Battle Fantasia MUSH - User contributions [en]

2022-11-02 - Meetings and Beginnings

2025-06-03T14:20:25Z

Talnora: Clean up some lines that should've been left out.

{|class="toccolours" cellspacing="2"
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! style="background:#CC6699; border: 2px #CC0033 solid; font-size: 110%;" align="center" colspan="2" | '''Title: Meetings and Beginnings'''
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|'''Summary''': 
''It's time for Yumi and Raiko to be properly introduced as fellow Inheritors, but their meeting is interrupted...''
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|'''Who''': 
[[Yumi Ohzora]], [[Raiko Takashima]]
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|'''Where:''' 
Tama River
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|'''OOC - IC Date:''' 
November 05, 2022 - Saturday, January 23, 2016
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{|
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| '''Previous:''' || [[2022-11-01 - Secret Meeting of Cats]]
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| '''Next:''' || [[2022-11-07 - First Things Fixed]]
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|}

*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ Tama River +*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*
At the head of this river, deep in the Tama region, a dam forms Lake
Okutama. Gazing upon its calm waters, it is difficult to imagine that
beneath the dam, a great river erupts. In days past, the Tama River ran
rampant, flooding frequently, often so intensely as to wash away towns or
permanently alter its course. Today, the dam and an expensive series of
levees have tamed this serpent of water, and its floods, while frequent,
cause no significant damage.

The new Tama River is a beloved location for leisure and recreation.
Kayaking along its rapids, rock climbing and bouldering in nearby parks,
picnicking alongside its slower sections; Tama is a long river, and has
something for everyone. A great number of sports fields have sprung up on
its banks, for children and adults alike, and it's not uncommon for the Tama
River to host school games. Neighboring areas flock to the riverside at
festival-time, erecting food stalls and fair games.

The mouth of the river empties into Tokyo Bay in the Yamanote region of the
city, right next to Haneda Airport.

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
For Shiori it has been... an interminably long day. Most days, she does not concern herself with the passage of time quite so keenly; having lived 150 years helps give one a longer view on things. But today her thoughts are for Raiko, the young witch she is responsible for who is so dearly in need of help. That she isn't with right now.

But she ''is'' trying to get some help for her, and hopefully... the other Inheritor will be able to reach her where she couldn't.

Her failure this morning also still stings.

And so she waits. Well, she paces, more often than not. She did her best to keep up her composure in front of Tama, but constant worrying and inaction have taken their toll on her. Besides, the fretting and pacing ''now'' are leaving her with enough composure to spare for ''later'' when Yumi arrives back to her dorm. She wants to make a good impression on the other witch, after all.

The fretting and pacing are also taking her mind off of the constant mental strain of magically holding onto the staff. And not thinking about holding onto the staff also helps with the physical strain... somewhat. It only gets worse when you focus on it, at any rate.

This is her first time in the dorms--she hasn't seen Raiko's yet (a fact that she curses herself for--she should have been here to support the young witch, but Kenji ''also'' needed her help.) It seems nice enough, though she wonders how they compare to Raiko's. Hopefully she'll find out soon enough.

Shiori glances at a clock as she completes another circuit of her pacing. "It shouldn't be much longer, now, should it?" she asks of the room's other occupant.

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
For Yumi Ohzora, it's simply been a day! ...Well, to be fair, it's been a day on which she was kind of sleepy because she was out fighting an Ogre in the night. All she had to do was take a little nap during lunch, and snack during class, and...

Maybe those aren't the best habits to model. It's fine!

Tama, of course, is calm and collected as ever, almost laconic. She is simply seated on the couch, waiting, culed into something of a all.

...But because she knows why Shiori is so antsy, she doesn't admonish her for it.

Yumi's dorm is indeed very nice, a bit bigger than standard, though not because of luxury. It's so that there's room for chairs about the halls.

The door opens and Yumi starts inside, "Tamaaa I'm baaack," she starts, and then pauses, to see not one but two cats. "Ah?"

Pause. "Um, hello--"

"This is my colleague, Shiori. You have a mutual friend."

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Shiori does hear the activity outside the door, hears the doorknob rattling, and very quickly makes herself presentable. She plants her rear down so she can sit upright, back straight, chin very slightly lifted for that dignified air, tail curled around her feet, and making every effort to appear to be exerting no effort at all to maintain the dignity and compusre befitting both a familiar and a cat.

You'd never know she was a pacing, nervous wreck some 1.34 seconds before.

"Greetings, Ohzora-san," she says, cordially. "I'm apologize for coming to you so unexpectedly. I am the guardian of the Staff of Wise Levin. I have been safeguarding it with the assistance of a man named Kenji Takashima--the grandfather of a girl named Raiko Takashima, who you're already acquainted with. We have suspected for quite a long time that she would one day inherit that staff."

"We have kept the staff in Kenji's study, which was heavily warded to both protect it and keep it from reacting to Raiko before she was ready. However..." There is just a bit of a droop to her whiskers, a slight splaying of her ears. "... Raiko cut school today. She found me after I had just returned to check on the staff. The study door was open, she entered, and the staff reacted. In the process it destroyed the wards."

"I was forced to explain everything to her, and I tried to encourage her to take up the staff, but so far she is... unwilling to do so. The staff is at risk of being discovered, and Raiko herself is also at risk. And so... I must humbly beg your assistance."

She stands at that point... so that she can lower her front end in something of an approximation of a bow. "Please talk to her. You've made quite an impression on her, and she is in dire straits at the moment. It is also my hope that you can convince her to take up the staff, but we cannot force that upon her. Regardless of whether she accepts, I beseech you, help her through this difficult time."

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
Yumi is fooled!! ...But you don't have to work very hard to convince her a cat is dignified. They wouldn't even give her the time of day until after she met Tama... And it's only changed since then. But here and now, this cat is talking, and talking about important stuff. And a lot of things start to make sense very quickly.

"It's fine," Yumi says, "It's obviously important." Suspected... and Raiko. Yumi remembers Raiko very clearly, and she frowns at this, because--it doesn't say safe things about her at the moment. It says very dangrous things about her at the moment.

"If her grandfather was taking care of it, and he disappeared... I can see why she'd be reluctant. The girl I spoke to..." Yumi thinks back. "Well--"

Her assistance.

"Of course," Yumi answers, nodding firmly. "I'd say you didn't have to ask... but I guess you kinda did, since otherwise I wouldn't have known. The point is, I'd help Raiko anyway. I won't try to push her into the Staff if I don't think she wants it, but..."

"I'll definitely talk to her. And I'll protect her ''and'' the Staff. I promise."

Wise Levin... It's a lot to take in.

"Just take me wherever you think she is."

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Shiori nods as Yumi makes an inerference tired to Kenji's guardianship of the staff. "Yes. Kenji's work for the magic association has long involved attempting to locate and secure artifacts of interest to The Hungry Queen. He has... not returned from his latest mission, and I have been unable to locate him. Raiko is... concerned that she may meet a similar fate."

Among other reasons.

Shiori does honestly sound relieved as Yumi says she'll help. "Thank you, Ohzora-san. It is of no small comfort to me to know that Raiko has such a caring friend looking out for her."

She returns to her upright sitting position momentarily. "Of course. I asked her to stay at home, but I suspect she will be found elsewhere. I'll lead the way."

SOME TIME LATER

Raiko sighs as she looks over the placid lake. It's not always her first choice of places to go and be moody, but... well, all of her usual haunts were kind of off limits since she was cutting school. At least out here it was bound to be relatively desolate and isolated. She was seated on a rather large rock, bundled up to ward off the cold January air.

Shiori had tried to comfort her for a while, gently persuade her to take up the staff, but mostly she had just tried to comfort and reassure her... At least, up until she had left, citing 'getting help' as her reason, while also profusely promising that she ''would'' be back before day's end. Raiko believed her but... after a while it got too painful to stay cooped up in the house by herself. If Shiori had been there, it might've been tolerable, but...

The familiar ''had'' insisted that Raiko make lunch before leaving, so that she would have one less obstacle to eating this time. The remnants of her lunch sat discarded beside her on the rock, and she was slowly nursing a bag of gummy worms she'd found in her room that she'd forgotten to take with her to the dorms.

And then... there was the sound of movement in the woods behind her. She paid it no mind, at first--but then it kept getting ''closer'' and eventually she frowned, looking behind her. "Hello? Is someone out there?"

And then she blinked. "... Ohzora-san?" The girl was rather hard to miss. "How did you... Wait, ''Shiori''? And... Erm..." A random black cat she's never met before. "What's... what's going on?"

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
Yumi can't blame Raiko for having that worry. All this... it's dangerous. Really, really dangerous. Why, then, does she embrace it so much? ..Not her day to be introspective.

"She seems like she needs a friend right about now. So... That's me."

Tama looks to Shiori. "It's as I told you," she says, and then to Yumi, "Then let's go."

LATER

Yumi steps across the rocky ground, still in her uniform. Her own concession to the January air is layering a little, but it's still cold. All the more reason to get Raiko back inside. So Yumi comes to a stop near her, and there--

"Hey," Yumi says. "...I heard some things had gotten even rougher," she says, and gestures to Shiori. Then she gestures to the black cat, "This is my familiar, Tama. She's the Keeper of the Staff of Lost Ivy... and I'm the Staff's wielder."

"...I thought you should know that, so you know where I stand on all this." She starts forward, and looks out over the placid lake, too. "...Don't tell Tama," she says, "But I've cut class a few times myself. Sometimes you just have to get out, you know? Well, you obviously know."

"When I said I did 'extracurriculars' for the Magic Association, that's what I meant. I wouldn't usually involve you... but it sounds like you're already involved. You don't have to be any more than that though, OK?"

"What you do with your life, even right now... It's up to you. I just think you should know..."

"...I thought everything was hopeless once, too. Sometimes part of me still does. I'm used to being that sick girl. So I know what it is to be trapped by something in your life."

"...But I said we were friends, and I meant it. So, as a friend..."

"Tell me about how you're feeling."

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Shiori pads up to Raiko's rock, jumping up onto it. She nods a little as she sees the signs that Raiko at least ate lunch. "I told you I would come back, and I would bring assistance. I belive you're already met." Shiori nods to Yumi, but allows the other girl to introduce herself properly.

Raiko's eyes grow wide as Yumi reveals that she has a staff, too. "Whaaaat? You..." She looks to Shiori. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"It was not my place to say," says Shiori simply. She doesn't say that she's explained what happened, since... well, taht should be clear enough. But she does give Raiko a gentle nuzzle. "We had always intended to introduce you once you were ready to take up the staff--"

Raiko started to pet Shiori when she came close, but opens her mouth at that statement.

Shiori cuts her off. "--''but'' we're not here to convince you to do so. Just take your time and talk out what you're feeling. We can worry about the staff later." And with that, Shiori hops down from the rock to go wait next to Tama.

Raiko hastily cleans up her lunch, poofing everything into her cellphone to deal with it later, and clears a spot for Yumi to sit. She looks up at Yumi, blinking as she says she's skipped class before. "... Really?" She can't help but look back at Tama over her shoulder, and then back to Yumi. There's... a very brief, momentary flicker of a smile there that's gone just as fast. "... I bet she wouldn't like that if she knew, huh?"

Raiko pulls her knees to her chest. She's ''not'' in her uniform, wearing a skirt, tights, an extra poofy dark pink jacket, and a hat to keep the cold out.

She listens as Yumi explains about the extracirriculars, about feeling hopeless... "But... you seemed so ''happy'' when you came into the nurse's office yesterday... Do... you really still feel that way sometimes?" She rests her chin on her knees, looking out over the lake.

There is a bit longer of a smile as Yumi confirms that they're friends, though it's tinged with a lot of sadness at the moment.

