2015-09-21 - The Summer Homework Monster, Part One
| Title: The Summer Homework Monster, Part One | |
|---|---|
| Summary: Everyone's homework has mysteriously gone missing, with mere days before classes start up again. Truly, a nefarious mind is behind this plot - or perhaps more than one... | |
| Who: Fuu Hououji, La Sirene du Nord, Cure Melody, Fate Testarossa, Lera Camry, Lancelot, Masque Feu
| |
| Where: All over Tokyo, Tokyo Tower particularly | |
| OOC - IC Date: 26 August 2014 - 09/21/2015 | |
<Pose Tracker> Honoka Yukishiro [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
Summer Homework is as inextricably a part of summer vacation in Tokyo as smashing watermelon open or playing with fireworks. The youngsters have much less, of course, but by late middle school it's really piling up and the high schoolers enjoy a metric ton. Different people handle it differently; the most obedient simply follow the instructions to do a little every day. Some overachievers -- or underachievers -- mash it all out in the first week of vacation, and then forget about it, a luxury that may have consequences once semester restart. And others forget about it until the very /end/ of summer, instead.
With a week before school starts back up, though, it's on many students' minds. And so it is that, this perfect Tuesday afternoon, when desk drawers are opened, folders unfurled, and notebooks dug out from under the bed, a truly extraordinary amount of horror is unleashed to find all of the homework -- every worksheet and workbook, every loose-leaf paper, every diarama and every essay -- gone. Vanished into thin air, without so much as doggy drool to commend its passing.
The air vibrates with distress, which quickly turns to despair. And most students -- whether they're 'good' or not -- do the only thing they can do, if they don't want to suffer the abject humiliation (and subsequent parental retribution) of this revelation on the first day of class: they get to work, while the final, golden days of summer sparkle on without them.
---
This doesn't make the news, because it is deeply shameful to /lose/ one's summer homework. Nobody wants to tell their parents. Nonetheless, the lack of gaily frolicking kids on the riverbanks is noticeable, and many wonder if there's some kind of flu in the air keeping people inside.
But all the children know -- it is whispered between siblings, texted between friends. Something so obviously magical is of course not obvious at all to the unawakened; it's just an awful coincidence. But really: /everyone's/ homework vanishes without a trace, all at once? What conspiracy could accomplish such a thing /but/ magic?
<Pose Tracker> Seika Miuchi [Juuban Public School (11)] has posed.
Miuchi Seika is a diligent student. She sat down the day after school and proceeded to grind out her summer homework without a single note of complaint. She left it in a drawer in her desk over the summer and checked it over a couple of times.
She goes to check it again today.
Her eyes widen as she stares into the emty desk drawer.
Slowly, she turns towards the window, open to let the summer in. "Augustine-sama," she asks quietly, "I don't suppose you know what happened to my homework."
"Homework?" Augustine questions with a blink from where he perches on the windowsill. He fluffs his pure white feathers out a bit. "You have homework in the summer? That hardly seems reasonable, Masque Feu! How can a schoolmarm enforce work at home when the school is not in session?!"
Seika lowers her eyelids just a little and slides her glasses onto the bridge of her nose. "Perhaps it is because our education system is superior to medieval Europe's," she murmurs mildly.
"Masque Feu!" Augustine gasps. "No timeperiod-ism!"
The girl in the summer dress - creamsicle orange - rises from her seat, clasping her hands and lowering her head. Worry gnaws at her. She doesn't let it show in her face because of course she doesn't. Instead she dwells on something else. The vibration in the air. The chords of despair that extend even to her high-end condo on the edge of the ciy.
"This seems wrong," she murmurs, her voice tight.
