood witch was on her knees with her hands folded together, mouth agape, as if she had just heard the voice of god. Her eyes continued to dilate the longer she looked at Kate. Noises were coming out of Oros’s throat, but they failed to convey anything in a language anyone present could understand. While she babbled, her skin started to change color. Suki’s flesh was so red that it was indistinguishable from her blood soaked dress. The temperature difference between her body and the environment was so great that it caused a fog to form around her. Her jaw swung all the way open and she blasted steam into the air, whistling like a boiling kettle. She disappeared behind a veil of white smoke.

Then, without much warning, Oros’s torso rose out of the smoke. Her shrinking irises were replaced with heart eyes. ”Oh Kate, happy does not even begin to describe it! I thought you were lovely before, but seeing my white princess in uniform Has me all-” Her eyes frantically darted all over Kate. ”Your flaxen hair shimmers like fields of wheat, the luster of your skin is only matched by the gold you wear, And those ribbons…. Gah!” Something in Suki’s nose ruptured, and a pressurized stream of blood shot out of her nose. She sank back to her knees with a blissful smile on her face, even as her blood ran down her face.

”That’s a really good one.” Tsubomi finally said. ”She doesn’t react that way to just anyone.”

“Gah!” Kate yelped as she rapidly crawled backwards after a torrent of blood shot from Suki’s nose with all the force of a pressure hose. “G-Glad you enjoyed it,” she muttered once she’d gotten a safe distance away. “Now, mind if I take that snapshot?” the photographer asked, holding up her much more ornate golden, jewel covered, camera. “I’d ask if you wanted to get cleaned up first, but since you’re a blood witch and all, I think it’s fine if I photograph you as-is,” she added with a wry smirk.

”Sure!” In the next moment, Oros the Joyful looked no worse for wear than she had prior to witnessing Kate’s transformation. ”Just let me do the pose!” And with that, she hopped to her feet and spread her legs. She had one hand on her hip and her other was making a sideways peace sign right beside her eye. It would have looked just like the pose sailor moon uses if it weren’t for the bloody tendrils raised over her head. ”Ta-da!”

Rising to her feet as well, Kate raised her camera, took careful aim, and…

*SNAP!*

“Okay, that should do it,” the photographer declared with an approving nod as she looked over her camera’s display. “Guess I’ll be headin’ out now,” she added, while shifting back to her mundane appearance. “Uh, have fun playin’ games, or whatever.”

”Yea, playin’ games…” The corners of Oros’s lips stretched as she squinted her eyes. ”You know how you’re going to leave and never come back again? I was thinking we should do something a little crazy to remember our fateful encounter.” She started to walk towards Kate.

“What did you have in mind?” Kate asked wearily as she slowly backed away from the blood witch.

”Somehow, I think you already know!” With laughter that could belong to a cherub or an imp, Oros sprinted towards Kate, arms spread, eyes filled with hearts. Her tongue hung out of her mouth like she was a dog that stuck their head out of a moving vehicle.

Eyes going wide in horror, Kate dodged to the side, placing a nearby arcade machine between herself and the slobbering blood witch, before frantically trying to find the best escape route.

”Shitshitshitshitshit!” the photographer swore as she darted between the blocky arcade cabinets, her slight form able to squeeze through gaps impassable for an average-sized person. Yet, for all her “evasive maneuvers”, Oros remained hard on her heels (in more ways than one). “I thought we agreed to no touching!” Kate called behind her as she continued her flight.

”One yes after a thousand nos is still a yes!” Oros chased Kate through the arcade from the ceiling. Bright red spider legs dug into the ceiling and skittered after the photographer like a spider. Suki’s shadow loomed in the corners of Kate’s vision wherever she went.

Kate was about to squeeze between another pair of arcade cabinets when she got stuck. Or more specifically, a bloody tendril coiled around her ankle. The bloodwitch dropped to the ground and touched her fingers together. ”Kate! You’re stuck! I know you’re nervous, but I’m not going to do anything lewd, okay? _{Not right away at least.} I’m just going to pull you out, so don’t struggle too much.” Not that Kate could fight back if she wanted to. And if she could, she’d need to produce something fairly strong to break Oros out of her trance. A second tendril coiled around Kate’s waist and pulled her out from the arcade machines and into Oros’s arms. ”I won’t do anything that you don’t want me to do, okay? So just take a deep breath.” She placed her chin on Kate’s shoulder. ”Nobody wants to hurt you.”

“You’ll forgive me if I call bullshit,” the photographer muttered, even as she tried not to cringe too hard at the blood witch’s close proximity.

”If I end up doing something lewd, it’s going to be because you want it to happen…” With a hop, Oros landed on a seat for a driving game.

“Gah!” Kate yelped as she was abruptly dragged into a game booth. However, although she was still in unnervingly close proximity to Oros (and more precisely, sitting on her lap), the photographer did her best to distract herself by focusing on the racing game’s demo screen.

”...But I’m fine just sitting like this.” Largely because regardless of how repulsive someone found Oros, regardless of their common decency, loyalty to other partners, sexual preference, or anything else that might get in the way, someone touching Oros would eventually become infatuated with her. For a normal human this took a few seconds, but magical girls could resist the effect for much longer. A kiss would speed the process up, but Kate wasn’t struggling, and there was no reason to rush what was Oros’s favorite part of meeting light girls.

”... You said no touching…” Tsubomi, finally reacting to Kate’s comment as she began fleeing a moment ago, spoke aloud as her head lolled towards where Kate was just grabbed from.

”Eh?” Oros looked at Tsubomi out of the corner of her eye. ”I-I mean she did say no touching, b-b-b-b-but she wasn’t very specific! I mean, she was clearly talking about her magical girl form! And I did! I kept my hands to myself! At great harm to myself! Restraining myself always causes nose bleeds!” She pointed at her nose. ”You saw it, right? A-and Kate is free to change her mind. Sitting here with me isn’t so bad, is it, babe?”

“On a scale of one to ten, I’d have to say it’s a negative fifteen,” Kate deadpanned. “And I meant both forms,” she clarified pointedly. “Though I wouldn’t expect you to abide by it either way,” she added with a tired sigh.

Oros nodded. ”Well, I have a feeling we’ll move up to negative ten before long!”

”Suki, you’re cheating.” Tsubomi wasn’t particularly concerned, not that she ever was, but Oros had gotten in trouble with the boss before for doing stuff like this, at least in a public place.

”Cheating?” She raised an eyebrow. ”This girl has no respect for us. If she could take a picture of me without my permission, she’d have done it! Why should I honor a deal made with someone like that?” She hugged Kate tighter. ”It doesn’t sound like this is a surprise for her either. Why don’t I become the freak she thinks I am?”

Suki, Oros, in all her infinite wisdom had decided to try to make an emotional appeal to her apathetic empath of a partner. It took a few seconds for her to process the question, but when she did… ”Boss said to tell Earthshaker when you do this. She’ll get mad at you.”

”Is that right?” There was disbelief in her voice. ”Well, I never cared about what any of them thought…” She looked at Kate. Oros mouthed something that even she couldn’t hear before patting her head. Then her arm moved away and her tendril placed Kate on the ground. Oros looked off into the distance without making eye contact with anyone.

“W-Wha…?” was all Kate could stammer as Oros released her. “Well, that was unexpected…” she mumbled as she brushed herself off. “Uh, thanks for the help,” she told Tsubomi with an awkward smile.

Truthfully, Tsubomi didn’t tend to act compassionate when she wasn’t in her magical form, but for the sake of making sure Suki didn’t do something else she’d get in trouble for, she placed a hand on her shoulder. ”Maybe she’ll stay around for a meal… If you keep your hands off?”

“Y-Yeah, fine,” she conceded. “W-We can hang out some more, and even get some food, just as long as you don’t make it weird.”

”Well, I’m not hungry.” Oros brushed Tsubomi’s hand off of her shoulder before hopping off of the seat. She fished a cigarette out of the same magical place all magical girls seemed to keep their belongings, followed by a zippo lighter that looked like the ace of hearts. While she walked, she slipped the cigarette between her lips and lit it up. She didn’t look back, not even when she pushed her way through the front door.

“Welp, I tried bein’ nice,” Kate said with a shrug as she watched Oros depart. “Not my fault she’s such a fuckin’ pervert…” the photographer added under her breath.

”...” Tsubomi expected Suki to jump at the idea to cook for Kate, but this was fine too. She shrugged, waved at Kate, and followed after her partner.

As soon as Tsubomi got outside, she could see that Oros was leaning against the side of the Yen Dungeon, still holding her cigarette in her mouth. ”You know Tsubomi, there are a finite number of magical girls with pure white dresses. They’re actually quite rare. Rarer still are ones that have wedding dresses. Even more rare than that are ones that decide to stop by Hibusa town. I think Kate’s the only one that’s all three.” She lazily looked at Tsubomi out of the corner of her eye. ”But do you know what’s even more rare than that?” She inhaled her cigarette, hard. The entire thing turned into ash right up to her knuckles. When she spoke, white smoke flowed out of her mouth. ”A partner that won’t try to backstab me. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one of those.”

Tsubomi lazily let her head lilt to the side. ”... You don’t want to cook for her?”

