McFazzer

Grimoiric Heart

Tesni

She hadn’t anticipated being among the first guests to arrive, escorted by the host no less, and Tesni did raise an eyebrow when Bonnie offered her arm but she wasn’t so dense as to not take the host up on their offer.

“Off we go then to the mysterious music room then.” Linking arms with Bonnie they meandered their way towards the room when Bonnie stopped and Tesni not wanting to pull her arm off followed suit as Bonnie offered a confused explanation.

“You know what, Bon Bon? I think I believe you that this castle that’s kiiinda hard to miss wasn’t here yesterday. Shocking as this may sound, we do go to this school, and I think if a castle had been here all this time I’d hope one of us would have heard of it by now… also we have magical abilities derived from works of literature and historical epics so I don’t find it all that surprising that rumours could also take on a life of their own like this.” Pausing for a bit, looking through the threshold to the new castle interior Tesni clicked her tongue in thought.

“I wonder if spreading rumours can make other stuff happen too…” Admiring the architecture of the castle Tesni tapped her foot on the ground as if testing it still somewhat in disbelief that it was even there.

It feels weird that I’m able to accept so much now with ‘whatever, it’s magic’. I could probably use my detect evil vision thing to see if there’s anything nefarious behind all this… but that feels like picking up a book and just reading the last chapter. Pretty rude, especially since if it's not actually magic someone went to a lot of effort for this. Letting Bonnie and Olivia acquaint themselves as the prospective leaders of this sleepover before silently joining in with Bonnie’s amazement at the swimming pool before tearing her gaze away.

“Hiya Liv, hiya Silvy. I feel like the collective we haven’t talked much lately, good to see you both though. No, I don't count talks on the battlefield as having a nice chat, thanks for asking Silvy.” Shooting Silvia an impish wink she briefly turned her attention to Olivia and Bonnie more fully.

“Unlike Bonnie I haven’t brought anything except myself, never quite sure what to bring to these things. I was too busy being a rascally little schemer before this magical business to go to these things.” Cracking her neck with a loud pop Tesni let out a sigh.

“So, who are we waiting on? I only got an invitation, not a guest… list…?” Raising an eyebrow she heard the kingly voice grating her ears before seeing the silhouette in the doorway… and she just couldn’t resist getting a little dig in at Chinami.

“Whaaat? You mean this isn’t a mystical summoning of castle Camelot during a time of great peril? Do you want to go looking for a throne to sit on, Chinami~?” chuckling to herself, Tesni looked over to Bonnie with an apologetic smile.

“I know, I know, I'm sorry Bon bon, I know it’s not a great way to kick off festivities but c’mon! We have a castle and a knight, it’s too perfect~!”

Grimoiric Heart

Tesni

“Curing the victims. Great if that can happen, but I don’t know if Miss Enigmatic is the kinda radical to even have a ‘cure’ for the poison they concoct… well her being imprisoned for all eternity, I know enough about that I think.” mumbling to herself, Tesni wandered off back to her room needing a shower, if only to wash away the accusatory looks.

------------------------------

After the brief bombast of fighting Roma and what she could only call the resulting shitshow, Tesni just felt exhausted. The hot shower relieving her aching body but doing nothing for her thoughts. Picking up the letter that had been slipped under the door.

“That little sneak… she’s lucky that sincerity goes a long way with me.” Tesni grinned at it before stuffing it in her jacket pocket as she left to stop at one place to get the bad mood out of her system before joining the party.

------------------------------

Rubbing her face as if it would somehow relieve the feeling, she found herself back at scene of her crime long after everyone else had left and the moon high in the sky. Picking her way through the rubble she played the fight back in her head. She had acted on instinct and had caused all this damage… yet another reason why she refused to use her magical girl name and avoided calling others by theirs, even as Bonnie had protested her use of nicknames. Names were important. The ‘magical’ name bestowed upon them? Tesni couldn’t help but feel that was a mask. And if she bought into that ‘mask’, she could handwave all this as not her work. As if psychologically saying that it was Dynasty Queen's fault. So she always kept in mind that she did this. That Tesni did this, not ‘Dynasty Queen’.