<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
In the case of Hououji Fuu, she took a balanced-but-ambitious approach: she probably could have gone full-bore workaholic and hammered out the whole summer's assignments in a week or so, but she spread it out through a month or so, balancing assignments against leisure and hobbies and archery club (and occasional Magic Knight adventures). Upon completing the bulk of that workload, she 'saved' a few assignments for closer to the resumption of classes - some projects which she needed to cooperate with classmates on, for instance, or just the handful of tasks which she really didn't want to do and was content to procrastinate on.
| @straightestarrows - Phoenixwind, do you have the essay on the relationships between kabuki, noh, and bunraku done yet? I could use some help - not asking to copy anything.
| @phoenixwind - Finished it back in June, but I should refresh my memory. Didn't we spend an afternoon at the library over that?
| @straightestarrows - I can't find my essay or any of the notes I took. T.T Please tell me you've got it, the library's PACKED and all the books I need are checked out.
| @phoenixwind - One moment please.
With that, Fuu sets her phone aside and goes over to her desk, checking through her notebook. And her bookbag. And her laptop.
And her bookshelf. And her shopping bags and the area around her TV and game systems ...
| @phoenixwind - This is almost amusingly inconvenient ... ;.; Is that essay all you're missing?
| @straightestarrows - Augh, PLEASE don't remind me! T.T
Further texting ensues, mostly in the form of cancelling plans for the afternoon and evening - plans which Fuu finds out were going to be cancelled anyway by the people she'd been planning with. Frankly, the scale of the missing homework is such that Fuu *can't* believe magic was responsible - somebody would have seen something, or felt something. For what seems like all the summer homework in Tokyo to vanish ... who would gain anything by such an act of malice, and how could it profit them in the face of how much trouble and effort it would surely *take* to perpetrate such a foul prank?
Fuu can't even concentrate on reconstructing her math homework due to the question weighing on her mind: how COULD this have happened ... ?
<Pose Tracker> Hibiki Houjou [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
There are great endeavours to be found in this world, and among them is the terrible, insurmountable mountain called 'summer homework'. For those with spirits filled with dedication and hard work, it is a vicious beast but one that may yet be tamed. For those liberated souls pledged to the principles of summer fun and happy distractions, however...the impossible exists, and it is this stack of assignments.
Hibiki Houjou is a girl firmly planted in the latter category. It couldn't be helped, really; left to her own devices by parents busy with musical careers, she had little oversight. Piano practice has become a much more interesting task than any more academic assignment - though at least her papers for music theory class were relatively easy to put in order. It's summer, and the siren song of a thousand and one ways to enjoy the sun keep calling her name...and finally, on those rare days when she was home with naught to do but behold the homework?
She has a cat. Enough said.
At long last, though - with no small effort on the part of more diligent friends of hers, plus the stern glares of a septet of crystalline fairies - she managed to steel herself, actually sit at a desk, and get things done. Done 'well' is another story entirely, but every worksheet is filled out, every essay answered with some sort of words. With a round of applause from the Fairy Tones to commemorate the morning's hard work, Hibiki settled down for a catnap after lunch.
There's a strange resonance in the air as the afternoon dawns, though - stirring her from slumber, bringing her back to her desk. Did she somehow forget one, or... "...where are they. Where did it all..." Hibiki stares in horror - she didn't dream doing her homework, right? She doesn't have to get started all over again to do it in reality, right? This isn't some terrible endless loop of homework repeated for twelve thousand cycles, right?!
There's a ringing in her ears, that almost sounds like the Melody of Sorrow...
...and there's another ringing from the phone in the hallway. She sprints out to answer it, in the hopes of answers while the Fairy Tones - so proud, themselves, before that nap - look at each other in confusion as half an argument can be heard from just outside the bedroom.
"What- I should be asking you that! I would never steal your assign- okay, okay, fine, /one time/, but I swear - I did too get them done! Ask Hummy if you don't believe me! ...fine, fine, ask the Fairy Tones! ....they are too reliable witnesses!"
The desk may yet remain empty for a while.
<Pose Tracker> Lera Camry [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.
"Where iiiis iiiiit!?"
Lera Camry's wail is absolutely piercing inside of her dorm room. She has been packing the place up in preparation for a move -- to an apartment, instead of living at Infinity -- and that meant being sure that her summer homework was secure and ready for turning in. She had almost entirely packed, but now part of her work is undone. Cardboard boxes are torn open, sometimes quite literally, with flaps hanging loosely.
