Plank Sinatra

Nova Lux: A Magical Girl Game

---

Nicole liked Penny and Dana a lot, but there were some arguments she wasn't about to wade into for anyone, even friends. Defending the honor or artistic merit of magical girl cartoons she'd never watched as a kid had never really occurred to her as a bullet on her no-fly list, but after thirty hours or so with her new group she could tell it was going to need to be wedged in somewhere. Nicole, personally, found it a little soothing to hear them go on and on about one cartoon or another; as a mediator and people person by nature, it was always nice to see two people resonate on the same frequency without her having to butt in. But that also meant they were more than capable of handling themselves without her ignorant butt elbowing in.

Personally, she was all about neon thrillers with more blood and guts than plot. Or, on the nights where she could see the rain fizzle and burn on the lights of Hasta, she would crawl under a blanket and get into the mood with something tech noir, movies with cityscapes that were like Hasta's in aesthetics but without her warmth. The characters would lack warmth, too - hot android babes, hiring hunky detectives who grew besotted with them only to be killed off at the end so the androids could run away with other women. Like all good noir, it was a beat-to-death twist on a beat-to-death formula, but that was the main reason to love it. There was nothing twisty about it, in her mind, but the vibes were all that mattered. Nicole would do some pretty crazy things for a babe too, be they hot androids or hunky detectives, or definitely, definitely hot androids.

...

Wow, wait, that real-ly explains some things about me.

Her head craned over to look at Vanna, conspicuously silent in the wake of her roommate's full-throated introduction. She gave her a thumbs up and winked, but she knew better than to try and engage Vanna here and now. Her Duodecim status alone was enough to deflate that idea, and the number of girls present at the table who hadn't been through what they had - what she had - was just icing on the cake. Besides, she was already pushing enough limits trying to warm Astrelle up to the others. So she tuned one ear back into the conversation a little.

"In all seriousness, though, I like to think of them as a teen girls' equivalent to the 'Join the Self Defense Forces' clips. I mean, they show them all shooting those shiny new guns, but never seem to mention 90% of soldiering is either cleaning your stuff, digging holes, sitting in a freezing foxhole, or cleaning latrines with a toothbrush. Hopefully, we won't have to do that bit - cleaning latrines with a toothbrush, that is."

Nicole stifled a giggle. Maybe she was starting to feel Astrelle's influence on her a little after all, like Penny had said. It seemed pretty crazy to respond to a retort like the blondie's by openly admitting to enjoying propaganda since childhood, but it was becoming increasingly apparent that was part of Penny's blunt charm.

The conversation quickly turned, at the behest of Vanna's new roomie, to a few other missing arrivals. Nicole furrowed her brow a little bit, thinking of the girls that might have gone through something similar to what they had - or even worse, if they hadn't arrived yet. Her heart went out to them. As for their own experiences, Penny and Dana did a good job of embellishing the tale where necessary and leaving other stuff out, but it seemed that Penny was growing a little uncomfortable with the way she was starting to stick out in the narrative. Time to slip the knife in, babe.

This time, Nicole let her laugh fly.

"C'mon, Penny, bask in your glory a little bit. Not every girl gets to be a hero before she even puts on the uniform. Sure sounds like an origin story to me." She winked. "You wouldn't believe how cool under pressure she was, either. Don't pick a fight with her, ladies, you wouldn't believe the nerves she's got. Real crocodile."

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

Has this place finally gone dark? I thought it would never die. It had a good long run.

@Prince of Seraphs

One of these days there'll almost certainly be a continuation, if I have anything to say about it. In a year or two if enough of the old crowd is still around and interested. It's hard for me to get some of the characters and interactions in this game outta my head.

Good to see you around!

Nova Lux: A Magical Girl Game

---

It was nice to see Penny and Dana with such a pep in their step. It helped Nicole keep her spirits high and nerves low after a sluggish start to her own day.

Normally, she was a morning person herself - easy-going and amiable, the one to fix coffee for her parents, go out for a run in the morning and watch as the dew lifted off the streets of Hasta. But she wasn't in Hasta, and the jet lag had pummeled Nicole as hard as any of the furniture on the crashing Laurus. She'd spent most of the night rolling from side to side, doing her best not to sleep on the parts of her body the shower had scalded or trying to focus on the sound of her own breathing. For a while she'd tried to keep it in unison with the breathing of Astrelle, sleeping across the room (or maybe just doing a good job of faking like Nicole had) or trying to breathe in time with some of her favorite songs. In between those, she grumbled to herself about not being able to sleep naked with a new roommate. It was a charcuterie of things of things designed to keep her off her game - new city, new time zone, new routine, and a pair of basketball shorts to cut off the sacred sheet-legs symbiosis.

