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The World Member

A Thoroughly Unlikable Person

STATUS: Bad idea. Read it instead. 1 mo ago
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Recent Statuses

1 mo ago
Current Bad idea. Read it instead.
1 like
5 mos ago
The one adorned in the red of heroes had need to finally drop his mask. A funeral for summer, for our youth. Goodbye, those heated days... youtube.com/watch?v=UxwHkqk…
2 likes
5 mos ago
It seems the long summer, which gouged with fangs and gave us hope, has come to its end...
1 like
8 mos ago
Late in it, but happy Kagerou Day!
2 likes
8 mos ago
"Jesus does not like very many girls." - Grant (GOODTIMESZone)

Bio





"And how smart you are only determined which way you fall." - a dream I had once
"Court should be adjourned because the jury are fools, and the judge can't decipher his left from his right or his right from his wrong." - Streetlight Manifesto (The Hands That Thieve)
"Time whether wasted or well spent is still time." - Rise Against (Zero Visibility)
"Your honor, I think there's a discrepancy. Apparently, the Constitution guarantees freedom of speech, but the First Amendment only guarantees freedom of speech on condition that you do not speak." - RC



Most Recent Posts

In Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido → 2 days ago Forum: Casual Roleplay
”Are you going to tell them the level of anxiety this whole conversation caused me?”

"I don't know what you're talking about."



"Did I mention Buckethead is one of my favorite guitarists?”


"Box on your brain again, Suki?"


Not being a mind-reader, Kiyo wouldn’t know that Tsubomi was questioning her appearance. Similarly, Haruna wouldn’t know that Tsubomi intended to respond to her, with how long it took her to finish her mouthful of sandwich. Just as she was nearly ready to reply, Suki showed her dexterity by juggling her lunchbox like a cat with a freshly caught salmon. Tsubomi had just set down her food when her partner managed to land the proverbial fish, and the emotionless girl clapped twice at the show.

"Now nobody can read our thoughts.”

Tsubomi parsed these words just in time to see Suki lean on her hand, and she turned back to Haruna. Can you read my thoughts? If someone could, they’d have trouble understanding them with how slow they were. Can anyone read my thoughts?

Another thirty or so seconds passed with no answer. Satisfied, Tsubomi went back to eating while her eyes stayed looking in Haruna’s general direction. The transfer student waited for another few seconds, watching Tsubomi expectantly. Her consternation rose by the second, responding to both the conversation about mind reading and Tsubomi’s lack of doing much of anything.

”Um. . .” she began eloquently, pausing for another moment in the vain that Tsubomi was about to interrupt her - something that Tsubomi, of course, was essentially incapable of doing. ”Did you actually. . . hear me?” Her head tilted with confusion as she hesitated for yet another few seconds. Despite her helpful approach, an undercurrent of frustration had begun to move beneath the surface of Haruna’s feelings, though it was being squashed down almost as soon as it arose.

”I said I wanted to help you,” she said, speaking slower this time. Tsubomi could feel her anxiety jump up a bit as she worried about being offensive once again, not that the transfer student’s anxiety jumping was at all an unusual occurrence. ”Since you seemed like you weren’t doing very well. It’s probably weird for me to worry as a stranger, but, well, I like helping people.” Haruna gave a small sort of shrug. ”. . . If you want me to just leave you alone, though, you can just say so.” Tsubomi didn’t need magic to pick up on the note of dejection in her voice at that prospect.

This girl wanted to help her? Tsubomi nodded once. ”Okay.” There was a pause as she took a drink from her juice box at the same speed she ate at. The girl in front of her was being honest, at least as far as Tsubomi could tell, but… what did Tsubomi want help at? And…

Finished with her fifteen-second long sip, she asked what she believed to be the important question. ”How?”

Haruna paused for a moment, having evidently not expected this question going by the cues in her emotions and face. ”Um. . .” How did one politely say that another looked like the sort of person that needed help in general? The transfer student certainly didn’t know. ”Well, like I said, you seemed like you might be depressed, or. . . something, or feeling bad about yourself.” An idea struck her after a moment. ”Maybe I could start by just. . . being your friend? I don’t really know anyone around here yet, except for the landlady and a couple girls I met running errands.”

Another single nod. ”Okay.” Another few moments passed as Tsubomi stared at the transfer student. Then another thought occurred. She glanced, which is to say that her eyes drifted like a buoy on a river, towards Suki and Kiyo. Tsubomi considered Suki her friend. Did she consider… anyone else? The other Club members were the closest to it she could think of.

Blinking like a content cat, her eyes drifted back to Haruna. If she wanted to be friends, and everyone Tsubomi considered even close to one was in the Detention Club… ”Mm. You should join our club.” Another slow blink. ”Mmm…” The girl’s head tilted to the side. ”I don’t know if that’s okay with the leader, but the club is supposed to help people. It’d be a way to be friends and help people like you want to.” Satisfied that she had done the right thing, Tsubomi began to eat once more, starting to finish the second third of her sandwich as Haruna’s expression brightened, a surge of happiness accompanying it.

Kiyo also occupied herself with her food, acting as if the new girl wasn't even there. While in some circles it might be seen as rude, it was an improvement over the last time a stranger had approached her and Suki at a table. It also wasn't exactly one of those circles, either, so when her phone vibrated, she checked it out immediately. Her eyes flicked back in Haruna's direction to finally get a good look at her.

A babe?

You think so?

I guess I was half right, then.

Her lips curled in a playfully smug grin, the kind she usually had on when she said something that shouldn't be taken too seriously. In the meantime, though, she was pondering Suki's thoughts. She pondered and shrugged. Tsubomi was an interesting specimen, and Kiyo had her theories on the girl's unique strangeness, but even she had enough social awareness to know that Suki was probably not interested in all that techno-babble. She was just worried about her friend, or some approximation thereof, and nothing Kiyo could think to say was going to help much.

Kiyo was only giving Haruna and Tsubomi's conversation about a quarter of her attention, until the topic of her joining the Detention Club came up. This, she couldn't ignore. "Hey." She looked at Haruna with narrowed red eyes. A swell of emotion came forward, a confused blend of annoyance, distrust, and protectiveness. "I don't know if you're trying to do a high school debut or whatever, and I'm not really interested, but let me save you some time. You won't become popular at this school by hanging out at this table. Whatever you're really after, I'm sure you can find it elsewhere." Haruna’s expression fell as quickly as it had risen.

Kiyo's posture was defensive, arms crossed and cradling a cane propped against her shoulder. Though it appeared so on the outside, her strongest desire in the moment was not for Haruna to leave, but to protect the other girls from some other heartache she'd experienced before and was trying not to think about. It was making any details difficult to pick out for the erstwhile light girl.

”S-sorry,” she stammered in response to the unexpected hostility. Tsubomi’s passive acceptance had lulled her into a sense of complacency about her approach, one that Kiyo had quickly dismantled. ”I’m not really worried about popularity or anything, though. Honestly I’d rather people mostly left me alone.” A seemingly out of place pang of guilt came from Haruna in response to that, as if the girl were scolding herself. ”I just honestly wanted to be nice, since. . . well, especially going off what you said, you don’t really seem like a group of people that others bother being nice to.”

Kiyo scoffed. "That's true. Nobody does. That's..." Her voice trailed off and her eyes widened as a feeling of déjà vu came over her. "why I..." she continued, the wind well and truly gone from her sails. "I help oversee this club. Because some of the 'nice people' in this town aren't so nice," she explained in lieu of an apology. She tapped on the table with her finger impatiently, thinking. "Especially the schoolgirls. The popular ones are the worst," she said with a smile, finding her footing as she usually did, with a joke. "If you're really the type that likes to be left alone, then this is a good table to be at. Just don't be boring." She locked eyes with Haruna and tilted her head. "Are you a fun person?"

Something seemed to click into place on Haruna’s expression, her face lifting for an almost imperceptible moment as Kiyo explained herself. ”I don’t know if I’d call myself ‘fun,’ honestly. I’m kinda boring.” She gave a sort of self-depreciating shrug. ”I’ll also try whatever, though, if that’s what you mean.” Haruna paused for just a moment. ”Does that mean you’re going to let me in the club?” Her hopes soared again for the moment as she glanced at Tsubomi again. ”I don’t have a club yet this year, and if it’s supposed to be about helping people and stuff, that sounds perfect.”