"... I dunno. I guess I feel scared. Grandpa's gone because his missions are dangerous, and I'm supposed to take on this Hungry Queen, when I'm not even... half the witch he is. I guess I feel like a screw-up, too... I knew skipping class was wrong, but... I couldn't help myself." She frowns as she contemplates. "It just... talking to you felt so ''nice'', and... when we were done, and I'd told you about everything I just..."

She closes her eyes, her voice dropping to a whisper. "I felt like... a clock that was barely functioning, but once you stop it to try and fix it... then it just breaks completely."

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
"Right," Yumi says, of not being here to convince her. Tama, for her part, pads forward and then takes a seat to watch them. Yumi moves over and takes a seat--and then laughs a little. "Yeah," Yumi says, "She'd hate it."

Tama sighs, audibly, looking into the distance. The things she puts up with. "...It is, at least, good to meet you properly, Raiko."

"Sure I was happy," Yumi says. "Going to the nurse's office was my sign I was out of the hospital--I was there to hand over the forms that said I could go back to class!" A beat, "I do still feel that way sometimes. ...Not even just when I'm not feeling great, either."

Yumi looks over Raiko, and nods. "It just makes sense to be scared. There's no shame in that. I'm scared sometimes, too, and I'm--if I don't say so myself--pretty good at this magical girl thing." She says it conspiratorially. "...And we all do things we shouldn't sometimes."

"...Hm, so. For me, it's like..." Yumi looks up to the sky.

"It's like when you've got a whole bunch of dishes that are tilted over in a cabinet. If you open the cabinet, there's gonna be some that fall and break! No way around it. ...But you can't ever use the cabinet again if you don't break a few dishes that way."

"...You're not too broken to fix. It might get harder before it gets easier. But it ''will'' get better, if you stick with it. I'm sure of it."

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Raiko nods to Tama. "Um... It's nice to meet you too, Tama-san."

Shiori is sitting with Tama now that she's moved closer to observe, though she doesn't comment on what Yumi said.

Raiko listens as Yumi explains she was happy about being in the nurse's office, because it meant being out of the hospital. "... I guess that makes sense... I... heard you were in the hospital a lot, but... I guess it's not really nice to listen to gossip like that..."

She looks up to Yumi. "How do you deal with it when you feel like everything is hopeless? It feels like I'll never be able to fix everything."

She nods along as Yumi talks about it being okay to be scared, but then-- She blinks, frowns, and looks over to Yumi. "Wait, ''what''? You're a magical girl ''and'' a witch, too? How did ''that'' happen? And why would you tell ''me''? Aren't you supposed to keep those things secret?"

Someone... has apparently missed a connection or two.

Shiori, for her part, looks like she's caught between trying to figure out if ''Raiko's'' messed up here, if if ''she's'' somehow failed to explain something properly.

She listens as Yumi explains about the dishes, and frowns a little. "... I think we left some dirty dishes in the sink," she says quietly to herself. One more thing to fix.

She leans against Yumi again. "I ''wanna'' get better," she admits, finally. "I just..." she lets that thought trail off.

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
"I have heard much about you," Tama says to Raiko, inclining her head. She doesn't say much more for the moment, though--instead, she lets Yumi handle the matter of the other girl. "So," Yumi says, "Sometimes the rumors are right! But it's important not to forget that there's people underneath them, I guess. You and me both have that problem, right?"

How do you deal with it when everything is hopeless? "...I start a little at a time," she says, thinking back, to a time when it ''was'' hopeless. "And do what I can. And remember that I don't have to do it all myself. ...But most of all--"

"Even if you can't fix everything, you can start being the person you want to be today. Everything follows from that."

But then there's the matter of magical girling, and Yumi laughs. "Yep! You're supposed to keep it secret, but you get to know, because you're involved with the Staves. Through Lost Ivy's power, I'm the Witch of Lost Ivy, an Inheritor--a magical girl."

It's fine. Yumi can explain. And she starts to say something else, too, to reassure Raiko, when Tama interrupts abrubtly, "Both of you--down!" She hisses, turning around as great footsteps rock the earth.

Yumi immediately steps out in front of Raiko, lifting her Staff and looking upon--
ll. Upon an Ogre clad all in iron, in heavy armor with a great big tetsubo ringed in metal studs on leather on metal backing. The Ogre grins toothily as he looks down at the others. "...Heh heh. Smell two familiars..."

"DELICIOUS!"

Yumi interrutps by lifting her staff and incanting, "Staff of Lost Ivy! In my hand remembered be!"

With a flash of green light she is transformed, her clothes changing from boots to gloves to dress, a great hat on her head, wide-brimmed and pointed, her hair suddenly braided back.

"I won't let you have them!"

The Ogre ''swings'' down its club, and Yumi throws up both hands to create a barrier to block it. "Raiko-chan," she says, looking to the side, as if she could see over her shoulder, "Run!"

...Her barrier holds, for now.
Mikoto Minagi walks over from Tama Outer City.

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Raiko looks at Tama curiously when she says that. She'd ''known'' that Shiori and the other grownups weren't telling her everything. But this goes far, far beyond anything she might have suspected.

But she looks back to Yumi as the elder girl keeps talking. She tenses up a bit and just nods glumly as Yumi says they're both the subject of rumors. "... I hate that that's what people think of me..." she says quietly, hugging her knees tighter to her chest. "I tried to tell myself I didn't care, that it didn't matter, but..."

'Start being the person you want to be today.' There's... something in her expression, just a brief little glimmer before her own worries bring that frown back. "That sounds really hard, Ohzora-chan," she admits. And kind of scary, but she can't bring herself to say that last part aloud.

After a long moment's consideration she looks up to Yumi. "... Um... if you were me, where would you start?"

But as Yumi explains about the staves and the magical girling, Raiko is... a big agog. "... ''What''? But... aren't the staves like... older than recorded history or something? They had magical girls all the way back ''then''?" She turns to Shiori, and is about to say something when Tama interrupts.

Shiori is on alert too, already up on all fours and hissing loudly. "Raiko, do as she says!"

The sound of the large footstep crashing down draws Raiko's attention, and at that point she slips off of the rock she was sitting on, hiding behind it... but peeking out. "Wha... what's going on?!"

'tasty familiars'

Her eyes go wide as she sees the ogre, cringing back behind the supposed safety of her rock. She definitely doesn't want Shiori to be eaten but... what can she do?

"It's an Ogre," explains Shiori quietly. "A servant of The Hungry Queen." She shares a glance with Tama. She knows just how dangerous it is, but isn't sure how much to say without scaring Raiko even more.

But then... Yumi transforms, and Raiko looks up in wonder, gasping as she sees the transformation up close and personal. Sees such a startling change, sees all that power up close and personal... though she still can't help but flinch as the ogre's club comes crashing down on Yumi's barrier.

"But if I run... can... can you really handle that thing all by yourself?"

Why is she even bothering to ask? It's not like she could do anything about it anyway.

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
"It sucks," Yumi agrees about how people think of Raiko. "It hurts. Whether you want to care or not, it does."

She smiles, at it being really hard, but doesn't get a chance to go back to it before--

Tama leaps downward, behind Yumi, to advise her.

"This one... Its armor is powerful, enchanted to deflect most magic." This may be one of the worst to face without the others. But Tama won't say that aloud for now. Instead, "Be on your guard, Yumi!"

Yumi jumps to the side just before her barrier shatters, barely missed by the Ogre's greatclub Shiori's quiet explanation gets a look from Tama. "They're very dangerous. Ancient spirits, bound forever. They are always hungry."

Raiko's question gets a laugh from Yumi, though Tama and perhaps Shiori can easily tell it's forced. "I eat Ogres for breakfast!" Yumi calls.

"Lie!" the Ogre retorts. "Ogre eat YOU for breakfast!" He slams the club down again, and Yumi can't dodge completely in time, knocked back and to the side by the impact even indirectly. "Guh--"

Tama says, "Raiko! It's too dangerous here for an ordinary human!"

Yumi pushes herself back up, in the meantime. "I won't know until I try. But you need to go!"

Yumi incants another spell, weaving runes with the Staff, and lays a curse on the Ogre...

Only to find that the curse deflects, and bounces away. "Ha ha ha. Me too tough for that!"

Yumi grits her teeth, and tries another, running between spells to try to draw the Ogre away from the others. But attack number three knocks her from her feet, a sweep too broad to dodge. Her barrier shines forth, but she falls over anyway, the green magic preventing her from being crushed.

A green beam of dark light crashes forward next, but only wings the Ogre's head, causing a ROAR of anger and a redoubled offense.

She ''might'' manage this on her own. Yumi is certainly encouraging Raiko to take that chance.

Tama's tail lashes, her ears down, her frustration obvious. "There must be a weak point!" she calls. "Stay light on your feet--save your strength until you find it!"

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Raiko does try to run. Briefly. But all it really results in is her falling backwards from her crouch behind the rock onto her butt and scooting back a few paces that way. Her heart is torn--it's too dangerous, everyone's telling her to hide or flee, Yumi is a ''Magical Girl'' and she's... she's just a witch who's obsessed with enchanting cell phones.

But the armor is enchanted... if she could help Yumi break it, Yumi could--

No, that's a stupid idea. This is above her level.

Shiori moves to Raiko's side, warily keeping one eye on the fight but giving most of her attention to her charge. "Raiko, get up," she says sternly. "We have to get going."

Raiko's eyes are fixed on the battle. "B-... but... We can't just ''leave'' her! She needs help! All her spells aren't..."

"I am aware. But we have to keep ''you'' safe while we try to get more help."

Raiko finally looks down to Shiori. "We're in the middle of nowhere, Shiori!" she snaps. "We're not gonna be able to get any help in time!"

The familiar's unblinking gaze looks right into Raiko's eyes. "Then ''you'' have to help her."

The girl finally finds her footing and manages to scramble back behind the rock to shield herself, knees huddled to her chest again. "Shiori, what am ''I'' supposed to do? I'm just a 9th year! My magical sell phone isn't going to do diddly against that thing!" Her voice is starting to crack as she takes a heaving breath.

Shiori puts a paw on Raiko's arm. "You ''know'' what you can do, Raiko."

Raiko shakes her head. "Nah uh. I can't. I'm not the right person for the job!" Quietly she adds, "I'm just a screwup. I'll mess it all up."

"Raiko," responds Shiori firmly, but quietly. "If you don't do this, Yumi may die. And if that happens, you, Tama, and I will be next. I know you're afraid of messing up, but trust me. I have watched over you your entire life. You are smart, caring, and resourceful. You have everything it takes, but you have to be willing to ''try''."

"... But what if I still mess up?"

"Then we'll fix it. If you ''try'', you may mess up, but you may also succeed, and live to learn how to do better the next time. But if you can't even do that... then there won't be a next time."

Raiko's cheeks are wet, her voice quiet and horse. "I'm scared."

"I know, dear. But this isn't just about you. I know you're scared of what happened to your grandfather possibly happening to you, but he risked his life every day to stop The Hungry Queen and protect everyone from her machinations. Yumi is doing her best for ''your'' sake. Neither of them would tell you they are completely fearless, but they try anyway. Because taking chances is the only way to make things better."

"... You'll help me, right?"

Shiori nodded.

After a long pause, Raiko finally got to her feet. Her hands shook, her heart was pounding, and every instinct she had was screaming at her to run away.

But the voice telling her she couldn't lose Yumi was yelling louder.

"Give me the staff," she said evenly.

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
Yumi can't keep looking at Raiko; if she shows the Ogre that what she cares about right now is over ''there'', then een this dumb brute might get the picture. She can't count on them being stupid. ...Especialy not after ''that'' one.

Tama watches, though. She watches Shiri make her pitch, as Yumi rolls out of the way of another smash of the club against the ground, and another, and another. Even if she's strong, the Ogre is wearing down her energy, and if she can't get any offense going against it... then the end is inevitable.

Yumi throws another beam, and another, and another, as she and the Ogre trade blows. She's gotten much stronger, Tama can tell, than she used to be... but this is an enemy strong where she is weak, and strong where she is strong.

