2014-03-28 - Starfall 8
| Title: Starfall 8 | |
|---|---|
| Summary: The final star shard emerges from the heart of a prima ballerina practicing for the Hokkaido production of the Nutcraker that the Sister Schools are putting on -- at the same time as one of Mytho's heart shards emerges from her, creating an unusual situation, wherein everyone must join Princess Tutu in soothing Freya's heart with the power of dance. Everyone that is but Princess Kraehe, who is determined to take the heart shard for herself. In the aftermath, Ends of the World claims the final shard, completing their set of seven... | |
| Who: Mytho, Rue, Duck, Ikiko Hisakata, Takeo Akamizu, Asagao Uekawa, Chao Lingshen, Fuu Hououji, Lera Camry, Homura Akemi, Shiori Takatsuki, Mamoru Chiba, Ako Shirabe, Ichigo Momomiya, Meimi Haneoka, Utena Tenjou | |
| Where: Hokkaido Snowy Island - Kimata Ski Resort | |
| OOC - IC Date: 03-28-2014 - 12-22-2013 | |
<Pose Tracker> Mytho [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed. <SoundTracker> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tk5Uturacx8
Once upon a time...
...there was a beautiful maiden, with a beautiful dream. She tended her flowers with diligence and grace, knowing that their loveliness would bring peace to everyone's hearts.
But without them, forced to leave behind her floral wonderland for the ice and snow, however will she cope...?
It is managably chaotic in the main room of the ski lodge, which is now hosting the dress rehearsal of the Sister Schools production of the Nutcracker Ballet. Tape on the floor marks out the boundaries of the 'stage', which, in reality, will be a canvas-covered gigantic block of ice, in the romantic (and chilly) Ice Palace reserved for the Christmas Eve Party in Sapporo. The hearth is down to embers for the first time all day, but it isn't cold at all -- there are too many students (and a couple of teachers) present, sweating it up dancing, breathing lots of air.
There are costume racks in the back. The ones with costumes for especially specific characters -- the Sugar Plum Fairy (Rue) and her Cavalier (Mytho), Herr Drosselmeyer (Fakir), Clara (Freya), the Nutcracker (Lilie), the Rat King (Pique), and a few of the more technically demanding second act performance parts -- are empty. The ones with costumes for the mass minor parts, such as rats, toy soldiers, and the party goers who come to Clara's Christmas party -- are, rather, being emptied, by a myriad of students volunteering last-minute to participate in the show. Each category (rat, toy soldier, party goer) has an instructor guiding them in the basics of the choreography of their part, little clusters in three corners of the room.
The fourth corner has the sound system, which is being manned by a cat. He's a sweet-looking, desperately soft-furred white and gray fellow, and he cues up the various tracks of the Nutcracker Suite with precision and grace, pushing the buttons with his paw. Nobody seems to notice, or care, that he's not a human.
Right now the stage is split in two. Half of it is in use by those ready to be led in warm-up stretches. The other half is being used by the advanced students, who are going through various parts of their dances in a flurry of leaps, gracefully spread arms and pirouetting legs. With judicious timing and care, catastrophic collision can be avoided.
For the most part.
<Pose Tracker> Lera Camry [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Lera Camry lifts her chin high, while she finishes pulling the chin strap of her large toy soldier's hat tight underneath her chin. She slides it in place with a firm tug of the leather strap, and then she looks over at the other side of the stage. The stage with the good dancers, to put it frankly. She feels a brief flutter of jealousy while she watches them move with care and grace.
She isn't /bad/ at dancing, really -- trained movements with swords, spears, and martial arts were part of the training she had on Midchilda, and it translated into dancing well enough -- but she has never done ballet. She certainly hasn't done that before.
This means, unfortunately, she is staring at the advanced students playing the leads instead of stretching. An arm flies in front of her face, courtesy of her neighbor, and Lera yelps.
"Oops!" she yells, before she adjusts her stance. "S-Sorry!"
<Pose Tracker> Asagao Uekawa [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.
It took some convincing, but some of the girls from the Ohtori Gymnastics Squad convinced Asagao to volunteer to be a party-goer. As it is, she took so long picking an outfit that she ends up with nothing anywhere near her first choice as far as dresses go. It isn't her color, the ballet slippers are frankly more slippery than she counted on, and...
Oh God, dancing. People will be looking at her. Can she transform for this? Why are things like being even NEAR a center of attention easier as a Senshi? How cosmically unfair!
Asagao bends and stretches with other boys and girls in the Volunteer Partiers Party, muttering underher breath to keep count of the steps.
Oh, heavens help her but some of the boys are -so pretty-. No, Asagao! FOCUS!
<Pose Tracker> Ako Shirabe [Infinity Institute (3)] has posed.
Ako Shirabe is going to be one of the little girls at Clara's party. She's wearing a blue frilly dress and a big bow in her hair. It's not that she minds frilly clothes, but it's all a little...familiar.
The bow, however. The bow is just unacceptable. It's entirely too big for her head.
She does have rudimentary dance skills, at least at an acceptable level for a girl her age, but that isn't why she volunteered. It was the music. Not only is anything with music a little too prone to drawing attention from Minor Land, but it just makes her feel a certain way. Nostalgic. A bit homesick, but for once not in a bad way. Besides, she likes this Earth story. It's about a girl her age having /good/ things happen to her.
None of those thoughts are showing on her face as she stares in a dressing room mirror, glowering at her reflection.
That /stupid/ bow. It is now her enemy.
<Pose Tracker> Takeo Akamizu [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
Mika had been in the original planned performance before she got terminally ill, but she had made, MADE Takeo promise to attend the rehearsals, watch, and ... enjoy himself. Which wasn't that hard really. It was a good piece, and the sportsman in him could appreciate the talent needed to fullfill those rolls. However when he was asked if he wanted to take part the resounding and joyous answer was:
"Oh dear God no!"
All with joyous laghter. There was no way on this Green Earth ANYBODY was getting Takeo in tights. He looked down at his legs and shrugged. He would look pretty darn good though...
Instead Takeo sat in a corner, out of the way sipping some Cocoa wearing his Tactical Turtleneck (IE a Black turtleneck sweater) and just enjoying the show, as per his sister's request. Besides, it gave him a reason to hunt for people he knew to tease good naturedly about it later, and he got unlimited Cocoa. BONUUUUS~
<Pose Tracker> Meimi Haneoka [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.
Meimi Haneoka, while athletic, is not a prima ballerina. However, she loooves costumes, so she's definitely here to try something on, even if it means she's only part of the chorus for tonight's performance. She is talking to her friend Ryouko about her plans, giggling as she discusses -- "I really hope to get one of those little party dresses -- oh, that one, with the bow!"
The coreographer then hands that outfit to Ryouko, and to Meimi...
She gets a rat outfit. Huh.
She stares at the outfit for a moment, her hopes momentarily dashed.
Then she has another fantasy sequence. "Well... a rat isn't so bad! A daring, swash buckling..." She imainges herself waiving a sword and looking... cute? Determination strikes her. "Rat! Okay! Let's do this!"
She looks for somewhere to change.
<Pose Tracker> Ikiko Hisakata [Juuban Public School (5)] has posed.
Over in the rat sector, Ikiko Hisakata is doing some basic warmup stretches. While she hasn't had any official training in dance, the basics of prepwork for physical activities are generally the same.
As for why she volunteered to be a rat, it just felt right. She might get along better with canines, but she does get along decently well with most animals. So, why not act like one, even if it's stylized?
Ichigo Momomiya's last pose:
Wow, this is so cool! Although Ichigo was never traditionally a graceful dancer, becoming a mew mew sure had its perks! It was easy for her to audition for, and get a part playing a rat (And kind of ironic too, given she is in fact a cat!).
She had eagerly put on the rat costume, not even needing a tail as her own tail had popped out in the excitement. Now, during rehearsal, she stretches and warms up on the barre, displaying remarkable flexibility.
Of course, even with her enhancements, she couldn't compare to the skill and experience of the advanced students. And so she too, watches them with fixed admiration..
Fuu Hououji's last pose:
Although she's far from a klutz, Fuu Hououji doesn't really trust her skills as a dancer enough to join in, even as an extra. That said, the story of The Nutcracker is one of her favorites, and she has a number of friends who *are* volunteering to swell the ranks of the cast, so she's got every reason to be here, if only to watch and show her support for the others - friends, passing acquaintances, even total strangers.
At the moment, she's watching in a fairly relaxed manner and trying to keep track of who's doing what. It'll be an interesting little challenge to see how well she can keep track of everybody - and if they mesh so well on stage that she loses track, it's a good sign, right?
Homura Akemi's last pose:
For her part, Homura Akemi's journey to Hokkaido has been rather uneventful.
While others were dealing with the ... ongoing difficulties, the mysterious Ohtori student decided to largely ignore them in lieu of making sure a certain number of other people were not bothered by them either. Blessfully this time around Madoka seemed to be largely blissfully unaware. And thus her steadfast guardian was allowed to rest as well.
A rest Homura very well needs for life has not be treating her well as of late. Her plans have been snarled by the unpredicted appearance of the star shards and her own inability to capture one for examination. This, combined with the uncontrolled decline of Madoka's mental state, has left the violet Puella Magi in an uncomfortable position.
As usual though she has to put aside her own feelings and focus on her mission.
Given Homura's usual strange and standoffish nature it might seem a bit strange to see her volunteering to be a part of this play. However there she is, standing amongst the racks and examining the various costumes available. Eventually the role she chooses for herself is that of one of the toy soldiers. Sadly this means she had to tuck her luxurious raven hair up and under the hat she wears. But even with her greatest asset restricted from view she somehow manages to bring an air of refined elegance to the costume. Some other students notice this, and struck by Homura's gallant figure, one of them remarks that perhaps Akemi-san should have tried out for the role of Nutcracker.
Homura just gives them a condescending glance before walking off, waving her hand behind her in an awkward fashion fashion. The two students just feel confused by the strange gesture.
... sadly having your hair put up makes it difficult to offer a dismissive hairflip.
Out on stage Homura stands with the other would-be toy soldiers in their corner of the room. However unlike the others gathered she seems to be only be paying the slightest attention to the instruction. Instead her eyes glance around the room at the faces of those gathered. At one point she is distracted by poor Lera's flailing about. "You'll do fine." Homura says calmly, "I doubt they expect much competence from the extras, after all."
A barrel of hugs and warm sunshine from Akemi-san!
<Pose Tracker> Rue [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Rue is not a celebrity.
She is known, which is something that celebrity requires. Rue is the flower of the Infinity Institute's dance program, praised by spokespeople and lauded by critics. By the metrics of some, this does in fact qualify her. The contradiction comes from Rue herself: she does not seek fame. No national-level performance. No interviews, no word of sponsorship, not a breath of her professional aspirations. By her actions, she is not a public figure.
Standing there in the delicate pinks and soft reds of the Sugarplum Fairy's raiment, Rue looks every bit the star, despite herself.
She is with Mytho, her crown prince in several ways: her equal in ballet, romance, and serenely watching the lesser dancers cavort. The red-eyed Fairy and her silver-haired Cavalier drifted through their warmups earlier, but have since felt content with observing. They speak to each other, linked arm in arm, and from time to time Rue offers words of advice to one of the other advanced dancers.
None of the instructors seem to mind the slack.
"The volunteer dancers are so uniquely spirited," Rue breathes, her voice low and for Mytho alone. "It will be charming to dance on a backdrop of ingénues."
"Yes."
She knows his 'yes' in obsessive intimacy. This yes, this does not belong to Mytho. Rue presses close, hugging his arm, searching for that comfortable coldness and instead finding a spark of warmth beneath his skin. No, not warmth. Something else.
"Mytho, tell me you love me."
For a breath-thieving moment, his eyes are not glass. They flicker, and Rue glimpses an intruding spirit.
"I love you, Rue."
She hides her snarl well.
<Pose Tracker> Duck [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.
"-- so cool! I'm really glad you got the part you wanted, Lilie!" Duck chatters to her friends, cheerfully, as she stretches. She, herself, wears the costume of a Gingersnap, one of the children who pour out from underneath Mother Ginger's skirts in order to celebrate Clara and the Prince's victory. It's only natural; she's too clumsy to play a major character, and the gingerbread children are supposed to be clumsy! Plus, isn't celebrating a Prince's light what she always does...?
Duck has been watching Mytho, you know, in those moments when she's not busy getting ready. Anteaterina had a shard of his heart -- his bitter disappointment -- and she had returned it to him, once she helped the ballerina to understand her true feelings. 'I'm glad that he has a piece of his heart back,' Duck thinks, her face scrunching up as she stares at him mid-stretch, 'but...'
'I guess every sort of feeling is important, even the very sad ones. I'm sure that the Prince will get all sorts of feelings back soon, so I shouldn't worry! Yeah, everything will be oka--' --and she topples onto her butt, as gravity takes advantage of her distraction. "Oof--!" Surely, Lilie and Pique have something to say about Duck's clumsiness, and the girl laughs it off as she looks up -- to see someone from illustrious Ohtori before her, offering her a hand up! "Thanks," Duck says, taking that hand and picking herself up with his help. 'He must have been waiting for someone,' Duck thinks, 'because he was reading just a second ago, wasn't he?' Luckily, she isn't lost in her head forever, grinning sheepishly as she looks up at him. "Hello!", she chirps, in perfect Japanese despite her foreign looks. "Are you going to dance in the play?" And when he indicates that he is not, in fact, going to do so -- for such a silly reason as his height! -- Duck laughs, and shakes her head. "Don't be silly! Everyone can dance, height doesn't matter! Come on, I bet you'd make a great toy soldier -- I'll show you the costumes!" And, if he doesn't protest, she'll clutch his hand and lead him off that way.
Once she's delivered the tall, dark, mysterous stranger to the costume rack and helped ease his worries, Duck starts walking back to the warm-up area. Surely nothing bad will happen.
<Pose Tracker> Utena Tenjou [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.
At the very least, Homura and Lera are far from the only toy soldiers; a certain pink-haired maiden (and not the one Homura might like) stands not too far from the Puella Magi, carefully tucking her own hair up under her hat as well. "This isn't real great," she mumbles, with a small frown on her face; she likes her hair, and as a result, is a little cross about the requirement to shove it up into a hat that doesn't honestly look that good to her.
On the other hand, the outfit itself fits perfectly, so it's not /all/ bad.
She seems primarily interested in the actual instruction, rather than taking stock of the other extras; she'd like to do a good job, even if all she has to do is be a toy soldier and provide an engaging backdrop. After all, everyone's worked really hard on this!
... she still wishes she didn't have to wear the hat.
<Pose Tracker> Mamoru Chiba [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
"Well, okay--" Mamoru says dubiously to Duck as she volunteers him, nevertheless in good cheer. He takes his glasses off and puts them inside his jacket, then sticks the book in the jacket pocket; he's dragged after her and starting to laugh. Once he's been deposited with the instructors and the costume racks he gamely puts on the uniform of a toy soldier, and... carefully makes sure the too-short trousers get tucked into the boots.
He stares at the hat, then gives the instructor a pleading look as he puts it on. Because. He is now standing roughly two and a half feet above the great majority of the people not wearing toy soldier hats. The instructor relents, and Mamo does not, in fact, have to wear a hat, and the hats of everyone else almost reach to the top of his head, so he doesn't QUITE stick out like a sore thumb.
He almost knocks Homura over as he trips on one of his own boots, then grimaces and looks down at her, wide-eyed, voice a worried stage-whisper. "Crap, sorry! Sorry! Are you okay?"
If Utena were taller, maybe she wouldn't have to wear a hat either. TALLER.
<Pose Tracker> Shiori Takatsuki [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.
Dancing is so lovely. There's such beautiful things that can happen when people come together to tell a story just by the way they move, to show such impossible grace that the audience can't help but really understand what they're trying to get across. It's beautiful, it's /magical/...
It makes Shiori queasy.
She could never move the way they do. She couldn't even come close. Clumsy, stiff, not lithe or fluid like the people in these delicately-crafted costumes. But she can't pass up the chance to see it, either, to get close enough to forget that for a little while. So, the purple-haired girl is here, but not actually going for any costumes. No, no, she has a ifferent role, one she approaches with a smile and wide eyes full of encouragement for anyone who looks her way.
She's here to cheer people on, of course.
<Pose Tracker> Meimi Haneoka [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.
Meimi emerges from the changing rooms in her own rat outfit. She has little ears on. She checks it out in the mirror, and... well, it's not an elegant party dress, but it seems to be sort of adorable. She notices that Ichigo is also a rat, so she heads over in that direction. She doesn't really know her but rats should stick togther. "Hi! Almost time to get started, right? Though we don't come in until later, so I guess we get a break."
COMBAT: Ichigo Momomiya has fully healed itself.
COMBAT: Takeo Akamizu has fully healed himself.
<Pose Tracker> Ichigo Momomiya [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.
Ichigo cant help to peek over at the other dancers' costumes in wide-eyed wonder. "Wow, the toy soldiers look so cool!" She's almost tempted to be a toy soldier instead, but the rats are kinda cute afterall.
She doesn't really know any of the soldiers,except for Mamoru and so she smiles and waves to him when she's finished warming up. "Wow Mamoru-san, you make such a convincing soldier..."
