Enkryption

Tales Of Shizuyama: Alternative (Far-Eastern Monster Girl RP)

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ATTN: @PaulHaynek

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For Sake's Sake

"We've arrived..." Ripcord says, as she looked around. "And, everything is here. That's not protocol."

"Everything is still standing, Rippy! People are still alive! Are we sure Varjans came here..." Umami asks.

Ripcord shrugged. "Let's ask around," she says, striding to the nearest villager, "Hey, why didn't the Varjans just erase this place like they normally would?"

The peasant woman bowed. “Please. This way.” She led the Claremont sisters into the workers’ living quarters and urged them inside with quick hand movements.

Once inside the building, the peasant woman assumed a more relaxed, honest tone. “Apologies, miladies. I couldn’t speak freely out there. The Varjans might have overheard.” She then continued. “They’ve been drinking us dry. When they first came, their leader - a Varjan Warrior covered in fur pelts - offered to spare us as long as we gave them sake.”

“But the amount they've been demanding lately is way too much than we can provide. And they’re coming soon too.”

"The fact you're still alive is contingent on whatever you are supplying," Ripcord says, "Sounds like a protection racket."

"Protecting what? Those place doesn't offer much in the way of value, beyond the sake production," Umami says, "There's nothing much to gain in protecting something ypu can buy at any market."

"Even a good production house isn't worth anything to the war effort. However, the land is a different story," Ripcord surmised, "Mami, take to the sky, and see if there is anything of interest around?"

Umami snapped a salute, before her body transformed, "On it, Papi!" and she shot into the sky like a rocket. The apex of her wing-assisted, she transformed again; taking on the features of a Werebat, as she descended, and took in the surroundings. Upon landing, she held on all fours, and looked up. "Here's what I got..."

The villager woman said. “Yokai or not, how dare you speak of our sake like that? Our sake is known throughout Shizuyama. This is not some random horse piss an amateur sake brewer makes in their backyard. Our methods had decades of refinement.”

Umami saw nothing of note nearby that could interest the invaders. There was only forest around the brewery. Perhaps, the Varjans really were only here for the sake and kept these people alive to brew more.

"Yokai," Ripcord spat. "Humans use that word with arrogance and disdain. Be it the Varjans that created us as a superweapon, or those that kept us enslaved to be used for our purpose," Ripcord looked at the woman, her temper flaring nonverbally, as her left eye divided like an egg cell into multiple irises, "Or, you, here and now, assuming that we are nothing more than a weapon for YOU to point at our old slave keepers to do your dirty work."

"We just want to live! We have names! We have hopes and dreams! We bleed! We need to eat, sleep, piss, and shit! Just like you!" Umami snapped, her temper flaring verbally, "It's not our fault you weren't born into chattel slavery, designed as nothing more than a product to be used! No better than the bottle used to hold this sake you're so proud of! And, just as easy to throw away!"

Ripcord placed her hand on Umami's cheek, and brought her close. "You're losing your temper, Mami," she says, bringing them nose-to-nose, "Breathe, in and out... Steady..."

Umami balled her fists, before her shoulders dropped. "I'm not a monster, Papi... I'm Umami..." she looked to the side.

"My baby sister, and my pride and joy," Ripcord smiled, rubbing their noses together, eliciting a giggle and blush from Umami, "The Varjans have an advantage with the forest. They can move small numbers through, and strike without warning. However, if they've been moving through it, they've been taking a route," she says, "Sniff it out, Mami. Find all of them, and return to make. I'll start making traps for you to put in their paths."

Umami saluted, before adopting Werewolf features, and licking her cheek, "I'm on it, Papi!" before she took off.

Ripcord giggled, and rubbed the lick into her cheek, before turning back to the woman. "As for you, I hope you had a good harvest, but I need material for explosives, and sake is flammable..."

“Take as much sake as you need, yokai.” The villager woman replied, surprisingly undaunted by the sisters’ earlier outburst. “Get these Varjans off our island.”

Meanwhile, Umami went into the forest and searched for the trail that the Varjans used. They did not bother masking their scents or their tracks, allowing her to find the trail immediately. In fact, she found much more: An entire dozen of Varjan Brigands armed with shields, axes and javelins were already en route to the brewery. From their walking speed, they would arrive in several minutes.

They were led by a fair-skinned, muscled man who walked confidently in front of the group. He wore nothing but a pair black trousers and a fur pelt around his neck. A large spear was slung on his back and he walked with abject boredom on his face… until he raised his fist to stop his men from moving.

“...Someone’s watching us.” He sensed Umami’s presence.

"Stop calling me that! I have a name!" Ripcord snapped, no longer maintaining her calm demeanor, now that Umami couldn't see her being so disgraceful. "I don't know or care what your past relations with others of my kind are, but I'm not them. I grew up under the whole palm of the Varjans - I've never had a choice to be anything more than a living mop and bucket, while my sister was naught but a broom and dustpan." Ripcord turned to face the woman, "You stand there with the freedom to insult me and denigrate my existence, while I was created to serve your kind until I break," she says, "I can get rid of your problems, free you of tyranny, but as long as you live, you'll always oppress me, and think it's just the way of things."

Before Ripcord could continue, she would bend forward, almost comically, as Umami full-body tackled her from behind - panting heavily. "Varjans! Coming! This many!" she held up her hands by her ears, flicking them left and right, "Whadda we do!?"

Ripcord straightened up, "Twelve, huh? Need to be smart about this, then. You, racist woman, since you've so much to say, put that mouth to work, and get people inside the most unassuming place. My original plan is shot. We'll have to take them off-route..."

Umami nodded, "What should I do?"

"I wish we had more time to dig a hole, but alas..." Ripcord closed her eyes, "You'll just have to keep them safe, while I deal with the brunt of it."

“You will always be yokai, madam.” The villager woman crossed her arms, replying to Ripcord. “That’s something no one can take away from you. If you are going to be angry every time you are called that, you will be angry for the rest of your life. Word of advice - be proud of who you are, no matter your past.” The woman finished. “There’s a basement here where we can fully hide. You two just focus on the Varjans, don’t worry about our safety.”

After the woman gathered all of the workers and hid, the Varjan contingent finally arrived. Or at least, one of them did - the fur-pelted leader. He sauntered into the brewery area seemingly without a care in the world, the rest of his group nowhere to be seen. Presumably staying back in the forest, or laying an ambush.

Ripcord bit her lip, as the woman spoke. There was no pride in her. There was nothing to be proud about. She was a tool; a hammer when there were nails, a screwdriver when there were screws, and so on, so forth. Her purpose was to serve. Pride wasn't in the mission statement.

As the workers moved about, they gained an extra body, as Umami slipped into their ranks, and would take to hiding among the workers in the basement; disguised and present to protect them, if the Varjans went a-hunting.

Meanwhile, Ripcord looked at the main attraction, and dropped to her ankles in a foreigner squatting pose, as she rummaged her non-existent pockets, and retrieved a pack of rolled cigarettes and a lighter - immediate giveaway to her homeland.

"So," Ripcord asks, lighting the stick, "What's Varjo want with a dumpy, little sake shack on this no-name, little shit stain of an island?" Taking a drag, Ripcord blew smoke at the leader, "Shit, my bad. Old habits. I didn't ask your name. Mine's..." Ripcord paused, "Isn't that something... I've forgotten what it was. I'll have to ask for a new name once I get back, I guess."

The Varjan Champion sniffed the smoke blown at him. “That depends. What’s a monster doing on an anti-monster island?” He responded. “...Don’t try to pretend. You’re no local and you’re not Order. I’d say Varjan, but my gut really says that isn’t the case. That narrows the choices down.”

“Still, I’m glad you’re here. The alcohol this place is making is top-notch stuff. Much better than whatever gunk we brew back in the ships. But it has always been my opinion that drinks taste much better after… a fierce workout.” The Champion continued. “So, monster. When do we start?”

Ripcord signed, "I was born just as Human as anyone else..." Standing, she looked annoyed, and flicked ash off her cigarettes. "Sounds like your problems are insignificant, just a bunch of drunks, unhappy with their own drink."

"Well, regardless, whenever you'd like to begin," Ripcord says.

“Ah, a traitor to the human race then.” The Varjan Champion concluded. “I think we can begin now.”

The whizzing of the air alerted Ripcord of something rapidly coming at her. She was not fast enough to evade but fortunately, the attack missed. A javelin thrown at Ripcord did not find its mark, but landed quite close at the ground mere inches from her. “Oh, for the love of…”

The Varjan Champion quickly grabbed the missed javelin and began thrusting and swinging the weapon against Ripcord.

There was a loud clang, as the initial swing found purchase, before it was shoved back towards his; a large, unwieldy weapon pushing out of Ripcord's body. "Traitor," she asks, "Quite the contrary. It was Varjan science that made me. It's simply doing what I was born to do by your betters."

Lifting the weapons, Ripcord pulled on the ripcord, and it revved to life with an unnatural roar and sustained growl, as the misshapen canine teeth spun.

Hopping forward, Ripcord would cleave at the Champion - fully on the offensive.

The Varjan Champion reeled back from the unknown, but powerful, weapon. To him, it looked like some sort of sword. A sword that had teeth. Teeth that slid along the blade with blurring speed, rending anything that it made contact with.

A vertical swing of Ripcord’s weapon split the Champion’s javelin into two and sent him stumbling to the ground. But before Ripcord could deal the finishing blow, javelins and throwing axes rained on the Homunculus. The Brigands that this Champion led had climbed the rooftops of the brewery’s buildings and threw projectiles from the vantage point.

The Champion used the opportunity to get some distance from Ripcord. Picking up a missed thrown axe as a weapon.

Ripcord barely took her focus off her opponent; she didn't have to, after all. As the rain of projectiles came at her, she would shed her clothing, and expose a myriad of opening eyes like those that bore down on her opponent. Her skin would ripple like a disturbed pond, before fleshed arms erupted from her; her by undergoing intense, rapid mutation of her Shoggoth DNA, and allowing her to catch the weapons slung at her from all angles.

Pulling her numerous arms back, acid would leak from her fingertips and her sweat glands - dissolving the weapons, as she absorbed them.

"A delicious craftsmanship. It's crude and quaint. Like, a simple meat stew or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich," Ripcord says, licking her fingers, "Reminds me Varjo. What they fed me, back in the business..."

"I can't wait to get my dessert... haven't had dessert in so long... I just have to clean my plate..."

The Varjans were stunned at Ripcord’s display of her Shoggoth abilities. Even the Champion was slack-jawed for a moment before regaining his senses. “Shoggoth! Prepare fire weapons!” He ordered his underlings.

Despite that, Ripcord saw about half of the Varjan crew leap from the buildings to run away. They were not here to fight such a terrifying creature.

The Varjan Champion hacked at Ripcord with his small axe. “You want your dessert? Come get it!” He stretched his arms at the Homunculus, goading her to attack him.

Ripcord revved her weapon, "Fire? How cute..."

Moving forward, Ripcord would launch herself via the momentum of her oversized weapon, and chase - slinging her moving sword forward, and through one of the retreating men. Flesh rent, acid seeped into the wound, and like venom, ran through his bloodstream. Turning with a swing of her weapon, Ripcord corrected her path, and chased another.

She seemed completely uninteresting in the goading attempt, as she swept up the small fry... like hor d'oeuvres...

“Oh no, you don’t!” Ripcord felt her flesh grabbed with tremendous strength. “Your fight is with me!”

The Homunculus was thrown by the Varjan Champion into one of the buildings in the brewery, crashing through a wooden support and into some barrels. Ripcord felt liquid splash onto her, the alcoholic sake from the barrels. When she looked up, she saw a line of three Varjan Footmen aiming flame-tipped arrows at her with their bows. The Varjan Champion was just behind them.

“Fire!”

Ripcord barely flinched, as she absorbed the sake into her skin, and swung her weapon; acid splashing off the spinning teeth, and melting the arrows in mid-flight. In addition to that, it created momentum that she would use to throw herself forward, and give herself a boost to her transition into a running sprint. As she rushed, the Mutant would stow her weapons away by rapidly sucking it into her hands, before pivoting on her right foot, and spinning; twinned, smaller version of her weapon erupting from her hands, as her arms stretched, and allowed her to become a whirling dervish, as she spun at the champion with the intent of slicing his men down as collateral.

Two of the Footmen were cut down as Ripcord spun, the third one managed to duck in time to live and run for his life. The Varjan Champion stood fast in his position as Ripcord came at him. With impeccable timing, he moved forward and caught one of the Mutant’s arms mid-swing and stopped the spin attack.

The Champion then threw Ripcord over his shoulder and pinned her on the ground. “Hahahaha! You are no ordinary monster, that I can tell for sure! You are a fine prey to hunt!”

"You aren’t..." Ripcord says, looking away, before looking back. Umami had a difficult time listening, and moreso, obeying orders, but she’d done well so far. "The countryside isn’t as interesting as I hoped," she lamented, "I’m just torn between if I should melt you down or kill you quickly. Normally, why work is with corpses, so I’m conflicted between business or pleasure..."

Ripcord grinned, as her skin grew translucent, and tendrils erupted from her where she was being pinned; tiny, nipping mouths forming to tear like ant.

"I’ll choose both, I think..." the Shoggoth grinned.

As the third Varjan ran through the woods, a wind would swept past him, and bring him, but a moment’s pause, before he was suddenly several dozen feet over the woods, and in the blink of an eye... falling.

"Too close. Too close. Rippy would have scolding me, if anyone got away..." Umami says, as she flew back to the ground, and transformed into a Weresheep upon landing. "Sorry about this..." the Chimera frowned, raising her cloven foot over the head of the broken man, having crashed through several tree branches, "It’s just business..."

Umami would slam her foot through his skull, before hurrying back to the workers; shapeshifting back into her borrowed Human form.

“Argh!” Ripcord’s tendrils bit onto the Varjan Champion’s arm pinning her to the ground. He was forced to let go, but not before grabbing her neck with his free hand. Ripcord felt something magical embed on her neck before the Champion released his grip.

