Current
I just can't. This is too much. Berserk was so influential on so many things that I love. Goodbye, Miura. You'll be missed by many.
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likes
4 yrs ago
Migraines ew
5 yrs ago
Welp apparently discord servers are having some pretty bad Latency issues.
1
like
5 yrs ago
Well I just got my mitts on the Links Awakening remake. Excus eme while I disappear for a weak while I relive my childhood
2
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5 yrs ago
Migraine killed me today. Posts tomorrow.
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Bio
Hello! Welcome to my little bio.
Not much to say, really. Just a horror game protag that likes writing and playing vidya games when I'm not being chased by the cosmic forces of darkness. (I'm a security guard that works night shifts usually).
Zeal, Monferno Level 14 Status: 100% Held Item: Focus Band
Chikorita, Pip Level 10 Status: 100%
10552P Antidote x1 Great Ball x3 Super Potion x2 Tiny Mushroom x 1 Revive x1 10 Ultra Balls Shiny Stone Amulet Coin Letter of Recommendation
Important Items: Castle Medal Crystal of Knowledge
Badge Collection: Challenge Badge - Redcoast Town, Hector. Minor League.
Do-do-do-do-dooooo! Side-quest finished!
Sweet mother of quest rewards!
10 Ultra Balls? Amulet Coin? A shiny stone? And by her own cute butt, that recommendation! She could just like...go ultra hard mode and challenge the league right now! Doing it was even a stupid thought, but it was hilarious to think about. Wouldn't be the first time she tried to challenge the end boss at level one for giggles. Claire gratefully took each item as her just rewards, quickly stuffing everything away in her bag as Frans went on to thank her, even inviting her into his home. Private palace, huh? Fancy. She'd need to dress properly for the occasion if she went.
Hm, was her suit still packed at home? She really needed to get her own flying pokemon.
There was just one teensy tiny problem.
"Ah! Wait hold up Franz!" She had no idea what was going on, really, but for some reason, Tezcatl...Tez, was still registered to her party. "Sorry to rain on both of our parades right now, but uh, for some reason Tez is still registered to my party. " Ralia poked Claire's cheek. "I think Ralia is saying that something was weird with your first pokeball too."
"I wonder...are you a Van Gogh or Monet?...hm? Oh sorry, ufufu, talking to myself. Do you need something?"
Name: Marietta Lalaurie
Title(s):
Appearance: Standing at five seven, Marietta comes off as both elegant and sophisticated. A proper magus from an influential family, she has been well taken care of and prides herself in her appearance. Short cut black hair, dressed in the latest fashions, fair skin and her family's jewels she always takes care of her appearance the best she is able.
Gender: Female
Age: 23
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Rank: (Your capability as a Magus in the eyes of the Mages Association. This will be given to you on approval.)
Objective for the Grail: Marietta's desires and wishes are entirely material and physical, but what could the grail give her that she doesn't already have? She has a sizable amount of money, is fairly skilled with her paints. She doesn't aspire to much more.
Perhaps, if she'd say, it would be...'The Highest quality and number of magical circuits.'
Character Objectives: Primary
Sharpen her magical talents and her family Crest
Discover Primeval Runes.
Secondary
Meet a Famous painter Heroic Spirit
Paint heroic battles
Paint beautiful artworks of history
harem ending
Command Seal:
Personality: Friendly and soft spoken, Marietta comes off as a high class big-sister type of person. Kind, caring, friendly and a bit of a tease, Marietta is considered by most, a model human being as well as a model mage. She looks after those around her, always strives to protect and ensure that no matter what she doesn't fail anyone who has put their faith in her.
Unfortunately, this belies a rather selfish, mildly hedonistic disposition. Marietta, while generally good natured, has difficulties listening to others as well as doing anything that she doesn't wish to. Perhaps a bit spoiled, in that regard, still, she dislikes working and generally spends her days in ease with her easel and paints. With mild illusions of grandeur and a dislike of taking orders, she may be more trouble than she first seems like.
Bio: The Lalaurie family is a rather well known, if not particularly overly powerful family of mages hailing from Northern france. Purportedly claiming descendant from ancient celtic peoples who immigrated to France, they perhaps consider themselves a bit more important than they may actually be. Still, it can be said they are well known for their dedication to the craft and desire for knowledge.
Marietta was born to her parents, and quickly took to studying as well as her families crest and the mysteries of magic. Most of her early life was spent being waited on hand and foot, her family desiring to give her as much comfort and leeway the next heir of their family could have. It worked, at least somewhat. Certainly, she grew well to her studies, but she developed a somewhat...lazy attitude towards it.
Even so, she was considered the be a shining example of what they were looking for in an heir. Knowledgeable, skillful, and understanding at times a certain need for...discretion. To further her studies, she willingly decided to work at Chaldea, with a recommendation and approval from her parents, seeing this as an excellent opportunity to further her mage craft and study. After all, potentially traveling to areas of human history - one could likely find a plethora of useful and old runes should one look. ---
Magic Circuit Switch: The feeling of a paintbrush across her skin.
Number of Magic Circuits: B
Quality of Magic Circuits: c
---
Elemental Affinity: Water
Magecraft: Aside from general magecraft, Marietta is skilled in a particular field - Runes. Despite being rather looked down upon by normal magi, her family takes great pride in keeping the tradition alive. Not only just the weak modern runes that are pale imitations of once grander things, but even some Old Runes passed down in her families histories.
Her runes carry a variety of effects as one may expect. When placed upon surfaces and combined with other runes, one can create a variety of simple bounded fields. When inscribed upon flesh, she can create protective wards or charms - or curses - for whoever has decided to wear it.
She is extremely well versed in modern runes, as pale of an imitation as they are, and are where most of her magecraft comes from. However, she does have a decent arsenal of Old Runes, though even then its likely only a fraction that exist. That said, there is still much room for growth. Currently inscribing effects of multiple Runes is difficult, making her typically stick to simple one-word castings, but she is constantly practicing and striving to develop her abilities.
Crest: Seven generations, 280 years.
Weapon: Emerald Brooch A mystic code passed down from head of the family to heir of the family. A magic tool characterized by its ability to simply allow one to clean oneself. That is, detoxifying the body from any sort of poisons or other physical ailments. In the past, it was used to ward off assassins using poison to assassinate them.
Yggdrasil's Branch - A specialized paintbrush support formal wear developed by her family. A fairly average magical tool which allows one to store a mass of magical energy. When applied with drawing Runes, it allows one to expend less energy as well as assist with the flow of magic into the runes, creating potentially more stable and stronger effects.
Yggdrasil's Sap A specialized paint for drawing Runes. More akin to ink than paint, only a small amount of this component is ever made at a time simply due to the process required. The paint, once applied to a surface binds with the object in a fashion of permanents. Effectually, this makes the rune inscribed much harder to tamper with, creating a far more permanent effect, even allowing the object to withstand physical harm. Perhaps its best described as a paint that inherently increases the Runes 'luck' against being destroyed. However, the paint is rare and incredibly difficult to synthesize, and is only used sparingly.
"I wonder...are you a Van Gogh or Monet?...hm? Oh sorry, ufufu, talking to myself. Do you need something?"
Name: Marietta Lalaurie
Title(s):
Appearance: Standing at five seven, Marietta comes off as both elegant and sophisticated. A proper magus from an influential family, she has been well taken care of and prides herself in her appearance. Short cut black hair, dressed in the latest fashions, fair skin and her family's jewels she always takes care of her appearance the best she is able.
Gender: Female
Age: 23
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Rank: (Your capability as a Magus in the eyes of the Mages Association. This will be given to you on approval.)
Objective for the Grail: Marietta's desires and wishes are entirely material and physical, but what could the grail give her that she doesn't already have? She has a sizable amount of money, is fairly skilled with her paints. She doesn't aspire to much more.
Perhaps, if she'd say, it would be...'The Highest quality and number of magical circuits.'
Character Objectives: Primary
Sharpen her magical talents and her family Crest
Discover Primeval Runes.
Secondary
Meet a Famous painter Heroic Spirit
Paint heroic battles
Paint beautiful artworks of history
harem ending
Command Seal:
Personality: Friendly and soft spoken, Marietta comes off as a high class big-sister type of person. Kind, caring, friendly and a bit of a tease, Marietta is considered by most, a model human being as well as a model mage. She looks after those around her, always strives to protect and ensure that no matter what she doesn't fail anyone who has put their faith in her.
Unfortunately, this belies a rather selfish, mildly hedonistic disposition. Marietta, while generally good natured, has difficulties listening to others as well as doing anything that she doesn't wish to. Perhaps a bit spoiled, in that regard, still, she dislikes working and generally spends her days in ease with her easel and paints. With mild illusions of grandeur and a dislike of taking orders, she may be more trouble than she first seems like.
Bio: The Lalaurie family is a rather well known, if not particularly overly powerful family of mages hailing from Northern france. Purportedly claiming descendant from ancient celtic peoples who immigrated to France, they perhaps consider themselves a bit more important than they may actually be. Still, it can be said they are well known for their dedication to the craft and desire for knowledge.
Marietta was born to her parents, and quickly took to studying as well as her families crest and the mysteries of magic. Most of her early life was spent being waited on hand and foot, her family desiring to give her as much comfort and leeway the next heir of their family could have. It worked, at least somewhat. Certainly, she grew well to her studies, but she developed a somewhat...lazy attitude towards it.
Even so, she was considered the be a shining example of what they were looking for in an heir. Knowledgeable, skillful, and understanding at times a certain need for...discretion. To further her studies, she willingly decided to work at Chaldea, with a recommendation and approval from her parents, seeing this as an excellent opportunity to further her mage craft and study. After all, potentially traveling to areas of human history - one could likely find a plethora of useful and old runes should one look. ---
Magic Circuit Switch: The feeling of a paintbrush across her skin.
Number of Magic Circuits: B
Quality of Magic Circuits: c
---
Elemental Affinity: Water
Magecraft: Aside from general magecraft, Marietta is skilled in a particular field - Runes. Despite being rather looked down upon by normal magi, her family takes great pride in keeping the tradition alive. Not only just the weak modern runes that are pale imitations of once grander things, but even some Old Runes passed down in her families histories.
Her runes carry a variety of effects as one may expect. When placed upon surfaces and combined with other runes, one can create a variety of simple bounded fields. When inscribed upon flesh, she can create protective wards or charms - or curses - for whoever has decided to wear it.
