Being glomped by her friend, Shannon returned the affection with a hug.
”Lily!” Glad to find that one of her best friends was here as well: that helped lighten the mood even more. Not that the situation was really stressful per se, but it was somewhat mysterious. Breaking away as her call was answered and a tiny dolphin named Dan appeared. Unsurprisingly accusations were thrown out almost immediately of the creature’s intentions.
”Alright girls, let’s hear him out at least.” The words may have fallen on deaf ears but at least everyone was being civil.
Speaking of apparently Dan was also there to make sure people weren’t fighting. That would be nice because from what Shannon could make of the gathering group there were quite a few that would be considered enemies. For the moment she would let the magical creature explain as others were touching on questions she had anyway. Getting a tour was also not quite expected, there were a ton of things to do, even some very... strange activities. Keijo? Yeah that was weird.
So with the tour wrapped up they were let loose to explore and enjoy the resort. Rubbing her chin briefly she glanced around as everyone mulled over what to do. Well, she was dressed for the water already.
”Alright, well I think I’m going to just go for a swim first.” Turning herself in the direction of one of the pools not too far off she started walking that way. She just wanted to relax even for a minute if fighting wasn’t going to be a thing.
Shannon happened to run into Sylvia, who was checking out the pools. “Hmm...They do look safe...Oh, Shannon. Nice to see you here..” She turned to greet Shannon with a raise of her hand. “Thanks again for helping resolve the situation with Regina. It was such a rush handling the media buzz and all, so sorry for not calling you back on it. Want to join me in this jacuzzi?” She pressed a button, and bubbles began popping up on the pool’s surface.
The invite for a simple soak in the jacuzzi was welcome. Smiling she nodded.
”Gladly.” Stepping into the water she sat down in the shallower end where the churning water wouldn’t cover her head.
”Aah yeah. Gotta say I really hope all the stuff Dan said is true. Because a vacation for magical girls is practically unheard of.” After a moment she relaxed and just floated for a bit before responding to the initial piece that Sylvia said.
”Also, you’re welcome. That whole thing didn’t turn out how I thought it would. Not that it was bad I suppose. I haven’t really had the chance to talk to her a whole lot since that.”Sylvia was up to her shoulders in the pool, having closed her eyes as she sighed in relaxation. “Mm...This is nice...” She then opened her eyes to look at Shannon. “I’ll make sure to send your regards to Regina; she is also glad for your help.” She leaned her head back. ”Hey Shannon, how much do you know about Beacon? Before we met for the first time, I mean.”
Taking a moment to think about it the Earth girl considered what she knew.
"I would say I still don't know all that much even now. I kind of work alone most of the time and get help when needed. My patron is the one that brought in some Beacon girls when things got too hairy taking out a den of monsters. A majority of my experience comes from situations like that. But I've learned a bit. From what I can tell Beacon operates in chapters defending territory from evil forces. The Beckoners act like a sort of council for decision making. Not really sure how the different chapters are governed beyond that. As far as principle goes, monsters, dark magical girls, and monster girls are not really tolerated or to be associated with. Penrose has probably been the most interesting chapter I've come across though because you are doing things very unexpected like working with monster girls and making new coins."Even though Sylvia seemed too distracted by the bubble bath to hear Shannon’s answer, she had listened very intently, as the Puchuu girl could tell by her immediate followup. “Yeah, the Beckoners in charge of Penrose decided to tolerate non-hostile monster girls. At first I was apprehensive of the idea: up until that point they were on the same list as Ebon Mint and dark magical girls, and suddenly no more. I...I’m the type of person that wants everything to be logical, you know?” She looked away. “Don’t tell anyone this, but..that decision didn’t feel like it was made with a rational mind. We have done a lot of good thanks to that change, though, so it’s not like I disapprove, but…We might get into trouble. Big trouble.” She sighed, and leaned against the edge of the pool. “It’s complicated.”
Listening to the Beacon girl's perspective, Shannon nodded a few times. Most of what was said she knew better than to repeat. Given that their patrons were out of touch there was the opportunity to speak more freely without the worry that their leaders would bring down judgment. That little detail only had just occurred to the girl. Not that it really mattered in her case. Puchuu only really needed their charges to get the job done and to hell with everything else.
"I can understand that. I've worked with boys and girls from pretty much every kind of patron. I've been screwed over more than once by that, but it isn't a universal thing. There's been a lot of friendships from that too though. I wish I could give better advice other than to be careful, but people are difficult to read even for a Friendship girl like me. Maybe… See about taking things slowly with taking new people in. With as long as Beacon has done things I can only assume not everyone is on board with the new movement." Leaning back she sunk down where the water was above her shoulders but she could still see and hear. With as hard line as Beacon had been in the past she didn't want to see them rebound because of some lapse in judgment.