The Varjan Champion stumbled back and dropped to the ground, grasping his stung arm. He had no weapons and was virtually defenseless before Ripcord. “Now, my fellow Varjan hunters will know who you are. Hahaha!” He laughed as he admired the magical mark he branded onto Ripcord’s neck. “You will be hunted for the rest of your days.”

The brand was a red mark in the shape of the Champion’s palm. It seemed as if it was ordinary red paint, but it was something definitely magical.

Ripcord eyed the Champion... through about two dozen eyes, as her Shoggoth nature took full hold; eyes and mouths opening across her body, as she shed her clothing and Humanity in equal measure. Before long, she was naught more than an amorphous blob with a translucent, yet pearlescent young woman sat upon like a melted Centaur.

Biting; Stinging; Lashing tendrils whipped out, and surrounded the Champion. "Do you have a name..." Ripcord asks, her voice muffled by the lack of a primary mouth, as her face was a blank expansive, like a mask with eye holes, yet amplified by the myriad of secondary mouths that decorated her body. "I wish to thank you for such a promise of fun to come."

“I do. It is Naugar. The one who marked you. Each time you are attacked, you think of me. Every time you are robbed of peace, you think of me. The moment you breath your last, you think of me.” Those were the Champion’s final words as he let himself be eaten by Ripcord.

"Yeah, yeah, words, words, so talkative. I’ll see you again, in like, eight hours, as literal pile of shit," Ripcord rolled her nonexistent eyes, as she shuffled forward; shedding her True Form, and stepping out of the amassed smile in her Human form. "Jeez... i didn’t even look to see where they ran off too..." she says, reaching into her side, and retrieving her smokes, before loosing a shrill whistle.

Umami perked up, and dropped her transformation. "It’s safe to return," she says, before bouncing out the doors to the cellar, happily throwing them wide. "The sake is safe! And, the people, too! We did it!"

The brewery workers reluctantly left the cellar, and beheld the work of Ripcord. They were in awe at how one monster woman managed to repulse an entire Varjan unit. Not everyone was optimistic, however. “Once the Varjans learn this unit is gone, they’ll send more to find out what happened.” One of the men said.

“He’s right.” The woman leading the brewery said before turning to the sisters. “Can you two stay? You can have as much sake as you want.”

"Nope!~" Umami beamed. "We’re just helpful adventurer types, now! From the big temple place! That’s our home!"

"There’s not a lot of you here," Ripcord says, "A repeat of today would go poorly, so... what if we just bring all of this to the temple," she mused, "I can probably fit all of your machines and you inside of me."

“Big temple place? What temple are you talking about?” The woman asked.

Ripcord would explain, since it wasn’t common knowledge. "The temple to the... north... ish... or so... That’s unimportant. Point is, it’s a... well, kinda like a village, really. It’s a place where Humans and Mamono can coexist, and where we can put our abilities forward on missions like this," she says. "It was requested of us to aid you, and so we did. My sister and I are newcomers to the whole ordeal, so you’d have to ask more experienced members for better details. But, the long and short of it is this: You needed help, and we came to help."

"It’s not safe here, but it can be safe there, and there’s a kitchen area that my sisters and I are going to build up, so I’m betting we can fit a bit of your sake stuff in there," Ripcord nodded, as she visualized it, "Sure, it won’t be to such scale as this, but starting over small isn’t such a terrible price for safety from those idiots that attack you for what you should be given coin for."

"Plus, we can show you how to make Sno-cones! So you can have something to sell when its super-hot out!" Umami supplied.

“A temple to the north… You mean Terauchi Temple? It’s a place where yokai and humans coexist, huh? I knew there was something off with that temple before all of this.” The woman then shrugged. “Whatever, we’ll take refuge there then. Thank you for fighting off the Varjans extorting our brewery.”

The brewer crew all bowed at the Claremont sisters.

“And please, no need to bring our equipment. You’ve already done so much for us.” The woman finished. “We’ll just close up here and hide the equipment as much as we can. We can just come back here once the Varjan invasion is over.”

Ripcord tilted her head, "It wouldn't trouble me to carry everything, but if you're sure," Ripcord would turn. "Let's go home, then."

"Umu!" Umami cheered.

Helping the worker pack up their homes and livelihoods, Ripcord and Umami would start the task of escorting them home.

Tales Of Shizuyama (Far-Eastern Monster Girl RP)

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ATTN: @PaulHaynek (Sorae) & @The Irish Tree (Eula)

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As Alice was redirected to where Eula had headed, she would come across her and Sorae in mid-conversation; momentarily listening in, as the boarish woman spoke to the metal woman. Wrinkling her nose, Alice would scent Carroll on Eula, and approached them - well, more like, she was stalking up to Eula.

However, before she would confront the Automaton, Eula would shift in a manner that threw her off for a moment...

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I Remember Touch

Sorae’s approach had caught Eula unaware, and even more aware of the fact that Carroll hadn’t left the place they’d just been at. It seemed this Sogen’s wife was needed to find out who killed Clan Tokinomiya…which, Eula had no idea who they were, but did have a general agreement that murder was bad, and therefore must be punished. "I will conduct my search shortly, but…let me go check on something first. Excuse me," the automaton said, before returning to where she had parted with Carroll.

"Uh... right, then..." Alice offered, as the Robot split off to seek her Sword Devil. It was baffling how someone supposedly hailing from one of the smartest Species in the Realms could be such an airhead to not notice that she was by herself for over an hour. Then again, Eula wasn’t exactly... all together, to be nice about it, in Alice’s (literally) day-old opinion of her. "I’ll be here, then..." she says, before wheeling on Sorae...

Meanwhile, Eula’s search - or, rather, her retrieval would be brought pause by the quiet crying of someone in the distance.

Eula’s mind was…fuzzy in places, after waking up. As if some part of her were still sleeping. She didn’t understand it, and diagnostics showed nothing wrong. Her senses were sharp, that she was sure of, as she honed in on the quiet sobs that broke the silence in the building, the automaton’s footsteps echoing a bit as she approached the source. Her hand had a small buzz running along it, an imperceptible residual “aura” of demonic energy contact. She had a feeling this sobbing was from its source.

"...Carroll?"

"Hrm!?" Carroll snapped up at the call of her name, and struggled to compose herself.

Eula approached and crouched down before her. "...You were crying…is something wrong?"

"No," Carroll lied outright.

"Your eyes are red and puffy," Eula retorted.

"Just allergies!" Carroll says, as if that was a thing for a living sword.

Eula was quiet for a moment before she sat down. "I see. Must be the dust," she said, not wanting to press the subject.

Carroll sniffled, rubbing her eyes. "I’m sorry..." she says, gathering her knees to her chest, as she looked so small and helpless in her garb; looking, quite simply, like an academy student lost on her first day.

"You have nothing to apologize for. …Everyone gets allergies, from time to time."

Carroll chuckled. "It’s stupid... I’m stupid..." she says, pulling her hat down. "Stupid... Stupid..."

Eula would slowly reach out and lay her right hand atop Carroll’s hat, patting it softly. "You are not."

"..." Carroll groaned, bowing her head further, "I am... I shouldn’t have..."

Eula didn’t say a word. She didn’t know what she could even say, since she’d only known Carroll for a day now. But…she was certain that she didn’t want to move her hand away.

"I’m sorry... I possessed you, so I could dream..." Carroll says. "Someone like me doesn’t deserve dreams..."

"...What is a dream?" Eula asked simply.

"Like, scientifically or philosophically," Carroll asks.

"I am aware of both definitions. But what is a dream to you?"

"A memory... memories I don’t deserve to remember..." Carroll says.

"I see. Then, you really have done nothing wrong. Remembering isn’t a sin. And if you’re still convinced it is, then I forgive you. For treasuring your memories enough to want to see them."

"I don’t deserve to see those I’ve failed..." Carroll says.

”Sometimes…keeping something in your memory is the way you help it to survive. You might never forget, and might never forgive yourself. …But…those memories…don’t they at least deserve to be carried by you?"

"I failed my family... my daughters... my wife... my home... my unborn child..." Carroll grit her shark-like teeth, "They deserved better than me..."

Eula was silent for a time, before she would crouch a bit lower, moving her arms to wrap around Carroll. She couldn’t hope to understand what Carroll had gone through, but…nobody deserved to suffer alone.

Carroll gasped, as Eula hugged her - not out of pity, but sympathy. It wasn’t stated nor alluded to, but transmitted between the two beings of steel and mana, as Carroll’s reflexively hugged back; her arm transforming, and linking the pair together in their mindscape again.

However, instead of Europa visiting Carroll, Eula was momentarily splashed into a lively scene of Carroll’s family in the middle of a dinnertime foodfight, with a messy Carroll bowing her head against the fridge, as Io patted her head - much like Eula had. The scene was abruptly ended by Carroll jerking back.

...retreating into her curled ball once again.

Eula was lost once the dream took hold, her confusion giving Carroll enough time to retreat into the safety of herself. …The automaton didn’t know what to think, but would quietly embrace Carroll once more.

Unless she took Carroll’s hand, she wouldn’t go back. However, Carroll didn’t retreat further - a modicum of trust, maybe, or just... familiarity she was so selfish to push away?

Eula wouldn’t intrude. Not to Carroll’s happiness. She would only hold her, leaving the decision on whether to reach out entirely onto Carroll.

"Do you hate me..." Carroll asks, "My transgression... selfishness..." she didn’t look up from her bowed curl, "Using you in her place... because you look like she did once..."

"I don’t. You haven’t used me for anything, Carroll. Nothing that can hurt me."

"That’s a lie," Carroll says. "You might not be a Synth, but even you have emotions," she says, "Those injuries aren’t just for show. They mark a desire to protect something. That is a hurt you take on that will always be able to hurt you. If it couldn’t, you wouldn’t... we wouldn’t... this wouldn’t be happening."

Eula would consider Carroll’s words for a moment, before reaching down to take Carroll’s hands, not letting go this time. "If she meant everything to you, then remember."

"I don’t want to remember..." Carroll groaned, tears swelling in her eyes. "I don’t want you to get wrapped up in my memories! It’s not fair to you!"

Fair. What a novel concept. Fair is a summer’s day, fair is an agreement of two. Fair isn’t life, because if it was, Shizuyama wouldn’t be under attack by a foreign power, aided only by those who they’d sworn to expel from their lands. Fair…wasn’t what Carroll had to experience, feeling pain in her happiest moments.

Fair wasn’t being an automaton with no memories and no Master. But…life wasn’t fair. So neither would Eula be. "It is my mistake to make. Nobody else’s."

Carroll let her head drop, confused. "Why," she asks.

"Because. I know how it feels to have memories taken. …I…lost the human who awoke me, almost a lifetime ago. I’ve burned them, into my memory, so…I understand at least that much. And…if you loved her, and she loved you back…she wouldn’t want your memories of her to be painful." Eula said, for one, singular moment, having a smile exactly like Carroll’s lost love.

"Why do you have to look like her..." Carroll struggled to keep her face straight. "Was I such a bad person to be tormented like this..." Carroll trembled, before her last string snapped; tears slipping out, as her voice freed, and her sobbing renewed. "I miss her so much, and I can’t burden your shoulders like this, so why would you let me!?"

"Because…you held my hand. Even if just for a short time."

"I don’t understand..." Carroll says.

"Neither do I," Eula said simply, offering her hand once more.

Carroll looked at her offered hand, and then at Eula, "Why, though? Aren’t you scared?"

"If I were, I wouldn’t have come to this land. Automatons don’t feel fear…at least, not in the truest sense of it. Simulated feelings, synapses leading to warnings…fundamental fear on an instinctual level. But, if I can help someone, I will reach out. No matter what scares me."

Carroll held up her hand. "I don’t understand you... but... I’ll trust you... with my memories, then..." Carroll says, before taking Eula’s hand firmly.

Eula would accept it and help Carroll stand up.

Carroll stood to her full shortstack (minus the stack) height, and cracked her neck. "Okay... that was embarrassing... but... cathartic... " she says, interlacing her fingers with Eula’s reflexively. "So... thanks or whatever... I guess."

"You are welcome," Eula said, remaining silent after for a healthy enough amount of time for Carroll to realize they were still holding hands.

Carroll wouldn’t realize until she started to walk to the door, and was yoinked back by Eula not following. "Keh! Sorry!" she blushed, yanking her arm back.

Eula would flop forward and land squarely on her face as Carroll yanked her arm back, rolling over and sitting back up. "I…suppose I should have let go as soon as you started moving. My apologies."

"You... okay...?" Carroll asks.

Eula nodded, before standing back up and dusting herself off. "...Oh, I should mention…I have to leave soon. Sorae suspects that finding a traitor noble’s wife will lead to justice for one of this land’s clans. Will you be alright while I am searching for her?"

Carroll froze for a moment. Yes, was the long and short answer. She did fine on her own. However, her emotion out of check as they were... a part of her sought to say, "No."

Waiting for her answer, Eula would give her the time she needed. But, would add one simple offer: "You could join me in the search but…I’m not sure if you would want to fight with your recent allergy attack."

"Allergy..." Carroll giggled, suddenly, covering her mouth, as she full-sent laughed; her cheeks were redder than ripe strawberries in fresh snow, as she brightened.

Eula would smile faintly, waiting for Carroll to compose herself…this time, at least, she was having a good time.

"You are adorable..." Carroll says, "I'm not doing anything, so if you need back up, I can provide support. Ask around, and come find me, if nothing pans out."

Eula nodded. "Very well. Thank you," the automaton said, before turning to depart.

"Hang on," Carroll says, spinning Eula to caress her cheek with her transformed hand, and press a kiss to the opposite cheek, "Thanks, for real."

Beaming, Carroll would flitter past Eula, and make for the door with a crystal-clear blush, as she retreated to compartmentalize her life.

Eula didn’t understand why Carroll would blush as she went on by, but would walk out after to see about what she could do to find any information on Sogen’s wife, and to seek out Sorae once she was done speaking with Alice.