Haruna's response left Kiyo with a feeling somewhere between wistful and nostalgic, but she broke eye contact with Haruna before it could show on her face. Did she want Haruna to join the club? The desire came and went, and came and went again. She seemed to have complicated feelings about it. "I don't know if I'd call our club a club about 'helping people,' but it's at least not boring. ...The meetings are boring though," she added regretfully. She tapped her finger a bit more. "It's like Tsubomi said. Gotta talk to the boss lady." Abruptly, she stood up and started packing away her leftovers. "I'll talk to Roche about it. See you around, girls."

Suki had been pretty quiet, only “occasionally” looking up from her phone while the others talked. She eyed Kiyo as she left the table, then back to Haruna once Kiyo departed.

"Well… Maybe some people aren’t ‘nice’ to us, but they aren’t all that bad either. The Detention club’s members are given a lot of slack by faculty and students alike.“ She slipped her phone into her pocket, still not bothering to remove the metal lunch box from her head. "That said, uh, isn’t offering to help random people kind of weird? I get that it makes you feel warm and fuzzy, but aren’t you opening yourself up to be taken advantage of?“

Haruna elected not to point out the girl contradicting what Kiyo had implied. ”I guess it's kinda weird, yeah.” She shrugged as she spoke, looking to the side a bit at nothing in particular. ”I'm just happy if other people are happy because of me.” Her eyes shifted upward as she thought about her next words. ”I don't really care if people take advantage sometimes, I suppose. I'd rather someone be crappy to me than miss helping someone who really needs it. I'll be okay, but that other person might not be.” Her gaze fell back to Tsubomi as she said this last.

Suki lifted an eyebrow. "You don’t say?“ There must have been something going on in Suki’s head, as all she afforded those around her was a long, steady, stare. "Whatever works for you I guess.“ She inhaled deeply before going back on her phone.

The apathetic girl’s eyes drifted back up from the last third of her sandwich and towards Haruna. After finishing chewing her current bite for a few moments, she spoke. ”What if you get permanently hurt though? If you…” Tsubomi paused for around seven seconds as her mind turned, trying to figure out what she meant to say. ”Pull someone out of danger but lose an arm. Is that okay? You can only do it twice. Is it okay for the future people you can’t pull out? Because you did twice?”

Haruna frowned. ”That question doesn’t really make sense, though.” She tilted her head a bit as she thought about it, one finger lazily drifting up to her chin. ”If they’re in so much danger that it’s better for me to lose an arm than to leave them where they are, isn’t it unfair to them if I don’t save them? I don’t know if anyone in the future will need me to give up an arm for them, but I can see the person right in front of me that does.” Something about the question bothered Haruna. It didn’t show much on her face, but it was easy for Tsubomi to pick up on the gust of consternation in her mind. ”Besides, even if I lost both arms, I’d find a way to keep saving people if I had to. I could get a cool prosthetic, or something.”

”What about your head, or your heart? Something you only have one of.”

”I don’t know.” The lanky girl shrugged in a way that made her look smaller, somehow. ”I guess I wouldn’t be able to do much helping if I died, but I don’t want to abandon someone else either if I can help them. So. . . I guess I just have to be good enough at it to not lose my head.”

Though nothing went through her mind, Tsubomi seemed to be lost in thought. A strange feeling, thinking hard about nothing. A full minute of this passed before she nodded twice. ”Good luck. If the boss is okay with you joining, everyone is weird enough to fit you in.”

"We’re not ‘weird,’ we’re just quirky!“ Suki said as she set the lunchbox on her head aside. "Though you don’t seem normal so that should be fine.“ Her eyes wandered between the two seats adjacent to her. The one Kiyo had been sitting in was empty, and Tsubomi was sitting to her right. "It doesn’t really matter though.“ She looked across the table at Haruna, then averted her eyes and pushed her fingers together. "We can still be friends and stuff even if you can’t join.“

”Am I really that weird?” Her tone didn't sound bothered, although the statements had still thrown her off. ”I thought I was mostly pretty normal.” The transfer student scratched at her head, laughing a little at herself in the process. ”I guess walking up to a stranger and asking if they need help with depression is pretty weird, yeah.” She was happy with what Suki had said, regardless of questions about Haruna's oddity, though the emotion was overshadowed by concern once more as she looked at Tsubomi once again. ”Um, while I'm being weird, do you guys like stuffed animals? A girl gave a bunch to me to give away so they could ‘see the town.’ She was weird too, I guess, but I kinda get it?” As she spoke, she pulled her backpack off her shoulders, unzipped it, and placed it on the table.

There inside were many soft, plush animals. They all had round edges and non-threatening facial expressions. Anything that could be dangerous looked too silly to be taken seriously. There was a jowly bulldog, a happy squid, a startled pufferfish, a tired lion, and many more. Pushing aside one plush revealed two more, and the bottom of the bag was never visible. Each one had a name stitched onto its paw, fin, or tentacle in an inconspicuous place.

Suki stood up so that she could look inside Haruna’s backpack. Without looking very far, she picked up “Lazy Larry” and looked straight into his eyes. "Hah!“ she pointed the Lion’s tired eyes at Tsubomi. "This one kind of looks like you!“

The girl only nodded once as her partner told her about the Lion’s resemblance. She didn’t have the interest to look at the others, but she reached out for Larry with her trademark slowness. ”I wonder if he’ll be friends with my other one.”

Once Tsubomi slowly, painfully removed the lion from Suki’s hands, she shoved her face into the backpack and began pushing things around. Her head was entirely inside the bag with her pigtails draping out the side. It was hard to believe she could see like that. Haruna blinked in startlement, not anticipating her backpack being invaded so.

"Oh I like this one!“ She pulled her head back and held up an octopus named Chad. It had a “serious” look on his face and was wearing sunglasses. "He looks really cool! Thank you very much!“

Haruna’s bemusement became a smile as she seemed to have genuinely brightened the dark girl’s day. ”I’m glad you like them. I’m sure the girl I got them from will be happy to hear that people like her friends.” She moved to sit down in a free seat across from Tsubomi and Suki, almost immediately falling into a slouch with her elbows on the table. Just as quickly, she stood halfway up. ”Oh, crap, I just realized. I never actually asked your names.”

"Oh! I’m Suki! And that’s Tsubomi!“ The delinquent decided to save her partner the trouble of saying her own name. "And your name?“ After thinking for a bit though, Suki realized she had heard her name. It was hard to recall the past few seconds with all the secret oogling and having Kiyo scare the shit out of her. "Wait, no! It’s Haruna! I remember it!“ And Suki was totally expected to hear her name too. Yes, there was no way that introduction was meant only for Tsubomi, and she didn’t come across as a total stalker for recalling it. She giggled nervously. "Well I’m going to go and put this guy away before-“ Suki’s eyes shot open. Her pigtails had gotten caught in the backpack zipper.

Haruna had started to sit down again, and was once more stuck in the liminal space between seated and standing. Her eyes followed the hair down to where it’d been trapped. ”Oh dear. . . um, just hold still for a second.” She made a placating, theoretically calming gesture at Suki. ”We can probably get you un-stuck if I hold the bag and you tug on your hair just right.”

”Be careful. Ripping out hair hurts.” Feeling the need to state the obvious, it seemed.

"...Thanks Tsubomi.“ Suki took a few steps back to release the tension on her hair. Then she grabbed a fist full of her stuck ponytail. "Okay, on three?“

”I was thinking something a little gentler than that, but, uh, sure?” The transfer student did her best to angle the zipper such that it would provide the least resistance to Suki’s exit, hurrying a bit as she anticipated the latter doing this faster than was advisable or necessary.

"Wait!“ Suki raised her other hand. She had the plush tucked under her arm. "There’s a gentler way? Because I feel like this is going to be painful.“

”Y-yeah, if we get your hair slack and pull toward the inside, we might be able to get it to come loose without ripping out a ton of your hair. Probably.” She glanced to the side. ”Still might have to rip a little though.”

