2020-06-07 - Mascot Gear Solid: Extraction
| Mascot Gear Solid: Extraction | |
|---|---|
| Summary: The mascots face the ultimate challenge: retrieving their magical girls' items from the heart of Northa's greenhouse. After that, all that's left is to retrive themselves... | |
| Who: Tarte, Citadel, Deimos, Ressi, Mokona, Batiste, Chu-Chu, Lion, Yuuno-kun, Fallen Stern, Luna, Mepple, Kero-chan, Siren GM: Luna-Pink | |
| Where: Desolate Mansion | |
| OOC - IC Date: 6/7/2020 - 09-06-15 | |
<Pose Tracker> Luna-Pink [Admin] has posed.
<THEY THINK THE ITEMS... ARE NOT UNDERGROUND. AND ON THE WEST SIDE OF THE HOUSE. I WAS ALSO ABLE TO DISPATCH ADDITIONAL SUPPORT.>
- blink-blink* "Chu!"
<...We're in.>
THEY SNUCK UPSTAIRS, PAST THE DINING ROOM...
"You've really outdone yourself this year."
"It IS better than last year, isn't it?"
"Everyone!! Don't be lured by their food! I have donuts for us if we can get past them!!"
"I consume mana. The stuff of stars. The raw neutrons, left after a supernovae. And yet... a donut shall suffice. Your words are accepted, Tarte."
"Everyone! Be careful, they look powerful."
"remember... remember me... Remember me as I was, not..."
"Hey mepo! You could treat the Hero of the Garden of Light with a little digMMMFFFPO!"
INTO THE KITCHEN FOR A RESCUE...
"Quit your crying, my dear, soon you'll be the centerpiece of the ultimate dessert: deep fried angel cake, a la angel! Well... SEMI-angel."
"I'm n-not afraid of you! I-I'll... I'll rip off your hand if you reach in here, and you'll be having LADYFINGERS for dessert instead!"
"Aaa....aa... that's... Finn Fish! And the Burger Man!"
"Puu, pu pu -- puu."
"Shh friend, I'll get you out of there. Just stay calm. I know exactly how to open this. Yes... I just need to... I have to... ... hm. No good tools, and no fingers. If I had both, I could be a master locksmith, or a super spy. Shame, really."
"We'll get you out!"
"I don't wanna be a cake! Puh-please hurry..."
"CHU!"
"KA-CAW!"
Lion's eyes begin to glow white, and he stalks forward, growling enough to make that grease vibrate in its pot.
"PUT THAT DOWN, THAT'S MY INGREDIENT!! ...GET THEM!!"
"Uh, uh, yes sir-zakenna!"
"Right-zakenna!"
THEN WERE CHASED THROUGH THE UPPER FLOOR...
<SoundTracker> Yakety Sax https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnHmskwqCCQ
<Make haste!>
"-- Caw!!"
"Souverain Heraut! NOW!"
"Um. That was fun, playing tag with you, Youma-san! You win. Maybe you could let me go? I won't tell anyone, and you'll help me save a very important friend. That's a good thing to do, right?"
"PUUUUUUU PU-PU-PU PUUUUUUU~!!!!"
"Mepple-kun, did you summon me on your own? How unusual! I'm glad you are finally taking your studies seriously!"
"Shiklp! Quick, teach me the most boring stuff you know mepo!"
"School's dumb-zakenna!"
"SIT. DOWN! MI-STER ZAKENNA!!"
"Wait... where'd the yellow one go zakenna?!"
ROAR
UNTIL...
It takes fearlessness and fluff, cunning and creeping, but -- FINALLY -- the exhausted Butler Zakenna are no longer in the rear-view mirror.
At the last, the Zakenna Butlers charged Lion, who juked out of the way, sending them into the portal instead.
They emerge by the kitchen... right where they started. There's only a door separating them from Fred Burgermeister... and his wrath...
"Should we go back now-zakenna?" ponders the big one.
The little one is silent, for once.
He folds his arms, regarding the many, many, many messed-up rooms.
"...mmmaybe we'd better clean all this up first-kenna," he reasons. "So that way we only get in trouble for one thing instead of two things-zakenna."
"Okay-zakenna," the big one replies, gamely.
---
<SoundTracker> Northa's Theme - Fresh Precure OST https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R52uEFbjavg
With a little help from Finn Fish, the mascots (literally) run into one another in a courtyard at the heart of the labyrinthine complex.
An upper-level courtyard...
The floor is stone, more castle-like than mansion-like, but then... in the chaos of the chase, the house often blurred right past. Perhaps it is no great surprise that they have emerged somewhere exceptionally strange.
It is a conservatory of sorts -- wrought iron contains glass walls on two sides, and also above. But... no plants. The flower beds are all empty; the trellises are bare.
It is a stark and lifeless place.
At its center is something both thoroughly out of place and perfectly appropriate... a totally enclosed garden shed. If garden sheds were the size of multi-story houses. There is only one door, and it is unbarred, with no sign of a lock.
The angel mascot gestures at it a little bit limply; she looks exceptionally tired. "This is it," she pants. "They're in there. I saw them taken in. But... the door was too heavy for me to open by myself. And it's also... kinda..."
Evil. The word she's looking for is evil.
Despair emenates from the wooden structure almost visibly, as though it is seeping purple blood from its planks instead of sap. As bad as other parts of the Desolate Mansion have been, this is INFINITELY worse.
Who knows what horrors await the mascots along...
---
OVERHEARD EARLIER IN THE DINING ROOM
"They're secure, all right?" snaps the lady. "I put them in the safest place in the whole mansion. You've got nothing to worry about, with my babies looking after them..."
---
...Northa's primrose path?
TO BE CONCLUDED. . .
. . .NOW
<Pose Tracker> Tarte [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
Tarte was going to answer Mepple, but Mepple is running and he's zooming too. ...But maybe it's better if he doesn't...
Regardless, eventually as they run into each other in the courtyard, Tarte bounces back from bumping into someone with a blink of surprise. "Ah!"
He is wearing a lovely white hat with trailing pale ribbon. It is a very important hat, and he brings his paws up to check it--its wide brim makes him a lot wider. He doesn't offer an explanation for his change of wardrobe. It goes okay with the blue scarf though.
"This place is bad news, y'all..."
His eyes follow Finn Fish's directions, as he walks across stone towards the place. He looks around, nervous, but when the shed is present--the door is unbrred. ANd this... this is it.
"T-that!" Tarte stands up straight in alarm, hands up to his hat. "That's the power of Labyrinth!" 'Nervous' is an understatement for how this comes off.
<Pose Tracker> Citadel [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
Citadel slows, as they enter the courtyard. This, he decides, is a most eerie place. The empty flower beds, the sheer lifelessness, and the garden shed ahead of them. He slows, the glow off his bands and runes slightly pulsing in the darkness. He turns his head, to look at the angel mascot. Then, he looks back at the garden shed.
He takes a couple of steps forward, eyes locked onto the shed. "This is troublesome... but there is only one way ahead."
He nods his dog-like head.
"Through that!"
<Pose Tracker> Deimos [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
Once the Zakenna clears out of the sitting-room, it's back to running. Deimos makes sure to keep an eye on Chu-Chu, because one warrior helps another. After that mad scramble --
"Keh--?!" Deimos flap-flaps as she almost flies right into Lion's face, and all flustered she finds herself finding a perch on his head after a confused moment. Shuffle-shuffle, she rearranges herself so she's not latched on, because that's just uncomfortable for everyone.
There's enough discomfort from this room, which looks more like castle stonework than any sort of home. Aren't there supposed to be plants in those planters..?
All those abandoned trellises... the power of Labyrinth...
... that could only mean one thing.
'... Deimos, are you okay?'
'Well, Phobos, the good news is I survived yelling at Fred Burgermeister and stealing his ingredients.'
'you WHAT'
'The bad news is we found the artifacts.'
'And... that's not good news.'
'Not unless we can get through Northa's.... garden... shed.'
'Oh.'
'Yeah.'
'... Rei is okay. She's on her third round of this essay, but she's okay. I'm keeping an eye on her.'
'That's... that's really good.'
'Don't do anything stupid, okay?'
'I've never done anything stupid in my life.'
"... caw," croaks Deimos, who is lying a little bit over CROWDEC, but it's polite not to point that out.
She tilts her head, and then her whole body, until she's leaaaned over to look down at Lion in the eyes. Well, eye. One eye, and she has to turn her head this way and that because she's up so close.
"Caw?" She prompts, and maybe it's that shifting of her face which lends the gravel of her voice its question.
Roughly: are we going?
<Pose Tracker> Ressi [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
"I can't believe he just let me go!" Ressi chuckles to herself as she meets up with the rest of the heroic mascots. "I thought he'd go easy on me, capturing me as an innocent lost animal instead of a threat and give minimum security, not a free pass." Maybe it was exactly as Ressi said, maybe she's exaggerating.