She is extremely well versed in modern runes, as pale of an imitation as they are, and are where most of her magecraft comes from. However, she does have a decent arsenal of Old Runes, though even then its likely only a fraction that exist. That said, there is still much room for growth. Currently inscribing effects of multiple Runes is difficult, making her typically stick to simple one-word castings, but she is constantly practicing and striving to develop her abilities.
Crest: Seven generations, 280 years.
Weapon: Emerald Brooch A mystic code passed down from head of the family to heir of the family. A magic tool characterized by its ability to simply allow one to clean oneself. That is, detoxifying the body from any sort of poisons or other physical ailments. In the past, it was used to ward off assassins using poison to assassinate them.
Yggdrasil's Branch - A specialized paintbrush support formal wear developed by her family. A fairly average magical tool which allows one to store a mass of magical energy. When applied with drawing Runes, it allows one to expend less energy as well as assist with the flow of magic into the runes, creating potentially more stable and stronger effects.
Yggdrasil's Sap A specialized paint for drawing Runes. More akin to ink than paint, only a small amount of this component is ever made at a time simply due to the process required. The paint, once applied to a surface binds with the object in a fashion of permanents. Effectually, this makes the rune inscribed much harder to tamper with, creating a far more permanent effect, even allowing the object to withstand physical harm. Perhaps its best described as a paint that inherently increases the Runes 'luck' against being destroyed. However, the paint is rare and incredibly difficult to synthesize, and is only used sparingly.
At least she would have a few days to gather her thoughts. Ugh, she really wasn't looking forward to this. Her parents were...nice, but...well, no matter. She'd deal with it when it came. Being the heir to a noble house, always being expected to succeed...well, it put a lot of strain on a person. Its why she always tried to be better than everyone at the academy - she had to be. It was the only thing she really had, back then.
Stepping into the cool night air, The dark elf shifted her thoughts back to the matter at hand. The serenity of the festival was something she wished she could enjoy. Such a rare sight, and her feet slowed only slightly to take in the sights, her thoughts soon interrupted again by the Feathered One.
"I see. Thank you." Seleth replied once more. Curious. Why just the lone meeting? What sort of information was he looking for that required them to meet one on one? Though, she supposed with the sensitive nature of the subject, it was prudent to keep as few people in the know as possible.
There was not much more to be said, for the moment, so she quietly continued to follow.
“Chloe?” Penny would call out as she stepped into the girl’s Apartment. “You home?” she would ask before walking further in too look for her small friend. It had been a few days since Penny had joined Beacon in a more concrete fashion. She had tried to drop by earlier to simply hang out with her friend but life had become rather busy for the cleansed Monster girl.
Granted most of it was Penny’s own fault as she had recently started remodeling her lair. In hopes of being able to start up a project she had wanted to for a long time, but that was neither here nor there.
“On the bed, dear!” Chloe called out from where she had been idly flipping through a book. It wouldn't take Penny long to find the Dark Magical girl splayed out on the bed, next to a white haired girl who was staring intently at a bedside lamp.
“Mhm...so you want me to start today?”
“The more we have, the better when the time comes, Divina.” Chloe said. “...and if you run into any Beacon, do behave. I don't want to start trouble with them, but if they try anything you have my permission to defend yourself. Understand?”
“Yes, of course. Fighting is bad.” The moth girl nodded, still not taking her eyes off the lamp, at least until she noticed Penny. “...Ah, the girl from the graveyard.”
“Penny, Divina. Divina, Penny.” Chloe briefly introduced them. “New girl. Beacon thinks I poached her with malicious intent but all I did was free her of that silly brainwashing that pathetic excuse of a man put her under.”
“Now now, it's not good to talk about the dead in such a fashion, Chloe. I'm sure you two had more in common than you think.” Chloe laughed at that, before giving Divina a light whack on the back of the head.
“Yea, probably not. Anyone who does any sort of brainwashing is rather uncouth and I want nothing to do with them.” Sitting up and turning to face Penny with a friendly smile, Chloe offered her friend a place on the bed next to her. “What brings you here today, my lovely little Penny?”
“Yeah Elroy was a piece of work alright” Penny would agree, waving a greeting at Divina as electricity started arcing over her metal chassis. Causing it to start to digitizing before it sublimated away leaving her in her human state.
“Still annoyed that I didn’t get satisfying feedback from our clash” She would grumble as she flopped down onto the bed next to Chloe “I dropped in because I wanted to see how you were doing Chloe and I felt like taking a break, had an interesting couple of days, plus I’ve been remodeling my lair.”
“Oh” Penny would snap her fingers before pointing at Divina “If you want to avoid Beacon try to keep out of the North Eastern parks area. One of the scouts called in something over there, so they moved some more girls over to that area”
“Truly?” Divina tilted her head adjusting her glasses slightly. She walked over to Penny, studying her for a moment before giggling lightly. “Ah, thank you. I'd give you a hug but Chloe says you're a little shy and almost gave poor Aurora a swift end.”
“Don't tease her Divina.” Chloe grinned. “Only I'm allowed to do that.” She glanced over to Penny, flipping a page in the book. “Remodeling, though? What for, exactly?”
”It’s not like that” Penny would groan out “Just not comfortable with most people touching me when I’m human” she would explain before shaking her head.
“That’s right, I haven't had a chance to tell you yet!” She would cheer as she pushed herself up to sit “I’m no longer chained to Laat! Apparently Beacon’s been working on some interesting things and developed their own Coin type. It’s a white one and it purifies rather then corrupts. Comes with a Beacon membership and an upgraded Spark as well.”
“Didn’t fully work on me, as I'm still a monster girl” She went on sounding relieved at that fact, and she was. Her lack of being human was one of the things that had oddly enough brought her the most comfort out of her joining the community, she just always thought that her corruption and her inhuman nature were one and the same. She was glad to be proven wrong.
”But I haven't told them that. Still feeling out all the changes it brought on since it changed my standard form but one of the perks is that I can hold either form indefinitely. It’s nice to wake up still feeling the comforting sensation of a blanket again.” She would explain with a soft smile. “Sorry, you weren’t there for it. And I know you tried to help before, but I’m glad we didn’t push it then. Laat nearly forced me into a full transformation and I’m not sure if I could have lived with myself if He had gotten me to lash out at you.”
“Since then I’ve been working on making my lair in to a shelter of sorts. I’m not the only monster girl who’s not evil and I know there has to be other Dark magical girls like you who aren't evil, but there really isn’t a place for any of them to get help. So I figured that I would make one, now that I won’t get punished for building something up.” She would at last answer the question that had been asked of her.
Chloe listened with only mild interest as Penny started talking about something. No longer chained to Laat? Coin that purifies? How nice-There was an almost imperceptible twitch with Chloe's left eyelid. It got rid of...that corruption? That thing that made Penny, Penny? The thing Chloe had fallen in love with? Did she understand that right? And not only that, she had joined beacon as a lackey? That would explain how she knew of their whereabouts.
Chloe inhaled.
Closed the book she was reading, placing it on a nearby desk.
Exhale.
“That's quite the ambitious little project you have there.” In theory, it was one she even approved of. In theory. In. Theory. There were so many things wrong with it now though, it was scary, the fact beacon even had something that could purify something so easily was scary to her.
Why.
Why did the world want her to change? Why did any of them have to change.
Pathetic.
Futile. Ah, why couldn’t she just kill them all with the press of a button.
Chloe hopped up off the bed, walking over to Divina. Even if Penny was doing this with the best of intentions, would Beacon really let them, unpurified monster girls and dark magical girls live? Doubtful. Unlike Penny...most didn't mind their mutations. Most were incredibly fine with it.
“You should get going, and if you see Aurora tell him to return here soon. And if he's late he's not getting any cake.”
With a nod, and a goodbye to Penny, Divina made for the door. Maybe she could use this to her advantage. She was in the market for girls. For people. For ones pure enough for it. Pure enough for her world. It was a dirty thing to do, leveraging your friends like this...and it certainly pained her to potentially deceive Penny like this, but it was an opportunity.
“A project I approve of.” Chloe smiled briefly. “...I would help myself, but well...Beacon currently has it out for me. I’m assuming they would be all over that place, or at least watching it closely.” She frowned, shaking her head. “If it wasn't for Divina, it'd be baseless accusations simply because everyone always blames the dark magical girls for bad times.”
“When they learn of it, you’re probably right” Penny would agree as she stretched out on the bed “I’m hoping to get the place fully set up and running before Beacon catches on though. There is a few of them, like Alicia, who would be alright with it but doubt most would be happy with it. Or me for that matter” She would explain easily, unaware of the turmoil she had caused within her friend.
“And as I still see it as baseless; Divina hasn’t asked to go back, cause I’m sure you’d let her go if she wanted too.” Penny added before shaking her head “Not everyone wants to be human, and there is nothing wrong with that. One of the things I’ll just never agree with when it comes to Beacons policies”
“Oh, before I forget! Would you mind if I moved in here?” Penny would ask, remembering one of the reasons she had wanted to see Chloe.
Well, at least it seemed like Penny was still being cautious about this. That was good. Maybe she hadn't completely lost control of her yet. Just yet. Still, her being part of beacon – having that spark, it wasn't something that Chloe was ever going to feel right with her having. So many things could go wrong. So many hurtful, painful, impure things. She didn't want Penny to be in such a position. Ah, but such pains were also part of love so who was she to complain?
But for now, she just listened with her usual smile until Penny made quite the suggestion.
“Eh?” Chloe blinked. “Move in...with me?” Chloe visibly wavered, holding a hand over her heart as her breathing quickened slightly. Penny? Move in? With her? Ahhh, her little love nest was getting a new little love, heh! Ah, it had felt so empty after Isana left.
“Ahaaha~” Before Penny could say anything, in a perhaps mildly off putting manner, Chloe had wrapped the girl up in a hug, pressing her face against hers and giggling happily. “Ah my sweet little Penny of course you can move in with me! Aaaah, we'll have so much fun! Of course Divina and Aurora also kind of live here now, but that'll be fine! Eeeh, what should we do first? Movie night? Tea party? Clothes shopping? You need to let me dress you up one of these days! I have the loveliest dress for you. Oh-I know~” She pressed her lips dangerously close to Penny's ear.