Oros lit up a second cigarette, but paused before inhaling it. "...Oh!” A smile crossed her face, one that was just a little too big. "Yea! I could do that for her! Except... No, no that wouldn't work. Because if she got sick, you'd tell Bedshaker about it and I'd get my shit pushed in. Darn, that would have been fun. It's a shame you're a fuckin' rat huh?”

Tsubomi blinked, taking a few seconds in doing so, before holding up her hand and counting on her fingers. ”... I don’t think the boss said anything about getting someone sick?” After she finished counting, Suki’s words sunk in and she began spinning slowly in place, looking behind herself for a tail. After failing to find one for a few moments, she spoke again. ”Do Mascots eat rats? Ours has been nice lately.”

"If they ate rats, the Detention club would be finished.” Oros growled. "Come on, Tsubomi, take me seriously! You understand why I'm upset, right?” She tapped her cigarette until the ash fell on her shoes. "Why did you have to invoke her name? You could have said anything. You could have told me anything else and I'd have stopped. But you had to bring what they wanted into it. How am I supposed to trust my back to someone who's going to report what I do to the worst possible person, huh?”

”Boss’ orders… It’s not to make shaker happy. Something about…” Tsubomi’s head rolled on her neck until she was looking upwards, deep in what could generously be called “thought.” ”Veal? Something about veals? I don’t know why cows matter to the boss, though…”

"Of course not…” Veal? Oros thought. Was that how Rei referred to all the young super cuties? Not the worst slang term she had ever heard but it was a little demeaning. "But this doesn’t change that you’re holding what someone else wants over what I want.” She sighed. Her shoulders slumped and the cigarette tumbled out of her hand. "I get it though. It hurts, but I get it. I hope you know our relationship isn’t going to be the same after this.” She placed her hand on the door. There was no way Kate was waiting for Tsubomi to come back. She probably used the back exit, at which point she could be anywhere. Her appetite was starting to return, but she’d probably be eating by herself tonight. "If I was thinking I would have stolen her wallet when I had her. Bleh, I always lose my head around the super cuties...” Suki said to herself as she walked around the side of the building.

Once again, something approaching thought came into Tsubomi’s mind. She was still holding Suki’s phone, somehow having not dropped it. Disappointment was pouring off of Tsubomi’s partner, and it was truly a shame that the empath put her own benefit above her partner’s. Still, the boss hadn’t been around for a while, so maybe it was safe to begin disregarding her? The thought that she’d think about it more later came, but she knew better than to bank on that possibility. Maybe Acid Drop would be able to figure something out? She supposed she’d find out eventually. But more immediately, she needed to give Suki back her phone. She began to follow her partner’s path.

When Suki reached the alleyway at the back of the arcade, she would find a strange, golden machine. It was composed of several concentric, slowly spinning circles, arranged in a way that called to mind a gyroscope, with a small, cushioned chair at its center. Standing next to it was Kate, and she appeared to be conversing with what was apparently the machine’s owner, a small dog in comically dapper attire…

“You see,” the dog was saying. “After creating the cross-world conveyance behind me, I suffered quite the catastrophic setback, when what was to be a routine test run sent me spiraling off into the uncharted depths of the multiverse! Hopelessly lost in the infinite infinities, I had begun to despair of ever returning home, but, now, at long last, my path has crossed with a dear friend capable of aiding my own dreadfully deficient efforts! Oh joyous day!”

The spectacle was more than a little beyond Oros’s understanding. She had honestly expected to find nothing back here, at which point she could go home after safely saying she gave it her best effort. Finding Kate again could have been a good thing, but now she was talking with a … Mascot? A Magical Boy? It couldn’t be a Miseria. The tiny dog didn’t neatly fit into any category of magical creature that she had ever seen before. The absurdity of it all caused her to freeze in place. She could hear Tsubomi approaching from behind. Her eyes briefly glanced over her shoulder at her partner before returning to the spectacle in front of her.

Tsubomi got to where she could see the… whatever the hell that was. ”... Oh, one of them won the game.” She glanced from the dog to Kate. ”Do you know each other?” Still listless, she was beginning to at least speak at a normal rate, something rare for her outside of her transformed state.

“Great… Of fucking course you two would follow me back here…” Kate muttered. “Yeah,” the photographer added in a louder voice. “This is Parr,” she introduced, gesturing to the dapper dog. “He’s an old friend.”

Oros looked at Parr, then back at Tsubomi as she walked closer to the dapper hound. Once she was in front of Parr, she squatted down and looked him over. "An old friend, eh?” she folded her arms. "You’re pretty lucky Mr Parr. I only met Kate today and I can tell she’s something special.” She stood back up and rubbed the back of her head. "So um, sorry for earlier.” She nodded at Kate. "It’s just been a rough week, and I was really excited to meet you. If you guys want, I can cook us something. Talking over a meal might make for better ambience than the back of an arcade.” She rubbed the back of her head. "Also, can I pet Parr? Are you cool with pets?”

“Oh, yes,” Parr replied. “Such a kindness would be most appreciated, my dear young lady!” he added, wagging his tail eager anticipation. “As would your generous offer of a personally cooked meal! Indeed, having an amiable chat with friends new and old, while enjoying what I am certain shall be a most marvelous repast, would serve as a most superlative way to celebrate both my reunion with Miss Kate, and my long-awaited return home! Oh, but goodness me!” he exclaimed a moment later. “I do believe we have yet to be formally introduced! As Miss Kate has already told you, I am Parrthineas E. Doxxon The First, or Parr, for short,” he continued, removing his hat and giving a small bow of his head. “Now then, how might I address you lovely young ladies?” he inquired.

Oros paused. "Oh right! Uh, when I’m working, it’s Oros the Joyful. But Joy or Oros works too!” She extended one of her fingers and stroked the bridge of his muzzle. "And that’s Tsubomi behind me. ” Her fingers slipped between his eyes as she started to pet the back of his head. "She’s kind of weird, but she’s okay. Say hello, Tsubomi!”

Tsubomi waved at the dog. ”Hi, doggy. How much was the… pot? The pot, anyway? Must’ve been good to get all… this?”

“I do apologize, Miss Tsubomi,” Parr replied. “But I am afraid that I am completely at a loss as to what you mean. Please, what is this ‘pot’ you refer to?”

Oros laughed. "Like I said, she’s a weirdo.”

Meanwhile, Kate was simply watching the proceedings with the look of someone who was dying a little more inside with each passing second. Finally, she spoke up. “Fine, apology accepted,” she told Oros with a tired sigh. “And I guess we can have some food,” the photographer added. “But wouldn’t it be easier to just get some pizza back at the arcade?” she asked, pointing her thumb at the building in question.

"Eh?” Suki raised an eyebrow. "As cute as Parr is, I don’t think Mr Shen would approve of a dog being in his establishment, regardless of how good their manners were. Also, everything is made with processed meats and salt, which isn’t good for a dog’s tummy.” She placed her hands on her hips. "When I make food for Tsubomi we gather around a picnic area. It’s well lit, secluded, nobody’s going to bother us and the food will get made on the spot with fresh ingredients.” She sighed. "I know you have your guard up, but trust me. I’m not trying to guide you into my super sexy dungeon to make you do lewd things.” She looked off to the side. "I wonder if there’s a world where I even have a super sexy dungeon… Anyway, the prices are high too. I don’t recommend it.”

“Well, obviously I wasn’t thinking of bringing Parr inside,” Kate replied with a dramatic eye roll. “I was thinking we could get the pizza and eat it out here. I mean, he’s also got this machine of his, and I doubt he’d wanna just leave it here unattended,” she added.

“Oh, not to worry!” Parr reassured her. “My Syllogismobile is fully capable of subspace mass conversion for ease of storage!” To demonstrate, he tapped a button on his wristwatch, and the strange machine swiftly shrank down to the size of a marble, which was then picked up and placed into a vest pocket. “Quite convenient, wouldn’t you say?”

“Okaaay…” Kate sighed in clear exasperation. “Then I guess we’ll be dining at Suki’s, or rather, Oros’s picnic tables. I’m sure your food won’t be highly toxic or do anything crazy like turn into a monster and try to eat me,” the photographer added pointedly as she turned to give the blood witch a “I’m so done with this” expression.

"Not since I revamped the recipe!” Oros reassured Kate with a nervous smile.

”Didn’t you win a poker game?” Tsubomi finally responded to Parr’s question. Was he not one of the dogs in that painting?

“Hmmm… I do not recall ever playing a game of that name in my life,” Parr replied after a moment’s thought. “Perhaps you have me confused with someone else. Or perhaps it is a game I shall play in the future, and news of my upcoming victory has reached even here!” he added, seeming quite thrilled by the possibility.

Well, regardless of Parr not being famous like she thought, Tsubomi decided it was best to get going before getting caught up in the meal. She walked over to Suki with her trademark slow steps and tapped her on the shoulder, holding out Suki’s phone that she had taken the picture with. As soon as she took it, Tsubomi spoke up. ”Sorry to have made you upset.” And with that, she departed for her home, not looking back at the girls and dog.