The fact that this was a courtyard instead of a spooky room in the mansion reassures Ressi, for a split second. "This is better, some fresh... air and... peaceful... okay, this is weird. No plants, and no fresh air." She searches the flower beds for any sign of... anything. "Maybe these are new occupants and they have no use for a garden, or just haven't gotten around to it?"
Then Ressi shudders, as Finn Fish points out where the artifacts are held. The evilest shed she's ever laid eyes on. "I... have a bad feeling about this. I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels the evil. I've.... never seen a malevolent garden shed before..."
<Pose Tracker> Mokona [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.
Even by Mokona's exuberant standards, *that is a whole lot of running*, especially with Yuuno in tow. Finally losing the butler-zakenna and getting out of the fiendish reaches of Burgermeister's kitchen, they seem to have time to catch their breath - even though the courtyard they've found in which to do so gives Mokona what some humans would refer to as 'the screaming heebie-jeebies.' Mokona is carefully not showing that, short for an uncommonly serious silence, as it lets Yuuno down and asks the ferret, "Pu-pu puu pu puu?" <You all right?>
While Labyrinth and its minions aren't the chief enemies of the Magic Knights, they've been prominent enough as an opposing force for Mokona to take note. ... Technically, it's more likely that the Cephiran archwizard, Guru Clef, was the one who was actually taking notes, but Mokona has in fact been aware of things too, particularly when it needed to point the Knights in the right direction for the latest monster or other incident.
The Zakenna out front really should have been something of a clue, thinks the egg-shaped bunny-ish fairy as it eyes the shed and sniffs cautiously at the garden air. Primroses are nice, but the garden cultivated by Northa is a garden of evil, nothing like the nice places in Jindai and elsewhere.
Normally, this is the part where Mokona would make itself scarce and let others do the fighting - but all three of the Magic Knights are entombed in a hell of homework, trapped within an endless maze of essays and equations, of quizzes and questionaires, even of art and algorithms and architecture.
Their fight, magically rigged as it is, isn't going to let them come here. Nor are any of the city's other magical girls able to dive in and save the day in a cascading shower of rainbow sparkles - and if the mascots, fairies and furballs and sundry others, don't get the talismans and other stuff back, Homework Hell is where their companions will remain.
Mokona inhales again, fur fluffing out briefly before smoothing itself down - there is SOMETHING about the scent of Northa's flowers that just tastes of Bad Stuff. It's like a jungle of Anti-Fluff, Anti-Happiness, Anti-Everything-Good.
"Puu pu pu puu?" <Does that shed have a back door? Someway we can *not* go in the obvious way?>
Even Mokona is afraid.
<Pose Tracker> Batiste [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed. <SoundTracker> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCHUw7ACS8o
"In another situation, I would have thought that this place was quite pleasant," Batiste says to Tarte, taking a moment to wrap his ribbon around himself and tie the knot in place over his neck a little. It takes some of the nerves away.
Some.
Not many, honestly.
"Labyrinth... that dreadful power."
Batiste gazes at the doorway.
"I would be lying if I was not afraid," Batiste says. "But Labyrinth..."
His little paws make little fistlets.
"Labyrinth is dedicated to hurting others... not to gathering the sorrows that come naturally, but - but I know not what, I never thought to ask dear -- anyway; I do not intend to sit back in the face of this."
He straightens up to his full 14 inches of height.
His eyes twitch. He almost topples backwards, but his broad tail balances him.
"I cannot... I cannot let my fear win out. In ten minutes I can curl up on the train," Batiste says, perhaps halfway to himself. "All I have to do is - is get through this - it is only a shed, all we have to do is get in there. Nnnnngghhhwwwaaahhhhghnn--"
Batiste flops back onto his forelimbs and marches forwards. "C-Citadel give me a boost," he says, staring at the bare floor. "Let us open this door."
<Pose Tracker> Chu-Chu [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
It's a good thing Deimos dragged Chu-Chu away from Fred Burgermeister. That chef was gonna get totally forked up otherwise.
And they're running! He gives his comrade-at-wing a jaunty salute back, tie flapping over his shoulder.
He's a little less jaunty when they arrive at the wrought-iron, glass-bound conservatory.
Big round purple ears droop as he surveys this lifeless lack of garden. His fierce scribble-brows tilt the other way. "Chu..." he shivers, and the shiver travels all the way through his body and down the length of his tail. Gardens are a special place to Chu-Chu, and this one is...
He draws a deep breath and it puffs out his little mousemonkey chest in a different way than it puffed at Fred Burgermeister. Batiste speaks up, and as Chu-Chu listens his ears round up again, and one can imagine little fists instead of paws at the ends of his small arms. He nods, and a little *chu* sound emanates with the movement.
And one of those little paws stops also being a fist -- he reaches out and taps Batiste's sleek and extremely dapper shoulder. *chu*
We've got this.
<Pose Tracker> Lion [Juuban Public School (6)] has posed.
The well-timed portal has helped evade the Zakenna! The butlers get launched into a warping dimension of yellows and blues and pinks. It snaps shut behind them.
The giant cat snorts, and quickly beats feet out the room he was in. The group reunites, one by one, at an above-floor courtyard. THe place smells wrong; it feels like there should be bushes, shrubs, decoative plants here. Even just a tree or two would suffice. There is none.
The cat gives a sniff or a look to each one that steps forward, as if checking on them. Small Tarte points toward the building in the center. That is where the bad presence emanates from.
PAP
A bird runs right into his face. A disgruntled noise comes from deep in his throat, and he wiggles his nose in discomfort. It was a bird! That one he has been watching a lot. They find a perch on his head-- the cat is fine with that.
A giant eye blinks at Deimos. At the caw, he pays more attention, and seems to get what she is putting down! He starts walking that way, but stops to see if anyone else is following.
When everyone else heads that way, so does he. The cat sits next to the door as Batiste and others begin to try and open it proper. Breaking it down or roaring at it might bring unwanted attention, so the silent way may be the best way.
<Pose Tracker> Yuuno-kun [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
Yuuno is the warmest slinky-stole in existance as he's been yoinked to safety thanks to Mokona's efforts! Let down from the pengi, he shakes himself off almost like a dog. Anxiety and adrenaline pumps through his little long body. This is exhausting. How does Nanoha put up with things like this so often? She truly is a brave girl.
That thought though gives him a bit of peace of mind, which is very much going to be needed given where they've ended up. He smiles to Mokona.
"Thank you, you saved me...This place really is dangerous."
That said, as he peers around the trellis'd un-garden, he bites his muzzle. A quiver runs through him, and his feet feel like lead even as his legs ache to have him running as fast away from this place as possible. The palpable dread, the eerie lack of anything alive or good, the seeping despaire sends the young would-be scholar's mind racing and his heart pounding.
He feels like he wants to curl up and just stop. Stop thinking, stop hoping, stop learning, stop existing. His multi-faceted mind plays tricks when faced with this much almost visible evil.
He nods to Batiste. "It's just a shed. Just...a shed." He repeats after the otter, gulping down and forcing himself back from his half-curled position on the floor. Every movement he makes feels a little drawn in as if he's trying to take comfort in his own fluff and warmth.
"We can't let everyone down. No matter what's in there, we can't go back empty paw'd after all of this. ...For our friends!" Encourages Yuuno, thinking of pink ribbons and one very hard working, brave friend in particular. He might not feel very brave right now. But he can aspire to be with the help of those here!
<Pose Tracker> Fallen Stern [Juuban Public School (12)] has posed.
MGS SIDE STORY: DUST EATER
In the darkness and silence of the night, a lone operative travels through enemy territory.
Under chairs and behind ottomans, vacuuming in places where even monsters dare to tread.
An undetectable master of close quarters cleaning.
(Actually detected many times, but is just assumed to be an evil roomba and thus perfectly normal.)
Fallen Stern's journey through the manor has led to the courtyard as well, after commandeering a dumbwaiter to ferry the vacuum to the second level. Now it joins with the rest of the mascots, hovering slowly toward the massive garden shed.
<DANGER AHEAD.> Stern warbles, making presence known. <DO NOT FALTER.>
The tiny roomba engine revs to instill self-confidence.
<Pose Tracker> Tarte [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
"...You're a real impressive guy, Batiste." Tarte does not so much see the pleasantness of the mansion though sure there are some nice things in it, but it impresses him how Batiste can. ...And maybe he'd rather be saying something pleasant to a friend than dwelling on how scary the place is.
And the talk of Labyrinth... "That's right! We can't let them do what they want! Let's go!" Tarte does a quiet cheer, lifting his paws in support. He looks to Deimos, too, even if she stole his phone earlier, "We have to do it, so we will, y'all. For them!" He reaches up, and holds onto his hat's brim again, like a little self-comforting move.
He nods firmly at the others, and--
"Fallen Stern! Am I glad you made it back to us!"
<Pose Tracker> Ressi [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
So... it wasn't just Ressi. Everyone felt the evil. That... does not reassure her. She crouches down and gets into an aggressive stance, as if ready to lunge and bite the shed. "Such evil... such disgusting revolting evil..."