“Maybe...you want...me for your first night here?~”
Penny had some ideas about how Chloe would react to her request, and she had been nervous about asking. Being glomped had levied her worries, but hadn’t been one of the outcomes that she had been expecting. Still she returned the hug as a bit as Chloe started to gush with ideas of things to do in what Penny assumed was celebration.
‘Why do people keep wanting to dres- Wait... WHAT!?’
Penny went rigid as she first processed what Chloe had just suggested, an utterly stunned look on her face as she did. “Bwa..” She replayed the words in her head over, assuming she misheard or something. “Di..” She tried laughing it off “Haa…” She tried asking for Chloe to say it again “Wha..”
The unfortunate thing is that she was trying to do all of them at the same time, and only succeeded in babbling incoherently as she tried to make heads or tails of the situation she found herself in. All the while her face was turning brighter and brighter as a blush started to grow rampantly due to the words looping in her head.
After a few moments Penny gave up trying to verbalize a response and settled for trying burying her face in her hands as she waited for her brain to reboot.
Penny's embarrassed reaction caused Chloe to giggle impishly, not releasing the mecha girl from the hug so easily. Instead her grip seemed to tighten almost possessively on the girl, obviously not wanting to let her go. Before Penny could even question what she was doing, Chloe placed a playful kiss on Penny's cheek before hopping off the bed and clapping excitedly.
“Ah, you've made me a very happy girl, my adorable easily teased Penny.” She held a hand to the side of her face, a wide grin forming on her lips. “I almost don't even know what to do with myself.” Calming herself down a bit, Chloe knelt by the edge of the bed. “Ehe, is there anything you want to do, first my little Penny? With me or otherwise?~”
Penny tried to level a glare at Chloe, she really did, but with blushing, and trying to keep the blush hidden, the whole thing came off more as a pout then anything. “Wasn’t expecting such a reaction” she would mumbel before shaking her head while taking a steadying breath.
“Movie night doesn’t sound bad” Penny would offer up after a few moments of clearer thought, “I’d need to head back to my lair to grab what little I care to keep from there, but I was there before coming over so it wouldn’t take too long.”
“I'll get some popcorn and see if I have anything good around here. Anything you wanna see?” Chloe merely giggled at Penny's attempts at being angry. “I'm not really up to date on movies and stuff.”
“I’ve not had much of a chance to watch anything in the past year, so I’m up for whatever” Penny would explain, hoping that Chloe wasn’t a fan of horror movies as Penny really wasn’t a fan of them herself but knew better then to out herself on that fact if she wanted to avoid more teasing.
“I’ll go grab my stuff while you set up?” she asked as she sat up from the bed.
“Maybe a superhero film? I think I have a few horror flicks around here too...” Chloe tilted her head slightly to the side. “Geh, not having access to basic cable or internet...eh, never mind. I'll figure something out. See ya in a few?”
Penny hoped that her slight flinch at the mention of a horror movie went unnoticed as she replied “Yeah be right back. Also I might have a work around for the internet thing but I’ll have to play around with it later to figure it out.” With that she ventured back to her lair to grab the very limited things she wanted to keep safe and not on her person.
It was the work of only a few minutes, and a couple trips as Penny didn’t feel like changing back to speed things along, but soon Penny had everything she cared to bring with her. A couple boxes labeled ‘Scrap’, one labeled ‘Food’. Her box of clothes, her computer, her pile of blankets and a smaller box containing the pieces of Thalia’s flute.
She had set most of it in Isana’s old room, but placed the computer in the living room to play around with trying to establish an internet connection to it via wifi and her transdimensional commlink. “Moving is much easier when you can teleport between the two places” She would announce when she was done grabbing everything, sitting down on the couch as she did so.
While Penny went about getting all her stuff, Chloe set about making some popcorn, other various snacks, and getting a couple of drinks from the fridge. Unfortunately for Penny, her little flinch didn't go quite unnoticed. She wouldn't be too mean, but she couldn't not take this opportunity to tease Penny a little. She placed some popcorn on the couch next to her, and a handful of drinks on a small coffee table in front of the sofa.
“I just have someone else do the moving for me.” Chloe chuckled. “Being peoples boss is really nice, heh.” Cozying up next to Penny, Chloe wasn't shy about sitting as close as she could to the other girl. “So. I got the new one about that giant lizard, the new one in the 'Circlet' series'.” She glossed over the name quickly – it was the horror movie. “annd that super hero movie everyone was talking about.”
“Hmm, choices…Not feeling the supers movie, feels a bit too much like the day to day now” Penny would think aloud, not really minding Chloe’s proximity. “Haven't seen any of the other ‘Circlet’ movies.” Nor did she have any plans to “So giant lizard flick it is I suppose.” She would decide before she took off her jacket and threw it on one of the of the chairs in the room.
“Wonder if the appeal of giant monster films will go up or down now that I can become one?” Penny would wonder absently at the slightly absurd realization that the Monster girl had voted to owatch the Giant monster movie.
“Tsk~” Chloe didn't understand the appeal of it, and she wasn't about to miss this chance to mess with Penny just a bit more. “Alright alright, just for you.” Walking over to the TV, Chloe quickly turned on the movie before retaking her seat next to Penny. Except, it seemed like before hand someone put the discs in the wrong case before hand. While the DvD booted up, Chloe snuggled up next to Penny again. Soon the main menu for the DvD booted up - and it was most certainly not the giant monster movie.
“...oh. How did that get there.” She wondered innocently.
Penny winced as the title theme came on, and couldn’t help but give Chloe a look. She wasn’t buying the innocent look. Sadly she also knew that she had been caught out as well so she just sighed, “It’s your call in the end, but I grabbing a blanket if you're actually putting this on and you can’t stop me” She would say pointedly.
“You mean to tell me my brave little Penny is scared of some obviously fictional monsters?” Chloe teased. Chloe coyly glanced off to the side with a small smile. “You spoil me, letting me get away with this Penny. We can watch the monster one after this one. It'll make you feel better, heh.” Pressing the play button the movie started.
“Hey! You can say they are fictional all you want, but according to most people so is magic.” Penny would call out as she went to grab a blanket as threatened, it was as close to admitting it she was willing to get.
She came back a moment later with a large comforter and proceed to cocoon herself in it as she returned to her spot on the couch. “I fight it now, it gets worse later” Penny would quip “‘Sides you’re letting me move in” she added as if that explained it, before setting in for the movie, partially curious what brand of terror Chloe had put in.
“Heh~” Chloe giggled airily. “Feel free to hug your nearest dark magical girl for protection if you get too scared. She won't mind.”
The movie opened on a scene of two girls discussing a cursed tape. A tape that kills people in seven days, and one of them watched it a week ago. Later that night she and four other teenagers were killed in a horrific accident. The friend, morbidly curious tries to unravel the mystery. Finding the tape, she watches it – only to quickly realize she has been cursed and has seven days to live. The movie eventually ends with the heroine living by making a copy of the movie...and giving it to someone else to watch.
Penny tried her best to not let the movie get to her, partly out of an attempt to save face, partly in an attempt to now give Chloe what she wanted. Which the mechanical girl felt had something to do with the dark girls last comment, but it hit all the right points that set Penny on edge.
It dealt with Curses, which Penny knew to be real, vengeful spirits, another thing she knew to be real and was generally a more suspense horror. Penny could deal with slashers, mainly by laughing at them, but the ones that set up an atmosphere pulled Penny in all too easily.
Thus long before the movie ended Penny had latched on to Chloe, and often hid either behind the spirit witch or under the cover of the blanket she had brought out.
“Brr...” Penny would say as she shivered once the movie reached the credits her normal calm returning now that the movie had ended. “Still don’t get why people enjoy those” She would give herself another shake.
Tilting her head to the side she looked at Chloe, who she had yet to relinquish from her hold “Would you be able to do something like that with your magic?” she would ask out of morbid curiosity.
Chloe herself, obviously enjoyed the movie, and spending time with Penny.
“...Hmm, if I could find the correct spirit, I could probably do it.” Chloe replied in a fairly nonchalant fashion, enjoying the Penny hugs. “It'd be quite the effective way of getting away with murder, heh~” With an impish chuckle, she patted Penny on the head. “But it'd be quite ineffective against other magical girls, wouldn't it? They could just blast it to pieces. Suppose it'd depend on how strong it was, though. Anyways, want to put on the monster flick? I'll go make some more popcorn. Anything else you want?”
“Hmm, True” Penny would concede as she detanged herself from the mess of blanket. “Could you set the Spirit to trigger when they fell asleep?” She would ask, as she set about switching to the Monster film. She was always curious about the finer points of magical capability, mainly due to lack of it.
“Refill on drinks would be appreciated” Penny would answer as Chloe started towards the kitchen. Afterwards she would get to the DVD menu and explore some of the side menus as she waited.
“I could probably do so.” Chloe replied, grabbing something fizzy for Penny and just some water for herself. It'd be incredibly easy too, really. Just like any ambush though, it'd depend on a number of factors. “I'd really not rather mess with it unless I have to though.” Chloe sighed. “While it would be useful, it'd be incredibly dangerous. Especially if it fails, then the other person knows your coming for them giving them ample time to prepare.”
Walking back into the main room, Chloe sat the popcorn down on the coffee table, handing the drink to Penny as she took a seat next to her again.
“Why? Want to be a test subject for some new spells of mine?”
“Pass, hard pass.” Penny would say accepting the drink. She may trust Chloe but she wasn’t sure how she felt about being on the reciving end of assassination spells that were a work in progress. “At least as long as your working on spells that would end up killing me in my at any rate. I’m just trying to get a feel for what Magic can do still I guess, lots of ideas, no clue what works or not.” She would say in hopes of explaining her curiosity.
“Anyway, Now for something a bit more actiony” She would say before hitting the play button.
The giant monster movie, started off with a view of the ocean, before sinking under the waves to reveal the titular creature waking up. From there it cut to a government facility as various suits talked about the newest defense platform they had constructed, a giant mechanical replica of the monster, to deal with any more monster attacks that might befall their nation. Just as soon as they finished explaining its capabilities an alarm went off signaling a monster attack. A massive fire breathing bird was attacking. Mid way between the fight with the Robot replica and the Fire breathing bird, the original Giant Lizard decided to make an appearance, turning the fight into a three way brawl that threatened to level the metropolis. The movie ended with the Lizard returning to the Ocean heavily wounded, the Replica in dire need of repair and the Bird dead, before showing the suits again talking about how they only nearly pushed the Monster back and how next time it would be prepared.