“No dodging responsibility. Not for anyone. Actions have consequences, both good and bad.” The fight played out again in her mind and in her minds eye the building crumbled once more. The prone girl was saved once again. Standing in the spot where her staff had carved a gash into the earth where that girl had been, Tesni frowned. Roma had caused Tesni’s ‘responsibility’ to stop at mere property damage.

“Hmph… strange. I guess I had more faith in Miss Enigmatic’s words than I thought.” Recalling her say in their previous meeting how she wasn’t the enemy of magical girls. Tesni on some level trusting that to be true to the point she truly ignored the consequences of her attacks.

“It sure sucks that she’s making me think about this at all. The ‘consequence’ for her ‘good’ action I suppose? Well, I guess she can be both ‘right’ and deserving of her head smashed in for doing all this in the first place. Both can be true… I wonder if she’ll actually give answers or just be annoying.” Throwing a piece of rubble onto the pile Tesni strolled away.

“I guess I should ‘reward’ her for saving that girl at some point… but I do have a party to get to” Those words hanging in the empty night sky, Tesni looked at the invitation in her hand and walked towards Bonnie’s for a sleepover.

Grimoiric Heart

Tesni

So I wasn’t wrong… Roma had saved the prone magical girl. Roma did something to those at the epicentre of the blast and she wanted them to survive. Tesni couldn’t exactly call it good news, since now there had to be a reason why… but what do you do when you find an enemy’s weakness? You hammer at it until they break, especially when you can’t win in a fair fight.
But before the battle could continue, events cascaded into one another. The rescue, the retreat and then the enigmatic magical girl was gone. And then she was back again, due to a tank barrel? Tesni felt a headache coming on, separate from the golden band wrapped tightly around her head. In a pose that didn’t match the magical attire she wore, Tesni slumped down on a piece of rubble roughly chair height before suppressing a sigh.

She could feel it. Students and teachers alike stared at her with gazes varying from suspicion or disgust. Hand on her temple she massaged it, hoping it would relieve the headache the counsellor and what was her name… Stripes? She had an actual name, but Tesni wasn’t in the mood to scramble through her memory to find it.

“Oh, my hand-eye coordination in perfect. But when the enemy seems to have the ability to distort space in some manner it’s somewhat irrelevant.” Feeling a hand on her shoulder Tesni looked up and saw the counsellor again and raised an eyebrow at her words.

“Good to know that my mental wellbeing is of greater importance than dealing with a problem, I guess? If you want to know how the fight made me feel, I can sum it up right now. Shitty. Look at their eyes.” Tesni looked around at the crowd of magical girls and teachers.

“You’re not stupid, and neither are they. They know what I did, but by the same token I know what they did… fuck all. I wasn’t quiet before; I was quite pointed when I shouted out to most everyone on campus. ‘If you don’t get out here and help, you forfeit the right to bitch about the outcome’. I definitely said something like that, right? Judging by their actions a lot of teachers seemed to think ‘well that lunatic of a magical girl has it under control. She can definitely handle the enemy that successfully infiltrated Marywell all on her own’, didn’t they? They didn’t show up after all, and look around… I can just imagine them lining up to bitch about it. Whatever, words won’t convince… them… uuuuuugh!” Tesni finally noticed who had seemingly arrived with Ozma, the Grand Minister… and she was forgiving Roma.

“Oh great, the big boss shows up after everything is already done. And Suzy is here, neat. Hey foxy Suzy! Shame only matters if you give a shit! That’s what being shameless is! And as much as I would love to cave Miss Enigmatic’s head I in, I don’t think I’ll be managing it past all of… that” a dismissive gesture in the direction of the teachers circling Roma was the action that finally saw Tesni revert from her magical state.

“Well, when this ‘forgiveness’ blows up in everyone’s face I won’t say ‘I told you so’, but I will be working on a more reliable way to fight a speedy space warping magical girl in the meantime… someone has the right idea over there.” Looking at Lupin and how she was barely restrained from just shanking Roma by Suzuya, Tesni grinned content that she wasn’t the only one who thought this was a very dumb way to handle magical radical.

