PlatinumSkink

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

Mariette had an issue. The issue was the glowing envelope in her hand that informed her it was time for the party. That in itself would not have been an issue, but in her other hand she held her phone which had a message from Lily asking more than just herself to gather in the park and prepare to be portalled to the rescue somewhere away from Penrose. Now, Mariette would normally just have messaged Lily that she was busy… but the issue was that without Mariette, the whole gathering in the park would not be able to reach their destination, and that would be a betrayal of Lily’s expectation and she’d be known as the person that couldn’t help people, probably.

Quite a few conflicting emotions going on, there.

She was currently located in her room in her new base of operations. Which was super not as hidden as her previous base, because her hidden dimension was ruined. Instead, she was just located in a small decorated space dug into a mountain not too far from Penrose, which anyone with Absolute Direction would be able to find in moments. Fortunately, she had all sorts of security keeping track if anyone was mustering an attack and, more importantly, she wasn’t living with anything of value and as such could vacate the place with a portal and everything would be fine.

Right, let’s get ready. Mariette, of course, was not changing at all. Her normal transformed attire was good enough for any fine-class outing.

The same could not be said for her selected partner. It could not be Mayra, because Mayra was decently likely to utterly ruin the party by simply existing, so Mariette had selected a more tactful partner. However, the door opened and…

‘Heeeey, Mariette! How do I look? Pure and sweet like an angel, right?’ asked the very much not particularly pure and sweet girl that, strangely enough, did look quite pure and sweet with white flowing hair, blue eyes, a gentle smile, a white dress with black frills, black ribbons in her hair, slender metallic arms and sizable chest…

This, of course, was actually

but all dressed up. There was also the fact Jelena is physically only seven years old, she was making herself look taller with metal. Blue contacts to look less evil. That “chest” of hers were also just two metal clumps shaped in an inappropriate way. Which, of course, Jelena thought was absolutely hilarious.

Jelena right now

‘… You look adequate. Give me a bit, I need to do something before we leave,’ Mariette said, turning to a drawer and fishing up one of the gems she’d received in that deal with Shion a while ago. It was already charged, she just needed to direct it a bit. She held it close to her chest and focused her powers…

‘Adequate? ADEQUATE!? I look —-ing great!’ Jelena cursed beyond her apparent age, crossed her metal limbs and pouted unhappily while waiting for Mariette to finish.

Right. Now she simply had to pick a suitable champion.

Also, did she understand that maybe a bunch of people wouldn’t be in Penrose for the time being?

… Good.

After she was done, she'd go to the place where Wonderland had invited her. ... With a pair of small defensive artifact she'd had Taihei make her and Jelena. Because she didn't want to be afflicted with weird spells.

__________________________________________

So, at the park. There were some people gathered.

And then suddenly there was someone jumping off a skyscraper and slam down into the ground near them with no regard for who or what might have seen her or how much it might disturb those present. The kneeling, scaled and partly on fire lady looked up, and…

‘Hiiii!’ she waved at them. ‘Mariette is kinda busy right now with something she says she absolutely can’t miss, so this event has kinda poor timing, but she she sent me, anyway! She put a portal spell inside me that I can use a single time, so tell me when you want to go! I can apparently send you there whenever you like! … Once! And not back, it’s a one-way-portal-trip until Mariette gets back!’ Mayra says, grinning happily at those present.

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

Finding Wonderland was disturbingly easy. It had taken very little questioning in the Overcity to be pointed directly to the dimension.

A portal formed above the vast dimension that was Wonderland, and a cautious Mariette stepped out onto another portal on it. Incredibly fresh air touched her nose, the temperature was comfortable, and within she still quivered a bit in fright, as she had no idea what to expect from this dimension. She looked down, and…

What met her eyes did not confuse her as much as what met her ears.

Her eyes saw an idyllic landscape of green grass and forests, great mountains and a scattering of villages and towns from a time less advanced than the modern age of her home. Yet, it felt like there were none of the troubles that once afflicted this time of human history. There were towns where trade took place, animals and fields growing the food for the people to eat, and all the roads led to a great capital city with a giant castle majestically looking over its kingdom. So far so normal.

But… Everything was alive. And everything was singing.

Like if their lives were a musical, the people of the town happily sang as they did their business across town. The trees in the nearby forest danced merrily along with various travelers crossing their forest, definitely including young girls in red hoods. The mountain was singing a song along with the numerous dwarves that were mining it. She saw a man leave his home and take his hat off for the home as thanks, and the house returned the greeting by lifting its roof. A merchant stopped in front of a river he was unable to cross and asked a cloud for help, and the cloud happily poured some rain down to form a rainbow in the sunlight, and the merchant thanked the cloud before crossing the newly formed rainbow bridge.

All of it boggled the mind and left Mariette at a loss to what exactly she was seeing.

She was determined to open portals to look into the capital city, but she found herself distracted when out of the corner of her eyes saw through a portal that in a field there were a couple bunnies in top-hats dancing and singing about what’s healthy for bunnies to eat. She tore her attention away and tried refocusing on the capital, but ended up distracted by a living parasol that was doing its best to shield its singing owner as she was happily going through the marketplace seeking things to purchase.

No matter how many times she tried to refocus on the capital city her attention always seemed to wander in a way that she eventually concluded wasn’t natural. Something was preventing her from going to the capital. If there was a barrier of sorts, she wasn’t going to breach it on this scouting mission. She guessed that she probably should ask someone in town about the place, just for the sake of it, when…

She opened a portal to descend to the town, when she suddenly realized there was something magical around her. That was obvious, of course, this whole dimension was magical, she’d remarked on the amount of mana in the air at once. There was some kind of spell in the air. No, what she realized as she was getting closer was that, whatever the spell was, it was afflicting her, and it was growing stronger and stronger the longer she stayed in the dimension. The only reason she hadn’t realized it until now was because it hadn’t been strong enough for her to realize it yet.

She was not going to stay around to find out what it did.

Mariette dropped out of the dimension via portal and immediately went to Ronja to have herself checked out.

She then wrote a pair of letters and sent it to Penny and Finn via portals, describing what she’d found. If they wanted to get there, it would be really easy to help them get there.

@Shifter_Master@Majoras End

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

Miko blinked a bit in surprise at Sanngridr's response. She didn't really understand why her question warranted such defense. Still, her words rang true. 

‘You did, you're right. Justine, Caroline, all of us are still safe. Thank you, so very much for your assistance,’ Miko said, bowing to Sanngridr. 

‘See? Everything will be fine! Just because it doesn't make sense to us it doesn't mean it didn't help! So, thanks!’ Ronin continued with a grin. 