The phone felt heavy in Suki’s hand. She found herself biting her lip as she watched Tsubomi leave the alley and turn out of sight. She continued to stare in the direction she had left in before her eyes moved to her phone. With a snort, she put the phone away without looking at the pictures. "Like I said, weird.” Oros kicked a stone. "Um, yea, this way…”

…

…

…

The picnic area was the same as it had always been, but somehow it felt lonelier at this hour. Instead of ten magical girls getting ready for a meal, it was just two and an adorably dressed dog.

"I wasn’t expecting anyone to show up today, heh. But dinner shouldn’t be long.” It was just like last time. The awkward tension in the air, the judgmental looks from the girl she wanted to make out with, she had hoped things would have been different the second time she came here. "Do you guys want anything to drink? We’ve got all kinds of juices, and some seltzer. There’s milk too. I think there’s a few beers left, but someone might have had them this evening.”

“I would very much like some apple juice, if you have it,” Parr spoke up from where he sat opposite Kate.

“I guess I’ll have some lemonade,” Kate added in a tired deadpan. “So, uh, what exactly are you making us, anyway?” she asked.

"Well, there’s this recipe I typically make. It’s just sort of a concoction of my favorite foods. But uh, you know, I’m going to change the recipe a little bit so that everyone can enjoy it.” She rubbed her arm. "So um, I’ll be back shortly. With the drinks.” She excused herself with a bow.

As soon as Suki was inside the kitchen, she peeked out the window to make sure everyone was still seated. Then she untransformed, as using tentacles made out of blood to assist with cooking was sort of gross. She was sort of gross, but that was beside the point.

She peered around the kitchen and looked in the adjoining rooms. It seemed like everyone was retiring for the evening, and was likely in their rooms, if not out on the town. There wouldn’t be anyone to notice her.

Suki reached into the fridge and pulled out some of the ingredients for Endless Eclipse. She’d have to hold on adding the nuts, lemon, and tomato sauce like she normally would. But she’d add lots of stuff that was good for dogs. She pulled the lid off of a frying pan and tossed in some cheese, a beef, sliced mushrooms, eggs, some cleaned fish, honey, apple slices, sweet potatoes, cucumbers, rice, honey, and peanut butter. Come on, what dog didn’t like peanut butter? And then some watermelon and pumpkin. Normally it would take Suki all day to prepare so many ingredients, but the folks at the shared home always had stuff portioned out for snacks. She added some pasta too. Dogs liked pasta, right? So long as it didn’t have tomato sauce on it. More honey.

It didn’t take more than a minute to get everything together. The counter was filled with tupperware containers, all of which would have to be returned to the fridge. She wasn’t trying to feed an army here, and just hoped she resized the quantity of each ingredient properly. Suki was feeling nervous, but she had no idea why. She was in her element here, but her heart was pounding in her chest. She turned to the empty space in front of the fridge, and scowled.

"So, fucking, what?” She chopped through the air with her hand. "I don’t care what Boss Baby wants you to do! They don’t need to know about this! Would you jump off a cliff if she told you too?” She placed a hand on her chest. "I think she’s hot, sure, but I’m not going to run to her and tell her that you went easy on some light girl. Do you think that would make her happy?” Suki placed her hands on her hips and thumped her foot. It was like she was waiting for a response, but she wasn’t going to get one. "I could get us both implemented if you decide to ‘call me out’ for my behavior. It’s not like I chose to be this way. Did you choose to be an unfeeling doll? Ah, but you’re just being rational right now. Unlike people who can get hurt, you’re free to ignore everyone’s emotions and make a logical choice. And getting between me and the one thing that makes me happy was-”

Wait, she needed to deliver drinks!

"Shit!”

Suki quickly threw open the fridge and got some lemonade and apple juice. After pouring the glasses, she pushed open the door with her shoulder and marched over to the picnic table. She set the drinks down in front of her guests and, after eyeing them for a second, swapped them. She had delivered them to the wrong recipient initially.

"You guys want ice? I mean, the drinks are cold, just…” She squeezed her wrist.

“Uh, sure?” Kate replied with a lopsided frown.

“Oh that sounds delightful!” Parr added with far more enthusiasm. “Thank you so very much for the kind offer, Miss…” his voice trailed off as he paused to look his host up and down. “My goodness, Miss Oros! Did you perhaps do something with your hair?” he inquired. “I must say, it makes you look like a completely different person!”

Oros hadn’t forgotten to transform back, she just didn’t really care. Kate knew who she was, and Parr was likely going to make himself scarce before long. "It must be the hair, let me fix that up.”

Suki walked back She pulled a pitcher full of ice out of the freezer before looking back at the space in front of the refrigerator. "And getting between me and the one thing that makes me happy was hardly something I’d call rational! Do you think just anyone is going to team up with you? Is there anyone else in the Detention Club that’s going to put up with your shitty personality? I know you were scared shitless when Rei said she was going to make the team that killed the fewest Miseria pay for dinner, but who kept you out of the bottom bracket!? We could have been in first if you pulled your weight!”

Suki continued to scold her invisible friend until the kitchen timer went off. She picked up the pan, but kept talking.

"But you know what the worst part of this whole betrayal is? It’s how I had to find out about it. I’d have had more respect for you if you just struck me down while my back was turned. But this…”

Was that footsteps? Shit! Someone had heard her! Suki transformed, gathered everything up, and bolted out the front door. She glanced over her shoulder once before arriving at the table.

"Someone hid the ice, but I found it.” Her tendrils set the table in record time. Though that was largely because of how small the gathering was. Once the plates and utensils were out, Oros lifted the lid off of the pan and gave it a sniff. "I’ve never made it this way before, but it looks mostly normal? Usually the color’s a little darker.” Suki dolled out some pink and violet colored “food” onto everyone’s plate before sitting down next to Parr. "Well, you don’t have to wait for me. Dig in.”

If one looked at the dog safe version of Endless Eclipse long enough, they might hear the screams of tormented souls echoing out from beyond the dish. Even the porcelain plates seemed like they wanted to get as far away from what they were topped with as possible.

“Looks… delicious…” Kate said in a voice utterly devoid of sincerity as she cringed away from her plate and fought the urge not to gag.

“Oh my!” Parr exclaimed as he gazed down at the “food” in awe. “How absolutely fascinating! This looks just like the eldritch meat moss Miss Alura created for Professor Reed’s transmutation class! Don’t you agree, Miss Kate?”

“Uh, yeah…” Kate replied with a gulp. “It actually kinda does…”

“Oh, but since Miss Oros couldn’t possibly know anything about that, I suppose it’s just a sublimely charming coincidence!” Parr added with a jovial chuckle as he smiled up at their host.

Yet, despite his exuberance, Parr mirrored Kate in not making even the slightest motion towards the utensils, something Oros was sure to pick up on.

Oros picked up her spoon. "Yea, I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone called Alura.” The spoon made an audible squishing sound as it cut into the “eldritch meat moss.” When Oros lifted her spoon, it almost picked up the plate with it. Whatever Oros had made, it was very thick, and very sticky. She bit her concoction off of her spoon and started to chew. Oros had to open her mouth wide to properly chew it, and the multicolored mass had stuck to her teeth like molasse. "Huh, it’s not that bad. I think I prefer the original recipe though.” She cleaned her teeth with her tongue before going for a second spoonful. "Are you guys going to try it?” She asked without looking.

“Uh… I think I might choke if I ate this…” Kate replied.

“I am hardly an expert, but perhaps if you cooked it some more so that it hardened a bit, it might make for a far more palatable treat,” Parr suggested.

While Parr’s suggestion sounded good, there was no way Suki was going back into the kitchen when she was almost discovered. Not to mention the temptation to continue her discussion would be too great to resist. But why would she consider doing that to begin with?

"You’re not even going to try it then?” She set down her spoon. "Not even a nibble? Not even…a lick?” Her hands trembled. Oros looked between Kate and Parr, and then she cracked a smile. Shortly afterwards, she laughed. "Right, right, Kate’s at her limit. It’s probably taking the last of her willpower to just endure a meal with me. But I’m a little disappointed with you, Parr.” She lifted her spoon to her lips. "You’re trying to pass yourself off as a gentleman, but you won’t even try something that I made specifically for you. Moreover, you think you can tell me how to improve it without even tasting it.” She narrowed her eyes. "I’m also very disappointed with your thinly veiled mockery of my food. How would you feel if I said something you made looked like ‘eldritch meat moss’? ”

“B-But I would never mock a meal so painstakingly crafted!” Parr stammered, clearly taken aback by Oros’s claims. “I meant that comparison as a compliment! A-And I suppose it would do no harm to have a small taste…” he added, cautiously bringing his muzzle up to the mound of goop and giving it the most tentative of licks.

A smile lazily crept across Oros’s face. She leaned towards Parr, stretching her arm across his back and placing it on his hip. "Well? How is it?”

“It’s… actually rather sweet,” Parr replied after a moment’s thought. “In fact, it bears an uncanny resemblance to frosted bubblegum taffy!”

“I’ll, uh, take your word for it,” Kate added with a dubious frown.

"Oh really?” She pulled Parr into her lap and folded her arms across his chest. "I can’t say I’ve ever had that, maybe I’ll have to try it some time.” Oros giggled. Then she raised her hand until it was under Parr’s chin, and elevated it until they were both looking at each other. "Though maybe, you can tell me if the taste compares to this…” She closed her eyes and placed her lips over Parr’s. Her grip on him tightened as she pulled him into a hug.