“Yeah, you’re right,” Sylvia responded with a nod. “We do have the White Coins now as leverage in case of a future conflict. Thanks for the pep talk , Shannon. You’re the kind of friend I could share my worries with.” She then seemed to remember something. “How are things on your end? Your Patron was a Puchuu, if I remember correctly.”
”I can’t really complain. Paree is what you expect from a Puchuu but I get to enjoy things and meet lots of people. I don’t usually stay in one place so long so being in Penrose has been a good change of pace. Sometimes a bit more than I bargained for though.” Glancing around she could see that some of the others were beginning to head out to other events. She would catch up with some of the others later.
“This town might be cursed with how much it gets caught up in dark magic, hah,” Sylvia spoke. “But I’m glad to hear you’re doing well. I guess you’ve got enough monsters to hunt here?”
”In between the apocalypses. Haven’t been so busy as of late. Cindy and her group has been taking care of some of that.” Floating from the bubbles for a moment she just relaxed. It would probably be a bit before she entirely let her guard down but at least a little relaxation was in order.
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“Yeah...” Sylvia didn’t respond much, and joined her in a moment of respite. “I still can’t believe we got our hands on Binky when we did. Those Red Coins have been a real miracle,” she would offhandedly mention. “They are a bit too chaotic to really use. But thanks to them, we developed the White Coins using them as the base.”
The name didn't ring a bell with Shannon, but the mention of the Red Coin did given her friend had used one along with the White Coin. Guessing this Binky person had something to do with how they were made. Why was Sylvia mentioning this to her? Oh well. Not like she planned to get involved with Beacon's business. Exclusivity like that made meeting other people too hard. Still she would comment.
"I'm just glad people have other options if they don't want to be a monster girl. Haven't really been many ways of coming back from that." Without warning, the Jacuzzi erupted like a volcano, splashing both girls in the face with white waves. Once the dew and mist subsided, they could see someone else had joined them in the hot tub.
“Oh damn! Sorry about that. I thought this pool looked a little weird, It’s a Jacuzzi!” Lupa laughed while settling in. Most would say she looked far too amused to be sorry.
“You look and sound like that Sylvia chick from the PI article about the white coin. That was you right? Thought I heard you say white coin. Wanna talk to you about something.” She turned to look at Shannon.
“Oh! You’ve got a visitor. Heh.” Lupa looked back at Sylvia.
“Is this a Beacon only party? I can come back later if this is a problem.”Sputtering a bit from the sudden wash of water Shannon backed up to sit again rather than be submerged. It became clear pretty quickly that someone else had jumped in. Wiping the water off her face she looked to see who had joined them. It wasn’t anyone she’d met before. She wouldn’t let that get in the way though since the girl didn’t appear aggressive in any way. Waving off the concern she smiled.
”No no, it isn’t Beacon only. My patron is a Puchuu so no worries there. Right?” She glanced over to Sylvia.
Sylvia used an arm to block her face from the splash of water, and afterwards blinked in surprise at the monster girl who greeted her. “That’s right, I’m Sylvia. And indeed, this is a faction-free meeting on neutral ground, so you should not worry.” She couldn’t help but smile a bit at the carefree cheeriness that this new girl showed. “Did you want to ask about the White Coins, miss…?”
“Rieka Blakesley, but everyone just calls me Lupa. Heh.” She placed her arms on the edge of the Jacuzzi.
“Nice to meet you, Lupa,” Sylvia answered to the greeting, and afterwards laid her hands on her knees.
“Uh, yes, I guess I do have a question though.” She hesitated in responding. The wolf girl’s eyes rolled to the side.
“Uh…” a seagull cawed overhead, causing Lupa to blink.
“So, these coins work just fine for Beacon right? I was curious how they worked if you were working for another patron. Say, one that really wanted you to be a monster and had deep seeded separation anxiety. What do you think would happen?”“There have been multiple cases where a monster girl working for a non-Beacon Patron lost her bond with the Patron, and gained a new one in Beacon, after they have used the White Coin. In other words, the White Coin upon use transforms the Patron’s magic into one Beacon-based.” Sylvia leaned her head just slightly, causing her side ponytail to dip a bit into the water. “Are you considering to join our organization, by any chance? I would be more than happy to tell you more about us and our work.”
Lupa placed a hand on her chin.
“I don’t know what I want actually.” She looked around to make sure they were alone.
“Let me explain the situation to you. This isn’t something I’ve told my closest friends because I didn’t want to worry them.” She looked at one of her hands.
“I’m working for a group that I like, but my true patron is this greedy, pushy ‘thing’ that’s more or less taken hold of my body. I call it Feral.” She lowered her gaze.