"Yumi!" Tama calls. "Call upon your broom! Get your mobility!"

"Right!" Yumi calls, and reaches out her hand. The broom suddenly appears in it.

"You think--" Yumi huffs. "You think that's going to be enough!?"

"YEAH!" claims the ogre, and reaches out to try to snatch Yumi up all at once.

As he grabs, she drops her broom, and struggles. "Ugh! Your breath is TERRIBLE," Yumi bluffs, but she's trying to work a spell with her hands bound anyway. It doesn't look good.

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Shiori closes her eyes, ''finally'' releases the spell she's been using to hide the staff ever since this morning, and the staff appears. It is a relief, to not need to maintain the spell any longer. There was a time when she could have held it for far, far longer, but that was quite a while ago.

The staff is a little over five feet tall, comprised of polished black wood with silver geometric inlays running through its length. At the top is a silver setting, with a blue crystal embedded within.

Raiko reached out, her hand trembling until it finally made contact with the staff. Unlike before, it was silent--Raiko could have sworn it was ''waiting'' but she pushed that thought aside. When her hand made contact with the wood she drew in a sharp gasp.

There it was again. A resonance ringing from deep within her, an electrifying energy flowing from the staff, down her arm, and into her body, filling her with with... the joy of a bird's flight, the energy to incite change and the fury of a storm. There was so much more there, this was just a taste, but the staff was waiting.

She had to give of herself too.

Raiko raised the staff up and shouted, "Staff of Wise Levin, hear me! In my hand, discovered be!" Overhead, storm clouds gathered out of nowhere, spilling out of nothingness directly overhead. "Secrets kept, knowledge shared! I come to learn the acient truths!" Overhead the clouds started to churn more quickly, tendrils of electrical energy licking out, lashing faster and faster as Raiko completed her chant.

"Let our hearts be bound as one!" And she opened herself to the staff, felt it surrender the rest of its powre to her--and accepted it all a a lightning bolt struck from the sky, engulfing her in a blinding white light--

And when the flash cleared, she was clad in a witch's hat and a cloak, leather boots and gloves--but her garmetns were more modern, vest and a button-up shirt, a ruffled, multilayer skirt, a belt with pouches and a watch embedded within, complete with a siler chain.

The Witch of Wise Levin turned to face the ogre, raising her hand. "Let... her.... ''go''!" she snarled, as the clouds churned once more, building up for a strike... and then she brought her hand down, directing the bolt with it to strike directly at the Ogre's head.

COMBAT: Raiko Takashima transforms into Witch Levin!

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
Tama is focused on Yumi, but she has an eye open for Raiko and Shiori, too. All she can do is offer advice, right now. She doesn't much like that. But when the Staff appears--''that'' makes her watch. That makes her see.

Yumi, in the meantime, is in trouble; she's still working her spell, but hasn't managed to get loose yet. As she traces runes, though, Raiko is busy... and is coming to understand something very important.

"The Staves are resonating!" Tama calls. "...Quickly! You are stronger together than apart!"

The Staff's activation brings a sudden light as the Staff of Lost Ivy resonates in turn; a green light shimmers around Yumi as the lightning bolt lams into the Ogre's outstretched club and electrocutes the monster all at once. The unbidden barrier the Staff casts protects Yumi from the same, and she falls back to the ground, released by its spasming hands. It can't let go of the club, though.

"GHAARH!" the Ogre calls in anger, rearing back its arm. "Will smash two as much as one!"

But he's dazed, and he needs a moment to gather his strength. A moment in which--

"Levin!" Yumi calls. "On three, we do it together! Just like they said!"

She hefts the Staff into the air, and begins gathering power. "One... two...!"

Raiko has moments to act. Yumi herself is running mostly on adrenaline. She won't have much longer to stay on her feet, so they have to make this count fast. %rLight shines...!

<Pose Tracker> Witch of Wise Levin [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Shiori si immensely relieved to see Raiko complete her transformation... and somewhat proud to see her stepping up, though it's not a time to relax ''just'' yet. She takes her place alongside Tama to watch and offer advice. "Raiko! Trust your instincts! The staff knows what to do, just let it guide you!"

"Got it!" Raiko has taken off running, moving to get to Yumi, to help her up. There's so much she wants to say, but they're still in danger. "Yu--Ivy! Are you okay?"

Yumi's on her feet--The Staff of Lost Ivy is glowing with a green light, and her own staff, Wise Levin, is glowing similarly, but in yellow, with electrical sparks starting to dance up and down its length.

"Got it!" she says, as Yumi begins her count. She turns to face the ogre--standing side by side with Yumi--and raises her staff as well. The sparking intensifies as she concentrates, lets all of the power gather and concentrates. Shiori's been so patient with her, and she finds her Staff just as as patient, letting herself by guided as she prepares her strike.

And on Yumi's count of 3, she blasts the ogre for everything she's worth.

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
Tama is relieved, too. She didn't like the look of this battle--didn't like a lot of things. But with two Inheritors...

Yumi--Ivy--takes Raiko's hand and gets up. They're in danger, so there's a lot that has to go unsaid for now. "I will be!" she says, "As soon as we take care of this guy!"

They both glow, columns of light becoming brigther and brighter as they lift their Staves. The patience of the Staves is legend, but there is only so much time that they will wait. Raiko blasts. Yumi blasts. It looks like this:

From the sky hurtles down a great blast of lightning, striking the Ogre and keeping him stock-still except to shake as his club is met in the air by the force of electricity. It runs all through his armor, crackles all around him, and holds him utterly in place.

Yumi, for her part, has lifed her staff, and holds on with both hands; at the same time that this lightning holds him in place, Lost Ivy brings forth a towering beam of sunlight, which in its wake heals the smashed rocks and ground--and consumes the Ogre in green flames.

Lightning and sunlight together destroy the monster. And when it's done... The light passes. And one Witch looks to another Witch.

"Aaah!" Yumi says. "You were great!"

Tama sighs in relief.

<Pose Tracker> Witch of Wise Levin [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Raiko can scarely believe the pwoer at her beck and call now--but true to Shiori's word, she's not alone in managing it. Wise Levin has not been active for quite some time, but yet it doesn't miss a step as the powerful surge of lighting is brought down from the heavens.

A dazzling display of lightning and blessed light light up the area, consuming the ogre with green flames and then... suddenly the battle is over. Everything looks as it once did and the only indication there was a battle at all are the two magical girls and their familiars standing there.

Raiko is panting hard, her hands a little shakey as she lowers her staff. Even with Wise Levin's help, she's not used to managing this kind of power. She's a bit in awe of it, taking a moment to try and process everything that just happened.

But Yumi's words get through to her, and suddenly, the girl who had moments ago made a demand of an ogre much larger than herself has lost all of that brovado. She looks shy and a bit unsure as she asks, "... Really?" There is a flicker of a smile, but then...

She lets her staff go--it stays upright of its own accord--and throws her arms around Yumi, hugging her tight. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry. If I'd just accepted the staff sooner than you wouldn't have gotten hurt and I'm just so glad you're ''okay'', and I promise I'm gonna do my best even if I'm not sure how because I almost lost you and I can't bear to lose someone who's been so nice to me!" She's crying again, but these are happy tears. Mostly. It's been a rough day.

Meanwhile, Shiori is also sighing in relief. Quietly, just to Tama, she asks, "Please tell me it won't be this troublesome to get the next witch to accept her destiny."

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
The battle is over! Yumi--Lost Ivy--is a little shaky herself, when it all goes through. Raiko smiles, and Yumi starts to smile back--but then she blinks as she is abrubtly hugged. It's not a ''bad'' blink, just a surprise, and she lets the Staff of Lost Ivy hover too as she hugs Raiko back. "It's okay!" she says. "I can stand up to being hurt a little, you know? I'm pretty tough!"

She takes pride in it, even.

"...But thanks," she says more seriously. "It wasn't looking good there, but now we've got it, right?"

She smiles. "Awww, yeah... You were super great, though! All that lightning! And just the right moment!

As Yumi gives Raiko a well-deserved bit of priase, Tama looks over to Shiori. "...Don't ask questions you don't want to know the answer to."

But the sun shines brightly down on the lake, now.

COMBAT: Yumi Ohzora transforms into Witch Ivy!

[[Category:Logs]]

AoAka

2025-03-16T20:07:02Z

Talnora: Adding my chars to the member lists for each brand

At a dramatic show in Shibuya, a mysterious designer named [[Tsuru]] unveiled two new fashion lines. These brands are starting to become popular among trendsetters in the Sister Schools, partially due to a special program that offers free membership cards to students at the three institutions. Tsuru is, after all, an Infinity student herself.

The catch is, these membership cards are exclusive--you cannot be a member of both brands. Without membership, the clothing is prohibitively expensive. Which style tells your story?

=='''Aohime''' feat. '''KOZUE'''==
''Chic, Bold, Brave, Cool, Sassy, Sporty, Captivating, Feisty, Artistic, Carefree''[[Image:Aohime.png|205px|right]]

Aohime (Blue Princess) highlights light, airy colors and asymmetrical, layered styles. Form-fitting lower layers and loose, flowing outer layers emphasize diagonal lines across the body. Retro, Eighties-inspired elaborations are combined with colorful kimono-silk panelling to create an energetic style.

The color red is entirely absent from the Aohime line.

'''Members:''' [[Fate Testarossa]], [[Haruka Tenoh]], [[Hayato Nishi]], [[Hibiki Houjou]], [[Kuniko Saito]], [[Madoka Kaname]], [[Nagisa Misumi]], [[Setsuna Higashi]], [[Yumi Ohzora]], [[Kyouka Okazaki]], [[Raiko Takashima]]

=='''Akai Mirai''' feat. '''Nori Ankou'''==
''Classy, Glamorous, Ravishing, Elegant, Romantic, Graceful, Stunning, Hot, Enigmatic''[[Image:Akamira.png|200px|right]]

Affectionately referred to as Akamira by devotees, Akai Mirai (Red Future) features vivid colors and sleek, dramatic styles. Often vibrantly feminine or masculine, Akamira invigorates timeless designs with avante garde embellishments. Many Akamira ensembles integrate traditional silk kimono textures as panels or linings.

The color blue is entirely absent from the Akamira line.

'''Members:''' [[Eri Shimanouchi]], [[Fuu Hououji]], [[Inori Yamabuki]], [[Lera Camry]], [[Mai Tokiha]], [[Mami Tomoe]], [[Marinette Dupain-Cheng]], [[Michiru Kaioh]], [[Rei Hino]], [[Setsuna Meioh]], [[Shizuru Fujino]], [[Usagi Tsukino]], [[Ginka Shimizu]]

==Philosophy==

Comunally nicknamed AoAka, both brands feature three different imprints: '''Day''', the casual line; '''Night''', the formal line; and a special premium imprint called '''Twilight'''. The Twilight imprint has little information available as of this time, but is rumored to be handmade personally by Tsuru herself.

Interested in becoming a member? Just send Tsuru a @mail, and your exclusive membership card will arrive shortly. All members are encouraged to freely pose themselves in Akamira or Aohime outfits based on the description above; there's no need to ask permission. If you have questions or want to become more involved in your chosen brand, contact either Tsuru herself, or the relevant brand model--[[Nori Ankou]] for Akamira, [[Kozue Kaoru]] for Aohime.

More fashionable developments await...

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:AoAkaT3 Winter Seifuku.png|Timeline 3's top models, Honoka Yukishiro and Setsuna Higashi.
File:AoAka Winter Seifuku Poster (New World).png|The main timeline's top models.
</gallery>

[[File:AoAka_Poster.png|700px|center]]

[[Category:Theme]][[Category:Culture]]

2024-10-06 - The Hows and Whys of Sirens

2025-02-13T15:26:31Z

Talnora: In which a knife is both like and unlike a sword.