The delinquent looked side to side. "...Does anyone have scissors?“

”Here, let me just-” Haruna released her grip on the bag to grab one of Suki’s pigtails with both hands. Before the other girl could protest, she was already holding the part close to Suki steady while she pulled at the rest of the length. She had to put a bit more force into it than she’d like, force which transmitted back to Suki despite Haruna’s best efforts, but with one last tug, she freed it from its metallic prison. Only a few torn black hairs were left behind, at least relative to cutting the whole piece free. ”See? Now hold still while I get the other one.”

Suki held her freed pigtail in her hands, eyeing the (mostly) intact strands. "Th-thank you.“ She closed her eyes and blushed. Haruna went for the second tail with a bit more finesse, though she wasn’t able to get it completely clean either.

”You should be a little more careful if you wanna wear your hair like that. I know the plushies are cute, but they probably aren’t worth me yanking hair out of your head.” She moved her hand to rub at her own hair, belatedly realized that she was still clutching a pigtail, then paused for a moment in consternation before releasing Suki. ”I hope you don’t mind me going and just touching your hair like that.”

The delinquent was hugging her octopus against her face while twisting her shoulders side to side. "N-no, I think it’s great that you can take charge like that. I’d have a lot less hair if I tried to free myself. It’s fine that you touched it. I hope it wasn’t too greasy.“ She giggled. Her pitch sounded a little higher than normal. "Now that I’m free, I think I’ll put Chad away. But I do hope we get to talk again, even if it’s not as club mates.“ Suki proceeded to take tiny steps away from the table, not unlike a ballerina.

Haruna sat back down, hopefully for real this time, as she watched Suki skitter off. Her gaze lingered for a moment, watching the other girl retreat in a way that she would probably overinterpret if she saw. That girl definitely has ulterior motives. It took her a few more moments to realize she’d left her lunch behind in her hurry, which prompted a sigh. ”Do you mind if I run back and grab my food? It might be nice to finish eating over here.”

Tsubomi gave a thumbs up to Haruna as she finally finished her sandwich with her other hand. Now that it was gone, she began on the apple she’d brought. The interaction between her partner and the new girl was ripe for picking out feeling, but she chose not to touch it. She couldn’t help but think that Suki would be mad if she did.
In Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido → 17 days ago Forum: Casual Roleplay
"I can hear Suki's thoughts..."



Good thing Haruna can't.

"Um, sorry if this is out of nowhere or something, but. . . are you okay?"

An unrecognized voice of concern passed between Tsubomi's ears as she took the second bite of her meager lunch. She'd had to pack it herself today since her Aunt and Uncle were out of the house, and being herself, she chose the simplest thing she could. Namely a peanut-butter sandwich. And some new and nearby concern to wash it down, though having only had two bites meant she didn't take much. She didn't even realize she was doing it.

"... help?"

Finally, the words were latched onto by her brain and her eyes moved the slight distance needed to fully see where they came from. Was she okay? The apathetic girl thought for a moment, perhaps more than she usually would. She didn't think that anyone had described her with that word in recent months. Okay, Ok, OK, O.K., K.O., Knock Out, kay? Oh, there were Suki's trademark feelings. Her eyes did her personal equivalent of flicking towards her partner, which is to say they drifted slightly and stayed there. Oh, did this new girl need help? The word registered.

A nigh-inaudible sound crawled up Tsubomi's throat as her vocal chords attempted to vibrate. As it hit her ears and her eyes finally focused back on the mousey girl who had questioned her status, she realized that there was still food in her mouth and so she continued chewing until she was able to swallow it and speak.

"Mm. What do you need with?" Another bite, like a sloth with a paralyzed jaw, and Tsubomi began chewing once more at an equal pace. Finally she realized that the concern she had sampled was from the same source as the nervousness that was radiating from the girl with the dark hair and under-eyes. Was this girl in trouble? Why come to the Detention Club if she was?

While Tsubomi allowed her inner hamster to crawl its way on her mental wheel, she started to pay more attention to the girl's emotions. But despite her limited attention, as it were, being fully utilized between watching Haruna's feelings and wondering why she was seeking assistance from a member of the Detention Club, the singular desire radiating from her own self didn't even stutter.

However, Tsubomi's thoughts did stutter, dropping the question from her mind for a new one. When did Kiyo get there?

In Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido → 20 days ago Forum: Casual Roleplay
"Weird. That monkey isn't giving off the 'pervert' vibe."



Maybe don't focus on the stuffed animals?

When hunger isn't able to make one desperate, or irritable, or any number of other subtle feelings, it was easy to forget the need to eat. Luckily for Tsubomi, the school had a designated time to do so. And so she found herself carrying her bagged lunch to the food court. Another gathering of people, feeling their powerful high-school emotions, which allowed her to feed both her body and her magic with little effort. As she inched her way along, her head entirely faced the floor with her eyes loosely shut, allowing her magic to serve as her sight.

There was the usual feelings permeating through the area: fear of failing a test or asking a crush out, desire for someone else and the shame of not being able to approach them, envy from those who wished they were more popular than they were, the glee of being around friends... But she was looking for Suki's trademark lust, or failing that, the recent disgust that she seemed to feel for... well, Tsubomi didn't know. She wandered around the outside of the food court in a circle, slow enough that she felt a flash of annoyance and anger from other students who nearly collided with her, or her with them.

At a speed matching her own walking pace, many of these feelings faded away as she got further from the other students. Eventually she passed by an emptier portion where she could only feel a mixture of mostly normal feelings. There was mostly apprehension and happiness, though they were made muddy by various other ones. More importantly, it didn't match Suki's usual profile, so she ignored it.

After a few minutes she finally noticed the telltale negativity that signaled her approach to her partner. By the time she opened her eyes and walked the final few meters to sit at the table with her, Tsubomi came to the conclusion that the distinct clash of suppressed happiness and unease must have belonged to one of the transfer students. She'd only ever tasted that flavor when someone succeeded in getting a first date, but this wasn't quite like that in texture. She thought back, only to realize that she'd only met a handful of transfer students since her own transfer to Hibusa, usually stranglers rather than multiple at one time.

When she finished thinking, she looked up from her still closed lunch bag and fished out her phone to check the time. She seemed to be moving a bit faster today since she'd only taken seven minutes from entering the food court to sitting across from her usually perverted partner. Most days it was closer to twelve to cross an equivalent distance.

While the proverbial zombie that was Tsubomi didn't notice anything strange, perhaps the anything strange would have noticed her. Because for all the lack of feeling that was in the empath, the girl with magic cast from the same mold would have felt only one desire as she inched her way past, growing and fading as the apathetic girl walked blindly.

To kill that same, closed-eyed girl.

In Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido → 21 days ago Forum: Casual Roleplay
"I think we should write a letter."



F.


Tsubomi's hand reached out to grab Suki's, but her usual speed meant that she was too slow, Suki had already left. It fell faster than it has moved upwards to slump at her side once more. Her head slumped as well, tilting to the side. Smoking is bad for you...

"Yes, she knows that already." Oh, good. Good that she knew, good that she was putting on clean underwear, "good" that Acid Drop could read her thoughts. "Of course I can, I'm stuck in the same skull as you." Mm...

Roche wanted them to stay in pairs, but wouldn't chasing after Suki make things worse, somehow? Besides, she couldn't catch up when the smoker had gotten such a big head-start. Kiyo soon left as well, smelling of awkwardness and... depression? It was subtle, and hard to tell, mixed in with a few other emotions to the point that Tsubomi couldn't pick them out without too much effort to be worth it.

At least Nyxia was feeling something other than rage and disgust, for once. Though why, Tsubommi didn't know. And the final girl in the club-room... Something had happened it seemed. Another mess of tangled feelings that were too convoluted to tear apart under a microscope. If Kiyo was a salad, Shuuko was ramen. Too many cooks in the noodles. And so Tsubomi stood at her usual speed, waved to the huddling girls, and started on her way home.
In Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido → 1 mo ago Forum: Casual Roleplay
"Maybe we should just die."