Belongings are strewn across the floor in a panic; she has papers lying here, packed up books thrown there, and much of her hardwork is undone. More things, that haven't been packed, are scattered every which way.
<Calm down, Lera!> Soaring Sky says. <It must be here somewhere. Where haven't you looked?>
"I've looked everywhere! I-I've--um..." She looks around, frantically, turning in circles in her apartment. Her expression is stricken, eyes widened and her lip wibbling. "I've looked everywhere! I can't take apart all of these boxes, or--or I'll never get moved out on time! It was right on my desk or on the bookshelf or maybe I put it in the pile on the floor, but I knew where it waaas!"
<I believe you.> Sky sounds patient. He has practiced.
But, the other Device here, the one she has watched over since the incident at Tokyo Tower, adds: <Uh. Really? She just said she lost it.>
Lera's lip wibbles again. Then she starts bawling. If Soaring Sky could, he would have given Broken Ground the most irritated glower ever. Instead, Sky whines: <That isn't helping!>
<What did I do!> Ground complains back to him. <She said it herself! I just said what she said! Why am I the bad guy--maybe I should stop.>
Sky sighs. <Please.>
Lera wipes at her eyes, before she pulls her phone out. "I-I know!" she says, fumbling with the iPhone. "I'll just... I'll text everyone who's been by recently and ask if they saw it and it's sure to turn up! Everyone notices homework, right?"
<Pose Tracker> Nori Ankou [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
HOMEWORK...
"Where is it? Oh no! You didn't shred it for bedding, did you?!" Nori says as she slams and closes her charming little cupboards and runs up and down her room, checking every bookshelf, under the bed, in the main closet, in the smaller closet that is Batiste's room.
"Cousin, please," Batiste says from his position on top of the bed, which has been torn asunder (not literally) for the sake of this inspection. "I had not even known you were assigned such things... it seems barbaric, really."
"I agree completely. When I am queen I will ban it," Nori says.
Batiste considers for a couple of seconds. "That is pedagogically sound, for the most part, actually."
"What's that word mean?"
FINALLY...
Nori Ankou has turned everything upside down in her room. Not quite literally, but near enough. Everything's a shambles as she lays in her bed, holding an outsized stuffed bear in one arm, Batiste in the other, with the Brazen Pharos sitting on the night stand and gleaming oddly in the filtered summery sunlight.
Batiste has been doing his best to be encouraging. "It's alright. Surely they'll understand you lost track of a few papers over an entire summer, cousin--"
"You don't understand," Nori huffs. "It's - it's more than THAT..."
<Pose Tracker> Fate Testarossa [Infinity Institute (4)] has posed.
While the load of summer homework for Fate Testarossa would not be particularly high as an elementary schooler, she had the additional burden of being a previously home schooled transfer student with the fall term being her first ever. Which meant it was considerably higher just to make certain she would be reasonably caught up to her peers.
Still, Fate was nothing if not a hard worker. Even if she was below average at actually writing in Japanese which made the easy assignment of documenting her summer vacation an arduous exercise of meticulously looking up every other Kanji. ... She left out the first part of the summer for obvious reasons.
And today was the day she was certain she'd be finished with it. "Feitooooo! Can't we go out again? It's too nice a day not to have another walk!" Came the adorable puppy whine behind her from the hallway. "Ah! In a little bit Arf. I just have to..." She opens her desk drawer, freezing as she notes that not just her summer journal, but her math homework, book report, social studies paper and others were... "All - gone."
Popping her head below the desk, she then quickly checked under the bed, then her closet. Then again. "Arf, have you seen my homework?" An orange puppy head popped into the room, "Don't look at me! What would I want with your homework?" A quick telepathic message to Lindy, Amy, and Chrono got her confirmed responses that none of them had looked over her homework.
After checking the entire apartment she finally she sat down on the bed heavily, looking devastated. Voice soft, "It - It isn't fair." She puts her head in her hands, "I worked so hard." Sliding her phone over to herself, she starts writing a text to Lera.