{|class="toccolours" cellspacing="2"
|-
! style="background:#CC6699; border: 2px #CC0033 solid; font-size: 110%;" align="center" colspan="2" | '''Title: The Hows and Whys of Sirens'''
|-
|'''Summary''': 
''D'Argent is atop the Rainbow Bridge, ruminating or her next moves. Endo spots her and tries to thank her for helping save his mother, but then asks why d'Argent does what she does. An explanation of the competition d'Argent and Diamant are locked in is provided.''
|-
| '''Who:''' 
[[Ginka Shimizu|La Sirene d'Argent]], [[Endo Naoki]]
|-
| '''Where:''' 
Rainbow Bridge (Yamanote High City)
|-
| '''OOC - IC Date:''' 
10/6/2024 - Tuesday, July 12, 2016
|-
|}

.***************************** Yamanote High City *****************************.
*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ Rainbow Bridge +*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*
Despite its name, the Rainbow Bridge spends most of its time bone-white,
like an angel's harp carved of driftwood in the dark water of the bay.
Periodically it crosses beneath an island every bit as man-made and
geometrical as the bridge itself, planting pillars to claim it and then
traversing water again. It's visible from a wide variety of angles from the
coastline, forming a hypoteneuse that crosses the bay via Odaiba and, with
the aid of less iconic bridges, permits quick travel from Yamanote to
Shitamachi.

Foot traffic is possible across the bridge, and many visitors dare the long
walk to get a good view of the city on one side, and the sea on the other.
Walking atop a bridge is a poor way to see the bridge itself, of course, but
that is what the Yurikamome elevated train line is for. Slung beneath the
bridge for much of its journey, the fully automated, driverless train gives
a great view of the Rainbow Bridge on its way to Odaiba.

For a few hours every night, this expensive landmark truly lives up to its
name, glowing with different hues depending on the season or holiday.
Rarely, a combination of floodlights makes a genuine rainbow of the bridge,
with deep reds at its foot and violet at its peak. Small, colorfully lit
tugboats and civilian craft float beneath the gleaming bridge, buoyant on
the liquid dream of a starry sky.

COMBAT: Ginka Shimizu transforms into La Sirene d'Argent!

<Pose Tracker> La Sirene d'Argent [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

It's a cold, moonless, night in Tokyo. The skies are clear, revealing an ocean of glittering stars up above, which are dimly reflected in the ocean waters below. Frigid, biting ocean breezes sweep by, encouraging would-be travelers on foot or bike to hurry along to their chosen destinations.

But the Rainbow Bridge is a famous and well-traveled sight, and for good reason. From the bridge one can see both the city and the sea, and from afar, the rainbow lights of the bridge create their own spectacle.

The view is even better from the top of the bridge. Not that most people can scale it.

But tonight there is one figure high atop the bridge, standing prim and tall as she surveys the city. Standing about 5'7", she is wearing a strapless black dress, of gothic design with several layers of lace under the skirt, a black leather bolero jacket with a high collar, left open, black gloves, and thigh-high boots. Probably a magical girl, all told.

The fact that she has long, wavy silver hair and silver eyes, though, definitely cinches it.

Her weapon isn't out at the moment, her arms instead crossed in front of her. She seems to be scrutinizing the city for something, wearing the barest of frowns, but currently she isn't ''doing'' anything. Her long hair drifts lazily in the breeze.

<Pose Tracker> Endo Naoki [Juuban Public School (12)] has posed.

There are always boats gliding along the dark waters underneath the Rainbow Bridge, creeping under the kaleidoscope of colors that run along the long bridge above. They're passing to port or out to the bay, little points of light tracing lines along the glassy surface of the water.

Endo Naoki is taking a ride on one of the vessels, a cruising ship doing a run around the bay. While the passengers are tucked inside the warm interior, the magical boy is admiring the lights of Tokyo from the roof. He's transformed, cape, armor, and big sword contrasting with plastic bag and bento on his lap.

A bento which is mostly empty, and stowed back in the bag as the boat creeps along under the bridge. It's Endo's stop, and he hovers up along the side of the steel column that connects the body of the structure to its base under the water below. He crests the top of the arch, aware of Argent's presence until feet touch the pinnacle of the bridge.

He is, briefly, surprised to see someone else there. It's not entirely uncommon to spot other magical girls hanging out in high places, though.

It is uncommon to spot this one.

"Oh." Says Endo. "It's you."

<Pose Tracker> La Sirene d'Argent [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

It ''is'' uncommon to see d'Argent out and about. At least, when she isn't bearing down on a Cardiax or committing some deed to generate a massive amount of sorrow to harvest. But those are not the only ways she contents herself to gather sorrow, either, and there are plenty of smaller-scale deeds that are as-yet undiscovered.

But those deeds may matters to discuss at a later date.

For tonight she simply seems to be taking in the sight. Or possibly sulking, or thinking or scheming. It's a bit hard to tell, from her expression. (She is only a recent transfer to Tokyo; she had to get around to seeing the sights ''eventually''.)

But she doesn't make any motion as Endo draws near. She doesn't even flinch or react as he speaks.

"Yes, it's me," she replies, tersely. She turns her head just enough so she can look at Endo from the corner of her eye. "Do you need something?"

Translation: Go away.

<Pose Tracker> Endo Naoki [Juuban Public School (12)] has posed.

Unfortunately for d'Argent, Endo is not so easily deterred. He'd been pretty busy the time they fought Cardiax; there hasn't been much time to talk in the aftermath. Not that Argent might have wanted to, but he hadn't got a chance to speak to Nori either.

"Ahh, maybe?" Endo scratches at the back of his head, making a little scoot over to the side to put himself further into the girl's field of vision.

"We fought the monster in the izakaya." He offers, as if not sure she'd remember. "With Diamant. You helped--ah, well, I guess I should thank you? For helping with the monster." He gives a short nod of his head. "I'm Endo."

<Pose Tracker> La Sirene d'Argent [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

d'Argent definitely hadn't wanted to. She hadn't even gotten to deal the finishing blow on the Cardiax: those two little grade school kids had done ''that'', while she herself had to be... Ugh. ''Saved'' by Diamant.

How would she ever live ''that'' down?

So yes, she'd gotten up and left before her ego could suffer any more indignity.

Endo makes himself easier to see, but Argent just turns her head back to the cityscape.

The monster in the izakaya. "The ''Cardiax''. You should use its proper name." With Diamant. Argent huffs softly. ''Don't remind me.'' "I didn't do it for the thanks. I was only there for the Cardiax, and the rest of ''you'' got in my way with all of your hesitating." She unfolds an arm to hold up her hand to look at her nails, despite the fact that she's wearing a glove. "Honestly, it's like Diamant hasn't taught you anything about them."

There is a long pause as she folds her arms again. Eventually she sighs in exasperation, like she doesn't want to be asking the next question. "Is she okay?"

<Pose Tracker> Endo Naoki [Juuban Public School (12)] has posed.

"Weeell..." Endo says to the allegation that Diamant hasn't told him about the Cardiax. He laughs nervously. Nori hasn't been derelict in her duty of course, but Endo also isn't the most attentive student.

He has a lot of kinds of monsters to keep track of, after all. And It's not like the solution isn't just to hit all of them anyway.

"They possess people and eat their sadness, right?"

He doesn't add anything about being in the way or hesitating. It's sort of true he wasn't the most clear headed at the moment, given the situation.

He does smile warmly when the girl asks about his mother. "She's okay." He affirms. "I was pretty worried, but everything seems normal now. So...yeah, thank you."

<Pose Tracker> La Sirene d'Argent [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

Endo will not convince Argent that Diamant isn't derelict in her duties. She's kind of already made up her mind, unfortunately. Endo's description, however, does earn a movement of Argent's head that is probably a roll of her eyes.

"Mon dieu. Yes, I suppose that should suffice. Though we said as much the other day." She glances back to Endo. "But do remember that we deal in Sorrow. Not Grief, or Misery, or any other such thing. Though I do not suppose someone who is not a Siren can appreciate such fine nuances."

Endo's mother is okay. Argent brushes a lock of hair from her face. "As I knew she would be." She doesn't often stick around to see the aftermath of one of these battles or the people afflicted by them. She's seen far, far too many for that.

And another thank you. "Hmph. Again, I do not need your thanks. It was hardly my finest work anyway, with the rest of you getting in my way."

<Pose Tracker> Endo Naoki [Juuban Public School (12)] has posed.

"Well...they do sound the same to me." Endo admits, a blatantly unashamed laugh escaping his lips."What's the difference? Aren't they different words for the same thing? Or, symptoms of the others?"

Endo considers. He decides, after a second of thought, "Well, even if you don't need it, you can have it anyway."

"But. I do want to know," He begins, hesitating as he attempts to figure out how we wants to phrase the question. There's actually a lot he wants to ask, but he settles on: "Why...don't you like Diamant?"

There's a lot more nuance to what he wants to ask, but that's what he goes with.

<Pose Tracker> La Sirene d'Argent [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

They all sound the same to Endo. Argent scoffs. "I suppose you would think so, wouldn't you?" At this she finally turns to face Endo. She uncrosses her arms, resting one on a hip while using the other to gesture. "To be attuned to the emotions of others is to be aware of... of the nuances of a person's existence. Would you equate the feeling of getting a bad grade on a test because it means you have broken your straight-A streak and now that record you have worked so hard to maintain is irrevocably tarnished, to the feeling of getting a bad grade on a test when it is simply one more in a string of bad grades and you have studied for months to finally master the material and yet, like the dew at sunrise, it still eludes your grasp? They are subtle and distinct things, and it is not my fault the language is so crude as to be incapable of expressing the differences."

"I was only there for the Cardiax." And even that was denied her.

There is the smallest upturn of a lip, a smirk as Endo asks that question, and she lets her hand drop. "''Must'' I like her, because we are, in her words, 'cousins'? Do you know what it is every Siren strives for? Or has Diamant not even told you that much?"

<Pose Tracker> Endo Naoki [Juuban Public School (12)] has posed.

"Mmm." Endo says. "But if you failed the test, isn't the result the same anyway?" The nuances seems to be lost on him.

He leaves the matter of the Cardiax be, instead focusing on the relationship between the two Sirens.

"Well, probably?" Endo suggests. "Her other cousin likes her, but he's an otter. I don't know how that works, actually. But Sirens gather sorrow, right?"

<Pose Tracker> La Sirene d'Argent [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

Despite her best efforts to be very clear... Endo does not get it. Argent sighs in exasperation. "Je ne le crois pas. No," she snaps. "The result is not the same. The reasons for one's sorrow come from different places. To call them the same would be like... like calling your sword a knife. They may both have a handle, and an edge, but you could hardly mistake one for the other."

Argent pinches the bridge of her nose. "We are 'cousins' because we are descended from the Mother of Sorrows. However, she she counts many types of creatures among her descendants. Including otters." And a certain sea mink, but that is neither here nor there.

"Yes, and do you know ''why'' we gather Sorrow?"

<Pose Tracker> Endo Naoki [Juuban Public School (12)] has posed.

Endo nods. This seems to resonate better, at least. "I see." He says. "But a sword is kind of like a big knife."

"Oh. I guess that makes sense." He doesn't sound terribly sure, but he's willing to take Argent's word for it.

"...No, not really." Endo decides, when asked about why Sirens gather sorrow. He waits attentively for the girl perched at the edge of the bridge to reveal her reason.

<Pose Tracker> La Sirene d'Argent [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

Frustration increases.

"They may be ''alike'', in a very crude sense, but to simply equate the two is to lose... the ''nuance''. Your sword, a simple dagger--" She holds out her hand to the side, and in a flash of white light her own rapier appears in it. "--and even my rapier all have their own intricacies. The fine details that of style and craftsmanship that make them unique. Even two knives forged by the same hand would contain their own small imperfections, would each be unique in ''some'' fashion, no matter how small."