Peering around, she notes the cute little gingersnap amongst the other 'cute' costumes, and she smiles at Duck's awkwardness. "Wow, so cute! I just love your costume!" Finally some other rats join her, and she smiles and nods to Meimi.
"Nya! My fellow rat! Ready to take on the toy soldiers?" She gives a very convincing swish of her tail as she says that. Wow, that tail almost looks real!
<Pose Tracker> Lera Camry [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
"Thanks," Lera says, looking at Homura. She flashes a smile at her -- and then her brain, and various insecurities, catch up with her. They expect extras like her to do poorly? The expectation is dappointment? Her smile falters. "I... think."
This could be terrible! Are all Americans supposed to be ballerinas? She has no idea. One of these countries is supposed to have many ballerinas; she should have learned which, in case this was a skill that she was supposed to be developing the entire time. She looks off, wide-eyed, for just a moment.
Then she hears Utena murmur, and looks her way. She flashes a nervous grin at her, nods, and looks back at the instructors and tries to keep up. "It's not so bad," she says of her large, fur-lined soldier's hat; she pokes it, while flashing a smile at Utena."They have these back at Buckingham Palace, in Washington, D.C.!"
<Pose Tracker> Ako Shirabe [Infinity Institute (3)] has posed.
Ako briefly looks around and realizes she is probably the tiniest person there, or at least close.
Sigh.
Giving up on trying to will the hair bow out of existence, she casually makes her way across the room to do a rehearsal stretch. She raises an eyebrow at others as she passes. "You should probably stretch out before you dance. Otherwise you could get leg cramps."
She looks like she's about to comment on the location of Buckingham Palace, but just sighs and decides not to do so. Lera is obviously cracking some kind of joke using a style of Earth humor Ako doesn't get.
Duck gets a little jealous look. "I could have been a gingersnap," she mumbles under her breath.
<Pose Tracker> Ikiko Hisakata [Juuban Public School (5)] has posed.
Ikiko nods to her fellow rats. "Think we can take them? I got the ones on the left," she giggles, clearly taking the joke at its silliness value.
<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.
Buckingham Palace is in Washington? That's a new one on Fuu, but she's too far away to actually interject a correction, so instead she waves to Ichigo and Ikiko and the other rats she knows, giving them a quick thumbs-up. It's not like she needs to wish them much luck, admittedly - nobody should be diverging from the script, right?
.... then it occurs to her to wonder, did the extras *get* some kind of script?
<Pose Tracker> Asagao Uekawa [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.
Amongst the party-goers, Asagao noticed the sour look that Ako made upon being Be-Bowed. That bow IS kind of ridiculous.
"You look uncomfortable, maybe I can help?" she offers the younger Ohtori student, actually looking to her right and her left a few times before miming both 'Oh my god that thing on your head' and 'Gimme' at the same time. Maybe the costume director won't notice?
<Pose Tracker> Homura Akemi [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.
PINK.
Oh but it's the wrong kind of pink. Still Homura looks a bit shocked as she turns to look at Utena. For a moment she thought ... but no, Madoka is probably in the crowd. Part of her is thankful for this...
... and another part...
~*~ Once Upon A Time ~*~
'You should be in the play with us, too! It'll be fun.'
'I... I don't know. I'm pretty clumsy and I can't see well without my glasses and...'
'They'll still let you wear your glasses, silly! Don't worry. You'll be fine, and it'll be soooo much fun with everyone.'
'O-okay...'
One hand gently clasped another, and as the shy girl was still uncertain she couldn't help but smile just a little. It was nice to be included. It was nice... for someone to want for her to be there.
... even if the only costume left for her was that of a rat.
~*~ Acta Est Fabula ~*~
... Homura nods slightly towards Utena, "Just be careful in how the hat sits and make sure you adjust the strap snugly under your chin. It would be bad if it fell down over your eyes during the product--"
A tall, imposing, and some might think ominous figure suddenly impacts against Homura. Distracted by her own thoughts and her own faint attempts at interaction she had halted her survey of the room, and to her cost as it turns out! Given the differences in size between Mamoru and Homura one might expect her to go sprawling. But Homura's reflexes are quite remarkable, and after a brief stumble she rights herself and spins to face the perpetrator.
Mamoru Chiba. Homura has to crane her neck up a bit to look at the young man's face. If he was expecting shock, anger, or ... well anything other than calm indifference then he will be disappointed. The Ohtori student responds calmly, "I'm fine." She then continues, "Though you should be careful. I hear that the teacher was threatening whoever causes a ruckus with the penalty of marriage..."
A joke? Her expression is completely neutral throughout. She then takes a moment to resume her survey of the room. This time her gaze settling upon both Rue and Mytho. Her left thumb deftly spins the silvery runed ring set upon her middle finger. 'Thanks... I think.' Lera says, realizing the possible backhanded nature of Homura's reassurance. The Puella Magi turns to her fellow toy soldiers and says softly, "Just keep your wits about you, and we should do fine."
<Pose Tracker> Takeo Akamizu [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
Snickering, Takeo takes out his phone, snaps a picture of Mamoru, sends a text, then snickers again before he gently tucks the phone away. Sipping his cocoa he looks at the dancers and shakes his head. There was no way -
"TAKEO AKAMIZU!"
The voice... It was loud. It was.... Evil....
Takeo slowly turned to see his sisters BFF standing there. "Mika, is in a bed, far away, wishing to be here. And you stnad there, taking pictures and making mock?" She false swoons and then reachesup and grabs the older student by the ear and dragging him toward the Soldiers. "Wear. It." She leans in and hisses: "Loooove eeeeet." Then stalks off.
Muttering to himself Takeo puts on the Soldier outfit and comes to stnad next to Mamoru. Without looking at his friend/Kendo Rival he says evenly, "When you get my text. Just delete it."
He doesn't look at the tight pants legs. He jsut looks forward, the very model of a soldier. Something about being a reborn Knight and a uniform.
<Pose Tracker> Ako Shirabe [Infinity Institute (3)] has posed.
Ako looks up at Asagao, blinking. She doesn't smile exactly, but she is perhaps...frowning less. That's something! Her hand goes to the bow, and she nods slowly, bespectacled eyes full of intensity.
"Thank you. Do what you have to do." At least her hair is rather short, and getting that hair decoration out of it won't be too messy or painful.
<Pose Tracker> Meimi Haneoka [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.
Meimi is in fact impressed with the fluffy realistic tail. Hers isn't quite as... robust. She looks at it, blinks a few times, but then figures, she just got last pick of costume. Ichigo asks if she's ready for a rat rumble... and Meimi salutes. "I think we can do it! At least, when our queue to go on comes around."
<Pose Tracker> Mamoru Chiba [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
Relieved that Homura hasn't, in fact, gone sprawling, the looming high-schooler puts his hand over his chest for a second. "Good--" he starts saying, then is stopped dead in his friendliness tracks by her unexpected addendum. Then he eyes her for a second, blue eyes narrowing; is she joking or--
She's deadpan joking, he gets it! Bright grin. "Well. Good thing I'm not causing a ruckus. Maybe I should take off the boots, too."
He adjusts his jacket, craning his neck, then starts taking a closer look at Utena-- but Ichigo! "Haha, thanks, Ichi-san," Mamoru says wryly, reaching up to rub at the back of his neck as he straightens, fidgets. "Most soldiers have uniforms that fit, though, I think. At least it's not too tight!" Cheerful again, he does some cursory stretches -- someone may or may not have seen him ice skating by himself, earlier -- and then pays attention to what kind of dancing the toy soldiers are supposed to be doing.
Except then Takeo's there distracting him again, and Mamo blinks. "You wh-- uh. No, now you know I'm going to read it. You jackass, how did you get the last costume that size? You got up here after me!"
<Pose Tracker> Mytho [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
"Freya-san!" an instructor says sharply, as the intricate chaos of the advanced side of the stage resolves into the actual practice of entering and exiting the stage on various musical cues. "/Freya-san/!"
Freya-san is the beautiful blond in the white nightgown, playing the role of Clara. It is not actually the most technically demanding part, although it is the main character of the story; she was easily the strongest of several not-Rue options for the Sugar Plum Fairy, but did not even audition for the role.
Visual reference: http://princesstutu.wikia.com/wiki/File:Snapshot_dvd_06.22_-2012.04.09_12.45.36-.jpg
She has been gazing off, bereft, lost in space, most of the evening. There is a distinct sadness about her, as though she's adrift from her mooring, totally at a loss.
"FRE-YA-SAN!" yells the instructor, right in her face. She blinks at him. "You've been missing your cues all night! If you aren't committed to this production, you should step down right here and now!"
Her verdantly green eyes are glassy with... exhaustion? Tears? She sighs, long and loud and clear, and the instructor is at his wits' end. Freya is normally the opposite of a prima donna, professional and punctual and skilled -- what is going on here?
Her hands ball into fists. "I-I," she mutters, the pitch rising until it's more of a wail, "I HATE IT HERE! I JUST WANT TO GO HOME!"
As Freya flees the building, and his wrath, her long, golden hair streaming behind her, a blast of cold air from the log-built front door opening easily draws everyone's attention to the sudden drama. She doesn't shut it behind her, instead fleeing out into the deep snows. In her nightgown. Those who watch her go can see the very beginnings of a familiar, flickering nimbus of golden light starting to suffuse her silhouette.
And, unnoticed to all but a duck, the red jewel in Duck's pendant begins to glow...
---
ELSEWHERE, BUT NOT VERY FAR
"That's it, the signal is unmistakable. It's going hot."
"At long last, the culmination of our plans." *deep, shuddering breath* "RELEASE THE YAM-D4 SQUAD!"
"...you've been wanting to say that all night."
"...maybe..."
"Well, we can't. They aren't /idiots/, they'll realize that they're the same robots we sent to try to secure the final shardbearer before the shard manifested. We don't want them to realize the connection."
- long-suffering sigh* "Fine. RELEASE THE HOUNDS!!"
"The hounds?"
"The enforcers. All of them that we can activate in time."
"On it. Initiating mass-letterdrop in three... two... one... mark."
---
ALL OVER THE SKI RESORT
Cell phones silently alert their owners to a text. It has an embossed golden E in ASCII, somehow, which is appropriate because this is a message exclusively from, and to, agents of Ends of the World. "Package being delivered on ski slopes. Secure by any means necessary."
<Pose Tracker> Asagao Uekawa [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.
Whipping the bow quickly and painlessly from the top of Ako's head, Asagao studies it while holding one end in her mouth - some sort of calculated decision is made, the bit of hair that was being held onto... Ugh.
Victorian Accuracy, who *cares*!
Once more looking left, right, and beind herself for roaming Fashion Police, Asagao quickly folds the ribbon in half length-wise before tying it back on Ako's head in a completely different way so as to be both more comfortable AND less obnoxious. It doesn't even *wobble* irritatingly.
"There!" the 8th grader exclaims softly, pressing her palms together - thoroughly pleased with her work. "Is that better?"
<Pose Tracker> Rue [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Rue is too preoccupied to notice Homura's gaze. She reaches for Mytho's cheek, forcing him with gentle fingertips to look at her.
"Really?"
"I really love you, Rue."
That look again. That look that isn't Mytho. She is angry at her fear and furious that it is happening to her in public. Her fingers curl against his bloodless face, but she does not sink her nails in. Not to Mytho. Not even this Mytho.
Then there is a disruption, and Rue sharply turns her head to stare. For this, she will allow herself a frown. Tumult means that horrid Fakir will soon come, wanting to make sure Mytho is safe. At least he is a useful disgust.
Rue cannot face the black-haired boy in anger. That is an advantage that she will not give him. She takes a lingering look at her prince to sustain herself, and then quietly flees from the stage.
The dressing room for the advanced students will be empty. It is around several corners and down an otherwise unused hall, so when Rue bursts into the room, there is no hurry to shut the door for privacy. She paces to the vanity bar, leaning on the counter and staring into the mirror, checking her face for obvious emotion. These moments are always so painful, but she has come to prefer the dull ache of holding tears back to the sharp shame of crying them.
Nothing. Just Rue. But also, in the reflection of the room behind her, she finds four and twenty black shapes.
Rue spins to face them. When she sees what they are, her first impulse is to laugh. Shock makes it come out in a sharp 'hah!'
"Crows? How did you get in--"
Somewhere, a pendant glows. Realization weighs on Rue's chest, squeezing her lungs while digging for her quickly-beating heart. It's her they're here for. He wants her.
The ballerina slumps back against the counter, sinking slowly down as her legs betray her. "No, no, no no no, please no--"
Their caws drown out her voice. As they take flight, a gust of wind runs down the hall and slams shut the dressing room door. In such a remote location, cornered alone in a room, it is no surprise that people cannot hear Rue screaming, and screaming, and screaming.
COMBAT: Rue transforms into Princess Kraehe!
<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.
Fuu blinks, standing up straighter as Clara's actress/dancer suddenly explodes and bolts from the room. Without getting her coat, apparently. And with a rather noticeable glow that has nothing to do with being happy, because ... well. That wasn't happy.
Fuu simply grabs her coat and heads for the door - and under cover of putting her gloves on, she dons an accessory which just barely manages to fit underneath the glove on her left hand, making only a slight bulge in the process. Star shard or not, it's rather too cold out there to be running around out there without a proper coat on, and it didn't look like Freya stopped for hers ...
But yeah, that golden shimmer has her worried too. Or rather, whoever might be *coming* for the shard has her worried.
<Pose Tracker> Ako Shirabe [Infinity Institute (3)] has posed.
"Ah, thank you..." Shiori breathes a sigh of relief, smoothing over her hair. At least, she can perform her role looking decent, proud of her appearance and her (admittedly unimportant) role of Partygoing Child, ready for the show to...
Oops, there goes the show's star. And she knows what that means by now.
In the mess that ensues, Ako ducks away and seems to go...nowhere. She goes nowhere. What would Ako have to do? She's just an ordinary kid, after all. And she's really not good at pep talks, which is clearly the ONLY thing Freya needs. And there certainly aren't stilts in her duffel bag.
IN ENTIRELY UNRELATED NEWS:
Who is that on the roof, that brief silhouette of a woman clad in black? She jumps away before anyone can get a good look.
<Pose Tracker> Ako Shirabe [Infinity Institute (3)] has posed.
"Ah, thank you..." Ako breathes a sigh of relief, smoothing over her hair. At least, she can perform her role looking decent, proud of her appearance and her (admittedly unimportant) role of Partygoing Child, ready for the show to...
Oops, there goes the show's star. And she knows what that means by now.
In the mess that ensues, Ako ducks away and seems to go...nowhere. She goes nowhere. What would Ako have to do? She's just an ordinary kid, after all. And she's really not good at pep talks, which is clearly the ONLY thing Freya needs. And there certainly aren't stilts in her duffel bag.
IN ENTIRELY UNRELATED NEWS:
Who is that on the roof, that brief silhouette of a woman clad in black? She jumps away before anyone can get a good look.
<Pose Tracker> Duck [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.
Well, Duck /was/ going to go back and stretch. But it's not very long before someone screams -- ("I HATE IT HERE! I JUST WANT TO GO HOME!") -- and runs for the door. Duck gasps, looking after her, clutching a hand to her chest. "Freya-san!" (Because, you know, we're not in Gold Crown Town, we use honourifics in Japan--) "Wait!" There's a strange light, flickering against the skin of her palm, and Duck glances down to it for a moment. 'The pendant!', she thinks, her eyes widening. 'Could Freya-san have a heart shard...? Either way, I can't leave her alone out there!!'
With that thought, Duck, in her funny little ginger-snap costume, runs out into the cold after her fellow dancer.
... a snow flurry obscures her, for a moment, and she's gone. In her place is a graceful swan of a girl, the prima ballerina Princess Tutu, whose white costume blends perfectly with the pure cold backdrop behind her.
<Pose Tracker> Ichigo Momomiya [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.
Ichigo smiles and winks at Ikiko and Meimi. "No sweat! We can take the toy solders!" She's really getting into this rat soldier role, and her gaze continues to scan the audience, noticing the beautiful Rue and Mytho who make such a b eautiful, graceful pair. Then there is Freya who is a perfect Clara. Except..What's this, what's going on? She suddenly exits stage left, crying and looking like she's glowing and about to release one of those star shards she's heard so much about!
"Woah, something's up!" and she notices Fuu dashing off out of the corner of her eye. Right, some sort of trouble! During the confusion, Ichigo ducks out to a less populated area and pulls out her pendant, transforming moments later into another pink haired girl who looks even MORE like a certain other pink-haired girl...
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COMBAT: Ichigo Momomiya transforms into Ichigo Momomiya!
COMBAT: Ichigo Momomiya transforms into Mew Strawberry!
<Pose Tracker> Takeo Akamizu [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
"I dind't get the last one in our size." Takeo says dryling. "I got the last one two sizes smaller than that. Only the frick'n boots fit right." He strethes out a leg. "Huh. My legs DO look really good." He clear shis throat. "Anyway I'm pretty sure if I try ANYTHING too stretchy, my pants are going to - "
Then there is drama. He looks fors tto Mamoru with a confused "huh?" look on his face, before he looks at the blonde woman running form the hall. However his eyes narrow slighty. He KNOWS that look/sensation. He clears his throat and shrugs mischievously at Mamoru. "I'll be right back. Pretty girl. In the cold... Somebody should bring her in, and since we both know /I'm/ the real man between us..."