Tsubomi, that's exactly what the tortoise said to Achilles.

As she fell into a chair, Roche's feelings were clear to every member of the club, but not so translucent to the others as to Tsubomi. She drank deeply of it, giving the Rulekeeper a little relief, if only for a few moments, if only artificially. As Nyxia asked her partner about her well-being, Tsubomi registered Kiyo's comments.

"... Can Light Girls beat them?" She formed a triangle between her hands, then slowly drew them apart in opposite diagonal directions until there was a large imaginary rectangle between them. "If the town had five big ones... We could leave."

Several seconds passed before her brain alerted her of Kiyo's question. She gave a slow nod. "Okay."

Having accepted the other girl's proposition, she began to stand at her usual pace. Just to be certain, in case it would be needed, she drew the entirety of Roche's negative feelings into her stockpile.

"Woah there, dumbass." Acid Drop once more became visible to her mundane self, crawling out of the light that shone in from the window as if it were an abyss and she its demon. "You're gonna try to fight Rei?"

The apathetic teen's head drifted side to side, moving as if she had been hit with a horse sedative. "Kiyo said to tell her, not fight her. If she knows, she'll know to let us know what she knows." Ya know?

Finally standing at her usual slouch, she began towards the door, only to have her right wrist forcibly thrown backwards, at a pace far faster than Tsubomi had moved in years, as her magical would-be tulpa yanked it behind her. "Let's not be stupid this time, yeah? Siddown and at least talk through things with the others before you commit to that."

The rainbow's other half tilted her head to the side as she turned, mostly in place, ending so that her arm was in front of her, though still with her wrist as upside down as it could twist.

"Mm? Okay." As Acid Drop sighed and removed her hand to scratched her head, Tsubomi fell onto the ground like a cascade of molasses against a wall until she was sitting once more. Her head swayed to take in the other girls in the clubroom, before finally straightening her wrist to its normal position and propping her head up with its hand, her elbow braced against her knee.

After a moment she spoke again, this time to the ones who were actually there, a slow blink trailing over her eyes. "Should we write a letter?"

In Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido → 2 mos ago Forum: Casual Roleplay
"I wonder if the Light Girls can read our minds.."



I don't think you need to worry about that, Tsubomi.

Tsubomi once more sat at her desk, waiting for the school day to end. Her blank mind and stare being left unnoticed by the rest of the classroom. The going bet on her consciousness had been shifting its balance lately, with more and more money placed on her staying awake. When the bell rung, she was, as usual, the last to stand up and the last to get her things together. In truth, she was rather tired from having been kept awake the previous night, though not in the sense that she had trouble sleeping like the last time she'd used up her reserves. Instead...

Acid Drop plopped herself into the seat next to Tsubomi's. "Man, you have to sit in these for hours? How do you do it?"

The annoyance that plagued Tsubomi's mind had began appearing outside of it, shortly after the day the Light Girls had attacked her, after the day of the play with Suki. And her jumping on the bed all night had forced Tsubomi to sleep in her tattered beanbag, an uncomfortable place to sit let alone spend the night. And so she awoke, tired and with joint pain all over her body. She had decided to stay home, but her other half, despite being invisible to all others and presumably of her imagination, dragged the apathetic girl out of her home and to the school. At that point, it was better to just go along with it, she decided.

"Hey now," the rainbow girl said as she stood up and stretched a few seconds after sitting down in the first place, "You're gonna be late to the club if you don't get going."

And so Tsubomi began her walk to the clubroom as Acid Drop disappeared into nothingness. When she arrived, she waved at each of the other girls there and sat in one of the room's chairs, not knowing or caring what the conversation had been that she had missed most of.

In Symphony on High → 2 mos ago Forum: Advanced Roleplay

Marrie Knight

Could this day be worse than it already was? Even as she was hit with the weight of a large man, she kept fighting to keep the smoking wreckage from crashing into the pavement. Relieved that she succeeded, she gave a deep sigh as she landed and lowered the body on the ground. With all the damage, it wasn't until now that she learned who or what she had even saved. Shit... It was Raphael. And he... had demon wings? And he... didn't turn back to a human. Was he a monster? Or was he...?

”Thank you. We were unable to slay the demon, but the Holy Roller- You didn’t come to my summons. Why are you here?”

Oh good, great! He was still alive! Marrie almost broke down crying. She tried her best to stifle the feeling, but her voice broke anyway. "You're alive..." She looked to the sky in gratitude, only to see the behemoths once more and remember that they existed. Her head turned back to Raphael, seeing his damaged state, reminded that he was probably on the brink of death. She took a deep breath and resolved herself once more.

"Look, I'd absolutely love nothing more than to find out what hit you so hard and talk philosophy with you later, but for now... She tapped the priest on the forehead with her index and middle fingers, casting a Melody as she did. "I've gotta make sure nobody up there gets themselves killed. Hopefully that'll help you out a bit." As her Melody ran its course, she cast the second half and began to fly upwards.

{Bronze Touch - Stabilize - Multicast}
{Silver Self - Flight}

"You focus on staying standing and breathing, okay!?" She shouted over her shoulder at the holy man as she continued her ascent. If she couldn't get to Crazy, she should at least be able to make it to Boteg, and he could get her the rest of the way up.

Marrie was damn near totally empty on mana, but as long as the remaining fighters were reasonable, she'd have a chance. Besides, even if she couldn't cast any Melodies, she could at least try, and she needed to. She needed to try.



In Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido → 2 mos ago Forum: Casual Roleplay


The Kabuki play was in a small theater. There couldn’t have been more than two-hundred seats, but they were all full. The wall speakers rumbled with antiquated music from a biwa, which was talked over by a narrator. The actors did not speak at all. It would have been easy to hide a lapel mic in their robes or behind the masks they wore, but this was an authentic Kabuki experience. Effects such as explosions and sprays of blood were simulated with confetti and ribbons, deployed at just the right time by hidden stagehands.

As the comedy drew to a close, the audience roared with applause, save for two girls seated at the front. One was Tsubomi, who was unable to feel the emotional conclusion herself, and the other was Suki, who sat with her legs and arms crossed. Suki took Tsubomi’s hand and guided her down the aisle towards the front of the theater. The roar of the crowd quieted down as she made it back to the concession stand. She let go of Tsubomi and held her chin.

"Hmmm…”

While the other girl couldn’t experience the play the way others would, she was more than satisfied with the chance to refill and refuel her reserves. She made sure to not touch the actors themselves, it wouldn’t do to mess up the show and end things early. It was rather like farming, she thought. You have to put in time, water, and sunlight, or else you won’t get nearly as much food. The time was the hard part, it was tempting to just turn the audience into a lethargic mess like herself, but the water that was the actors’ own emotions and the sunlight of the play was much more effective in the long term. And nowadays, Tsubomi was much more interested in the long term, or at least longer than the instant gratification she had been seeking for so long.

Her head tilted to the side as she looked at her partner. ”Hmm? Thinking about what the actors look like?” Even if it was in her normal, not quite despondent but certainly sounding like it tone of voice, it was probably obvious the past while that Tsubomi was talking more. Though that might be more annoying than anything, since she wasn’t speaking any faster to match it. Her head tilted back to the middle and then past it, settling in at a perfect mirror of the previous tilt. ”Or do you think it would be cooler with actual effects?” Tsubomi, despite being a literal empath, wasn’t able to read minds. She knew that she was shooting in the dark, and that Suki knew she was too, but lack of actual interest never stopped people who actually had emotions running through them, why should it stop her?

"It wasn’t what I expected.” Suki’s tone made it evident she was still deciding if she liked it or not. "I mean, it’s just the local theater group. I would be surprised if they had access to pyrotechnics. But a resource they had access to and absolutely didn’t use was woman!” She crossed her brow. "Women weren't allowed to perform back then, but let’s get with the times! If you’re going to do a play based around a bunch of seductive vixens, why not have some super cuties play the part?” She sighed. "I mean sure, their clothes and makeup were so thick it could be anyone under there. A-and I guess they still looked kinda cute. But you wouldn’t have to do that if you just used real women! The hot spring scene could have been really special…”

Sometimes, Ember liked to wander around Hibusa Town without a goal in mind. She let her legs carry her forward, her eyes barely watching ahead as she moved from alley to alley, leaving behind streets both desecrated and consecrated. She refused to look people in the eyes or to even acknowledge their existence, as this was her precious alone time. Or at least as alone she could get with two teenage girls in her head, but that had been the case for as long as she could remember. Besides, they would not interrupt her privacy without good reason.