But... everyone seems to be staying brave. "Just a shed... right. We can tackle a shed for our friends, for those depending on us.... just go through the front door, confront the source of the evil, and... oh hello Stern!"
A welcome distraction as an ally has arrived! "The dust buster-slash-youma buster! I feel better already! Now...oh.. right. The evil. Just... go through the front door and... oh hey roof vents!"
A much better option! Ressi hops from her ready-to-pounce stance, straight up, floating higher and higher. She zips onto the top of the shed, shivering as if an icy wind blew through her just as she landed. "Okay... who else wants to take the smart route?"
<Pose Tracker> Deimos [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
"Ka-caw!" Deimos trebles, enthused, as Roomba Stern cleans a path. If anyone can deal with the dreaded destruction of Labyrinth's executives, it's... the Device who deals in dreadful destruction...
Look, Deimos can't throw stones, okay? She just got done passing as an Evil Minion of Darkness. Sometimes the good guys are easily mistakable for the bad guys. It happens.
Lion ambles forward, and Deimos's head tilts back and forth as she considers the door. Shortly she takes to wing, and lands on the rooftop. "Caw," she considers, as she sees a vent and gets to attacking it with a beak.
It takes a bit of lateral thinking, but Deimos is a crow, and is eminently well-specified for that. She manages to get one of the vents off, revealing a passage...!
Which is too small for a big bird like a crow to fit through. She sticks her head in. She pulls her head out. She looks at Ressi, and there's no need to translate that expression, even if it is as unreadable as all her other ones. "Caw!"
<Pose Tracker> Luna-Pink [Admin] has posed. <SoundTracker> Northa's Theme - Fresh Precure OST https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R52uEFbjavg
There is only one door.
Said door swings open at a firm touch (Finn Fish really must not work out, though in her defense, she is VERY small even by mascot standards, Luna could comfortably carry her in her mouth).
What lies within is... horrible.
Horrible -- and complicated.
Magical creatures are more used to this than most, but there's that bit of ear-buzzing vertigo that comes from peering into a space that's bigger on the inside than the outside. And it was ALREADY big, big as houses.
But Northa's indoor garden is industrial warehouse-scale. There are rows (and columns, both kinds, the roof requires them for support and they're dripping with flora, too). There are raised beds and lowered beds (which is to say, pits). There are irrigation channels that trickle thinly with purple, lightly smoking despair distilled from the very population of Tokyo that the magical girls defend -- hard won, and now carefully, dangerously spent.
The plants are many, varied, and evil. Most of them will not reveal what makes them special until approached, and there is NO approach forward that won't get close to all of them, sooner or later. A few samples include:
- Straight-up Pirahna Plants, snappy heads and all
- Sleep-inducing, hallucinogenic Poppies
- Poison Apple Tree Bonsai
- Entangling Grabby-vine Beans
- Most of all, there are Sorewatase Seeds, which are harmless-looking nubs of dark green plant, until touched. Then they become gigantic plant monster. The good news is that they've been used by Northa and her allies enough to be recognizable on sight. The bad news is that touching even one of them will be the end of everything -- Sorewatase are immensely powerful and ruthless youma. So the beds of these need to be avoided at all costs.
There is no sunlight here, but there is AIR; the implication being that there are vents. Surmounting the exterior wooden walls up to its roof, then entering that way, is possible, and it leaves such a group peering downwards at an angle that can SEE THE ARTIFACTS.
They are, of course, in the middle of a Sorewatase Seed bed, because of course they are. Brooches, wands, pendants, gemstones... some of the mightiest powers of the universe, piled up like so much trash.
They could be picked up and passed, mascot-to-mascot, across the obstacles and out of the shed. It will, however, require Rube Goldberg-level intricacy.
MASCOT GEAR SOLID CHALLENGE 9: MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAYhNHhxN0A
This is the big one, the heart of the heist: get past the killer plants and retrieve all the artifacts.
As all great heist narratives are told, please skip the IC planning and go straight to the IC execution. OOC planning before you start is good, though: please come up with an actual plan as a group, so that you have a clear narrative for it!
You will need to split your efforts, system-wise; every stat challenge must succeed.
Challenge Outline:
Cuteness: Distract the Pirahna Plants so others can get by; they try to eat people in order of cuteness.
Roughness: Encounter and escape the grabby-vine beans.
Quickness: Sneak through the Sorewatase Seeds.
Smartness: Recognize and utilize the poison apples.
Everyone will have to deal with the poppies one way or another. This is Northa's house, and Northa's house is an intrinsically trippy place.
Note that all the obstacles are also anti-air, there is no direct flight to the goal that won't find itself dealing with grabby-vines, chompy mouths, clouds of pollen, and so forth.
Additional heisty narratives (obstacles and solutions to them) are welcome. Please declare any relevant TRAITS (for better or worse) or SPECIAL ABILITIES (which cannot auto-solve this, but can play a huge role in overcoming a specific obstacle)~
DICE: Citadel rolls 2d6+5 and gets 9!
<Pose Tracker> Citadel [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
In a sense, Citadel is used to such sights. As a guardian beast, he was traded from Belkan mage to Belkan mage: a living Lost Logia, a creature of power, and yet so often treated as an object of prestige. At times, he fought terrible battles, but so often, a maddened mage would point to him as if to say: 'Do you see this thing? See how grand I am!'
Such individuals, Citadel found, liked places that are bigger on the inside than the outside.
He pauses in the doorway, with those bitter memories. Memories that he dare never voice -- he is a creature of power and glory, and admitting such pain is unbecoming of him -- but they are tempered by other memories.
Aizawa and Camry... they never treated him in such a way.
He summons his courage as he sees the seeds, the terrible plants, and the precious artifacts that they need. The Sorewatese seed bed draws his solid, glowing blue eyes. He looks past several apples; past several strange plants; past the poppies.
He looks at the Devices stolen away, and he feels his millennia in ages. Citadel does not step forward any further, just yet, and offers no advice.
Something, it seems, has distracted him.
DICE: Fallen Stern rolls 2d6+5 and gets 9! DICE: Batiste rolls 2d6+6 and gets 18! DICE: Tarte rolls 2d6+6 and gets 8! DICE: Mokona rolls 2d6+5 and gets 15! DICE: Ressi rolls 2d6+4 and gets 10! DICE: Yuuno-kun rolls 2d6+5 and gets 11! DICE: Lion rolls 2d6+4 and gets 13!
<Pose Tracker> Ressi [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
The vent was clearly the superior way to go. Who would go through the front door? Risk-takers, that's who, and Ressi is not one of those. So the vent was definitely the way to go.
Then why does it feel like it was a mistake? Maybe because she has her head stuck in a vent. Still, embarrassment aside, this is still not unsalvagable. She forces her way in deeper, a little wiggle at a time, and the occasional full-force push in. Eventually, her head is - well, still stuck, but out the other side now.
She surveys the area, and... "Huh. That's where all the plants are. And... they do not look friendly. Especially the ones that look ready to eat mascots - or plumbers. Just got to keep my eye on them while...Nrh... I....ergh... Get. Out. Of. This. V-veeeent!" She pushes a little too hard, and falls faster than she is prepared to. She does not have time to start floating, and drops...
Into the middle of the Sorewatase Seeds. Maybe she should have paid more attention to them and less to the piranha plants. Just... don't... move...
<Pose Tracker> Tarte [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
Tarte goes through the door, and peers into the super large space, tilting his head back and staring in uncomfortable wonder. There are many many things in here, and he is not so accustomed to watching places of evil like this. It's kind of distracting on its own...
But he pushes through!! For now, anyway. Looking to the others, he starts to plan...
Tarte darts forward through the warehouse and then caaarefully, carefully past the Sorewatase seeds--except that in his nerves, he starts to slip--!
Tarte is moving precariously; his hat is secure, but his scarf billows out a little as he starts to tip towards the Sorewatese, and his little fairy form moves to experience danger!!
DICE: Luna rolls 2d6+2 and gets 9!
<Pose Tracker> Chu-Chu [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
The lack of gardening turns into an awful presence of gardening and Chu-Chu has to remind his ears to stop drooping a couple of times. That is, until he spies a certain ring in that precious pile at the center of the evil greenhouse.
Then it's paws-on-hips time.
-=-=-=-
A faint chu-chu-chu can be heard from the vicinity of one of the columns, an ascending sound.
Then a hat brim shows from around the column, brown and broad in a different way from a cowboy hat... he's wearing a brown jacket to match, and there's a rakish cant to his monkeymouse smile. He's high above the notflower-beds now, but -- no one here is truly out of reach to Northa's evil garden, are they?
And he has no intention of staying safely out of reach.
Soundtrack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgncJgSbbck
He uncoils the bullfrogwhip in his paw and takes aim -- a sweatdrop makes its way down his round forehead...
whoooosh-CRACK!
Its far length wraps round the next column, and off swings Indiana
CHUUUUuuuuuuuuUUUUUUUU
Into a perfect arc he goes, like a little purple pendulum, with his legs pedaling the air a biiit frantically. Heroically! Heroically. Riiiight toward those great big snapping Piranha Plants.