Grimoiric Heart

Dynasty Queen

"I WANT TO BE A COOL MAGICAL GIRL! WHY DOES EVERYONE KEEP CALLING ME BON-BON?" the prideful roar of Lilac reached Tesni’s ears which couldn’t help bring a grin to her face… even if it was quickly wiped away by Roma’s casual dismissal of her attack.

“I CALL YOU BON-BON BECAUSE I HAVE A HARD TIME REMEMBERING ALL THE SILLY SUPERHERO NAMES WE GET GIVEN AND I THINK BON-BON IS A CUTE NICKNAME I WON'T FORGET! YA EVER HEAR ME CALL MYSELF ‘DYNASTY QUEEN’?! IT UNIRONICALLY MAKES ME CRINGE SO HARD I WANT TO TURN INSIDE OUT! I'LL TRY AND BE BETTER ABOUT IT, OKAY?!” The volume of her voice was less trying to communicate with Lilac, and more trying to vent the frustration.

Every time. Every time this arrogant magical lady kept just diffusing her attacks. This wasn’t working and to make matters worse a shower of trinkets and petty treasures rained upon her restricting Tesni’s movements. Tiny cuts sprouted over her flesh, tiny trickles of blood bubbling to the surface. Each cut sending a spike of rage through her. Tesni’s jaw clicked as she tilted her head. A slow, stuttering, exhale showing how hard she was trying to not just go into a mindless rampage… with no physical outlet instead dark thoughts rose to the surface, cruel thoughts that she wished she could inflict upon this arrogant woman! Method after method running through her mind, until she realised she had to know what Roma wanted if she truly wanted to hurt her, so eyes darting around Tesni tried to piece together what Roma’s goal even was.

It isn’t just destruction. She had been able to get into the school undetected, but the cafeteria isn’t a valuable tactical target. At the very least damaging it won’t hinder overall operations. If it was to inflict fear on the student body, she would have targeted something more prominent on the school ground. More than that, she could have redirected my attack into the crowd, causing a massacre, why didn’t she do that? Her golden staff rapidly shrunk retreating from the Attendant's portal and was back in her hands at a reasonable size, around that of a baseball bat. Vigorous swings sending the ‘gifts’ she was given scattering along the ground even as they continually piled up just in time to meet Roma's attack. Tesni was more than a little shocked that her attack didn't instantly obliterate the pipe Roma was using. The ringing of her staff met clanking pipe over and over again, the rain of trinkets stopping Tesni from simply trying to blow Roma back with overwhelming physical force.

So what does the cafeteria have? Food, but the cafeteria isn’t the source of resources. This is a hub area of student activity regardless of a student’s personal interests… this feels like a dead end… but when is a dead end, not a dead end? When it’s the destination! If the students themselves are the target, then they are somehow important to her… a wicked grin appeared on Tesni’s face… definitely not the grin of a hero. She stabbed her staff behind her at and angle and stamped her foot on the end driving it further in.

“You have a trouble accepting material gifts, but how about 'loving gestures'? Don’t get distracted now!” stubbornly trying to ignore the treasures she was still being peppered with, a cracking sound erupted from the ground. Tesni didn’t simply push off the ground, her staff propelled her forward and rocketing her out of the golden hailstorm. If her weapon had no effect, then she simply wouldn’t attack with her weapon directly. Letting the staff extend faster at the last moment, Tesni’s foot ‘lost’ its grip as she was about to barrel past the invading lady. As it extended past them both, Tesni kicked off the golden pillar and spun, using the still extending staff like a horizontal treadmill to accelerate the mid-air rotation into a blindingly fast roundhouse kick towards Roma’s temple. The staff continuing to grow and carve a gorge in the concrete floor of the cafeteria towards one infected magical girl lying in its path, a consequence of Tesni attacking for speed and power over all else.