TXT to Lera Camry: Its all gone. Everything I worked on. I'll be busy for the next few days catching back up.
There's a soft whine as a wet snout taps against her thigh, and a puppy lays her head on her lap. Fate scritches her ears as she lays back. She knew that given her pace, there was little chance she'd finish. "I don't know what I'm going to do Arf." A beat, "They won't kick me out for this right?"
A moment later, Fate finds herself tilting her head, to look at Arf's mouth as if contemplating pulling her jaws apart and looking. Arf opens a single eye, and mutters, "I told you not to look at me." "Ah - Sorry!"
<Pose Tracker> Takeo Akamizu [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
"So." The white Rabbit riding on Takeo's Shoulder as he strolls through a kid empty street, enjoying the sun and the feel of the wind on his shoulders. "Let me get this straight Takeo. You are not worried, about your Summer Homework missing, because you haven't done it?!" Merlin asks with shocked expression.
Takeo shrugs a shoulder. "Not a page. I usually wait until the Friday before, then just do it for three straight days. Sometimes I even wait until Saturday night and just not sleep until School Starts." He pauses and looks around. "Where. Is. Everybody?" He feels his phone vibrate and pulls it out. "Huh. All my friends are freaking out because theirs is missing too." He scratches the back of his neck. "I wonder if I should ya know. Armor up, and look into this?"
The Rabbit hangs his head. Many things that Takeo had just said caused Merlin to be in distress over his young student's actions. "Takeo. Armoring up won't help you investigate this. Armoring up is for hitting the bad guys."
"Which I'm really good at!"
Merlin puts his fluffy adorable face in his fluffy adorable paws and silently weeps.
<Pose Tracker> Honoka Yukishiro [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
In a darkened room, a number of shadowy figures stand around a central table. There is a senior board room air to the room, though it's impossible to see any specific accoutremants that lend it such importance -- the people themselves simply shed authority like candles shed radiance. They consult their various devices: phones, screens, crystal balls. And they smile.
Glancing over her shoulder at the skyscraper-like mound of stolen academic labor in the cavern next door, one of them smirks, fangily. "Are you sure we shouldn't just set it on fire? We can make this victory permanent with a wave of our hands."
Another woman meets the first's eyes with a haughty glare; the former may be a Queen, but the latter is an Executive. "Pfeh. There is no great victory in the suffering alone. It's what we can /do/ with it that counts."
"My ladies, we agreed to pledge our resources into this plan on the condition that the output be funneled directly into a... specific... project." This is a man, or at least the masked silhouette of one.
"Yes," another man agrees, his husky voice laden with more layers than can fit comfortably into a cake. It is overburdened with meaning, the innuendo so thick that it's awkward. And that was just one syllable! "Let's proceed to the second part of the plan, shall we?"
"Very well, 'Chairman'." The title is spoken with all the respect due it from a Queen. "Let us see if the Executive's theory of..."
"...it is a simple psychic connection," she snaps out, finishing the sentence. More serenely, with unshakable confidence, she finishes, "You'll see... the bonds between girls and things they care about are very powerful... and can only cause them despair."
---
DOWNTOWN YAMANOTE
It drops out of the sky with such speed that the rare late-summer clouds are dragged after it like a cloak, like the wake from the back of a boat.
It is, to say the least, an extremely weird construction: a glasslike giant, sinuously fused out of... crystal? Ice? But its joints are writhing, poison-dark roots, and its eyes are robotic red, shining with artificial lenses.
All in all, it looks like three monsters of the day mashed together into one, both in design and in /size/. It towers! It has to tower, to be gigantic, because...
...inside the clear substance of its flesh are those precious workbooks, en masse. Thousands upon thousands of them. Maybe even a million. They are not stacked neatly, but jumbled and a bit crumpled up into each other.
Everyone's summer homework is back... with a vengeance.
And it's plummeting towards the ground!