Miko still had her doubts, but there was no denying nothing bad had happened, so...

---

Mariette had already visited the Overcity College of Magic once before when she prepared for taking classes in the Sealing Fundamentals course, but this time she used her portals to arrive directly outside the classroom itself before entering. It was a wide-old-styled classroom, with wooden flooring and wide windows set against the back wall. Instead of a chalkboard, however, there was a wall-wide LCD screen, and the wooden desks were implemented with smaller flip-up computer screens: signs of new technology that nonetheless didn’t take away from the antique feel.

At the front of the room were various devices and tools that Mariette had seen before, and even more that she had never seen until this moment. Some were more conventional, like an ouija board, or a magic circle drawn with white chalk right before the teacher’s desk. Others were stranger, like combinations of magic and technology, such as an astrolabe in the corner that blinked with various lights. One wall was dedicated entirely to shelves of books, their size varying from tiny fairy-sized leaflets to table-sized doorstoppers.

However, what caught Mariette’s attention most was the presence of other students, recognizable by their uniforms: one student with brown, curly hair happily tapped away on her desk as she hummed a cute song up to the very front of the desks. There was also a gloomy student with black hair nearly covering their face in the very back: Mariette couldn’t tell if she was asleep or not. Soon after she arrived, three other girls came after: they were flashy, extroverted types who sat on desks, their school uniforms were not properly worn, and spoke brazenly about various topics Mariette was not interested in. They ended up sitting right next to Mariette’s desk, and continued conversing and giggling loudly.

“Like, she gave some pixie dust like she thought I was gonna, like, fall for it, but I was like, OMG, no way I’m touching that limp stuff~!”

“Totally! Pixie dust is like, so lame~! Unicorn blood is where it’s at~!”

In accordance with the rules of the school, as far as Mariette knew, she’d changed into the proper school uniform for the school. If fitted her in the shortest skirt that Mariette ever has had to wear and she didn’t understand why, as dark blue as the vest she wore over a white shirt tied together with a blue ribbon just under her neck, yet over all that was also the robe that was assumed part of the school uniform; a dark-blue witch’s robe that just hung around her and down behind her further than her skirt like some form of cape, almost. Felt weird to Mariette.

She’d learned that alumni at the school were allowed to wear special witch-hats that adorned their heads. Mariette… kind of wanted to wear one.

As for the girls, Mariette didn’t have a single clue what they were talking about and was kind-of intimidated and didn’t really come here to make friends or anything like that, so the white-haired girl whose hair hung way down over her robe sat down at an appropriate location, by a… computer, which Mariette frowned and stared incredulously at. She didn’t really know how to use it. She pushed it aside, and placed her necessities in front of her. Notebook, pen, and Bunny the stuffed rabbit. All she needed.

She was still wearing an eyepatch and her usual head-ornament that looked like two long rabbit-ears… that Mariette hadn’t considered the fact she’s wearing for a significant amount of time.

As other students filled up the classroom, Mariette noticed that the bubbly girl had approached her desk with a smile.

"Hi. I like the bunny you have. It's cute," she said.

"I'm Rennala. What's your name?" This caught the flashy girls' attention, who glanced at Mariette and gossiped among each other in whispers, or at least attempted to:

"Ugh, that eyepatch is trying way too hard~"

"Is she trying to look cute with the cripple act? So sad~"

"And what's with the stuffed toy? This ain't, like, kindergarten~"

Rennala puffed her cheeks. "Don't listen to them, they're just bullies."

Mariette blinked and looked up at the newly arrived individual. It was odd being spoken to like this, and a little surge of nervousness went through her. That was part of school, wasn’t it? Making friends… and such. This wasn’t exactly a normal school, but still… 

‘I’m… Mariette,’ she answered, a bit of her nervousness leaking into her voice. ‘Thank you,’ she said, referring to calling Bunny cute. Then there were the flashy girls laughing… and Mariette tilted her head, fundamentally not understanding what the idea was. Still, her eyepatch… ‘Hm… I suppose I don’t need this right now,’ she said, reaching to remove her eyepatch, to reveal a completely fine blue eye behind it. She looked to the girl again, and she kind of wondered…

‘Why are you taking this class?’ she asked, for she couldn’t currently imagine reasons beyond her own.

The flashy girls giggled once Mariette took off her eyepatch, but then quit once they realized Mariette didn't respond to their teasing.

"Because I'm fated to," Rennala answered with a smile. "It's my destiny to graduate. In fact, I'm next in line to do that. My mother graduated from here, as did her mom, and her mom…"

Mariette noticed the black-haired girl shuffle closer. Rennala blinked.

"Oh, how about you, Ebony?"

The girl had one eye showing from her locks of hair, and she shyly answered: "I have…A demon inside me. I was told I need to control it, so…I hope I can learn to. He can get…Hungry…"

‘I… see,’ Mariette replied to their reasoning, a little surprised another girl had come close to them. She still wasn’t entirely comfortable with this setting, but, huh. ‘I… hope that you’ll succeed,’ she managed to press out, hoping that’d be something good to say in these circumstances.

“I hope so too,” Ebony answered with a sad smile, and Rennala nodded enthusiastically. “And so do I! It’s not a good thing to be possessed by a demon!”

That was when the door opened, and Mariette saw the teacher enter: a magical girl wearing a prominent steepled witch hat and flowing robes, and thick, round glasses. She was carrying a tall stack of books; the topmost tomes dodged to avoid the top frame of the  lower doorway before returning back to the stack.

“Settle down, class!” The teacher ordered, and both Rennala and Ebony returned back to their seats alongside the rest of the normal students. “See you later,” Rennala whispered to Mariette before leaving with a smile.

The teacher placed the books on top of her desk, and glared at Mariette…Or rather, at the rowdy students next to her; they were still chatting away, seemingly ignorant of the teacher.

The teacher then hatched an evil smile, and lifted a glass bottle to the front of the desk, opened the lid on it, and then summoned her magic staff. Mariette then heard her chant, as her eyes glowed a bright purple, and a swirling mist formed inside the bottle. She slammed her staff bottom against the magic circle, and that also began to glow. Then, she pointed the staff at the girls, and like a fishing rod, made a reeling motion with it.

“So anyway, like, he was cute, but, like I don’t know if he’s, like, my type or-Huh?”

The girls noticed that they were starting to slightly move, as if drawn by some kind of force.

“What the hell? Is someone pulling-Ahh!”