Carroll would find herself something to do, specifically somewhere she could sharpen her edge. She was feeling particularly dull... and yet... happy, too…

---

As Eula departed, Alice would cross her arms, glaring at the warrior woman from before, "Let’s talk, you and I, because I’m missing a lot of details, including how I got this scar on my side, and a no-sense bitch like you won’t waste my time with superfluous details..."

Tales Of Shizuyama (Far-Eastern Monster Girl RP)

---

ATTN: @PaulHaynek (Basket-weaving NPCs) & @The Irish Tree (Eula)

---

The Buzz of the Morning After

As Kerry took her leave, her presence did not go unnoticed by Alice - the Mad Hatter didn’t sleep, per se, as she didn’t need much. Instead, she would just meditate and regain energy from absorbing Ambient Mana that settled into wood and dirt - harkening to her plant nature. Gathering herself, Alice would form clothing around herself, and look around the room.

For a while, she would explore Kerry’s room; taking more than a cursory glance, now, as she set to looking through her things, admiring her fashion, and coming to better know Kerry’s history. She wasn’t so crass as to go through journals, diaries, and the like, but she didn’t find anything that was displeasing.

Well, almost.

"How curious..." Alice says, picking up a broken handle-guard with the pieces of the tuning keys still present. "This belonged to a Trumpart. It was a trumspear, the handle-guard..." she rolled it over her hands, "[Assimilation]!"

Alice would spawn mycelium roots from hand to swirl around the trophy. Taking part in the Mana that was left by the owner, Alice assimilated the memory of its owner. It was old, hazy... but, she recognized her...

Setting the handle-guard down, Alice would hang onto the memories, and take off to hunt down Kerry. They had things to discuss about dueling her ex. However, as she passed by the chattering, old basket-weavers, Alice would clutch her side; a thin, horizontal scar stinging her.

"Hey," Alice starts, "has anyone come through here with a sword wound," she straightened out, "I've lost track of my companion. She would have had a talking weapon."

---

To Possess The Ability to Dream

As Eula settled into her sleep cycle, Carroll would allow herself to be tempted by the very nature of curiosity...

...and finding herself suddenly awakening from an impatient prodding at her cheeks...

“PAPA!” shouted two diminutive girls in matching outfits and hairstyles, but in different colors; one in purple and red and the other in pure golden-yellow.

"Yes, Remiel? Yes, Ramiel? It’s breakfast time, so whatever could you need... before my coffee..." Carroll asks.

“Papa, we were wondering...” Remiel started, “...if it wouldn’t bother you...” Ramiel continues, “...could we go see the BPI concert,” before the twins concluded in unison.

Carroll groaned, as she slumped over the breakfast table; her youngest Synth Devils were mewling and nuzzling her shoulders for maximum affection. They were frighteningly obsessed with the Bunton Prez Incubi - a music group of monster boys consisting of March Hare triplets, a pair of Jubjub, a Cheshire Cat, and a Jabberwock. They toured across Wonderland - singing the most infuriating, banal music, and capturing the hearts of maidens left and right - and were stopping in Queen’s Highloft; the Kingdom of the Queen of Heart, Carroll’s “mother”.

“Hey, offa Papa, you little brats,” groused a bluenette teenager in a white leotard, as she yoinked the pair up with her clearly abnormal strength.

“Papa, please!” Remiel whined, flailing her arms and legs.

“Please, Papa!” Ramiel whined, also flailing about.

“Laniya, you shouldn’t bully your sisters. They could come in handy in the coming dark days...” scolded another teenager, as she entered the room, only to lean in the door; dresed like a ragged knight in a blue and gray striped leotard.

“Not today with this chūnibyō nonsense, Waniya! I have a track meet today, and I don’t need you, or these two, throwing me off my game!” Laniya snapped. “Papa, you’re hogging the table with your melodrama...”

"Where did my sweet Lan go..." Carroll groaned, as she slumped into her seat.

“She is before your eyes, Father,” says one of the older teenagers, entering the room, adjusting her cloak, as she shacked her unique sword to her arm. “You must take the sour with the sweet.”

“Well said, Kilohana! You’re so smart!” Laniya crowed, nuzzling her sword.

“WAHAHA! AS WELL SAID AS A BURNED TART!” cackled, yet another, teenager, as she vaulted into the room through the window - her sneakers squeaking on the floor, as her loose jacket snagged a plant to the floor. “Oops! My bad!”

“Oh, honestly, Megane. Could you not enter the kitchen through the door,” fussed the provider of breakfast, the oldest of the gathered daughters. “You have a key to the doors. You don’t need to jump through windows!”

“You don’t need to jump through windows...” Megane mocked with a tinny voice and a “talking” hand - using her free hand, as her other hand was holding a giant, uniquely-designed axe.

“You little brat!” the bluenette growled, picking up a purse from the table. “Speak up, when you mock someone, if you’re so brave to do so!”

“Daddy! Samara is looking at me scary again!” Megane whined, her bravado busted.

"You reap what you sow, dear..." Carroll groaned, as the kitchen became hectic with her wonderfully dysfunctional daughters...

Remiel and Ramiel were begging for money, Laniya was preaching about the “dark darkness”, while Waniya was strangling her in a half-nelson. At the same time, Samara was chasing Megane around the kitchen, while Kilohana just petted Carroll’s head, as the second-oldest daughter watched it all unfold.

“Humhmhm...~” giggled a woman from the door, dressed to impress, and sporting a rounded belly. “Aren’t we all so lively today?”

Everyone paused, as the matriarch of the household stepped into the kitchen, and assembled butts to seats without having to request a thing. Not out of fear, but admiration - born into them, as they were before a Synth “King” Piece; even if she was, technically, their mother.

Rules were weird like that.

"Io, you shouldn’t be moving around so much," Carroll says, rousing to her feet to guide her wife into her seat.

“Oh, honestly, Carroll, you treat me like my frames are fiberglass. This isn’t my first child, you know,” Io teased. “This one is special. She’s our first Pawn.”

Carroll set to her knees, resting her face against the swollen belly, "Hello, little Terra. Can you hear me? No kicking me today, okay?"

Io smiled, as she felt the infant Synth Devil shift inside her artificial womb; attracted to the mana vibrations of her soft-spoken father. Unified, their daughters afore the newest incoming would all lean over the table - their troubles, squabbles, and bickering forgotten in a peaceful moment of family bonding...

Suddenly, the ring of an egg timer went off, causing Carroll to jolt up...

...and wake up to her lonely reality.

"I’m alone..." Carroll says, looking up at the ceiling. "...darling..."

Bringing her knees to her chest, Carroll allowed herself to use what she stole from Eula to sob bitterly...

Magus Reaver: Scions of Sorcery

---

ATTN:

---

Meeting The Boss

Before Maedelyn left the office to go fetch her final handmaiden, she would hear someone call out to her.

”Leaving? I had only just returned, having been busy dealing with the Association's messes.” The voice came from a violet aura that eventually materialized into a familiar man. Arteus stood in front of the desk opposite Mae, his arms folded with a smirk on his face.

”I see you had no problem making yourself at home, in my office no less.” He said, walking closer to the table.

”I thought we might take this time to actually talk; Hopefully wherever you’re going isn’t too awfully pressing.”

"Such timing..." Mae says, barely off her ass.

”I imagine that you haven’t made your presence known to the other members of the Tower? It’d cause a little too much…tedium, if so at this point. They wouldn’t quite understand the ‘contract’ between us right now, and the assistance I’m hoping you’ll provide when the time comes.”

"I've sat right here, for the most part," Mae says, "I did conduct a job interview. But, that's neither here nor there."

Arteus raised a brow. ”A job interview? I thought that was my role. No offense to your judgment, but it would pay to be mindful about who joins our ranks. I did just bring a new recruit to the Tower though.”

Arteus was now standing just about a foot or so away from Mae, who had sat back down on his desk. ”You’ve piqued my curiosity, but we’ll set that aside for now. Our agreement takes precedence. Care to discuss what the terms actually are? There are some concerns I have, and I have to take the well-being of my staff and co into consideration.”

"Oh, worry not, your pretty head," Mae says, "It was a secretarial interview. My Handmaidens are all accounted for, now," she says, "I was actually stepping out to collect the last of them. But..."

Mae looked back at Arteus, to whom she had her back to - exposed, vulnerable, yet wholly unafraid of anything he could do to this shell she inhabited. It was a display of power and confidence in defense akin to that of a hermit crab and seagull; a predator that was preyed upon, itself, and took aims to safeguard its existence, so it could boldly stray wherever it pleased.

Granted, Mae was so much more inside than a mere hermit crab, but the analogy held well enough in her mind, and afforded her the confidence to be so disrespectfully defiant of social norms - even if Arteus broke her "shell", she could scurry off into the sea or sand, and return with a new one...

"To terms, I have fewer than you," Mae says. "I seek to maintain a universally important balance of knowledge, and overthrow powers that upset it," she shifted, her position as neutral as before, "I don't seem money or power myself, I leave that to mortal - such is their profit. I merely need minds to fill with knowledge, and that's why I've come to you, the neutral party, with an offer that will allow you to weather the coming storms and shift the tides in your favour."

Mae set down a glass container, no larger than a soda can, and no less around, but clear with a screw cap, and a solution that contains small pockets of air, and more importantly, an eyeball with a colorless, yet defined iris and a fully dilated pupil.

"I offer the power of my eyes, and the knowledge that can be gained..."

Arteus looked at the eye floating in the glass, oddly fascinated by it. ”I wasn’t aware that you were into collecting body parts. Although, members of my team, myself included, also have our strange hobbies. As for the contract, it seems to be vague and overly ominous. More or less like the contract one must sign when becoming a researcher or the HQ’s private reaver team.”

He walked closer to the eye, further inspecting it. ”So, this eye grants a user ‘knowledge’, does it? I…believe that I can find a use for it somewhere down the line. As for my side of the agreement, they seem numerous simply because I have other lives to consider. This is ignoring the fact that any party involved would classify your maidens as malfested, and therefore target them for immediate extermination. However, it’s not as if they’re the only members who the Church would take issue with. Part of our agreement means that you will also aid in dealing with the inspection.”

Arteus held out an elegant white folder of sorts, and it looked to contain a few documents. ”This is an official declaration from the Holy Church, the inspectors are due to arrive. But, one of the ones coming concerns me….”

"Collecting body parts," Maedelyn laughed, before she unfurled her habit's blindfold, and looked back - missing all three of her eyes, "It's quite the opposite for we, the Diverged Divine, dear sir," she chuckled, before carrying on, "I do apologize for being less clear. I've already explained the way the world works to my new secretary, so I'm not much for repeating myself. I'll leave her to do that later."

Mae placed a hand on her cheek, and smiled. "If you like, you can give the eye a test run. It's no threat to you, or then - beyond a potential addiction to maintaining the knowledge you glean from my ken ad infinitum," she offers. "As for the numerosity of lives to care for, I can understand that on a universal scale. However, I'm not here to compare numbers, but maintain and swell them."

"Now, this..." Mae sighed, "My old stomping grounds... or rather, this body's. My churches has long fell, as have the churches of my brothers and sisters, the Diverged Divine are no longer worshiped, thanks to the attractive benevolence of The Six Scions," she thumbed through the documents, "I know pretty much everyone here. Question is, what do you want me to do? Vouch for you? Erect mental barriers? I don't even do that for my Handmaidens, as it's not my priority."

”I see, well, the newer Church has its fair share of problems as well.” Arteus said. ”As for the coming inspection, the person who concerns me the most is the Holy Seer. No doubt you know who she is?”

"In passing glances," Mae says. "I'm what you might call, "the serpent," in her, "Garden of Eden," passing out apples to all the naughty boys and girls that aren't smart enough to know better," she says, driving a well-kept fingernail into the picture of the woman in question - creasing a line between both her eyes, as if slashing them out. "Suffice to say, we aren't on a first name basis or chummy enough for drinks, but she does her rounds like a good, little follower of The Six."

There was some inherent bitterness to her tone and resentment in the machinations of her finger.

”You don’t seem to be willing to break the ice.” Arteus replied. ”The reason I brought her up is because Kiff had come into the possession of a grimoire that used to be in her care. But because of the unstable state it tended to leave its owner’s minds in, they eventually threw it away. I understand that now the tome has found a new owner- Leon Hyksos. While the book, by all rights, belongs to the Tower now, I don’t know how they’ll feel about a Church relic being picked up by our sect through backdoor means.”

He rubbed his chin for a moment. ”Your knowledge seems to be quite vast. I trust you know of Damian Florestas?”

"Break the ice? My dear sir, you overestimate the import of this mortal shell. This woman is barely a competent sister, much less someone that Her Holiness would break ice and bread with," Mae says with a gay cackle, as if Arteus told quite the knee-slapper. "That said, your pesky book is well-known to me. After all, I bound it together," she says, sliding off the desk, and slapping the feeling back into her numbed cheeks, "Walk with me, Arteus, and we'll discuss your friend, who I'm sure is in my library somewhere, if his deeds were worth cataloguing."

Mae snapped her fingers, opening the Void Portal to her Null Space, her Domain, so Arteus could step foot into her Library.

He could easily see The Maiden Abyss, binding a book with needle and thread in the center of the space, despite all the moving shelves, as they went up-and-down, and side-to-side; as if, she would always be the center of attention, when viewed from outside.

Not looking, she lifted her sewing hand, and made a come hither motion - the same motion that Mae would make with her back turned to him.

”Oh?” Arteus peered into the portal and saw the being who referred to herself as the Maiden Abyss. Walking in with her, he gazed upon the countless tome-filled shelves that lined the space. ”I feel that you and Kiff would likely get along famously.” He jeered.

”You know, you still haven’t told me about this ‘secretary of yours…”

As the portal closed, Mae would slump over, and collapse to the floor; her body floated and lifted into a chair.

Just that mousy, little girl. Bruum, I believe.}

Despite the fact that Mae fell and was moved like a puppet, her voice was clear and present through the Library - even though the lips of The Maiden Abyss never moved.