He's REALLY glad both Azyana and Sparkles didn't hear that. Becuase he's pretty sure he'd be murdered for that comment, but he needed a cover story, and he needed that shard.
He sprints around a corner, and grabs his pendent, before hopping out back and summoning Sparkles.
The Horse appears in a bolt of lightning and just stares at Takeo before giving a horsey laugh. Takeo just rolls his eys ans his own clothing begins to change into that of Lancelot. "Laugh it up hairball. I'll find a ballet to put YOU in and see what kind of costume we cna put YOU in."
Sparkles sighs happily and Takeo, now Lancelot, Chevalier of the Round Table, facepalms. "Of course. You WANT to be in a ballet." He sighs and says. "Now. We have a girl to save. Let's ride!"
Sparkles doesn't move.
"Let's go!"
No movement.
"Oh. Come. ON Sparkles." Lancelot gestures, "Evil is out there. We have an innocent to save. Whatever is wrong can WAIT!"
Sparkles looks over her shoulder at Takeo and gives a flat dead pan look.
"You could hear that whole conversation with Mamoru couldn't you?"
Sparkles Nods.
Lancelot facepalms again. "Fine. I'll get you a really pretty pink bow from the show."
And then Sparkles is OFF, running through the snow and throwing it in the air as the pair trods around the side of the building and in the direction Freya had un off too.
COMBAT: Takeo Akamizu transforms into Lancelot!
<Pose Tracker> Meimi Haneoka [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.
All that Meimi sees so far is the star of the show stormed off suddenly. "But..." Meimi looks at Ichigo, who is her new friend for right now due to mutual rat-dom. She's pretty friendly for an Ohtori student. "...If she doesn't dance, who will be the lead?"
It could be MEEE she entertains, just briefly, thinking about it before deciding even if it isn't the hardest part, she's probably not skilled enough.
While she's daydreaming, though, Ichigo runs off somewhere... confusing Meimi totally. "Wait--" Well, if the show is OVER, maybe someone can talk sense into the star. So, still in her rat costume, she runs toward the exit where a few of the others are already headed.
COMBAT: Duck transforms into Princess Tutu!
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji transforms into Magic Knight!
<Pose Tracker> Shiori Takatsuki [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.
All this bustling, all this moving--Shiori even sees Utena over there along with some others, but that isn't the biggest thing. No, the former Ohtori student hears a little shouting, and immediately turns to look at Freya and the instructor. The drama unfolds, and Shiori stares, from the other side, practically not breathing as she waits to see what happens--
She does see. It's wonderful and she wishes she hadn't seen it at all. The star isn't so unlike her, but... she still is. She wouldn't think such awful things, either. No, nobody here would. Freya runs out into the snow, and Shiori does not hear the screams of someone in a dressing room. She just steps back, and then slips away, watched probably by no one. She in fact is prepared to just leave, and /yet/...
The sword of one of the soldier costumes reminds her.
Shiori runs outside, and steps behind a darkened corner, where no one can see her pull the knife and whisper.
"Believe in miracles... and they will know your true feelings." The magic takes hold.
<Pose Tracker> Utena Tenjou [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.
The surprising, unbidden bit of advice from Homura catches Utena a little off guard, but she gives a small nod back, saying, "Thanks," adjusting the strap. "Ugh -- there's no really good setting for this," she mutters quietly, trying to get everything perfectly secure. It takes some doing, because Utena continues to be a little fussy about the hat.
It doesn't take long for things to distract Utena from fussing with her hat, though -- as Freya starts to scream about wanting to go home, Utena feels all her muscles tense up at once. Something's wrong -- her gut tells her that much, if nothing else.
Her hand moves slowly down to her ring, grasping it tightly between the index finger and thumb of her opposite hand. The transformation is small, subtle -- but a transformation nonetheless, as Utena follows along after Freya.
COMBAT: Ako Shirabe transforms into Cure Muse!
<Pose Tracker> Mamoru Chiba [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
Oh great. "Why," Mamoru demands, "can't anything just happen normally?" His lips thin and he gives Takeo's departing form an unimpressed look, then gives the remaining toy soldiers a vague smile. "Gotta go make a call, excuse me," he says, wading through the short people and disappearing behind the curtains backstage, presumably going back to the costume racks.
(He's really doing a boss in-transit henshin with outlines and streaming dark colors and everything. Tuxedo Mask is-- behind the scene!)
COMBAT: Mamoru Chiba transforms into Tuxedo Mask!
<Pose Tracker> Lera Camry [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Lera glances at Homura. Her eyes widen at what she says to Mamoru -- who she glances at once, but she is briefly worried at what she hears and not thinking to smile -- as she reflects on the idea she could be forced to marry someone. Of course, she has one class in Gold Crown, and she heard about the teacher who is a cat. If that's the one...
Earth, she concludes, is really weird.
"R-Right!" she says. "Victory is assured and whatnot," she says, laughing nervously at Homura. She must be the toy soldier captain, she thinks. "It--"
Freya shrieks, and the red-haired girl turns, watching her leave. She trails off, awkwardly, her voice catching with that awkwardness that comes from seeing someone unknown get visibly upset. The glow around the girl, though, that really makes her stare. She gasps, softly, before she takes a few hasty steps away. "That--that isn't good. Um, excuse me, I need to adjust this before it starts. I think my coat's catching--um, be right back!"
She moves off to the side, quickly darting towards one of the empty changing rooms.
A moment later, a figure jumps off the roof. Lera Camry -- Magical Cheeseburger Propane-chan -- lands in a crouch, both of her swords gripped in her hands. She makes a face, as the thin bronze blades begin to separate; the energy fields erupt around them, and the snow begins to melt from the heat radiating from them.
"Hold on!" Lera shouts out at Freya. "It's cold out here--" It may not work, she realizes. "You gotta come back in! We'll talk it out!"
COMBAT: Lera Camry transforms into Barrier Jacket - Dual Mode!
<Pose Tracker> Asagao Uekawa [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.
A whole lot of things happen all at once - the nigh-emergence of something from someone's body tends to bode bad things. But with everyone scattering to follow or find places to Henshin... it takes Asagao a minute or two to actually FIND AN EMPTY SPACE. But find one she does, and if anyone hears her over the sound of other Henshin Phrases, the muffled 'VEGA POWER... MAKE UP!' and flash of light from under the door is all they get.
Because then she's out the window and leaping about to scout out the unfolding scene.
COMBAT: Asagao Uekawa transforms into Sailor Vega!
<Pose Tracker> Homura Akemi [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.
Dead-pan joking.
Ah yes, that Akemi-san is quite the kidder you see. When you realize she has a really dry sense of humor and likes to tell jokes in a calm, expressionless tone with an equally expressionless face then everything she says is a lot more funny! Or something.
Yeah it's probably or something.
Still she's not likely to correct Mamoru's assumption. Even less likely than you may think, in fact, when Freya suddenly and quite loudly declares her hatred of this place and her desire to return home. Homura gaze turns to follow this, but it does not miss the fact that Rue suddenly decided to leave. Not because she is targeting Rue for attention persay ... but simply because she is trying to keep tabs on everyone who enters and leaves this area.
No it is not easy.
Any additional attention she might pay to Rue's sudden exit though is stolen by the continuing developments around Freya. Though Homura might not be the first person to run after the girl, running out as she is in a nightgown in the middle of a ski resort, the sudden telltale signs of a star shard appearing draws her in. The Ohtori student tsks to herself. At least she has an ample excuse to go running after her, shard or no shard.
Joining the crowd of other people running after Freya, Homura elects not to transform. Not yet. Instead she runs out into the snow clad in her Toy Soldier uniform.
<Pose Tracker> Ikiko Hisakata [Juuban Public School (5)] has posed.
Ikiko might be brave, and fighting the toy soldiers might only be in jest, but having the others on your side run off does make for unfavorable odds. Besides, someone just ran out into the snow in clothes that aren't going to be warm enough, and others are heading out to help. Also, that glow looked disturbingly familiar - better make sure everything's going to be alright...
She ducks past a bush, and with a silvery glow Cute Wolf Tsukiko rolls out the other side. It's pretty cold here, but at least her wolflike outfit is warm against the weather - there are the occasional advantages of resembling a husky.
COMBAT: Ikiko Hisakata transforms into Cute Wolf Tsukiko!
<Pose Tracker> Lingshen Chao [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.
Lingshen Chao isn't here. She's off doing who even knows. She doesn't hang out with actors unless she needs mo-cap data.
But wherever she is (hint: elsewhere in the lodge), whatever she is doing (hint: hawking meat buns) she looks down abruptly as her phone goes off. She digs it out her Chao Bao Zi minidress's pocket, glances to the screen, and her eyes harden, her teeth grit. Ah. It's going to be that. She looks off to one side, where Satomi Hakase and Satsuki Yotsuba are fending off a crowd of bun-frenzied elementary schoolers, and feigns a smile, saying, "Ah, sorry! I think I've got to take this!" She passes a brief look to Hakase, and then takes off, offloading her crate of buns onto a nearby student who she is only mostly sure is in one of her classes. She reaches into her other pocket, clenching the bracelet and pocket watch there.
IN UNRELATED NEWS:
From behind a tree on the snow-swept mountainside emerges a young woman in an elaborately Chinese-styled dress, a qipao over a much larger garment which covers her entire body, even falling into the snow. It looks exquisitely impractical, which in this context probably means she is spectacularly dangerous.
Her hair is up in a pair of ox-horn buns, and her cheeks glow with a perpetual blush, but that could be anybody. Definitely.
Especially considering she is making a fairly direct line for the fleeing Miss Freya-san.
COMBAT: Lingshen Chao has fully healed itself.
COMBAT: Shiori Takatsuki has fully healed herself.
COMBAT: Shiori Takatsuki transforms into True Feelings!
COMBAT: Lingshen Chao transforms into Powered Suit!
COMBAT: Utena Tenjou transforms into Duelist!
<Pose Tracker> Princess Kraehe [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Freya runs down the slope, glowing with magic. Magic comes to find her.
The blizzard pulls aside as a giant curtain might. It still rages and howls, and in fact grows so furious as to be a wall of impassable white, but it is supernaturally clear in this place where magical girls chase a shard.
The air is still. The ground is level and flat. Wasn't this a ski slope? No matter. It is now a stage. It is time to properly dress it.
The props grow up from the snow: dark, unfamiliar mountains that loom in the distance and promise coming storms; gray and unusual trees, barren of leaves and full of dry sharpness; and the smell of smoke and strange spices.
A deep rumble announces the pièce de résistance. A stone tower, worn and grim, erupts to block Freya's path. Walls spread from its sides, further trapping her in this increasingly bizarre land. It is not Japanese architecture, but rather a storybook outline from somewhere in the unknown West.
Behind the windows, barred with black iron, the magical warriors glimpse a pale figure rising. The tower is naturally hollow, because it is built for theater. It passes the bottom window, then the middle, then the top, and finally settles upon the battlements of the roof.
She is a dark dancer, lips painted red and eyes brushed with purple, who spreads her arms to greet her suitors.
"Ghastly specters of the Earth, Princess Kraehe has come to take this shard from you. Do not fear me so much. I will leave you hollow, and then perhaps you can find some other ugliness to fill yourselves with."
The ballerina smiles, until her red eyes find Tutu. Kraehe does not have to hide her snarl.
"I see now. Have you come to dance on graceless feet? Of course. Then, dance with me."
The magic settles in, gripping the hearts of those present. For those who open themselves to it, there is a command--or perhaps an offer, to those who are receptive to Tutu's presence--to express their desire in another way. Those who accept this find dancing as easy as battle, and just as natural. It is battle, in a way that is now possible to understand.
Will you dance your true feelings?
COMBAT: Princess Kraehe has fully healed herself. She is now ready to take on 8 opponents!
<Pose Tracker> Mytho [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Freya would vanish into the darkness of night, lit only by swirling, screaming snow, but the golden radiance beginning to spill from beneath her skin, out from under her fingertips, shimmering in her tears, makes this impossible. She slips and skids, struggling her way up the ski slope, the lower hem of her nightgown quickly soaked by snow and tattered by ice.
Noticing the mysterious light pouring from her, she chokes back another sob... and then screams as the illumination turns blinding--
--the Star Shard of Homesickness bursts out of her chest--
--but it only emerges halfway! Before it can escape completely, a shimmering, transluscent red hand, a lovely hand, a probably male hand, emerges from her heart as well and grabs the shard. A soft, gentle boy's voice can be heard echoing down the slope, if only for a moment.
<< Please stay with me. I'm so lonely, and so far from home. >>
<< ... >>
Both hand and shard are dragged back into Freya's heart. The golden (and, briefly, crimson) light extinguishes, like it had never been.
And Freya is alone onstage, without even a spotlight to guide her. She sinks into the darkness, weeping bitterly at the foot of Kraehe's Tower.
"Everyone was so excited to leave... me, too, when I got on the train... but... it's so different here! It's so cold, all the time. I, I miss my flowers, and my bed. And now everyone will hate me, I'm bringing down everyone's fun... but I, I just can't help it... I just want to go home..."
It is the girl speaking, but not just the girl, even though her voice is hers alone, if ragged with sorrow, with homesickness.
COMBAT: Mytho transforms into Homesick Freya!
COMBAT: Freya has fully healed himself. He is now ready to take on 8 opponents!
<Pose Tracker> Duck [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.
Princess Tutu, the picture of grace, steps into the stage. It is not strange, to her; everything can happen in a story, after all, and it is just like the last Heart Shard she encountered. Curling her hand at her chest, she steps forward, towards the illuminated woman who cries out with quiet grief.
There is a black tower, and a shuddering, a black wave which Tutu /feels/ in her heart. She knows, from the fear she feels as she looks up at the prima ballerina, that she must keep Freya safe.
"Freya-san," Princess Tutu calls to her, as she steps forward with such light steps. "Are those feelings truly your own? I remember speaking to you, when we left...! You were so excited! But now, you're so sad...!"
Her voice is worried, so genuinely distressed, so concerned. "Please remember that this is just for a few days! You're not ruining everyone's fun, we just want you to be happy and safe! So please, Freya, please stand! Come dance with me..."
Princess Tutu steps forward, reaching out, to the woman.
<Pose Tracker> Cure Muse [Infinity Institute (3)] has posed.
'Do you want to dance?'
Of course. Dance is one way of speaking the language of music. And who would she be without music?
But who IS she? A tall figure appears, leaping onto the 'stage' just at the edge. She lands on a tree branch, balacing perfectly.
She keeps her distance, standing on pointe, wearing a combat outfit of all black with a mask and capelet to match, her outfit vaguely suggesting a jester. Golden eyes peer out from behind the mask, and on her shoulder sits what looks to be a purple jewel set in a tiny body. That's one of the Fairy Tones, a spirit of the notes.
"Cure Muse," the Fairy Tone says, "are you going to dance-dodo?"
'Cure Muse' just nods, mouth taught and eyes revealing nothing. And dance she does, hands out as she takes a flying leap onto the ground. Black and orange flowers sprout up around her, opening up as if to get Freya's attention.
"Don't fear." It's the Fairy Tone who speaks again as Cure Muse remains silent. "Your home will always be there waiting for you-dodo."
COMBAT: Cure Muse has used Silent Flowers on Freya.
COMBAT: Cure Muse has finished attacking.
<Pose Tracker> Lera Camry [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
"Sky!" Lera shouts. "What... what's going on!?"
She doesn't know what this is. She has seen her share of magic, before, of course; as a mage adventurer, she has to. But this isn't the sort she is used to. She stares at the surroundings, evocative and familiar, yet different. Then, she looks back at Freya.
<I hate to say it...> Sky trails off, thoughtful. Then, the Device's words grow firmer. <Play by its rules. That would be the best way to stop this. Magic works like that sometimes. But which will you...?>
"The girl," Lera murmurs. "She's homesick. I know what that's like."
<Mm.>
She can do this; she thinks; she puts the two energy swords together; the bronze ends seal back up, the energy blades stop emitting, and then they shrink down a little, to the size of a baton. Lera twirls it, before takes a few dance steps after, closer to Princess Tutu; she twirls the baton over her head as she does. "It's okay to be homesick!" she says. "Everyone gets homesick. Everyone wants to be back home. That's nothing to be ashamed of!"
COMBAT: Lera Camry has used Strike Soar on Freya.
COMBAT: Lera Camry has finished attacking.
<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.
Somewhere along the way out here, Fuu managed to enact her transformation into the Magic Knight of Wind - but finding that clear spot in the storm, and a level field on what should have been the side of a mountain, still brings her up short, blinking in surprise. There's Freya, not hurt or freezing as best the Wind Knight can tell, but clearly in grave distress and probably in need of help ... and the two ballerinas, poised for combat - but not a form of conflict that Fuu has engaged in before.
The Magic Knight of Wind draws neither her sword nor her bow as she steps forward, moving with a subconscious grace as the 'invitation' to dance reaches her heart. It's something she might normally resist - but somehow, the invitation feels *right* ... and so, rather than simply walking, the Wind Knight lets herself twirl a couple of times as she moevs towards Princess Tutu's side, a few stray flakes of snow whirling about her as if caught by the breeze.