She puts the rapier away again. "''Must'' I explain everything... very well." Argent crosses her arms again. "The Mother of Sorrows resides over the Sea of Tears, a realm where all of the tears shed in this world flow, to fill a vast and wide ocean. Every so often the Mother of Sorrows has occasion to select a Queen to rule over this land. Thus, she bids the Sirens, her descendants, to seek out and gather the sorrows of the world, so that she may choose from among them who is to be the next Queen."

There is so much more she could say about the Sea of Tears, how the seas constantly storm, how she has a cozy dwelling that she longs for every time she is apart from it, with a warm fireplace that makes it oh so delightful to curl up with a book...

But none of that she will say in this moment.

"And in case that wasn't clear, let me spell it out for you. All Sirens are competing to be the next Queen. That means your precious Diamant is my competitor." And here her barest of smirks turns into a true smirk, her expression smug. "And as I have said before, I always get what I want."

"Does that answer your question?"

<Pose Tracker> Endo Naoki [Juuban Public School (12)] has posed.

"I guess that's true." Endo relents. His eyes trace the blade that the girl demonstrates, then move back to her face or the side of it, as the case may be.

The topic of the Sirens purpose draws a bit more interest. "Ah." He says. "Hmm." He mulls this over for a minute to thoughtful silence.

"Then, he has a new question: "Why do you want to be queen?"

<Pose Tracker> La Sirene d'Argent [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

Argent watches Endo carefully as he asks that question.

That ''is'' an excellent question. She chews on that for a moment, her wavy hair drifting lazily behind her, but otherwise motionless. There are many reasons, but...

None of them are owed to Endo.

"Non. Je ne pense pas. You'll have to work harder if you want that answer from me."

She turns away from Endo, raising a hand lazily in farewell. "Try not to hesitate the next time you encounter a Cardiax." She glances over her shoulder. "Not if you want your precious Diamant to stand a chance at becoming Queen. Bonn soiree, Endo."

She leaps off of the bridge and vanishes in a flash of silvery moonlight.
[[Category: Logs]]

2024-04-25 - Pain At Izakaya Joji 2

2024-12-03T04:27:31Z

Talnora: This is why Argent works alone.

{|class="toccolours" cellspacing="2"
|-
! style="background:#CC6699; border: 2px #CC0033 solid; font-size: 110%;" align="center" colspan="2" | '''Title: Pain At Izakaya Joji 2'''
|-
|'''Summary''': 
''The battle continues at [[2024-03-27 - Pain At Izakaya Joji 1|Izakaya Joji]], where a mother's grief swells out of control and pushes every magical boy and girl to their limit: to protect their loved ones, to survive, and to decisively conclude the battle.''
|-
| '''Who:''' 
[[Pink Moon Stick]], [[Endo Naoki]], [[Ginka Shimizu|La Sirene d'Argent]], [[Nori Ankou|La Sirene de Diamant]], [[Fate Testarossa]]
|-
| '''Where:''' 
Shitamachi Low City (Shitamachi Low City)
|-
| '''OOC - IC Date:''' 
4/25/2024 - 05/26/16
|-
|}

.**************************** Shitamachi Low City *****************************.
*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+* Shitamachi Low City +*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*
The traditions that the Shitamachi cultural region keeps alive were ancient
long before the Shogun turned the fishing town of Edo into Tokyo, "Eastern
Capital." The area has evolved greatly since then, but though Shitamachi is
a highly modernized metropolis, its traditions somehow coexist with bullet
trains, research universities, and electronics markets. The occasional
person in kimono and sandals will wait at the crossing alongside salarymen
in business suits. Compared to Yamanote, there are more bicycles, family
businesses, and food carts, and fewer scooters, corporations, and
convenience stores. Certain wards in Shitamachi can be just as dense and
urbanized as anything in Yamanote, but there's a tendency toward low-rise
apartment complexes in the residential areas, and office buildings rather
than office towers in the commercial.

The distinction between Shitamachi and Yamanote is messy, both
geographically and demographically, but significant enough that it remains
the most significant cultural divide in Tokyo. Shitamachi people, as a
whole, take themselves less seriously, and have a stronger sense of
community that feeds upon their active street culture of markets, shops, and
festivals. They may not be fashionable, but they are /fun/. The Juuban
public schools, undistinguished but in some ways better off for it,
exemplify this plebeian joie de vivre quite well. The Shitamachi dialect is
less distinct than it used to be, but it is still a force to be reckoned
with, with a broader, less refined, and more energetic sound to it than
standard Japanese.

COMBAT: Ginka Shimizu transforms into La Sirene d'Argent!

COMBAT: La Sirene d'Argent has loaded her saved combat state! She is now ready to take on 1 opponent!

COMBAT: Endo Naoki transforms into Barrier Jacket Zerstörer!

COMBAT: Nori Ankou transforms into La Sirene de Diamant!

COMBAT: La Sirene de Diamant has loaded her saved combat state! She is now ready to take on 1 opponent!

<Pose Tracker> Pink Moon Stick [Admin] has posed.

The pitched battle inside Izakaya Joji, a neighborhood pub that Endo Naoki's mother waitresses at, is technically half a dimension over -- and thus the lighting is a slightly dim, washed-out green, courtesy of the visiting Yuuno-kun, who continues to maintain the barrier protecting the building. He himself, with his little ferret feet, is atop the mother in question, who has collapsed into a swoon; there was too much flooding from the Cardiax storm to leave her behind, as one normally would to keep civilians out of the line of fire.

Fortunately, at least so far, her Cardiax clone has seemed more interested in the kids attacking her than in somehow targeting her original.

They are doing an excellent job of keeping her occupied.

There are two duos working in something like tandem here. Nanoha and Fate are extraordinarily efficient when working together. Just now, Fate scythed inwith Bardiche in Haken Form to pin the creature down -- the golden light coruscating off her arms, crossed like an X in front of her -- so that Nanoha could explode Divine Buster pinkly into her side.

In retreat, the Cardiax then grabbed a tray off an abandoned table to intercept La Sirene d'Argent's dazzling array of silver daggers, but was too distracted in doing so to avoid being blinded by La Sirene de Diamant's sweeping, shimmering flash of unlight. This collaboration is more accidental than the Device-Wielders, because the two Sirenes are competitors.

Fallen Stern is a poor tool for nonlethal combat, but nevertheless, Endo gets the job done with the flat of his blade -- Cardiax Naoki is knocked backwards, head over heels over bar. She falls from view entirely, just for a moment.

Endo is hurt, by more than bumps and bruises. Fate too -- everyone here with mommy issues of any kind is having a tough time today. It's difficult, fighting a monster with a familiar face, even knowing that it isn't REALLY someone's mother. It's especially difficult knowing that the Cardiax took this form by gorging itself on Naoki-san's emotions, inflaming them even as it was shaped by them. The feelings the parasite is venting have been made supernaturally intense. But at their core, the substance of the sorrow and anguish is very real.

From what she's said recently, Endo's mother is:

* Very tired from overwork 
* On some level wishes she could just... stop 
* Nevertheless loves her son very, very much 
* But also is missing her dead husband very, very much

The Cardiax, which is not Endo's mother, not ''really'' -- and not Precia Testarossa, either -- reappears from behind the bar, clambering back to her sensibly-shod feet. Plain flats, good for a waitress who works long hours keeping this restaurant going. Good for a mother who does the same at home. Everyone here has more fantastical footwear than her except for maybe Endo himself, who, in fact -- she does not recognize. Recognition Inhibition is meant as a boon to humanity and the magical community alike; a salve to their wounds. But sometimes it is cruel.

"A parasite," she repeats, as the Sirenes explain her true nature to their allies. "How dare you. I do not take. I only give."

She blinks her enormous, alien, compound eyes, filled with different images of Endo's childhood. Gradually each lens is being replaced by a frame of this combat. Diamant's clenched fist. Argent's swept blade. Fate's sorrowful red eyes. An entire segment is nothing but residual pink light from Nanoha's sheer force. The tightness in Endo's mouth.

Her own mouth tightens in exactly the same way.

And the rain -- stops.

"I am so afraid," she admits to the children, haggard. "Every night, I lie awake and wonder."

The panes of her eyes fill more quickly. Endo hefting his weapon at her. The swirl of his violet cloak. The sharp white collar and loose white pants. Detailing on his breastplate, which matches that of Fallen Stern himself, along the centerline of the blade. His spiky hair, that falls across his face exactly as it did in the lens that contained baby Endo in the bath.

The words tumble from between her lips with so much weariness, and so much pain.

"Will this be the time he doesn't come back?"

There are inches of water on the floor. It begins to shudder... then bubble... then boil. With a yelp, the ferret-changeling shields himself and the real, unconscious mother in a transparent egg of greenish energy, but he doesn't have enough juice to take care of everyone else.

And now the superheated water is streaming upwards like rain in reverse, like negative rain...

"I know that if his father was here, he would tell me that it's normal for boys his age to become more distant. To keep secrets. To not always answer his phone. That it's not fair for me to wish I could always know where he was."

Her arms are rising like the water around her, floating upwards, hands splayed rigidly open, fingers too-tense, too-spread, almost to snapping.

"All I ever wanted," she cries, "Was to keep--"

Her hands are slamming towards each other--

"--him--"

--and so is the water, being drawn into a great geyser in front of her--

"--safe!"

Frustration, loneliness, uncertainty... things the real Naoki-san should never have shared with her son. Would never have, by all indications; she's never so much as hinted that she knows Endo has more in his life than school, a part-time job, and maybe a girlfriend. What does she know? What does she only suspect?

Whatever it is, she has kept it inside for so, so long.

It cannot be contained by so small and dingy a place as the izakaya.

A boiling waterspout erupts upward, exploding what was left of Izakaya Joji's rooftop. The Cardiax is at its heart, soaring into the storm-black sky on superheated steam. The egg-like force field containing Yuuno and Naoki-san strains beneath the pounding of the geyser, then, with a sucking sound, lifts off the floor. It spirals up after the monster, caught by the whirlpool, drawn into its current. Whether accidentally or intentionally, it will not be left far behind, and is in considerable danger.

<> Yuuno warns the others, telepathically. He's not a savant like Nanoha and Fate. << If the geyser drops us, something will have to give... >> Or someone will have to catch them.

Better hurry. The base is about to lift into the sky. It is a burning, drowning path, sturdy enough to follow the Cardiax for those who can't fly under their own power, though even those who do will have to enter it to reach her. But it is there, for those who would not abandon Naoki-san's clone to flight, and Naoki-san herself to a permanent coma, if it -- she -- is not defeated.

Surely Naoki-san would have rather died than allow her son to be hurt by a weapon powered with her own hidden feelings like this. But, as she of all people knows: sometimes, living is even harder.

COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick has used Après moi, le déluge on Endo Naoki.

COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick has used Après moi, le déluge on Fate Testarossa.

COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick has used Après moi, le déluge on La Sirene de Diamant.

COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick has used Après moi, le déluge on La Sirene d'Argent.

COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Fate Testarossa neatly dodges 20 Fatigue damage from Pink Moon Stick's Après moi, le déluge, taking 5 Fatigue damage! Pink Moon Stick is Psyched! Fate Testarossa's Fade and Flash abilities activate!

COMBAT: Endo Naoki dodges 16 Fatigue damage from Pink Moon Stick's Après moi, le déluge, taking 24 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!

COMBAT: La Sirene de Diamant perfectly dodges 39 Fatigue damage from Pink Moon Stick's Après moi, le déluge, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Critical Dodge!

COMBAT: La Sirene d'Argent perfectly dodges 33 Fatigue damage from Pink Moon Stick's Après moi, le déluge, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge! La Sirene d'Argent's Fade and Flash abilities activate!

<Pose Tracker> Endo Naoki [Juuban Public School (12)] has posed.