”Brun?” Arteus let his face slip into a bit of surprise, and not just at the puppet show that his host decided to put on. ”You’ve already met with her? Mousy isn’t how I would describe her, but her case is quite special. I was going to be particularly careful in how I was going to inform her of this arrangement we made.”

Arteus looked at the lifeless Mae sitting in front of him, as if examining it for a moment. Her voice rang throughout the entire space, but neither of the women in front of him made any lip movement. He then started walking toward the Maiden.

”I don’t doubt you were involved with the book’s origins. I would ask about what effect the book will have on the boy, and see what you could offer in the case of Damian’s situation. I’m not asking you to fix all of our problems. If need be, I can certainly handle it. In fact, I feel that Damian himself is more than capable of his own way out of it, if need be. However, I would like for him to understand that we can be trusted. ”

{I have nothing to do with the creation of that book that troubles you. Merely binding its pages to its cover, and setting it free upon the world, as all Knowledge should be.}

Raising her sewing hand, the little girl would leave her needle to float, and flick her wrist; materializing the book into her hands, and casting it open before her.

{I remember this one. Amusing. Tell me, is the boy talented in Espermancy?}

”Leon? Yes, it’s the divination that he specializes the most in, and the book seems to have amplified it somehow. The main aspect I’m aware of is that it is able to show him different ‘futures’. I wonder if these futures are things that may happen, or perhaps could happen?”

{Divination is such a strange way to put a specialization...} The Maiden flipped through the pages, and looked up, {Yet queerly fitting for a book that speak of futures, could-bes, and can-bes.} Casting her hand dismissively, the book would disappear to its current shelf. {There. I have redistributed the book, so the Church cannot claim it, nor can Eon Tower. It is mine. Consider it a loan, eh?}

Returning to her sewing, The Maiden would resume binding the book before her. {And, yes, I would call my darling secretary a ‘mouse,’ before me. So small. So cute. So nosey. And, she squeaks, little adorable noises. She is quite darling, indeed, little Bruum. So determined to sweep up behind you, dear sir... } Her eyes shifted to Arteus, {To the second matter, now; your friend. Explain his situation, and I’ll determine how much I can, or cannot, help.}

Arteus decided to ignore the comments and the new nickname the Maiden had given the assistant admin of the Tower. ”You redistributed it? I imagine that means that you’ve made the book a part of your repository here, therefore, no one can have the will to remove it then?” He said.

”As for Damian, his is a much more intricate case. He is the victim of a terrible magical experiment that resulted in the death of two other people. This process severely amplified the esper abilities he possessed, however, it also was a source of much trauma for him. He now has the energy of two other minds within him. However, the main point is that despite being a victim of circumstance, the Church will see his existence as heretical. His current state is a violation of natural law, magic ethics, and humanitarian principles. Therefore, they would likely set him for execution and label our Tower as breachers of the treaty between them and the Association. The latter, in that case, would label us traitors and attempt to do away with us as well.”

”I don’t suppose you have any suggestions? Despite my station, I’m not necessarily well liked at the Association, so I won’t have any pull in this circumstance.”

{I said, the book returned to his current shelf. Not me.} The Maiden paused her binding. {You are... well, nevermind, I suppose.}

There was a long silence, as The Maiden seemed to be in thought; her eyes didn’t move, not even to blink; her muscles were completely still, not even moving with the concept of breathing. All that moved were the shelves and the magic of the Null Space, itself.

{There are three options. All of them come with flaws. First of them, I simply erase the Church and the Association. It would be as simple as snapping my fingers, and creating a simultaneous explosion and implosion to collide. But, that is the most extreme solution.}

Suddenly, The Maiden slumped over, and tilted in her chair. There was a ruffling of papers, as the book she’d been binding pulled away, and fluttered into an aisle formed of risen shelves.

{Second of them. I can remove the Knowledge of the experiment from his body - physically and metaphysically. It would relieve him of his burdens,his powers, and whatever lies in-betwixt the first letter and the last period. That should be his choice, however.}

As suddenly as before, Mae sat up, and tilted her head; stretching, as if she’d been taking a glorious nap.

"Third of them," she says, "I just kill him. No more problems for anyone."

”I feel that I shouldn’t even bother entertaining the first and third options. I feel that a being of your standing would opt not to involve themselves to affect our world so directly. I can’t imagine what would be left if you were to do such a thing. However, the second option is certainly worth considering, I would certainly bring it up to him.”

”Now then, barring the inspection, there are other concerns that need attention, but those will come with time. What will you do about your handmaidens? In particular this final one, I can also presume that she’ll also be added among our ranks? ”

"I don’t make presumptions, dear sir. You are free to invite her in at your discretion," Mae says,"This is your house of cards. I offer you another, but you may add it to your stack, if you wish." A popping would roll like thunder, as Mae cracked her neck and her back, "Stiff as a board. I’d trouble you for a message, though, what fair trade could I offer in turn?"

As she propositioned him, the Library would be replaced, as she ejected them from her Null Space, and back into the office; Arteus in his seat, while Mae was lounging across his desk.

"Perhaps, Bruum has a hand for it," Mae says, "A good secretary ought to be skillful in many things, after all. Knowledge is power, y’know."

Arteus ignored Mae’s proposition and her comment towards Brunhyldia yet again.

”Just what are you expecting of Brun, exactly? This ‘role’ you’ve picked her out for doesn’t sound like the role I asked you to play if it comes to it. As I said, her situation is quite…different, we’ll say. ”

"You’re a very confident being of flesh and blood, rendable and exsanguinable, as those two facets are," Mae says. "You dare to keep secrets in the presence of Knowledge itself, and have the bravery to do so with a straight face and a calm demeanor," she says, "It’s as impressive as it is irksome. But, understand you this: you do not give me a “role” to play. I have afforded you my pawns, and I can rescind them, and turn them against you, as easily.."

Mae faded out of sight, before she reappeared, sitting with her back to Arteus once again. "My expectations of darling, mousy, little Bruum are as follows," she says, "To keep you in checkmate, dear King."

"We aren’t playing on the same side. I’m Black, and you’re White. This is but a temporary armistice, before you turn me back into your enemy, like you do all that are born of Miasma," Mae turned her head; her habit done up. "My pawns are in need of promotion, Black King. That’s why I brought them to you, the one that caught the eye of those Pets of the Six Scions, the Dragons..."

”I’m more curious as to what matter of being you truly are.” Arteus mused. ”Malfested don’t generally act like you and your so-called handmaidens. You say that I keep secrets, the same could be said of you.”

"I am me. As I said, born of Miasma, not made of it," Mae says. "Malfested are just weak, mindless intimations of what I am," she says, "I did actually explain all this already. Hang on..."

Mae would snap her fingers, and open a Void Portal; yanking Brun through by her panties.

"Secretary, answer his question," Mae says, "Oh, I should say what it is, I guess."

”Unhand me!” Brun exclaimed, her voice full of annoyed fury. Brun generated a bright spark of light from her palm, which exploded then after. The flash separated her from Mae; She quickly inspected her suddenly changed surroundings. ”What in the Scions’ name do you want now?” She grimaced, irritated that Mae had solicited her a second time. That ire was amplified when her eyes immediately fell on Arteus, who’s look gave away his loss of comfort.

”....Uh, evening Brun.” He stuttered out. Brun’s eyes began to pierce him more than any dagger could. ”I know I’ve been gone quite a while, most of the day in fact, but I trust things have ran smoothly in m-”

Arteus was cut off mid sentence, as his fellow sage had chained him from neck to toe in her holy chains. He looked as though he was having trouble breathing.

”Hurgh! Brun…there’s…no real need for this!” He said in a panicked breath.

”Lout! That’s your current designation! Tell me who this woman is and why she’s here! She claims to have entered into some sort of agreement with you, and keeps talking about how I’m a secretary!”

"Oi, oi, bad secretary," Mae says, flicking a finger, and lifting Brun by her smallclothes once again. "Fiery temper, this one."

”Enough you pervert!” Brun snapped, attempting to blast her hand away again.

Mae would find her hand removed again, but this time by a serpent and not a blast of luster. Arteus was now standing between the two women.

”Mae, it’s quite alright, I’ve got this.” He said. ”I’m sorry for not telling you this before, but it’s complicated. Just know that this woman, or being rather, has entered into an arrangement of sorts with the Tower. Or more specifically, me. With the resources she can offer, I feel that she can be of great help to us in the coming days.”

”Does her help involve her touching my undergarments?!” Brun retorted.

"Touching? Espermancy does nothing of the sort," Mae says, lying across the desk, "I can touch, though, if you are so tempted. This puppet is not so weak." Mae yawned, "That said, this arrangement is tenuous, at best. People like you, the cloth from which you’re cut is unfit to make paper from, so tempered, and impulsive - a down feather quill would tear your paper right open with a single stroke before the ink thought to stain you..."

"Still, I’m listening... so, tell me, darling, little mouse... what do you want," Mae asks. "If its Knowledge, I have that in spades. If not, I’m sure my Handmaidens can fetch it," she grinned broadly, "...or, would you like me to just leave? I can do that, too. Leave you to your wars. I’m sure you can handle them alone, eh?"

”Insufferable….”

”Brun, I also had her come here for you as well.” Arteus said, stopping her from making further outbursts. Brun looked over at Arteus, baffled at his statement.

”You remember what I promised you all those years ago, right? Well, even now, after everything we’ve built, I want to make sure we keep it. She can help with that, and with you.”

”Arteus…”

Mae was oddly quiet, as Arteus and Brun spoke; like before, when she contemplated on Damian. However, her chest was rising and falling, so she wasn’t lacking a pilot, so to speak. She was just... quiet.

”You've told me that you've started to hear the voice again, right?” Arteus said.

”...Yes. At first, it was only while I slept, but… As of late, it comes spontaneously.” Brun said, hesitant to answer.

”Damn. Will all that's been going on it may likely be her stirring again. I felt that she's been quiet for an odd amount of time.”

Same as before, Mae just seemed to be listening; being unable to see her eyes - or rather, lack thereof - made it impossible to really tell if she was even present in the moment. It was very clear that the woman that called herself “Maedelyn” was a puppet born of the woman named “Natalie”. That fact alone lent itself to question: How many puppets did The Maiden Abyss have under her thrall?

Just how high did her infiltration go? To the top of the Holy Church? To the ruling power of the Association? Just how many had she tempted with Knowledge, itself, and twisted to her power and decree?

Was it really just Scarlett, Lupina, and the unknown third?

”I've started to hear her voice again as well, so I believe that to be a safe assumption.” Brun grimaced. Her expression was especially dark.

”Mae.” Arteus said, now directly addressing her. ”The person we're referring to is someone who threatens all people, and she just so happens to be someone Brun and I know all too well.” His eyes had a distinct sharpness to them.

”In order for you to effectively help us, there are things I'll need to inform you of. I need to know that what we say won't leave this room.”

Brun herself, had a look of uncertainty, and seemed as though she wanted to stop Arteus.

”Arteus, can this being really be trusted? I mean, we don't know what she even is!"

”It's alright, this person knows that we are of benefit to her. Meaning, she and perhaps everyone else, has more to lose by not aiding us. Besides, she wouldn't breach the contractual vow we've agreed upon. I don't enter deals without insurance. He said, smirking.

Mae shifted, finally moving, which resulted in her rolling off her side, and slamming into the floor. "I’m awake! The answer is: Infinity equals Causality divided by Determinism squared!" Mae grunted, as she snapped into a cross-legged, attentive position, before yawning, and slumping back against the desk she’d fallen off. "...I’m tired... go to sleep..." she grumbled, before fading out of sight, and returning to her usual sitting position. "...talk too much... worrying... pointless..."

For a moment, the Deity was almost still; rocking back and forth by mere inches, before she stretched her arms and scratched the back of her head. "Haaaa...~Good morning..." she yawned. "Apologies... I feel asleep... Were you talking to me?"

Brun and Arteus looked at the scene that just played out before them with blank expressions, before eyeing each other for a moment. Brun appeared to be the more annoyed one, between the two.

”Who were you telling to go to sleep just now?” Brun asked cautiously. ”If I even dare ask?”

Mae tilted her head, before she raised her right hand; chains slammed into the wall, and twisting around Brun - snaking through her clothes, and nailing into the wall. Clenching her fist, the nails multiplied, and shackles formed around the nails - her wrists, ankles, and throat held tightly in place. Raising her left hand, she held her palm at Arteus, and turned her head to him in a regarding tilt.

"This is what she does to you," she almost seemed to ask, "It’s so simple to counter, childish in nature, and yet you allow her to do it, don’t you?" Mae scowled, "Pity, dear sir? A pittance for her nature? Or, is it mutual?"

Twisting her left hand, she formed a shackling gag over Brun’s mouth, and pinned her head in place. "Dare you ask? Sure. I don’t mind. However, I won’t answer. You don’t trust me, after all. Your disdain is like a sword, digging into my side - bleeding me; hurting me; wounding me..." Mae suddenly fell, and The Maiden Abyss stood on her body like a platform.

"I am no BEING," The Maiden Abyss snarled, "I live! I breathe! I think! I feel! Your words have meaning! More meaning to me than anyone else you speak to, because I GAVE YOU THOSE WORDS!" she shouted, "I AM the Goddess of Knowledge, the Diverged Divine of Learning, and I ask for no reverence, no worship, no sacrifice, only respect for my domain!"

The Maiden Abyss huffed, and tossed her hands to the air and her sides - breaking the chains, and freeing Brun. "Let’s be out with it, then, the truth," she says, "My end of the bargain with Arteus: to control swelling geyser, boiling in the depths of what you are, and what you were born to be."

"In short," The Maiden Abyss turned her eyes to Brun, "I’m meant to put a leash on you, because I’ve already failed to leash your other half."

"To fail again, means the end of the world..."

Brun’s eyes sharpening into a powerful gaze, her eyes glowing with a bright crimson flare. She broke herself free of the shackles the Maiden placed on her, creating a sizable hole in the wall. Full of anger, she prepared another attack.