But being around the same group of girls she'd survived a freak Void attack had helped. Nicole was a bit quieter and less personable than she'd been at first, but as the day went on and the girls went through their tests, it began to dawn upon all of them the enormity of what was to come, and her mood began to stabilize as others became more excitable or pessimistic. Naturally, the girls had begun to talk among themselves about their impending surgeries - or the idea of being turned down for them, which was such a cosmically unlucky, crappy thought that Nicole giggled at it when Penny brought it up.

"Ugh, just had a horrible thought. 'Hey, we just tested you, and while you have magic, we don't think you're a suitable candidate for the procedure. Sorry to waste your time, now pack your bags because you're going home.' Wonder if they ever had a case like that. Yeah, I feel bad for thinking about it."

“That’s kinda depressing. But I don’t think it’s anything to worry about. I mean, we went through a buncha prelim tests back home, and I doubt they’d go through all the hassle of bringin’ us here, if there was any chance we’d just have to be sent home again.”

"Besides, they're not really in the business of wasting time here," Nicole pitched in, leaning forward with her elbows on her knees and head in hands. "You heard how early they blew the horn for us, and with the way things have run so far, I doubt they're going to waste time bringing a girl into where they do procedures just to bounce her out. If they were gonna go through all that trouble they'd be more likely to kill you just to shut you up."

She winked at her new friends and adjusted her newest skirt, glowering at it with an irritation she hadn't even directed at Astrelle at her worst yesterday.

"I wish they'd kill me, frickin' uniform..." she grumbled. "Hey, wait, I probably shouldn't say that, right? That's probably what they say in those shows you guys watch before things go bad. Forget I said that."

They were on the subject of their favorite shows again, discussing how they hoped their transformations would be modeled after certain girls from certain Adjective Adjective Job Title Noun anime. She thought again of their discussion on the airship yesterday, and the innocence with which they'd discussed Ars Magi propaganda. Astrelle hadn't been fooled, and she was probably smarter not to be. But why go through all the trouble of being an Ars Magi just to feel like shit about it?

"You'll have to tell me who I'd be," Nicole said with an apologetic grin. "I really only speak the language when it comes to over-the-top macho stuff."

God, it would be so sick if I became Eradicator. Or Demonetta or Roboslut. She pictured herself, slinging a pair of pistols in either direction. I don't kiss magical girls. I turn 'em to slag.

"Maybe you girls could give me, like, a list of beginner's stuff to watch for nights off? Help amica tua out?"

The Zephyr Extinct

Hi all! HAPPY NEW YEAR! 🎉

Who's still in to continue? 😄 Should we change things up a bit? Should we conveniently forget some details, or assume others were always true? Or maybe the swarm arrives and everyone dies... ☠ (which could also be a fun send-off 😂)

@Mokley

1000% percent!

Nova Lux: A Magical Girl Game

---

She winced at the sight of Astrelle hitting the mattress - not an airy hit, like the grace of a child bouncing on their mattress, but like a...like a wet sponge, hitting the sink. Or a bug on a windscreen. Nicole stretched out her left arm and pushed her extended index finger into the unoccupied mattress, testing it for any sign of flex.

"Oh my God." She pressed her finger deeper into the mattress, and although it wasn't firm enough to stop her once she put a little pressure on it, she could almost hear the squeak of a spring inside. A tiny exhale blew through her pursed lips in displeasure, an unbidden little noise that reminded her of the beauty of the human body - all those different systems, working in tandem and unison, to keep people as different as the five of them, Victoria, and all their guards grooving the exact same. Her displeasure must have been a cry for help from her skeletal system that had thrown a little switch in the nervous system, then come out through respiratory...the beauty of the human body, indeed. And hey, speaking of beautiful bodies...

"Ha, y'know what?" She looked back at Astrelle and laughed, impish amusement in her eyes. "You look prrr-etty comfy where you're at, and you're already going to hate me enough when I start leaving skincare stuff out. So why don't I bite the bullet on the first shower and tag you in when it's at Goldilocks temp?"