Grimoiric Heart

Dynasty Queen

The battle had started in earnest and the plan immediately crumbled. Oh well. Tesni was no dictator and as long as someone was willing to deal with the consequences of their own actions and their desires didn’t directly conflict with hers who was she to force her will upon others? Bon bon could do her own heroics, Tesni would simply... adapt. The large sweeping motions forcing the pageless into a group quickly ceased. A sharp staccato of blows rang out replacing the sweeps, staff twirling around Tesni in an impenetrable whirlwind of strikes carving a swathe through the inky monsters until she was before the mastermind herself.

“Fancy seeing you here! We just keep meeting on battlefields where you command mighty hordes, don’t we?” A casual swat to her left spiked a Pageless pouncing towards her into the ground.

“When did I ever say I was Wukong? I’m Tesni. Did I never introduce myself? I’m just giving the power associated with Journey to the West a test drive~” the wafting smoke from Roma stung her eyes, and made her cough, she felt a primal rhythm of battle swell in her chest, sending her heartbeat racing! Her enemy was before her, one blow could obliterate- then the golden crown around Tesni’s head briefly glowed and started constricting.

“Aagh!” clenching her teeth the pain brought her back to reality, getting lost in the throes of battle is fine if you’re overwhelmingly stronger than your enemy… but Tesni was not that yet, definitely not. Panting her eyes flashed red and roamed the battlefield searching for what should be there but was hidden still… where the hell were the teachers?! Tesni was just in a meeting with one… where the hell is she?!


“DAMN IT! FINE! IF NONE OF YOU WILL GET OUT HERE AND FIGHT, YOU FORFEIT THE RIGHT TO BITCH AT ME AFTERWARDS!” Wiping the grimace from her face Tesni put her best smile back on for Roma.

“Sorry, it looks like the responsible ones have their thumbs up their asses. So, all you have to play with is me. I know, I know, I’m disappointed too. But I know myself very well. I’m not strong enough to be able to fight you and worry about everyone else around us, but it would be very IRRESPONSIBLE for you to be left alone, right? So, at the very least, I’ll be your loving dance partner this evening, okay? Don’t worry about the collateral damage… I won’t be~” with a flick of her wrist, the golden staff suddenly vanished into her hands, smaller than a toothpick, like a sleight of hand magician. Getting into a crouching one-legged stance with hands before her like claws, Tesni launched herself at Roma. Twirling in the air, her fingers clawed at Roma’s face before letting the momentum carry her and tumble to the ground behind the seemingly dispassionate magical mistress and go into a leg sweep. Regardless of the outcome of these attacks Tesni pointed her finger at Roma’s torso before saying,

“Bang~!” a tiny twinkle on the tip of her finger sparkled before the golden staff instantly growing as large as Tesni could manage and slamming into Roma from point blank range.

Grimoiric Heart

Tesni

Sitting down on a chair, Tesni decided to indulge in the therapy. If punching the problem won’t fix it and just talking about a problem could, she felt she’d be a fool to ignore it.

“‘Devoid of content’? I mean, I suppose that’s a way to put it? It’s more like… it’s hard to approach them. Not just because of my reputation, but… well this is gonna sound suuuper arrogant, but this is therapy or whatever and if I hold back that just means you can’t do your job properly.” Eyes roaming around the room without really looking at anything, Tesni eventually settled on the window. Mouth closed she moved her jaw before a clicking sound echoed out, similar to someone cracking their knuckles.

“I’m, like, really good at fighting. Like absurdly good. I’m sure it’s 99% grimoire, but regardless it’s given me a rather simplified view of the world. It’s made it so that I can see almost every problem as something I can brute force my way into fixing.” A cheeky grin split Tesni’s face when Mika brought up her reputation as a troublemaker.

“Oh, I have always been a troublemaker, even before all… this” her hand gesturing at everything and nothing all at once. “Magical girl stuff, I used to be quite the delinquent. Seeing assholes in my everyday life and giving them what they deserve based on my personal beliefs. So being a magical girl ended up working out perfect for me. That’s what we do here isn’t it? Fight the 'forces of evil' based on our own personal sense of right and wrong. I believe people who drag others into their schemes or use authority to escape consequences of their own actions deserve comeuppance of some sort. I also know I’m petty, and vindictive enough to go to great lengths to make sure they get that comeuppance.” Scratching her head, she looked at Mika with glimmering eyes.