Water sprays, and Endo raises a hand in a vain attempt to shield his face from the torrent. There's a lot more water to worry about though, and such measures are pittance. When the liquid explodes upward and outward he makes attempt to take skyward, far enough off the ground to avoid thrown about by the torrent.

The feelings that the Cardix voicesthose of his mother, the ones she's never spoken aloudfall heavy on the knight. The pain, now spoken, makes his heart ache.

It does something else too.

"Mom..." He breathes, "I should have known that's how you felt. I won't keep you waiting any longer."

Fingers close tight around the grip of Fallen Stern, Endo taking a big breath in preparation. His face assumes pufferfish-like circularity, and with nary a word further he dives into the whirlpool in pursuit.

This time he doesn't hold back. Purple light burns along the length of his weapon, a muted glow within the liquid that surrounds him. He accelerates, in blatant defiance of physics, bringing the weapon toward the Cardix once again as he reaches the peak of the geyser in a violet splash.

<METEOR ABSTURZ>

COMBAT: Endo Naoki has used Meteor Absturz on Pink Moon Stick.

COMBAT: Endo Naoki has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> La Sirene d'Argent [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

The sight of the Cardiax is nothing new for Argent. There have been so, so many... yet each of them unique in their sorrow, in ways both grand and small. She is well familiar with Sorrow, in its many splendors, and so this fight holds nothing new to her--save the reticence of those who might be said to be holding back, which Argent cannot abide.

She has, she thinks, seen it all. Certainly, she's been at this for a while--longer even than Diamant, by her estimation. Sure, this situation is strange and novel--she is not used to fighting ''with'' so many people at once, but at the end of the day, a Cardiax is just a Cardiax.

Even a Cardiax of someone's mother. Even that.

What she is ''not'' ready for, however, are the likes of Nanoha and Fate. Fate's speed and maneuverability is impressive but makes her wary--they expressed a desire to work together in peace and friendship and all that. Those do-gooder types can be ''dangerous'', especially when backed with real talent.

Meanwhile, everyone else knows to clear out when Nanoha starts up Divine Buster. But it takes Argent a moment more to realize just what's about to happen, to turn her head to ''look'' and to notice the buildup of power. She yelps and darts back, boot heel slipping on a dropped plate and making her stumble for a moment until she regains her footing. "Mon dieu!"

But she whirls on the Cardiax as she objects to being called a parasite. "You're--" she starts to say, defiant, but her gaze shifts over to Endo, just ever so slightly.

'Nothing special' is what she ''wants'' to say. But even the absurdity of saying that in front of the son of a woman a Cardiax has claimed is hitting her, in the moment.

It infuriates her, that she's caught herself hesitating now, despite her earlier words. "Grr... this is ''stupid''," she mutters. Stop showing weakness. Just destroy the blasted thing and leave. Let everyone else deal with whatever messy feelings they're dealing with.

The water erupts in a superhot geyser, carrying both the Cardiax and her victim--with Yuuno and a tiny, fragile egg of a shield--up with it. "Dammit-- You brats can fly, you take care of that woman!" (She means Nanoha and Fate.) She charges forward, right into the steam and superheated water. There's plenty of detritus getting sucked up into the column, and she leaps, finding the lightest of purchases on a tumbling tray before leaping again, surging upwards to find purchase on the tray of a cash resister being flung about. Up and up and up--

"Get-- Back here-- you stupid-- ''parasite''!"

And finally, when within striking distance she yells and drives her rapier right for the Cardiax's heart. "Got you!"

COMBAT: La Sirene d'Argent has used Silver Slash on Pink Moon Stick.

COMBAT: La Sirene d'Argent has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> La Sirene de Diamant [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

One might think: Surely the two of them - Diamant and d'Argent - would cooperate against this mutual foe. And indeed, one would be right, on a superficial basis.

and, at the moment, perhaps more than a superficial basis.

The point, dear reader, is that they're more fighting at the same time, than fighting together, at least in both their hearts. (Even de Diamant, in her sweet-goth fashion-model charm, is at that point. Impression made!!)

But the Cardiax speaks, and it is a strange and liminal thing, because the worm is not its host; yet it does, as any parasite might, contain some of the host within. And perhaps too, having grown, it might be said to be more of Endo's mother than it was originally a vile little wiggling thing raised in strange aquaria.

And now, well: Look at it. The water beneath their feet, around their feet in many cases, begins to seethe like water in a pan, or oil; the heat transmits to la Sirene de Diamant but not drastically. Not for the first time do her high, stompy boots save her from mischance.

But there are greater mischances.

She only wanted to keep him safe.

Such as the water erupting in a boiling geyser up!!

La Sirene de Diamant throws up an arm to shield herself from the spray even as she looks towards Endo. Her eyes mist, a little from pain but mostly from sympathy, but he makes his choice -- the choice perhaps that de Diamant expected, or might have guessed. But one never knows. She can only imagine what a nasty, horrifying surprise something like this must be.

Endo has this burden, but also has an advantage, in that he can fly. de Diamant cannot. She purses her lips, tightens her courage, brings together that aura of light around herself, and then she leaps into the geyser and lets its flow bear her upwards. The surrounding water feels onsen-hot even with the protection of that darkling shield, which froths and bubbles vigorously as she ascends.

de Diamant kicks her legs. She rises up a little faster. She can't quite make out d'Argent right now, or anyone, but up at the top, she *can* see -- perhaps, on some level, smell -- her quarry. She does not fully emerge when she comes -- what she does instead is simpler: Grasp at the ankles, or perhaps lower calves, of the Cardiax.

If it must run, let it bear a burden.

COMBAT: La Sirene de Diamant has used A Helping Hand Takes Many Forms on Pink Moon Stick.

COMBAT: La Sirene de Diamant has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Fate Testarossa [Infinity Institute (5)] has posed.

It is a difficult thing to hear this from any Mother. It hits close to home.

Fate finds herself skimming the edge of the boiling waterspout of roiling emotion, even as Nanoha abruptly blurs in front of Fate with a pink Flash Move. Fate takes cover as the pink shield splits it, until even it begins to crack, as the two in the final moments find themselves showered in just the barest amount of steam.

"Are you alright?" Nanoha asks Fate, who quickly nods, "Yes. ... Thanks to you."

Nanoha turns and calls out to Endo in this moment, "That's not all of how she must feel at all Endo! If you wanted to keep you safe, then she had to know too this is the best outcome. To be ready for the world ahead of you. It may be difficult to hear this side of her feelings too but..."

"<<We'll handle it.>>" Nanoha reassures Yuuno, as things begin to look more grim, juggling that much magic to protect her, as Fate looks at Argent and tells her, "Well of course we will."

A shared look between them, and the two begin to take off, flying to either side of the Cardiax before simultaneously, plunging into the Geyser from different directions. Amidst the superheated steam, it's definitely uncomfortable, for now her barrier jacket handles it, even as her skin reddens as both Devices call out as one, <Defenser Plus.> <Protection.>

Fate going high up, as suddenly arrowheads ringed by Midchildan runes sprout, her shield held below her for some further cover, <Plasma Lancer> A quartet of them fire through the Geyser, even as Nanoha suddenly appears at a lower angle, her own shield offering cover from the Geyser below, "N and F - Combination 1! - Firing Range!"

With a wave of her staff, sudden orbs appear, as Raising Heart declares. <Divine Shooter> And an aureole of them suddenly appear, eight in all.

Fate's Plasma Lancer was always expected to miss on the first pass, after all, they don't take their opponent lightly. Nanoha's orbs suddenly move towards the silhouette of their opponent within the Geyser, homing in like a swarm of bees that suddenly try to give them the appearance that they're attempting to box them in on all sides, to harry and harass-

But it was always moving them in a certain direction, "Turn!" Fate raises her hand high, and suddenly all of those thunderous arrowheads appear within rings again, and reverse direction.

Right as all of Nanoha's Divine Shooter Orbs come in eight different directions, trying to force a certain outcome as forces collide.

"Without a doubt, what she feels most of all is pride!" Nanoha finishes, even amidst this awful shower, as both of them act to buy Yuuno some time, and allow others to attack.

COMBAT: Fate Testarossa has used Plasma Lancer on Pink Moon Stick.

COMBAT: Fate Testarossa has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick braces 17 Fatigue damage from La Sirene d'Argent's Silver Slash, taking 14 Fatigue damage! La Sirene d'Argent is Psyched! Pink Moon Stick's Block and Parry abilities activate!

COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick braces 6 Fatigue damage from La Sirene de Diamant's A Helping Hand Takes Many Forms, taking 5 Fatigue damage! Pink Moon Stick's Block and Parry abilities activate! Tangle applied to Pink Moon Stick!

COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick fails to brace Fate Testarossa's Plasma Lancer, taking 39 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!

COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick fails to brace Endo Naoki's Meteor Absturz, taking 65 Fatigue damage!

<Pose Tracker> Pink Moon Stick [Admin] has posed.

Up, up, up they go; Argent on a platter; Diamant on her own unlight; Fate and Nanoha under Device power; and Endo with nothing but himself, which is, of course, everything. Everything.

It's ''very'' hot, hot enough that even the palest skin quickly looks like it's been dipped in the same stuff Divine Buster is made of (this is not the case; Divine Buster doesn't turn people pink at all, oh no). And air is at a premium. Sometimes a great eddy or swirl within the greater spinning motion of the geyser will cause a head to emerge from it, for a dizzying moment, speeding high above the endless expanse of Tokyo's wards; but in that same scary split second of mortality taking hold, of 'oh no, I can't fly but I'm hundreds of feet above the ground', is an opportunity to gasp in some oxygen.

And then they reach the Cardiax.

She has curled up into a fetal position, arms around calves, head tucked low. Waves of force -- of water, always more tears -- blast out of her in every direction, forcing the others out, away.

Plasma Lancers and Divine Shooters burst into the geyser like harmonic frequencies, exploding against those waves, cancelling them out just when they feel too overwhelming. Golden and pink light coruscates through the water, making it feel less like the embodiment of oppressive misery and more like midnight in front of the Bellagio.

They make it through. The Sirenes and Endo can just see the Cardiax there through the gloom, like the yolk of an egg, and...

...and Endo brings the tremendous force of Fallen Stern to bear, which sends yet another wave through this watery space, greater than all the others, and in the opposite direction. The Cardiax looks up, eyes unfocused, exhausted.

...and Diamant grips an ankle, pulling her body open. Her unlight transforms the pink and gold into green and silver, warping it not unkindly but through a mirror beautifully. The water begins to feel less like an assault and more like a sea. HER Sea; their Sea. The Sea of Sorrows, which can cradle as well as it can drown. And it will be no one's grave this day.

...and Argent pierces her heart.

A single drop of red blood... slides... smoothly, lusciously down the rapier. It doesn't stop at the basket, but keeps gliding until it reaches Argent's hand. It's so red. (It's not real.) It's so bright. (It can't be real.) It's so warm. (Cardiaxes don't have real blood. But. But!)

The Cardiax's eyes widen.

Every last compound lens is filled with nothing but darkness. A darkness that feels totally unlike any of Naoki-san's memories or feelings. A shadow...

"Not yet," she coughs. "Or else... ''not alone''!"

And the geyser explodes.

Explodes outwards, unraveling like a skein of yarn; two arms had formed its spiral and spun fast enough to seem like sheets, but they are arms again, columns, cylinders trailing steam and shedding salt like snow. They slam outwards, an expanding ring, then two semicircles, and finally two lines.

Two lines... falling down.

Argent and Diamant are at either end of one.

Endo and his mother's shield-egg are at either end of the other.

Her eyelids flutter, but she does not wake.

She does not, because the Cardiax yet lives...

...yet lives, out of the water entirely, spinning on single teardrops, screaming, screaming.

"NOT ALONE!"