"Freya-san, however far we are from Tokyo, your friends and classmates are here with you. Please, don't run away from us when we want to help you ..."
Another twirl before the Wind Knight comes to a temporary halt - but the 'breeze' continues swirling, a faint green sparkle joining the handful of snowflakes, a frigid yet balmy zephyr that moves to 'support' and strengthen Freya - particularly to support her heart, which seems to be under siege. For Freya's own heart, it would be a comforting balm.
For the forces tangled up with it ... not so comforting, but 'binding' instead.
<Pose Tracker> Meimi Haneoka [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.
Meimi hasn't transformed into anything - conditions not yet met - but she does still have her rat costume on. So somehow she feels kind of swept up in the dance. "...You know, I think I'm a better dancer than I thought. Maybe I should've tried out for---" No, it's something else, some kind of magic, she realizes. But... what is the cause exactly?
It's one of those shards! She sees it just before it gets sucked back into Freya. She should steal it! But...
Her feelings seem to be a lot more important, so she tries calling out to her first. "Hey! I'm... sure that someone can help you to feel less homesick... after all, you have friends here, right?"
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Imashime no Kaze on Freya.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has finished attacking.
<Pose Tracker> Mew Strawberry [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.
The magical girl all in pink runs with the others, launching into bounds and leaps to try and reach Freya first. Landing lightly in the snow once the frightenned girl stops, Mew Strawberry catches herself as she watches the 'story' play out. Her heart goes out to the poor, hurt Freya, but also towards the beatiful and graceful Princess Tutu who seems to be a kind and gentle type.
Not wanting to crowd the girl, she keeps her distance, but feels the dance and music calling to her as well. Twirling around the edges, she smiles, "Listen to them, Freya! We're all here for you! dont be afraid, let's dance together. You're never alone.."
COMBAT: Mew Strawberry has used Ribbon Strawberry Surprise on Freya.
COMBAT: Mew Strawberry has finished attacking.
<Pose Tracker> Lancelot [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
Sparkles slides to a stop and Lancelot slides Arondight out of it's sheathe at his side. The white, and impossibly bright blade shines despine the gloom and somehow manages to make the snow appear dark in comparrison. The horse's eyes go wide and she twitches and suddenly, Lancelot is riding atop a horse...
That is Tap dancing. Sparkles the Horse begins to tap dance, somehow making the snow go ratatat-tat as she dances her way toward the evil that both Horse and rider can sense.
Lancelot just stares at his horse before he says "You're tap dancing." He hops off and then finds that he, himself, is not tap dancing, but instead perferms a moonwalk while grabbing the top of his helmet. He moonwalks right up to the Dark Ballarina princess. Punches the air a few times. Grabs the top of his helmet again, Spins in place as he yells "WHOOOO!" Then draws Arondight midspin and lashes out at her. The blade sparks and sends a bolt of lightning out along it's edge. He stops and kneels, placing one hand t the snowy ground and holding Arondight up in the air: "HOOOOOOOOO!"
COMBAT: Lancelot has used Lightning Slash on Princess Kraehe.
COMBAT: Lancelot has finished attacking.
<Pose Tracker> Shiori Takatsuki [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.
It is the smell in the air that is most apparent to Shiori--a smell not only of trees, but of something in the distance, something almost nostalgic. A beautiful past... that is gone, now. Lost. Ruined. Freya's words, once the glow shifts back into her, are cutting. They bring a feeling the lost Ohtori student can't deny, a familiar pain that tries to leap out of her heart towards the girl there.
But the terrifying, beautiful figure fans the flame. The Princess calls her ghastly, and Shiori, eyes stinging, looks up to the figure that can call her so well. Hollow. Ugly. Graceless.
It isn't strange that the Princess asks her to dance, or that the other Princess--one Shiori remembers, from the fight at the school--seeks out Freya. But it hurts to see, squeezing at something inside her chest. "I..." She's accepted the command. Her dagger is held in hand, but only as a prop, a lovely device that catches the light.
"I am here to dance," she declares, a small, wicked smile spreading on her face. Her outfit, already the color of her hair, seems more flowing, somehow, in this light. "Take, take, take," she starts, each syllable punctuated by a step forward, towards Princess Kraehe. "It's always taking. But you know, don't you?" She spins forward, a first twirl and then a second on the hollow ground, dagger-arm shooting upward and slowly coming back down; her steps are light, like a thief's.
The ground darkens at her step; flowers grow, but they grow twisted, briars and thorns.
"You can take whatever you want from her, but she has to know she already has nothing. Homesick? Who can go home, really? Who can go back? They don't /want/ her!" A jump to close the distance and take Shiori closer, arms held out and her smile widened. "Right?"
COMBAT: Shiori Takatsuki has used Believe in Miracles on Princess Kraehe.
COMBAT: Shiori Takatsuki has finished attacking.
<Pose Tracker> Cute Wolf Tsukiko [Juuban Public School (5)] has posed.
Tsukiko takes in the sight of the "stage". There's more ambient magic than what she's used to in a battlefield, but it doesn't feel oppressive. Instead it feels... energetic? Like she wants to get up and move in dance.
And heartfelt movement is something she's good at.
Somersaulting forward, the wolfgirl faces against Princess Kraehe. "Stay away from her!" she forcefully says, balancing on the balls of her feet like a soccer goalie before cartwheeling in a clockwise circle around the Dark Princess; a moving wall of limbs. Finishing the circle, Tsukiko balances like a goalie again, then cartwheels around Kraehe again, this time counter-clockwise.
COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko has used Herd the Quarry on Princess Kraehe.
COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Princess Kraehe perfectly dodges Shiori Takatsuki's Believe in Miracles, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge!
COMBAT: Princess Kraehe narrowly counters Lancelot's Lightning Slash, taking 4 Fatigue damage! Lancelot is Psyched! Blind and Stagger applied to Princess Kraehe!
COMBAT: Princess Kraehe's counterattack, En Croix, partially gets through, doing 13 Fatigue damage to Lancelot! Critical Counterhit!
COMBAT: Princess Kraehe narrowly braces Cute Wolf Tsukiko's Herd the Quarry, taking 1 Fatigue damage! Trap applied to Princess Kraehe!
<Pose Tracker> Homura Akemi [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.
'Will you dance your true feelings?'
The words are not uttered so much as felt, even to someone whose heart is normally so closed. As Toy Soldier Homura comes to the magical clearing there is a sudden shift in scenery. It is strange, and certainly magically influenced, but not the sort like those created by Witches. And there is the mysterious Princess Kraehe standing there with her arms spread wide to welcome them. And Princess Tutu in particular. In this battle Homura is well dressed it would seem. For this battle she is a supporting player, a single dancer among the multitudes, and not a lead dancer. She is a Toy Soldier, not the Nutcracker.
... but perhaps in the end of the story is yet unwritten, and here even the smallest role can cast a long shadow.
'Will you dance your true feelings?'
Homura looks at Freya seemingly talking to herself in the snow. She then holds out her own left hand. The silvery ring set upon her middle finger transforms into a small egg-shaped jewel, violet in hue and partially wrapped in gold with a diamond shaped emblem set upon her apex. How should she pursue this? Shouldn't she simply do as she normally does. Draw out a machine gun, or a bandolier of explosives, and set about her foes with merciless efficiency? It is the most logical choice for her...
... and yet.
'Will you dance your true feelings?'
A strange music suddenly rises from deep down within Homura's beleagured heart. A song born of memories many lifetimes past. She can hear a flute trilling an upbeat tune as she holds her soul gem skywards. And then she begins to dance.
It is not the sort of dance one would expect from the serious and solemn Homura Akemi. It is a dance filled with spins and jumps as her feet carry her effortlessly across the field. Her Toy Soldier's helmet is knocked free through her dance allowing her raven black hair to once fall and wash over her back and shoulders right before she attempts a graceful leap!!
As she returns to the ground a purple flame washes over her body, consuming her costume and replacing it with the unique uniform of Puella Magi Homura Akemi. Not all goes to plan however, and when she lands Homura seems to stumble ... and barely does she catch herself, and her Soul Gem. Taking no time in her recovery Homura raises both hands and Soul Gem skyward, the gem itself floating above her extended palms as she spins in place around it. The gem transmutes itself into the diamond shaped gem set upon the back of her left hand and Homura lowers her arms, her head bowed and eyes closed. She then raises her eyes to look at Kraehe, a serious expression on her face as she brings her hands back up, spins and leaps! As she lands she performs a graceful lean forward, following the motion of her landing, before rising upright to strike a dramatic pose. Her buckler held out in front of her chest, and its 'eyes' open.
COMBAT: Homura Akemi transforms into Puella Magi Homura!
COMBAT: Homura Akemi has used Determined Heart on Princess Kraehe.
COMBAT: Homura Akemi has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Freya narrowly counters Fuu Hououji's Imashime no Kaze, taking 15 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Fuu Hououji is Psyched! Trap applied to Freya!
COMBAT: Freya's counterattack, Swirling Storm, partially gets through, doing 9 Fatigue damage to Fuu Hououji!
COMBAT: Freya narrowly dodges Cure Muse's Silent Flowers, taking 5 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: You don't have an incoming attack from Mew straberry. Please check +queue to see your incoming attacks.
COMBAT: Freya fails to brace Mew Strawberry's Ribbon Strawberry Surprise, taking 39 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Freya perfectly dodges Lera Camry's Strike Soar, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Critical Dodge!
<Pose Tracker> Tuxedo Mask [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
There's magic everywhere. Everywhere at once. And this is a dance. And when fighting at its best is a dance, well--
Landing in a clearing amidst the thorns and brambles, Tuxedo Kamen's cape billows behind him in a brilliant swirl of black and red, and he hits the ground with a decided tap-TAP-tap, grinning as he holds up his arms to catch the Sailor Soldier whose mid-air tumble deposits her, perfectly posed, in his white-gloved hands. "I won't dance!" he sings out in a resonant voice, "I won't dance!"
This turns into a spinning whirl, hands laced with Sailor Vega's, and the tall and slender man in the amazing hat moves loud shining black shoes with impossible swiftness and no small volume to swing the girl from the stars directly toward the towering Kraehe. "I won't dance, Madame, with YOU!"
"Tuxedo Astaire Toss!" he yells as he lets go of Vega!
COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask has started a combo targeting Princess Kraehe!
<Pose Tracker> Utena Tenjou [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.
As things turn strange, shifting from the potential of a battle to the potential for a /dance/ battle, Utena finds herself... surprisingly calm. Expressing herself through motion has always come naturally to her. As a result, she seems more than willing to dance, in spite of accusations of gracelessness and hollowness.
Still clad in a toy soldier's uniform, Utena twirls toward Kraehe, eyes narrowed slightly. "That's kind of rude, huh?" Utena notes to Kraehe, with a leap forward. "Calling these people 'ghastly specters' when they were working so hard to make a performance so beautiful... What's your problem?!"
COMBAT: Utena Tenjou has used Straight Slash on Princess Kraehe.
COMBAT: Utena Tenjou has finished attacking.
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Vega [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.
'Caught' in mid-leap by Tuxedo Mask, Sailor Vega allows herself a soft 'Oh!' before giving her whole heart to the magical energy of the dance without an ounce of hesitation.
In this moment, she feels more like a Princess than she has this whole lifetime. If only her stupid cat were here to see her.
Of course, then he starts singing about how he won't dance with HER! With each, "I won't dance," she responds with a singing call back, "Don't ask me!"
And then, as she sails through the air - spinning with grace and high velocity towards Princess Kraehe, lashing out with a kick once she's close nough, "I know music leads the way to romance!"
COMBAT: Sailor Vega has joined the combo started by Tuxedo Mask!
COMBAT: COMBO! Tuxedo Mask and Sailor Vega have used Combo: Astaire Tuxedo Launch Ginger Vega Spin Kick Airborne Tap Terror!, composed of Tuxedo Astaire Toss and Ginger Vega Spin-Kick, on Princess Kraehe.
COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Sailor Vega has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Princess Kraehe narrowly dodges Tuxedo Mask and Sailor Vega's Combo: Astaire Tuxedo Launch Ginger Vega Spin Kick Airborne Tap Terror!, taking 39 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Princess Kraehe perfectly counters Homura Akemi's Determined Heart, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Counter!
COMBAT: Princess Kraehe's counterattack, Trente-deux Fouettés en Tournant, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Homura Akemi!
COMBAT: Princess Kraehe narrowly dodges Utena Tenjou's Straight Slash, taking 5 Fatigue damage! Utena Tenjou is Psyched!
<Pose Tracker> Lingshen Chao [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.
For our mysterious Chinese-dressed young lady, who we will call Polymath for reasons of convenience and STAGGERING egotism, 'sensing' things is not really in the cards. And she's got all her displays hidden in this silly oufit. But things get trippy and she can tell. "The shard," she says, and hurries her pace, arms retreating into her sleeves for...something.
But her eyes widen before she arrives, and the world, it seems, falls away. She casts an eye behind her, quickly getting a feel for the new normal. Something just happened. She can tell how this has to go - and it's abundantly clear as people start prancing and dancing. ... ...not really her scene, she thinks, but she takes a slow breath of biting wind. It is, however, rather a nice change from the alternative. She wishes she'd finished DISC-0 V/3NUS, that'd really show 'em. Her eyes catch Kraehe, but she must remind herself her purpose; as she lets her legs bend in the direction of Freya, pivoting around her heel. Her long sleeves, which at extension dangle all the way to her knees, whip with the motion of the turn and the roaring winds, but she manages an elegance with it as she twists her arms to a rhythm she feels rising out of the essence of this encounter itself. "Did somebody say...homesick!?" she says, because it's not like she was hanging out with the actors for the start. "How terrible!"
Polymath's last pose:
For our mysterious Chinese-dressed young lady, who we will call Polymath for reasons of convenience and STAGGERING egotism, 'sensing' things is not really in the cards. And she's got all her displays hidden in this silly oufit. But things get trippy and she can tell. "The shard," she says, and hurries her pace, arms retreating into her sleeves for...something.
But her eyes widen before she arrives, and the world, it seems, falls away. She casts an eye behind her, quickly getting a feel for the new normal. Something just happened. She can tell how this has to go - and it's abundantly clear as people start prancing and dancing. ... ...not really her scene, she thinks, but she takes a slow breath of biting wind. It is, however, rather a nice change from the alternative. She wishes she'd finished DISC-0 V/3NUS, that'd really show 'em. Her eyes catch Kraehe, but she must remind herself her purpose; as she lets her legs bend in the direction of Freya, pivoting around her heel. Her long sleeves, which at extension dangle all the way to her knees, whip with the motion of the turn and the roaring winds, but she manages an elegance with it as she twists her arms to a rhythm she feels rising out of the essence of this encounter itself. "Did somebody say...homesick!?" she says, because it's not like she was hanging out with the actors for the start. "How terrible!"
<Pose Tracker> Princess Kraehe [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
"You're to blame."
Kraehe dances lightly upon the crenelations of her tower, an artful figure that is sharp against the whiteness of the storm. Her grace is easy and imperious; she does not have to work to show her mastery.
"You were only truly alone when you let your hideousness show. You have earned their hate, and marked yourself apart from them. How carelessly you locked yourself away, and how eagerly you threw away the key!"
As Lancelot lashes out, another dark figure rises from the snow. It is another dancer, androgynous underneath its black tights and dark cloak, face hidden beneath a raven mask. It wields a slender rapier, and eagerly meets the knight's sword with it.
"Clod of a swordsman!" Kraehe spits. "Or are you truly a clown? Throw away your sword and paint your face if you want to continue such oafishness!"
The ballerina rises on a tower of snow, above Tsukiko's cartwheeling. She does not have time for her antics. It may sting to be dismissed so readily. Instead, the dancer fixes her red gaze on Shiori.
"Not everyone is so perceptive, dancer. Some need their lessons. They deserve them. You words are wasted on me. Don't you think this pathetic girl should hear them, instead?"
Kraehe, tranquil, looks down upon the other dancers from the drama of an arabesque. The rose and then the flying kick come fast--and with such force that she is force to fly from her position, fluttering to another vantage-point on a dead tree. "Romance? Your childishness has no place here! I will temper you with pain."
Homura's efforts draw a derisive smile from the ballerina. To show true work, she spins with utmost composure upon one foot. "I remember you. You failed, once. Now you betray yourself with your clumsiness. Is this your true self?"
Coming to rest en pointe, Kraehe exhales in exultation and comes to see Utena. She raises an eyebrow. "Red shorts?"
The battlefield grows cold and dreary. In this darkness, it is difficult to believe that anyone could ever find home.
COMBAT: Freya fails to brace Polymath's Spontaneous Weird People, taking 8 Fatigue damage! Polymath is Psyched!
COMBAT: Princess Kraehe has used Corps de Ballet on Shiori Takatsuki.
COMBAT: Princess Kraehe has used Écarté on Cute Wolf Tsukiko.
COMBAT: Princess Kraehe has used Écarté on Lancelot.
COMBAT: Princess Kraehe has used Effacé on Homura Akemi.