Parr, clearly caught off guard by this latest development, could do little more than squirm in discomfort as Oros showered him with “affection”.But as soon as he started struggling, Oros stopped. Something was off. Normally when she kissed someone they really enjoyed it, but this dog was different.

Kate, on the other hand, didn’t even try to hide her disgust.

“Okay, that is just gross,” the photographer stated, her cringing visage one of complete revulsion. “I mean, I know you’re desperate, but come on.”

"No, you don’t have a clue how desperate I am.” Oros turned her blood red eyes on Kate. "You were born with a silver spoon in your mouth. You have people who love you. You get to explore the world. You don’t get to judge people who are ‘beneath you’.” She whipped out a cigarette. " I had hoped that prostrating myself would be enough. Were the ice cubes not cold enough? Did the chef not have enough Michelin stars?” She raised her hands. "Why are you even here? This was a choice, and the only thing I’ve seen you do is mope and complain and-”. She pointed behind herself with her cigarette. "Go. You got your picture. Go, just go! Parr, it was nice to meet you, but you should go too. Both of you just go. Go!”

“M-My goodness…” Parr stammered after finally overcoming his initial shock. “M-Miss Oros, I…”

“I only came here because I promised someone I’d try to be nice to you,” Kate snapped at their host. “But ya sure don’t make it easy! First ya assault me, then ya try to poison me, and ya wonder why I’m so uncomfortable?! Come on, Parr,” she told the confused canine as she got up from her seat. “Let’s get outta here. Thanks for the meal, Oros,” the photographer called over her shoulder. “Hopefully someday you’ll find someone just as fucked up as you are to share it with.”

“O-Oh, well, um, f-farewell, Miss Oros,” Parr added in an awkward daze as he slowly followed after Kate. “I-It was… v-very nice to make your acquaintance.”

As her guests took their leave, Oros lit her cigarette. After inhaling some smoke, she exhaled. Not like a cool delinquent who doesn’t care about anything, but like someone who was relieved that an event was finally over. She leaned onto her elbows and held her head with both hands. The cigarette burned in the darkness.

"What happened?”

It wasn’t difficult to discern what had transpired, but it was hard to pinpoint what caused everything to end in such cataclysmic fashion. Suki wasn’t herself during this dinner session, but things were bad before she decided to stand up to Kate. Things didn’t seem horrible when Tsubomi and her met Parr and Kate out back. No, Kate was a little irritated even then. The events inside the Yen Dungeon really could have only gone down a few different ways. Kate was a light girl even if she claimed she wasn’t. All things considered, the most tame outcome was what happened. But then what triggered the dramatic escalation? How did we go from picture taking to this?

A man and a young girl stepped out of the kitchen area. They approached the picnic table and gasped. Oros stood perfectly still. So long as she didn’t use any magic, she would remain invisible to them.

”What the flipping hell happened here?”

The girl scoffed and pinched her nose shut. ”It’s Suki! She does this every time she gains access to the kitchen. She cooks some inedible mess and tries to feed it to strangers!”

”The kitchen was locked up. I made sure to check all the doors.”

”Well she got in somehow!” The girl sighed. ”I’m sure she broke in somehow, it’s just so wasteful! How could you think anyone was going to eat something like that?”

”She’s a little weird.”

”And stupid. We’ll just have to lock down the kitchen tighter.” The girl reached for a plate, but the man stopped her.

”Leave it. We can show the others in the morning. Maybe confront Suki about it.”

”You don’t have to convince me not to touch it.” They walked off.

Another way to look at the events of this evening was to see who you could remove to ensure everyone had the best possible time. You could remove Parr, but honestly, he was the best part of tonight. None of the problems that presented themselves would go away as a result of his absence. Removing Kate would have solved a lot of drama, but then Parr wouldn’t have been able to reunite with his friend, and Suki likely would have never met him. That would have been more tragic than not seeing Kate in a white wedding dress. You could remove Tsubomi, but then there would be no evening. Oros didn’t really have a reason to go to the arcade by herself, and even if she did, Kate would have slipped away. But if Oros removed herself… Ahh, the answer is in plain sight now. Tsubomi is just babysitting her for Rei, Kate can’t stand her, and Parr is too polite to voice how he really feels.

Oros pulled the plates in front of herself. She finished her plate and started on Kate’s. Once she was done with those, her eyes turned to examine Parr’s plate, and she picked it up with both hands. Then, with a sigh, she began to lick the plate clean. Bubble gum taffy, she thought, even as tears streamed down her face.

…

…

…

Back to the present now.

While Tsubomi thought about ways to get swole, she could feel something furry rub against her leg. A single glance would instantly reveal it to be the club mascot. It stepped in front of Tsubomi and pointed its screen at her face. It wasn’t uncommon for mascots to venture around. Actually, that wasn’t entirely true. The Detention Club mascot was the only mascot in Hibusa Town, and that mascot tended to move about on occasion.

Apparently, mascots were there to offer guidance, but their guidance needed to be interpreted, as they could only speak by throwing up symbols and emoticons on their screens, and old commercials. This made them somewhat unreliable as they couldn’t express complex ideas easily.

ovo

-v-

ovo

^v^

The mascot began to purr.

Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido

"Maybe I’m a pig...”

— Suki Oyama

Wake up, classes, lunch, more classes, dark magical girl activities, get some sleep.

Rinse, repeat.

It didn’t seem to matter how hard the individual Detention Club members tried. Regardless of how much Miseria they killed, they didn’t seem to get much stronger. Some may have even questioned if they were getting stronger. Even when they hunted Miseria outside of the nightly hunts Rei oversaw, they saw very little return on their invested time. It made the monotony that much worse when they didn’t see any improvement. It had only been a few weeks since Ashbringer showed up, but surely they should have noticed some improvement. A reward for their hard work eluded them.

There were still get togethers at the Detention Club, but it was clear that nobody really took the threat Ashbringer posed seriously. Rei had even asked for discussion about her to stop, assuring everyone that she could easily beat her if anything happened. But if what the pyromancer said was true, she was going to come back with friends. The Endless Ecstasy and Unstoppable Doom teams made it a point to meet up at least once a week to discuss methods to further their power. For most, this would mean entering the detention club the normal way, but Nyxia Torrentia always used the window to enter the room. Something a certain magical girl decided to take advantage of.

This time, when Nyx arrived to enter the Detention Club, Suki was standing by the window, or rather, Oros was. Typically Suki never used her magical girl form on campus, so this would be a surprise if Nyx considered such details important enough to remember. She wouldn’t have the option to just slide through the window either, as Oros stepped in front of it with a smile.

"Hey there, Violet! I see you’re looking as lovely as usual.” She chirped. "There’s this show playing at the kabuki theater, and I have tickets!” Her expression looked strangely pained. "I um, I don’t know what it’s about or anything, but I immediately thought of you! Does that sound like something you’d be interested in seeing?”

Symphony on High

@Ponn@Majoraa@ERode

The gangs were thinning out, but the flames were replacing them. The overhead fans were turning slow, but the arcane flames didn’t need much wind to spread. Typically arcane flames would never last this long, but all the spilled alcohol made the place a fire hazard. Smoke and flames brushed against the sprinklers, but they didn’t fire.

The fleeing gang members were helpless before Ashley’s shots. They didn’t retaliate, and only hastened their retreat. Dante’s had become a death trap and none of them wanted to stay inside. If thirty of them can't take on the espers, then the ten that were retreating stood little chance. They weren’t even cooperating. They shoved one another as they fought their way to the exit.

Ashley called for reinforcements, but Violet was still deep in meditation. She was primarily here to help those that had succumbed to dream magic, and was the only reason the last school girl was standing. Some might say she should multitask, and she probably should have, but GEMINI was fortunate just to have someone who could access dreams on a whim. There likely wasn’t another esper in the world that could do that.

But the Pink Pounder had heard Ashley’s request. He stood up a bit straighter, his grip tightening on his blade. The hostiles were starting to come out of the front door, and they’d surely overwhelm Violet if left unchecked. At least, that must have been what he thought. Because he wasted no time in rushing the fleeing gangsters. His crooked sword cut through the first to come out in a single slice, while the next one was kicked back inside.

“LEAVE MAGICAL DREAM PRINCESS OUT OF THIS!”

On the upside, it didn’t seem like any of the gangsters were going to escape. On the downside, that wasn’t a viable escape route for the last remaining school girl.

Speaking of which, said school girl was currently sleep walking under the arm of one of the wizards. Two yellow beads looked out at Ashley from under his hood, and he placed his hand on his piece. He didn’t draw it, but he kept his hand on it as he circled around the counter and walked against the wall. The flames in his path seemed to go out on his approach.