<Pose Tracker> La Sirene de Diamant [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

La Sirene de Diamant doesn't hear d'Argent call her stout and erstwhile allies Fate and Nanoha ''brats''. That's probably good given everything. Her hands simply grasp where others express themselves through fabulous coruscations of light; but sometimes that's all it takes.

A simple holding of the hands.

Or something else. As the Cardiax begins to shift and turn she raises her head above the sea water and takes a deep breath, out-in-out-in in a manner that comes to her quite reflexively and brings her attention back, even as the Cardiax screams.

It screams quite an intention. The Cardiax ruptures and spins and the ocean expands and the sea parts. The scent of that Sea, that familiar and lovely sea, dissipates yet grows all the stronger as tears become mist -- what do you call a mist made from tears? Surely they have a word for it, but perhaps it's not one that's ever been mentioned on Earth, for the conditions are not ripe --

-- and there is nothing else there but the good old material realities of the Planet Earth.

In particular, the Planet Earth who is below them, and who, being considerably more massive than they, applies the force of gravitational attraction. It would be true to say that both Sirens do the same to the Earth, but only in their hearts or souls could they match such majesty.

Not, say, their physical bodies.

La Sirene de Diamant looks down for a fleeting moment as she sees the ground beneath them; far away, but not that far. Worse, perhaps, is that there is no place nearby (de Diamant doesn't 'think' that so much as 'perceive' that - none of this is involving rational thought, except by analogy) where she could hurl herself and break her fall. No convenient stack of mattress or, if needs be, trees and bushes.

Only the ground beneath, jagged with broken dreams and hard as a concrete nightmare.

de Diamant bites her lower lip and twists her arm outwards to orient her left hand out towards nothing in particular and mumbles to herself, which seems to come to something of a conclusion when she says "--COME!" and there is a burst of light and of force, throwing strange shapes and blossoming like a dark star in the heavens above the former site of Izakaya Joji. (A dark star that is perilously close to the surface.)

This is not the channeled burst of her familiar spell, it's really more of a prominence or an ejection of light -- but it pushes her in the direction of the other falling line, that singular point. Still operating less by thought than by instinct, la Sirene de Diamant snaps out her cold hand to grasp at the nearest limb of la Sirene d'Argent and grasp firmly before pulling her closer!

Not close, exactly, but clos''er''. Elevator close. "Les Mysteres," la Sirene de Diamant says as she looks downwards, letting go of d'Argent (who hopefully does not kick free, like so much the cat) and spreading out her arms to cry out:

"WAKE!"

And a brass-lined bubble seems to form around her; glorious, if somehow alien glass set in an organic interlay of metallic fixtures and mountings, a frame that has no ends and not a single ninety-degree angle. It shines, implausibly.

It will hit the ground first; and the glass, la Sirene de Diamant knows, won't cut ''her''. (d'Argent either. Probably. Not much.) The brass will crumple and the nature of the charm will keep her in the center; and so, perhaps, a splat will become merely a thump.

(de Diamant has taken her share of 'thump.')

COMBAT: La Sirene de Diamant has used Les Mysteres on Pink Moon Stick.

COMBAT: La Sirene de Diamant has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> La Sirene d'Argent [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

Argent has made no secret of how she views Diamant--As competition, plain and simple. Honestly, if she had her way--she would have taken this thing on alone, and had it wrapped up in half the time without the clumsy efforts of everyone else working together to slow her down. (Nevermind the fact that she is really the outsider in this equation, here, that Nanoha and Fate are working together masterfully, that the others are all known to each other, know what to expect.)

The boiling water beats at her as she ascends, and she grits her teeth through it all, keeping her eyes open. They burn and scald, and even when she has to look away to reach for a quick gasp of air to keep her going, they alawys snap right back to her target.

Always keep your eye on the prize.

Nanoha and Fate create an opening to attack, while Endo knocks the Cardiax off balance, and Diamant--Argent sees it, in the corner of her eye, as she makes her own leap.

Of all the magical girls--of all the ''Sirens''--to do something so... so... ''undignified''...

But that is only in the corner of her eye, a peripheral note in the middle of a chaotic battlefield. Her eyes, as ever, are locked on the Cardiax, and as she leaps, as she yells and thrusts her blade forward it strikes home.

The satisfied grin she wears in that moment is, perhaps, a little ''too'' eager.

She is not bothered by that single drop of blood--she knows what it is and isn't--she is, after all, in her element.

Except for the part where her element is the sea, and she is currently in the ''air''.

Her moment of triumph, where she thought she might have even landed a decisive blow is short-lived, as the geyser explodes, twin ruptures sending her and Diamant in one direction, and Endo and his mother (and Yuuno) in another.

She is tumbling, free falling as she struggles to right herself, silver hair whipping in every which direction. The surface of the Earth is approaching perilously quickly, and as she struggles she cycles through plans in her head, rejecting one after the other. Not enough force. That one requires her to have her footing first. There's not enough time for the third. She finally rights herself, and starts scanning the horizon when she feels a pressure on her arm.

Diamant pulls her close--or closer--and Argent's silver eyes open wide in shock as she suddenly comes face to face, front to front with her rival. "Wha--" There might be a momentary hint of color on her face--but ''surely'' that's just a trick of the weird, half-a-dimension over lighting, a distant reflection of the energy blasts of the scarily-powerful-for-a-kid Nanoha playing across some leftover geyser on her face.

She looks up and down as Diamant conjures another form of Les Mysteres, surprise being replaced with a thin, determined expression. She nods and kicks, not away but ''towards'' Diamant. With a gesture of her right hand her rapier vanishes, and with her newly-freed hand she grabs onto the other Siren for everything she's worth.

The other hand is extended downwards, towards the ground. A streak of light appears, that bursts a moment later to reveal a perfectly-formed silver chain. More and more appear in rapid succession, more and more chains emerge. She's creating a net of chains, attaching them to anything she can, in layers, hoping to use them to break the fall of the barrier at least a little bit. More and more and more, and when the time runs out and their improvised plan is about to be put to the test--

She stops, and wraps that arm around Diamant, too, holding on for dear life.

COMBAT: La Sirene d'Argent has used Fetters of the Heart on Pink Moon Stick.

COMBAT: La Sirene d'Argent has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Fate Testarossa [Infinity Institute (5)] has posed.

It gets worse - and despite both barrier jackets and protection spells pointed down, both find themselves taxed to their limits. There isn't much time, but then again.

There never is.

It's why they all practice for times like these, as Nanoha and Fate are slammed away by it unraveling like that, each yelping, Fate shielding herself with her arm, Nanoha with her staff.

Within the spiral, the Cardiax and as one- "NO!" It hits Fate's trauma in all of the worst ways, her Mother - falling into imaginary space. To vanish forever.

"-Trust them." Nanoha says, with a hand upon Fate's shoulder. Once upon a time, it was she asked of Fate - what they all did. Nanoha has evaluated the situation and-

"There's something else we need to do."

Those eyes are steelier even than when Fate remembers that day, and, both rise as one, slamming inside of the Spiraling Geyser, moving at random patterns within as they rise - rise - rise.

<Chain Bind> 
<Lightning Bind>

Abruptly, shackles appear, Cubes of crackling light latch onto limbs, while manacles with ephemeral chains latch onto others.

It is quickly cast - and will not hold the Cardiax Long. Certainly not, but-

One girl has appeared at one side of the Cardiax, and the other at Ninety Degrees from her, Fate's arm beginning to sprout three firing rings, even as Nanoha's winged staff begins charging with that ominous pink light.

<Trident Smasher> 
<Divine Buster>

"N and F - Combination 2!"

Bardiche and Raising Heart, each begin to pound cartridge after cartridge into the Devices, and abruptly the glow from each of them expands considerably.

"Demolition Cross!" Fate calls out in turn, after Nanoha, as Nanoha shouts, "FULL POWER!"

And as one:

"FIREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" 
"FIREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

From Fate, erupts a trio of sparkling which launch at the Cardiax from one side with riotous power, and from the other, a singular blast of absurd strength, as Nanoha's Divine Buster is fired at the same point of convergence, the two magics colliding into twin eruptions of power that build upon themselves.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Fate Testarossa has used Trident Smasher on Pink Moon Stick.

COMBAT: Fate Testarossa has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Endo Naoki [Juuban Public School (12)] has posed.

The vortex breaks, and Endo goes with part of it. It takes a moment to realize exactly what's happening, and some hard effort to orient himself enough to track the barrier that contains Yuuno and his mother. He doesn't have much time to hesitate, though. Only to act.

He races to close the distance remaining between himself and the egg, gritting teeth as he angles himself unsteadily toward the barrier.

"Hang on!" Calls the knight, his voice ragged and desperate.

The distance closes. He draws closer, and closer, as does the ground below.

Closer still, and just a little bit ahead of the egg, and just a little bit faster, and then in three, two, one

<STERN BRECHER.>

Impact.

Olympic divers can cut through water because the intermolecular spaces are weak and far apart. This is not so, traditionally, with the ground. Most people avoid diving head first into that. Most people don't have pillar of cosmic fire to help do the cleaving.

The ground shatters, and Endo aims to bring them not to an abrupt stop, but a slower, grinding, and hopefully survivable halt.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Endo Naoki has used Stern Brecher on Pink Moon Stick.

COMBAT: Endo Naoki has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick braces 20 Fatigue damage from La Sirene de Diamant's Les Mysteres, taking 16 Fatigue damage! Pink Moon Stick's Block and Parry abilities activate!

COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick fails to brace La Sirene d'Argent's Fetters of the Heart, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Cripple and Stun applied to Pink Moon Stick!

COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick fails to brace Fate Testarossa's Finisher, Trident Smasher, taking 160 Fatigue damage! Pink Moon Stick is unable to keep fighting!

COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick fails to brace Endo Naoki's Finisher, Stern Brecher, taking 188 Fatigue damage! Pink Moon Stick is unable to keep fighting!

<Pose Tracker> Pink Moon Stick [Admin] has posed.

Without the storm, Tokyo is blue-skied in the afternoon light. But the storm is not leaving all at once, and so it is that that endless azure horizon -- as they are above the skyscrapers, it's an unusual opportunity to see it, at least for people whose names don't rhyme with Eight and Little Laugh (a Nano-Ha) -- is asserting itself gradually. A wisp at a time, as though blue is being added, though in actuality, storm is being subtracted. The half-geysers have become funnels, sucking cloud in, instead of exploding boiling tears out.

They fall, and d'Argent and de Diamant fall with them.

A curious thing happens when the Sirens collaborate to survive. It's not that a sort of miraculous harmony descends upon the two of them. It's not that all is forgiven, that the competition is forgotten. Every day is life and death on the Sea of Sorrows, after all. If they both die, they both lose. This is no puppies and rainbows summit.

It is, in fact, the opposite...

The two of them, before they fell, glimpsed the darkness inside the Cardiax's bug-eyes, and knew that it was not Naoki-san.

But as they're falling -- when d'Argent graspsde Diamant, and hangs onto her --

-- they sense that same darkness once more. Only this time it's from the outside, looking in.

Les Mysteres crashes through one, two, three layers of chains, each one slowing them a fraction. A fraction is not enough on its own to arrest deadly, girl-crushing momentum, and three fractions is still not; but a fraction ''is'' enough to buy Les Mysteres that extra heartbeat to form and to solidify and, perhaps most importantly of all, to become beautiful.

For beauty, both girls know, is strength. Especially for them.

And so as the glass shatters and the brass crumples, it does so as gorgeously as crystal snow and an unfurling metallic flower. And if d'Argent gets a little slice across her cheekbone, well, even that seems artful; not intentional, but stylish all the same. It will not even scar, so fine was the shard, but in the moment she carries it off with a duelist's panache.

And they survive... and emerge.

The sense of their being watched magnifies enormously, and ominously; it is a feeling of being in shade, overshadowed, lost within the darkness cast by an enormous presence.

And then it is gone, and only the fate of Endo's mother remains.