As she walked, she thought about the Detention Club, whose leader elected to mysteriously appear only when convenient for her. It did little for their cohesion - but that was not really her playing field, was it? Instead, she should be concerned for Sylvia and Hotaru, along with the friends they were making. Was this truly the best option for them? Could they do something better? Their acquaintances shared the secret of Takae Shuuko, not to mention they came from troubled pasts as well and yet… Broken people did not mean healing for Hotaru or Sylvia.

They needed someone stable for that. Ember could not be it, however; she was too close to them.

“Is that a theatre?” Sylvia asked in her head as she spotted the building. Ember stopped for a second to take a look at it. Indeed, it was a theatre, of the old-fashioned kind.

”How did you know, Sylvi?” asked Ember with a teasing lilt in her question. Sylvia averted her eyes in response, as though being curious about the outside world was a crime she should be ashamed of. Unfortunately, before the conversation could continue between them, Ember spotted two very unlikely friends coming her way.

”Aisatsu.” Tsubomi lazily greeted the girl, giving a half-hearted bow with her right hand parallel to her body over her heart. Not knowing or caring if this counted as mocking, she could only remember this bastardized version of a buddhist greeting. After a moment she straightened to her normal, slouched stance.

Suki had been mid-explaining when Tsubomi had turned to greet the newly arrived. A quiet followed her greeting that was only filled by the delinquent side eyeing the newly arrived. "Oh hey!” Suki turned to face the many named girl and didn’t bother showing the level of reverence that Tsubomi had. "It’s been a little bit since we’ve met! I mean, prior to the beach thing. That wasn’t too long ago.” She shifted her eyes. "Anyway, you kinda missed the play. If I knew you were interested I’d have gotten more tickets. Probably.”

”Hello to you two! Thank you for the sweet consideration, Oyama-san. I might take a look next time.” Ember smiled a genuine smile at the two other dark magical girls, waving. She did not seem like she cared about their rudeness, perceived or otherwise. ”Did you enjoy yourselves?”

”Mm.” Turning back to Suki, Tsubomi finally responded about her misgivings towards the play. ”Maybe there were women acting and we just don’t know? A real hot spring scene would have ruined their makeup either way, wouldn’t it?”

"I know what a woman looks like, nothing can fool these eyes.” She reassured her friend. "And you wouldn’t use a real hot spring of course.” Suki raised a finger as she said this. "It would be a little weird to move a hot tub on stage. But you know, you could just set up a few stones, some bushes, and put the actresses in towels and your imagination could do the rest.” She rested her hands on her hips. "That is to say I enjoyed myself, but I think the experience could have been better. Maybe not a lot better, just a small improvement.”

”There’s always something to improve. No matter how much you yearn for your piece of perfection, Oyama-san,” Ember reached out to the girl and deliberately messed up her hair. This caused the delinquent’s head to sink between her shoulders. ”It’s never going to happen. Usually, it isn’t because of someone who decided to try and make a point though.” The smile remained on Ember’s lips as she teased Suki, knowing that she would have very little effect on Tsubomi. That girl seemed to be the very definition of stoic. ”Maybe you should try approaching the director with your criticism. They might take it well~”

"Somehow, I don’t think they will.” Suki said while straightening out her hair. She froze half way through, as if coming to a sudden realization. But she said nothing and continued to fix her appearance. "Speaking of taking it well, I should head back to my place. You should probably head back too, Tsubomi. I think um…” She hesitated while looking at the other girl. "I’ll catch up with you guys during the next club meeting. Heh!”

Tsubomi gave her usual lazy wave as Suki went on her way. She’d have quite a walk to get back, but that was never a bother even when she could be bothered. Still, she began to turn and head home as well. Shatterscape and she had never really… spent time together, and so Tsubomi didn’t feel a strong need to protect an investment. Still, the girl was always feeling something, or sometimes somethings, but Tsubomi was well enough off on her stockpile that hanging around her for more didn’t even cross her mind.

”See you later!” Waving off Suki with a smile, Ember would have continued on her way amongst the alleys if it was not for Tsubomi’s… hesitation? She walked at a much slower pace than Suki, who might as well have been a rocket headed for the moon. Especially in comparison. Then again, the schemer never saw Tsubomi as a particularly energetic person, so it fit. Either way, it would not hurt to make an offer.

[color=red]”Say, Kana-san, would you like it if I escorted you home?”[color] The smile remained on Ember’s face as she acted on Sylvia’s silent suggestion along with her own interests. Perhaps she could dive deeper into this well and discover what lay deep inside.

Yet another unusual thing was added to Tsubomi’s list, ever since Rei’s mostly-disappearance. Though the list had stopped growing after her concussion, so she thought it might need to be retired. Someone other than Suki walking home with her? Before, she would have waved it off entirely, but with her newfound approach to at least try not to instantly burn bridges she figured it might be worth accepting. If nothing else, it might prevent another fall.

Tsubomi stopped her snail’s pace walking and tilted her head over her shoulder back at the Mirror Priestess. ”Mm. Okay.”

”Great!” With that, Ember moved beside Tsubomi, letting the other girl set the pace. They ended up walking through the streets at a leisurely, some might even outright say lazy, stroll, but the schemer did not mind. It only gave her more time to spend, to think, to analyse and draw conclusions.

”Do you go to the theatre often, Kana-san?”

An empty head shook side to side, at the same pace as their walking. ”No. Only when I need to recharge, or if invited. Which has only happened once.” Tsubomi didn’t have the money to get in normally, spending her very little allowance on food more than anything else. ”There’s a lot of people feeling stuff strongly, though. It’s… convenient to sit outside sometimes.”

Now, just how was one to interpret that comment? It did not seem like Tsubomi meant ‘recharging’ in the traditional sense, but Ember did not know much about the other girl’s power or how it worked. Only that it had to do something with emotions. ”Convenient?” she asked, hoping that her companion would take the cue to elaborate.

”Very.”

”Would you mind telling me why? It’s okay if you don’t want to.”

Tsubomi’s head tilted once again. ”People feel lots of things during a play.” She shrugged and straightened her neck. ”It’s good food.”

Did she need emotions to fuel her powers then? Putting it like ‘food’ was strange, but probably. It was likely as close as Ember could get without asking about it directly, but such questions were left better for later. ”I see. Well, I’m glad you’re full, then! So what did you think about the play, really? And what was it about? I only caught the tail end of your conversation so…” She shrugged, making a gesture that implied it could not be helped, her expression turning curious.

”Mm.” It was strange in Tsubomi’s mind to talk to someone who actually asked questions like this. Aside from Suki, sometimes, there weren’t a lot of people who showed interest in Tsubomi’s opinions when they realized how little she talked. Or tried to talk to her this much afterwards, either. ”Hero’s journey. The usual story, nothing really new.” The girl’s eyes drifted upwards so she could see the sky. ”It would be nice if new ideas existed…”

”That’s not a wrong way to summarise, but I don’t think it’s quite right, Kana-san.” Ember tilted her head slightly as they walked along, latching onto what she perceived as a clue. Her eyes seemed to spark just a little bit as she found something to pursue, to see if she could dive a little deeper. ”Because I think you’re only talking about the frame, not the picture.”

”Same paints. Same lines. Same frame.” Tsubomi’s gaze drifted down as she spoke, finally landing on Shuuko. ”Same painting. Counterfeits. Nothing new but the flaws. But people like it, so more get copied.” At this point Tsubomi decided to stop counting the strange things that happened. Ever since Snapdragon showed up, there seemed to be an acceleration of their timeline of occurrences. Having a talk about art was certainly a rarity to add to it, though.