...did he calculate things too closely? He's headed right for them--!
He bows his little legs as wiiide as he can, and that long tail of his makes an expressive little exclamation point before curling upward and away from that hungry horticulture. He's a snacksized mascot close enough to almost taste... And the sweatdrops are flying, but he's still got that scrappy smirk on his face! Come and get 'im, snappers!
<Pose Tracker> Batiste [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
The pat of Chu makes Batiste look over at the monkey-mouse. He takes a deep breath and says to him, with a choke in his voice, "Thank you... my friend. This will soon be over. How bad could a shed be?"
The door opens... and space itself unfolds...
Batiste stares dead ahead, experiencing the real, actual, authentic equivalent of a dolly zoom -- the world seems to expand, but his position remains the same! For a moment he is dizzied, especially when he can see that smouldering violet noxious material pouring down sluices towards and -
He sees a gleam of bronze. Battered - slightly corroded - in its slumbering state, the Brazen Pharos looks rather forlorn, still repaired with tape from the injury rendered to it by that hateful woman in Hokkaido. Batiste's paws curl into fists again.
He sees a snapping plant - and he raises one hand up, jabbing a tiny fingertip towards the glistening crop of miniature apples on bonsai'd leaves.
"Those fruit," he says. "I recognize them from that purplish hue in their skins. I have seen and heard of such things, though never so tightly cultivated." He steps forwards, lingering near Citadel for a moment with concern for his mechanical-seeming comrade.
"Even the tiniest fragment of such fruit will send its eater into a sleeping swoon so deep and so true that it could be taken for death itself," Batiste says. A beat passes. "But we can use this. We can-"
Batiste's expression returns to horror for a moment as he glimpsed the Sorewatase seeds. "Quickly, everyone-- even those plants will be susceptible! They're a completely different family - no closer to each other than we are to a deep sea worm!"
And with this Batiste approaches the bonsai tree and begins, very gingerly, to HARVEST - and to toss the deadly* apples around like tiny, adorable grenades!
<Pose Tracker> Fallen Stern [Juuban Public School (12)] has posed.
<MOVING FORWARD.> Stern calls, beginning to rumble into the garden.
Only to be snagged immediately by several vines. The vacuum struggles in vain against the bindings, demanding: <RELEASE ME, VILLAIN.>
Stern rotates left, then right, reversing and accelerating several times to no avail.
<Pose Tracker> Deimos [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
Having opened the vents, Deimos returns to the doors. A black silhouette, she flaps in the entryway, and beholds --
Vines. Surely the greatest enemy of the roomba are obstacles which cannot be cleaned, and Deimos watches as that ancient Device, Fallen Stern, is entangled.
BGM Cut: Theme of Tuxedo Mask(...?) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaVW9eLOcLQ
There's a sharp cut through the screen as black carves white. The image resolves: a single, glossy black pinion, pinned to the length of that vine. Do vines shriek, as they shrink back and fall loose around cleaning robots? It certainly looks like they ought to.
It's only a moment later that Deimos touches down on the ground. She just lost one of her favourite feathers, after all. "Caw," she declares, pointing wing (less one flight feather) at the grasping vines. "Ka-caw, caw! Caw!" Her wings swipe back, in a gesture of condemnation. "Caw caw caw!"
It was a truly inspiring speech, following the legends of the Sailor Soldiers. It perfectly shamed the plants for their injustices, with stunning wordplay and a consideration for the effects their assault have on the people around them.
It's too bad no one can understand it.
"Caw..?" Ventures Deimos as she hops up to Fallen Stern, making sure he's rightways-up on the floor. She's probably asking if he's okay!
Many of them are in various states of not okay, but right now the spooky mascots have to look out for one another. Still, now they've regrouped, it sounds like Batiste has a plan..!
<Pose Tracker> Yuuno-kun [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
Whatever his tiny, expansively filled little brain imagined inside of the garden-shed of horrors?
Well it wasn't bad enough, because this is just unfair. If it were magical girls. For mascots, well? Yuuno can't help but have the realization creep in of just how in over their heads they are. How easy this would be to fluff up. How it could all go wrong and then how utterly lost those they care for would be.
But, as Batiste mentions the apples, he too instantly goes to work. He's reaching up to the trees, mind snapping to work even as he also calculates trajectories.
"Just like in that story about a sleeping princess! Ah, yes, we can clear a path maybe. Good thinking Batiste-san!" He looks over at the otter in awe for just a moment! What a clever, well read rudder-scutt!
He'll have to trade phone numbers and work on some scholarly pursuits later with Batiste. Why hadn't he met this gentleott before!?
Don't be distracted by smarts, Yuuno-kun! Two paws grip an apple awkwardly, and then he begins to SPIN! Using his tail as a counter-balance, gaining momentum, it's like the little ferret-mage is trying out for olympic mascot shotput! He's a lightly green glowing, rotating ball of sandy fluff!
And then he lets go, watching his tossed apple careen through the air while his eyes go @.@ in time with his dizzy head. Helicopter-ferret needs more fuel.
Still doing little spins of dizzy, he goes for the next. Paws help him as he bombards seeds with apples!
<Pose Tracker> Luna [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
Luna decides she must make the sacrifice of a distraction for the others to succeed. "You can do this... you can do this..."
Luna works at psyching herself up, "... it's time... to do my duty."
Luna puffs up her chest, picks up her tail to its full height, and starts to head out into the warehouse. Looking like something out of a Western cartoon. She sways her head from side to side, as she sings. "MeowMeowMeowMeow~MeowMeowMeowMeow~MeowMeow~MeowMeow~MeowMeowMeowMeow~"
Channeling an inner ditz is something she's never had to do before, she attempts to head heedlessly into distraction. "Everybody look - it's me, Luna-chan. Adorable Advisor to the Moon Princess. Teehee - think I'll just wander through here without a care. The Sailor Senshi aren't here to protect me but it's fine. It's not like anything bad can happen."
The Piranha plants chomp down, and Luna suddenly shrieks.
Only to realize it's not chomping her way.
Her eyes slide sidelong at Chu-Chu, wielding a whip. As the Piranha chomp, chomp, chomp his way in sequence, and he fends them off.
"Really!? You think he's... hey!"
Luna sounds downright offended that Chu-Chu, is being focused on exclusively. "What's the big idea!? I've been targetted by the best the Dark Kingdom had to offer! You can't just ignore me! I'm an important target dangit!"
That's the moment that while in the process of chomping at Chu-Chu, one of them sweeps her way...
And given its size, the impact knocks her aerial, sending her up high... stunning the jilted mooncat.
They're still after Chu-Chu... but it opens its jaws wide beneath her to claim a target... of opportunity.
<Pose Tracker> Lion [Juuban Public School (6)] has posed.
The door pops open.
Inside are... plants? Lion is unsure how plants did this. Plants are behind this heist, right?! Particularly the small green buds. He recognizes their horrid smell from fights.
They are in the proverbial lion's den-- which is definitely theirs, because his would be much nicer with a pack of his own and a bunch of crystal lizards and stuff. Not the smell of dirt and evil.
But a sense of something else is here too. What they are looking for. The boy might be here as well. Somewhere.
The rest of the gang moves into action, and Lion follows some of the smaller ones near the Sorewatase seedlings.
Some of the other Mascots begin trying to get those artifacts, and one, Tarte, starts to fall toward one!
With a quick lunge, Lion reaches out and grabs his scarf with a pair of teeth, making a sharp inhale as he does. If a cat coould sweat, he would be right now!
(Fun fact: they do! But only through their paws.)
Lion acts as an anchor line for Tarte! Should they fall over again, he would keep them steady by their scarf!
His own giant paws daintly maneuver around these obstacles, even getting this close is setting off danger signals all over.
When the artifacts are eyed by those making in through, but sadly, he has no hands! But if the yneed someone to carry stuff, Lion can offer a mouth for a larger artifact!
<Pose Tracker> Tarte [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
It turns out that Tarte slipped because his idea of what's where has started to shift a little. THe room is hazy thanks to the poppies, and Tarte is still wavering dangerously--
But Lion comes to the rescue!! "Whew," he says, very quietly. "I was trying to sneak like I do while Chiffon is asleep but I guess I was a little..." Ha ha ha. He straightens, and pulls his scarf a little. It definitely got his neck a little. But once there... Once there--
There's still the sight to deal with, but he squeezes his eyes sht and shakes his head, the ribbon on the hat waving in the wind. It lets him try to focus. "A little hazy in here, yeah? But we can do it!" Quietly, near-silnelty, and only while he's between sorewatase beds does he speak until he makes it close enough to the artifacts to start passing them back along the line. Thanks to Lion's quick work!!
<Pose Tracker> Chu-Chu [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
At the end of his daring swing he splats face-first into a far column, sliiiiding down it a bit before he recovers and scrambles for grip. A deft little flick of his deft little wrist and his bullfrogwhip recoils--
--right into his face. WHAP. His rosy cheeks disappear briefly as their surroundings turn just as red.