That was before Arteus stepped between them. His void serpent separated the two of them, distorting the space between them by continuously altering the distance between them to prevent any further conflict.

”That’s enough, both of you!” He declared. ”It seems that the two of you have gotten off on the wrong foot upon meeting one another, but this will cease. The point of our contract is that we’re all allies, and as I’ve already stated, she is here to help you, Brunhyldia.”

Brun, her energy now calming down, looked at Arteus with a more concerned look. She dropped her aggressive stance and sighed. ”Forgive me, Arteus.” She said, repairing the large crater she had made in his wall with alchemy.

She then turned to the Maiden. ”I also apologize to you, as well, all things considered. You do indeed, seem to know of my situation. The voices, the nightmares, the way it feels as though I’m about to lose control…. Sometimes it doesn't feel like I know who I am at all. And…I don’t even really know why.”

”You also mentioned my other half. Then, you know about…her?”

"I know everything; past, present, and future," The Maiden Abyss says, Though, the future is no such certain thing as to be predictable. It moves, like a pawn, promoted - unpredictable," she says, Spare me your tears, however, they aren't worth boiling for tea. I'm cleaning up, nothing more, nothing less."

"And, what I do know is something
you must earn, however... I'll gift you a nibble at the apple..." The Maiden Abyss narrowed her eyes, "Beneath God lies a coin with two faces; one advises the other, one lies to the others, and this coin is a penny."

Brun wasn’t sure what the Maiden had meant by her statement, having chosen to speak in riddles and metaphors. Apparently, perhaps due to the pact she made with Arteus, she couldn’t directly state information pertaining to certain topics and events.

”I…I don’t understand. Beneath God, and one with two faces?” Brun said, puzzled.

”That’s alright, we can discuss the riddle later.” Arteus said, reassuring the Chaos Witch. ”Brun, just know that for now, we can trust her. I promise, and when have I ever broken a promise to you?” His face now wore a confident smile.

Brun made a small scoff at the statement, but still had its intended effect of calming her. ”You really are such a lout, do you know that Arteus?”

”One last thing, Mae.” Arteus said, his attention back on the Maiden. ”You said you were on your way to bring back your final ‘handmaiden’, you called her? What can you tell us about her?”

"Right now, she's a corpse," The Maiden Abyss says, casually, as she stepped off Mae's body. "So, there is that. I'm so nauseated, I might throw up before I can revive her," she groused, "When have I ever broken a promise to you? Oh, you're such a lout, you know that? Gross. Not even using the damn word in the right way, for Divine's sake! Treating it like it's a term of endearment. Disgusting. Hate it. Humans, Fae, Belua, you Things in-between," The Maiden Abyss threw up her arms, as she ranted, "You think you're so smart, you can just change the definition of words to have different meanings. I worked hard, okay, for two goddamn centuries, around the clock, coming up with shapes and sounds, for all you ungrateful creatures, and this is the thanks I get TO. MY. FACE."

"Honestly, it's maddening. Truly. Lout. An uncouth and aggressive male. This prima donna pantywaist looking man is a fearfully far cry from that insult you are abusively using as endearment, " The Maiden Abyss worried her face with her hands, "It was so much simpler when you didn't have words. Just those silly grunts and groans, poking at things, like infants..." she sighed, "I miss those days."

The Maiden Abyss pulled down her lower eyelid with a groaned, "Maybe, a good cataclysm is what is needed."

Arteus and Brunhyldia looked at the Maiden with blank expressions on their faces, not expecting the sudden outburst of grievances; Apparently she was quite the stickler for words. The two sages shot each other a glance.

”A prima donna? Uh, yes, quite. I suppose I’ll take that as a compliment.” Arteus said cautiously, not wanting to start another outburst.

”Yes, well, you mentioned that the girl in question was a, corpse currently? Is…necromancy a part of your repertoire of abilities. I think it’s worth saying that such a thing is rather…unethical, shall we say? Especially in the eyes of the Church.”

"Is that what you call it," The Maiden Abyss asks, "I'm just holding her soul down with my thoughts, and reviving her heartbeat, while sealing her wounds. She was eaten by a Belua."

”Eaten?” Brun said, her expression becoming more alarmed. ”A cannibal Belua…” She looked at Arteus.

”It may not be the man we’re thinking of, or beast, rather. But it’s best we keep our guard up all the same.” Arteus said. ”We wouldn’t mind adding her to the Tower, so long as we got to speak to her first. I hope you can mend the poor back up to par.”

"Already done," The Maiden Abyss says, "I'll leave you to fetch her. News will reach you soon enough," she says, "Spring is coming, Arteus. Time to clean house. All three of them."

The Maiden Abyss leapt back and into a Void Portal. At the same time, Mae would disappear from the floor, and reappear at the desk; sitting and staring at the floor, as if powered off still.

The Maiden Abyss had vanished back to her domain, leaving the vessel known as Maedelyn sitting on Arteus’s desk like a lifeless husk. Arteus and Brun remained silent for a moment, processing the whole exchange.

”Arteus.” Brun was the first to break the silence. ”I don’t believe she informed you where we are to find this final ‘handmaiden’, did she?”

”It seems she didn’t…” Arteus said.

"Secretary, I'm out of chips. Run out and get me some," Mae says, sitting up with a groaning stretch, "Don't dally, however. Pick whatever is cheap and hurry back. I'll need to take your eyes for measurement," she says, " Lot's to do, if we plan to save the world and all that jazz..."

Mae looked up, and smirked, "I'm excited to see them again..."

Tales Of Shizuyama (Far-Eastern Monster Girl RP)

---

ATTN: @PaulHaynek (Revuel), @Rezod92 (Kerry), & @The Irish Tree (Eula)

---

Can Hornets Make Mushroom Honey? (Collab ft. Kerry) {SPICY WARNING}

As Takeshi departed, Alice was already making herself comfortable, as she rolled her shoulders, and flexed her muscles; shedding her clothing from the neck down into the form of grass that fell into a pile behind her, leaving her naked as a jaybird. Sighing, the Mad Hatter would spread the grass into a bed with her feet, and then sink them into the temperate waters, before fluffing her hat into a pillow, and lying back with a moan of pleasure.

”Got room for one room?”

Alice would turn her head to see Kerry, as nude as the day she was hatched, settling into the hot spring as well, a shuddering sigh of ecstasy escaping from her lips as the waters rejuvenated her.

”Would it kill Sorae to chill out for one minute? I get it, given her circumstance, but it must be exhausting to be on edge all day, every day.”

"Water is free. Space is free. I do not own these things," Alice says. "At least, not yet." A single eye opened to peek at Kerry. "Not a bad figure for a Hornet," she says, "Avoided domestic life, I see. No honey for you. Not a strip of fat on you."

"As for the Human, she’ll burn out, like they all do," Alice shrugged.

”Tch. In that case, can she burn out quicker? It’d save us some headaches.”, the hornet replied, her chitin hands resting behind her head as she relaxed in the warm water.

A moment of silence passed between the former ruler and the spearwoman, which is to say…..odd, given past interactions, ESPECIALLY given what happened yesterday. Fully aware of this and just coming off of having a heart-to-mechanical heart with Eula, Kerry decided that there would be no better time to bury this particular hatchet than right now.

”So…….wanna talk about it?”

"Talk about..." Alice asks, opening her eye again, "Honey, perhaps? Can you make it? A Hornet’s no natural talent in, but you reek of Echidna blood. So, perhaps, you’ve the talent to garner the talent?"

The hornet actually flinched at Alice’s response. The out-of-left-field response was not what she was expecting.

”How the hell did honey get into this? And you’d be right, I have an Echidna mother, therefore I wasn’t born in a hive. I…..I-I mean, I never really made the stuff, but if it’s an instinctual thing- wait, no, that’s beside the point!”, she stuttered before shaking her head to get the conversation back on track. ”I’m talking about what happened yesterday. During the siege?”

"I have the suspicion that you’re seek resolution of something that is but a vague memory to me," Alice says, "I would like to say, I forgive you, but that would be a lie, because I don’t know what I would be forgiving you for, so I suppose, I can ask," she sat up, "will you forgive yourself, in my stead?"

Turning her head fully toward the mad hatter, Kerry gazed at Alice as if she just committed the most audacious offense ever.

”Forgive myse- You should be asking for MY forgiveness! You’re the one who sucker punched me while I was fighting off an Elite! All from me genuinely asking where you, Shizuka and Lili had been! I could’ve died if Shizuka or Gringor weren’t nearby! You tellin’ me you have ‘vague memory’ of that? As I said, it happened yesterday!”

"For you, yes," Alice says. "For me, yesterday, I was leading an army of three nations to war against The Queen of Heart, Lilim-born Tyrantress of Wonderland. For me, yesterday, I was stabbed through the stomach, and tossed into a March Hare’s hole. For me, today, I am here. My stomach baring a scar of a wound long healed, and my mind empty of..." she sighed, "I think, two-hundred-years are gone, judging from my internal generations of mushrooms, once I take off three-hundred-years I can recall."

"But, here, we can settle this," Alice says, walking over to the railing, and snapping off a jagged chunk, and tossing it into the water by Kerry. "Take that, and stab me," she says, standing still with her arms behind her back, "That is the natural talent of Hornets. So, vent your frustrations, and take my apology from my flesh that remembers."

Alice closed her eyes, relaxing, "Once. Twice. Thrice. Dozens. Hundreds. Thousands. Until your hands bleed or I collapse. It’s the best I can do."

”You…….C-Come on, Alice. You’re fuckin’ with me.”, Kerry tried to laugh it off as she tossed the piece of railing off to the side, but her chuckle was less jovial and more concerned. Wonderland was one of two places Kerry has never traveled to and has no intention to, the other being Pandemonium for obvious reasons. If there was one thing the hornet knew about Wonderland was that EVERYTHING operated differently there……including time. A day here in the mortal realm could very well be years, decades, even CENTURIES in Wonderland.

Wars are time consuming affairs, after all. Leading a war campaign that big had to have taken a considerable amount of time to pull off….

…..two hundred years, as a matter of fact.

”I-I mean, you were here the other day and now………..Alice, you remember me, right? Liliana, Shizuka, Gringor, Io, the others, Takeshi, Lady Kyouko. Y-You remember them, right?”

"I could lie, and say I do, but I've never had to before," Alice says, "Upon the day that you hold countless lives in your hands and understand that the lives of nations, Human, Mamono, and Hybrids, alike have chosen to lean on you to end tyranny..." Alice clenched her fists, "Lies do not salve fear nor unbind prejudice. Instilling falsities is the trade of tyrants. I did not lead by lies."

"I'm sad to say, but of all the names I know, those are not among them," Alice says.

Alice would bow her head and lift her hands in a curtsy, "Mine given name is Alice, and mine epithets are: The Queen of Diamonds, The Matriarch of Nomads, and The Empress of Barbarians. To mine people, I am Human and Mamono, equal and opposite, of what they are and art, and demand no quarter of them. I ask, follow me, if thou doth seek that what I seek: freedom.

I levy upon thee no grudge or harbor of thee no hate, if thine trust in mine path doth waver and break. I permit thee freedom to rebuke me, if mine actions or word shouldst do thee a disservice of body, mind, or belief, and allow thee thine pound of flesh, shouldst that be what thou needst to be absolved of mine slight against.

I wouldst tell thee no falsehood, but impart mine own beliefs as held, and grant thee this: Mine own life is of no more import than thine own in all things, unless matters of battle and war arise, and thusly, thine life is of more import than mine own, therefore to no end, shall I defend it."

"Now, pray, wouldst thou announce thyself before me, as I have done for thee?"

.....Oh….

”My……My name is Kerry Maros. World-trotting merc. We’ve……met before.”, Kerry muttered, caught completely flat-footed at the revelation that was just dumped on her. Simply put, Alice had lost her memories. Two centuries worth of growth and experience were just simply not there anymore. The people she had met, the places she had seen, the things she had learned…..

…..Gone.

”Do you…..know where you are? And why you’re here?”, the hornet asked, already knowing the answer.

"Bring an end to the tyranny of the Varjans, and afford this island stability," Alice says, "Once that is accomplished, I suppose I will move on, if nothing is tying me down."

Alice would look up, beaming brightly, "That said, a pleasure to meet you, Lady Maros."

Somehow, despite the memory loss, Alice knew the taskforce mission statement without really knowing the specifics of said mission.

All things considered, she’s close enough. I’d be wise on my part to fill her in on what has happened so far. Spare us some of the awkwardness and, in Lili’s case, potential heartache.

”It’s an honor to meet you as well, Alice.”, Kerry replied with a smile of her own, fully aware of the strangeness that is reintroducing yourself to a person who is the same as before yet different at the same time. ”Well, since you apparently just got here today, allow me to get you caught up in current events. Much has happened and you were involved in it, past life though it may be.”

And so, Kerry did just that. The hornet regaled to the mad hatter all that had happened, from the very beginning to right now. She also told Alice a little about the other taskforce members. The wanderer/leader Shizuka, the intelligent Lunatea, the uncanny duo of Atsuha and Hinami, the cunning Skarsneek, the unyielding Gringor, the enigmatic Io, the adorable Liliana, the odd Eula and the quirky Yuki. She also filled the former ruler in on Takeshi and his inner circle of friends/retainers.

”Oh, I should inform you that you and Takeshi have had……..relations.”, the hornet spoke with a knowing smirk. ”Of the intimate kind.”

"Must have needed energy," Alice says, as she had resumed relaxing, as Kerry brought her up to speed. "As a hermaphroditic species of Mamono, I'm far more into giving than taking, so to speak," she says, "Though, my tastes limit my options. Undead, Plants, and Insects."

Alice shrugged, as she looked into the sky, and drew in the sun. "A Human is nice, now and again, but I ride a thin line between Human and Mamono," she smirked, "Besides, Humans break too easily beneath me."

”Well, that’s why you gotta be gentle with them. They’re built differently, you know.”, Kerry commented as she took in this new Alice, really seeing her for the first time. So unlike how the old version of her was. Less abrasive, seemingly less unstable. More…..approachable and open. Wait, what was that she just said?