But before it can land, it reaches out one massive arm -- vines lash out of its icy wrists to wrap around one of the poles of Tokyo Tower. Then it grabs another side of it with a crunchy crystal palm, and starts hauling itself up towards the top, roaring its evil name.
"MARATHONNNNN!!!"
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro transforms into MARATHON!
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has fully healed herself. She is now ready to take on 7 opponents!
COMBAT: Fate Testarossa transforms into Barrier Jacket!
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji transforms into Magic Knight!
<Pose Tracker> Lera Camry [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.
Midway through texting nearly everyone she knows, a message comes across Lera's phone. She pauses, as she sees Fate's message through her tear-blurred vision, and she stares down at it for a moment. Her eyes blink; then she sees a few more messages flickering across her phone. She tilts her head to the side, momentarily confused, before she starts typing a text back to Fate.
>omg fate mine's gone too!! :( this is so not fair and its missing all across tokyo so its just some kind of terrible tragedy y'know???
>............wait >_<
AT TOKYO TOWER
Lera Camry blazes through the sky, straight back towards Tokyo Tower. She leaves a trail of red-orange light blazing in her wake, her sword-shaped Device gripped tightly in her now-gauntleted hand. Her green coat, with its red slashes, flutters in the wind after her -- along with the new belts and armored plates over her shoulders and knees. Her sidebraid flutters beside her head.
"We gotta find what's doing this!" she yells at Fate. "That's everyone's homework! If it's lost, then--then that'd be terrible, y'know?!"
But then, finally, she gets a look at what it is. A thing of crystal, with red mechanical eyes, and terrible roots for joints. She sees a big, terrible hand clutch the top of Tokyo Tower, and she stares -- because inside of it is the object of their intentions.
"No way!" she yells. She speeds up, soaring straight for Marathon -- and then she speeds to the point that she is, practically, just a flash of light before reappearing in front of the amalgamated monster. She ends with a spinning kick, aimed right for its midsection. "Let that homework go! All of our hopes, dreams, dreads, and precious hours of work and PACKING! SO MUCH PACKING--"
<Focus!> Sky reminds her.
"--are wrapped up in that!" Lera yells.
COMBAT: Lera Camry transforms into Barrier Jacket Perihelion!
COMBAT: Lera Camry has used Sonic Kick on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Lera Camry has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Seika Miuchi transforms into Masque Feu!
COMBAT: Masque Feu has fully healed herself.
<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Homework or no homework, a monster *THAT* gigantic requires as much attention as can be directed at it - and the Magic Knight of Wind is no exception, barreling across the city from roof to roof, harnessing the wind to boost and steer her leaps. Plus, she sees as she gets closer, the monster is trying to climb up Tokyo Tower, with an apparent lack of regard for its architectural integrity.
THAT wont' do at all, will it?
"WINDS OF ADMONISHMENT!!" The Wind Knight's voice rings out from two blocks away, and the binding whirlwind covers the remaining distance faster than its caster ever could - but she's not going to wait until she GETS there to start trying to slow the monster down. It's only when the Wind Knight alights on the last foothold before the Tower itself that she gets a chance to see what the monster is made of.
"And here I thought it couldn't possibly be magic at work," she remarks - projecting loudly enough for her arriving allies to hear. "Is it possible to defeat this without destroying the notebooks inside that shell?" she wonders, her bow and quiver manifesting; she wastes no time in nocking an arrow and drawing it back - although she may have to abandon her shot in favor of closing the distance again.
<Pose Tracker> Masque Feu [Juuban Public School (11)] has posed.
"Masque Feu!" Augustine cries out from the window. "Something's happening!"
"I know," Seika calls back, already halfway out the door.
SEVERAL MINUTES LATER
A small sport motorcycle, the sort of thing a 17-year-old could legally ride, is left parked somewhere out of the way while its rider ducks into a back alley and transforms.
"That will be quite enough of that," a firm, stern voice declares in a speaking tone that nevertheless rings out around the Tokyo Tower.