COMBAT: Princess Kraehe has used Effacé on Freya.
COMBAT: Princess Kraehe has used Effacé on Duck.
COMBAT: Princess Kraehe has used Écarté on Utena Tenjou.
COMBAT: Princess Kraehe has used Chassé on Sailor Vega.
COMBAT: Princess Kraehe has used Chassé on Tuxedo Mask.
COMBAT: Princess Kraehe has used Assemblé on Lera Camry.
COMBAT: Princess Kraehe has used Assemblé on Cure Muse.
COMBAT: Princess Kraehe has used Assemblé on Polymath.
COMBAT: Princess Kraehe has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Homura Akemi perfectly dodges Princess Kraehe's Effacé, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge! Homura Akemi's Fade ability activates! Homura Akemi's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko narrowly dodges Princess Kraehe's Écarté, taking 14 Fatigue damage! Cute Wolf Tsukiko's Flash ability activates! Cute Wolf Tsukiko is Taunted! Trap applied to Cute Wolf Tsukiko!
COMBAT: Freya perfectly dodges Princess Kraehe's Effacé, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Critical Dodge!
COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask narrowly dodges Princess Kraehe's Chassé, taking 5 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Princess Kraehe is Psyched! Tuxedo Mask's Flash ability activates! Bind Break! All of Princess Kraehe's debuffs are cleared!
COMBAT: Shiori Takatsuki accepts Princess Kraehe's Corps de Ballet, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Shiori Takatsuki is Cheered!
COMBAT: Sailor Vega perfectly counters Princess Kraehe's Chassé, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Critical Counter! Bind Break! All of Princess Kraehe's debuffs are cleared!
COMBAT: Sailor Vega's counterattack, Sparkling Defense, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Princess Kraehe!
COMBAT: Cure Muse narrowly dodges Princess Kraehe's Assemblé, taking 8 Fatigue damage! Cure Muse's Fade ability activates! Cure Muse's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Lancelot narrowly braces Princess Kraehe's Écarté, taking 5 Fatigue damage! Lancelot's Block ability activates! Lancelot's Parry ability activates! Trap applied to Lancelot!
<Pose Tracker> Freya [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Freya is immediately surrounded by promised friends, but in the throes of fear and grief and humiliation, she is not so easily reached. At the least, she obeys Princess Tutu's transfixingly lovely voice and Mew Strawberry's poignant repeat of her demands, and rises, en pointe even though she's only in regular slippers, since Clara is the role of a child, and her lack of pointe shoes denotes her immaturity.
She twirls, and Cure Muse's flowers wilt, wilt as much as her spirit has. "Without me there to take care of them, my flowers have probably died! Every day matters." Again and again, a gorgeous pirouette, and the soothing breeze from the Knight of Wind is transformed into an icy storm. That same storm carries her tears, her sorrow to Princess Tutu, then brutally slams back into the crowd.
Crowd.
She feels crowded.
'You're to blame.' Kraehe's voice reaches her through everything.
"NOTHING TO BE ASHAMED OF?" she yells back at Lera Camry, "Look at you! Look at all of you!" She makes the mime for 'pain', hands over her heart. "I'm ruining rehearsal. I didn't ask you to come after me! Just," she bursts back into tears, staring at Meimi through her hands, "Just go back. The show must go on. If you're really my friends, I don't want you to suffer from my selfishness."
Her golden hair ruffles down her back with each twirl, and more petals are kicked up and torn off of the various flowers other people have summoned for her. Frozen instantly, they become razor sharp. But they don't draw blood or cause pain the way the brittle and painful stretch of her arms, her legs, do, as she cavorts her danse macabre across the darkened stage.
"Just leave me alone."
COMBAT: Freya has used Wilted Tulips on Cure Muse.
COMBAT: Freya has used Swirling Storm on Fuu Hououji.
COMBAT: Freya has used Swirling Storm on Mew Strawberry.
COMBAT: Freya has used Swirling Storm on Duck.
COMBAT: Freya has used Wilted Tulips on Meimi Haneoka.
COMBAT: Freya has used Wilted Tulips on Lera Camry.
COMBAT: Freya has used Wilted Tulips on Polymath.
COMBAT: Freya has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji narrowly dodges Freya's Swirling Storm, taking 21 Fatigue damage! Freya is Psyched! Fuu Hououji's Fade ability activates! Fuu Hououji's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Utena Tenjou narrowly dodges Princess Kraehe's Écarté, taking 15 Fatigue damage! Utena Tenjou's Fade ability activates! Utena Tenjou's Flash ability activates! Trap applied to Utena Tenjou!
COMBAT: Polymath narrowly dodges Freya's Wilted Tulips, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Polymath is Quipped! Polymath's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Lera Camry perfectly counters Princess Kraehe's Assemblé, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Counter!
COMBAT: Lera Camry's counterattack, Sentinel Cross, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Princess Kraehe!
COMBAT: Lera Camry narrowly dodges Freya's Wilted Tulips, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Lera Camry is Quipped! Lera Camry's Fade ability activates! Lera Camry's Flash ability activates! Lera Camry is Taunted!
COMBAT: Duck fails to dodge Princess Kraehe's Effacé, taking 26 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Duck is Quipped!
COMBAT: Duck narrowly braces Freya's Swirling Storm, taking 5 Fatigue damage!
<Pose Tracker> Lancelot [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
Ratatat-TAT-tatat Sparkles goes on by right behind Tuxeda Kamen, tapping in time with the tuxedo wearing and masked hero. She nods to Tuxedo Mask, a horse smile on her face. Then taps on by.
Spinning as he is attacked, Lancelot manages to barely deflect incoming attack as he goes by. "I'm not a clown! I am apparently a Michael Jackson enthusiast!" He moonwalks on by, points to the sky, and then does a fast snap kick to the Princess in front of him. He then slides backwards and says "WOO!"
COMBAT: Lancelot has used Dance Kick on Princess Kraehe.
COMBAT: Lancelot has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Polymath narrowly braces Princess Kraehe's Assemblé, taking 5 Fatigue damage!
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Vega [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.
As she lands, booted feet alighting atop the tower where the fleeing Princess once stoood... the idignation and fury incited by her target's flight splashes against the lightness in her heart...
Sheailor Vega's resolve is palpable.
"Tuxedo Kamen, Lancelot! - We're not fighting with our fists! Our resolve is our weapon! Love our shield!" Vega can't help but smile - though her eyes are fixed on Kraehe like a laser.
Wand spinning to materialization in her hand, Vega twirls slowly en pointe, the Star River wand tracing a literal river of stars as she traces a graceful movement with her hands. "Your barrier of anger will only trap you in it's loveless embrace!"
COMBAT: Sailor Vega has used Your Anger Isn't a Shield, it's an Iron Maiden! on Princess Kraehe.
COMBAT: Sailor Vega has finished attacking.
<Pose Tracker> Cute Wolf Tsukiko [Juuban Public School (5)] has posed.
Tsukiko's foot slips on a patch of ice - well, that's somewhat embarassing. But the dance must go on, and so she rolls with it - rolling into a somersault, then springing to her feet.
"There is a place for strong words!" she calls/sings at Kraehe, then spins and steps closer.
"Strong words can be used to build, when placed with care!" Another spin, another step.
"But you use strong words to break and harm!" Spin, step.
"And we won't let you do that!"
COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko has used Bark! on Princess Kraehe.
COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Cure Muse perfectly dodges Freya's Wilted Tulips, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge! Cure Muse's Fade ability activates! Cure Muse's Flash ability activates!
<Pose Tracker> Shiori Takatsuki [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.
The darker Princess understands already; she understands what Shiori said, and more. How persuasive she is; how correct, how... sure. She shows no pity, and when she fixes her gaze on Shiori, the Tuner smiles. "You're right. She should learn."
And learn she will; this feeling threatening to choke her has to be given some kind of voice. She was a fool for thinking she was here to do a rescue with weapons and magic; instead, she's found someone like her. And that means...
"Friends?" Shiori's voice snakes across the stage, smooth as it's carried on cold winds towards Freya. "Oh, you know beter than that." Soon Shiori is coming, as well, waltzing across the snow with an unseen partner, before aking to the air with another spin that completes before she touches the ground.
The dance she began to perform against Princess Kraehe is repeated for the first few bars. But it differs, where she too makes the mime for pain, hans over her heart. "Didn't you ask us? All of us? You could've stayed silent. You could've just waited, just gotten through it all. But you wanted everyone to know."
Another twirl, though Shiori stops here, the point of her weapon glinting as it points towards her target. "You want us to know your feelings. You want us to unerstand. You just want someone to listen... to the real you. The you behind all this."
Her movements become furious then, closer and faster, until she suddenly stops as she finishes speaking. From there, she only smiles. "/I/ see right through you." At her feet, roses creep upwards, and begin to bloom.
COMBAT: Shiori Takatsuki has used Believe in Miracles on Freya.
COMBAT: Shiori Takatsuki has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Freya narrowly braces Shiori Takatsuki's Believe in Miracles, taking 5 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Freya is Taunted!
<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.
The 'hijacked' winds come tearing back at the green-clad Magic Knight too fast for her to dodge or defend against, and the force of Freya's counterattack flings Fuu off her feet - but she rolls with the impact, as best she can, and comes back to her feet, somewhat the worse for wear but still ready to fight/dance.
"Except this is what friends *do*, Freya-san," she points out, standing her ground with a gentle motion of her arms - maybe a suggestion of wings in the movement, but rather than spreading her arms, Fuu keeps her hands near each other in front of her, almost more like she's rolling her shoulders than gesturing for a purpose. Almost. "They reach out to the friend who is hurting and in need, they reassure you that you are not alone ... if you really must be alone, then let the knowledge that we are still here for you be a companion, until you seek us out for company."
With a gentle twirl, the Wind Knight moves towards Freya again, regaining the ground she lost from the icy buffeting a moment ago - and she extends one hand, palm up and open. "No matter what, we are here to help you. Those who care not for you would have stayed behind, and yet you see so many of us here ... perhaps some mean you ill," she gives Princess Kraehe a rather pointed look, "but all of us *care*."
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Gentle Chiding on Freya.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Freya fails to dodge Fuu Hououji's Gentle Chiding, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Freya is Quipped!
<Pose Tracker> Lera Camry [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Lera cannot hope to keep up with the dancing of Princess Kraehe. She stares after her; the only real advantage she has is a knowledge that she is not good at ballet. Her movements might be slow and clumsy compared to hers, but they are, at least, hers. How long that will hold remains to be seen, though.
She does, wince when Freya shouts at her; she jumps back, staring for a moment, and her resolve shakes underneath the attack. She recoils backward, her sweeping step stumbling as the petals strike into her. She shakes her head. "That--that isn't true!" she shouts back at Freya, her voice wavering. "You didn't ruin rehearsal! We were worried about you--"
And, she thinks, wanting to protect the Star Shard.
She does a skip, to catch up, and keep moving again. She hesitates, though, because then Shiori is talking -- and she turns, her eyes shifting to look at her. She looks incredulous. "You don't know that! She could have just gotten overwhelmed! We don't... know what's going on!"
COMBAT: Lera Camry has used Soaring Spinner on Freya.
COMBAT: Lera Camry has finished attacking.
<Pose Tracker> Cure Muse [Infinity Institute (3)] has posed.
The flowers around Muse wilt, but she seems undaunted either by Kraehe's desolate battlefield or Freya's frozen flowers. She bows to Freya and twirls, pirouetting with grace as her face reveals nothing. Muse herself remains silent as within she tries to hide her own homesickness for a land far, far away from her. She can dance her feelings, but she cannot /speak/ them.
Dodori seems to read something in Cure Muse's gaze, as she speaks for her mistress again. "The flowers will wait for you. Your friends will come for you-dodo! There will always be someone to welcome you back no matter how far you go-dodo." Perhaps she's saying this to Cure Muse as well. At any rate, it's Dodori herself who leaps onto Muse's finger and twirls, playing a gentle tune with one note that accelerates like a ringing bell as she spins. It's soothing and calm, like arms awaiting an embrace.
COMBAT: Cure Muse has used Rainbow Piano Barrier on Freya.
COMBAT: Cure Muse has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Freya fails to dodge Lera Camry's Soaring Spinner, taking 16 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Freya fails to brace Cure Muse's Rainbow Piano Barrier, taking 29 Fatigue damage!
<Pose Tracker> Homura Akemi [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.
'Is this your true self?'
Kraehe's derisive smile seeks to cut Homura's will like a knife as she spins with utmost composure upon one foot. As if to match her Homura does the same, matching Kraehe almost perfectly in both composure and timing. However the words do strike a chord within the heart of the violet Puella Magi. Her true self...
~*~ Once Upon A Time ~*~
The uncertain girl was on stage in her rat costume. Unfortunately the mask didn't fit quite right over her glasses, and she felt like she stuck out like a sore thumb because of it. But without her glasses she couldn't see anything clearly and it made it hard to cue off the other dancers. So the glasses stayed on...
And during the rehearsal soldier and rat clashed on the battlefield. A blue haired toy soldier saw the bespectacled rat and decided to have a bit of fun. Unfortunately the dance became too fast and thus the four-eyed rodent fell.
She felt miserable aftewards. She wanted to have fun with the others, but she kept messing up. She was too clumsy and slow after all. Really, why did she ever think she could do this anyway?
~*~ The End? ~*~
It's true, that was once her. It was so easy for her to want to give up. She felt as if trying only made her hurt worse. But then she found something: A light she could follow through Hell and back as need be.
"It is true I have failed..." Homura says softly, "... more times than I care to count. But I won't surrender to you." She comes out of her spin and performs another leap. This time more graceful. "With each misstep I learn. And eventually the challenges that felled me before, I overcome." Homura then spins, rising upon the toes of one of her boots as she does while extending her other leg!
It's not an easy feat, and Homura quite clearly wobbles on Puella Magi boots not at all designed for this sort of maneuver. But she lowers herself to her heels before falling flat on her face at least.
And yes, seriously Utena. Red shorts. In /this/ weather?
COMBAT: Homura Akemi has used Bullet Dance on Princess Kraehe.
COMBAT: Homura Akemi has finished attacking.
<Pose Tracker> Duck [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.
Princess Tutu looks to her fellow prima ballerina -- can there truly be two of them?! She tries -- and fails -- to leap away from the raven's attack, and she ends up wobbling back with quick steps which somehow, despite her unbalance, can't be called clumsy at all. Like a cat, even things which come unexpected were certainly, entirely what she meant to do.
Of course, Princess Tutu is not really any sort of animal.
"How can you say such cruel things?!", the Princess calls out, distress on her features -- as if the crow-girl has truly reached some vulnerable part of her spirit. "Everyone cares for Freya-san, and we're all here to help her! I won't let you be so cruel...!" She turns to Freya, with that, remembering her duty and her concern for her fellow dancer. Even though Freya dances up a storm, Princess Tutu stands firm, holding up a hand -- index and middle fingers out, the rest of her hand in a fist. The mime for 'promise'.
"Your flowers will be okay! Because you have friends who will care for them, even while you're gone! There are people you can rely on, Freya-san! Please, we don't want you to suffer either -- none of us do...!" She steps forward, lightly, reaching out as she pirouettes.
COMBAT: Duck has used Is That How You Really Feel?! on Freya.
COMBAT: Duck has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Freya narrowly braces Duck's Is That How You Really Feel?!, taking 4 Fatigue damage! Freya is Taunted!
COMBAT: Princess Kraehe narrowly counters Sailor Vega's Your Anger Isn't a Shield, it's an Iron Maiden!, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!
COMBAT: Princess Kraehe's counterattack, Trente-deux Fouettés en Tournant, partially gets through, doing 22 Fatigue damage to Sailor Vega!
COMBAT: Princess Kraehe narrowly dodges Homura Akemi's Bullet Dance, taking 9 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Homura Akemi is Psyched!
COMBAT: Princess Kraehe perfectly counters Lancelot's Dance Kick, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Counter!
COMBAT: Princess Kraehe's counterattack, Trente-deux Fouettés en Tournant, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Lancelot!
COMBAT: Princess Kraehe perfectly dodges Cute Wolf Tsukiko's Bark!, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge!
<Pose Tracker> Meimi Haneoka [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.
Meimi isn't a stranger to all this magic stuff, but... she doesn't want to blow her own cover by acting out suspiciously in front of a ton of magical girls here trying to get things done. So she makes a graceful dancing exit for now... she's usually pretty good at taunting, herself, but she doesn't really want to kick a girl while she's down, or anything.
<Pose Tracker> Tuxedo Mask [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
Tuxedo Kamen's eyes widen behind his mask as he staggers back from the sight-- and words-- of Kraehe; he sees people around him faltering-- and then his face brightens considerably at what Vega calls down to him. "Ah so!" he cries out, and in an outpouring of the love he feels every day, for every person he meets (sometimes only before they open their mouths), for this beautiful world, for the tragic figure in his dreams...
He takes off his hat and sweeps a grand, cape-swirling bow at the Crow Princess, then flings the hat in the air. He procures his cane from the folds of his cape and, instead of using it as a weapon, uses it as a prop for the casual, confident whirl of his approach. His timing is three beats to a measure, lightning-fast, and a gold glow of summer follows in his wake, grass reaching through the snow and melting ice, brambles around him blooming into deep red and snow white roses. It's a waltz to the song he can't stop hearing ever since Zoisite played it on the grand piano at Ohtori; it's blue skies and friendship and hope and peace, it's wordless joy.