The teacher made a heavy yank, and the girls flew across the classroom. As they fell towards the wooden desk over the magic circle, the circle flashed, once for each girl. And as it did, the girls shrunk to the size of tiny insects, and ended up in the glass bottle. The teacher then closed the lid on the bottle; Mariette then realized what the holes on the lid were for.

“I am Magus Tuuletar, and this is Sealing Fundamentals,” she then announced, and lifted the glass bottle up for the class to see; the three girls inside cried and sobbed with tiny squeaking voices as they banged desperately on the glass.

She then opened the glass bottle, and casually threw the girls out of the bottle; they returned to normal size as they fell on their butts, visibly shaken by the event.

“While dialogue is necessary for developing higher understanding for the mysteries of the arcane…I will not tolerate any inane chatter or distractions in my class. If you wish to speak, I expect a raised hand asking for permission to speak. Understood?”

She asked the girls, who promptly apologized and returned to their seats; their faces were pale.

Mariette nodded to Rennala, before focusing on the teacher. She was definitely curious about the books dodging the top frame on their own, and kept her attention on any sign of magic. She wondered what a Third Eye user would have seen… then she watched the teacher's gaze, got momentarily scared she was glaring at her before she realized it was at the girls next to her.

Mariette most certainly learned a lesson by what followed. While making a mental note not to do anything to annoy this teacher, her pen went at it, writing down what the teacher had done, what she had chanted, the items available… as best as she could. Unfortunately, Mariette wasn't used to writing, either, so it didn't go fast and with plenty of spelling errors, but what she was good at was memorizing.

So while the teacher continued, Mariette did her best to write down what she had experienced, her eyes darting from the notebook to the teacher. Managing portals with Awareness made her good at multitasking.

By the end of the lesson, as the students scattered, Tuuletar stopped Mariette from leaving. She had a stern look to her.

“Mariette, first of all, good work in taking notes. This generation has been attention-deficit, but you actually paid attention even for the history section, which is commendable. However…I would like to have a word with you regarding the toy.” She looked down at Bunny. 

“I would prefer that you leave it at home, as I fear it may distract you from the lesson at hand, especially once we begin the practical section of the course.”

Mariette had sighed out as the lesson ended. She’d written down a lot, but she wasn’t sure how much of it she’d actually learned, or how much of it was relevant. She had a lot of studying ahead of her, she figured, as she picked up Bunny to leave. When Tuuletar stopped her. Mariette got a little wide-eyed, thinking she was in trouble for some reason. Turns out, no, she wasn’t… kinda. First she calmed a bit from the praise, but then the next point… Mariette looked sad and squeezed Bunny tightly.

‘Would it be too dangerous for him…?’ she asked in a vulnerable voice.

Tuuletar sighed softly. “Well…It can be. You see, during this course, we will practice sealing away lesser magical entities like boggarts, sprites, and imps. However, if there is an object with totemic features, for example an animal totem, one of these entities could attempt to possess it during the sealing, and essentially bring it to life. And if that were to happen…” She pointed her staff down at Bunny. “I would be forced to destroy the vessel.” She then lifted her staff up. “However, it would require the subject to detect the toy in the first place, so if you insist to bring it along, then I can cast cloaking magic on it before the practical session begins.”

‘Ah,’ Mariette made a scared noise as she turned away with Bunny, shielding him instinctively from Tuuletar’s staff. She of course knew he wasn’t actually in danger for the moment, but she just instinctively defended him. She turned back and looked sadly down at him. ‘I… I suppose I should let him stay home with his wife. I’ve been keeping him away from her for too long, I suppose… I can’t make her jealous…’ she idly said, looking almost teary-eyed at him. ‘… Okay, I’ll… I’ll leave him home…’ Mariette said, before giving a defeated, sad sigh.

That said, there was something… she wanted…

‘… Would it be possible… for me to practice ahead, somehow? I… I need to become good at this… as quickly as possible…’ she said, hoping that some kind of support from her teacher.

Tuuletar leaned on her staff, in deep thought.

"So you wish for extra lessons?" She pointed her staff at a bookshelf, and drew a book with some flower markings to her. "I understand the feeling, having had many courses to study at times myself…" She flipped through it, her eyes skimming the contents.

"I can grant you after-school lessons at 4PM on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and at 5PM on Fridays, for about an extra hour each except for Wednesday where I can hold it for two hours. However, these are not included in your scholarship, so you have to pay an additional fee of a Silver per week for the additional lessons. Is that acceptable?"

‘…’ Mariette bit together, listening to Tuuletar’s words. Oh. She was willing. But, it was at the cost of an extra silver per week. Mariette breathed in, the extra cost giving her a shiver. It was fine. She just had to hunt some more dangerous foes. ‘It is,’ Mariette nodded. ‘Thank you… so very much,’ she said, bowing to Tuutelar, all while trying to consider what kind of hunt she’d have to go on in order to earn that money…

Tuuletar nodded with a curt smile of her own. "You're welcome, Mariette. Now then, if you'll excuse me, I must prepare for my next class. Goodbye."

Once Mariette finished talking with Tuuletar, Rennala and Ebony peeked out from behind the doorway; the former waved her hand at Mariette, while Ebony simply stared. "Wow, you're going to get extra lessons? I'm so jealous~" Rennala spoke with a friendly teasing manner. "You must be rich to afford her fee, huh?"

Ebony averted her eyes. "All my coins are spent on paying for all the food Damien eats. It's honestly a bother…"

Mariette looked after Tuutelar with thankful eyes… though also somewhat lamenting how much this was going to cost her. Ooooh, she better put her back into hunting monsters… Oh. 

‘Ah!’ Mariette made a noise as she realized Rennala and Ebony were peeking at her. She looked away for a bit, somewhat ashamed, then looked back at them again. ‘Er… not really… It’s going to take basically the last I have…’ Mariette replied. She didn’t really have a reply for Ebony’s words, other than silently hoping her problem would be solved one day.

Rennala looked surprised, but then giggled. "Well, I'm sure you'll manage, Mariette! You seem like the hardworking type of girl~"

Ebony also nodded with a slight smile. "I hope I'll see you two in class again."

Rennala beamed. "Of course! Won't we, Mariette?"

‘… I do, do I…?’ Mariette asked, lamenting the moniker a bit. Then again, it wasn’t as if she could help it. Still, as she looked over Rennala and Ebony… She supposed she did look forward to seeing them again. ‘… Yes,’ she eventually replied, nodding to them and giving a little smile.

‘Yes, we will!’

And so, the three girls chatted together a bit longer before going their separate ways for now. For now… Mariette was decently happy with her choice to come here.

Hopefully, she wouldn’t lose sight of why she really came here.