This time Penny was much more active in her watching, oohing and awing at the monsters, openly wondering if she could incorporate any of the Replica’s weapons into herself. All the while the grin she wore just grew everytime one of the monsters ended up bringing down one of the skyscrapers that dotted the battle field.
“So brutal.” Chloe off handedly mentioned as she watched the sky scraper fall. She could appreciate the chaos, at least. While she didn't find it outright boring, it really was just more background noise than anything. It was kind of cute, seeing Penny get all engrossed with such fantastical monsters. Still, in the back of her mind...something just wasn't right. Slowly nagging at her...but for now, she ignored it. She had Penny, right? Penny was hers, right?
For now she was...
Yawning, Chloe snuggled up closer to Penny.
“Like fighting giant monsters, Penny?” She teased lightly.
“Yes!” Penny would reply earnestly “It’s exhilarating most of the time, trying to keep up with all of the shifting variables, trying to predict and out maneuver your target, the satisfaction when you land the killing strike and there is still nothing quite like the sound of combat.” She would explain nearly bouncing in her seat. It was an opinion she didn’t convey to the rest of Beacon, but had no qualms telling Chloe about. “I can understand why some of the other Monster girls are so obsessed by it.”
She let out a wistful sigh as she recalled some of her more enjoyable fights, before she turned her attention back to Chloe. “You getting tired?” She would ask not that she would be surprised if it was true. It had been a long day, even before the movies.
“Heh~” Chloe smiled, though it seemed to waver momentarily. Don't ruin the moment. Don't ruin the moment. Don't ruin the moment. “It's so cute seeing you get worked up over giant monster fights.” Ahhh, good. She managed to refrain from probably asking quite the dark question. Stretching and hopping off the couch, Chloe smiled lightly. “A bit. I met with the Mint earlier this week, and let me tell you I am so looking forward to getting free of them.” She shook her head. “...sooo, care to share a bed or would you die from embarrassment still?~”
Though she noticed the wavering smile Penny assumed it was due to exhaustion, this assumption was only reinforced when Chloe mentioned meeting up with the Mint.
Her face still went red at mention of sharing a bed, but she didn’t shoot down the idea. Part of her, a large one if she wanted to be honest, still hurt everytime she curled up in her nest alone. So, eyes looking everywhere but Chloe, Penny would quietly ask “Would it be just sleep?”
The day she was granted being blessed with such an adorable creature, was the day the universe certainly smiled upon her. Chloe took a moment to reply, having to calm herself from jumping on Penny.
“Is my little Penny asking me for what I think she is?” Chloe teased, before giving her a gentle smile. “...Do you want something more, Penny?”
There was a small war being waged within Penny, not very noticable beyond the vibrant blush, but clear within her eyes. She found Chloe attractive, hell she found a lot of the girls she interacted with attractive. The issue was that she didn’t feel comfortable with herself. That had been getting better, helped along with her self modifications and the loss of her mental corruption, yet she still struggled with it.
So when opened her mouth to speak “...” only silence emanated. For a moment blind panic started to bleed into her expression as her eyes started to take on a red glow, but slowly and carefully Penny would withdraw into the couch, closing her mouth and her eyes as she went, before she started to breath.
It was not a line she be crossing tonight.
“...No” She would whisper quietly once she re established some sense of stability “Just sleep”
“Rude~” Chloe teased lightly. “Make a girl an offer and then decide not too.” Ah, she was kind of hoping Penny said yes. Still...perhaps it was for the best. She was still uncertain about this whole thing after the news Penny had given her. She needed to sort through her own thoughts, try and suppress these more...violent impulses she was starting to get.
At least, for now.
For now.
“It's alright though, my little Penny.” Chloe walked over, giving her a light hug and a kiss on the forehead. “But we are sharing a bed tonight. I don't care what you say. You're not sleeping alone tonight, nope. I'm not having it~” Before Penny could protest, Chloe grabbed her hand and attempted to pull her off the couch and lead her over to the bed.
Penny let herself be lead to the bed, some of the anxiety dissipating as they went. She hadn’t meant to imply that she was looking for anything more, she was trying to verify that she only wanted to sleep with Chloe not sleep with her.
“Shouldn’t we change into pyjamas?” She would ask as they were on the way. She was wearing jeans at the moment and they weren’t the most comfortable things to sleep in, and besides she had actually bought some not that she would wake up in whatever she went to sleep in. “Oh...whoops~” Chloe laughed lightly. “Silly me. I have some around here somewhere. Shall we get changed and turn in for the night?” Translation: Normally she slept in nothing but her underwear.
“Yeah” Penny would nod “Give me a moment” she would add before heading to her new room to get changed. Her night time outfit was a pair of fuzzy long pajama pants and a very large T shirt. She went and knocked on Chloes door once she had changed and waited for a response.
Aaaah, she really didn't want to wear that. She hadn't worn actual pajama's in ages. Mulling over the options, Chloe finally decided to wear. Walking over to a drawer, she pulled out a dusty set of pajama's that looked like it hadn't been worn in a long time.
“All dressed, Penny.”
A white colored shirt, with a set of striped pink and white pants. On the shirt was printed an image of a penguin on it. The frilly white pants were covered in images of fish attempting to run from the penguins in little dream bubbles.
Penny entered after getting the all clear with only a slight amount of hesitation and didn’t bother acknowledging anything other than the relief at seeing that Chloe had decided to wear pyjamas. Well, that, and the thought of how the outfit clashed with the personality of the girl wearing it. Penny did find it oddly adorable all together though.
Without much further ado the two climbed into bed and settled in for the night, with Penny curling up behind Chloe loosely holding on to her. Penny didn’t care how it would look if they were walked in on. She wasn’t in love with Chloe, not yet at any rate, but she sought the comfort her friend offered regardless.
Once settled, Chloe accepted the cuddles, grabbing one of Penny's hands. She tried her best to keep her mouth shut, but...
“I love you, you know that, Penny?” She quietly said. Ah well, it was fine. Yes, it was fine. Best to be honest.
Penny stiffened for a moment at that admission and she went to reply before her mind could fully catch up “I..” Penny first instinct was to lie. To admit to the same feeling, it would be easy. No one seemed to have noticed just how often she lied to people, or how easily, other then perhaps Alicia.
But this was Chloe, and that made all the difference. “I know… But I’m not there yet.” She would reply pulling Chloe a bit closer, but prepared to let go in case the smaller girl wanted to be. “My heart is still a mess, from... Thalia. Abandoning me. And I doubt my heads all in one piece either.” Her voice was shaky as she started to ramble hoping that she was making sense “I care for you, immensely, I do. I’m just a bit banged up right now, internally. And afraid of getting hurt again, ya know? And, and I know you wouldn't do so intentionally. Your not that kind of person. I know your not. But that doesn’t make the fear go away, ya know? I don’t want to lose you, or your friendship. And that just makes the fear worse, because you’ve always tried to be there for me. I’m not sure how I could manage if I lost that. I can’t say that I love you like that yet… It wouldn’t be fair to you, But…”
Penny swallowed hard, blinking back tears. She felt terrible for seeking this comfort from Chloe now. Almost like she was just using her friend, but she just didn’t want to lose her. Chloe was the first real friend Penny had made in the community. The first bit of consistency in her upturned world. Thus the desperate hope that Chloe would understand.
“...But I could” She would continue in a whisper, fighting the urge to tighten her hold and never let go “I know I could… I just need a bit of time to get over Thalia… So that I know. And that you know. That your not just a stand in, a replacement, because you're worth more than that!” She would not cry. No matter what Chloe said. Penny refused to let her tears fall. She would not burden her friend with that.
“Can you wait for that? For me?”
Chloe listened to Penny's voice. Each word that left her lips felt like a stab. A sharp, painful, bleeding wound upon her heart. The truth hurt, didn't it? Yes, that's what this was. A hurtful truth. That was fine, though. Much better than a blissful lie.
Yet
The longer she talked, the darker Chloe's thoughts turned. Had she not already done enough? Urgh, she shouldn't have left, but still! How could Penny just reject her like this? Wait? She had enough of that. Enough of waiting. It was wrong to desire it, but she couldn't help it. but had she not already done enough? What more could she do?
...who would she choose? Her, or beacon?
Chloe's hands tightened around Penny's.
She was losing it. Losing control over the only thing she wanted control over.
“...ahaha.” Chloe giggled lightly, taking a small bit of comfort in Penny's embrace. “I suppose you wouldn't be you, if you had just come right out and said it, would you?” Chloe smiled. What was one more lie for her? “I've waited this long, so I think I can wait a bit longer.” Leaning against Penny, she replied once more. “No matter how long it takes, my pretty Penny. I will love you.”
The only true statement she had just made.
“Now now, get some rest!” Chloe quickly switched gears. She needed to think about something else. Or not at all. “We're both tired and I have work to do...I may not be here when you get up, just so you know.”
Penny just nodded her understanding, and tightened her embrace. She didn’t fully believe that Chloe was fine, she wouldn’t have been if their positions were reversed, but she trusted two things. That Chloe would wait for her, and that Chloe loved her.
“Sleep well and dream sweet” Penny would say quietly, still fighting back tears. She doubted that Chloe would be up before her, and was glad for that. She had a lot of thinking to do when she woke up after all.
"Helllooooo, Penrose! It's ya best girl Vi-Chan here!" The up-beat, bubbly and slightly boyish voice echoed from the speakers on the computer. "Hey hey, hows all my favorite little normies doing? Ya'll doing well? Great! I know some people say I'm waaaaay too harsh and am kind of a bitch - but they're just butthurt cuz they ain't got a butt as fabulous as mine."
Some upbeat, fast paced, electronic music began playing in the background.
"And ya know what? Those people are total losers. Looooosers. Like holy hell they ain't got anything better to do than hate on ya girl. Sad, ain't it? Well that's fine, I have all of you, my lovely little gaggle of miscreants. You guys are the best! And as such, I'ma answer some questions from fans! First up!" The screen lit up with some drawing of a pink-haired girl wearing some simply drawn jacket in the chibi style. Chibi Vi then pulled out a letter.