”Oh…..you like bugs?” asked the hornet, suddenly looking away as the barest hint of a blush colored her cheeks. And no, it wasn’t from the steam.

"Oh, I've had many a glorious night with your kith," Alice says, "A long march to burn muscles, the clash of swords to boil blood, and the glow of a moonlit night to ignite passion like a bonfire," she grinned, "I've brokered peace on the battlefield with my Queen's Blade many times, but it's far more enjoyable to break tension with my personal sword in the bedroom," Alice added, "Even if said, 'bedroom' is nothing more than a grassy field or a riverbank - or, an enemy camp."

Alice chuckled, as Kerry's face turned away. "I've found making honey to be an enjoyable pastime," she says, before stretching out, "I must have been quite jaded in my old self, if you're embarrassed by such a thought from me."

There was now a certain kind of tension filling the steamy air after Alice said that statement. Honestly, Kerry wondered when this would happen. Ever since she came to Shizuyama, she had not found time to…..enjoy herself. With everything that was going on, her libido had been at an all time low. Now, though….

”W-Well, it wasn’t that it was embarrassing. It’s just that the old you was a lot less….inviting. Compared to you…..n-n-now.”, Kerry muttered in response, the last part of her statement stuttering as she peeked at Alice stretching before looking away again, face more red than it was a minute ago. ”And like I said, I don’t know how to make the stuff. Is it…..r-really that good?”

Alice smirked, "I've never had complaints," she twirled her hat, "Then again, they've usually devolved into a gibbering, moaning mess by time they've had enough time to form an opinion...."

"I must have been very boring before," Alice says, standing up, "I'll need to amend for such a terrible showing of me..." she says, striding over to Kerry, "and, perhaps, teach you how to make some honey, eh?"

There was a charge of magic that ran through Alice and reshaped her lower half to a state that could better stir Kerry up.

”Heh, I wouldn’t say you were boooooooookay, what are you doing!?”, Kerry sputtered, her attention now fully on Alice as she stood up and waltzed over to the now alarmed hornet. She tried to scoot back, but remembered she was in a spring so she already had her back to the edge. Before the poor insectoid could do anything, the mad hatter was already on her and…..

OHMYGODSOHMYGODSMHMYGODSOHMYGODSOHMYGODS…

Clearly, Alice can back up her claim of leaving her lovers a blissful puddle. Kerry’s mind grinded to a halt in shock and awe at the regal woman’s member. Face bright scarlet and her form trembling, the hornet’s shaky hand slowly rose from the water and reached out, but stopped mid way. Without a word, Kerry looked at Alice, her hazel eyes requesting.

Her father drilled it in her head that consent is important, after all.

"Such wanting eyes," Alice cooed, lifting Kerry’s chin with her right pointer and middle finger, "Tell me, what are they wanting for..."

It wasn’t as if she didn’t know. However, she loved to hear it, all the same.

Oh, fuck off! She would be like that!

”C-C-Come on, Alice. You’re really g-gonna make me say it?”, Kerry whimpered, her voice now lined with wanting desire. Beneath the water, her lower body was getting wetter than the water itself. ”I…….I-I……..I w-want you. I want t-to…..f-feel you. And…..”

Despite what was happening and what was going to happen, Kerry couldn’t giggle about it.

”.....s-see if making honey is as good as you say it is.”

Alice smirked, as she knelt down. "Not here," she says, "I’ve no issue with an outdoor scenery, nor an audience, but..." Alice traces her fingers along Kerry’s jawling, down the side of her neck, and along her approximation of a clavicle, before settling between her breasts, "...I’m feeling particularly selfish since you’re giving me such a look. I don’t want anyone to see you in such a state..."

"Except me."

Alice stood with a sudden flourish. "Have you a room, Lady Maros?"

By Lilith’s tits, Alice! You could kill a man with this level of teasing!

”Y-Yeah, yeah I got a room.”, Kerry answered, releasing a breath she didn’t even realize she was holding as she tried(and failed) to get her temperature and heart rate down. Didn’t help that they were in a hot spring. ”A-Ayu reserved some rooms just for the taskforce members within the temple. Seeing what we are, almost all of the locals don’t go near our little corner of a community.”

"Well, then, lead the way," Alice says, grass swirling around her, as her clothes simply grew back in place. "There," she purred, capturing Kerry’s chin between her fingers, once more, "now, you can consider me all wrapped up like a present. A little bonus for bringing me up to speed."

Alice brought her lips all too close - danger close, really - and moved to Kerry’s ear, "Now, show me how quickly you wanna unwrap your present."

Despite being an offshoot of the commonplace Matango, Alice smells of more insidious, floral notes, as opposed to the expected earthy scent that normally came from the mushroom women - most likely, part of the Queen of Hearts overall corruption of their nature. However, it wasn’t just a random assortment of floral scents, like a bouquet cobbled together haphazardly, but specific flowers.

...specific flowers that only bloomed upon Alarune.

It was a scent that targeted Honey Bees and Hornets in equal measure to their instinctual core.

In both mind and body, Kerry just froze as she inhaled the floral scent coming off of Alice.

A scent that unearthed the deepest, most primal part of her very being. A part of her that was thousands-no, MILLIONS of years old. Didn’t even matter how she knew that. She just did.

And what that part, older than she, Alice and the island of Shizuyama itself, told her was…

Pollinate.

”Hold on tight, my Queen.”

Next thing the mad hatter knew, Kerry wrapped her arms around her and blasted off into the sky, water from the spring spraying everywhere as she flew the both of them back toward the temple. They would reach their destination in record time, since the hornet was also using wind magic to go faster. Any refugee or civilian nearby would only see a blur pass by before being blown to the ground by the strong gusts of air she left in her wake.

They’ll be fine.

Alice giggled, as Kerry cavehornet scooped her off the ground, and beelined for her personal room, "Queen, eh? Well, then, I'll have to make sure I live up to that."

”If what you’ve told me is anything to go by, then you’ve earned that title several lifetimes over.”, commented Kerry as she set Alice down on the bed before rushing over to close and lock the door.

Alice smirked, as she was sat by Kerry, before the Hornet hustled to batten down the hatches. As Kerry took all precautions, Alice would admire her room, her things, and her style of existence - everyone had their own, and it showed best in their personal spaces. Though, her study was cursory, as she doubted Kerry was going to be patient enough for any thorough examination.

She might have teased the poor dear into a frenzy.

But, there was something about her that made her body yearn for a taste, so to speak. A form of carnal hunger that itched at her unyielding memories. Though she might have forgotten, her body did not.

After all, she didn't let just anyone take a bite out of her…

"Hopefully, I hold up in this lifetime, too," she winked. "After all, you'll be my first since I re-arrived."

Kerry had just locked the door when Alice said those words.

”Huh……Technically, you would be right about that.”, she replied leaning back on the door and taking a deep breath. It was at this point that Kerry noticed that she was still naked as, in her instinctually-driven rush, she had forgotten her own clothes. She blushed but shrugged. She can always get them later. For now, though….

”Before we go any further…”

Despite the deep primal part of her demanding she get on with it, Kerry walked to the center of the room and stood before Alice, red in the face and shyly looking at the floor.

”I…..I n-need to know if y-you’re okay with this.”

Her instincts raged in hellish protest at these words, but she ignored them.

Her father’s teachings were iron-clad in her mind.

”You can s-say no at any point and I’ll stop. It’s….only right that you want it as much as I d-do.”

"I wouldn't be here if I thought I didn't, or I would regret something in the future," Alice says, reclining back onto her palms, "You're welcome to your present whenever you find the courage."

”Oh, you don’t have to worry about my courage….”, Kerry said in a low and husky tone as she closed in on Alice, putting her hands on the mad hatter’s shoulders and gently pushing her back onto the bed while the hornet straddled her. ”I only asked because once I get started, I’m gonna go the distance, Alice. You can count on that.”

As Kerry touched Alice, her clothing changed from the woven texture of grass blades to the sewn texture of flower petals, and erupted with a gentle mist of pollen spores; staining the room with the same smell from the onsen. As the flourish settled, Alice would take Kerry's hands into her own, and lift her forward with her hips - causing her to fall forward, face-to-face with the Mad Hatter.

"Let's see how long your stamina holds, then," she says, as something hit Kerry's rear, "Mercenary versus Barbarian. I won't go easy on you, either…"

Before Kerry could muster up a response, Alice would capture her lips - making the first strike in their carnal combat.

What Kerry would counter with would be a mystery that could only be solved by multiple drinks loosening her tongue, as she likely wouldn't repeat the events without it…

---

When Carroll Met Eula (Collab ft. Eula and Revuel)

As Revuel spoke, Carroll was paying him half-attention. She'd been more curious about the Hornet that took off after Alice, until Eula had made her presence known. After that, she found herself more interested in her fellow autonomous being of metal and energy. She had kept half an ear on Revuel, but the mechanic could easily tell her attention was gifted to the Automaton. However, before he could excuse himself, she would address him.

"I have questions, though, of what importance, I've yet to determine completely," Carroll says. "It is clear we've been here, lived here for some time, and yet I remember nothing of this place," she says, "Part of me is fine with that. Relieved, you could say. As if, I've been freed of a grand weight and returned to my original mission...." Carroll lifted a tart, drawing the fruit out, and leaving the rest, "Yet, like this tart, part of me is empty without these memories. I feel I've lost a purpose I gave myself, and now, I have to find something new to fill a void that's simply... there."

As if completely missing the metaphor, or perhaps just a fan of good table manners, Eula would say: "You should make sure to eat the entire tart. The jam’s appeal is best savored alongside the subtle crunch of the crust."

Carroll would wave her hand, "I find it more appealing to savour the main attraction, as opposed to the packaging."

Eula frowned. "I see…I believe I saw something similar in the countryside, of children not eating the crusts off their bread. There are important nutrients though, and you’re missing out on that. But, I suppose if you don’t want them…" The automaton drooled slightly, looking at the small pile of tart crust leftover from Carroll’s tyrannical jam binge. "...May I?"

"Important..." Carroll narrowed her eyes, and looked up, "Food bares little import to me. I am a sword. I eat for nothing. I gain nothing. Neither joy not pleasure..." she lifted a tart, "I never had a need to question why I eat, not why I eat what I eat."

Carroll flexed her right hand fingers; the supple digits turning into triple-jointed blades. Taking the leftover, she rotated her fingers fast enough to turn the crust into dust, and took a cup of tea, and set the dust within, and carved out the center of the tart she'd picked up, and spooned the jam into the mixture.

"It's almost... superfluous, in a sense, to ask metal why it eats," Carroll says, as she placed her fingers in the cup and blending the crust, tea, and jam into a paste. "There's nothing to gain. Nothing to lose. Time, I guess, if that is precious to you..." she concedes, as she raised her left arm; morphing it into a large section of her blade. "What I can never gain or lose is nutrition, however. So, your plea falls dead on me to eat what I've no interest in."

Returning her right hand fingers to from the pointer to the ring back to normal, Carroll would spread the newly minted dough across her left arm, and heat up her blade with her magic. Slowly, the dough would bake, however, into the process, she would interrupt the solid form with 1/8"-thin, 5"-inch cuts that provided fifty strips that would break apart once baked in full into thin sticks with her pinky.
"So, I suppose, if I wanted to entertain your plea, I'd need something like this..." Carroll says, as she curled her left arm slowly to break up the magically baked pastry. Unfurling her arm, she changed it back to normal, and held the fifty sticks; placing the bundle into the empty tea cup. "To answer your question, sure. But, after you answer mine," Carroll lifted one of her homemade pocky sticks like a cigarette, "You don't need nutrients, so why do you eat?"

Carroll’s argument was certainly one rooted in logic, plain and simple. Automatons, cursed blades, weapons made form…neither of them needed an ounce of nutrition, even if their body could technically use it as fuel, albeit at an efficient metabolic conversion rate. Eula would consider her question, the Automaton’s free hand perching her chin up. "I suppose…because those around me do," she said, smiling softly as she accepted a tart stick from Carroll, looking at the slightly translucent jelly atop it.

"When I first activated, I didn’t know where I was. A farmland out in the middle of Order territory, unearthed by a farmer’s son. It was strange but…his family took me in for a time. I helped them with work on their farm, and…as repayment, without money, they would break bread with me," Eula said, closing her eyes, feeling nostalgia wash over her sensors. She could still feel it on the breeze some days…the sound of wheat rustling. Of morning mist across irrigated plains, and of the yapping of a small dog at her metal heels.

"Food isn’t anything to me, nutritionally. But, I learned that what is served to you isn’t the only thing being given. Gratitude. Peace. A little piece of someone’s life, in a tangible form," she finished saying, before sticking the tart stick into her mouth and crunching down on it.

To her, it wasn’t meaningless at all to eat. It was to know.

"How curious..." Carroll says, before she looked to Revuel, "Weigh in, sir. Though yours is a mortal existence, and, therefore, your reason is clear, still I'm curious..." she crunched her baked treat, "Why do you eat?"

Revuel was busying himself wondering what kind of monster Carroll was while the latter and Eula conversed. Being able to morph her body into different shapes, the spellcaster guessed she might be a Shoggoth. But Carroll did not appear nor act like one. He had skimmed through the tome published by that Wandering Scholar, but he supposed that even that vast encyclopedia was incomplete.

The question aimed at him brought him back to the conversation. “Why I eat?” Revuel thought for a moment. “I suppose I never thought about it. I like good-tasting food, as much as any other human does. They do taste better after a long campaign, where me and my fellow legionnaires could only eat rations and whatever we find out in the wild.”

“Forgive me if I cannot offer counsel to what ails you, madam.” Revuel suddenly apologized. “For I, too, wander aimlessly. I, too and many others, have a void within ourselves that we do not know how to fill. While I am here to bring justice to the Scarce Legion, I have not a single clue on what happens next after that.”

"What happens next," Carroll says. "That’s a simple thing to answer," she smirked, as she cast a stick in his direction, "You rest and eat. Ready for the next battle."