He grumbles and coils up the whip, chuchuchu.
And then "Chu!!" comes the shout of alarm as he spies the trouble elegant Luna finds herself in. He was too preoccupied with keeping his tail from becoming plantchow to catch her grumblings, but he can't help but notice when a maiden is in distress.
Indy to the res-chuuu!
Another daaangerously low arc is what it takes to sail back through all that dangerous airspace Luna's way, and then he's got one arm out to catch her and carry her to safety--
--BONK--
He hits the back of Luna's head and bonks off onto her back, his eyes all swirly-coal instead of squiggly-coal for a moment. "Ch-chu..."
A monkeymouse cannot carry a cat, no matter how gallant he is.
Undeterred, he hops up and starts cracking his bullfrogwhip again, this time right at that menacing Piranha Plant! It shan't have them! Or at least it'll be a really unpleasant meal...
<Pose Tracker> Mokona [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.
Yep. This is definitely not a place Mokona wants to be even briefly, too much danger in too many forms. Unfortunately for self-preservation, though, the items are *also* in this place ... so in Mokona goes, with grave trepidation, and hoping 'grave' doesn't wind up the operative word.
"Puu ..... PU!"
And almost immediately, one of the Piranha Plants tries to take a big bite of marshmallow; Mokona barely flinches away ahead of the plant's teeth (WHY DOES A *PLANT* HAVE *TEETH*), winding up perched atop Lion's back. "Puu~ ..."
Fortunately, Batistes is stricken not by a plant but by *inspiration,* recognizing the apples of sleepiness and starting to toss them around. "Puu pu-puu!" <Good thinking!> Mokona cheers the otter, and if any apples arc close enough, the Cephiran fairy helps direct them into hungry piranha-plant mouths. If they don't come within redirection range, Mokona just lets them sail onwards, trying to pick out the safest path now that it has a convenient perch.
"Puu puu? - Puu pu pu puu ..." <Try that way? - Wait, no, ugh.>
Mokona's guidance may not be the most effective, but Lion seems to have a good sense of direction - and maybe better situational awareness than Mokona; certainly the big pink feline is fast enough to catch Tarte.
But when they reach the bed wherein lie the artifacts, and where Lion can't actually set paw? Mokona crouches briefly, 'squinting' through seemingly-closed eyes at the target zone ... "Pu pu puu!" ... and then *leaps*, the accompanying "Puu!" more subdued, as if Mokona's worried about rousing the sleeping seeds.
Thankfully, a little puu-puuing isn't going to wake them, it seems - and that single bound lands Mokona within the seedless area wherein the artifacts are piled. The temptation to focus on finding three specific items is strong, but Mokona just starts tossing each of them to Tarte without discrimination: careful not to unbalance the pile, mindful to let Tarte empty his paws before the next item is tossed.
<Pose Tracker> Luna [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
A few things happen. Luna snaps out of it to see her peril... and shrieks.
Chu-Chu swings in... her hero. Strangely framed in a soft pink lighting and spinning roses, coming to catch her in mid-air and swing her off to safety. Luna's face looks equal parts grateful and horrified at the fact that her Prince has come and her Prince is...
And then he bonks off of her, causing all of that to disappear. This knocks Luna just off course so that when the Piranha plant snaps. It just misses her. Tumbling to the ground, she shakes off being stunned, as Chu-Chu rides onto her back.
"Ah!" Suddenly she begins to dart between the plants at a random zig-zag, as Chu-Chu whips them repeatedly, over and over to try and keep them occupado.
"That's IT! That settles it!" Luna shouts, angrily. When I get back - I'm committing to losing weight! Half a kilo by Christmas!"
Keeping up her circuitous route of whip snapping Chu-Chu tomfoolery, she complains to herself, which Chu-Chu will still likely overhear. "Why couldn't you have been someone tall, blonde, and handsome?"
<Pose Tracker> Luna-Pink [Admin] has posed.
At the heart of the Sorewatase Seed bed with the items, a shadow falls across the mascots nearest the end of the chain.
"Whiiiistle while you wooork, ta-ta-taking back my girls..."
The pale young fellow, Nagi Homura, has arrived from some unlikely and unseen angle, singing softly all the while. His attention is on a bunch of hard-working schoolchildren dealing with their summer homework for the Nth time, and a few unconscious delinquents, who were also difficult to see amongst the plants until practically on top of them.
He rests a hand on a HiME's forehead, and a shadowy portal opens up underneath her; she sinks into it and vanishes, still correcting her maths. Then he walks with effortlessly casual grace through the Sorewatase Seeds and does the next, and the next, and the next, assured that the mascots won't interfere since those little youma-bombs (like a bath bomb! just add despair water!) are RIGHT THERE, ALL AROUND THEM ALL.
"I'm putting them right back where they came from," he announces to the nearby mascots a little less casually and a little more no-sudden-moves-y; he doesn't want the Seeds activated either.
There are some non-HiME too.
"Don't give me that LOOK," he chides Lion. Heaving a sigh, he proceeds to evacuate them also, one at a time.
Looking over the chain of mascots passing such items as the Silver Crystal down their line, he raises an eyebrow. "I'm so not affiliated with this."
Turning on a heel, he vanishes as easily as he arrived.
AGGRAVATING.
---
<SoundTracker> The Team - Leverage OST https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QmA8Cqpj8U
After that there are no more surprises; one at a time, the items are passed backwards from mascot to mascot to mascot -- through the fields of Sorewatase Seeds, over the tops of the now-quiescent Pirahna Plants, through the pinned-back Strangling Bean vines, around the Sleep-Inducing Poppies and past the (now-bare) Poison Apple Bonsai.
The last thing that needs to be passed back are the mascots themselves, and this is accomplished with greater difficulty -- but it isn't insurmountable.
But, in the end, incredibly, there's a pile of mascots, and a pile of items, safely back out in the courtyard.
<Pose Tracker> Tarte [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
"E-ehhh?" Tarte blinks as he spots Nagi appearing out of nowhere, and working to the girls there. His casual grace is disturbing, and worrying, at first. "W-well..."
That's a whole thing.
-=-=-
But eventually back outside, Tarte sighs in obvious relief, looking over the pile and then the others. "Maybe I can get Akarun to come out of hiding again after all this..." He worries a little over that particular matter, but is mostly being kind of relieved at the moment. Naturally he still wears the hat. "But thanks, Lion, that was close!" But then he walks up to a certain other cat and says, conciliatory, "Don't worry Luna-han. You're real cute, it's just even scary plants don't believe it's you being so irresponsible!"
Well he's trying to make her feel a little better.
<Pose Tracker> Citadel [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
It takes a bit for Citadel to come out of that.
He helps after that, silently passing along the many and varied transformation items. One after the other. He feels some pride and pleasure at passing down Broken Ground and Soaring Sky. Hopefully, he thinks, that will restore Lera.
He sighs, as he ends up in the end pile. Citadel shakes his head to clear it. "We have them... now we just have to make our exit. And hopefully before our hosts discover us."
<Pose Tracker> Ressi [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
The thing about the sleep apples was useful to some, but not to Ressi. "Thank you for the botany lesson," she complains, "but I don't think these seeds have mouths." Nothing useful for her, and nothing for her to do to be useful, until the mascot chain starts passing artifacts. She helps them along, tossing them carefully over the seeds to the next hero, until she gets to a pretty bangle. "Hey, that's..." she begins, examining it, when she feels a strange sensation.
"Serpentina, hurry up," she shouts, wide-yet-blank-eyed. "We don't have much time before you -" She is suddenly jolted back to reality. "Wait... I'm not fused with F-... right, we're here. S-sorry everyone. My countdown timer kicked in out of nowhere. Not sure what that means so I'll hold onto my artifact for awhile."
LATER
Somehow, through teamwork, care, and sheer luck, Ressi is out of the Sorewatase Seeds, and everyone seems to have succeeded. Uncharacteristically, Ressi seems to relax and let her guard down. Her tail, once swishing wildly, is now just swaying, and her sharp eyes no longer seem to be looking at every last object as a sign of danger. "I think we are almost out of the woods. Just need to redo our previous successes and we're home free."
<Pose Tracker> Chu-Chu [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
It's a wild ride through Piranha Alley, and Indy-Chu loses his hat -- it sails off into the mouth of a snapping plant, and he chus mournfully. He catches that complaint of Luna's, oh yes, and expels a puffing sigh. The life of a dashing hero ain't easy.
-=-=-=-
Regular ole cute mousemonkey Chu-Chu would shake a defiant fist at Nagi, but he's too busy passing items down the line. He just makes the same face he made at Mepple. Nyahhhh~ He can't quite resist waving a shiny wand around, just a little, before handing it to Mokona next to him.
Once back in the courtyard, he stands in a wide-legged victory stance, wearing a rose-emblazoned ring like a circlet on his noggin, nestled between his ears. His eyes are satisfied coal-scribble slits.
<Pose Tracker> Fallen Stern [Juuban Public School (12)] has posed.