"Vi-Chan, You're amazing! What can I do to be like you?" Chibi-Vi then tossed the letter, which then burst into flames. "Ahaahah, woooow what a looser of a question. Ya'll seriously wanna be like me?" Chibi Vi then flopped into a bed in what one could only assume was an attempt to be 'sexy'. "Well lemme tells ya that ain't possible. You guys ain't got half the moxie I do. Next question!" Pulling out another piece of paper, Chibi Vi read from it.
"Vi-Chan! Your voice is amazing! You ever thought about doing ASMR?" Chibi Vi began laughing. "Woah woah, isn't that like what I already do almost? Aside from my fire mix tapes I give ya guys. But hey, hey...maybe. Would you little weebs love that? Vi-Chan doing some questionable ASMR for ya? Next Question!"
"Vi-Chan! Have you settled your debts?" A pause. "...woah weird question." The piece of paper was carelessly tossed to the side by the digital drawing. "...Do you intend to run forever?"
A longer pause.
"Ahahaha, some people are stupidly creepy, aren't they." Another pause. The sound of something hitting glass echoing over the speaker. "Ahaha, something just hit the glass on the recording booth...I think I'm gonna call it a day here, lovelies! Catch ya later!"
The live stream cutout.
Rolling backwards in the chair, the bubbly pink haired girl glared at the glass, quickly checking some video cameras she had watching the place. Nothing was showing up, which was just as odd as nothing. In fact, after hearing an odd noise and getting basically threats in her mail, that was probably the worst.
Inhaling sharply, Elvira grabbed a battery powered lamp from her nearby desk.
Alright Vi, you're a big girl." She held the lamp in front of her protectively, slowly opening the door. She was met with nothing but the darkness of the warehouse below. "A few spooks ain't gonna hurt ya...H-hey! If you dumbass Mint agents are out there, just run and I'll let ya live!"
Just the sound of a helicopter flying overhead.
"Okay, okay..." A cold sweat dripped down her forehead. What was the noise? Was there even a noise? Was her mind playing tricks on her? Surely not. She couldn't assume that. She had to make sure there was nothing intruding upon her home. Lamp in hand, Vi began walking down the catwalk towards the main warehouse floor.
A shadow leaped overhead.
"...not a horror movie not a horror movie horror movies aren't real...unless you're dealing with a spirit girl. Not real." She repeated this to herself several times, but it had no effect on her calmness. Once, she stepped onto the ground floor, Elvira quickly ran over to the warehouse doors. Locked and sealed. No one could have gotten in. She relaxed.
Should have been the only entrance.
Should have been. Nothing else. Any other door aside from the roof was locked, and she had the only keycard in existence to it strapped to her leg.
"Jeez, its getting worse." Vi rubbed the back of her head. "And where the hell is that draft-"
Wait.
There shouldn't have been a draft.
Slowly. Slowly, she craned her head upwards.
A window was open.
"Looking for me?" the face of the most horrific looking moth person she had ever seen was now upside down in her field of view.
Silence. But there was no scream. Only a face frozen in fear as cold sweat formed a river down her forehead.
"...you're frightened, I understand, but if you could-"
"....That's an understatement!" Before the moth girl could do anything, she bolted in the opposite direction. "Nope, not being moth food! Nope nope nope!" Rolling her eyes, Divina followed after, wings gliding slowly across the cool air of the empty warehouse. The expected outcome.
Vi had reached the catwalks, quickly trying to use them to make an escape as she headed towards the roof.
"Trying to outrun a flying moth is really rather futile, you know?" Divina landed on the catwalk in front of her, insectoid feet clattering against the metal grates. Narrowing her eyes, Vi swiftly changed course, making a sharp right turn and jumping over the catwalks railing to one just a yard or so below. She hit it with a thud, rolling acrobatically as she landed.
With a huff, Divina followed after once more.
Soon, Vi had run into a large hallway, seemingly with no exit.
Ah right.
She boarded that fire escape up.
Divina landed just outside the door, dusting off her wings as she folded them around her like a cloak.
"Ah, there we go. So tiring. Done yet?"
"You stay the hell away from me, Mothra." Vi glued her back against the far wall, still holding the lamp towards the moth girl.
"Rude." Divina responded, a troubled expression clear on her mismatched eyes as she lightly fluttered her wings. "First ignoring me then threatening me." Vi didn't say anything. She had glued herself to the opposite wall, hands in front of her, tightly gripping a brightly colored lamp. "Here I am only trying to help."
"Don't move a muscle, moth lady." Vi snapped, trying to reaffirm her position by shaking the lamp. "Or I swear to god I'll...I'll Uh, beat you up? Yea, that. And I definitely won't hand over this lamp. You're the one who left me those little notes?"
"Please don't be angry - I simply ran out of options to get your attention." Divina replied softly."You ignored me on the streets and didn't even come to the door-" Before she could even finish the sentence, Vi tossed the lamp at Divina, hitting her squarely in the head with a 'pomf' noise and a pained 'ouch' from Divina.
Vi bolted out of the room leaping down the metal stairs of the warehouse. Divina swiftly retaliated, quickly zooming out of the room, landing on the bottom of the stairs with a graceful flap of her wings.
"Stay back, I'm warning you! I got uh, deadly stuff if you don't!" Divina, humming a quiet tune followed after her, doing an acrobatic little loop as she rounded a corner. Continuing to flee, eventually she reached the end of the hallway where the rooftop exit door was.
"Oof-Geh!?" Except, it was blocked by something heavy. Did that moth-?!
"If you could please stop running - " Before she could contemplate her next move, Vi glued her back to the door. Divina was standing mere inches away from her. "I only want to help you, you know."
"And what kind of 'help' can a Mint moth help me with?." She shakily replied.
"...I don't work for the Mint."
"...unknown people do not make me a happy Vi-Chan." Divina sighed, landing on the floor with a light click of her feet, wrapping her wings around her again.
"If you listen, perhaps we could not be so unknown to each other? I mean you no harm, truly."
"You'll excuse me if I don't believe you."
"Of course, I've read your file." Divina replied quietly. "You were quite the hard girl to track down, understandable given your history though. Poor little thing. Used by the Puchu then forced into service by the Mint." Divina shook her head.
"I don't need your pity, mothballs."
"Mhm, look. I understand you don't trust me, but perhaps we can learn to trust one another on some level? How about we start by getting you somewhere more comfortable so you don't look like the most adorable deer in headlights."
"...Adorable?" Vi frowned. This moth girl was just sending up so many red flags, she wanted to flee in the exact opposite direction. At the same time, this chicka had the audacity to intrude on her home and then try and be all friends with her? Kinda pissed her off if she was being honest. Still...she wasn't a fighter, no matter how much the Mint and Puchu tried to make her into one, and she really didn't feel like upsetting some random hobo lesser force or patron that found her seemingly easily. "...alright, alright." Her shoulders relaxed and she unglued her back from the door. "Uh...I got a room over here. Kinda my bedroom? Don't really have a bed. Don't sleep well, hahah."
Divina let her pass. Vi quickly sped past her, making sure to avoid bodily contact with Divina. Part of her screamed to run. Another part wanted her to level this girl and the entire building. She could probably do it. She had the means to level the entire city block, but...she really didn't like drawing such attention to herself.
...actually, for some reason she was fairly oddly calm.
Once passing through a large set of double doors, Vi grabbed a rolling chair, taking a seat in it and rolled her way across the makeshift living area. She didn't once take her eyes of Divina as the moth girl entered.
"How utilitarian." Divina observed, noticing the lack of any sort of home like decor. A computer, a work table. Several mundane looking devices seemed to be half built on them. A few posters of various music groups hung on the wall, most of them were metal, classical and a few techno bands, but for the most part the room lacked any furnishings. "Makes me a little sad to see such a talented girl squander herself away."
"Heh, well, I am pretty good at-not important." Vi focused her attention back on Divina. "...Normally I'd have just yeeted whoever broke into my home out the nearest window." She frowned suspiciously. "but you're pretty...uh, calming? You doing something funny with my head?"
"You noticed?" Divina laughed nervously. "I'm a psychic specialization. I thought it might be a little easier to talk with you if I...made you more comfortable."
"...I don't know if the fact you just openly admitted to manipulating me makes you more trustworthy or not." Vi slumped her shoulders, leaning back in the chair. "Alright, moth, you got my attention and I don't guess you're here to kill me so...what do you want and who the hell are you?"
"As I said, I am Divina, and I represent a small group of like-minded individuals who wish to extend you a hand of amnesty for your services." Divina moved a few steps closer to Vi, floating just slightly off the ground as she replied. "You see...my mistress, my Lady is tired of seeing Dark Magical girls such as yourself have no choice but to be abused by the mint or hunted by Beacon simply for being what we are. Oh certainly, you could go work for a Horror or Lesser force, but in the end it's the same, isn't it? It's cruel, isn't it? Do we not deserve a chance to be happy as we are?"
Divina paused, letting Vi hear here words, but for the most part the dark magical girl seemed unimpressed.
"...she wishes to unite us under a single banner. Give us a chance to no longer have to cower in the dark, afraid of Beacon coming to kill us simply for existing, or the Mint coming to force us into their corrupt service. We will serve no one but ourselves and our sisters and brothers within our organization."
"That's an awful lot of promising you're doing there." Vi finally replied. Thinking about it logically...the more people she had between herself and whoever it was targeting her, the better. If whoever this was could pull it off, then it'd be very good for her at least, in that regard. "And how do I know you're not just gonna do whatever the moment I say yes?"
"I can not say, nor do I have any proof." Divina replied, taking a few steps closer. "But I will be upfront - you will be expected to fight occasionally. We are still a fledgling...not even an organization right now, even really. Just a handful of girls who are tired of this, but we will fight to make what we want a reality."
"I have no interest in saving the world or being some savior. I'll pass."
"You have to know the mint will eventually find you." Divina frowned, taking a more aggressive step forward. "You think you can fight them yourself? You know it, already don't you? You can feel it. Their hands tightening around your neck? I identified a few Mint Agents already scoping out this place."
"I'll run and move again. Start over. Simple."
"You can't run forever, Vi. They will find you." Vi began shiftily looking around as Divina took another step towards her. "And you will die - but...but if you help us. Join us, we will do everything in our power to protect our own. So please," Divina held out one of her four hands for Vi to shake. "Won't you let me - us - help you? I don't want to see such a promising girl reduced to a mint slave, or worse."