Eula would continue to snack on the tart-sticks, chewing two at a time now as she savored the combinations of jam inside each. Silently, she appreciated the work put into this feast, even if it was conjured by magic.

Revuel already had his hand raised before Carroll tossed the pastry at him, and so he caught it easily. “That’s what I’ve been telling myself all these years, but the battles will end someday. Perhaps I might die before then, and then I would not worry anymore.” The caster then took a bite of the stick. “How… Wonderlandian.”

"Such is what I am," Carroll says. "I noticed your scent on the Automaton. You’re more curious a person that I thought."

“Really? I merely performed some rudimentary repairs on her, as much as one who has no idea how she works could.” Revuel replied. “I wish I could do more but… I have only ever been taught on how to fight her kind.” The caster then cast Eula an apologetic look. “No offense.”

Eula would give a silent thumbs up, a sign of no offense taken as she looked like a dessert chain smoker with a new stick of tart pocky in her mouth roughly every thirty seconds.

"Repairing them isn’t difficult," Carroll says. "Just need the proper pieces, or someone that can shape them."

“I believe it’s… more complicated than that. But perhaps you know this better than I ever will.” Revuel finished his pastry. “The small mechanical workshop set up in this temple helps, though.” The spellcaster then poured himself a cup of tea and, instead of sipping it, simply downed it all in one gulp. “Huh. Very Wonderlandian too.”

"Complication is a matter of opinion, and my opinion that, only love is complicated," Carroll says, before standing up, "Hey, you, catch," she says, looking at Eula, before flipping into the air, and spinning; her body glowing, thinning, and reshaping from Human to Sword Devil.

With a deft opening of her hand, Eula would barely move before catching Carroll’s sword body, blinking at it in confusion.

As soon as her hand closed, Carroll would act her [Possession Slime] upon Eula; her parasitic form surging from between the bandage of her handle, and up Eula’s arm. For a moment, Eula could feel Carroll inside her - not physically, or even metaphysically, but conceptually. However, her progress halted almost as soon as it began, and she shook in Eula’s hand to be released.

At the moment that Carroll vibrated in her hand to be released, Eula would comply, freeing her. She wondered what the goal in all this was, to begin with. "Did I grasp too tightly?"

Revuel was genuinely surprised at the scene. So Carroll was some sort of Cursed Sword, he thought. Certainly not any kind he has encountered before.

"No. I just got what I needed for my talent," Carroll says, before looking at Eula’s slung arm, and flexing her arm; turning it into an exact replica of it from the shoulder socket down. "Think you can install this one, rudimentary machinist?"

The spellcaster was genuinely surprised, again, at the Cursed Sword’s abilities. She was more Shoggoth than Cursed Sword. Some sort of hybrid, perhaps? Or was she simply a mutation brought by the Wonderland ruler’s whimsical machinations. Regardless, there was a question to answer. “I… suppose I can. I wager you can do this all the time?”

"If life afforded such luxuries," Carroll says. "This is a part of me -- no, it is better to say, this is of me. This is of my body, and what I am; malleable, moulded." Carroll nodded, moving the robotic limb, "It is a recreation of her, of body, cast and created. It is not easy feat, and the more complex an item is, the more of me I must leave behind."

Carroll sighed, a battle-weary sigh, "Such is the fate of a sword, no? To be the extension of those that wield us."

“Last I checked, swords do not talk. They do not eat and especially do not willingly give pieces of themselves for others.” Revuel retorted. “Perhaps you may be called a Cursed Sword but I assure you, madam, that you are so much more than a weapon.” He said. “Take it from me, many of my former peers thought themselves weapons of our masters. ‘Twas a mistake most grave.”

"Perhaps, I’ll come to believe that one day, when I am not needed as a sword, but as a woman named Carroll," Carroll says, "Until then, I am a sword, and extension of my user. A Queen’s Blade, servant to the Queen of Diamonds, and none else."

A whirlwind of goodwill and generosity, followed by reassurances and denials…all the while, Eula looked at the replicated arm in disbelief, and…a hint of sadness that she herself couldn’t understand. "I…I really don’t mean to be rude but…I can’t accept that arm. My own will resume normal functions in a few days if I don’t use it…please, don’t trouble yourself for my sake."

"If it troubled me, I would have never done it," Carroll says. "That would just be foolish, knowing myself and my boundaries."

"Its not just that," Eula said, looking at her arm, still in its sling. "...I…am unsure of how I feel about replacing my parts, is all. Even if it is identical."

Carroll shrugged, turning her arm back to normal.. "There is still the matter of your eye, however," she says.

“If I may, I like to think I am intelligent and open-minded enough to learn how the workshop works.” Revuel spoke up with an offer. “In time, I may be able to restore the lady Automaton fully. No need for… sacrificial parts.”

"To call it a sacrifice is to devalue its purpose," Carroll says, standing up. "Even a sword has a sense of pride, y'know," she says, before taking her leave with a dismissive raise of her hand, "Enjoy the party, eh?"

Not wanting to just leave things at that, Eula would stand. "Excuse me, Revuel. It was lovely having some tea with you," she said, bowing respectfully before trying to catch up to Carroll.

“Wait, I didn’t–” Revuel wanted to speak up, but Eula went after Carroll after bidding farewell to him. “Of course, madam. Apologize for me too, will you?”

Eula would give a thumbs-up as she turned her head, a silent acknowledgement that she would.

As she pursued, Eula would see Carroll entering a building at random...

---

Tales Of Shizuyama: Alternative (Far-Eastern Monster Girl RP)

---

ATTN: @PaulHaynek

---

Upon being told that Boss Kyouko would be pleased if they helped out around the place, Umami and Ripcord were off like excitable rockets; looking of anyone that needed any kind of help. For a while, they would only find people that needed help with basic chores - sweeping, laundry, and the like - or held transporting items via cart and by hand from place-to-place within the place they called home.

Despite apprehensions, the sisters looked Human enough to bypass consistent judgment - the residents were apprehensive of them, but could be swayed by their friendly charm and upbeat personalities.

...never to be wise to the dog and pony show they played to be fed.

In truth, they didn't care about anyone or their problems. They worked for Boss Kyouko, and she cared - that would be enough, surely.

They only cared about themselves.

They needed to eat.

They needed to drink.

They needed to sleep.

They needed a place to live.

That required a job, and that's all this was.

No different than before in Varjo.

They worked to live. They lived to work. The cycle was vicious, but they were veterans of surviving it...

However, odd jobs were nothing special, nothing worth promoting, and Boss Kyouko would surely never praise them for such insignificant tasks.

They needed to do something... big.

By time night was falling, and everyone was retiring to their beds, the only person around was a man at the foot of a bonfire, warming his hands.

"Need a hand getting inside, mister," Ripcord asks, approaching with her disarming air of kindness.

"Yokai, you must do something! It's Ayane's sake brewery in Imahama. That brewery is the pride of Shizuyama, but soon there will be none left. The Varjans are taking it by force."

Peasant Man

Varjans.

Their old taskmasters.

So soon, it's come to this...

"Rippy! If we save the sake house, Boss Kyouko will be able to have sake with every meal! Breakfast! Lunch! Dinner!" Umami says, eyes sparkling, "Even dessert! Sake Sno Cones!"

Ripcord gasped, eyes wide as she imagined it:

"Boss Kyouko... we saved the sake house... and... well, ma'am, I'd like to present you with the fruit of our labors..." Ripcord says, done up in her Sunday Maid's Best, and holding a silver platter. "From the Ayane Sake House, I, Ripcord Claremont, present to you: Sake Sno Cones! Umu~!"

Ripcord unveiled the trio of cups, shaved ice with a soaking of sake, and fruit juice that stained it red, like the ribbons shared by her and Umami's ribbons.

"My, oh, my... how precious, Lady Ripcord..." Boss Kyouko cooed, as she admired the platter with a thoughtful finger, "But, there's three here. Surely, that's too many for me..."

Umami would splay her fingers apart before her, pressing her pointers and middle fingers together in a diamond, before wagging her hips like she had a tail. "Maybe, we could share them with you, Boss Kyouko..." she offered, innocently. "If you like that, umu~!"

"That sounds lovely, Lady Umami," Boss Kyouko smiled, a dazzling force of personality and praise. "Let's eat, then... together. Umu~"

Ripcord and Umami swooned, as they lean against each other in reality, "Boss Kyouko..."

"For praise!" Ripcord cheered.

"For praise!" Umami agreed.

"RIPCORD!" Ripcord threw her right fist forward.

"UMAMI!" Umami drove her right fist forward.

"CLAREMONT CLEAN-UP!" The sisters fist-bumped with right jabs, and created an actual impact SFX and small explosion of air pressure.

"LET'S GO!" The Claremont Sisters charged off in the indicated direction of the Ayane Brewery.

"MISSION START! UMU~!" Boss Kyouko cheered, waving twin paper fans like a MILFy Cheerleader.

Tales Of Shizuyama (Far-Eastern Monster Girl RP)

---

ATTN: @PaulHaynek (Takeshi & Sorae)

---

Alice was pretty satisfied, as Takeshi approached, and offered her a hand to stand:

"Not bad. Is the jingle necessary?

You can't drink tea from there. Come on, time to enjoy the fruits of your labor."

Takeshi

"Don't hang around many spellcasters, do you? And, I can drink tea anywhere," Alice smirked, displaying that conviction that Takeshi remembered, as well as that soft-spoken poshness. She was different from her last appearance, but her vibe was the same.

"This is magic from Wonderland, one of the most terrifying ones out there. Partake, and you will be lost forever."

Sorae

...and, so was her temper.

"Humans, so unchanging, three-hundred-years of holding a sword to guide the lost, to defend the weak, and bring home and hearth to the desperate in need..." Alice says, standing up, before the softness evaporated from her voice, "Yet, there's still people like you, the vocal minority, that thinks they speak for the whole; the rabble-rouser, the troublemaker, the problem..."

Alice raised her arms, "LOOK AT YOUR VILLAGE! LOOK AT YOUR HOMES! LOOK AT THEM, AND ASK YOURSELF THIS..." she glared at Sorae, "How long would it have taken you?"

Carroll sighed, as she nibbled a tart, "And, she's on her soapbox..."

"Months? Years? Tell me, noisy woman, where's your hammer and nail, where's your measure and saw, where's your brick and mortar," Alice asks. "All I see from you is fear-mongering. Speaking lies as if they were truths. You know nothing about my home, about my people, about the Humans, like you, that live aside Mamono, like me, in the satellite villages, away from hatred and segregation," Alice crossed her arms, "Something you seem well-versed in, this blind racism toward, and segregation of, Human and Mamono, from what we were to what we are. Ignorant that this change might be one that some, like me, never asked to happen, but live with to the best of our ability..."

Alice shifted, "My ability... I have been hailed as a ruling Queen of Humans, a guiding Monarch of Mamono, and binding, as I was once as Human as those that wore my banner, just as I am as Mamono as those that fell under that banner to be free..." Alice cleared her throat, voice softening, "I have seen more dreams fall to your hatred than minutes you've been alive. I have seen more live tore asunder by your segregation than slices of bread you've held," she steeled her gaze, "You speak of becoming lost, yet your words only drag other down the same evil path as you."

"Tell me! As me, what evils have I aspired to enact upon you, what tricks have I chosen to play upon, what cruelty did I desire when casting my spell," Alice asks, motioning around, "Hate me, if you like. It will not change the reason I threw this party," she pointed to the villagers, "I threw it for them. The people that are grieving, mourning, in need of treacle, tarts, tea, and, most importantly, cheer - not fear."

Alice huffed, and turned her back. "So, do what you will, say what you want, but don't make decisions for them," she says, "As long as I am here, I will fly my banner above this village, and defend it as if she were my kingdom. As the Queen of Diamonds, this is my promise," Alice looked back, "And, yes. That includes you and those you bring into your hatred. I will make sure there is always tea in your cups, tarts on your tables, and a sword in the gut of those that threaten you."

"Stand by me, if you like," Alice says, walking away, "or, don't. I won't make decisions for you."

Hands in her pocket, Alice would head off for the area where she was sensing warm water.

"Well, then..." Carroll sighed, munching her eighth unfinished tart, "That's "first impressions" out of the way... I didn't want to be talk of the town so soon," she grumbled, as she set the half-eaten pastry on the table beside her; it had been eaten to the center, dried of all filling, and left as a dry C.

Tales Of Shizuyama: Alternative (Far-Eastern Monster Girl RP)

---

ATTN: @PaulHaynek (Kitchen Staff)

---

This won't do at all," Ripcord says, looking around the... shack that was being excused as a kitchen. "This won't do at all..."

"Rippy, we have to clean this mess up..." Umami says, clenching her fists like a begging puppy, "Rice alone is no meal for Boss Kyouko!"

Ripcord nodded, snapping her finger, as her punkish attire morphed into the very atypical maid attired of a maid, and pushed Gnash into her chest, before retrieving a broom. "I'll start sweeping up. Mami, you start mapping the location, and restructuring the storage."

"Umu!" Umami nodded, as her hair grew out wild and a pair of thin, triangular ears erupted from her head, as she transformed into a Werebat. Thrusting herself into the air, Umami would sonically chirp at the ground, as she flew around in a few circles.

As Umami made her laps, Ripcord was speedily swept without a dustpan nor leaving a mess behind; her slime absorbing the biodegradable material into her through the broom. Humming, as finished, stowed her broom away, and Umami landed behind her - whispering something into her ear. Ripcord nodded alone, before punching her right fist into her left palm.

"Genius!" Ripcord says, before lifting her dress and running over to the head chef in her dainty heels. "Indeed! You are correct! We are newly minted members! We serve Boss Kyouko, and have come to repair, restore, and revolutionize this kitchen! Umu!"

"Umu!" Umami parrots, transformed into a Weredog, wagging her tail wildly. "We're ready to work! Rice will more than do as payment! We'll take meat and veggies for raises!"