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

‘Heeeeeeeey, you’re just gonna leave!? I thought we were gonna play!’ Mayra shouted after Oliver and Finn as they dashed off to class. Mayra, who did not have class, grunted and crossed her arms instead. So, she was left here with Penny… who told her that she’d be up for a spar. The dragon-girl turned and gave her a slightly surprised look… then chuckled loudly.

‘Hahahaha! Oh, Penny… you misunderstand. I don’t want to spar with you. I want to fight you,’ Mayra clarified, grinning widely. She leaned forward to gaze after Penny, crouching her scaly body, looking at Penny with a sharpened gaze, and spoke with a voice filled with purpose.

‘I want us to have a battle in which there is no holding back. I want us to have a fight with a goal, that is not the kind of fight you have because you decide to have fun. I want us, in the middle of an intense battle, to encounter one another by chance as we pursue our conflicting goals. A fight where we both carry the trust our allies have put in us, where both of us know the goal of the other and know that we can’t proceed without battling it out. Retreat is not an option, no allies backing either of us up. Just you and me, in a real, gruesome battle, with real goals and stakes. A battle in which neither of us can afford to lose… That’s the kind of fight I want to have with you. That’s the kind of war I want to have with you. Then, and only then, will our clash find out which of us is truly stronger…’ Mayra took a deep, gratified breath, smiling as she looked to be in bliss just imagining the situation… before she locked her gaze at Penny again.

‘Before that happens… I don’t want to spar with you, Penny. It won’t feel the same unless it’s our first time fighting. You understand… don’t you?’ Mayra said, before chuckling once again with a wide smirk. Then, she sighed, and lifted two arms to shrug.

‘Though, guess this whole “being allies” thing is getting in the way of that, right now. Oh, well!’ Mayra’s eyes opened wide and she grinned widely as she finished the shrug and spun around.

‘But, when the time comes… you’ll think of me, won’t you? Hahahaha! I’ll see you later~!’

With those words, Mayra intended on jumping off… but if Penny spoke she’d probably freeze and spin around in sheer curiosity as to what Penny’s answer to her little speech would be. that is if Penny didn’t just leave mid-speech, that is

---

So, Ronin most certainly would not have stayed quiet when Sonia appeared. Ronin and Miko exchanged a glance, nodding to each other. Then, Ronin brandished her blade and faced the opponent over there. ‘Hey, haven’t you had enough bothering these sisters? They’re not your masters anymore! Unless, uh. Unless you’d like to join them in freedom, then you’re very welcome!’ Ronin shouted at Sonia if she had the time, going from frowning to then smiling welcomingly as the contents of her mind and words changed on a dime.

‘Oh, dear sister, do decide on a goal before you start speaking,’ Miko sighed a bit, facing the opposite direction with her sword drawn, facing nothing. Because, of course, they knew Sonia could appear anywhere, one of them needed to cover their backs.

‘If I did that, I could be too late!’ Ronin replied to Miko with a grin. Then, though, Justine and Sonia had their talk, the both of them listening intently… and then both twins were surprised as Sann dove in and pushed them gently aside so that Sann could Overcity Shift them away.

‘S-Sanngridr?’ Ronin asked, confused.

‘Oh, no. Have our trust been betrayed?’ Miko asked, looking with fear at the location as they had no idea what was happening in the Overcity.

‘Let’s not be hasty!’ Ronin said, both to Miko and to Mia. ‘Maybe Sanngridr took them somewhere safe to hide from Sonia… or something,’ she said, shrugging with a hopeful smile.

‘They are in the Overcity. That was an Overcity Shift,’ Miko said. ‘It can be followed by another user of the skill Overcity Shift… which I’m afraid we lack,’ she continued, and PlatinumSkink sure hopes this is accurate as far as Overcity Shift works. Third Eye can tell exactly where the shift took place.

After a while, though, Sann returned with Justine, so.

‘Hey, see! They’re fine!’ Ronin called happily.

‘What… were you doing in the Overcity? … What will you do with her, now?’ Miko asked Sann first, then Justine, and then finally also Valeria about Caroline. The girl made Miko very uncomfortable, still…

If nothing else of interest happens they’ll eventually be departing out into town again for the free-time.

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

‘It’s all a matter of perspective~!’ Mayra called back to Finn as they beat up a bunch of Wendigos. Because why not.

‘HYAH! Take that!’ Mayra shouted out as the burning smoldering corpses lay about her and her parner-in-fight for the battle. He called out about this having been awesome, and Mayra grinned. ‘Hehe, that was pretty cool, yeah! Still, if you react like that to this fight, I wonder how you’d react to a bigger fight…’ Mayra pondered with a smirk, because to her this was a decently small battle. It was just against a bunch of the same monster over and over. The world can do better than that!

Then the Queen of Penrose strode in. Mayra’s eyes widened a bit looking at her.

‘Oooh, you. I want to fight you someday,’ Mayra stated simply, before turning to look at Finn as he read the note out loud. When he asked his question, Mayra’s hand shot into the sky.

‘Me, memememe! Well, kinda me! I’ve seen their stuff before. Looked like some magic-machine-things I’ve seen in a dimension somewhere before. I don’t actually know who they are, but I know I’ve been in the dimension with such stuff before!’ Mayra said rather loudly and excitedly. ‘I bet Mariette knows!’

Mariette, in her basement but eavesdropping, momentarily grunted about Mayra unnecessarily drawing a connection between her and the mysterious attackers. She decided to open her mouth.

‘I’m afraid not,’ Mariette said through a portal she partially opened. ‘What Mayra said about their technology checks out, but I don’t know who they are. I will be conducting my own investigation into the matter. For now… I have to leave. Good bye.’

And the portal winked out of existence and Mariette made a sudden exit… because Mariette was late for class.

She spun, opened a portal, and dove into the streets of the Overcity. If the academy has school uniform she quickly dove into her new secret base to change her wardrobe as quickly as possible using portals to get the clothes to her, and then she dove through another portal directly to the academy in the Overcity, to just outside the classroom. She withdrew a notebook and pen from her hammerspace portal handbag, and somewhat excitedly, somewhat worriedly made her way into the classroom.

This… this would mark the first time ever Mariette went to school.

---

So not entirely sure what’s going on here, but they’d be suddenly on-guard when Sonia showed up and then they’re pushed aside by Sann a bit. Are they close enough to be brought along an Overcity Shift? Who knows. They’re around.