<YOUR ASSISTANCE IS NOTED.> Fallen Stern says to Deimos, once free of vines. <POWERFUL BIRD.> Perhaps the highest complement that can be given.
Once freed Stern acts like a tray, artifacts plunked one end and rotates to another. When the Roomba comes into contact with its own artifact, a rough looking purple stone, there's a brief glow of LEDs as the device begins to hover several inches higher off the ground.
When it comes time to retreat Stern does so with surprising grace, the clumsy bumping and turning now an agile swoop as the group returns to the courtyard.
<Pose Tracker> Mokona [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.
So many artifacts, so little time - and then there are the girls who essentially *are* their own artifacts, those whose power is inborn too deeply to have it separated from them. Mokona hadn't even started wondering how to evacuate them when it started passing items to the chain of mascots.
Fortunately, it doesn't have to. Nagi gets a particularly focused look from the fluffball fairy, but stays on-task; the white-haired youth's explanation is met with a nod and a quiet, "Puu," in between passing talismans.
Nagi may have an agenda, but clearly, that agenda is not served by taking Tokyo's magical girls out of action. Good enough for Mokona.
Eventually, after what feels like long enough for three essays to be written and revised in full, the last talisman is passed to Tarte and Lion, or whomever else is receiving items for the chain - and after one lengthy look around, even a bit of cautious poking at the dirt, Mokona determines that every last trinket has been accounted for. "Puu pu puu," <That's the lot,> the Cephiran fairy states sotto voce to the others. Another crouch, then a jump, and Mokona alights on Lion's back once more. "Puu pupu puupupuu pupupuu?" <Everyone good?>
... which technically should be a 'no' - Mokona doesn't really relax until they're back outside the shed/warehouse, and even that is a bit tentative.
"Puu puu, puupu puu puu pupupuu," a strung-out Mokona comments to anyone who'll listen. <I don't know who here eats, but ice cream on me for those who do,> the fairy offers - rather boldly, given that it has even less contact with mundane Tokyo society than ... well, most of the mascots here.
Then one bunny-like ear perks up, and Mokona sits up from where it had sprawled, looking at the snake kwami. "Puu puu?" <Seriously?> it asks Ressi.
<Pose Tracker> Yuuno-kun [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
Yuuno is a rather kind-hearted young mage-ferret that generally doesn't get irritated by that much. Nagi, however, with his suspicious portals and way-too-casual way of flitting through Absolute Danger is just infuriating though.
Patience is a virtue of a scholar though, and he gives thanks where it's due. "Thank you. But...we could have used those earlier..." He says quietly. Shadow portals, no matter how shadowy and suspicious, would have been a good thing to have! Why does he feel held back upon???
Ignoring that though, as after the harrowing return of both items and mascots to the courtyard, Yuuna more or less collapses...right beside a particular round gemstone. He picks up Raising Heart with all the reverence of a wounded friend, all four paws supporting them in the air.
"I'm glad you're safe, Raising Heart. We'll get you back to Nanoha-chan soon. And everyone else too."
Then the ferret looks around at his fellow mascots, tears threatening to escape from emerald orbs.
"Now we just have to get out of here. Everyone...!" Two paws cover up eyes. He's trying to calm down so he can think. They're not safe yet! Little tiny happy-dooks escape his muzzle, and a few tears of joy!
<Pose Tracker> Deimos [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
Deimos puffs out her chest at the praise. (And her throat, because she is a bird.) "Caw!" SHE IS SO STRONG.
And so, with her clever crow beak, she deftly arranges artifacts on Fallen Stern's back so he can roomba them away. She is very careful, and does not steal a single one.
The most enigmatic of all... mascots...? gets ruffled feathers in response. "Kah-aww," she grumbles, but she's not about to tell Nagi Homura to stick around and help them get the artifacts back. ... at least Lion's boy is taken care of.
(That did happen, right? It's not like the way the lights shining so far up above ended up kind of looking like stars at one point, right? Deimos is pretty sure that was her eyes playing tricks on her, given the time of day and the fact that they're inside something like a shed. She just puts it down to, well, Northa.)
But in the end, they don't need the help of someone with human-sized hands, because they have each other. Once everyone is safe...
Deimos birdflops right onto the ground. "Caw," she huffs, in tired relief.
Translator's note: 'caw' means plan.
(In this particular nuance, a plan which was successful. The language of crows is complex.)
<Pose Tracker> Luna [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
Luna had a wild ride with Chu-Chu for a while, so as she arrives to the end of the mascot chain in the courtyard she takes a breather. "That was... good... start..." She says to herself, before adding, "Good... work... everyone..."
Taking in deep breaths, she eyes Chu-Chu in his victory stance. Wearing a ring-circlet like he's some Roman Emperor. And once she catches her breath.
... she starts upbraiding Chu-Chu. "Except you! What do you have to be so proud about? You could... stand to work out more too you know! Not only did you fail at sweeping me out of the air but you rode me for most of that! I'm not some train for you to catch when you want to take a breather...!"
<Pose Tracker> Batiste [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
Toss toss throw pick pick throw toss toss throw toss
Batiste, frankly, would rather be eating more shrimps.
but how many shrimps do you have to eat, before you think your fur turns pink -
As they emerge outwards, Batiste staggers out into the open air, pitches forwards onto his belly, and says, quote: "squeep"
His eyes turn towards Fallen Stern as he emerges, towing along the Roomba and behind it, what those in the know will call 'Fallen Stern's Dragged Disk'. Batiste blinks, rolls onto his side, and asks, "Are you keeping a charge, alright?"
After this, Batiste nuzzles his head downwards, turning round and getting his forward parts into the handle of the Brazen Pharos. He has to stand up and do an impromptu otter dance to make the thing set right, and in between this inevitable hip-shimmy, he looks towards where Luna is dressing down Chu-Chu. He tries to mouth 'compliment her' at the monkey-mouse, but
...
...
...
he doesn't have lips.
So this mostly looks like :O :O :O-:O-:O
He also gives Yuuno a thumbs-up and an attempt at a wink.
<Pose Tracker> Chu-Chu [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
Blink, blink.
"Chuuu?" Who, me?
He looks around, and catches that look of Batiste's. Another squint, and then a confident nod and a paws-up. Ten-four, otter buddy!
He looks back at Luna.
And sticks his tongue out.
He... did not get that message loud and clear.
<Pose Tracker> Yuuno-kun [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
Yuuno slowly lifts up one paw in a facimile of a thumbs up towards Batiste! There's two little head nods as he wipes his eyes!
Appreciative dook!
<Pose Tracker> Luna-Pink [Admin] has posed.
<SoundTracker> Tarte's phone rings again: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wFnMme3ZOM
<Guess what, we got some analysis done!> Kero-chan announces, upon pick-up. <The homework trance is linked to the items themselves, and that magic is linked in turn to something in the mansion. So -- all y'all have to do to break the spell is get the magical items off property, and then everyone should wake up on their own!>
"Guess what!" purrs another, closer voice, from atop the portico above the exterior door opposite the garden shed. "That's so not going to happen."
There aren't a lot of EVIL MASCOTS -- certainly none that would CALL themselves such.
Nevertheless...
...with slinking grace, diva cat Siren leaps from above and lands between the group of mascots and the door back inside.
She is everything Hummy isn't; large where Hummy is small, sleek where Hummy is fluffy, dark where Hummy is light. Their singular commonality is their beautiful singing voices, but hers goes low where Hummy's goes high...
"Nobody move," she warns. You KNOW a fairy's gone to the bad when they don't even use a suffix anymore.
"If I sing out... everybody will hear."
Her tail lashes back and forth, but despite her warning, her claws aren't bared; she is evidently willing to talk.
And there IS another way out, for everyone and everything, if it can be... created. This courtyard is surrounded on two sides by glass.
There's just the small matter of getting DOWN...
MASCOT GEAR SOLID CHALLENGE 9: The Great Escape
Challenge Outline:
Cuteness: Distract Siren.
Roughness: Break the glass wall containing the courtyard.
Quickness: Sneak items out through the hole.
Smartness: Distract Siren. Or, get the items (and mascots) down the side of the mansion safely.
DICE: Luna rolls 2d6+4 and gets 10! DICE: Chu-Chu rolls 2d6+4 and gets 9! DICE: Deimos rolls 2d6+4 and gets 7! DICE: Lion rolls 2d6+4 and gets 8!
<Pose Tracker> Luna [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
Luna glares at Chu-Chu as he sticks his tongue out. Glares real hard. Is this the moment where the claws come out?
Kero-chan's announcement interrupts that thought. Luna has responsibilities! She can't indulge such petty impulses.
And in that moment. Her worst fear comes. "No! It's...!"
A Dark Fall Aligned Cat.
Luna stands stock still at first, as Siren issues her threat. That's no small threat. The Melodies she can utter could incapacitate all of them instantly if they're not careful. But she's also a cat. And perhaps... that could be her undoing. Luna is also a cat, at least bodily. She wracks her brain to try and figure out how to deal with this.
And that's the moment she looks at Chu-Chu.