With a click of heels, Masque Feu touches down atop the nearest narrow protrusion she should not be able to stand on top of - in this case she's chosen a lamppost in the tower's shadow, standing with her heels together and a hand at her hip. Her other hand rises above her head, leveled towards the sky, before she slowly lowers it to point at the mishmash monster. "Your mad scheme for this tower is extremely poor behaviour at best," the lone Soeur chides as Augustine flutters to her shoulder. "I, Masque Feu, will--"
She stops dead as she realizes what is floating around inside that creature's frozen structure. She squints. Squints closer.
And her eyes widen as she sees it. Floating there inside the frozen monster. A simple and elegant black trapper keeper with a few stylized white lilies blooming across it and a small sticker on the spine:
- This workbook belongs to: MIUCHI Seika
"You didn't," she breathes.
"Masque Feu, compose yourself," Augustine cautions, but Seika's already too angry. With a little scowl, she leaps up off the post, sailing up in a powerful jump. Her eyes lock on the offending object for a moment before she lifts them to glare at the monster.
"/Give me back my special-edition mail-order Yamayurikai trapper-keeper!/" she shouts in uncharacteristic frustration.
At which point she wheels back and attempts to punch the gigantic tower-scale multimonster in the face as hard as she freaking can.
COMBAT: Masque Feu has used Maria-Sama Is Punching You Out on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Masque Feu has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Winds of Admonishment on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro narrowly braces Lera Camry's Sonic Kick, taking 3 Fatigue damage! Lera Camry is Psyched!
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro narrowly dodges Fuu Hououji's Winds of Admonishment, taking 14 Fatigue damage! Fuu Hououji is Psyched! Cripple applied to Honoka Yukishiro!
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro perfectly counters Masque Feu's Maria-Sama Is Punching You Out, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Counter! Honoka Yukishiro's Reverse ability activates!
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro's counterattack, Impenetrable Crystal, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Masque Feu!
<Pose Tracker> Hibiki Houjou [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Time passes. Homework is arranged on a desk. Homework notably does not get done.
"-and for the fifth time, no Hummy didn't just knock it off my desk. Yours is missing too, and she's not that sneaky a cat! ...okay, sure, it could be Siren, but she'd be gloating by now-" Hibiki's telephoned argument is cut short when there's a bellow from the television screen - because of course she had the TV on while doing homework, she's not some kind of animal - and the phone falls slack in her grip. "Wh- Kanade! Turn on the TV! ...this isn't a trick, honest- Kanade? Hang on, you're - what do you mean, emergency baking sess- you know what, never mind, I'm just going to go and get our homework back!"
She moves to hang up the phone - pauses at the screeching that erupts from the handset, and pauses a moment longer. "...no, I'm actually serious this time!"
---
As bystanders stop to stare at Marathon - struck silent by the absurdity - there's a flurry of movement down the street. Brown twintails streaming behind her, Hibiki Houjou puts all her sports experience and general horsing around to good use, sprinting through the crowd towards the grand plaza. It was on the news - and it has her homework. Right there, in its shoulder...or maybe its hip. The point is, somewhere in there is all her hard work, and stealing it for a monster like this is...
She skids to a halt by a tree, momentarily hidden from the eyes of observers, and produces her Cure Module. "Absolutely...unforgivable!"
Strains of holy music resound through the air as a pianist becomes Pretty Cure - and with now-pink hair streaming behind her, she makes a grand leap towards it. it's towering, it's climbing even higher - and so she grabs onto an overhanging streetlamp, swinging around the bar to fling herself higher! It's a wild assault forward, but one suiting her style - and she shouts out as she flies towards the monster feet-first.
"Strumming the wild rhythm - Cure Melody! I won't forgive stealing our hard work!"
COMBAT: Hibiki Houjou transforms into Cure Melody!
COMBAT: Cure Melody has used Fortissimo Flip on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Cure Melody has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro narrowly braces Cure Melody's Fortissimo Flip, taking 8 Fatigue damage! Diversion applied to Honoka Yukishiro!
COMBAT: Nori Ankou transforms into La Sirene du Nord!
<Pose Tracker> Fate Testarossa [Infinity Institute (4)] has posed.