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

Oliver’s replies didn’t actually get much of a response out of Mayra, who probably forgot his answers within moments because she dashed after Finn instead. Who didn’t react much differently. Still, his eyes widening was kinda curious. Anyway, later, he says. Kinda boring, but, okay. That said, root? They were dealing with the root? ‘Alright! Uprooting first, then-!’ then Mayra looked a little confused as Finn motioner her to keep quiet. She was about to loudly ask why, but then she heard the talking too and got curious enough to actually be quiet for a bit.

‘Huh. Weird mask,’ said the dragon girl about the dude. Still, she kind of recognized that technology. She’d have to ask <redacted> about it, later. Slaves, huh. Mayra had no immediate response, but she didn’t like being called a slave. That can’t be right, a slave wouldn’t have as much fun as she is having right now. Yupp, flawless logic. She was about to rocket after him, but then he vanished without a trace and there was a pack of Wendigos jumping at them. Whelp.

Mayra spun and sent a fire-propelled kick to slam back the first row of attacks upon her and then took a step back, ending up back-to-back with Finn. He made his line, and Mayra smirked.

‘You gonna hog a whole five of them!? Give me eight, at least…!’ Mayra shouted with confidence, before taking position and started beating back at the attackers.

Truth be told, back-to-back fighting did not fit Mayra that well. She loved spinning and doing wide-spread area-of-effect blasts and damage, that would harm an ally if they were this close. Her usual strategy against hordes was also to just move so fast that enemies were unable to attack her from behind. However, she didn’t want Finn to die just yet, and she recognized that she was protecting his rear. So, she took it upon herself, a self-imposed challenge, that she’d change the way she fought for this encounter!

She’d stand firm, blasting fire and deflecting the Wendigos, one by one! She’d apply fire and force back the vicious antlers and claws of the creatures, she’d thrust through them when given the chance! She’d use darkness to curse the creatures with slowness, to make blasting them back so much easier, as she kicked and punch with vigour to drive them back and into dust…!

They could be back-to-back badasses yet!

---

So, Ronin and Miko looked on as Gaia raised her hand to stop the two offenders from attacking each other, and Ronin’s eyes kind of widened.

‘Wait I don’t think that’s gonna work-!’ Ronin called, because she kind of knew how that was likely to go down. Maybe a touch too late, as Gaia caused a bud to erupt to cause the fighters to go to sleep.

A wind and a fire blew off between the combatants, and a storm descended upon the scene, called by Sakura’s power. All that power focused into a single blow as the storm descended down on Caroline…! Ronin was amazed while Miko got kind of scared, the both of them a little wary of trying to approach like this…!

When a pair of wings suddenly enveloped the two of them, meaning Miko probably had to lower the sword she’d had pointed at Ronin’s stomach. The owner of the wings was immediately obvious.

‘Ey, Sanngridr! Chooser of the Slain! Well met, again!’ Ronin said, piping up and sounding cheerful at meeting her again.

‘Er, nice to meet you again?’ Miko asked, not entirely sure.

‘But, uh, I kinda really wanna see what’s going on, as fluffy and nice as your wing is, can we see, please?’ Ronin asked, aware it was somewhat difficult to go save Sakura while enveloped in fluffy wings.

So, it was impossible to tell what happened in the sounds that followed… except when Justine shouted out Caroline’s name and the sounds of combat quieted. Then Justine’s continued cries…

‘Wait, what?’ Ronin asked, confused.

‘She… she killed her?’ Miko asked, also stunned.

The twins had very mixed emotions about this. For one, they were shocked Caroline had gone down this easily. The Caroline they knew would need 3+ Magical Girls to even fight evenly against her. Also, while it was heart wrenching to hear Justine’s cries, and it sure would have been preferable if Caroline could have been purified as well… was it really that bad that a bloodthirsty villain had been killed? Ronin leaned towards yes, the best ending should always be pursued. Miko leaned towards being happy such a destructive force, one that killed her sister, was no longer of this world. Either way, both were just too startled to move…

That is, until Valerie arrived on the scene and then Connie pleaded to them to help save them.

‘…!’ There was no way Ronin could stay still with that. ‘Sorry, Sanngridr, I gotta move!’ she said, and attempted to jump out of the embrace with the help of some air-magic and reinforcement to just give that extra bit of speed, not directed in any kind of way that could hurt Sann.

‘W-wait, Ronin!’ Miko heard Ronin jump, and leapt to do the same.

This is when Sann has the opportunity to restrain the both of them, but in case she does not.

‘SENSEI, ARE YOU ALRIGHT!?’ Ronin shouted off towards Sakura, while running to Caroline. Sakura looked really bad, but Caroline was 100% dying right now. ‘SIT TIGHT, I’LL BE THERE IN A MINUTE!’ she called, before moving to kneel beside Justine, and to put her hands on Caroline. ‘Leave this to me, Justy…!’ she said, and in a twist of fate, Deni ended up using her powers to attempt to save the one who had previously killed her.

‘…’ Miko, begrudgingly, dashed to do the same, because Ronin’s power on its own was weak, that’s why there were two of them, so they could always add their power together. While she didn’t want to save Caroline, really, she also knew the pain of losing a sister. It was not a pain she wished upon anyone, even Justine. So a knowing gaze was thrown to Justine before Miko applied her powers as well, albeit she was saving part of her power to make a shield if Caroline suddenly lashed out at them…

‘Don’t blame Sensei! Caroline’s an unpredictable being, Sensei might have just saved our lives by directing her at herself,’ Ronin said to Valerie, aware Justine was hearing it but it needed to be said. ‘This being Caroline, holding back would have been stupid! It was just… a bit more effective than any of us expected, but if we save her now, it’s gonna be cool! Then Sensei helped us subdue her, okay…!?’ Ronin tried, because, she was an ally of Sensei. Also, she understood each of Sensei’s actions. They were not in the wrong.

---

Mariette frowned and tilted her head a little at the girl’s initial reactions to her and her tentacles. The portal girl couldn’t quite grasp just what could cause that kind of expression. It kind of bothered her. Anyway, the Beacon girl quickly overcame her, whatever that was, and was prepared to speak. So the girl spoke, with Mariette listening attentively. Something had appeared. A young boy had appeared, made an announcement about unification, and then the monsters had descended. And the person that did it… was right behind her?

Mariette spun around, and the tentacles were prepared to lash out. Except, what stepped out was a young, charming boy that so politely introduced himself to Mariette. He seemed so trustworthy, so nice and polite, an ideal gentleman, Mariette’s gut feeling told her this was a boy in which she could put her trust… which made her feel very uncomfortable because her mind and intelligence told her the exact opposite, and she had to force herself to keep her guard up.