Perhaps there is a way she can both carry out her responsibilities AND indulge in petty impulses.
Luna raises her head and looks at Siren, speaking slowly, warily, "We understand the situation we're in, and are willing to discuss meeting any demands you might have... I'm sending over our negotiator."
And then suddenly she turns her head back Chu-Chu's way
"Go on... Chu-Chu."
With sudden grace and swiftness, she raises a paw, and side swipes the tiny MOUSEMONKEY - launching his tiny form towards the Dark Fall Cat General.
"Be the hero of the day!"
DICE: Ressi rolls 2d6+5 and gets 9!
<Pose Tracker> Deimos [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
ENTER SIREN, a fellow star of the stage.
Deimos, who is not cute or fluffy, nevertheless hops forward. A wing swoops out, in broad gesture. "Caw," she attempts reason, reaching across the choir/drama aisle. "Caw, caw caw. Ka-caw!"
She does this with a voice not unlike what would happen if gravel were dragged through broken glass by a particularly baritone toad.
It could not possibly be more offensive to the low, smooth tones Siren champions if she tried.
Oblivious to her faux pas, Deimos continues: "Caw caw?" At least she might keep her talking...
DICE: Batiste rolls 2d6+4 and gets 11! DICE: Tarte rolls 2d6+4 and gets 9!
<Pose Tracker> Chu-Chu [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
That is one menacing cat-mascot. Chu-Chu suppresses a shiver that's more mouse than monkey and shakes his paw-fist at her to cover for it! And... these large round ears of his are feeling like a sudden liability in the face of the likes of Siren.
They're so close! What to do?
A negotiator? One ear twitches Luna's way, but nothing even begins to dawn on Chu-Chu until he hears his name, and since that's the very last thing she says... that is not NEARLY enough notice.
He has just enough time to emit a tiny *chu* of realization as the shadow of her dainty paw falls over him.
And then he's a monkeymousemissile aaaarcing through the air in a perfect inverse of his earlier Indy-swinging, doppeling a dwindling chuuuuuuu as he goes
right
toward
Siren.
He starts frantically pedaling arms and legs in the air in those final moments, realizing, but air isn't handholds and there's nothing he can do but be a flying monkey(mouse). Uh. Hero of the day! Yes, that.
DICE: Mepple rolls 2d6+3 and gets 9!
<Pose Tracker> Ressi [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
Another cat? What is it with cats? At least there is a mouse and a dog to balance things out. Ressi sighs and facepalms - and facetails - as the new, more dangerous, cat arrives. "Of course. I thought we were home free, and it turns out I let my guard down at exactly the wrong moment. There's no way you would let us go without a fight, is there?"
Of course not, at least not willingly. And Siren looks a lot tougher and meaner than not only most of the mascots, but than the butlers and caretakers in the mansion. Maybe though, just maybe, she can be distracted or flattered.
"I mean, I can see why you don't want us to go, you went through all this planning and stuff, right? This had to be all your brilliant idea. Perhaps you could tell me more about how you came up with this plan? Its elegance does fit your own, and just as creep- I mean... cr...cl...clever. Yes."
<Pose Tracker> Tarte [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
Tarte looks to his phone, eyes wide as he watches Kero-chan and listens to the news. "Great! Caaan do! We just have to--"
"Siren!!"
He exclaims her name and looks to her, though he tries to remain quiet. He indeed doesn't move for now, though he sees that she's willing to talk. His hat flops in a breeze, the ribbons hanging prettily. His scarf is still. His big eyes are on a certain cat.
And he's all out of donuts.
"You--"
Before he can try to appeal to her sense of fairy fairnesss, Tarte unfortunately is incredibly distracted himself by the thrown Chu-Chu, turning with widened eyes and open mouth.
E-EhHHH???"
<Pose Tracker> Fallen Stern [Juuban Public School (12)] has posed.
When Siren appears Fallen Stern rotates to face the dark familiar, lights blinking in warning.
EMERGENCY EXIT NECESSARY. Stern notes, swooping toward the glass wall.
Tiny processors go into overdrive as ROOMBA WAR MODE is activated. This amounts to a lot of beeping and booping, purple recitals, and complex equations flashing across the face of the disk-shaped vacuum.
<TARGET ANALYZED.> Suddenly upon the glass a spot appears! A thin pinprick of purple broadcast from one of the LEDs on the roomba's surface. The easiest point to fracture in the wall.
<LION ANIMAL,> Stern requests, <DESTROY THIS TARGET.>
<Pose Tracker> Mepple [Juuban Public School (11)] has posed.
Mepple's butt is directly up in the air, his star-shaped tail wagging around as he digs through the various henshin items. "There mepo!" He comes up, holding a Queen Card in each forelimb. "Mipple's Queen Card mepo! And mine too naturally, mepo." He puts his hands on his round hips smugly.
"Well, I suppose I should carry some other people's too mepo. I am the Chosen Warrior of the Garden of Light, mepo. Meee PO!"
Mepple gathers up a few transformation pens, a wand, and some sort of glass faberge egg. It's the lattermost that does him in. Straining, he waddles paw by paw towards the hole, groaning and whining with effort, his eyes screwed shut. But when he's halfway there, he tilts over onto his forehead and takes a spill, dropping everything. Various items all roll away from him, and the cards fly into the air, fluttering back down slowly. One lands on his back like a sort of superhero cape.
"Hey, could the rest of you make some lighter artifacts for your magical girl mepo?!" Mepple lifts his head angrily. A transformation pen is wedged lengthwise across his his forehead, stuck there.
<Pose Tracker> Mokona [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.
"Puu *puu*?!" Mokona sighs as Siren confronts them - not quite as translatable as some of the fluffy fairy's puu-puuing, but there's an air of mixed exasperation and resignation. Also determination: they haven't come this far just to let some prima donna feline ruin everything.
Other mascots are squaring off with the task of actually departing the premises, but they need to come up with something that'll keep Siren distracted - or at least, satisfied enough that she won't sing out an alarm. Getting away from Burgermeister and the butlers was fur-raising enough; calling *everybody* would make it impossible.
"Puu ... puu puu puu ... puu, pupu puu puu ... pu puu, puu puu, pupu puu pupuupuu ..." Mokona sounds like it's thinking out loud now - and then it brightens up, standing as straight as its egg-shaped torso permits. "Puu puu puu! Puuuuuuuuuuu~"
The red gem which adorns Mokona's forehead suddenly glows, not unlike a laser pointer - and as if furthering the analogy, a beam of red shoots forth, striking the ground in front of Siren. But before she can start hunting the red dot, something *physical* takes shape out of the red light:
A soft ball, and a plush fish, with a sturdy cord in between them.
(Any similarity to a Pokeball and a Magikarp is completely and utterly your imagination. Blue instead of red, for instance. See for yourself! https://s7d2.scene7.com/is/image/PetSmart/5287676 )
"Puu pu puu?" <Will that keep you distracted?> Mokona asks, all the picture of innocent cordiality now that it's committed to this decision.
<Pose Tracker> Lion [Juuban Public School (6)] has posed.
Thankfully, the effort goes swell thusfar. The team distracts the active plants, sues tools to stop the dangerous ones, and no one is the wiser in the mansion so far. But interestingly, another member arrives. He sticks close to Tarte, even as they thank him.
A fellow, doing something strange to the few that attention has been drawn to. Some seem familiar, and some seem like--!
Lion begins to growl and assume a stalking position, but strangely gets chided before he can do anything, and Lion understands to some degree. The cat is still distrusting if this person, but the fact he doesn't wake up the Sorewatase or alert the villains befow is testament to something at least.
But, they leave, and the rest of the magic critters seem fine (if a bit displeased) about it, and aren't freaking out. He should head home to check--
Wait, another foe has appeared! A sassy purple cat! And they mean business! Everyone begins to move, Lion is ready to try and take on this opponent, but the small robot thing that beeps and talks gets his attention, a sniff or two, and then it appears.
A PURPLE DOT.
Lion is practically transfixed on it, and after a fleeting moment of perfect stillness, he ERUPTS into movement, and dives for it, giant paws outstretched!
The glass stands no chance, and Lion, flails wildly trying to grab this mythological entity that is THE DOT. Insubstantial to this world, yet it taunts Lion whenever it arrives.
It always shows up when the boy is around somehow. This is a curious example however, as they weren't here-- WAIT THEY WERE, but it got left behind?!
...The dot conspiracy thickens...
As this all plays out im Lion's head, there is a clear hole in that side of the greenhouse, and the cat eventually settles down.
<Pose Tracker> Batiste [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
Batiste freezes up at the low voice of Siren. He looks up at her.
This is going to be very confusing for him.
But as Luna speaks - as Chu-Chu is guided - Batiste does little hops towards the windows. He doesn't move that much between each one, and he has the Pharos over his neck - he gives things a nudge with tail or leg as he comes close, if help is needed.
But otherwise it is as if he is playing red light, green light...
BUT THE RED LIGHT...
IS DOOM!