Meanwhile, Estelle was playing five-dimensional chess with the three agitated wizard gangsters. It was true that they knew Estelle and the other espers were GEMINI, but that was largely because a dryad had called out the insignia when she spotted it. The fact of the matter was that most magus didn’t know that much about espers. Their magic operated entirely differently, and had different limitations. Sure, you could broadly classify a group of spells as having similar components, and they were aware that some espers could teleport short distances. But a lot of espers could also create huge explosions of light, gravity wells, eldritch creatures, and all manner of other absurdities that would not be very good in this particular situation. Regardless if Estelle was teleporting or creating a nuke inside their barrier, the best course of action was to move for cover while keeping an eye on what was going on. But did it really matter? They couldn’t leave the safety of their bubble without risk, and Estelle decided to fill it with arcane light. They had dove into the booths on either side when the melody went off. It was just potent enough to shatter the barrier and stun the three shadow wizards.

It was the perfect time to act.

Estell managed to get her hands on “Larry and Curly” before smashing their heads together. They went out like a light and sunk behind the backrest they were using for cover.. However, “Moe” had dove into the adjacent booth and wasn’t in head smashing distance from his peers. There Estelle stood, burned and ears ringing from the shots that nearly hit her head. But Moe just aimed his gun at her. His hands were trembling, the gold rings on his fingers looked like they were choking gloved sausages. They both seemed to understand that even if he fired, it wasn’t going to land.

”Yo…” His voice cracked.

And then there was Finn, poor confused Finn. It seemed like everyone wanted him to have an epic battle with Dante, but he was too busy darting around and keeping everyone out of the back of the diner. But this was something Finn took note of, and attempted to exploit it by running out back as fast as he could. There wasn’t a lot in his way. Yes, his body was burning up, and the single healing note he used wasn’t adequate to heal such widespread damage, but it was enough to keep him on his feet. His natural resistance to magic made the flames go out, and he dove over the counter to run for the back room.

”Stop right there!” Dante bellowed.

But Finn would not stop. The time kid did the opposite of stop. He was already swift, but his melody made him that much faster. It was a straight shot to where he had to go, all he had to do was run through the illusionary monster’s hand to get there.

He ran into it instead.

Dreams may be illusions, but they are real to the ones who experience them. At least, until they wake up. Whatever Dante’s sand may have done to Finn, the giant creature that was reaching for him was very much real. At least it felt like it. It raised him into the air and proceeded to squeeze him. The blade on his chainsword spun, and its grip loosened just enough to let him go. But by that point, Dante was back in front of the doorway to the back room, hammer in hand. He was panting hard, likely for all the maneuvering he had to do around the growing inferno.

There was no need for words.

The demon released a bellow only Finn could hear. Simultaneously, the demon swung its fist in a wild haymaker that would clear out the whole diner. Dante surged forward, becoming a giant bullet made of sand. How would Finn respond?

---

@The World@Nakushita@TaintedMushroom@FamishedPants

The light that Marrie shone in Lenore’s eye got her to wince, but she was far too determined to follow through with her attack for it to be interrupted. This created a brief window where Lenore couldn’t course correct, making her susceptible to Marrie’s reversal. Trapping an esper’s weapon inside a portal wasn’t a bad tactic. Had Lenore committed to her thrust, it might have even worked. But with her wide sweep incoming, it was going to be impossible to catch anything meaningful inside the portal on her small blade.

The blow was deflected, Lenore’s blade cut a crescent shape in the floor in front of Marrie. She was much closer now, possibly close enough to cut. But Lenore kept up her momentum and her shoulder crashed into Marrie. She stumbled backwards, but not without swinging her blade at Lenore’s face. Arcane steel clashed against arcane steel, and sparks flew. Marrie had her back up against the portal on the machine, but she couldn’t pass through it because of how small the portal on Apexer’s blade was. The glow in Lenore’s eye wore away, as did her smile. She didn’t say anything, and resumed advancing on Marrie. She could deflect Lenore’s next few blows, but she was going to need to put herself on the offensive if she didn’t want to get overrun.

"Remember Himiko, dying is gay!"

— Mika Fang

After dispatching the last of the guards on the balcony, Mika looked off the edge at the remaining two on the other side of the smoke screen. As it turned out, a blind and deaf Himiko wasn’t able to land her shots on two men armed with submachine guns. She prepared to launch herself off the balcony when a gray pillar of smoke shot out of the smoke and almost hit Mika, only for her to transform into a spirit and float out of the vicinity. The spot where she had been standing was engulfed in smoke, and moving in close would be risky.

"Crap…"

Mika was down to her last life line. She could escape from one more attack like that, and then she’d be on her own. Mika slinked backwards and hoped the gunmen couldn’t guess her position.

Though when she turned around, she saw Bobo, covered in napalm, Pointing her flamethrower in Mika’s direction. She could prepare a melody, but it wouldn’t come out faster than Bobo’s burning napalm. It looked like Mika was about to say goodbye to her last “get out of jail free” card, but her eyes darted towards something in the air. It’s a bird, it’s a plane, no! It was Justin!

The protection Justin had placed on himself was keeping the napalm on his leg at bay, but that paired with the sudden impact shattered his protective blessing, and possibly Bobo’s back. With a “GAH!” The nun fell on her chest. However, the burning napalm that she had coated herself with was now also stuck on Justin, which was going to be a problem.

Or was it?

While Asher had intended to land his shield melody on Justin mid-flight, he needed extra time to really power it up. As such, his melody landed late, arriving just in time to prevent most of the damage he would have suffered.

Mika was about to assist with a follow up, but noticed that Himiko was dead. Well, not dead per say, but out of the fight. Obviously if Himiko had died, she would have detransformed to her normal self. But if she wasn’t moving, she was surely close to death. Mika looked between her companions and Himiko, and cursed under her breath. That stupid esper would make sure she never heard the end of this. She extended her hand, and a spectral cat lept out of her palm and floated over to Himiko’s side. It bound over her, spreading its enchanted magic over her body and preventing her condition from getting any worse.

”What a waste of perfectly good mana."

”I couldn’t agree more!” Bobo pulled the trigger on her flamethrower, and a stream of napalm rained down on Himiko’s body. Before the napalm landed on Himiko, she drove her elbow into Justin. While the blow itself hadn’t hurt, ithe arcane charge in her elbow shoved Justin off of her back. She hobbled to her feet and looked between the two espers on the balcony with her. ”You’re not done yet, are you!?” A surge of smoke surrounded Bobo’s body, and she seemed to grow healthier as a result. ”Come here you little bitch! I’m not done paying you back yet!” She ran at Justin with her mace held out to her side. Mika also let out a war cry and charged after her, but she wasn’t going to reach Bobo before she reached Justin. Unless…

And then there was Asher. He had successfully evaded the molotov, but the machine gun goons were still firing at everyone from behind the smoke screen. The spectral cat was starting to look a little sad, and might not stand up to much more fire. Even if Bobo felt Asher was below his notice, at least the construction workers still thought he was a threat. And then Nova was waiting in the smoke somewhere.

If Asher was going to do something cool, this was the time to do it.

Symphony on High

@Ponn@Majoraa@ERode

The number of threats dwindled, but not the danger.

His size betrayed his speed, but Dante’s hammer was still a hefty weapon that needed proper time to swing. He roared like a lion,preparing to hoist the weapon over his head just as Ashley empowered her shield. She held her own against a mob of cowboys, but it wasn’t clear if this would be enough to stop the bartender. His hammer even put people to sleep, which made it difficult to guess what sort of enchantment she should give herself.

He stopped mid swing when Finn used the tried and true GEMINI tactic of shouting your strategy. As he anticipated, he was preparing to move, which was when Finn would lean in with a strike. Also anticipated, his attack did hardly anything. The electricity arced through his sword, but most of the “damage” was done by his chain blade sawing the sand out of him. Possible oversight, Dante spun on his heel and redirected his swing at Finn. But this was just a feint. He blew sand into the boy’s eyes, and his blade could do little to keep the sand from entering his eyes. It stung a little bit, but otherwise didn’t have any immediate effects. Dante did use the opportunity to slip back behind the counter, and then into the back room.

But what about the fireball?

Estelle’s holy bolt was swallowed up by the fireball. The white hot flames turned orange. It had cooled a bit, but there was still a significant amount of thermal energy in that thing. It needed to be directed somewhere. Her team made a suggestion, but Estelle hadn’t been making a point of taking their advice, and she wasn’t going to start now. She shoved the fireball right back at the mage’s shield. The barrier’s surface made the mages look like they were on an old surveillance monitor. But that changed when the fireball was poked right back at them.

It didn’t have far to travel

The fireball turned into a fire pillar, and then a fire wall. The rolling flames came in all directions. Cowboys and dryads screamed together as the room was bathed in a bright orange light. If Estelle was worried about the dark wizard money gang burning their own members, she might be relieved to know that they made much smaller barriers for themselves as the flames came rolling in. It only took a second for the flames to reach the furthest corners of the diner. But while the explosion only lasted a moment, the arcane flames lasted a bit longer. The tables, wall hangings, and any spilled alcohol was now a roaring flame.

While Ashley had been stabbed by a beer bottle, she was prone when the flames had first come for her. A nearby table offered her just enough shelter that she wasn’t set ablaze. Finn was less fortunate. While he was partially shielded by a nearby table, he was standing, and was set on fire by the fireball’s explosion. And Estelle…

Good thing she had such good arcane resistance. She didn’t have time to get her katana back in front of her, and was struck with the full brunt of the fireball. She was lit up, and the blast itself rolled her over one of the many overturned chairs that littered the place. She’d need to do something before she started to melt like a candle.