His light footsteps take him, tap-tap against flat stones, in a fleet-and-sure-footed circle around Kraehe. "Nothing-- nothing is truly hollow; no ghastly sin is forever damning! I, Tuxedo Kamen, won't stand for despair! Not for those who bring it, and not for the despair in their own hearts!"
COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask has used Tuxedo Mirage Hurricane Sting on Princess Kraehe.
COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Princess Kraehe narrowly counters Tuxedo Mask's Tuxedo Mirage Hurricane Sting, taking 5 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!
COMBAT: Princess Kraehe's counterattack, Trente-deux Fouettés en Tournant, partially gets through, doing 26 Fatigue damage to Tuxedo Mask!
COMBAT: Freya has adjusted her boss levels. She is now ready to take on 7 opponents!
COMBAT: Princess Kraehe has adjusted her boss levels. She is now ready to take on 7 opponents!
<Pose Tracker> Princess Kraehe [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
The stage reacts to Freya's tantrum. The snow whirls around her, a localized blizzard that gives a certain depressing touch to her separation. In the shadow of the stone tower, there is no warmth.
While Kraehe dances on from her tree, Lancelot duels with her minion, who possesses a grace of their own. It is a maddening shadow, fading when he attacks but pecking at him when given the chance. The blade in their hand darts out, seeking to pierce his defenses and put him off guard.
"A story can only end one way," Kraehe croons to the determined Homura. "When you reach the end of your ladder, are you prepared for what you may find? The world loves depressing stories most of all."
The princess leaps into a wild dance, full of iron-willed spins and daring dives. Such is the fury of her steps that the wind blows with her, piercing in its chill.
"Anger?" she calls to Vega, "I will show you anger! If it traps me and burns you away, who is the poorer soul?!"
Kraehe's energetic flight is difficult to follow, though Tsukiko tries. The ballerina calls back to her, taunting: "Somersaults and cartwheels? This is ballet, not a playground! Are your words equally crude?"
Tuxedo Mask's efforts gain her attention, and the dark ballerina briefly rests en pointe to watch. "Your cheerful words do not do your dance justice. I see more things within it than you claim: unknowable sadness! Unrecoverable loss! Unreachable nothings! Dance your sorrow, masked man. You will be more expressive for it."
COMBAT: Princess Kraehe has used Effacé on Freya.
COMBAT: Princess Kraehe has used Effacé on Cute Wolf Tsukiko.
COMBAT: Princess Kraehe has used Coupé on Homura Akemi.
COMBAT: Princess Kraehe has used Faille on Lancelot.
COMBAT: Princess Kraehe has used Degagé on Tuxedo Mask.
COMBAT: Princess Kraehe has used Relevé on Sailor Vega.
COMBAT: Princess Kraehe has finished attacking.
<Pose Tracker> Polymath [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.
Yes, Polymath thinks dully to Tutu's decree. I am definitely here to help her. Yes. Ugh, she bombed into this without a plan and now she's stuck out...
Well. Proceed. She's got to be good at thinking on her feet, even if those feet are currently attempting a reasonably competent fascimile of some weird modernized Chinese imperial slow dance, winding whimsically through the rear of the line. They jeer at Freya and command her friendship, but Chao...Polymath, sees the fear and hate. The worst of Kraehe's darkness batters across her, but her heart doesn't move. It quails before Freya's encompassing sorrow, but...
"They're going to worry," she says. "And so are you." She finds her way through the line of dancing magical girls, one glide and then another. Her feet are all but invisible, beneath that robe, nearly floating across the ground; she moves with her hands. "That's what people do. They fear the things they can see, and cannot; but most of all we fear what we have only glimpsed, in our eyes or in our minds. Only you...can clear away their fear, and yours."
COMBAT: Sailor Vega perfectly dodges Princess Kraehe's Relevé, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Critical Dodge! Sailor Vega's Fade ability activates! Sailor Vega's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko narrowly braces Princess Kraehe's Effacé, taking 15 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Cute Wolf Tsukiko is Quipped! Cute Wolf Tsukiko's Block ability activates!
COMBAT: Polymath has used Scientia - To Know on Freya.
COMBAT: Polymath has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Homura Akemi narrowly dodges Princess Kraehe's Coupé, taking 7 Fatigue damage! Princess Kraehe is Psyched! Homura Akemi's Fade ability activates! Homura Akemi's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Freya fails to dodge Princess Kraehe's Effacé, taking 18 Fatigue damage! Freya is Quipped!
COMBAT: Freya narrowly braces Polymath's Scientia - To Know, taking 7 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Lancelot fails to dodge Princess Kraehe's Faille, taking 14 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Stun applied to Lancelot!
<Pose Tracker> Freya [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Freya clutches at her chest, red light pouring through her trembling fingers. Shiori's briars begin to wrap around her, as she takes a knee. "I-- I didn't want any of this... I just want..."
<< You want to go home. >>
Mytho's voice is for her ears alone, right now, but it gives her a tether, something to stand for. And stand she does, the briars tearing at her skirts. "I want to go home!"
But people are beginning to get through to her. Dodori's song soothes her, and she begins to spin a little bit more gracefully, in time, in tune. And Tutu's words, her dance...
"The flowers..." she repeats, dreamily; they'll wait, they'll be okay, they'll be taken care of.
Taking several steps forward, she makes her way across the stage, blossoms in her wake. Or-- no. Not blossoms yet, but tiny, frozen crocus buds. The first signs of spring, but not yet in full, or any, bloom. They draw her towards Princess Tutu.
The Magic Knight of Wind and Lera chime in. Everyone cares. So many people care. She spins, the shards inside her intensifying her emotions, inflaming them past reason. She wants to go home. She can't go home. All that's left is to lash out.
Inches from taking Tutu's hand, she pulls back, recoiling as though struck. And she has been, by the shadow of Kraehe, falling across her. "What is here for me? Why should I have to wait?" She's angry, now, frustrated.
COMBAT: Freya has used Chilled Brambles on Shiori Takatsuki.
COMBAT: Freya has used Frozen Petals on Lera Camry.
COMBAT: Freya has used Frozen Petals on Fuu Hououji.
COMBAT: Freya has used A Heart Wavering on Duck.
COMBAT: Freya has used A Heart Wavering on Cure Muse.
COMBAT: Freya has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Shiori Takatsuki fails to brace Freya's Chilled Brambles, taking 19 Fatigue damage! Tangle applied to Shiori Takatsuki!
COMBAT: Cure Muse fails to dodge Freya's A Heart Wavering, taking 23 Fatigue damage!
<Pose Tracker> Lancelot [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
Lancelot is knocked to the side and into the snow. He winces and pushes himself up in a grimace. He sneezes and spits snow and dirt and blood out of his mouth. He gets up on one knee and looks at the shadow as he wipes his mouth the back of his hand. "You know what else is "dancing" mr. Shadow man? Kata's." He tosses his shield aside and then grips Arondight with both hands. He yanks the left away with a short bark of thunder, and how holds in his hand a smaller sword. He twirls both blades and gets to his feet and then begins to twirl and spin, and perform all sorts odf rapid fire strikes on the Shadow of the princess in front of him.
Each strike moves in wickedly, but the Knight's movements appear to be to a cadence of a song. His feet moving and sliding in time to the music of the battle, his strikes making thier own music agaisnt the shadow and the blade he faces. He smiles and narrows his eyes. "I think it's time you beat it sucker."
Sparkles tap dances by in the background.
COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask perfectly counters Princess Kraehe's Degagé, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Counter!
COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask's counterattack, At The Last Second!, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Princess Kraehe!
COMBAT: Lancelot has used Bladefury on Princess Kraehe.
COMBAT: Lancelot has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji narrowly braces Freya's Frozen Petals, taking 14 Fatigue damage! Fuu Hououji is Quipped!
COMBAT: Princess Kraehe narrowly dodges Lancelot's Bladefury, taking 24 Fatigue damage! Lancelot is Psyched!
COMBAT: Lera Camry fails to dodge Freya's Frozen Petals, taking 24 Fatigue damage! Lera Camry is Quipped! Trap applied to Lera Camry!
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Vega [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.
The rebuke is scathing - the flare of anger that washes over her as scorching as promised. But as Sailor Vega continues to follow Princess Kraehe, her form is ubroken. Each leap as graceful as the last, each point of light created by the trail of her wand burning ever brighter with the suffisive love in her heart.
It takes a moment, and Sailor Vega uses that moment to turn another pirouette lifting her chin in exultation and performing a flourish with her hands before beginning a new course of leaping and dancing; persistent love in counterpoint to the Dark Princess's dance of anger, beams of sunlight piercing clouds of shadow.
COMBAT: Sailor Vega has used Devoted Heart on Princess Kraehe.
COMBAT: Sailor Vega has finished attacking.
<Pose Tracker> Cute Wolf Tsukiko [Juuban Public School (5)] has posed.
Tsukiko recoils as if slapped. She volunteers to help out with the Nutcracker, and her best efforts are tossed aside as nigh-useless?
"No," she whispers, her voice a mix of quaver and steel. "It might not be ballet, but it is mine."
The wolfgirl takes a step towards the Crow Princess, then another, then a faster one, and another. As her speed approaches a run, she starts cartwheeling around Kraehe again with fierce determination.
"And I WILL dance to the song in my soul!" Tsukiko shouts.
COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko has used Herd the Quarry on Princess Kraehe.
COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Duck perfectly dodges Freya's A Heart Wavering, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge!
COMBAT: Princess Kraehe perfectly counters Cute Wolf Tsukiko's Herd the Quarry, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Critical Counter!
COMBAT: Princess Kraehe's counterattack, Échappé, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Cute Wolf Tsukiko!
<Pose Tracker> Cure Muse [Infinity Institute (3)] has posed.
Muse recoils from Freya's anger and frustration borne of her homesickness. She shields Dodori in her arms before the Fairy Tone clims back onto her shoulder, and then shakes her head. She wants to say, 'I understand. I'm homesick too.' But she can't say a thing at all.
Instead she holds out her hands as a rainbow piano keyboard appears in front of her. Usually she'd play this and unleash a forceful attack with the power of music. This time she knows physical force would only hurt Freya, so instead she jumps onto the keyboard itself and steps on the keys gently to play a series of ascending chords as she walks on her toes, to symbolize traveling.
(Her legs will be very, very sore later.)
"The chance to leave your home is a gift-dodo. A journey is a blessing-dodo." Dodori reemerges, again speaking for Muse. "And you'll treasure the memories when you return home-dodo."
<Pose Tracker> Tuxedo Mask [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
Unknowable sadness. Unrecoverable loss. Unreachable nothings. Tuxedo Mask missteps, and an icy hand of sorrow squeezes his heart, piercing with clawed fingertips--
--and then, as blue eyes are beginning to fade behind the mask and echo the loneliness, his stylish hat descends from on high where he flung it whole minutes ago, landing on his head at a jaunty angle. The white mask glows beneath the shadow of his top hat, and a slow, bright-white grin builds on his face.
Hand reaching into his jacket, he spins on one heel and pulls out a single red rose, burning bright in the gloom. This, he tosses gently as he whirls, cape flashing and white-gloved hands brilliant in the darkness, aimed to stick in Kraehe's hair, a beautiful piece of color to adorn her. This--
--this is ballroom dancing, and he reaches out, his gloved hand fast like the crack of a whip, to take that of the Crow Princess and swing her into a dramatic, reckless waltz with him. The sun isn't anywhere in sight, not overhead; sunlight nonetheless shines on the erstwhile Prince of the Earth with his lost memories and lost kingdom. "You're wrong," he says softly, "because sadness is necessary before joy and resolution can be attained. Life is a work in progress, you beautiful creature. Everything lost can be regained, even if it takes lifetimes."
COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask has used Tuxedo Junction Railroading Attack on Princess Kraehe.
COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Princess Kraehe perfectly dodges Sailor Vega's Devoted Heart, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge!
<Pose Tracker> Shiori Takatsuki [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.
"I don't know?" Shiori laughs, a melodious sound that nevertheless communicates obvious spite. "Of course I do! She's relieved! It's just that she has to /pretend/ she doesn't want to bother us! Wouldn't you? If you were lonely, far away from where you wanted to be, in pain... wouldn't you want," The air about her darkens, "Someone?" There's a low hum, as the air about her shimmers, "Anyone? To know?" A dramatic sigh, her whole body moving with it just to show how simple she finds this to be, how natural the idea is; her leg follows, and then another, and Shiori is on the move once more, dancing away from where she was.
The cold stings, makes Shiori pause right where she is. She's sure of herself, but it still hurts to say these things, to call out what she knows is true. Her briars begin to freeze, the roses about her wilting. ...But she continues /because/ it hurts. She has slowed, now, her movements all the more deliberate, all the more painstaking.
Shiori moves with a grace she does not notice and would not be able to believe.
"You want to go home!" Shiori repeats, triumphant, and brings one hand down, the rest of her following to nearly touch the ground. "...But, you can't. Maybe if you just tell people you want to go, they'll let you. Maybe if they understand..."
She begins to rise, "But they don't care. Not really. You have to wait because you're insignificant. Because there's so many people around you whose wants /matter/ more. Because they wouldn't even be looking at you if you hadn't wrecked everything!"
The air around her pulls more of Freya's ice; a pattern is visible, if one looks hard enough, something in the air; it shows Freya's face in the mist.
COMBAT: Shiori Takatsuki has used The Cracked Mirror on Freya.
COMBAT: Shiori Takatsuki has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Freya fails to brace Shiori Takatsuki's The Cracked Mirror, taking 9 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Freya is Quipped!
COMBAT: Cure Muse has used Vigilante Kick on Freya.
COMBAT: Cure Muse has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Freya narrowly dodges Cure Muse's Vigilante Kick, taking 12 Fatigue damage! Cure Muse is Psyched!
COMBAT: Princess Kraehe narrowly counters Tuxedo Mask's Tuxedo Junction Railroading Attack, taking 12 Fatigue damage! Tuxedo Mask is Psyched! Stagger applied to Princess Kraehe!
COMBAT: Princess Kraehe's counterattack, HOW DARE YOU, partially gets through, doing 10 Fatigue damage to Tuxedo Mask! Critical Counterhit!
<Pose Tracker> Homura Akemi [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.
The world loves depressing stories most of all.
For a second Homura wonders how much this Kraehe knows of her past. She decides, however, that it is far more likely coincidence. The platitudes on offer are generalized enough that they can at most hope to hint at hidden knowledge. And that nuance is important. For certainly, if Kraehe actually /knew/ something Homura would have to take her as a much more serious threat than she is now.
Perhaps she will regret not doing so later.
'Are you prepared for what you may find?'
A broken world. Rain. The body of a girl half submerged, without life, without warmth.
The cold beneath that unforgiving tower begins to dig its icy tendrils deep into Homura's flesh and into her heart. "I'm prepared..." The Puella Magi begins softly.
The miserable bespectacled rodent is joined by her friend. A gentle smile. An apology, and an explanation. Kind reassurances, and everything dark and cold is forced out. Hand clasps hand and the two walk away together, laughing.
'... to turn away from the world, and rewrite this story how I see fit!'
Homura doesn't say it out loud, but as she raises one hand skyward there is a sudden burst in front of her! Snow is blasted away revealing fresh greenery underneath. Homura rises on her toes once more, and her hands held above her head as she spins carefully in a circle. The motion brings about a whirlwind that blows away more of the snow. The wind pressure gathers arround her, growing stronger and causing her skirt, ribbons, collar, and hair to flow and flap violently in the air.
Determination builds, confidence grows, and as she finishes with her dance move with a flourish a shockwave is sent toward Kraehe and her tower!!
It may not look like much, but it's definitely as strong an RPG! ... approximately.
COMBAT: Homura Akemi has used Former Communist RPG-7 on Princess Kraehe.
COMBAT: Homura Akemi has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Princess Kraehe narrowly counters Homura Akemi's Former Communist RPG-7, taking 18 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Homura Akemi is Psyched!
COMBAT: Princess Kraehe's counterattack, Trente-deux Fouettés en Tournant, partially gets through, doing 11 Fatigue damage to Homura Akemi!
<Pose Tracker> Lera Camry [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Lera stops dancing.
Her movements slow down and then abruptly drop off; her expression falls from the determined, if wavering look, to something more muted and crestfallen. Then she looks down at the ground, and shakes her head. "Maybe sometimes," she admits, quietly. "Sometimes it would be nice to tell /someone/."
It was how she became friends with Yukimi, she thinks: she just wanted someone to talk to.
"But it's not like it's the only reason," she says, looking back up. "And no one's insignificant! People would have looked! They would have paid attention! That sort of thing isn't the only way to get attention, and even if someone felt that way, it doesn't have to be why they got upset!"
COMBAT: Lera Camry has used Jet Burst on Freya.
COMBAT: Lera Camry has finished attacking.
<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.