After Nicole walked into the bathroom with her chosen set of towels - surprisingly not starchy enough to have recently cleaned up a crime scene - a clean set of clothes, and a music player on medium volume, the classic sounds of a girl a new shower for the first time started to ring out, muffled, through the walls.

"Porca miseria!"

A few seconds passed. The faucet made a squeaky sound, followed by a squeal of anger and shock.

"Ma che cazzo fai!?"

Twenty minutes later, Nicole walked out in her chosen sleepwear - a faded black t-shirt commemorating the release of the Sancho Stromboli action classic Behemoth (a collector's dream that Nicole's dad had gotten for attending the premiere back in his day) and a pair of short emerald shorts - and a forced grin on her face. Her long legs, as well as her forearms and what parts of her collar were showing, had turned salmon. She plopped down on the mattress; the springs squeaked again.

"Found Goldilocks," she said, grinning through gritted teeth. "Watch the cold faucet. That one sneaks up on you."

Nova Lux: A Magical Girl Game

---

She supposed what she admired most about her parents, their boundless activism, was that they seemed to find the beauty in everything - every day, every cause, every person. There was something to love about yourself, and those around you, but sometimes it took work to find it. It was easy to draw a path from that philosophy to her good nature and the laid-back way she treated her peers. But Palmyra was a homely city by nature. The buildings were mere cubes stacked upon cubes, with artless neon and xenon for splashes of color, like trying to disguise stale bread with cake frosting. Hasta was cosmopolitan as Sanctum Cities went, so she recognized one sign in three, likely more than most of the other girls present.

But the signs she read only discouraged her further. Grocery. Cab depot. Grocery. Accountant. School. Hospital. Library. Hospital. Restaurant! ...Accountant.

Obviously, there was plenty of representation for the world's one true universal church - the pizza joint. She even saw a few cafes, such as they were. But they were wedged in between other structures (which was all they were) and lacked patios, let alone rooftop views. She could count the number that were actually on a street corner on one hand. But pan pizza and cappuccinos were for binging with her study group, not a replacement for nightlife. She looked for telltale signs of arcades or little hole in the wall bars, the kinds of places that she had grown up sneaking into with friends, but nothing jumped out. The city was a den of brutalism; the rare peeks she got of its inner workings were cold and lifeless. Even Astrelle - who was doing her best to make the other girls think she lived up to those descriptors - must have been miserable, she mused. This was a far cry from what she remembered of Valentia too.

So it was that Nicole, whose humor and vibe had seemed indefatigable even at their emotional nadir during the attack, spent most of their first ride through Palmyra in contemplative, almost sullen silence.

"So there's the answer to 'what happens when you make a barracks into an entire city. And here I thought Ciscia's D-Fens Quarter was ugly and blocky."

“Yeah, I guess it’s not much to look at. But, when ya think about it, it’s really the people inside the buildings that count."

Nicole mustered a half smile at the sentiment - and at the image of her mom spoiling Dana the way she'd spoiled all her other friends - but the most she could muster was a quiet "Yeah..."

"You're hopelessly cheerful, aren't you?" Penny was saying to Dana. "Eh, as long as they have a decent pizza joint in town, I'm fine with it."

"I've seen a few so far," Nicole assured her, but after that she remained withdrawn from the conversation.

The checkup cheered her up a bit. She was polite to the technicians, and they were polite back; soon, she was able to make a couple joke during her blood draw. By the time she was undergoing her examination the ennui had faded to the point where she was even able to hit on her doctor, who deflected her with a smile and professional grace. It was probably for the best. It would never work. She was in her late twenties, and a doctor for the military - clearly, a woman in such a lax, carefree position would never be able to handle Nicole's skill on the Dance Til Sunrise pad at the arcade, or withstand her high-intensity erotic brofists.

She smiled and thought of home, and of all the times her Prince Charming's eyes of molten gold had rolled into their sockets at her antics. She swore, leaving the hospital, that she would keep making the best of all this. The other girls would probably need her help to do the same.

Her new attitude, same as the old attitude, was on full display when they finally arrived at their dorms. She was going to be living with Astrelle, a realization she had audibly laughed at when the arrangements were made. Odds were she'd be covered with a pillow and hacked to death while sleeping in a few months, but in the meantime, Nicole was going to make the most of it. As soon as they stepped through the portal and into their own home, she was breezing through the place with the same effervescence she had glided up and down their beleaguered vessel with. The bed was a little small, but about what she would have expected from any university. The kitchenette was much more her speed, and she quickly began inspecting the cabinets to see what kind of dinnerware was available to them, testing burners on the stove, the ice maker in the fridge, all the usual things. Not that she expected Nova Lux to leave anything lacking, but...