"...haha, you talk good, Mothballs." Vi nervously chuckled. "...I...fine. Fine. You're right, you know? I know. But fine. If you can do what you say, then fine. I'll join this little group of yours."
"Wonderful!" Divina smiled, genuinely happy seeming, a few happy chirping noises coming out of her carapace. "Oh, I was so nervous. This was my first recruitment and I was halfway expecting this to end badly, ufu." Switching back to serious, Divina placed a gentle hand on Vi's shoulder. "Welcome to the Crusade, Elvira. You won't have to worry about anything ever again, I assure you."
Ah, it felt so wonderful to be able to bring another into their fold. Bring another into their embrace. No true greater joy for her after being enlightened so.
"So, uh, what now?"
"For now I have more work to do. More girls to contact to see if they are...open to the idea of working together, and you...there's a small abandoned quarry not far outside Penrose. It's where our main base is located. Head there. Another one of ours will be waiting."
"So, uh, how do you plan on getting a bunch of monster girls and dark magical girls working together?" She asked. It seemed rather implausible. DMGs and Monster girls were inherently selfish and violent beings. Working together as an organization was certainly going to be difficult.
"Ah...you leave that to us for now, please?" Divina asked with a friendly smile. "There will be something to bind us as comrades, but that is as much as I can say for now. So please, be patient." With those final words and a friendly wave, Divina zoomed away from the warehouse, quite pleased with the turn of events.
Leaning back in the chair, Vi considered her options. She could just run. She could indeed, just leave Penrose, but the Mint would find her eventually. No matter where she went.
...maybe if they could keep the mint off her, then working for this 'Crusade' wouldn't be such a bad idea.
'Aight, well, I think I'm gonna go ahead and post my master here for review by the GMs so everyone can get a feel for her. Will fix and adjust things as needed~
"I wonder...are you a Van Gogh or Monet?...hm? Oh sorry, ufufu, talking to myself. Do you need something?"
Name: Marietta Lalaurie
Title(s):
Appearance: Standing at five seven, Marietta comes off as both elegant and sophisticated. A proper magus from an influential family, she has been well taken care of and prides herself in her appearance. Short cut black hair, dressed in the latest fashions, fair skin and her family's jewels she always takes care of her appearance the best she is able.
Gender: Female
Age: 23
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Rank: (Your capability as a Magus in the eyes of the Mages Association. This will be given to you on approval.)
Objective for the Grail: Marietta's desires and wishes are entirely material and physical, but what could the grail give her that she doesn't already have? She has a sizable amount of money, is fairly skilled with her paints. She doesn't aspire to much more.
Perhaps, if she'd say, it would be...'The Highest quality and number of magical circuits.'
Character Objectives: Primary
Sharpen her magical talents and her family Crest
Discover Primeval Runes.
Secondary
Meet a Famous painter Heroic Spirit
Paint heroic battles
Paint beautiful artworks of history
harem ending
Command Seal:
Personality: Friendly and soft spoken, Marietta comes off as a high class big-sister type of person. Kind, caring, friendly and a bit of a tease, Marietta is considered by most, a model human being as well as a model mage. She looks after those around her, always strives to protect and ensure that no matter what she doesn't fail anyone who has put their faith in her.
Unfortunately, this belies a rather selfish, mildly hedonistic disposition. Marietta, while generally good natured, has difficulties listening to others as well as doing anything that she doesn't wish to. Perhaps a bit spoiled, in that regard, still, she dislikes working and generally spends her days in ease with her easel and paints. With mild illusions of grandeur and a dislike of taking orders, she may be more trouble than she first seems like.
Bio: The Lalaurie family is a rather well known, if not particularly overly powerful family of mages hailing from Northern france. Purportedly claiming descendant from ancient celtic peoples who immigrated to France, they perhaps consider themselves a bit more important than they may actually be. Still, it can be said they are well known for their dedication to the craft and desire for knowledge.
Marietta was born to her parents, and quickly took to studying as well as her families crest and the mysteries of magic. Most of her early life was spent being waited on hand and foot, her family desiring to give her as much comfort and leeway the next heir of their family could have. It worked, at least somewhat. Certainly, she grew well to her studies, but she developed a somewhat...lazy attitude towards it.
Even so, she was considered the be a shining example of what they were looking for in an heir. Knowledgeable, skillful, and understanding at times a certain need for...discretion. To further her studies, she willingly decided to work at Chaldea, with a recommendation and approval from her parents, seeing this as an excellent opportunity to further her mage craft and study. After all, potentially traveling to areas of human history - one could likely find a plethora of useful and old runes should one look. ---
Magic Circuit Switch: The feeling of a paintbrush across her skin.
Number of Magic Circuits: B
Quality of Magic Circuits: c
---
Elemental Affinity: Water
Magecraft: Aside from general magecraft, Marietta is skilled in a particular field - Runes. Despite being rather looked down upon by normal magi, her family takes great pride in keeping the tradition alive. Not only just the weak modern runes that are pale imitations of once grander things, but even some Old Runes passed down in her families histories.
Her runes carry a variety of effects as one may expect. When placed upon surfaces and combined with other runes, one can create a variety of simple bounded fields. When inscribed upon flesh, she can create protective wards or charms - or curses - for whoever has decided to wear it.
She is extremely well versed in modern runes, as pale of an imitation as they are, and are where most of her magecraft comes from. However, she does have a decent arsenal of Old Runes, though even then its likely only a fraction that exist. That said, there is still much room for growth. Currently inscribing effects of multiple Runes is difficult, making her typically stick to simple one-word castings, but she is constantly practicing and striving to develop her abilities.
Crest: Seven generations, 280 years.
Weapon: Emerald Brooch A mystic code passed down from head of the family to heir of the family. A magic tool characterized by its ability to simply allow one to clean oneself. That is, detoxifying the body from any sort of poisons or other physical ailments. In the past, it was used to ward off assassins using poison to assassinate them.
Yggdrasil's Branch - A specialized paintbrush support formal wear developed by her family. A fairly average magical tool which allows one to store a mass of magical energy. When applied with drawing Runes, it allows one to expend less energy as well as assist with the flow of magic into the runes, creating potentially more stable and stronger effects.
Yggdrasil's Sap A specialized paint for drawing Runes. More akin to ink than paint, only a small amount of this component is ever made at a time simply due to the process required. The paint, once applied to a surface binds with the object in a fashion of permanents. Effectually, this makes the rune inscribed much harder to tamper with, creating a far more permanent effect, even allowing the object to withstand physical harm. Perhaps its best described as a paint that inherently increases the Runes 'luck' against being destroyed. However, the paint is rare and incredibly difficult to synthesize, and is only used sparingly.
It was that time again. Chloe would never knew when the time came, or by what method, but inevitably, she would be called in. When she thought she had hidden herself away from Beacon, who had pursued her, she would hear a voice from the shadows; it was the sound of an old phone ringing. Of course, she could see no phones in the vicinity, or deduce that the sound was fabricated by Sound magic. And then, out of the shadows, a dark portal opened, the ringing sound coming loud and clear from the empty jazz club in the monochrome world beyond. As she entered, the portal closed behind her, and Al Scarpe appeared. He was holding a black telephone on his hands; it was the classic, blocky design, with the speaking part he held in one hand attached by a cable to the base part he held in the other. It was rare for Chloe to meet up with her commanding officer in such a direct fashion; usually her orders and payments came in the form of dead drops, or mundane civilians brainwashed to act as disposable middle men. It was only for the gravest of matters that she would meet eye-to-eye with the Broker.
“Chloe, how ya been?” He spoke with a deep, unsettling mobster accent, and let the phone drop down into the floor; it sank into a shadowy pool that formed at the moment of contact, before disappearing. “It has been a while since your last report, eh?” He took a cigar from his pocket, and lit it up with a ruby-encrusted lighter. “Iesud hasn’t made much noise lately...Is the old boy still trucking? Or was he spooked by the new arrivals? Hah!” He laughed, and then coughed a bit as he exhaled black, swirling smoke.
She knew this day was coming, but she had been slightly hoping the Mint just left her alone. Alas, she knew better than that. The Mint always collected. Sighing, Chloe entered the portal in her normal attire, not particularly seeming to care too much about the locale or being overly cautious. She could handle the Mint. Was this serious? Quite obviously so, but she wasn't concerned.
“Ah, Al Scarpe.” Chloe replied with a disinterested tone. “It has indeed been awhile, hm?” Shifting tones, Chloe smirked lightly. “And yes, that old dragon is still alive, but you know his condition isn't the best. He's still hiding in his hole, licking his old wounds.” Not a lie, but most certainly not the whole truth. There was an unsettling inflection to the giggle as her smirk turned into a grin. “I don't suppose you're here just to see pretty little old me, hmm? I'd be flattered if so, even if I am way out of your league. Here to give me a deal I can't refuse, aren't you?”
“Hey now, everybody's in my league, missy,” Al Scarpe retorted in a friendly manner, and flicked the cigar away, the smoke coming off it making spins and twirls as it disappeared. “I just choose which ones I let win the play-off season. And speaking of players...” his tone shifted into a less amicable one. “Your odds haven’t been great lately; no home runs, just a bunch of stiffs in the street. Iesud must be desperate if he needs souls that crap. Also, real cheeky with the crystal scheme.” He lit another cigar. “Don’t really care what you’re doing, but you need to step up your game, and earn me some money. So here’s the deal.” He threw a card at her. “I need this place scouted out. I got another operative on the job as a distraction, but I need someone who gets the job done.” The card showed the Golden Trove hotel. “We know a dragon’s holed up in there with a bunch of magical girls, but they’re irrelevant. What I need to know is if this chick,” he threw another card; it was Binky’s mugshot, “Is hiding as a guest. Infiltrate the place, trash it, paint the town red; don’t care as long as she’s untouched and brought back in one piece. Oh, and no nabbing the soul; that’s the most important part of her.” He tapped his cigar, and a heavy stream of black ash dripped down, akin to ink. “Can you do this for me, Chloe?”
“What can I say, I'm a busy girl.” Chloe shrugged dismissively. “A busy girl that likes not being told what to do.” She glanced at the information given to her. Golden Trove Hotel, huh? And a girl hiding there...hiding from the Mint? Perhaps she could use this to her advantage if she was. She had a dozen questions about why he would want her, but she knew better than to ask.