The Wind Knight digs her heels in, bringing her arms up as if to shield her face against the wind-blown shards of ice that Freya flings her way. She's not faring terribly well in this fight, and she knows it ... but there's at least a couple of things she can still do, even if Freya is a little beyond her ability to keep helping directly.
She was just talking about how friends support each other - and she puts those words to action. Swiftly but gracefully, she gestures at Tsukiko and Shiori and Lera, and the Winds of Healing answer her nonverbal call; the soothing breezes reach out to soothe her allies' wounds and strengthen their hearts, giving them the strength to keep up their own efforts ...
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Iyashi no Kaze on Cute Wolf Tsukiko.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Iyashi no Kaze on Shiori Takatsuki.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Iyashi no Kaze on Lera Camry.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko accepts Fuu Hououji's Iyashi no Kaze, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Cleanse! All of Cute Wolf Tsukiko's debuffs are cleared!
COMBAT: Freya perfectly dodges Lera Camry's Jet Burst, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge!
<Pose Tracker> Duck [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.
"We will go home, Freya-san!", Princess Tutu reassures her, coming to a stop with her arms outstretched. "I promise you that you won't be away from your flowers forever!"
But there are other people who have opinions about Freya's condition, it seems. The blanche ballerina turns to Shiori, holding her palm out, the mime for 'stop'. "Please don't say such things! Freya-san is not insignificant! No one is!"
And still, there is the ballerina in black, dancing and cawing and ruining everyone's day. Princess Tutu aches for her, and for the woman who is so bitter, but...
She has to help Freya!
As Princess Tutu steps over the ground, the snow melts, and small buds form in the ground. The beginning of life. Promise for the future. She twirls, coming to rest en point. "The flowers are still there, underneath the snow. They won't go away, Freya-san!"
COMBAT: Duck has used Acknowledge Your True Feelings! on Freya.
COMBAT: Duck has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Freya fails to dodge Duck's Acknowledge Your True Feelings!, taking 13 Fatigue damage! Freya is Quipped!
<Pose Tracker> Princess Kraehe [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Nothing, the wind whispers to Freya. There is nothing for you. This is the story that has been written for you. See how much of it has already played out. If you rush to end, at least it will be over.
Lancelot's sudden vigor catches the sword dancer off guard. The dancer leaps backward, its movements becoming unpleasantly wooden as it becomes more and more difficult to dodge the knight's sword. It eventually strikes in self-protection, skittering backward and away. There, it waits--it seems like Lancelot can pass by if he wants to, though the dancer is not fully defeated.
Vega's light finds nothing to shine upon. Kraehe picks up on her intention, however, and briefly mirrors her. I can do this better, her smile suggests. Whose devotion is more pure?
Through this twirling, the dark ballerina saves a piercing look for Tsukiko. "And look how far dancing to your soul is getting you. Is this pathetic display really what is in your heart? Don't wager what you aren't willing to lose."
But then--a rose.
Kraehe freezes in impossible poise, eyes wide as she approached by Tuxedo Mask. They dance together, two souls communing in grace. She is really very beautiful behind the mask. For a moment, Kraehe allows him: into his hands he takes her talons, and into his heart he takes her sharpness.
And there is only sharpness there.
Her slap is sudden and fierce, ringing across his face. "You have revealed that you really are a fool," she says in cold, precise enunciation.
Homura's shockwave breaks them apart. Kraehe goes twirling away with contemptuous ease, though the tower behind her fares not so well. It creaks and groans, buckling under its own weight. The princess lands on her toes, eyes narrowed.
"I think you are searching for your place. Let me show it to you."
The mistress of crows raises her hand, and lightning strikes the tower. It dies with a horrible noise, leaving only ruin. Drama to be sure.
<Pose Tracker> Polymath [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.
Polymath thinks she hit somebody, with that, but apparently it wasn't Freya. She has no interest in Kraehe; crows aren't her problem, and she has an inkling of how to get around any interfering raven's sneaky little beak. But to do that, she'll have to play...cheatsy.
So as Freya recoils away from Tutu, and as the others glide forward again to try and assure her that the sun will rise and the flowers will bud, the mysterious girl in the Chinese clothes retreats - flows back out of the line and simply quietly, eerily follows along, eyes set on Freya while her hands fold together in her voluminous sleeves.
COMBAT: Polymath has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Princess Kraehe has used La Fine on Freya.
COMBAT: Princess Kraehe has used La Fine on Cute Wolf Tsukiko.
COMBAT: Princess Kraehe has used Tours Chaînés Déboulés on Tuxedo Mask.
COMBAT: Princess Kraehe has used Tours Chaînés Déboulés on Sailor Vega.
COMBAT: Princess Kraehe has used Trente-deux Fouettés en Tournant on Homura Akemi.
COMBAT: Princess Kraehe has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Sailor Vega fails to dodge Princess Kraehe's Tours Chaînés Déboulés, taking 56 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!
COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask fails to dodge Princess Kraehe's Tours Chaînés Déboulés, taking 36 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko narrowly counters Princess Kraehe's La Fine, taking 7 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Cute Wolf Tsukiko is Quipped!
COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko's counterattack, Silver Wolf Tackle, partially gets through, doing 25 Fatigue damage to Princess Kraehe!
COMBAT: Homura Akemi fails to counter Princess Kraehe's Trente-deux Fouettés en Tournant, taking 41 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Homura Akemi's counterattack, Suspend Time, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Princess Kraehe!
COMBAT: Mew Strawberry narrowly dodges Freya's Swirling Storm, taking 13 Fatigue damage! Mew Strawberry's Fade ability activates! Mew Strawberry's Flash ability activates!
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Vega [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.
That glare - all icy sharpness, the mocking and mirroring intent... it's like all of the worst looks she's ever gotten at Ohtori for any number of tiny social infractions are focused on Sailor Vega at a single time and magnified a thousandfold.
Her devotion is nigh boundless... but the emotional disemboweling leaves it spilling all over the floor.
Vega's steps falter, and the blizzard and darkness howl and blast around her. Precious little sunlight remains.
Somehow, somewhere, she finds the courage to stay on her feet. Unshed tears swim in her eyes, but Cute Wolf Tsukiko's prideful defiance of convention brings a smile back to her face at least.
"That's right," Vega calls out to the younger girl, "don't you let her dampen your dreams!"
<Pose Tracker> Lancelot [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
As the shadow falls back, Lancelot walks forward swords held at the ready. He decides to try something.... And he let's his instincts take over as he moves forward.
He claoses his eyes and then walks forward casually. Still in tune to a dance, and swords held loosely dangerously. "My Lady." He calls out evenly. "Trully your power is great," He stops next to Vega and brandishes the blades evenly. "Surrender, and let this this heart love true, for thought you stand now wicked, I know ther eis good in all hearts." He bows elegantly, despite the armor and then when he straightens on of the blades is slid into a sheathe and he holds out a hand to Princess Kraehe, "Come dear Princess. Allow me this beautiful dance with such a beautiful woman."
COMBAT: Lancelot has used Charm on Princess Kraehe.
COMBAT: Lancelot has finished attacking.
<Pose Tracker> Cute Wolf Tsukiko [Juuban Public School (5)] has posed.
Tsukiko narrows her eyes. True, trying to show her feeling in dance hadn't been working well, as she had been trying to do her usual moves as interpretive dance. And the Crow Princess was right - this wasn't going well.
So why not give her emotions free rein?
The wolfgirl closes her eyes, the start of tears glistening in them. Slowly at first, then with increasing speed, she starts dancing.
Riverdancing.
Her footgear might not be the best for it, but the raw force of her sorrow adds force to her stomps. The dancing seems natural, and truly heartfelt. A smile starts to cross the wolfgirl's face, and by the end of her dance the tears have mostly dried up.
She gives Sailor Vega a thankful nod, then smirks defiantly at Kraehe. "Heartfelt dance. Just had to let my heart lead."
COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko has used Bark! on Princess Kraehe.
COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko has finished attacking.
<Pose Tracker> Freya [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Freya looks at herself in the ice mirror that Shiori has summoned. Really looks, while Kraehe's dark winds whisper into her ears. The mirror is cracked. It is broken. She is... broken.
'We will go home.'
With a strangled howl, she, like Tutu, makes the mime for Stop! Her palm stops but a hair's width from the mirror.
And it shatters, it explodes, shards tinkling like beautiful, tiny golden bells.
She turns away. 'The flowers are still there', promises Tutu, and she can see them now...
The buds begin to bloom as Freya's eyes widen. They bloom, they blink, they watch as the girl ascends the rainbow keyboard into the sky. She joins Cure Muse on major thirds, up with her and down again, the other side. "You're right... it is a blessing, and you're right, too," she adds to Lera, though while she's at Cure Muse's side, swirling around her, "Sometimes it /is/ nice to tell someone."
Rainbow-key music fills the air even after she's off of the bridge; she lands next to the Princess, and, at long last, takes her hand.
So too does that familiar, shining red hand.
"I am homesickness," says the shard of Mytho's heart, who looks exactly like the ballet student, if he wore a rather princely garb, and was a crimson ghost. The light of hope fills his eyes as he gazes at Princess Tutu, meeting hers squarely. "It has been so very long. May I... may I finally go home?"
At first their hands are merged, but then Freya draws back, collapsing into sweet exhaustion, down towards the stage. She's falling towards flowers, and snow. It's beautiful...
...but also, at the last second, sad, as her head strikes a sharp rock buried among the loveliness. A stone from Kraehe's tower. There's a terrible, sharp sound.
Unaware of the fate of his host, Mytho's homesickness turns into a literal shard with a tiny sparkle, one that lands in Tutu's palm... and Mytho himself, who stands dully at the base of the ski slopes, looks on, uncomprehendingly. There's pain in his eyes -- disappointment, perhaps. Did he not want Tutu to succeed?
And the golden Star Shard, which had been held in the Heart Shard's other hand, now hangs in midair, not especially close to anyone except for the sublimely sneaky Polymath, who gave up the short game for the long...
COMBAT: Freya narrowly dodges Princess Kraehe's La Fine, taking 9 Fatigue damage! Freya is Quipped!
COMBAT: Freya has used Watching The Flowers Grow on Freya.
COMBAT: Freya has not concluded their actions. Reactions are not yet available.
COMBAT: Freya has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Freya accepts Freya's Watching The Flowers Grow, taking 0 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Freya is unable to keep fighting!
<Pose Tracker> Tuxedo Mask [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
Tuxedo Mask's hand flies up to his face as he's knocked back with that ringing, resounding slap; he topples off the tower before it's hit by lightning, and lands hard and gracelessly. He has to scramble back as he keeps his mask on with that hand; the hat's gone again, but this time not by his hand. A fool. Not a fool: only not nearly as good at convincing the unconvinceable as his favorite soldier of justice.
At least he can recognise his limits and his strengths.
Staggering to his feet, he turns away from Kraehe, the sorrow in his heart now for her. Instead, his attention-- while he collects himself-- is on his fellow dancers. "She won't listen-- not today! But you can all dance so much better than she can; her feelings are hollow thorns, filled with poison, and you must counter them with love and determination! She cannot break through what she cannot understand!"
COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask has used Tuxedo Night on Homura Akemi.
COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask has used Tuxedo Night on Cute Wolf Tsukiko.
COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask has used Tuxedo Night on Sailor Vega.
COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Sailor Vega accepts Tuxedo Mask's Tuxedo Night, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Sailor Vega is Cheered!
COMBAT: Homura Akemi accepts Tuxedo Mask's Tuxedo Night, taking 0 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko accepts Tuxedo Mask's Tuxedo Night, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Cute Wolf Tsukiko is Cheered!
<Pose Tracker> Homura Akemi [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.
There are times when fate deals you a bad hand.
Raising her hand skyward Kraehe brings down a lightning bolt to break the tower. The force of the explosion rains ruin down upon the dancers below, and sends shockwaves across the snowy field. The space that Homura made for herself is quickly being overrun by the shockwave!! The Puella Magi draws in a breath and the eyes on her shield snap open, and the device turns 90 degrees...
... but what she sees is an impossible situation. Between encroaching shockwave and raining ruin there is not much she can do. Sometimes even with time on your side escape is simply impossible.
And so, time resumes.
Homura's body is knocked backwards by the shockwave, and all the energy she had poured into creating a field of green for herself is swept under within seconds. When Homura rises from the snow her body is coated in the fine powder. Even in the wind it refuses to leave her body, and insted clings to try and soak more bitter cold into her body and bones.
She needs to learn her place... that is what Princess Kraehe suggests. In return the Puella Magi gives the strange ballerina a frosty glare, and in truth the snow clinging to her form has very little to do with it. Raising her left arm the shield is activated once more. Instead of turning 90 degrees, however, it only turns 45 or so. The flow of sand through the device is slowed and in so doing a limited effect field is produced around Kraehe.
The snow falling slows subtly around Kraehe, just on the edge of perception. Still there is a chance the field may not impact her. A chance she may escape the effects. The Puella Magi is distracted though. Homura's eyes look over as two shards are released from Freya: One of a heart, and one born from the heart.
Homura wants that shard. She should be able to reach it before anyone else...
... but she takes a deep breath, puts aside her personal feelings, and returns her attention to Kraehe. Whatever happens she will make sure that this one does not acquire it. Nor that other shard that Princess Tutu holds.
Sometimes, fate does deal you a bad hand.
Tuxedo Mask has reassuring words for them all, standing as he does as an example of strength and steadfast courage. Unfortunately Homura's mind is too preoccupied to be motivated much by his words, as moving as they may be.
Oh and his hair isn't pink. He's just got the recessive gene for it or something.
COMBAT: Homura Akemi has used Clockdown on Princess Kraehe.
COMBAT: Homura Akemi has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Princess Kraehe narrowly dodges Homura Akemi's Clockdown, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Cripple and Trap applied to Princess Kraehe!
COMBAT: Princess Kraehe fails to dodge Cute Wolf Tsukiko's Bark!, taking 7 Fatigue damage! Cute Wolf Tsukiko is Psyched! Exhausted applied to Princess Kraehe!
COMBAT: Princess Kraehe narrowly counters Lancelot's Charm, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Diversion applied to Princess Kraehe!
COMBAT: Princess Kraehe's counterattack, Trente-deux Fouettés en Tournant, partially gets through, doing 23 Fatigue damage to Lancelot!
<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.
So there were two shards. Somehow Fuu hadn't really accounted for that thus far - but in hindsight, it makes sense. And one of the shards seems to be on its way back where it belongs, whereas the actual star shard is ... floating there.
The Wind Knight is sorely tempted to try and secure it - but she's more worried, at this point, about Freya: the sound of her landing did NOT sound healthy. With that in mind, Fuu heads towards where Freya fell as fast as she can move - whether the enchantment that transformed a battlefield into a dance floor is still in effect or not, she hastens to the fallen dancer's side.
"Iyashi no Kaze!"
With those words, the Magic Knight of Wind turns her full attention to healing Freya's head injury. This leaves her vulnerable, if anyone else is inclined to take a cheap shot at the Wind Knight while she's in full healer mode - but Freya is an innocent as well as Fuu's schoolmate, and leaving her injured would NOT sit well at all with her.
<Pose Tracker> Shiori Takatsuki [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.
Lera stops. She says enough; Shiori can see her, see the way her expression turns.
"It's nice to believe that, isn't it?" she shoots back. "That people would care. But look! Look, and see!" Her arm sweeps out in an expansive gesture even as she hears Tutu raise her voice to join, makes that gesture. Her free hand rushes, waving aside the objection like it's nothing at all. "You're a liar!"
"It's the same as before--no one can really believe that! Everyone--" A twirl starts, and Shiori moves forward, "Everyone here is worthless! None of you can understand her! Her flowers aren't coming back, and her home isn't waiting!" As she moves, each 'aren't', each 'isn't', all are punctuated by a stop mid-movement.
But she does stop, a moment, as this time Freya is the one to make the gesture. She watches the girl approach, paused, sees her blooming and floating and saying those dreamy words to a boy she doesn't recognize and--
And not even the awful, sharp sound isn't enough. She stares after the fallen Freya. "...It wasn't supposed to..."
"It wasn't supposed go to this way!" Shiori gathers her arms inward again, turning to the one who'd given her direction for just a moment, the dark Princess. There are so many around her, maybe she can... Maybe /something/ can...
In the end it is the words about dampening dreams that settle Shiori's mind. "What dreams?" she calls from away, and is suddenly thundering forth, spinning on one graceful foot on her toes closer, and closer, and closer. She moves to the side, closer to Vega, and is smiling. It is an unpleasant expression. "The same dreams she'll look at tomorrow? And the next day? Do you really think it'll go anywhere!?" The snow darkens behind, briars growing all alon the path. THe thorns grow about this area now, too.
"You won't succeed! You can't! Just give up! Give up and stop /wasting/ the space someoneelse could use better!"
A dreamy haze rises from the roses, a sickly sweet poison in the air that carries the force of the dancer's desperation.
COMBAT: Shiori Takatsuki fails to dodge Fuu Hououji's Iyashi no Kaze, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Cleanse! All of Shiori Takatsuki's debuffs are cleared!
COMBAT: FINISHER! Shiori Takatsuki has used Thorns of Death on Sailor Vega.