”There’s nothing but Rome under the sun.”

”Why do you think so, Kana-san? In my eyes, only the frame’s the same. It is true that there are many copies, but there are also originals if one develops a keen eye for them. Sometimes, what is revolutionary lies in the smallest of details and I do not realise it until it is too late.” Indeed. But this detail, Ember had difficulty figuring out. Where was the body language? Where were the emotions? Where lay the substance? Not even asking about one of Tsubomi’s passions - if put strangely - seemed to stir anything.

”Mm… Another way. Baking a cake with the same ingredients makes the same cake.” Once again Tsubomi’s mind seemed to be running just a little faster. She was lucky not to need a concussion this time to trigger it. ”Even if you use different frosting. Even if you draw something else on it. If it’s made well it’s the same taste to the cake. And if you use the same paper, and the same camera, on the same subject. Even if one is black and white, and one is in color. Even if the angle is different. If it’s the same direction, the same target, it’s the same.”

”Ah, but to use your analogy, I don’t think anyone is using the same ingredients, Kana-san.” Ember smiled as they spoke, enjoying the exchange not just on the level of trying to figure out what made Tsubomi tick, but also as a way to sharpen her debate skills.”Everything changes. The only constant thing in theatre, and in life - it’s that there’s always a script, isn’t there?”

Tsubomi took a moment, as if considering Shuuko’s words. Finally she spoke, as emotionless as ever but somehow… smug, or as close as she could be to it. ”That’s the exact kind of cliche, rewritten over and over thing I mean.”

”I’m not a playwright, Kana-san.” A good-natured giggle left Ember’s lips. ”Of course I talk in clichés!”

”An’ speakin oh clee-chays…” Morganite hopped out of a nearby bush. She landed in the center of the side walk, but still had a vine and some grass stuck to her outfit. She shook the vine free before her shields descended from the sky and hovered beside her. ”Dis is da part where da good guys give da bad guys da come-uppin’s dey deserve!”

Pearl stumbled out of the same bush, or perhaps out from behind it. She was a lot cleaner when she came out, but her knees were bent inward, and she kept herself behind Morganite. ”I don’t like ambushes, but if it means stopping another situation like what happened on the beach, I’ll gladly stupe to your lows if it means everyone gets to enjoy their vacation!” She twirled her wand before pointing it ahead.

And that wasn’t all. A third girl with a baseball bat and outfit walked out of a shadow further down the street. Her shirt was open, revealing a tank and jean shorts that most certainly weren’t league standard. She took her time strolling up behind the other girls and positioned herself beside Morganite. ”Right.” She tapped her baseball bat on the ground and hoisted it over her shoulder. ”You can tell us the location of your mascot, or we can fight. Up to you, I’m fine with either.” She tucked a piece of bubblegum into her mouth and started chewing.

”Aisatsu.” Tsubomi bowed at the three with her not-quite-buddhist greeting, though this time with her left hand where her right was before. ”Usually ganging up on fewer people and trying to beat them with baseball bats is a ‘bad person’ thing.” As if gravity was acting up today, her head once more tilted toward her right shoulder. ”Dunno where the kitvee is.” As the last of her words exited her mouth, so too did the boost of her mental abilities for the moment.

Ember narrowed her eyes as three light girls appeared in front of them out of seemingly nowhere, in what was supposed to be a relatively safe location near Hibusa Town. Had they moved closer to the City of Light or perhaps neutral territory, it would have made sense… but here? She called upon her other selves so they could stand as one should the threat become actualised.

”Do you truly wish to do this here?” She gestured to the streets, which still had some people around. It was not a daytime crowd, granted, but the potential for collateral damage existed. ”Some ‘light’ girls you are… You do realise that you’re only endangering those who you are sworn to protect, aren’t you?”

Morganite grit her teeth, Pearl looked like she was having second thoughts, but the batter just blew a bubble until it popped. Then she used her tongue to wipe off her lips. ”Right, play the ‘you aren’t really the good guys’ card now that there’s a few students around. But when you’re pushing the beach into the sea or tormenting hundreds of vacation goers, that’s just the price of doing business huh?” This magical girl must have seen the aftermath of the attack, or been told about it. Yet her tone was steady and as-a-matter-of-fact. ”I know how you guys operate. You're like ticks. You’ve borrowed yourself deep in this town’s flesh and the only time we can attack is when you’re surrounded by civilians or outnumber your enemies. Because you’re cowards.” Her eyes shifted to Tsubomi. ”Regardless if I wield a righteous sword or a bat as hard as the hand of justice, it says little about why I fight.” She tapped her bat in her palm.

Pearl wiped her brow before pointing her wand ahead, a brilliant smile crossed her face. ”That’s right! Regardless of what you’re thinking about doing to those bystanders, I’ll make sure you don’t lay a single hand on them!”

Even Morganite looked pumped up. ”Ya dun gotta fight us. Juz point uz to da base of operations!”

Hearing the words of the bringer of justice, Tsubomi’s head once more tilted to the other side. ”Do we?” The revelation that she was burrowing deep into the town was news to her. ”But… you’re the ones outnumbering us, aren’t you? Mm…” Her eyes drifted from each Light Girl to the next. ”Mmmmm… Besides. It sounds like you’re fighting to get the mascot, not to be justice for people who were unlucky.”

The batter sighed. ”Removing your mascot will further weaken you, making it harder for you to commit further atrocities.” The exact role a mascot played was unknown to most magical girls, but there did seem to be a correlation between the TV headed cats and the magical girl teams that formed around them. Come to think of it, Morganite had attempted to capture their mascot the other day. Maybe they knew something Tsubomi did not, or maybe this scheme was based on a hunch. ”And it’s not really luck. If the beach had been empty you’d have found some other peaceful group to terrorize.”

Something about the girl’s explanation jumped out at Tsubomi. Even if they explained what had actually happened at the beach, they probably wouldn’t believe it anyway. Besides… ”Mm. Further?”

”You’re not exactly strong for dark magical girls, from what I’ve been told at least. ” The batter raised an eyebrow. ”Why? Are your powers not inhibited?”

But that line of thought was derailed as soon as Ember returned the discussion to an earlier point. ”I never said that I’m playing by those rules. Only that you should be careful about who’s getting hurt. I wouldn’t mind a few injured bystanders, but would you?” Ember deliberately pointed at the light girls, her grin wide and predatory. ”Because like it or not, it’ll happen. Even if I’m inclined to be careful, if we fight you girls, it’ll only result in tears in the end. So I’d advise you to think about it before you act.” A breath. A pause to let them take it in.

Pearl looked at the pedestrians. They hadn’t been here long, but it was clear everyone was headed home. The longer they waited, the more vacant the area became. ”We can talk a bit longer if you’d like.”

”Or we could say that we know where our mascot is and lead you completely astray. I heard that demons lurk in Hibusa, so the outcome’s going to be unpleasant either way. Neither of us is going to get what we’re looking for so… why not just save the effort?” Of course, in the meantime, Ember reached out towards her bodies, bringing them closer and closer. She did not necessarily want to fight and her argument rung genuine, but she knew better than to trust the heartless hags in front of her.

”You’re rather noble for dark girls. I would have thought you’d try to trick us anyway, but I appreciate that you’re aware of your nature and willing to inform us about it.” The batter yanked the gum out of her mouth and stuck it on her bat. ”I guess we don’t have all night. Let me know when you’re ready to renegotiate.” The batter stepped forward, and her allies prepared to attack. Light and sparks danced through the air as they prepared to attack.

And these three were rather underhanded for Light Girls. Tsubomi threw a downcast look toward the ground. ”Nothing but Rome under the sun, after all…” She shrugged and took a step back and towards the sidewalk. She seemed to be standing aside, but in relation to what was unclear. After a moment, she slowly lowered herself into a crouch.

So this was it. Again. History repeated itself as though no one had learned from it and as such, Ember’s eyes became distant as she looked beyond… no, through the violent light girls.

”Too much to hope for reason, huh?”