The phone buzzes back, Fate picks up that message. Stares at it. Stares at it for a really long time.
"Wait." Fate's has a terrible thought suddenly strike her at the same time Lera's message comes back, "This - this is like something Soular would do." The realization sort of blew her world away. She'd been in Dark Fall, so certainly she knew what they were doing, but until it personally affected her she didn't understand how so simple a thing could so deeply wound someone. "I'm heading out, Arf." Bardiche shines, and she shimmers just as radiantly. "Sure sure, just remember to bring back-" But the window was open, and Fate was already gone.
~Soon~
A golden trail of magic and light like a jetstream, alongside a red and orange one, "We find the one responsible for this. I'll never be able to finish in time otherwise." She stares ahead, into the distance, squinting as Tokyo Tower comes into view. <It's probably not a Nakewameke.> Fate stops short as Lera speeds up, hovering in the air, her cloak and twintails fluttering, "Well whatever it is, it's very large. We shouldn't just charge in without a plan..."
Cue Lera charging in.
Fate's mouth opens wide for a moment. Then it closes, as her eyes narrow with resolution. "Ready Bardiche?" <Yes Sir. Scythe Form.> A chime and a shift of an axe blade, which folds into itself, as a jagged arc of mana appears amongst a hiss of steam. She flourishes him, holding him easily behind her as she turns to face the titanic creature, "Fate Testarossa - Ikimasu!"
But then she hesitates charging in again, as she hears a familiar voice. Her eyes sweep the skyline until she spots her. Then she comprehends her words. "Did it steal something more precious to you than your homework?"
Fate's gloves clench alongside the Bardiche's halberd, and then without further delay, she soars straight at Marathon, spiraling in a measured approach in case the creature had surprises in store for her. Once close enough, she pulls up suddenly and cleaves Bardiche upwards, aiming to attempt to sever part of an undulating dark root that makes up one of its joints. <Scythe Slash>
COMBAT: Fate Testarossa has used Scythe Slash on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Fate Testarossa has finished attacking.
<Pose Tracker> La Sirene du Nord [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
It is perhaps not entirely clear what brought la Sirene du Nord to this immediate area, though a bad feeling was certainly part of it. Not every bad feeling is justifiable, of course -- but they do give you something to do other than fall into a wet squidgey lump of despair.
And WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT!
"I wonder if it was attracted by the recent disaster," Batiste says from his perch atop la Sirene's shoulder as she vaults between roofs.
"What?!" La Sirene shouts into the howling of the wind. But she's catching up, her sorrow at the prospect of doing homework or eating opprobrium driving her further onwards, nearer to the tower, nearer to that looming thing - and both she and Batiste gasp at the same time as it becomes clear that this is not some fortuitous ice-devil here to bring winter early or something like that.
The sunlight gleams off of a binder notebook. It's a dark navy blue, but it has several stickers on it. A sticker from a Handshake Encounter exhibit. A sticker from the Hokkaido winter festival. A sticker (as much as she may be hesitant about it) from the family company's frozen meals--
"No - no no no NO NO! How did you get that! This is -- this is wickedness I cannot even admire for its dark artistry!" La Sirene cries out in dismay as she leaps over the last of the roof tops. Others are approaching, a familiar green windstorm, a familiar princess, the sweeping aerial form of the mysterious Propane and a new aerial figure with a scythe.
"GIVE THEM BACK! Give them ALL back!" la Sirene cries - and instead of making that last leap, she hoists her lantern aloft. When she pulls the lens open with a squeeze of her hand, the darkness that pours out is no less sharp in the sunlight of day - in fact, it may seem like it dims things a tiny fraction near where that streak of acute darkness falls, the light of the day swallowed up.
Hopefully the force of this streaking inklike disdain will get them all their homework back.
Batiste's tiny paws are clenched into fists. /he bought that sticker himself/. Now he's angry.
COMBAT: La Sirene du Nord has used Pieces of the Perfect Black on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: La Sirene du Nord has finished attacking.