“A simple nabbing mission, is it?” Chloe replied thoughtfully. Would be easy. Too easy, almost. “What do you take me for, hm? I'm not some novice. I can do it easily.” Chloe held a hand to her chin. “A dragon, hm? Fancy that. What's the defenses look like? Number of magical girls? Can I trust this other operative of yours for support should I need it?”
“Our latest reports estimated three magical girls working for it. One of them is a rookie Beast girl, an Air user who’s somewhat experienced, and a Sound girl; she’s the one I reckon you keep an eye on. There might be others there too, of course, so be cautious.” Scarpe threw the cigar away; it hit the performing stage, exploding into a fire that took the form of a trumpet player blowing out hot tunes. “As for support, I wouldn’t count on it. You’re on your own, kid. But if you do this, there’s Coin coming your way.”
“I see. About what I expected.” Dangerous. So very dangerous. Three magical girls to possibly contend with, a novice beast spec, a wind, and a supposedly dangerous sound girl.
Hm.
Well...fancy that. Fancy that indeed. With a light chuckle, Chloe placed her fingers together, already formulating a plan to deal with this. “Simple enough, then. If this girl isn't present, at this hotel, I suppose more work shall be coming my way then?” A pause as she flashed light smirk towards Scarpe. “The Mint must be quite...interested in the apprehension of this girl.”
“That’s none of your business.” Scarpe watched as the stage gradually got set on fire, beginning to spread black smoke. “You just get the girl, or confirm she’s not there. That’s all your pretty little head needs to think about at the moment.” He opened the portal again with a snap of his fingers. But, just before Chloe would step out, he interrupted her. “Actually, there is one thing: kill the Air girl, Su, and there’s a bonus. That’ll show her.” The fire took on the form of a woman in a flowing dress of flame, kneeling down and seemingly begging for mercy, before the fire was extinguished, leaving only cinder.
Su...? That named seemed familiar. Where did she – oh. Oh. Ahahahaahah. That girl from the graveyard. Oh now this would be quite interesting. Lovely indeed. Ah, she did mention potentially being friends with Penny, but alas. She supposed it didn't matter too entirely much.
“My, seems the Mint is quite troubled by this Golden Trove. To go so far as to request even a personal vendetta.” Chloe turned to leave, watching the display with mild interest as she dismissively shrugged. “What did happen in my absence? The mint wouldn't happen to be losing its grip, would it, Scarpe? Not that it's any of my business.” leaving the mobster to his devices, Chloe made to leave through the portal. “I'll make sure to deliver...and you know I do so love going above and beyond. Su will most certainly be begging for mercy by the time I'm done, heh.”
Ineffective, though perhaps not entirely without use. The orange slime rolled right over Digbie, in a rather comical sight that would have earned a chuckle from her if it wasn't a mildly life threatening situation. Inhaling, Ash took a quick glance at others, taking note of Oberon's words and her own observations. It was easy to assume slimes were strong against physical attacks - cutting through jelly didn't typically do much damage.
Turning her attention back to Oberon as he cast 'fireball', Ash quickly activated her Mana Vision, trying to see its magical makeup. Having the baseline for magic was good, but observing someone else using an elementally aligned magic would give her a better idea of how to go about doing it. Lacking any sort of fire magic, she decided to settle herself into a more support role for now, using 'Shield I' on Oberon, hoping to lessen the impact that pseudopod would have.
Rina held the rock in her hands, slowly turning it over. She had already put the number in her phone, but it still felt a little surreal. Just had to press the dial button. This wasn't gonna be like the ice cream and pizza after the graveyard. No this was more...like an actual date. Aaaargh, what should she wear? What should she even do? She hadn't been on a date in like, since high school. Rina moved over to her closet, quickly shifting through the less than impressive wardrobe she had. Ah, maybe she should have asked Amaryllis for clothing advice. She was fashionable, right?
Okay, calm down Rina. You can do this. Just pick some clothes.
Wait no, before she did that she should actually set up the date otherwise she wouldn't even need the clothes. Walking back over to the bed, she picked up her cellphone. Okay, she could do this, she pressed the dial button. Just a phone call. Nothing to be nervous about. She held the phone up to her ear, waiting for it to dial.
The phone rang, once, twice, three times. Every ring chipped at Rina’s confidence. Did Mika forget that she handed Rina her number? Four, five, six times now. That was past what was acceptable. Had something Happened to Mika? Seven, eight, nine…
“Hello!” Mika said with a chuckle. “Is that you Rina?”
“Mika! You dumb cat, when someone calls you're supposed to pick up the damn phone!” Rina replied harshly, nearly shouting at the phone. “Jeez, I thought you gave me the wrong number or something...” Okay, okay, calm down Rina this was probably just a harmless prank or something. Mika seemed like the eh, air headed sort. So she might have just lost the phone or something. “Seriously, next time pick up a little sooner or I'm just gonna go get donuts for myself.” Blinking, Rina cleared her throat in a mildly nervous fashion. “But uh, yea, this is Rina....err, wanna go get some donuts?”
Rina could hear Mika’s voice crack on the other end. “I-I’m sorry. I dropped the phone in the laundry. I accidentally buried it a-and, and-” She took a deep breath. “I just need to let Su know I’m going out. Where did you want to meet up?”
Ow. Well now she just felt bad.
“...aha, sorry.” Rina nervously chuckled....wait was she deciding on this? She was hoping Mika would be the one to suggest the donuts. She...she didn't really know of any good donut shops. Well, okay, she did know of some but would they be the sort of things Mika would be into? Diners that cops frequented weren't exactly good date locations. Damn it Rina, stop overthinking things.
“Uhh, where are we meeting up huh...” Come on, she had to know of some place that was semi decent, right? “...there's a place called Donut Palace.” Rina began slowly. “Uh, real casual but great stuff. Ever heard of it? I can probably give you directions.”
“I think I can find it, you don’t have to worry. It might be the place I went to last time. Wait, one second. Hey Lupa?” There was some chatter between Mika and a few other people, but Rina couldn’t make it out. Mika’s phone didn’t have the best clarity. But before long, she came back on. “Okay! She said yes! I’ll meet you there!” Then the line went dead. A few seconds later Rina got a call from Mika. “I forgot to say Goodbye! Goodbye Rina!”
“Bye, Mika. I'll meet ya in twenty!” She shouted, hopefully getting it through before the cat girl hung up on her again. Rina stared at the phone. “Seriously that girl...” Well, not like she minded. In fact, it was kind of adorable. Not that she'd be telling anyone. Right, getting dressed. Worry about the details later.
Maybe she'd ask Amaryllis to tag along for a shopping trip for later.
Twenty three minutes later, Rina was dressed in her casual wear standing in front of a small bakery. Big letters overhead read 'Donut Palace'. It looked to be a pretty slow, but cozy place and she could easily smell the baked goods coming from the door every time it was opened. Jeez, how long had it been since she had been here? Since she was a rookie, almost.
Well, that was a different life.
She approached the door, opening it and walking inside. Was Mika already here? She hoped she wasn't too late.But there was another complication. Rina and Mika had never seen each other untransformed before, or had she? This was going to be a bit more difficult than she influentially thought.
While searching for where Mika may or may not be, she spotted that weird girl from a few weeks ago. The one who made a comment about her looking too young to eat out by herself. As soon as she spotted Rina, she stood up and ran over to her. She was wearing jeans and a yellow shirt featuring some kids show. “Found you!” She stopped running and slid into Rina’s personal space. “You’re that girl that bought me breakfast a few weeks ago! I thought I’d never see you again!” she hopped up and down. “This is the best day of my life!”
“Geh?!” Rina, had no idea why this little brat was here, but she didn't care. “You're that twerp who interrupted my pancakes!” She pointed a finger accusingly at hr. “I didn't buy you anything! you just stole my leftovers.”
The twerp stopped hopping up and down. “Huh?” She tipped her head. “You didn’t leave them for me?” Her hand slid under her chin. “I remember you walking away from them. You walked outside.” The girl lowered her head. “I’m sorry. I never walk out of a place without my food. I thought you left it for me ” She opened her wallet and reached inside.aviding making eye contact with anyone.“I guess I can pay for it.. What does a meal like that cost?”
Rina narrowed her eyes at this girl. Was she really...?
“Tch...don't worry about it twerp.” Rina sighed, rubbing the back of her neck. She wasn't about to take lunch money from some kid. She hadn't done that in years. “I guess I did just kinda leave in the middle of eating.” Reaching out, Rina patted the girl on the head before walking over to a nearby table and taking a seat. “Anyways, I'm kinda waiting on a date now, so uh...see ya around I guess? What are you doing here anyways?”
The girl sighed before folding up her wallet. “I’m waiting for a date too actually, but I don’t think they’re going to show.” She walked over to the table Rina was seated at and sat across from her. She propped up her head with her hands, still holding onto her wallet.. “I’ll move to a different table if your date shows up. But in the meantime, did you want to share a few donuts? I can treat.”
“Seriously?” Rina blinked in surprise. Small world. “That's terrible. Whoever this date of yours needs to have their ass kicked. They didn't even let you know they couldn’t make it or anything?”
She rubbed the back of her head. “I don’t know, I’ve been messing up a lot recently...”
The magical girl considered her options. Mika wasn't here yet, and it was getting a bit past their time to meet up here...well, knowing the cat girl she might have just gotten distracted with the laundry again. “Ah, you know what fine.” Rina relented. “I guess If you want, I don't mind...I'd feel bad if I let you pay for everything though.”
“It’s okay, I ate your breakfast, and I’m sure that was more than a few donuts.” She smiled a little bit. “I’ll be right back, I know all the good ones.” And so she took off to pick from the donuts in the display counter. She darted left, then right, even up and down. The girl weaved around and under the store’s patrons like they were standing still. When they turned to see what had brushed past them she was already gone. In no time at all the girl had returned with a full dozen of donuts in hand. “There we go! A dozen might have been too much, but it’s the same price as four donuts.” She folded her arms on the table and rested her head. “Have you been in Penrose long?”
This box of donuts look eerily familiar. In fact, the way the girl moved reminded her of...yea, no... it probably wasn’t. Opening the box and gently taking one from inside, Rina bit into it, a look of pure bliss forming on her features. Ahhh, she really did love doughnuts.