“It wants me to kill and eat magical entities. It doesn’t matter what they are, so long as I sate myself. Monsters, magical girls, it doesn’t care. I guess I’ve been dealing with it for so long that I forgot what it was like to not have those desires. I’ve been trying to alienate myself from people, but then I came to Penrose. Met some nice people, but Feral wants me to eat them.” She lifted her eyes up.
“It’s not an easy thing to resist. I’ve been trying to keep myself immersed in monster hunting, but I just have to slip up once. Now that we’re here, I can’t feel him anymore.” Lupa sighed.
“This freedom is something I want to keep. But once we leave, it’ll be there again.” She leaned back.
“I want to stop Feral. If joining Beacon does that, so be it. But this thing didn’t start off inside of me. I don’t want to do all this and have Feral decide to take one of my friends as its new host. I want to corner and kill it.”Sylvia’s smile disappeared as she realized the seriousness of Lupa’s dilemma. “I understand. You are not the first one who wants to be rid of a destructive drive. Isn’t that right, Shannon?” She turned to the Puchuu girl. “However, unlike Regina, this time there is a violent Patron involved. There have been cases where Beacon has banished Patrons out of this world; Horrors are the most common, but Lesser Forces and even Gods have been dealt with. However, it would be a major undertaking in any case, and not one we would like to do lightly.” She offered a hand to Lupa. “But rest assured, we will help you the best we can. In return, I would like you to help us track down Feral, as you have the closest connection.”
Lupa extended her hand and placed it in Sylvia’s
“That’s cool! It’s not present now, so there’s not much we can do about it here, but I’ll remember what you said when we get back.” She turned to look at Shannon.
“And that’s awesome! I watched the video where Regina name dropped you. That already sounds like a story worthy of a book. You overcame your own dark drives, and then you helped someone else do the same. Absolutely wild!” She released Sylvia’s hand and slid closer to Shannon. The difference in their stature became evident as the hulking wolf woman came closer.
“Ya gotta tell me what it’s like being on the other side of something like that.”Content with letting the other two talk for a moment the Puchuu girl waited patiently. Not expecting to be recognized she was a little taken back by the praise. One part being that the video hadn't really seemed all that big a deal to Shannon, but also something else said confused her slightly. Having come to terms with her small size the larger girl moving closer didn't particularly bother her. Looking up she had a quizzical expression.
"Maybe I'm misunderstanding something. I've always just been a regular Puchuu girl."Sylvia let out a slight giggle. “Oh, pardon me: Regina was the one who needed help, not Shannon. In fact, if it weren’t for her efforts, she would still be out there as a monster.” She smirked as Lupa sat right next to Shannon, finding the disparity in their sizes very amusing to see. Then she moved to sit closer to them, resulting in Shannon being flanked by two taller girls as she was sitting closer to Shannon before. “I’m glad you agree. Here, you can have this.” She gave a token to Lupa. “As long as you hold on to that, we will come help you at your darkest hour.”
“Oh shoot! I guess I did jump the gun a bit there.” She chuckled before turning the token over in her hand.
“And uh, thanks! ” she slid it into her swimsuit.
“So uh.” She scratched the side of her head.
“You know I could never just sit and relax in one of these things. But hey! Thanks for listening to me.” She patted Shannon on the shoulder.
“I’ll catch up with you guys later. Thanks a lot.”Lupa launched herself out of the Jacuzzi and ran off, disappearing just as fast as she came.
Sylvia waved goodbye as Lupa left, and then sighed heavily. “Great, even more work. I’m really glad I have this vacation though.” She leaned her head back, and slowly sank into the water until her shoulders dipped. “Is there anything you might also need, Shannon? It looks like you’re pretty well off.”
”Mmm, I can’t really think of anything. I’m more about the people than the stuff. I might try talking to Lupa again to try and get more information on her situation.” She was thinking on it for a bit before putting that off to the side.
”Probably have quite a few people to talk to. Need to meet new people and patch things up with Cindy.” She smiled not really daunted by the task.
“That’s good to hear...” Sylvia slowly responded, having closed her eyes as she relaxed in the bath. After a couple of minutes, she then stood up, and stepped out of the jacuzzi. “Ah, that was nice. I think I’ll be going for a walk now. See you later, Shannon.”
Waving to Sylvia, Shannon bid her friend adu.
”Thanks for the talk. Have a good run!” As she was left alone Shannon relaxed for a bit longer. For as social she was even she needed a little break now and then. After soaking for a few more minutes she climbed out of the jacuzzi. Several were going off to play volleyball it seemed or go shopping. Spotting that Cindy’s group was off on their own she figured now would be a good time to talk with her before they too got busy with some activity.
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