‘I… hm,’ Mariette wanted to say something, but was conflicted, and instead ended up simply accepting the letter before watching Robert White vanish, and with that she had the startling realization that his effect didn’t leave with him. It was like he’d made an amazing first-impression, except Mariette’s mind knew it wasn’t. Very alarming.

Mariette immediately opened the letter to read it with a frown… … …

‘… What is crocket?’ she asked her mission control.

‘… It’s a game in which you…’

Then Mariette got to stand there listening to her mission control describe the rules of a game she’d never heard of before as the portal girl rather intently read through the letter…

---

A moment later a portal opened diagonally above Mayra.

‘Say, Mayra. Would it be beyond your power to throw a Wendigo through this portal?’ Mariette asked her dragon girl through a small portal. Mayra immediately felt an urge.

‘Hahaha… Is that a challenge!?’ Mayra called, and then next Wendigo Mayra would attempt to grab by the arm, swing with a fire-propelled throw and then try to release to make it fly through the portal, where Mariette was prepared with tentacles intending to trap it in Asengav’s darkness so that she and her lord might prey on whatever secrets the creature could tell them about the people who had summoned these creatures…

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

So, like, moments after Mariette spoke with Alicia she ended up in a spot of trouble. Mariette really hadn’t predicted that and wasn’t entirely sure what to do. Still, it felt mean to just leave, so…

So she charged a magical blast and let out a beam of light straight at the core of the Wendigo approaching Alicia through the very same portal she’d used to speak to her, before closing the portal and returning to the basement she was currently inhabiting.

While Mariette was looking around, she had information being whispered into her ear about how things were looking. For a moment the Industrial Sector looked bad and Mariette was mentally preparing to intercept, but then Penny arrived. There was Caroline, but Mariette didn’t want to bother with that, thankfully it seemed Miko was keeping Ronin from engaging the vampire-girl… Mariette sympathized with what she had to be feeling. It was modestly easy to imagine that Eli had felt the same loss Mariette had upon Deni’s death, and then some.

Still, there was one thing she was being told that really bothered her. She had someone constantly watching the town just in case something like this happened. Yet, this attack… where had it come from? Actually, she had a decently good idea where it came from. The voice in her ear told her how it had come from the Industrial Sector, and in fact, there was someone who had been there at the exact moment this event happened. Actually, more accurately, there had been a whole bunch of people… but only one that was still alive.

Mariette walked through a portal. She ended up in an apartment with a whole bunch of confused civilians that were wondering why they’d ended up here, and the magical effect on normal people ensured even if Mariette walked out of a portal in front of them they’d write it off as something mundane. Still, Mariette walked past them, she had one goal. The Beacon girl that she had placed upon the bed with the mundane doctor she’d portalled to next to her to deal with her injuries. She’d been decently patched up already…

‘What happened?’ Mariette asked, standing on absolutely no ceremony. ‘When this attack started… what did you see?’

Just in case this Beacon-girl would attack her for being here, Mariette had her tentacles ready…

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

‘HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!’ Mayra laughed as she tore through the wendigos she was faced with one by one. She considered each of her many abilities as limiters to be released one by one, and she was always challenging herself to beat her enemy with as few “limiters” released as possible. With her darkness-limiter released, she was jumping circles around the wendigos, partly bleeding magma around the area and partly making flaming holes in the creatures one after another.

But, like, look at this glorious battlefield! There were so many girls, fighting a common enemy. Someone was clearly using crows against them. That thunderbird was awesome. So many blades and fire-weapons. Numerous flying girls. Spirits and beasts about, monsters and wings striking. It was all so glorious, it made Mayra want nothing more than to be the most show-offy of all the people present. So with a last glance around the battlefield, the glance thrown while slamming her tail into two wendigos, she decided she was going to launch to the rescue of the girls Mariette had told her to save, and-

-and she immediately abandoned that plan and stopped short as her eyes zeroed in on something that got her immediate attention. Now, Mayra had very little interest in boys, other than that they looked curiously. Fellow fire-users were more interesting, but they were decently common.

But what was it that she saw before her that she had never previously seen?

Fire boys.

Two of them.

@Majoras End

Mayra immediately shot off through the battle, utterly ignoring all form of action because she'd suddenly lost interest in the battle. She just suddenly landed next to the Oliver she decided was the real one, because it was the one closest to Finn. She just suddenly appeared, looking at him with a curious look and a tilted face, smiling as the dragon-girl inspected him and his weapons of choice.

‘Hey. You make fire, but it’s not normal fire. Cool. Can you show me how you’re doing it? I’m interested. Could we spar? I’d like to test you out!’ Mayra said, smiling and approaching him, possibly made even stranger than usual because the dragon-girl was still bleeding from numerous cuts from Wendigos, and also she just left two Wendigos she’d been fighting behind to suddenly go talking to Oliver.

‘Also your friend with the cool red flame is-’ and that’s when Mayra noticed that the other guy wasn’t there anymore but heading somewhere else.

‘Wait, he’s going somewhere!? There’s somewhere cooler to be than here!? I’m interested! Let me go, too!’ Mayra called excitedly and then blasted off with a beast-like leap after where Finn was running, an excited Mayra dashing to keep up with him and find out where he was going, completely and utterly ignoring/forgetting the supposed commands Mariette had given/bribed her with about protecting those other Magical Girls.

If Mayra were to actually catch up to Finn, she’d be like ‘Heeey, where are we going? Can I come? I’m coming anyway! By the way, I like your fire. Can you do some more? I wanna see!’ or something to that degree while dashing leaned forward and tilting her head at him. Not sure she actually would, but if she did.

---

@Ponn

Miko was a bit worried that Caroline would react negatively to that Gaia also urged her to look for her sister, but fortunately it appeared that Caroline didn’t think that far ahead. It definitely seemed like she was going to depart and leave them alone. However, Miko avoided breathing a sigh of relief until the vicious smiling girl had actually departed. Ronin, meanwhile, was kind of wondering if Miko was going to keep holding her sword at Ronin’s stomach for as long as Caroline was here.

Then some rather regal-seeming monster-girl started speaking. Both Ronin and Miko looked in her direction rather dumbstruck as to who this was and why they were here. Though, towards the end of her speech, she completely dropped the regal-seeming part and-

‘Sensei!’ Ronin called happily as she realized.
‘Wait, THAT’S Sensei?’ Miko asked, eyebrows raised. ‘But she’s a-’
‘Doesn’t matter, it’s Sensei! People change appearance all the time here!’ Ronin said, grinning, herself and Miko being primary examples of this.

Of course, it took but a moment for Caroline to, well, not be insulted by Sakura’s words, but going for a vicious assault against her regardless.