But what about the girl?

The mage by the counter was standing up. He had one arm wrapped around the dreaming school girl’s waist while the other was holding up his arcane shield. It was cracked and burning at the edges, but both of them were fine.

”Dayum, glad they went with a level three fireball.” he looked at the girl in his arm. ”Did ya pass out?”

”Coffeeeeeeeeee…”

Dante stepped back into the room. His eyes scanned his surroundings. His teeth were clenched, and his grip on his hammer tightened. ”You stupid boy…” He phased through the counter again, but this time he was moving in arcs, zigging and sagging between the flames as he approached the GEMINI agents. But there were still a lot of fleeing bikers in his way that were about to run them all down. In addition to the stampede, Finn, and only Finn, noticed a giant horned demon rise up from the flames. He could have been Chernobog’s brother, only bigger, with horns that acted like smoke stacks. It reached its hand towards the boy, clearly intending to crush him in its grasp.

Estelle couldn’t catch a break either. The trio of mages looked at each other. ”This a win for the SWMB?”

”Could be.”

”Just gotta mop up the rest of them and then we’re home free.”

”I can’t do that no more, I’m outta juice.”

”You know what they say.” One of them drew a pistol. ”Ya might be outta spells, but ya ain’t outta shells!”

”Aw yee!”

Estelle looked like smoldering refuse from where they were standing, but they needed to make sure the freaky sword bitch was in her place. Two of the mages pulled out their pieces and started to fire at her while the last one lobbed fireballs at anything that moved.

---

@The World@Nakushita@TaintedMushroom@FamishedPants

Anyone who valued money knew that gambling was only worthwhile when you understood the risks. You needed to know your odds of winning, what was at stake, etc. Sovereign was waging her life against the lives of the gunmen on the other side. She had a good strategy, and figured she might as well risk it to win big. She could take a few bullets. The only issue was that her strategy relied on sight, and the flashbang took care of that. She wasn’t going to see anything come out of the smoke.

The bullets ripped through the smoke and landed in Himiko. Her right shoulder got nailed, as did her her left leg. A few more bullets struck her torso. She managed to get a few shots off before she collapsed, but it wasn’t clear if she hit anything. On the upside, Himiko had made herself such an easy target that Asher was more or less ignored. Between dropping prone and hiding beside the spirit cat, there wasn’t much for them to shoot at. No one even paid attention to Justin as he fell like a comet.

Marrie was correct. Lenore had once trained espers for melee combat, so her swordsmanship was good. Not that she would know that just by looking at Lenore. Regardless of skill level, it often wasn’t a good idea to give your opponent initiative in anything. One of the reasons why spears were preferred over swords on a large battlefield was because the spearmen could strike first. But such tactics didn’t take effects like magic into account. Marrie was planning something that might give her the edge.

Lenore also decided to take a cautious approach, not being too quick to attack the young esper. She blinked, and her one eye glowed like a demon’s. The corners of her lips curled a bit before she went for a thrust. Only this was a feint, just before Lenore went for a sweep.

"Are… Are we gunna lose this one?"

— Mika Fang

She couldn’t worry about the freelancers now. While she had told Sovereign that she would handle Lenore, it was clear that she couldn’t be defeated alone. Not with Mika’s current skills, and not with so much backup. But if the freelancers could keep everyone busy down below, then she could take care of the remaining gunmen on the balcony.

She checked over her shoulder to make sure Bobo wasn’t following her, but it looked like she was staring at something else, likely a freelancer. Then she looked ahead. The two construction workers had turned their guns on her. This was it.

She launched a spirit snake, which coiled around one of the men’s arms. He wasn’t able to fire, and the one behind him didn’t have enough room to fire on Mika. A smile crossed her face as she pounced on them, staining the balcony with their blood.

Bobo continued to lock eyes with Asher, but she didn’t stare for very long. She reached into her robes and pulled out a bottle with a rag hanging out of the side of it. She lit the rag with her cigarette, which caused black smoke to billow off the end of it. With the molotov lit, she tossed it straight at Asher before turning her flamethrower on herself. Burning napalm poured over the bunny nun, but it didn’t burn her. Would Asher be as fortunate with that molotov incoming?

Symphony on High

@Ponn@Majoraa@ERode

The school girls were almost evacuated, the threats were dwindling.

Ashley was asked to clear the way, and she obliged with a crack of neon green energy. It took a moment to wind up, but it was nothing the drunken cowboys were going to see coming anyway. It flew over one’s shoulder and landed in a cluster of them before detonating. The release of energy was enough to sear the flesh. They hollered and hooted, tumbling out of the ball of green light as smoke rose up from their bodies. Some weren’t moving, some writhed in pain. The way was clear.

Naturally, the highschoolers could barely fathom what was going on around them. Had that weird cosplayer just thrown a molotov? Was that kid holding a chainsaw? Why were those furries trying to tie up the business woman? Would their friend survive being struck in the side of the head with a hammer? There was almost too much to process, to the point that they barely reacted when Finn swooped to their side and ushered them through the group of smoldering cowboys.

”Omigosh! I think he touched me!” But she didn’t stop moving. Even if they couldn’t understand the situation, they knew it was one they didn’t belong in the middle of.

The diner seemed like it was starting to calm down. The Cowboys were down to seven or eight scattered members and must have realized they were way out of their fucking element. The two that remained near Ashley had taken a step back and looked like they might be considering the door. There were an equal number of the more powerful dryads, but some of their members had become quite exhausted from having their mana burned. Surely between their backup and with most of the teenagers being out of there soon, they wouldn’t be hard to deal with. This just left the shadow wizard money gang, who were in the middle of casting a spell.

While Ashley had called for having the wizards neutralized Estelle decided on a more diplomatic approach. It was impossible to see what was going on under those dark hoods of theirs, as only a pair of glowing yellow eyes were visible. What was visible was the growing fireball, and the shield they were erecting to protect themselves from its detonation. But was this a surprise? Ashley had just called to have them taken out, there was a chainsaw wielding emo among them, and someone was shooting spells through the windows. Even the dryads beside Estelle stopped attacking when they realized they were all going to be incinerated. This gave Estelle enough time to call out to the remaining girl, who was stubbornly looking at Dante.

”I know Amanda’s back there!” She pointed behind him. ”What are you doing with her?”

”I don’t have time for you.” He didn’t wait for her to respond. He swung his hammer at the side of her head, and she stumbled into the wall. Sand poured out of her face before she sunk to the ground. ”Where was I?” In a flash, he charged towards Finn and sifted through everything in his way. Countertops, overturned tables. None of it stopped him before he arrived at the boy’s position. Finn was able to get his sword up just in time to deflect it, but he stumbled backwards from the attack. While he was reeling, Dante stomped his foot into the floor, and it came out from under Ashley, kicking one of her feet out from under her. He then yanked his foot out of the tile floor and swung his massive hammer at her. It looked like he was going for a very wide swing.

Violet kneeled on the ground and placed her staff across her lap. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes as if deep in meditation. Then nothing happened. Though the school girl that was beside the counter started to stand back up again. Her eyes were closed, but she was grumbling something.

”Amanda…Is in the caffeine… The coffee shop… I’m coming.” Using the countertop for support, she started to walk towards the exit.

But she wasn’t going to make it out before that fireball went off.

Estelle hadn’t seen a lot of fireballs, and couldn’t correctly guess how much stronger a level four fireball was when compared to a level three. But this one was as tall as a man and looked like a small scale sun. The heat was drying out her skin just standing next to it. The three mages had closed themselves in a shield just as the fireball was launched. There was no way to tell exactly how destructive it was, but that didn’t matter. Even if there was no good place to direct the fireball, she could try to minimize the damage. But what was the best thing to do with it?

While Dante seemed unbothered by the ball of fire, the other bikers were scrambling. Some ran to take cover behind overturned tables or to flee out the front door.

---

@The World@Nakushita@TaintedMushroom@FamishedPants

Regardless of what was trying to bring Justin down, he decided he needed to go up. Just up. Not left, not right, but up.
Up above the danger, up above the chaos. If the ground was going to get sliced up by some unseen swordsperson, he was going to fly up above. He’d worry about getting down later. His legs weren’t going to take any of Sovereign's bullets, but he might get a fracture or two if he didn’t have a plan for the landing. At least some of the gunmen had lifted their barrels at the suddenly airborne target. Well, that was more fortunate for the people down below. For Justin, this wasn’t looking too good. Getting down safely was starting to look a bit more difficult.

Marrie also needed to escape a dangerous situation, but she decided to go about things in an entirely different manner. For one, she was going to remain on the ground, and two, she was going to change the trajectory of the threat rather than the target.

After shaking off her minor panic attack, she threw a melody into the smoke. The idea was to clear out the smoke, but it didn’t really have that effect. Magic was bullshit, and that was just as true for enemy espers as it was for her. The smoke screen lightly dispersed in the path of her melody, but the rolling fumes were quick to return to their shape moments later. It was no more effective than fanning the air with a pingpong paddle. Even when the melody activated, the swirling winds weren’t quite strong enough to disperse the smoke. It thinned them a bit, but it was still difficult to see the nun hiding within. However, when the nun fired a bolt of smoke at Marrie while she retreated, it veered off course and missed its target. At the very least, aiming would be a bit more difficult. Marrie made her way to the giant engine where she could take cover.