Her voice lacked her usual confidence. It felt hollow, shattered. As though she had just lost a war for something more important then her own life. Her stare turned cold even as deep down, Hotaru burned with fury, all but demanding to surface. Sylvia could barely hold her back, pleading with her with soft whispers that this was Ember’s time.

”No, it’s not anymore. They aren’t worth my words.”

On the outside, she closed her eyes as she made a last adjustment to the position of her bodies.

Then she let out a blood-curling scream.

Everyone on the street stopped. Some pulled their heads between their shoulders, some looked around panic, but a select few saw Ember collapse in the middle of the street and rushed to help. Five people to be exact, just enough to make the light girls’ job more difficult if they wanted to avoid harming the civilians in the initial fight, and also served as makeshift camouflage for the figurative magical explosion just a couple dozen meters behind Pearl.

Morganite was quick to redirect her shield, and flung them up in front of the approaching pedestrians. ”keep ya selves back! We got dis!” Who knew what the pedestrians saw when they looked upon this spectacle. Perhaps they were witnessing an exorcism, or maybe Morganite’s shields looked like passing cars. Either way, they weren’t going to get closer.

Now with one of her bodies transformed, Shatterscape drove her gauntlets into whom she judged the most vulnerable foe, Which happened to be Pearl. Her gauntlets closed around her victim as though they were a steel vice or perhaps an iron maiden; relentless and swift. Out of reflex, the light girl swaddled herself in a barrier of light, which shot blinding rays of light out from between Shatterscape’s talons. Her steel fingers were heating up, as Pearl had transformed herself into a miniature star. The dark girl was effectively trying to suppress a star, or a series of chain explosions. Most would have given up already, but her hatred kept her on the task.

Until a baseball cracked into her chin.

It was impossible to see through the veil of light, but as the vertigo left Shatterscape, she could see the Batter tossing a baseball up and down. Pearl was shivering. Even with the shield up, Shatterscape had managed to cut into her dress and even draw some blood. The Batter moved her body between the dark magical girls and the rest of her friends. ”Not bad, for a coward anyway.”

Tsubomi could feel the area was being saturated in dark emotions. The confusion of the pedestrians, the annoyance of Morganite, the terror on Pearl, but she couldn’t get a read on the batter. There was nothing there to feel, like she was just a doll or a robot.

”Do you-” Pearl managed between breaths.

”Stay by Morganite, this won’t be much longer.” She began to chew again before flinging herself past Tsubomi. Shatterscape only had a moment to bring up her claws and defend from a barrage of bat swings.

Still sitting on her haunches, balanced on the front of her feet, Tsubomi’s head followed the action of the fight at a delay, moving towards the Light Girls after Shatterscape already grabbed one. As she was knocked back, the empath’s head followed once more, still much slower than her fellow club member.

”Mmmmmm…” A slight vibration from the back of Tsubomi’s throat was audible to anyone who got close enough to her. It would be one thing if certain members of the club were there, but Shuuko was strong, she’d be fine. And it wasn’t like Tsubomi had reason to fight, anyway. Still… It made sense to take in a bit of the panic from the normal people around, both to top off her mostly full reserves and to prevent anyone from running into the fight. Not to mention the possibility of someone getting trampled if they were too panicked.

”You can do it.” Tsubomi managed to flatly say to her ally as Shatterscape recovered from the blow. ”A heart without hatred can’t hurt you. A good cliche.” Her gaze went with her head to face toward and stare at the ground in front of her.

Pearl’s eyes shifted between Tsubomi and Shatterscape. Then she looked at the batter. ”You’ve got this, Diamond!” Her vitality seemed to return when she shouted. ”Show her that we don’t need dirty tricks to win!”

The plan did not work out as intended, a painful blow across Shatterscape’s jaw making her reel for a split second before Sylvia swallowed the sensation whole. As always, the girl shielded everyone without considering the cost to herself, leaving the rest of their minds capable of intercepting the series of swings aimed at Shatterscape. The baseball bat slammed into her gauntlets with an ugly, vicious thump that reverberated in the bones, forcing the dark girl to retreat for the time being.

Another swing. Another thump. The blows came in a flurry, from different directions and - why was Tsubomi standing by as though she had nothing to do with this?!

”Distant drifter!” She shouted as she parried and counterattacked, attempting to sweep her opponent’s feet from beneath her with a snappy kick. But Diamond’s nimble movements allowed her to hop over the sweep and continue her assault. ”Is this humble priestess not worthy of your aide?” Displeasure coloured her voice as she spoke, her gaze catching Tsubomi’s for a moment. The emotionless girl felt a sting of betrayal from Shatterscape, mixed with pain from Sylvia and rage, burning like a bonfire from Hotaru.

Tsubomi took a second away from calming the civilians when she noticed Shatterscape doing what she sometimes did, namely feeling a bunch of stuff all at once. When their eyes met, Tsubomi dropped what concentration she had on stopping any panic.

”Mm. I thought you could handle it alone. And…” As she stood up from her seat of her own heels, Tsubomi pointedly looked towards Morganite and Pearl, and stared at them for a moment. Finally she blinked, and looked back to the fight proper. ”Three against two is harder than one on one, right?” She looked around and, some thought later, decided that transforming would be a good idea. And so she did, and suddenly Acid Drop was standing in her place, her Devil Arm flipping through the air before landing again in her grip.

”It does not escape my notice,” shouted Shatterscape as she fended off her assailant, ”that three on one is far more difficult than three on two!”

The rainbow girl glanced sideways at the two other Lights. ”So… I take it if I join in, you’ll probably gang up on me, right?”

Pearl fret her brow and took a step back. ”We will be forced to intervene if you attack Diamond.” Her grip on her wand tightened. ”If you want to help your friend, you’ll tell us what we want to know.” Morganite was too distracted to respond, and continued to keep the fleeing pedestrians at bay.

During the duel, Diamond smashed her bat into the ground, and the bubblegum on her bat inflated. The bouncy exterior pushed both of the combatants back, but the batter was quick to follow up by reaching her arm out. A popcorn machine rose up out of the ground and started popping away. Diamond’s hand rested on a crank, and as she turned it, it fired red hot kernels straight out of the collection troth. The popcorn machine was behaving like a gatling gun. A flurry of kernels tore through the bubble and peppered the other side. Each hit on anything caused the kernels to pop and fall to the ground.

Shatterscape dove to the side, into one of the alleyways, her magic flaring as she swapped back to the body that had collapsed. She immediately jumped up, the concrete shattering beneath her feet, pieces flying towards their audience. Or at least it would have been an audience, had not everyone chosen to start scrambling away from the fight. Either way, she blitzed forward, a streak of gold and steel slamming briefly into Morganite to sweep her out of the way.

”Oi!” Morganite tumbled away. She hadn’t expected to be dragged into the conflict again. But shatterscape didn’t concern herself with that, she needed to get to Diamond.

This time, her gauntlet closed into a fist as she drew it back, then let loose a hammer blow at the same time she stopped her momentum. The air exploded with her punch, Shatterscape pushing her body just beyond what it could handle both in the physical and magical sense, hoping to leave behind a tapestry of broken bones.

It was a destructive attack. The concrete cracked, the asphalt sunk, and a decorative tree was delimbed by the force of the gale. Its leaves, minced and scattered, rained down like confetti. The destruction of the last giga miseria had made Shatterscape stronger. But when she moved her claw out of the way, it was evident she wasn’t strong enough.

Some distance away, Morganite had sat up with her arm extended towards the combatants. Her shields hovered between the two, and moved aside once the attack had expired. Diamond looked no worse for wear. She had sustained some light cuts from the attack, as well as a few abrasions from dust in the wind, but she was still standing.

”Oh, I thought we were going to fight a little bit before we resorted to the bigger stuff. I wasn’t serious about ending this fast, but it seems you are, so…” She tapped her bat against the ground. ”I won’t keep you waiting.” Tsubomi could feel an aura settle around the batter. It filled her with determination. Diamond drove her heel into the ground, arced her knees, and raised her bat behind her head. The skin on her face seemed to pull back as her eyes went wide and her clenched teeth were exposed. ”Bostooooooooooooooooon….” Crackerjacks, pretzels, peanuts, soft serve, and many more ballpark concession staples fell out of the sky like a rainbow and was absorbed into Diamond’s bat. ”Braaaaaaaaaave!”