...well, after her first glimpses of Palmyra, she'd totally almost expected shit to be lacking.

"Nooo shit," she exclaimed playfully once she had stepped out of their bathroom. Her grin was so wide it had almost caused her nose to wrinkle. "It's a real shower. With glass and everything. I was starting to think we'd get, like, a prison shower or something."

The Zephyr Extinct

Well that was a mess of a week, but much like my leftovers, I finally managed to finish off this post!

The Zephyr Extinct

I R I S

She almost couldn't believe her luck.

The smoke she had inhaled earlier still left her huffing at the end of every pant; her lungs chafed from the effort it took to lug her muscular body up and over the same obstacles as her fleeing prey, and her shortness of breath was only another detriment compounded on top. But when she saw the orange-robed man's mode of extraction, a getaway driver on a hoverbike, a winded smile grew across her masked face. This leg of the race would be much more her speed.

Thankfully, it also seemed she had far more experience - or wherewithal - to know where most buildings would incorporate high-flyer perches into their gardens. Every building was different, obviously, but all architecture had a style, constants in its design and function - the realities of Rig's midair society had slowly been incorporated over the decades, as surely as the needs of the gardeners and sunbathers. She hopped off the branch a bit later than her target had at one such perch and hurriedly paid for a glider rental. When she was at the lip of the perch, an excellent vantage point, she started scanning for her target again.

Most high-flyers would instinctively recognize the sight of the healers on their hoverbikes, stretchering the injured or infirm to facilities for care, and steer clear of them to avoid congestion at critical junctures. Iris was no exception, and the OSO acronym - Orange-Stretcher-Orange - she'd been drilled with during childhood rose to the forefront as she scanned for healers. Thankfully, there was at least three times the orange to look for as there had been on the roof, and she found them in short order. When they peeled off, Iris went soaring too, kicking off from her nest as gracefully as a falcon. She felt the fresh air in her lungs, great heaving mouthfuls of it, and smiled, all chest congestion and sear in her lungs forgotten. Her smile grew--

--and, watching the getaway drivers from above, she continued to soar.

Nova Lux: A Magical Girl Game

Nicole smiled at Penny as she knocked herself out in short order. By now a majority of the team was either asleep or, like Dana, looked like they were liable to doze off again as soon as Victoria went back about her business. Only Nicole and Astrelle seemed completely cognizant, and even Nicole was feeling a little spaced out as her adrenaline continued to ebb away. She found herself staring at the cut on her hand again. Maybe she'd see if Dana could do something about it later, even if that took a day or two. As long as it didn't scar.

Or maybe let it scar? Scars were a pretty universal constant, as long as they didn't show any weirdo inner workings of the body that people preferred not to think about. A cool face scar, or something across the palm? They added a few fractions of a point to everyone's hot meter, guys and girls alike. That was just science. Let Dana heal it but with a scar, maybe that was the best option.

It seemed like she was feeling a little loopier than she really acknowledged. Maybe spending the last hour of the flight in silent reflection would do her some good, and she'd wake up feeling a bit more grounded. Gods knew Astrelle wasn't about to be much for company, especially after lining up only to be rebuked by the Wing of Justice like that. It was a little hard for her not to roll her eyes at how confidently Astrelle had lined herself up for a verbal forehead flick by Victoria like that, but Nicole let it roll off her back. She just wanted to assert her individuality or whatever. Still, the Hastan thought it was a little much. Who was she trying to prove something to when half of the girls were unconscious?

Nicole's curious gaze found Astrelle again, and one eye closed in a lazy wink; her uninjured hand formed the universal 'o-kay' symbol, and she mouthed a sardonic Nailed it to the black sheep of the Lennox family.

Lightening up will do her some good, she thought to herself, a little grain of impish humor buried deep within the thought. And if she doesn't want to make friends, theeeeeeen...it's just gonna suck to be her.

Her head lolled back, and she felt herself land on something too warm to be a cushion, or any furnishing at all. It must have been Vanna's arm.

Yeah, yeah yeah. You're in the same boat, bambina.

Her eyes remained half-lidded, and her head calm and clear, for the remainder of the flight.

The Zephyr Extinct

I'll try my best to have a post up today or tomorrow!