”Ahhh… Fuckin’ brat.” Nova huffed her cigarette before pulling back into the smoke.

Meanwhile, Asher was making an effort to kill some of these ugly assholes. Like many (freelance) espers, he had assumed that just because his opponents were numerous that they were merely fodder to be killed in stylish fashion. But one does not risk melee combat with a guy called “dead head” unless he has a few moves up his sleeve. The fact that he had fucking cathode raytubes for eyes should have tipped off everyone that he wasn’t entirely human. Bui Asher didn’t care how human he was, he cared about how stylish he could look frying this turd. His technique was equally excessive both in how violent it would be and how much mana he would dump into the attack. Whatever didn’t get instantly incinerated was melted like cheese. His target didn’t even scream. He even had a little left over in the tank to finish off the wounded guy from earlier. Usually the GM is the enemy of fun and runs a tight ship to make sure rules don’t get abused. Using a beam to hit two targets without the channel or other such note would usually be a no-go, but sometimes you gotta let the wookie win, and what would Asher be but Han Solo’s best friend?

And Himiko talked some more. She also fired her guns a few times and managed to get two of the construction workers on the upper levels. The others were either hidden behind a smokescreen or were at too obtuse an angle to be fired upon properly.

"REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

— Mika Fang

At this stage, Mika found it easier to just let the weird golden gun lady talk. That didn’t mean she had to listen to any of it though. It was just background noise. What she had to do was stay focused on her target and make sure no other hostels got her. Lenore had just used a melody, so she didn’t have to worry about her using another one right away. Meanwhile, Mika did have a melody up her sleeve. She should have the advantage in this situation. In fact, she was already preparing it while she engaged.

Lenore was a good swordsman. She had her back against a wall and would lose this fight as soon as Mika got in close, but she was very good at keeping Mika just out of reach. She’d swing her sword in an arc, and then use her momentum to comb back around before she could advance. Lenore had likely fought espers for years compared to the few weeks of preliminary bootcamp Mika had. She knew she wasn’t going to beat her in straight up melee. Which was why…

There!

Mid swing, Mika had managed to fire a root at one of her arms, pinning it to the wall. That look on her face, she was panicking! Mika didn’t waste any time. With her opponent momentarily vulnerable, she lunge forward and-

A wave of gunfire ripped through the smoke.

They might not have been able to see the gunmen, but the gunmen clearly had a way to see through the smoke screen. The bullets ripped through the smoke and hit where her body was, only for her to vanish and reappear up on the balcony.

"Crap!" She growled before charging towards the other men on the balcony.

Mika wasn’t the only one that had been fired on. The two distant gunmen on the ground floor had fired upon Asher and Himiko. While Asher was partially covered by the cat spirit, Himiko was standing out in the open. Fortunately, she hadn’t used a melody yet and might be able to defend herself before taking too much damage. As for Justin, the balcony construction workers hadn’t fired many shots before Mika charged their position. Bobo on the other hand… The end of her gun caught fire.

”Let’s make up for last time.”

Liquid flame spewed out of the end of her gun, coating Justin’s leg.

Lenore pulled a steel cylinder out of her pocket and chucked it in Marrie’s direction. It flew closer and closer to her, until it suddenly became Lenore. Meanwhile, back where Lenore had been standing, a flash bang went off that blinded any of the espers on the first floor that were thinking about returning fire. She pointed at her own eyes, then Marrie, before holding her blade in front of herself.

Mahou Shoujo No 30 Dai- a spoof rp!

”Is friendly fire turned off?"

— Isra Mahmud

So the monster still lived?

So there were actually a lot of magical girls waiting in the wings?

But did it change anything?

Osiris was still hanging onto her prey. She had some close calls, as a giant coffin and an energy lance hit pretty close to her position. Though more jarring was when the creature spontaniously caught fire. Though it seemed that the flames had an invigorating effect on her rather than a harmful one. Was her immunity to the flames the wise scientist’s doing? The temptation was to say yes, but she doubted it. Surely if it was the case, she would have taken the opportunity to gloat about how invincible her new form was. If anything, the wise scientist had been far more quiet than usual. Though Osiris wasn’t familiar enough with the doctor to know if that was normal or not.

She briefly glanced in the pink magical girl’s direction. It didn’t seem like she had thrown one attack yet, but moreover, she looked like she was upset. That would certainly make her employer happy, who had made a request to make the girl cry. Why this was important eluded Osiris, as did most of the wise scientist’s requests. All she could do was satisfy them as they came.

But in looking at the pink magical girl, she had noticed the first of the two pyromancers (herein referred to as the pyromaniac) had started shouting for everyone to “hit it with the artillery”. While this would have made sense in a flashy magical girl anime, it made a lot less sense to expend extra energy on a mostly dead monster. But more pressing was that she was still hanging onto said monster and would be in the way of any big flashy attacks. But thinking about it logically, if they killed her, then that meant less competition for the heart stone. It wasn't like she knew anyone here, and who would miss a visitor to New York? As soon as she realized this was a challenge, she couldn’t help but smile at her aggressor’s thinly veiled call to violence.

If there were a bunch of incoming attacks, there was no point in waiting for the fireworks show to hit her in the back. She just needed to survive and be close enough to the monster to nab the heart stone when it appeared. Osiris swung herself on top of the hippo where she could observe her “allies” attacks and take proper evasive maneuvers. Just because she had that up her sleeve didn’t mean she wanted to waist it to avoid some “friendly fire.” The thermal lance struck the hippo, and Osiris held on to avoid getting thrown off. Time would tell if the other magical girls heeded the pyromaniac's call or not.

Symphony on High

@Ponn@Majoraa@ERode

The gemini agents were surrounded, they needed a way out.

Anyone who practiced chess would tell you that you always needed to put some pressure on your opponent. Being too defensive allowed your opponent to spread out and surround you, promising a difficult, if not impossible, end game. Ashley may have opened the window to allow her backup a shot inside, but by this point the cowboys had figured her out. The moment she attacked, she was vulnerable for the briefest of moments. When she stretched out her arm to fire, one of the cowboys grabbed her arm and pulled her off balance. Another cowboy grabbed her shield while she stumbled. Ashley wouldn’t relinquish her shield so easily, but with her arms pulled out to either side, there wasn’t much she could do to protect herself. One of them gouged her shoulder with a beer bottle, another delivered a straight punch directly into her kidney. Then her melody went off to shield her from the next few blows. A punch to the stomach, having a bottle broken over her head, hopefully her backup would fire soon.

The situation around Estelle was plenty chaotic. But regardless of what the other agents were saying over coms or what sort of chaos was erupting around the bar, her objective remained consistent. She had to get those teenagers out of here. Everything else was a distraction. Estelle kept her goal in her mind and moved.

Estelle’s Dai-Katana was a potent tool for defense, and one that could make for some fairly absurd situations. But when the ward and chair collided, it didn’t quite have the effect that Estelle desired. The ward operated by taking an incoming force and redirecting it with an equal and opposite force, at least when it was physically struck. The drunk biker wasn’t a monster, and wasn’t swinging with nearly enough force to lift his own body high enough to get swatted by fan blades. The stool flew out of his drunken hands and pierced the particle board ceiling. Dante hadn’t been keeping up with maintenance, so the stool was more than enough to bring down the rotted truss that the fan was attached to. Spinning blades fell, the bikers stumbled backwards, Estelle slid forward as the entire mess crashed down behind her. It wasn’t as “fun” as what she had envisioned, but the end result was the same: The teenagers had a clear shot.

After Estelle relayed her orders, she set off to distract the goons left at the bar. She knocked over a table, prepared a melody, swung her fist… and something wrapped around her neck.

The dryads had indeed not rooted her legs a second time. Instead, the shapeless fey creatures decided to reach across the room to coil their tendril-like vines around her. One snagged her neck and tugged her backwards over the table she knocked over moments before. The fan that had fallen earlier may have been a threat to the bikers, but it wasn’t much to a group of monsters. But before she was sling-shotted backwards, she managed to reach out a finger and touch the Mage’s shoulder. The resulting mana-burning field caught the dryad sitting next to him.

The mage up until this point had remained seated. He was just keeping his head down pretending not to be there while these other bikers beat the snot out of each other. The Shadow Wizard Money Gang didn’t have that many members after the Shadow Government switched over to recruiting espers only. Now all they had were their bikes and their spells. ”Hey man!” The wizard pointed at Estelle with a finger that had no less than three rings on it. ”Keep me outta that shit!” Otherwise, he made no other motion towards the esper that was getting dragged backwards towards a mob of angry drunk bikers. The dryads sitting next to him were not as merciful, and rushed towards Estelle even as the bikers took turns trying to kick her, with a few making a move for the sword she was holding.

At least the girls were moving now. All but one had taken the opportunity to retreat with their unconscious friend. While the stubborn one remained by the jukebox, the other three carried their unconscious friend towards the front of the diner. The last obstacle in their way was all the bikers near the front door.