“Not very ‘heroic’ of me, is it?” Suddenly there was a twinge inside her and Tesni’s eyes flared with a smoky light. Standing up suddenly, the chair clattered to the ground beneath her as she ran to the window. Looking out Tesni could see Pageless gushing out like a wave from the cafeteria area.

“Well, Miss Mika… I think we’ll have to get to the core of my frankly messed up issues some other day. My talent for pragmatic destruction of Pageless is being called to action it seems.” Running out of the room she picked up the discarded chair as she passed by.

“The divine root conceives, its source revealed” throwing the chair through a window and jumping out, Tesni finished her chant before she hit the ground.
“Mind and nature nurtured, the Great Dao is born.” And with a ripple of light, she was in her Dynasty Queen form. The gold staff materialising beneath her feet and becoming a pillar for her to stand on, growing until she had a proper vantage point. Looking around, the source of the Pageless was clear, but if she was going to be truly pragmatic, she needed to be more effective than just sweeping them aside and scattering them. She needed to be eliminating the Pageless as quickly as possible. Then she spied her buddy Bonnie. Mind whirling with the beginnings of a plan, Tesni landed next to her.

“BON BON! Quick, we’re gonna do a trial run of a combo move. Not just us both attacking at the same time, okay? I can do crowd control, keeping the Pageless relatively contained, off balance and vulnerable. What I’m going to need you to do is just put everything you have into one hit kills. Ignore personal defence, I’ll also play bodyguard. Just stab and slash as hard as you can at all the Pageless in front of you until they’re gone… they got us good didn’t they, Bon Bon? Really managed to sucker punch us.” A wry grin on her lips, Tesni ran of towards the ocean of Pageless. Her staff making great sweeping motions, outwards in, left then right. Repeatedly, trying to force the inky swam into a manageable formation for Bonnie to help eliminate.

Grimoiric Heart

Tesni

“Those lying bastards…” Tesni had been left behind. ‘Left behind’ is a bit misleading. Tesni deliberately didn’t go, but it was the result of miscommunication than her not wanting to go.

“They all said it was ‘just going on patrol’!” Why wouldn’t she go if she knew she could have the slightest hint of a chance at punching the arrogant lady? She loved cutting arrogant people off midsentence, ruining their monologues. It was one of her favourite things in the world.

“Then half the bloody school goes missing ‘on patrol’! Bet they’re tearing up the town as I speak, leaving me out. You’re allowed to say ‘Hey Tesni, let’s go destroy an army’s worth of Pageless’ no need to be coy about it… I mean it has to be, like, an army, right? You don’t need that many people to dogpile a normal Pageless. You don’t need teachers to go and dogpile a special Pageless…” throwing rocks at one of the ancient trees on the school grounds, Tesni briefly considered just running off after the group. Maybe she could be the ‘hero that arrives just in the nick of time’… Bonnie would probably like that cliché. All out of rocks, Tesni’s mind raced with all sorts of petty revenge she could get on them all.

“I bet Ozma has the good stuff hidden in her office…” returning to the main building, Tesni saw the counsellor up ahead and a better idea came to mind. Just talk about things. Sure, not everything can be solved by talking about it, but at the very least someone else will know and the outside perspective is very useful when you’re caught up in your own head.
Yeah, that’s smarter. Ozma would laugh and joke, but then the retribution will be disproportionate…

“Hi! Miss Counsellor! Do you have a moment? I’m Tesni, you’ve probably heard of me. I’m just… a whoooooole mess of issues. And a troublemaker according to faculty. Just issues all the way down.” Putting a bit of speed in her step, Tesni caught up to Mika and kept pace with her.

“I get this is out of the blue but if I don’t do this now, I’ll forget about it and then nothing will change or happen. So, I’d like to… how does this all work? Make an appointment?” Every window they passed, Tesni felt her eyes drawn outside. Having to tear her vision back towards the counsellor each time. A chill on the back of her neck, hairs raising. It was like how some people could smell a storm coming, feel the pressure changing.