Despite the fact that there were two Mamono standing before him, he could hardly help but see two young women with sparkling eyes in need of a meal and willing to earn it through hard work.

Tales Of Shizuyama (Far-Eastern Monster Girl RP)

---

ATTN:

---

There were three things you needed for a successful party:

1. Food.

2. Drink.

3. Atmosphere.

Now, Alice could easily handle the first two requirements with whatever she could find lying around. As long as she had water to boil and bread to serve, she could make a small tea party out of that. However, Terauchi Temple was in pain, in mourning; she'd suffered, and needed a proper party.

For that, Alice would have to break out the big guns.

Marching from end to end, then from corner to center, four times over, at the center, Alice would remove her hat, and set it on the ground.

"Ahem~"

Alice cracked her fingers, before squatting down, and touching the ground, "Let's see... mourning... celebration... A somber atmosphere, reserved and safe..." she says, eyes closed, "I understand. You take the safety of those within seriously, don't you, Terauchi? I'll bring their smiles back. I'll throw your party..."

Alice opened her eyes, glowing with a magic; wild, wonderful, and wicked, all the same.

"Invites, invites, o' send out the invites,
Promises of joviality and sublime delights,
Send them, send them, to the gutters and to the manors,
Tell them, Tell them, to the paperboy and to the planners,
Deliver them, whisper them, well into the nights!

So, so worrisome, these crying eyes,
So, so, troublesome, these broken ties,
A party, a party, I bring, I bring,
A party a party, I'll sing, I'll sing,
With treacle, tea and tarts, I'll try, I'll try!

A sober day has come to past,
A sober day with designs to last,
Away, away, I pray, I pray,
Away, away, today, today,
Away, away, this gloom, I cast!

And, so I say, I say...

Callooh... Callay... O' Frabjous Day..."

Alice closed her eyes... and, so it was.

Insidiously, yet explosively.

Subdued, yet overblown.

Soothing, yet invigorating.

Magic flowed from her hat, from her piece of Wonderland, and herself, and washed over the damaged village; from the ground, rubble rattled and prattled, jumping and bouncing, before finding itself, and making itself whole again. In waves, the magic washed over the village; repairing; restoring; rebirthing - from the smallest silverware to the largest building, from the earthen cookware to the wooden furniture, from the finest ring to the simplest sock.

In all things, a little joy returned and grew, until it was whole and hale.

As new as the day it was made.

Followed by cups and cups of treacle, tea, and tarts; to soothe the mourning, grieving bellies, minds, and hearts.

A far and wide party, yet it was all quiet and calm.

Standing, Alice returned her hat to her head.

"Now, then... let's party," she says, tears running down her cheeks, "Everyone's invited..." before she fell on her ass, and flopped onto her back, "I'll take my tea, now."

Tales Of Shizuyama (Far-Eastern Monster Girl RP)

---

ATTN: @PaulHaynek (Ian), @Hammerman (Lunatea)

---

First Impressions (Redux)

A crack, like thunder, before the flash of lightning.

That’s what Alice remembered.

The Queen of Hearts. Her mythical blade. A clash of vorpal steel.

That’s what Carroll remembered.

The Queen of Diamonds, run through, and shot down once more.

That’s what they remembered.

The rest, a hazy memory; fractured and scattered, in disparate parts. Fingers reached out, clawing at the glittering shards; cutting flesh with regret to bone, and releasing them all to the pain of loss...

Losing a fight.

Losing a war.

Losing a kingdom.

Losing... self.

Losing... the right to lose.

She took even that, the capricious she-devil... daughter of the Demon Lord.

Truly, the Queen of Hearts.

"GEH!!!" Alice awoke with a start, her eyes scanned the area, as her hands reached for her living blade. Eyes barely adjusted, but she knew the light streaming in was indicative of society - caves didn’t shore up their entrances with sliding doors, after all. Finding her blade, she rose to her feet, and looked around the shrine - Humans. A better hand than could have been... - before the door sudden slid to the side. A man stood with the simplest of greetings, and the boldest of claims:

"Hey there! I am Lord Takeshi Oja and welcome to Shizuyama.

Are you sent here by this Lady Kyouko to join the taskforce? Because if so, then you're in luck! You've been successfully teleported to their headquarters.

You know, you look a lot like someone I know."

Takeshi

He knew her?

"Carroll..." Alice drew the blade, "Nozarashi"

"Right, right... no rest for the wicked..." groused the Sword Devil, as she was drawn from her shikomizue scabbard in the form of a massive hatchet.

"Tempo...." Alice set her feet, and both hands on the handle, “"Allegro!"

Lunatea soon arrived afterwards. Just like Takeshi, she didn't quite recognize the girl she was looking at either.

"Yes, have I seen you before?" She crunched her eyebrows. "You look familiar…"

"Well, whoever you are, welcome to the Taskforce. I am Lunatea vern Farnsworth." She walked up to her and offered her hand.

Alice narrowed her eyes, as she winced - Why... this pain... - before recovering, and drawing back her arms in a massive, overhead cleave. "Hatc-hit!" she shouted, slamming Carroll into the floor; ending Luna's approach in an instant, and coated the air with dust like a smokescreen. 'Prowl...'

Suddenly, Alice's Demonic Energy vanished, replaced by her Spirit Energy, and fading into the dust. Luna was forced onto her heels out of the blue, and had to rely on her ears to pull movement out of the dust.

However, the Mana that had shifted from Demonic to Human was eerily familiar...

...as was this reaction to her.

"What the—" The wererabbit jumped back when the newcomer swung her sword. "Hey, what do you think you're doing?!"

The room was now filled with dust, blinding the wererabbit from her surroundings. Kneeling down on her heels, she could only rely on her sharp ears to figure out any movements obscured from her.

That, and the sudden and abrupt shift in the mana permeating through the room.

What's this? Her demonic mana is gone? And now I'm feeling a human's spirit energy instead…

Wait, I remember this sensation!

She stood up, gazing straight towards the newcomer. "You're Alice, aren't you?"

Suddenly, the dust cleared, and revealed the cutting edge of the demonic hatchet was inches from Luna's face. "How do you know my name..."

Luna gulped, sweat trailing down her face as her gaze was locked at the sharp edge of the hatchet.

"Y-your Spirit Energy… it feels just like hers!"

What is going on here?!

"ANSWER THE QUESTION!" Alice shouted, inching the blade edge forward with a sharp jerk, almost cutting into Luna's cute nose.

"Oi, oi. Not the nose, now." Carroll groused.

"You were here before!" Luna answered. "Or at least, someone else that has the exact same Spirit Energy like you! She introduced herself as Alice but she looked different from you!"

Impossible... I was... I was just in Wonderland..." Alice says, lowering her blade. What did she do to me... That bitch..."

Alice looked at Luna, You are no March Hare. Where the hell am I..."

The wererabbit glanced at Takeshi, hoping for his support in answering her question.

"You're on the Island of Shizuyama, inside the teleportation pagoda. You should've come from the mainland."

"I came from Wonderland..." Alice says. I was fighting The Queen of Hearts... then... she stabbed me, and everything went blank... I can't remember anything..."

Takeshi’s heart skipped a beat when Lunatea identified the newcomer as Alice, the same one that apparently went renegade. His mind searched for possible answers, even as he evaded Alice’s attacks alongside the Wererabbit.

When the dusty smokescreen cleared and Alice had her hatchet near Lunatea’s face, Takeshi appeared behind the newcomer and was about to draw his tanto near her neck to make her stop when he noticed something peculiar looking at her back. “Huh?”

A small piece of paper was attached to Alice’s back with a light adhesive. Takeshi, curious, took the note which Alice would undoubtedly feel. “It’s… a letter?” The young lord showed the piece of paper to the girls and the latter saw a huge, single ‘I’ letter written on it. “Oh, there’s a message behind it.”

Hey there, taskforce! Mysterious benefactor here! You might be wondering why Alice and Carroll are acting this way and let me tell you: I have no idea! Alice and Carroll contacted me to return to Wonderland since they’re fed up with Shizuyama and I obliged them. However, something weird happened when they tried to enter Wonderland and they were quickly… spat out, so to say. I have a feeling that came with side effects. Watch out for memory loss or bodily deformities. Maybe just memory loss, though.

P.S. Takeshi is ugly and Shizuka is way more handsome.

Takeshi raised an eyebrow at the last line but decided not to dwell on it. “Alice, the last thing you remember is back in Wonderland, right?” He asked the newcomer. “You don’t remember me, or Lunatea, or this place? At all? Lady Kyouko and the taskforce don’t ring any bells?”

"The last thing I remember is... the final battle of the Kingdom Gerrenson, in the snowy shadow of the Miroe Mountains..." Alice says, "...everything burning down... melting away... Her sword, Heartbeat...

Carroll snarled, as she glowed, and transformed into a woman that looked better suited to a school than battle. The only sword to equal me and my sisters..." she crossed her arms. Not of those names ring bells, plain and simple. Clearly, you know us, but I surely do not know you."

"...just who are we to you, boy?" Alice turned, and crossed her arms to Takeshi, allowing him to take in her full body as the light bathed over her.

Takeshi was sullen when it was apparent that Alice and Carroll truly did not know him. A part of him wondered if these two were really the Alice and Carroll he knew but when he looked at this new Alice, the resemblance was there. And her weapon transformed into a person, very much like Carroll. It took a moment for the young lord to answer.

“I… was a friend to you. Same with Lunatea.” Takeshi decided not to tell the whole story of their… complicated relationship. “You were part of a taskforce assembled by Lady Kyouko to help this island, Shizuyama.” He continued to explain. “Your relationship with the taskforce was… strained, but you were with them.”

“But I suppose right now, you know nothing of them. Or me or, anything else really.” Takeshi then sighed before turning to. “Lunatea, what do you think we should do? Alice and Carroll, the original ones, may have come here on their own volition, but these ones haven’t. I don’t want to involve outsiders into a battle they are not aware of, much less have stakes in unless they voluntarily join.”

"I don't believe you in the slightest..." Alice says, as she fluffed her coat. "I am the esteemed Queen of Diamonds, I don't do friends," she says, before looking away bitterly, "Friends die..."

Carroll sniffed the air, and hummed. "Alice... I think... the Human isn't lying... at least, in full..." she smirked, "His Mana has been spiking since he realized you and whoever you are to him are one and the same. Specifically..." Carroll raised her hand to her mouth, before making a jerking motion, while pushing her tongue against her cheek. "Hehehe...~"

"The lies you tell! Damnable sword! Crude bitch!" Alice snapped, before storming over to Takeshi to sniff him.

At the revelations that were occuring in front of her, Lunatea could only stand there speechless. So, they're technically the same people? But not really? The workings of Wonderland are beyond most monsters, including her. Who knows what could happen in that place?

"You're right," she replied to Takeshi. "It's not right to make them fight if they never really agreed to do so in the first place. Unfortunately, unless we can send them back to the mainland, it will be really difficult to have them not be dragged into combat."

She turned to face Alice and her sword, the latter now having transformed into a humanoid form. "We're here to fight against the Varjans and save the people of this island. If you don't share our goal, then we won't force you to fight. Unfortunately, the Varjans will most likely force you into akfight anyway, thinking you're on our side."

Alice's storming stride paused midstep, and pivoted on her grounded heel, "Varjans? Force me? Perhaps, you did not hear me..." she says, "I am the esteemed Queen of Diamonds! There is no force that can subjugate me!" Alice boasted, "From the sound of it, you need someone capable of subjugation in their own right. Fortunately, for you, I am benevolent to Humans and Mamono alike."

Carroll grunted, "So, we're raising our swords for another pathetic lot?"

"Pathetic," Alice smiled, and laughed, "No, no. It is the same as always," she held out her hand to Carroll, "I raise my blade against tyranny; destroy the Heart and silence the Heartbeat."

"Such is the goal..." Carroll says, taking the extended hand in her own. "It's your lucky day, little Human. You've gained royal aid."

Lunatea didn't expect they would end up agreeing to assist them in the end. She glanced back at Takeshi, waiting for his reaction.

Well, they do look like they can handle themselves in a fight… and we do need all the hands we can get…

Still, she would keep an eye on them. Just in case.

Takeshi was blushing, since Carroll managed to identify Alice’s scent on him. Fortunately, Lunatea managed to shift the topic where Alice agreed to help Shizuyama. “Well, I’m glad you’ve decided to fight against Varjan tyranny but…” The young lord scratched the back of his head. “This isn’t going to be a normal liberation, alright? The people of this island and Varjo are once united against… well, you and your kind: The yokai. It’s only recently that this invasion started, so the people here will still be suspicious of you.” He explained.

“All I’m saying is: Don’t expect much gratitude or reverence if you help out.” Takeshi finished. “If you want to back out, that’s all fine with me. And I believe this teleportation circle goes two ways. All we need is a spellcaster to send anyone back to… wherever Lady Kyouko is.”

"Under my banner I have wed the hearts and loins of Human and Mamono. People follow strength, and the example of, thus why I shine as brightly as a diamond," Alice says, smirking, "If you need to bring the hearts and mind of your people and ours, I suggest knocking up the bunny. People are suckers for babies, and there ain't cuter babies than bunlets."

Takeshi had to plant his palm onto his face at the reply. “...That would just make the people of my island hate us even more.” He remarked with a sigh. “But at least you’re confident and optimistic. If you’re really sure about staying, then welcome to Shizuyama, Ladies Alice and Carroll. Again, I suppose.”

"I bid you welcome as well." Lunatea bowed.

Inside her mind, however, she was just as worried as Takeshi that the two might just end up worsening the relationship between monsters like her and the humans that lived on this island.

Alice grinned broadly, while Carroll smirked, before they looked at each other, and high fived.

"TEA PARTY!"

Surging forward, Alice and Carroll would snatch Takeshi and Lunatea, respectively, for a glorious tea party. They had a Dormouse and March Hare, after all, even if it was just a lord as threatening as a one and an inferior stand-in.

However, after a massive battle, the loss of life and livelihood, maybe... a party as grand as only a Mad Hatter could think, and manage, to throw.