And then there was Finn. Bound, choking, and about to get the beating of his life. Despite his age, he could see what was going on around here better than everyone. Everything was turning to shit, and someone had to do something about it. They couldn’t play nice anymore. It was kill or be killed.

Fuck it.

His body erupted with a melody, sending arcs of lightning into anything and everything nearby. The cash register went on the fritz, the lights blew out, but most importantly, the vines around his body loosened up. The dryads screeched out animalistic sounds, but they had been paralyzed by the attack. How fitting that the first thing Finn cut would be made of wood? Their vines, their bodies, Atropos sawed through them in seconds. The dryads howled their last as Finn was sprayed with sap and blood. He’d do it this time. He’d save everyone.

With a “Nyah!” a bolt of violet energy flew through the window and landed next to some of the cowboys. It exploded into a chromatic display of hearts, clouds, and horses, and managed to put four of the cowboys to sleep. It would take Violet a bit to neutralize the entire bar, but at least now Ashley could use one of her arms again. The cowboy holding her wand was fast asleep.

The wizards were far less amused with this display.

”Holy shit! That boy ain’t fuckin’ around!” One of the three at the back of the diner pointed out.

”That bitch attacked my boy by the counter too. If we wait too long, we’ll be next.”

”Know what I’m thinkin’?”

”Level four fireball?”

”Fuck yea!”

The three wizards stepped out of their cubicle. One of them grew a fireball in the palm of his hand while the other two traced symbols in the air.

---

@Vertigo

The nerd continued to stare in disbelief as the “oni girl” left his room. It wasn’t clear if he didn’t hear her, or was in such a state of shock that he couldn’t physically react. Upon leaving the room, “Viper” had a similar reaction. They gave Ciri a thousand mile stare as she told them to to stay out of her way, more or less.

”Hmm…”

Ciri sent off her gorilla to find a hiding place, and then she looked down the stairs while asking her friend for a time. But before she got a response, she could hear the familiar “boom” of a shotgun being fired. Ciri turned just in time to see her minion fall onto its back with a giant hole in its chest. Moments later, the gorilla’s body melted into a puddle of inky darkness and dissipated.

The SPAS-12 was a famous gun, largely due to its appearance in movies and videogames. But it was made at an interesting time when the french police force wanted a gun that could do everything. Part of that everything was the specific use case of being fired with one hand while driving a squad car. It’s not difficult to see why they eventually moved on to more specialized guns that were lighter and easier to maintain. But for an esper, being able to hold a shotgun in one hand and another weapon in the other was a rather nifty trait to have. There was no time to cast a melody, and the barrel was already being swung in Ciri’s direction. She had to take cover.

She dove back into the nerd’s room. He must have been thinking of watching her down the hall, because he was in the doorway when she decided to dive back in. The shotgun went off again, and Ciri fell on top of the nerd, pinning him to the ground.

”Uh…” He remained very still as his eyes examined everything in his immediate surroundings.

Then Ciri got a message back from her friend. He couldn’t actually speak, but the sounds she got back let her know he was saying something along the lines of “He’s slippery.” She could hear another wall break down as the dragon dove back outside, this time lunging out of the hotel and falling into the street. He grabbed onto the adjacent building with his fingers, but this was less to get a hand hold and more to slow his descent. As soon as he was on the ground, he started running out of the alley.

Ciri might be able to try and settle the score with the esper here, but her friend wouldn’t be able to stop the fleeing dragon all by themselves. She didn’t have long before the mysterious esper came through the door.

---

@The World@Nakushita@TaintedMushroom@FamishedPants

Justin threw his melody towards the window frame. The glowing ball of electricity might not have struck as fast as a lightning bolt, but it was much faster to get out there, which was what he needed to not become a human torch. However, that slower speed allowed Bobo to react to it. Her eyebrows went up as she stepped away from the window, just as Justin’s projectile bounced to its final resting place. Before he was doused in liquid napalm, he had appeared on the balcony with everyone else. But he wasn’t behind Bobo, he was in front of her.

”Glad you could finally join us.” she grumbled. And with that, all of the espers were inside St Bianchi Church.

Marrie had too many monkeys on her back, so she went intangible, briefly turning into a cloud of fog to get Nova off of her. The nun fell onto her feet, and Marrie attempted to wrap the chain of Apexer around Nova while also poking Lenore with the melody charged tip of her knife. But that was a little counterintuitive, wasn’t it? Apexer had great reach, but with the chain wrapped around Nova, she could only ever get eight or so feet away from her. Nova dug her heels into the ground and took hold of the chain weapon. And pressed her back against the chain. Marrie might have been able to stab Lenore, but she was already running after Mika and Sovereign. She looked over her shoulder and winked as she further distanced herself. Apexer blasted mist out of the edge of its blade as the melody dissipated.

Shotguns were traditionally loaded with standard buckshot, but Asher’s Hatred was only ever loaded with slugs and hellfire. They weren’t particularly accurate, especially when fired on the run, but at this range Asher would have to be a stormtrooper to miss with both shots. One of the shells punched a hole through a construction worker’s chest, right while he was stumbling towards some cover. He finally collapsed near Marrie, wounded but alive. But it was at this distance that she could see why they had such strange head gear. They weren’t wearing goggles, their eyes had been replaced with cathode ray tubes. Her memories of her first operation in Pax surfaced.

Meanwhile, Asher engaged the other gunman in some guntana. He kept his firearm in his hands, but used it to block the incoming blow before kicking Asher in the chest. Though this did more to push himself backwards than it did push Asher away. He’d bought Asher some time to act, but he looked like he was arming his underbarrel grenade launcher.

"I feel like I’ve been taking crazy pills!"

— Mika Fang

For everything that was going on, Sovereign seemed pretty chill with it. Even now, she was cracking jokes and moving like a lunatic with a sword wasn’t trying to end them. That would have been a surprise, but she chose to work for Oros after she cut off her arm. Maybe this level of insanity was necessary for espers. At the very least, being helped to her feet was one of the more pleasant experiences she had when it came to an esper touching her. With a groan, she forced Angelie out of her head. I really wish there was a way I could write that without inviting more puns

Suddenly, and without warning, the balcony where Justin was standing suddenly collapsed. It was as if an invisible swordsman had cut through the wooden structure beneath him. No sooner had Justin made his way in did the floor give way beneath him. There was barely time for a quip at Bobo. As he fell, Lenore extended her hand, and a bean of blacklight hit him. As soon as Sovereign started firing, Lenore and Justin switched places, and she was now firing on someone who owed her a comic.

"Okay." Mika sighed. "I’ll take Lenore, you get the gunmen." Mika growled before charging towards the sadistic nun, who only smiled back at her, black sword in hand.

Nova took a pull of her cigarette, and suddenly the area around her became very smokey. Marrie could feel her chain come loose, as it was no longer around the smoking nun. Though now she couldn’t see anything, and the smoke was only making her weaker.

Bobo pointed off the balcony. ”You still have ammo, don’t you? Keep shooting!”

It wouldn’t be long before they started firing again. This time they had men on every level, leaving few places to hide.

Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido

...*COUGH*

— Suki Oyama

Suki was use to getting hurt. Her blood power necessitated getting hurt to grow stronger. Her pain threshold was high, and being a magical girl made a lot of stuff hurt a lot less than it should have. She had been smashed by magical war hammers, bombarded by frogs, and run across pink flames as cute as their caster. She had no shortage of experiences to draw upon, but couldn't tell you what the worst type of pain she had ever felt was.

Until today.

It was just a jet of fire, but it hit with some force. The shock wave reverberated in her chest like an echo in a cave. Before Suki could even scream, her body was set aflame ash she tumbled backwards through the air. Bouncing across the ground hurt, but it was difficult to pick a single thing to focus on. Her insides had been ruptured, and her outsides were on fire. With the flames all around her body she couldn't even see. Suki was usually at her strongest when she had been beaten this badly, but this was different. The flames cauterized her wounds while burning to the deeper layers of her flesh. She didn't have many options here.

She coughed up blood, lots of it. Suki's blood formed a large tendril that extended out of her mouth. It peeled open like a banana and enveloped her own body. Usually magical flames stopped burning as soon as you got off of them, but it seemed like Ash Bringer's flames could bypass magical defenses. From the outside, it looked like Suki was in a red cocoon. The tendrils released her moments later, and white smoke rose off of her body. It seemed that starving the flames of oxygen was enough to stop them from burning. She wasn't ready to fight anymore, but fortunately, it seemed like the dragon girl had flown off.

I can't believe none of the reports I heard mentioned her ahoge...

It was much longer before the rest of the Detention club arrived. There were a variety of different reactions, from whispers of how beat up everyone looked to surprise that a fucking building got leveled. Though their leader, Schrade, seemed disinterested in the scene. She looked at the magical girls, the wounded, the collateral on the town, and then at the sky. Her minions raced to help (or mock) the injured while she looked up at the sky where Ash Bringer was seconds ago. Then she grinned and said the most Schrade thing possible.

"Interesting."

Mahou Shoujo No 30 Dai- a spoof rp!

@shagranoz What my character wants isn't necessarily what I want. I'm just playing my character fam.