“So, miss… something doesn’t feel right. I don’t know if it’s just, y’know ‘issues’, or if something is legitimately going wrong here. I know everyone else left on their big special ‘patrol’, but I don’t think that’s enough of a reason for the whole vibe of the school to feel this empty."

Grimoiric Heart

Tesni

Tesni was frankly a bit shocked that anyone was actually listening to her mumbled little monologue. Looking up at Bonnie, she furrowed her brow not expecting to have to justify herself to anyone else, but she also couldn’t just leave someone with a misconception about her… especially when she was addressed directly. Then of all things the teacher pulled her into a hug! No that wasn’t right. She was the one who initiated hugs, it was on her terms and when she wanted it to happen. The metal arm also made the hug feel strangely ‘clunky’, but she suppressed the urge to squirm out of it. Instead answering Bonnie’s question about her mumblings.

“No… no that’s not right. It’s not about the boredom of being the strongest. Bon bon, it’s about not having the power to be self-reliant. It’s well and good to have teammates and friends, but what do you do when you’re all alone? It’s not about me being weak exactly. I frankly think I’m rather strong, but it’s the idea that I’m already strong is a subconscious limiting factor.” Tesni was not having a great time trying to explain herself, she felt she was doing it wrong, but couldn’t think of any better way to put it than the metaphor that popped into her head earlier.

“It’s like… let’s say I started my magical girl life as a crude stick figure on a canvas. That’s little baby Tesni. Over time, experience and familiarity with my power is like painting a self-portrait of who I am now. Lately I felt like there wasn’t much room for me to add more within my ‘canvas’ if that makes sense. Like I had a complete picture, it’s framed and hung on the wall in a gallery.” Looking Bonnie in the eyes she got up off the ground and put a hand on her shoulder.

“The point is, that there is the limiting factor of the picture frame. But paint can go anywhere; the artwork doesn’t have to stop with a frame. There is the wall it is hung on, or the floor or the ceiling. Why not break free of a simple portrait on canvas and add some landscapes? Make it a mural on the wall?" Tesni quickly felt that her metaphor was escaping her.

“In simple terms, lately I've had a crisis. I've felt as if I had reached the limit of what I can achieve on my own. But Valeria’s little speech as shifted my perspective, which thanks by the way Valeria, I really did need that... oh, she's busy with a... new kid? Bon bon, when did we get another new kid? Were they always here? Did I forget about a classmate? Whatever, not important. At least not important to the conversation we're having. Briefly turning to shout after the teacher, Teni focused on Bonnie once again.

“I still want to be independent, that will never change for me. Because I don't like the idea of bugging others with problems I have, but I'm gonna be trying to work as a team because that’s a new way for me to grow and improve. So although I won't ask for help... I will offer it. I realise it's kinda an arbitrary line in the sand, but it's making me feel better about the whole thing.” Tesni had no idea if she made sense to anyone else, but it felt right to her and that’s what mattered.

“C’mon, Bon bon. We’re gonna do this whole team up thing. But like… I’m one of those big ice breaker ships. Cracking through the ice, breaking the shell and releasing the gooey weak point centre… whatever, it’s not like we have to have everything sorted out literally now. We have time and can figure it out as we go… I talked to much, I have a tension headache at the back of my skull, need a drink.”

@The 42nd Gecko

Grimoiric Heart

Tesni

It was done, the flying menace was destroyed and the team exercise was over and now she could go back to… no… nononononono! More teamwork?! Anyone looking at Tesni would almost be able to see the gears turning in her head, trying to find a way out of having to team up again. As capable as Tesni was in combat, thinking of way to dodge responsibilities outside of literally running away from them weren’t her strong suit.

“But, but… I did it, it’s done…” the disappointment was palpable in her voice. Tesni just sounded exhausted as she wandered towards Valeria, dismissing her transformation. Sure there was something going on about ‘Tuning Grimoires’ or whatever, but that was of secondary importance to Tesni. She felt that her Grimoire was already plenty powerful, what needed to improve was herself. To become more aware of the similarities between the story and herself. Maybe she was wrong about that, but Tesni wasn’t likely to arrive at that conclusion on her own. Good thing she was at a school that correct her if needed.