COMBAT: Shiori Takatsuki has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask covers Sailor Vega for Shiori Takatsuki's attack, Thorns of Death, taking it upon themselves instead!
COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask accepts Shiori Takatsuki's Finisher, Thorns of Death, taking 73 Fatigue damage! Tuxedo Mask is unable to keep fighting!
<Pose Tracker> Duck [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.
Princess Tutu takes the hand of Mytho's feelings, and, stepping backwards, guides him out of Freya's body and soul. Perhaps she would have wished to grasp Freya's instead, seeing what happens -- her dainty fingers curl around the Heart Shard as she gasps. "Freya-san!"
But there are other magical girls here, and one of them sees to her. Relief floods Princess Tutu's face, and she smiles, gratefully, to the wind knight. "Thank you..."
She turns, to Shiori, concern and compassion writ on her features. "Why are you in such pain..? Dreams may be difficult to reach, but they will never go away. They'll always be there for you..!"
But even though she wants to reach out, she feels the warm glow of the heart shard in her hand. Tutu frowns, torn. "I'd like to talk with you about your true feelings someday..." And with that, Princess Tutu dances down the slope -- wait -- the slope? Wasn't this flat ground...? No-- it seems that as the heart shard exited its host, the magic has begun to fade, towers and dark trees and rocks giving way to the snow and ice. When she pulls up in front of Mytho, it seems that the illusion is mostly spent. She lifts her hand, uncurling her fingers as she reaches out to offer the shard to Mytho. "This is the feeling of homesickness. Even though it's a painful feeling... it's still important, and it belongs with you, Mytho. Please accept it."
<Pose Tracker> Lera Camry [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Lera looks at Freya, watching Princess Tutu take over. She sees the shard of emotion emerge -- that makes her eyes widen, especially when the shard comes out -- and then she sees Freya hit the ground with that sharp noise. She gasps, then she bolts forward, running up to her side. She looks at Tutu. "I'll take care of her, don't worry. Do..."
She isn't sure what. Something, probably.
She kneels down next to her, carefully, and looks at Freya. Homesickness, she thinks. She knows about that; the words from the battle are still gnawing at her. She looks at Shiori and glowers, though that sticks with her: liars. She frowns, then she bites her lip, and checks the girl over.
<Pose Tracker> Polymath [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.
Polymath played the game. She let them know she was there, which was itself not the most subtle thing to do. But you can never underestimate magical girls; some few can sense interlopers, and spying would have potentially had her called out. Being watched would be a problem.
Because being watched would have prevented this. The girl in the Chinese robes reaches out - her hand is gloved in a brown-black material, smooth and pristine. Her fingers find the glowing shard, snatching it out of the air before it tumbles. She fingers it thoughtfully, eyes turning first to the shard, then up to the magical girls gathering to protect Freya, or the Heart Shard, or turning their eyes on the Star Shard that everyone has been after.
"Sorry," she says, with an easygoing smile. "This is mine now."
And so saying, she holds it up aloft - arm paralell to her body, hand open, the shard glittering in her hand. She takes a deep breath, and mutters something, a hissing, nonsense sibilance. "Last Tale," she mutters, and there's an unpleasant heat that boils away from her as she says the word. "My Magic, Scir Magister!" As she says it, motes of light and magic swirl around the shard in her hand, gathering speed until they whirl around it, creating an illusion of a solid shell.
Or maybe it actually is a solid shell, because she shouts, "TELLUS AMARANT!" and the shard and its glowing conveyance - shoot directly up into the sky over the stage!
<Pose Tracker> Tuxedo Mask [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
Tuxedo Kamen sees-- Shiori-- advancing on Vega-- with /roses/. With poisonous, hazy, horrible thorned roses. Sickly and wrong. And he takes a deep breath, and he runs. "OH NO YOU DON'T!" he yells in fierce desperation. "Her dreams are PRECIOUS! Recovering what's lost-- that's the ONLY--"
And he pretty much bodyslams Vega out of the way of Shiori's horrible twisted force.
Mosh pits are dancing, too, aren't they?
Instead of Vega, then, the full brunt of the attack takes the masked man head on, cutting him off midsentence and sending him flying back-- a graceful arc, cape tearing on the thorns, and he crashes to the ground soundlessly.
He doesn't get up.
<Pose Tracker> Cure Muse [Infinity Institute (3)] has posed.
Too late! Polymath gets ahold of the shard, and poor Freya falls injured. Cure Muse didn't move fast enough to intercept either and scolds herself for it. The stage meanwhile is starting to revert to a mountain slope and she has to concentrate to keep her balance.
She makes eye contact with Polymath and says nothing, though those eyes of hers narrow. Then she runs, jumps and is gone without another word.
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Vega [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.
Vega, still winded from the war of emotions with the Crow Princess, notices Shiori's malicious approach too late and too tired to react properly. Shiori's poisonous cloud is perceived as the danger it is, even as the magic of the dance-battle dream ballet stage arena begins to fade.
In a panic, Vega starts to say "Shi--" ning Defense, but it never finishes crossing her lips.
Because she gets body-checked by a thief in a tuxedo, the words leaving unfinished in a gout of forcefully exhaled air as she rolls several feet downslope.
"Tuxedo Kamen?" Vega coughs out, willing herself to stand - though the best she can manage is a crouch.
"Tuxedo Kamen!" Concern and horror. Shiori is fixed with big, starry-blue sad, sad eyes. "Why? What can possibly make your heart so hard that you would lash out this way? Are your own dreams so broken you can't help but attack those around you?!"
COMBAT: Sailor Vega has used Freeflowing Tears on Shiori Takatsuki.
COMBAT: Sailor Vega has finished attacking.
<Pose Tracker> Princess Kraehe [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Homura's time magic works as well as can be expected: Kraehe is preternaturally graceful, and a touch of slowness only adds stateliness to her bearing. There is no breaking her style.
The princess lowers her hand as the tower continues to crumble, taking the walls with it. Though she does not look at her handiwork, she does spare the wearying Tsukiko a withering glare. The dance the wolf girl has found, it seems, does not please her.
The sword dancer fades into the snow as Lancelot passes by. At first, it does not seem that Kraehe hears the knight. Almost imperceptibly, she works her jaw. Love. Beauty. This scorn they heap upon her. This mockery! What right have they, these misshapen creatures?
And of course, Tuxedo Mask has insulted her dancing. She closes her eyes.
"I will dance a ruin for you," Kraehe promises in a low, thick tone. "I will dance it well."
And then--she does.
It is the grand pas d'action. It is ethereal and fierce, a frenetic performance tumbling from the mind of a master, displaying the improvisational brilliance that can only be attained by someone who has arranged their very life so that is focuses through the singular focus of their medium. The crow princess breathes in mountain air and exhales dance.
The stage shakes. The lights go out. All other dancers must yield to the prima ballerina. Kraehe feels the spotlight on her, and she knows that she is taking every last ounce of its validation. There is nothing for anyone else. Only for her--
--and for Tutu.
Kraehe freezes, lips parted in shock, as Tutu dances through her field of view with a sliver of a heart. She turns her head to watch her go, down past the fading illusion-world, down to a boy with silver hair.
It all begins to come apart. The dark princess slumps in artful recline, agony written clearly on her face. She turns away to hide from the magical warriors. The black wind comes for her again, and this time, it takes her away to the only safety she has ever known. When it clears, the ballerina is gone.
With Kraehe gone, the stage has lost its star. The mountains, brightened to rich purples, fade into the storm. The trees, gifted leaves by the flowers, gently fold into themselves and return beneath the snow. The dark tower, shattered as it is, is swallowed in a whirlpool of earth.
A ski slope in fierce snow, though the weather may now seem tame in comparison.
The world is real again. There are no stories anymore. No stories you can see the strings of, anyway.
COMBAT: FINISHER! Princess Kraehe has used Murder of Crows on Sailor Vega.
COMBAT: FINISHER! Princess Kraehe has used Murder of Crows on Lancelot.
COMBAT: FINISHER! Princess Kraehe has used Murder of Crows on Homura Akemi.
COMBAT: Princess Kraehe has used Trente-deux Fouettés en Tournant on Cute Wolf Tsukiko.
COMBAT: Princess Kraehe has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko perfectly dodges Princess Kraehe's Trente-deux Fouettés en Tournant, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge! Cute Wolf Tsukiko's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Sailor Vega narrowly dodges Princess Kraehe's Finisher, Murder of Crows, taking 69 Fatigue damage! Sailor Vega is unable to keep fighting! Sailor Vega's Fade ability activates! Sailor Vega's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Lancelot fails to counter Princess Kraehe's Finisher, Murder of Crows, taking 93 Fatigue damage! Lancelot is unable to keep fighting!
COMBAT: Lancelot's counterattack, Charging Assault, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Princess Kraehe!
COMBAT: Homura Akemi fails to dodge Princess Kraehe's Finisher, Murder of Crows, taking 126 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Homura Akemi is unable to keep fighting!
<Pose Tracker> Cute Wolf Tsukiko [Juuban Public School (5)] has posed.
Tsukiko gasps as Tuxedo Mask falls to the thorns. "You!" she snarls at Shiori. "Why do you lash out at us? What did we do to you?" Even with the dance magic fading, she circles around with some fancy footwork.
COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko has used Moonlight Growl on Shiori Takatsuki.
COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko has finished attacking.
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Vega [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.
With Kraehe's dramatically explosive departure, her fance of ruin, Vega is too spent to move anywhere near fast enough. As the stories crumble around her, arms raised over her head to protect herself
She screams
and falls
the magic that makes her Sailor Vega, retreating within her to keep her *alive*, reverts her to Asagao Uekawa. Back in her Vitorian Ballet Party Dress. Unconcious. And cold.
<Pose Tracker> Lancelot [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
Well, he had asked to Dance....
As the massive attack comes in, he leaps back and screams out: "CAHRGING - ASSAULT!!" Lightning bolts, hundreds of them, hammer down into Arondight and he redirects their fury into the attack that is descending down on him. He grits his teeth and starts to walk forward. First one step. Then another. Lightning unleashed in all it's fury through him. He Screams defiantly! He can do this! HE CAN!
Whihc is when he realizes he's loosing. He narrows his eyes and tries to walkforward faster. If he can reach the Princess before that attack hits him...
He get's within arm's reach and then reaches out to grab her, "NO!" He screams out, but his lightning stops coming. Suddenly the Princess's power slams into him And he flies backwards from the impact. He hits the snow and rolls, Arondight's light. Normally so bright goes out as the sword falls from his grasp.
<Pose Tracker> Homura Akemi [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.
Acta Est Fabula.
And it is indeed.
When the stage fades away and the slope returns the Puella Magi is no longer there either. In her place is a Toy Soldier, ragged and torn. In the midst of Kraehe's final terrible attack, Homura was in some way caught off guard. Perhaps it was by Tuxedo Mask's sudden intervention against Shiori's equally sudden assault on Sailor Vega. Perhaps. It's hard to say. The result though is as obvious as it is brutal.
The snow on the ground is not all white around Homura. Some of it is dyed red, and though the are not present on this costume as they were on the Puella Magi uniform, the amount of blood present makes the severity of the attack plain. The only blessing in all of this is that Kraehe does seem to be gone. However there is still Shiori to contend with...
... not her concern at present.
Instead she stands and walks her way to the fallen toy soldier's hat in the snow. She reaches down to gather it up and quietly dons the snowy adornment. And then she walks away.
As she walks she draws a Grief Seed from a hidden location on her person, and places it next to her own soul gem, now dark. Tendrils of stygian black are leeched from the surface of the soul gem polishing it once more, and the grief seed pulses ominously with an inner power. This one is used up, for a certainty, and will have to be disposed of. The only real succor she has from any of this is that the heart shard was returned to Mytho.
Though that is a tragedy of another sort, and she's had enough of tragedies for one night.
COMBAT: Shiori Takatsuki narrowly braces Sailor Vega's Freeflowing Tears, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Shiori Takatsuki's Block ability activates! Shiori Takatsuki's Parry ability activates! Shiori Takatsuki is Taunted!
COMBAT: Sailor Vega is unable to keep fighting!
COMBAT: Shiori Takatsuki perfectly dodges Cute Wolf Tsukiko's Moonlight Growl, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Critical Dodge! Shiori Takatsuki's Flash ability activates!
<Pose Tracker> Shiori Takatsuki [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.
So, it ends after all. Tutu's question causes Shiori to look back the Princess's way, and that concern and compassion--they sting like a knife. She glares back, even as the magic is fading and her grace becomes ordinary Shiori once again, "Shut up! SHUT UP!" It comes out as more a shriek than anything else, as Shiori leaps away from the nearly-offered han. She has her own matter to accomlish, her own thing she can do, and she means to do it. There is one last dance in her, poisonous though it may be, for Vega, shining--
...Tuxedo Mask saves her. Shiori stops, her spin abated, staring in horror, then revlusion, then...
It could be envy, or it could just be hate.
It's turned on Vega, "You couldn't understand! Hide behind your guardian! He'll see! THey always--" Her breath catches, as she sees Kraehe doubled in pain, disappearing, the lights moving, a wolf advancing--
She leaps backward, to evade the cunning footwork. There are no more words; Shiori leaps up the slope, and does not stop running until she is lost in the snow.
<Pose Tracker> Mytho [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Freya lies cold, and getting colder, in Lera's arms. Her head injury is mottled and blue, though at least it is not leaking blood. Fuu can feel her magic resisted, resisted by a fundamental, formless malice.
Some wounds are more than flesh deep.
And some healings cannot be enacted without sacrifice -- in this case, the sacrifice of Freya's starring role in the ballet. There will be no recovery for her, at least not in time for the Christmas Eve party and performance.
She needs to be taken out of the snow, right now.
---
The seventh star shard skyrockets into the air. Higher and higher it flies, trailing golden sparkles the whole way up.
At the very top, it explodes with light, and takes the clouds, and Polymath's protective casing, with it. The snowstorm that has been raging throughout simply ends with a final puff of ice, shattering in all directions.
Revealed are a /fleet/ of unmarked matte black helicopters, their rotors turning with terrible pressure but almost no sound. Until now, the howl of the storm more than outweighed them.
A black leather gloved hand grabs the shard out of the air with a precise snap.
But rather than draw it back in to the cockpit, it holds something else out... an open chrome case, one with seven indentations.
Five of them are already filled with golden shards; and now, six.
With a shimmer of golden light, like calls to like, just as Ends of the World had expected and planned. They didn't need /all/ of the shards. They just needed /most/ of the shards. Mami Tomoe, the only one of their ambush targets who managed to hold on to her shard, suddenly finds her purse one shard lighter.
And with the seven shards in one place, there's a /second/ blast of light, this one far more intense. This one is a veritable supernova, not dissimilar to the one over Infinity Institute over a month ago. It blots out the stars, the shining stars, otherwise so bright without the lights of Tokyo to inhibit them.
Well... except for seven.
The brightest orbs of the Pleiades Star Cluster gain an unnatural lustre that quickly goes from 'twinkling' to 'blinding right through closed eyelids'.
And when the explosive light clears -- it doesn't linger this time, though the seven burning stars do -- the shards have rearranged themselves within the case.
They were always very flat. That's because they were petals.
Lotus petals.
A golden lotus sits in the case, shining, shimmering, splendid. It dazzles the eye with white starlight, gathering on each of the tips of its petals. It gathers in the center, a glowing orb of energy.
Then it disappears as the case snaps shut and the helicopter literally vanishes, veiling magic hiding it in the crowd of other, identical helicopters, which make all speed away in every direction.
---
Mytho gazes, for a moment, past Princess Tutu and towards Princess Kraehe. The bitter disappointment that shimmers in his eyes only intensifies as she fades away into darkness. Is he sad to see her go?
Maybe he's just sad to not get answers.
"Princess Tutu," he murmurs, his enunciation as precise as it is confused. Not indifferent, not precisely -- he knows who Tutu is. She's her favorite character from Fakir's storybooks. Her red hair is reflected in his impossibly aureate eyes, as is the sparkle in her blue eyes.
"...thank you," he finishes, reaching his hands out for the shard, then pressing it into his chest. It vanishes in a twinkle of crimson light, and he inhales sharply, suddenly longing with every fibre of his being for a home he's never known.
A home that does not even exist in this world. A yearning that can never be sated.
Truly, fairy tales can be cruel.
---
The sound of a ticking grandfather clock can't be heard by anyone but its owner, who leans forward in his rocking chair, his smile wide, manic, his wild, bloodshot eyes eagerly taking in the panorama on the ski slope. The wounded Freya; the angry, departing Kraehe; the quietly passionate Tutu; the grimly defeated Homura Akemi; the fleeing Tuner, Shiori; the fallen Sailor Vega, Tuxedo Mask, and Sir Lancelot; the shining star shard.
"Things are starting to get interesting!!"
Drosselmeyer -- the real one, who wrote the tale of the Nutcracker in the first place -- puts down his tea, the cup clattering in the saucer. The better to clasp his hands together with unholy glee.
"HEE HEE HEE..."
Somehow, the dying echo of his cackle can be very faintly heard, right on the edge of perception. It flows down the mountains in the afterthought of the storm's fleeing wind.
"HEE HEE HEE!!"