As he does this, Mepple gets the mep into the business. Batiste answers Mepple by working his tail like a pinball flipper, which hopefully Mepple will use for a strategic and sensible yeah he's probably getting tonk-thunked across the yard.
He does hop back once instead of scuttling sideways in order to noodge the cards.
as THE DOT appears, Batiste prays for LIon's strength...
<Pose Tracker> Yuuno-kun [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
It seems their escape won't be so easy, as Siren arrives! Yuuno gasps a little at the feline fairy's arrival, admiring her sleek fur and demeanor! It's just as impressive as it is disheartening! But no, others are handling her, and so he puts his mind to work!
Emerald eyes slide to glass, then to down. An idea forms! They just need to...CRASH!
"Fallen Stern, Lion, you're both amazing." He's never been happier to see a tiny laser and massive feline before in his life.
And then the ferret gets to work! Another green square-encircled magic symbol appears underneath him as he summons the rest of his magic! The wind flutters around him, sending ahoge and fluff of his tail swishing a little as two paws stretch out.
"Everyone...your escape route! Inverted Barrier...SLIDE! Dooook!"
There's a tiny woosh of emerald magic, slouthing off of his paws like a waterfall where gravity shoves it diagonally rather than downwards. It flows, and then curl-curl-curls as it all bleeds downwards and down and down and down, an ever-increasingly wide spiral of half-pipe magical slide that forms!
Oddly, there's little ferret paws all over the magic-slide. And it smells of ferret-downy and those feeding pellets for the little dook-friends. Maybe he's spent too much time as a woodland creature these days.
And so there is a floating ferret-scholar magic'ing up a spiral-slide all the way down from the gap that's been made in the glass, ending near the treeline away from the Desolate Mansion! A single drop of sweat falls from the little curl of fur atop his head!
"Nnn...I'll keep this up as long as I can!" He stage-urges to his compatriots.
<Pose Tracker> Luna-Pink [Admin] has posed. <SoundTracker> Minor Land - Suite Precure OST https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9RWO3iBl_s
Two very different scenes play out.
Siren is MOBBED, but mostly by friendlies. After credulously being willing to negotiate with Luna, she leaps out of Chu-Chu's way, back arched, fur puffing out, and her claws start to unsheath.
(+1 DARK CAT points; Luna has taught Siren that fellow mascot cats are not to be trusted.)
But before she can inflict deserved violence upon these betrayers, she is entreated by Deimos (who she is very attentive to, in a chops-licking way), then Ressi (...pretty much same, to be honest), and Tarte, who ends before he begins.
But sometimes quality isn't required; quantity is enough. At this point the mascots are mostly providing an audiovisual WALL between Siren and what's going on behind them.
Fallen Stern finds a weak point in the glass wall of the conservatory -- Lion obligingly demolishes it, or maybe the PURPLE DOT used to indicate it -- Yuuno summons a shimmering green force field, angled downwards like an emergency slide -- and Mepple and Batiste start sending items down. Well, mostly Batiste.
All that remains is to get THE MASCOTS down the slide as well, but most of them are blocking Siren's line of sight.
Which is when Mokona bounces up and spits out a cat toy.
Siren's ear... twitches.
Queen damn it. She can't really stop them all by herself anyway. Mostly she was stalling in the hopes that someone else would show up.
"I am interpreting this as a bribe," she informs them prissily, even as she inches, one paw at a time, towards the stuffed fish. ("And...")] She springs into the air, then comes down in a tumble of legs and batted-upwards plush, "I ACCEPT!"
The mascots are not bothered further, as they take the slide down, and escape with their good-gotten gains to the trees.
---
WHEN THE MASCOTS REUNITE WITH THEIR MAGICAL GIRLS...
THEIR PLAN:
<SoundTracker> 39 Fairies - Pretty Cure Spring Carnival https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_ewJbQYZ-I
Confetti!
Parades!
Dogeza-level gratitude!
Unlimited dessert for life!
2020:
Girls across Tokyo stuff fists in their mouths as they yawn over their (over)-finished homework.
...then, for the most part, they start to panic, as they realize they've missed most of their big Last Day Of Summer social plans (except for the ones who were going to have to spend their last day doing homework anyway).
They are wholly oblivious to any hijinks, like hypnosis subjects.
"REHHHHHHH?!??????" Sakura yells at Kero-chan as she drags on street clothes and rushes out the door. "I'M LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE..."
Kero-chan is too tired to float after her. Instead he sinks into his desk-drawer bedroom, and takes a well-earned nap.
<Pose Tracker> Mokona [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.
Most of the mascots only have to make one stop when they get back to Tokyo. Not so for the fluffball from Cephiro; fortunately it has its means of getting around in a hurry.
In Shitamachi, within a traditional Japanese house attached to a certain kendo dojo:
"Puu puu pupu puu!"
"Ehh? Mokona, what .... AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!! I thought I'd already finis--" Cue furious rummaging around as Hikaru starts re-sorting papers.
Shortly thereafter, in a very fancy Western-style house in Yamanote:
"Puu puu pupu puu!"
"Huhwha? ... oh, Mokona. Wait, why do you have - wait, WHY IS MY DESK FULL OF HOMEWORK?!? And it's already this late, I was - !!"
Soon after *that*, in a slightly less fancy house in Tama:
"Puu puu pupu puu!"
"...-ula converts to ... hm? Mokona-san, what brings you ..." Fuu falls silent, looking over the stack of paperwork on her desk, then sits back, taking off her glasses to rub her eyes.
Being a mascot can be a thankless job sometimes, but considering what these girls have to do?
You can't tell Mokona it isn't worth it.
<Pose Tracker> Ressi [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
The day is saved, thanks to... a cat toy? Very well. Ressi prevents herself from laughing, giggling, chuckling, smiling, or showing any amusement. "Thank you for accepting our sacrifice. Until we meet again." Hopefully not for a long time.
A clean getaway with the Miraculous Bangle! Fumiko will be so impressed!
"Aaaaand done. That was some difficult homework. I must be slipping. If my mom catches that, our deal goes south..." Fumiko sighs, as she decides to go over it one last time, just in case...
Ressi facepalms and facetails. "Right. Of course. She didn't even notice I was gone."
<Pose Tracker> Deimos [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
"EHHHH?!" Exclaims one Rei Hino, who does not, typically, do her science homework in her miko robes, but evidently she wanted to avoid the wrath of Ami. "It's already so late! Minako-chan is going to kill me!" She points a finger right at the chest of the bird who has stood vigil beside her this whole time. "Phobos, why didn't you wake me up?!"
Phobos considers this finger. Phobos considers these accusations.
Phobos bobs down and nips Rei's pointer finger, peck.
'Caw!' She admonishes her, in clear bird offence.
"Owowowow!" Rei retrieves her hand, with a wounded look to Phobos. "Okay, fine, it's not your fault. Geez!"
The CROWDEC interface flashes back up. (Obviously, there's an interface. There has been this whole time. It's green on black, and low-poly.)
'Phobos to Deimos. Everything's back to normal.'
'Wow, you sound ruffled.'
'EVERYTHING'S BACK TO NORMAL.'
'Right, right...'
It's impossible to read a crow's expression, because crow faces, by and large, are not keyed to human expressions.
Still, it's unmistakable -- at least to present company -- that as Phobos watches that raven-haired girl rush about getting ready, she looks entirely satisfied.
<Pose Tracker> Luna [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
Luna hops up onto a desk, dropping a compact. "Usagi-chan... I'm back."
Usagi Tsukino blearily awakens as she mumbles. "You were gone?"
"Yes I was gone! Here!" Luna kicks over a compact with a paw. "Eh? Is there danger?" Usagi says as she rubs an eye.
"Something like that... now go get ready for school."
Usagi's eyes grow wide, as she suddenly shouts in alarm. Running to her closet. Then to her dresser. Clothes fly off of her. Clothes fly onto her, as she hops across the room, in a wild frenzy of last minute school prep.
"Well at least it looks like she finished her homework... maybe this mission was worth it..."
Luna nudges open the notebook with a paw.
"... just for... EHHHHH?"
My Summer Nature Journal:
On The Nature of Romance
By Tsukino Usagi
The pages are blank other than doodles of stick figure Usagi with Tuxedo Kamen, the Moonlight Knight, Haruka Tenoh... usually hand holding, but there's other signs of romance usually in preparation for a kiss without ever quite reaching it.
In the margins, a phone number is iterated over and over, usually near the representations of Haruka Tenoh.
"u... u...SA-GI!"
Luna shouts in a volume she rarely reaches - at the same moment Usagi topples over the chair she'd been previously been sitting in it cutting off Luna's exclamation as she dangles over Luna in order to grab compact, and the whole bundle of her homework, stuffing it in a school bag, before pivoting into a run - utterly ignoring her as she careens out the door and rushes the stares. "MAMA! BREAKFAST TO GO!"
"Usagi my kitchen isn't a Dark Burger!" Ikuko's voice faintly calls back.
A still somewhat flattened Luna just inhales... then exhales...
"... First chance I get I'm having Mepple summon the Shiklp and locking her in a room with him."