“Miss Valeria… do I have to? Suzuya could have hit me, but she didn’t. Would I throw myself into the firing range if I thought for a second, I would get hurt? It’s a training exercise. And if it was a real battle, taking the hit to land a finishing blow is always acceptable. Let them cut my flesh so I can shatter their bones, let them shatter my bones to take their life!” even as she was spewing out excuses and justifications, she could tell she was going to have to do this. So, her mind raced, trying to think of the most efficient way to solve the issue of ‘teamwork’. Logically she should team up with someone who was already familiar with her. The conclusion she came to was either double down with Bonbon or go for Suzuya who Valeria already brought up as someone who risked damaging her from a distance. Surely the best way to deal with this whole ‘teamwork’ thing was to take the critique at face value and directly address it? Tesni felt her brain was going to burst before giving up.

“Group assignments suuuuuck…” were her final words before just slumping to the ground and lying down on the cool floor. Looking over at the students swarming the Tuner she suddenly felt envious of them. They were more concerned with getting stronger than the assignment. Closing her eyes, Tesni thought about that some more. Why wasn't she eager to get stronger? Did she subconsciously think she was already as strong as she could be? That she was finished? Completed? No… that couldn't be right. If this was the limit of her strength, then woudln't she have to team up at some point? Was she already a finished painting, no more canvas to fill in? No, that couldn't be right either. If she was already perfectly strong how could she improve?

"How can I get stronger if I'm already the strongest? I have to be weak… I must be weak, because I have to get stronger." The strange recursive logic of her wanting to get stronger somehow made Tesni more accepting of the teamwork idea, even if she still hated the idea of relying on anyone else with a strange passion.

Grimoiric Heart

Dynasty Queen

“Am I supposed to go to this?” The slip of paper forced into her hand, drafting her into the mechanical gladiatorial arena for the girls who got back from patrol. Suppressing the sigh, Tesni hastily finished her ice-cream before drifting into the arena the new teacher had seemingly designed for the purpose of boring her, until the fun training dummy of the mechanical hornet materialised itself. Even as Valeria stood tall on the makeshift podium spouting off about what they all really needed, the most cursed and evil thing Tesni could imagine… teamwork.
Not that she had anything against the concept, really. It’s just that teamwork kinda relied on all parties involved performing at a somewhat equal level with synergistic powers of some description. And it’s hard to synergise with the comparatively mundane and not very magical fighting style of ‘hit things with a big stick’. She was about flow, forcing her flow into the battle, making the enemy fight at her pace and her pace tended to be a bit too impulsive for others to follow and adapt to. And most Pageless tended to stop if you smacked them hard enough in the right spot, regardless of how many people are there to do the hitting. Still… maybe she could still take hold of the flow of this battle, she’ll just be generous and let it flow towards the others.

“I’m not really sure if I’m meant to be here, but I have a ticket and I suppose I should at least try and be a better ‘teammate’. Stupid tin can, hollow and noisy. Let me play with you for the sake of others, okay? ‘The divine root conceives, its source revealed; Mind and nature nurtured, the Great Dao is born.’” A flash and she was once again in her battle attire, her golden staff stabbed into the ground next to her, it ringing out in a clear note.

“Now since I’m unsure if me being here is ‘cheating’, but I was given an invitation so I suppose I might as well give some advice. Everyone should at least have a method for dealing with flying enemies. Either go up to their level…” Holding the upper end of her staff she had it lengthen, carrying her up until she was at ‘eye level’ with where the mechanical Pageless’ eyes probably should be.
“Or do what I prefer and… bring it down to your level where you can smash it!” She watched Bonnie launch herself at the flying bug, seemingly having intuited the same method she had in mind.

C’mon Bonbon, spike it with me!” Tesni kicked her staff backwards out from under herself and swung it up and around in an overhead chop, aiming to bring her full strength down upon the Hornet to force it to the ground.

“Fliers with wings tend to be weak to getting smashed from above!”