‘C’mon, we gotta help her!’ Ronin called excitedly… but was once again stopped as Miko didn’t move the sword. Ronin looked down, and then to her sister with a now the slightest inconvenienced look.

‘She… she said she’d handle it. Don’t give Caroline a reason to attack us,’ Miko demanded, remembering the time Caroline killed her.

‘Ey, sis… That’s my friend being attacked over there. Of course she’ll say she can handle it, that’s who she is, but I can’t just not help her!’ Ronin said.

‘B-but, last time you faced her, I…’ I lost you, were the words Miko couldn’t say.

‘Hey, I know what happened, but… I can’t just stop being me, you know? It just wouldn’t feel right! But with you at my side, I’m sure we can prevent it from happening again! Alright?’ Ronin asked, giving Miko one of her trademark optimistic friend-making grins as she felt so confident about this.

‘I…’ Miko had trouble finding the words to reply, yet she absolutely did not want Ronin to run off into battle with Caroline again. She threw a pleading glance towards Gaia and Connie, as if asking for advice or a helping hand or something… albeit maybe they were already occupied with something, who knows, then Miko and Ronin will sort it out themselves next post. Maybe. For now they’re standing there, meaning Sakura’s on her own for a little bit, unless someone else comes to protect her.

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

Mariette was startled by the sudden appearance of the crows. She instantly gauged that she did not have the firepower to shoot down a crowd of this many crows, and as such simply portalled to a new location. However, as she did that, she came to the realization that the crows could follow her, no matter where she went. This effectively meant Mariette could no longer be on the battlefield until the crows were gone.

Very annoying.

Mariette portalled herself into a locked basement that she knew existed for this very reason, in case someone was after her. Try as they might, the crows would need to fly through several closed doors in order to reach her here. It was dark, but she already knew all that was in here. So, to support from her current location, Mariette periodically opened portals around the Industrial District to see the situation, and sent a bolt of light at an offending Wendigo each time. She let Shane handle the crows, as she closed the portal and waited before opening another somewhere else.

This meant her attacks were less frequent, but at the very least she was still helping.

That’s when a voice suddenly spoke into her ear.

‘Caroline von Visceral has appeared at Penrose Bank,’ a voice suddenly spoke in her ear. Mariette winced. That name meant a significant amount to her. That girl that had been the one to kill Deni all that time ago, and Justine had let it happen. Still, Justine was cleared now. While Mariette never wanted to talk to her again, there was a certain urgency to her right now. She had to act. She reached with her magic to various corners of Penrose…

@Flamelord@Shifter_Master@Ariamis

‘Caroline von Visceral has appeared at Penrose Bank,’ Mariette spoke through three small portals, to behind and to the left of each target. One to Penny, who she figured would react responsively. One to Alicia, who she believed would react accordingly. One to Justine, who she knew to be purified. Now, they were all in the midst of battles, but she was confident her words would be on their minds. She was wary of attack from at least one of them.

‘In her presence is Connie, Gaia, Ronin and Miko.’

Mariette winced, her heart lurching a bit. By now, she knew who Ronin and Miko were. And they… they were by Caroline. Thing was, if Mariette instantly acted on this knowledge, then the one watching would pick up on her desperation and the two’s cover would be blown. At the very least, Mariette opened a portal to watch from the sky above, careful to keep a lookout for crows about to assault her. If they were to assault her, tentacles would strike them and keep Mariette safe enough to close the portal.

---

Mayra basically grinned at the Wendigos trying to hold her down. She crouched, swiped with her blazing clawed foot as she blasted another Wendigo halfway across the district, and was launching herself from Wendigo to Wendigo to keep from being surrounded, when suddenly apparently two Wendigos managed to trap her between their antlers. Huh, this was new. She had a mildly curious expression as one tore her shoulder-scale off, some went for her swinging tail but frankly missed, and a couple more cut at her face and her one bit at her leg… A somewhat bad idea considering the blood that ran through Mayra’s veins was blazingly hot and far more burningly so than her relatively cool exterior.

Completely unperturbed, Mayra smirked at them. The Monica chick sent out a torrent of orange flames which ignored the Wendigos but gave her the boon of Divine Fire… which Mayra had no idea of what it was but it felt good. It made her want to destroy some monsters. She chuckled at her “captors”.

‘Heeeeeeeeeey, you’re doing pretty good! I appreciate the challenge!’ Mayra took another breath and kicked the one that was trying to chew on her leg (and probably burn their mouth off). ‘Wanna start phase two?’

… And then Mayra effortlessly slipped through the antlers with Darkness magic allowing her to slip through her own shadow, showing up in the shadow of a different Wendigo and throwing a burning clawed punch to pierce through the monster’s torso. Her eyes burned with passion as she vaulted over the victim to drive her legs through the next, and then momentarily fell back to dodge further attempts at captures. Even if they did manage to hit her, she was too tough for them to easily kill. Even if they captured her, she had darkness magic to let her slip away. Even if they revived, Mayra always had more fire! So she felt!

‘Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee~!’ Mayra brawled her way into the herd, once more keeping herself from being overwhelmed by keeping to the sides or otherwise slipping away with darkness. There was no way she was retreating and there was no way she’d be needing help. She was brawling this whole group to dust as a mass of flailing fire and darkness, kicking and slashing overhead as she weaved and struck past their blows, even as their gathering hits and cuts were making her bleed some blazingly warm sizzling yellow blood onto the pavement below…!

‘Hey, girl with the huge demon above her! Don’t die, I wanna try fighting your thing later!’ Mayra shouted in the midst of the brawl. She was referring to Ashlyn, but since she was basically shouting it into the mass of Wendigos who really knew.

Should she run out of opponents she’d go off and try to kill-steal from the other girls present. Though, seeing how she was contending with eight of them on her own, maybe she’ll be busy for a while.

---

Ronin and Miko found themselves helped by a blast of nightmare magic from Connie that caused the two Wendigos to get a bit crippled..

‘Thank you, Connie!’ Miko called with a happy smile. as she maneuvered to take advantage.
‘You’re a hero!’ Ronin followed it up with a grin, a wink and a thumbs-up. Then she noticed the one that was turning towards Connie…

‘OH NO YOU DON’T!’ Ronnie called with a grin as she launched herself off a platform of reinforcement that sprung like a spring under her feet to propel her at the Wendigo so it wouldn’t attack her friend… when the Wendigo suddenly dropped into dust. ‘… Huh?’