“Ahem,” Rina wiped some crumbs off her mouth. “Uh, been here my whole life.” She replied curtly. Oh right. Now was the small-talk part of things, wasn't it? The thing she was not really good at. Rina leaned back in her seat, throwing an arm over the chair as she took another bite of the donut. “You?” A little lame to ask the same question that she was just asked, but eh.
“Really?” She picked up her head. “I’ve only been here a month or so now!” The girl tipped her head. “You must know all kinds of cool places. I mostly stick around the Golden Trove since that’s where I work.” She picked up a donut with pink frosting and lots of sprinkles. “Do you have a job yet? Or do you still go to school?”
“New in town, huh?” How was she supposed to answer this question. I kill monsters and am a magical girl? That would be totally lame and unbelievable. At the same time, lying was not something she was comfortable with. “I uh, work. Yea. Work.” She replied slowly. Come on Rina, make this believable. If she could have a non-magical girl friend that would actually be pretty neat. “Well, intern really. Local police department. I just help with uh, clerical work. Desk job. Boring.” Wait maybe she should...”...ah, hey, I know. Maybe I could show you around sometime?”
“Show me around? I’d love to go around a police department!” She bit into her donut, but that didn’t stop her from talking. “I bet they (chew) have lots of (munch) doggies (lick) I could (chomp) play with.” She wiped her mouth on her arm. “But even if there aren’t any dogs, I wouldn’t mind going to where you work. Can’t be any worse than being a maid at a hotel.” She giggled.
“W-well I didn't mean the department.” Rina replied quickly, almost too fast. Anyone with any sense of common sense would realize that was a bit suspicious. “I meant around the city. I know the area pretty well. I could like, uh, show you some stuff. 'Sides, police departments smell of coffee and sweat. Not exactly a great place to take your friends.”
“Oh, hah! I got confused.” The girl had polished off her donut and was reaching for a second one.
Why. Why was she doing this. She was asking for another date from a girl she just met. That's what this was. Wait no, that was a bad way to think of it. Just a friendly showing someone around. Yep. That's all. “...you're a maid? I don't think I could do that. I'm not a...people person.”
“I think you’d be an okay maid. You can also learn a lot about people by cleaning their rooms. If you don’t like your office job, I insist that you try it.” She finally decided on an apple fritter and pulled it out of the bag. ”You haven’t scared me off yet.”
“Pfft, ahahaha.” Rina laughed. “Man, you haven't seen me actually get mad yet.” She glanced out the windows to the place. Jeez, where was she? She was actually a bit worried. Did she get accosted by some rogue magical girl? Or was she just distracted by a laser pointer?
“If you insist. I know some people who are pretty scarry when they get mad.” She slid out of her seat and stood up. ”If you feel like showing me around, why not now? We can swing by the Golden Trove once we’re done. If we have any time left, I’ll show you where I work.”
“...well, since my date doesn't seem to be showing up.” Rina frowned. Didn't seem like anything was happening, either, but it'd be just her luck for some horror to show up and interrupt her day to day right about now. “Sure, why not.”
Rina and Mika had seen quite a bit of the city together. They went to a mall, the park, every place a new resident of Penrose must see. When they arrived at the Golden Trove, Rina’s date had several shopping bags lining her arms. They were filled with all kinds of cute accessories, food items, and anything else that filled the girl’s mind with wonder.
“This was… The best day… In existence!” She tried to raise her hands over her head, but found her arms trembling under the weight they were trying to lift. “Whoa, alright.” She turned to face Rina. “Thanks for showing me around. I can’t wait to do that again next week with all my friends.”
“Ahah,” Rina grinned, watching with mild amusement as she tried to lift her arms. Reaching out, she gave her a pat on the head. “Gotta be honest, I wasn't really expecting much but hey, that wasn't actually half bad. I had fun.” Her wallet was hurting a bit, but eh. This kid looked happy.“Hey, let me carry some of those for ya.” Rina would attempt to take a few bags from the other girl as she walked alongside her. “If ya do go again, maybe invite me?”
“You bet! I’d love to!” After Rina took a few bags, her date was able to let what was left slide into her hands. “Oh!” Her brow flew up in surprise. “I was having so much fun, I never got your name.” But before she could ask for it.
”It’s thunda time!”
A boy in black and blue clothes dove into a bush just a few feet away from the two girls. A flash of lightning caused Rina’s date to jump, but she put on a smile afterwards. “What’s the matter Charlie?”
He turned to them. ”There’s a magical presence that Boteg doesn’t recognize.” He pointed towards the hotel with his ax. ”Su wants you inside as soon as possible. It’s probably no cause for alarm, but Charlie’s angels are going to keep you guys safe anyway!”
“Thanks Charlie!” She took Rina by the hand and started to walk inside. The bags swung side to side with every step. “He’s just a cosplayer, no reason to be alarmed.”
Everything happened to fast for Rina to process immediately. Cosplayer? Boteg? Magical presence? That sounded suspicious, all things considered. The name 'Su' too. Didn't Mika mention that name? Was Mika around here somewhere?
“E-eh? Hey wait!” Before Rina could say anything, she was being pulled along by Mika into the Golden Trove. Normally in this situation she'd transform and tell this kid to get lost before something bad happened, but she seemed oddly okay with all of this? She was pretty sure that guy was a magical boy. “Uh...alright, I guess? Is that normal around here?
“Not at this hour, no.” The girl kept walking. “Your name was?”
Oh right. Name. It's Katarina.”
Rina’s date stopped in her tracks. Absolutely frozen in place. Like someone had paused a video. She lowered her feet to the ground and looked over her shoulder at Rina. “Katarina? Y-you’re Rina!?” She yanked her hand away from Rina and nearly dropped the bags she was holding. “You’re the archer girl and the pancake girl!?!” She sunk to her knees, totally unresponsive.
Charlie walked over to them. ”Huh? What’s the matter?” He turned to face Rina. ”Why is Mika looking at you like that?”
“E-eh? Mika?” Rina froze. It made too much sense now that she thought about it. She never got Mika's appearance outside of her magical girl state. “Cat girl that bought me donuts?” Rina simply stood there, processing this information and internally berating herself for being such an oblivious idiot. And she prided herself on her detective work.
“...so uh,” She glanced to Charlie. “Funny story. I'll tell ya later, but I think her brain's fried.” Ugh, this was embarrassing.
Charlie lifted his finger into the air, but as if thinking better about it, put it back down. ”Well, if you insist.” He turned around. ”Guess I’ll give her some time to reboot then. Stay safe!” He walked away while whistling a tune to himself.
Once Charlie walked away, Mika was able to recover. “You just went out with a me that was me that you didn’t think was me!” Mika groaned and covered her eyes. “I guess I did too. I screwed up again. I should have called you.” She looked at Rina over the top of her hands. “I’m sorry, I didn’t want to make you angry. But this is where I work at least.”
“No no, I should apologize.” Rina said with a sigh. “I should have called or texted you too, but I thought maybe you got occupied with something.” Glancing off to the side, Rina fidgeted lightly with the bags in her hand. Trying to do something other than focus on the mildly humorous but awkward situation, Rina shifted subjects. “...uh, so. Work huh. I guess I'd be that magical presence this 'Boteg' felt, then.”
Mika nodded. “Yea, the hotel gig is sort of a cover for Boteg. It’s a secret, so don’t tell anyone.” Mika stood back up. “By the way, you’ve gotta work for someone too, right?”
“Uh, funny story.” Rina chuckled lightly. “...I kinda don't have a patron. I sort of worked something out with Beacon here recently, but I dunno how long that's gonna last.” She shrugged dismissively. “I generally make do with hunting monsters and dealing with stuff where I can.” Smiling a bit, Rina lifted the bags she had. “...anywhere we can put this stuff?”
“Yea! We got a service elevator and stuff. Follow me.” Mika started to walk inside. “Uhhh…” she turned around to face Rina. “I just remembered, things are kind of weird today. I can take everything inside.” She took Rina’s hand in her own, ignoring the bags as they bounced together. “Thanks for taking me out today! It’ll be a lot easier next time now that we know who we are. And if the Beacon thing falls through, maybe you can get a job here! There are desk jobs in the hotel too, so you don’t have to deal with people too much if you don’t want to.”
“Weird how?” Rina asked, blushing a bit as Mika took her hand. “Any trouble or something?” Well, Mika probably would have said if there was a need for help, right? “Well, you got my number. If you need help or anything just give a shout, alright? I'm generally free most of the time.” She handed over the rest of the bags, feeling a bit like she didn't help at all with that.
Mika shrugged her shoulders and smiled. “It’s just the fight at the graveyard was a lot harder on some of us. Having a magical visitor over right now might not be good. Boteg will also want to see you, and it’s getting a little late for that.” She set everything on the grond and darted off to grab a large trolley. Once she had it, she rolled it over to the bags. “I’m never in trouble here. Got lots of people to take care of me. But I won’t forget your number if that changes.” After loading up the Trolley with Rina’s help, she pointed at her. “And you give Mika a call if you’re ever feeling down!” She grabbed the cart and ran as fast as the wheels would roll. “Gunna turn some frowns upside down right now!” She said before racing through the front door.
“Will do. See ya around Mika.” Zipping up her jacket, Rina waved bye to Mika. In all, today was pretty good. Well, aside from that whole case of them not recognizing each other. She watched Mika walk inside, making sure she didn't trip or get distracted by something. Once certain she had made it inside without any trouble, Rina turned and headed home.
[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/jjKSxTj.png[/img][/center]
Hello! Welcome to my little bio.
Not much to say, really. Just a horror game protag that likes writing and playing vidya games when I'm not being chased by the cosmic forces of darkness. (I'm a security guard that works night shifts usually).
Have some dancing medjed.
[img]https://i.redd.it/q95hk1tobbv11.gif[/img]
<div style="white-space:pre-wrap;"><div class="bb-center"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/jjKSxTj.png" /></div><br><br>Hello! Welcome to my little bio.<br><br>Not much to say, really. Just a horror game protag that likes writing and playing vidya games when I'm not being chased by the cosmic forces of darkness. (I'm a security guard that works night shifts usually).<br><br>Have some dancing medjed.<br><br><img src="https://i.redd.it/q95hk1tobbv11.gif" /></div>
Danyel
datadogie
The Red Seelie
rush99999
Xiro Zean
Cu Chulainn
Alfhedil
Ojiro Mashirao
Gerlando
Izurich