Tsubomi had been under the impression that she was the only one who named their magic. Speaking of, now would probably be a good time to use it. Her own muscles tensed, though it would be hard to notice with how still she stood, as magic flowed through them. She’d have to time it right, but she was sure she was faster than Diamond. Shatterscape was likely to attack and make things harder, so… Tsubomi grabbed a lot of Shuuko’s emotions and pulled them out, shoving in a bit of apathy as she did just to make sure. The moment Diamond started to swing, she’d get her club mate out of the path of her bat.

And then she did, and the next thing she knew, Shatterscape found herself in a princess carry a few yards behind Diamond. Acid Drop turned to Pearl and Morganite, and in the voice of a peer who had way too much sugar at one time spoke to them. ”Hold your horses there, girls. I didn’t attack her, just like you said.” But the other light girls didn’t respond. They just exchanged glances before looking back at what might have been the quickest magical girl in the area.

When Sylvia felt the strange pull on her metaphorical being, she interpreted it as some sort of attack and immediately threw herself into it as she usually did. Unfortunately for her along with the rest of Shatterscape, Tsubomi had not been exactly gentle or precise with her movements so the other dark girl ended up ripping out a large chunk, chief amongst them Sylvia’s motivation to hold Hotaru back. The warrior, in turn, did not even think before she leapt to the forefront, brushing aside everyone with a violent mental shove.

”Die, you fucking bitches!” Hotaru backhanded Tsubomi, then leapt right at Diamond once again. Unrestrained by considerations such as tactics or bodily integrity, the warrior smashed her feet into the ground, bones along with muscles almost coming undone, then leapt forward with a devastating shockwave. Magic filled the air to the point of bursting, burning like a bonfire or a pyre, starting to eat away at the body from the inside-out.

And then the body slammed into the ground, the attack seemingly whiffing out halfway as Ember stepped in and forcibly shunted their collective to their furthest possible body.

”Hotaru! Calm down it’s all-”

”Fuck you, Ember! Those whores hurt Chiaki!” Hotaru’s voice dripped with venomous fury as she all but shouted in their mind. ”Why did you even talk with them?! They’ve refused to as much as to spit at us we were on their side supposedly, so how the hell did it cross your smoothbrain that they have a mote of fucking empathy?!

”Huh, I missed.” While the dark girls had missed the initial attack, they didn’t miss its effects. Diamond’s attack had come out like a comet made out of concession food, and had a tail made out of coca cola. It tumbled through the air before colliding into a wall, at which point it exploded. The effect was totally nondestructive, and the mess of food it had made evaporated into the air. ”Guess there’s not much point sticking around. One can swap bodies and the other is on some kind of sugar rush. This was the absolute worst group to jump.”

”Agreed.” Pearl sighed. ”I guess we’re returning empty handed.”

Morganite had folded her arms and was tapping her foot impatiently. After some thought, she walked up to Acid Drop and pointed at her. ”You win dis round, ya sneak!” She started poking her. ”But we’s be back strongah than evah!”

Diamond stepped past Shatterscape’s fallen body without looking at it. Once she was standing beside her friends, she turned on her heel to look at Acid Drop. ”I’m sure this is going to fall on deaf ears, but I’ll say it anyway. Next time you do something like you did at the beach, I won’t be content to leave empty handed. Keep to your dark corner of the world and you don’t have anything to worry about.” She tipped her cap before departing with the other light girls.

Acid Drop gave a wave to the girls as they left. She couldn’t help but think that there were many potential worse groups the Light Girls could have come across, but she kept it to herself. Plus, “don’t do things to get stronger” and “we’ll be back, stronger than ever to beat you” seemed a bit at odds as “helpful advice.” After the trio had left, the rainbow haired girl walked over to Shatterscapes body, kneeled down, and poked it on the cheek.
In Symphony on High → 2 mos ago Forum: Advanced Roleplay
Marrie Knight

Damnit, Marrie! Don't let go, don't let go! The blue-haired esper's eyes shut in concentration and exertion as she tried her best to pull Regina from the tiger's grip. And once more, a finger on the monkey's paw curled, still in Ciri's tight grip. Marrie managed not to let go, even as she was thrashed around on Tony's back, even as her shadow tried to force her to...

Unfortunate, then, that it didn't matter. How the yellow beam had managed to have such accuracy without homing or any other modifiers from such a high starting point, she didn't know. All she knew was that when she opened her eyes, Marrie found Regina's forearm in her hand, and her blood on her legs.

God damnit, really!? Despite Tony's chilling glare, the esper was burning hotter than Regina's blood as she stared at the arm in her grasp. She looked up to see the catman diving into an alley, and the beam that she was trying to get Regina out of the line of was following right behind him. A splash of blood shot out, and she tried to get to her feet.

The damned bird laying under her back made it a bit difficult, though. After a few seconds she managed to scramble to a standing position, but it was too late. The tiger was gone. She looked up to check the status of the Trains, and Oh come on! Someone was falling from Crazy's back. She had no idea who it was, but it was decidedly person-shaped. At least the behemoth they came from seemed to be leaving... Was that a fucking missile!? She followed the smoke trail to Boteg and groaned.

"You're supposed to be protecting Crazy, and you shoot a missile at it!?" she shouted to nobody in particular. At least the monster should be able to handle a single RPG, right? Unlike the body that was about to crash into the pavement. Marrie didn't have a lot of mana left, but she had to do something. Options flashed through her mind, and she grasped at those that seemed plausible. It'd take too much mana for most of them, but one...

{Gold Self - Flight}

The next moment she was mid-air, going as fast as she could towards the falling, smoking, one-winged angel's corpse. She had to catch it, she had to.


In Symphony on High → 2 mos ago Forum: Advanced Roleplay
Marrie Knight

And two of the fingers on the monkey's paw curled, forced closed by Ciri. Sure, now the smoke was a non-issue, and yes, being the only one who could fly on their own power meant that she'd soon be alone on Crazy Train... But seriously!? Herself, a half-dead Regina, not to mention Marrie's Maverick allies, and a seemingly no longer wanting to fight Elroy were all falling really fast. She didn't know if the nuns had gotten caught in the Melody too or not, so that was another problem to figure out as quickly as possible. Ugh...

And then a lot of stuff happened in quick succession. She watched Ciri fall through Trixy's arms and Boteg's body just before finding herself there. With terrified eyes she ignored Trixy's question and looked toward the ground below. Somehow, somehow, Ciri survived, now in perhaps the safest place she could be, in Billy's care. A quick look around showed Elroy's flame stopping before hitting the ground, and based on the light he was giving off it seemed like he had been caught. Which left Regina, and... where the hell was Sovereign?

Focus on what you can affect. As soon as she glanced back up at the trains, she saw a giant tiger person falling nearby. Shit...

Marrie turned her attention to Trixy. "Hey, I mean this in the nicest way, but there's really no time!" She jumped off of Boteg, angling herself so she launched and fell towards the hopefully friendly big cat and the Bates. At the last moment before hitting the ground next to them she cast a Melody.

{Bronze Self - Shield - Multicast}

She made sure to land on her feet, much like the tiger next to her, just in case her Leitmotif could factor in, then rolled forwards a moment before getting back to her feet. She had just enough time to trigger the second half of her Melody, putting her hand on Regina's forehead over Tony's shoulder as she did.

{Gold Touch - Stabilize - Heal}

Marrie really wanted to be able to hold her breath as she waited to see Regina recover, but she didn't feel she had time. It didn't help that as she turned to speak to the monster man, she saw a bright light from above him.

"Shit! Sorry about this!" She grabbed Regina by the arm and tried her best to pull her off of Tony and out of harm's way. While she hoped he was, she couldn't be certain the feline was an ally, and hurt feelings were easier to mend than dead people. In the second before the beam reached them, Marrie found herself pushing off of Tony's back with both feet in her desperate rush to ensure Regina didn't get hurt. And if she saved him from danger, somehow, that was a plus too.


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