There was a new individual here, with a burning sword-staff, a familiar visage and a chilling voice…

Ronin froze, a little conflicted on how she should respond. She sort-of got killed last time she interacted with this individual. But, Caroline was going up next to Connie! Ronin just had to-

A sword pressed lightly at her stomach before she could dash to Connie’s rescue. Ronin looked with surprise to her right, and quickly surmised that any distress she was feeling was child’s play compared to what her sister was feeling.

‘Don’t… move,’ Miko said, her eyes of frantic determination as she held her own sword at her sister for the sole purpose of ensuring Deni did not jump in Caroline’s way again. Last time Caroline had gone for Mariette and Deni had died jumping in her way. Eli would not let it happen again. Instead, Eli had a different solution.

‘Your sister is somewhere else in this city,’ Miko said, turning to look kindly at Caroline, her sword still holding Ronin from leaping. ‘I don’t know where she is, but any moment you aren’t looking for her is time during which she might leave. You don’t want that, do you? You should go look for her!’ Miko said, smiling so supportively, disguising the inner turmoil.

She just wanted Caroline to leave. As soon as possible. Get away from me and Deni!

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

Mariette did not respond to the sentence echoing through her mind. She knew that, already. She turned back to the three unknown girls as intended, giving no particular reaction. She did note the words about needing fire to burn the hearts of the monsters, albeit it was information she’d already heard through her ear-piece.

So, it seemed the girls did, in fact, just seek shelter. Mariette relaxed her cold gaze, it seemed they were merely misguided and did, in fact, not have anything to do with the Wendigo invasion, as she had feared. In fact, the three of them were about to end up in absolute peril, in a matter of mere seconds.

It appeared that they were in need of a powerful savior.

Unfortunately, the available savior didn’t respond too well to commands, because of her inherent chaotic nature. Mariette couldn’t just give her orders. Incentive was needed.

Fortunately, Mariette was rather well-versed in what their savior wanted.

‘Save their lives and I’ll have Tullia let you fight her dragon.’

‘Have Taihei make her a magical artifact to make the dragon even stronger!’

‘Deal.’

An explosion of fire burst out around Mariette. The eye-patched girl stumbled, clutching her plushie, as what could best be described as a comet blasted across the district at the horde of Wendigos, specifically at the girl currently being swarmed. A line of fire crossed in a straight line across the battlefield… before the individual at the tip of the launch swung her leg, and the tail of fire swung with it. A long whip of fire slashed with the weight of a powerful kick down at the clawing swarm, and upon impact it would explode into a fiery blast to send the creatures blazing off of the pretty injured girl.

Above her, a girl covered in draconic scales landed, grinning at the horde, her fiery hair flowing on her head and hot yellow lines of magma burning around on her skin.

‘Hey, hey, hey, I heard something funny,’ the girl said, chuckling a little bit as she flexed her fingers and fire covered her claws, her tail swinging slowly and excitedly behind her.

‘You guys are weak to fire, ain’t ya?’ Mayra called with a little grin, clasping a fist into a palm… before rocketing with a blast of fire behind her straight into another Wendigo, raising her claws of fire to burn through the beast and its heart before heading for the next one straight after, intending to catch as many of the beasts as she could, not giving them time to gang up on her before she blasted away with a burst of fire to the next beast, swiping with claws and legs and maybe occasionally even her tail.

Mariette gave a brief sigh as she let Mayra go to work while she herself tried to open a portal from the injured girl directly into the sanctuary, hoping it wasn’t too late for their available healers to save what was left of her.

After the previous incident, it was decided that Mariette needed someone with significantly more firepower as her bodyguard, a job that Eli wasn’t really that suitable for. With Mayra here, lack of physical prowess was a worry of the past. She was their ace, competent with magic and a terror in physical combat, so combat-wise they were fine. However, compared to Eli, Mayra wasn’t a fraction as subtle and lacked Eli’s information-gathering expertise, meaning Mariette could no longer depend on sound advice at her side at all times. Though… she was maybe a lot more capable as someone claiming to be protecting the city.

Regardless. Mariette turned her attention to the fleeing girl, Hanna, who Mayra wouldn’t be able to help. Mariette stepped through a portal into the sky, where the Wendigos were hard-pressed to try to catch her, and swung an arm to send bolts of light down at the Wendigos pursuing the girl. If she could, she’d attempt to catch Hanna in a portal so she’d take her right back to the three Sanctuary girls, who she figured would do a better job protecting her. She just had to keep the Wendigos occupied while Mayra and Monica did their jobs to actually finish off the horde of Wendigos.

Mariette’s eye behind the eyepatch quickly flashed a look at a clock in a nearby apartment to keep track of time. Of all things, she had class coming up. Hopefully, this incident would be over before she had to leave. Because, between saving the city and getting to class in the Overcity on time…

She’d pick class.

---

‘Whoa-!’ Ronin sounded as the beast swiped at her, and she used a combination of Martial Training and Flexibility to redirect the swipe with her sword and dodge under the brunt of the attack. Miko, meanwhile, noted the incoming horned bully and charged a burst of air to blast her aside, but it was slightly too slow and her skirt was torn, her leg scratched behind it. Meanwhile, over there, Connie and Gaia… were handling just fine.

‘It appears, despite my question, we’re the ones in need of help,’ Miko commented, leaping to reconvene with Ronin with her sword held a little lazily but with a ready stance regardless.

‘Fortunately for us, we’re never without help!’ Ronin chuckled, landing next to her with her sword at the ready and held with both hands. Miko chuckled as well, for she understood her sister’s words.

‘That’s right.’
‘We’re never alone.’

‘We fight together!’
‘We fight together!’

With that call, the girls dashed past each other creating an x-shape, each sister launching themselves at the Wendigo focused on the other. Miko blasted a burst of wind into the opponent’s face to momentarily dazzle him before slicing at the beast’s stomach, while Ronin created a small barrier to block her opponent’s next attack before it had even picked up speed, and sliced at her opponent’s neck while given the chance.

As soon as that was done and the Wendigos were sure to refocus on the new twin, the two used small bursts of wind to once again switch places, keeping an eye on the actions of the other Wendigo to mislead any attack on their fellow twin and seek an entrance for the slices of their own blades! Small bursts of wind was used to confuse and reposition themselves to avoid damage, and small reinforcement barriers were used to block attacks early or redirect them with angled blows to send them off-target.

If at any point both Wendigos focused at the same sister, it meant she took to the evasive while the other was free to slice the creatures from behind. As soon as the circumstances changed, they’d resume their dance, meant to keep monsters of simpler mental states confused and while using Flexibility and Martial Training to keep themselves out of danger and using their weak but nonetheless capable magic to give them the edge in battle.

And so, the sisters’ dance of battle was in motion.