It is tied, inextricably, to Endo himself, of course. Fallen Stern is an instrument of one thing and one thing only; a savant of destruction. He is neither a flotation device nor a jetpack nor a cushion. Endo has wielded him -- they have fought together -- so many times, countless now, in battles for goodness. Battles to save the world, often. But always, that decisive blow has been to defeat some evil, smite some foe.

The egg flares magnesium-bright and vanishes the moment they hit, causing Yuuno and Naoki-san to fall against Endo's broad back. They are riding him down, and he is riding Stern down, and Stern is riding down cosmic fire and shattered ground and concrete and pipes and if someone wants to ask Yuuno later why, when in extremity, the ferret was reduced to one of three spells and chose 'the barrier', he will point out that nobody REALLY wanted a new volcano in the middle of the Juuban neighborhood, now did they?

Ruptured, weakened mantle aside, however, it might be the first time that Endo can remember -- that STERN can remember -- unleashing their power, together, not to save a life by fighting an enemy, but to save a life by... saving a life.

As the column of Stern Brecher compresses beneath them, slowly, until it finally goes out some dozens of meters below street level, it feels... different. It, too, feels beautiful.

Afterwards, he finds that the best way to not drop the mother on his back is to revert Stern's hefty, two-handed mass and use those hands to hold her to his chest instead. She appears none the worse the wear.

But she does not wake up--

--until Nanoha and Fate blast the rest of the blue sky back into existence -- and the Cardiax out of it entirely, nothing is left -- through main force. And the pink sky, and the gold sky, though those parts fade.

Then Endo's mother sucks in a great big gasp of breath, and stirs.

A violet knight fills her vision (and a ferret, who is now levitating them out of there in the interests of dropping the barrier so that they can go back to the Tokyo where Izakaya Joji still stands and this gash in the earth is not a thing; but Naoki-san is focused on the former).

She brings up her hand to cup his cheek. Her hand is... not soft; it has been hardened by a lifetime of work. It is not as delicate as it was when she was a girl, but it is also, perhaps, more delicate than it used to be, as, for the first time, Endo perceives in her the way that one's fragility is a parabola, not a straight line. She is not elderly yet, of course. But she might get a little bit smaller over time. Certainly she is unbelievably light in his arms.

"Oh," she says. And whether it is an 'oh' of recognition of her son, or massaged by Recognition Inhibition into a melancholy daydream of her husband, will ultimately be Endo's choice alone.

<Pose Tracker> La Sirene d'Argent [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

Brass and glass form around them as they fall, continues to form even after they crash through several layers of chains, fractions and fractions of delay and buffer and protection adding up--

There is a second, much smaller crater formed by their eventual impact, pieces of the summoned barrier strewn about them in a shining, glittering pattern like one might splatter paint upon a canvas. Argent groans softly as her senses leave her temporarily upon impact--but it ''is'' only temporary. She recovers quickly as she feels an ominous presence observing them from without, as a pressure bears down on her chest, and makes it difficult to breath.

Oh, no, those are two different things. The latter is Diamant, who ended up on top of her in all of the falling, tumbling, and crashing into the earth. That strange color is on her face again, before she snorts at some thought or another. Her gaze sharpens into that mocking teasing that seems to come to her so easily.

"Well, well, well. So ''forward''. Are you, how do they say, making a move?"

If that flusters Diamant and encourages her to get off of her faster, that is perfectly acceptable.

If it somehow emboldens her in some way... that might be fun, too.

But however they separate, Argent eventually rises--slowly, but with still-graceful motions. She stands tall, shaking her hair elegantly out of her face, and only then does she notice something on her face. She reaches up, touching it gently and then pulling it away to observe the spot of red on her cheek.

She is silent, for a long moment, glancing at Diamant out of the corner of her eye. "Touche," she mutters softly. Argent flicks that speck of blood away.

But she watches, as those two young girls blast away Cardiax with an intensity that is both awe-inspiring to watch and also frightening. She knows their type, she thinks. She will cross paths with them sooner or later, and they won't back down easily.

They're the principled types. Extremely annoying to deal with, and dangerously relentless.

She'll have to do her best to avoid them.

There is an irritation, deep inside, knowing that she was too inconvenienced by her fall to deal the true finishing blow. A tiny grain of sand ready to seed another pearl of aggravation. If she'd gotten here faster, if she hadn't hesitated, if she just hadn't had those others in her way...

She hates losing.

That's what this is, right, if she didn't win?

She looks down next at Endo as impressive gouts of flame save the rest of them, as the elder Naoki finally wakes up, and her and her son share... some kind of moment.

A mother that works that hard for her child...

A different grain of sand starts to build up aggravation within her, and she scowls at herself. Sure, they saved the woman, and she and her son can have their... moment, or... ''whatever''. She hates this. not knowing how to act when the person she's saved is so intimately tied to one of the people she was fighting with.

Not that she ever fights with anyone, if she can help it.

Today certainly won't change her mind.

"Tch," she says, vocalizing some frustration as she promptly turns and walks away without saying a further word.

<Pose Tracker> La Sirene de Diamant [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

Impact. Peace. The blue sky above Earth.

Why does this keep happening to me!!! thinks la Sirene de Diamant, who rolls off of d'Argent so hard that she makes a full 720 degree rotation before pushing up to her elbows. Then towards the Cardiax.

It does not occur to de Diamant to guard herself - perhaps d'Argent would like to thin the ranks. Her trust, though thoughtless, may be warranted. She looks towards the other Siren...

And she's already leaving.

"... ... hmf," she mutters to herself, turning her nose up.

Perhaps another day.

[[Category: Logs]]

2024-03-27 - Pain At Izakaya Joji 1

2024-12-03T04:25:36Z

Talnora: Talnora moved page 2024-03-27 - Pain At Izakaya Joji to 2024-03-27 - Pain At Izakaya Joji 1: Uploading Part 2, changing part 1's title to indicate it is, in fact, part 1

{|class="toccolours" cellspacing="2"
|-
! style="background:#CC6699; border: 2px #CC0033 solid; font-size: 110%;" align="center" colspan="2" | '''Pain At Izakaya Joji 1'''
|-
|'''Summary''': 
''A cardiax storm descends on the Juuban neighborhood where Endo lives. At Izakaya Joji, where his mother waitresses, he, the Sirens of Sorrow's Sea, and their friends, confront the struggles of an exhausted, lonely and depressed single mother, as engorged by dark magic into much more and much worse.''
|-
|'''Who''': 
[[Nori Ankou]], [[Endo Naoki]], [[Ginka Shimizu]], [[Fate Testarossa]], [[Nanoha Takamachi]]
|-
|'''Where:''' 
Izakaya Joji, Shitamachi Low City
|-
|'''OOC - IC Date:''' 
3/27/2024 - 05/26/16
|-
|}

*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ Shitamachi Low City +*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*
The traditions that the Shitamachi cultural region keeps alive were ancient
long before the Shogun turned the fishing town of Edo into Tokyo, "Eastern
Capital." The area has evolved greatly since then, but though Shitamachi is
a highly modernized metropolis, its traditions somehow coexist with bullet
trains, research universities, and electronics markets. The occasional
person in kimono and sandals will wait at the crossing alongside salarymen
in business suits. Compared to Yamanote, there are more bicycles, family
businesses, and food carts, and fewer scooters, corporations, and
convenience stores. Certain wards in Shitamachi can be just as dense and
urbanized as anything in Yamanote, but there's a tendency toward low-rise
apartment complexes in the residential areas, and office buildings rather
than office towers in the commercial.

The distinction between Shitamachi and Yamanote is messy, both
geographically and demographically, but significant enough that it remains
the most significant cultural divide in Tokyo. Shitamachi people, as a
whole, take themselves less seriously, and have a stronger sense of
community that feeds upon their active street culture of markets, shops, and
festivals. They may not be fashionable, but they are /fun/. The Juuban
public schools, undistinguished but in some ways better off for it,
exemplify this plebeian joie de vivre quite well. The Shitamachi dialect is
less distinct than it used to be, but it is still a force to be reckoned
with, with a broader, less refined, and more energetic sound to it than
standard Japanese.

<Pose Tracker> Pink Moon Stick [Admin] has posed.

<SoundTracker> Then Came The Last Days of May - Blue Oyster Cult - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyLMgIR69G4

Considering that the city is thoroughly enconsced in the effervescent glory of spring, the storm that has suddenly erupted in central Shitamachi is ''thoroughly'' unseasonal.

But also just blatantly magical, because at the edge of the neighborhood served by Juuban Public, you can be out in late afternoon sun, but if you take two steps forward, are all but drowning in torrential rain.

The water smells... bad. Not human bad precisely, but not inhuman either. Bad like a dumpster. Not that anyone would WANT to taste it, but at the pounding, dropped-to-the-bottom-of-the-ocean-pressure level of precipitation that has abruptly sprung up, it's hard to avoid, and for the record, it doesn't have the flavor of trash at all; it tastes like salt. Saltier than the foil of a bag of chips you might buy at the local konbini.

It tastes like bitter tears...

Although the gradient between 'storm' and 'not storm' is a visible wall of water about half a block from the school, it also continues to intensify once inside of it. At its edge, it is possible to see down the block, where the clean streets of Shitamachi, kept proudly so by the people who live there, are becoming unexpectedly cleaner. Still, there's too much water for even the monsoon storm drains to manage. Massive puddles are forming in between rising streams in every gutter. This will become a huge mess very quickly, and is already a disruption well on its way to becoming a danger. People are abandoning their cars, and the train lines that pass through above ground have been cancelled. It is a very bad day to be a cat, rat, or other creature without shelter (including a human).

At its center -- the whole maelstrom is maybe eight blocks across -- one can barely see a hand held outthrust in front of your face. Traffic lights are huge blotches of red and green; lesser street lights invisible. But, very dimly, you ''can'' see that a roof has fallen in... or maybe exploded out.

The heart of the storm is Izakaya Joji, a humble, single-story restaurant. It is known for its excellent kaarage, generous pours, and good service, especially from the waitress who has staffed there for a decade, the hard-working and friendly Naoki-san.

There's a crack running through the glass of its front door.

Theme Spotlights: Sirens of Sorrow's Sea and Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha

<Pose Tracker> Nori Ankou [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

It does not take that long for word to get to la Sirene de Diamant.

Well, word may be a glorious thing. A feeling, a thought... a neighborhood... and a series of train cancellations.

Either way, she came, having taken advantage of the fact that for reasons unclear... she has access to an automobile, and can operate it. Parking was, of course, quite some distance away, but at least the disruptions to the trains could be avoided. Relief...

And then a walk in the rain. La Sirene de Diamant prides herself on being an inassailable rock against the storm, but that does not necessarily help her *colleagues*, does it? And so she had provided a durable umbrella which was likely quite insufficient and in its turn probably completely destroyed by this truly torrential rain, the dirty, salty water smashing downwards.

Deeper. Deeper, towards the center. Over the *sound* of the rain, the soothing susurrus having become far more menacing and overwhelming than an unseasonable spring storm ought to be, la Sirene called to Endo, "I think we're nearly there!" Her curiously penetrant voice means it's ''audible.'' A reply may be difficult, even from arm's reach away.

She points, which may be clearer. The luminous glow around her is made all the more obvious by the fact that *little else* can get through. But a pointing arm, from less than two meters away? Doubtless quite clear.

As clear, perhaps, as the shape of the building as they approach. The building with the fallen roof. The pleasant and homely building that stands at the utter center of this torrent - it's heavy enough that la Sirene herself is looking increasingly like a drowned rat - and its glass-cracked door.

La Sirene de Diamant stands on the threshold for a moment, and looks over her shoulder. She hesitates for four seconds, almost exactly, and then moves to press it open.

<Pose Tracker> Endo Naoki [Juuban Public School (12)] has posed.

While working at one of Tokyo's many konbinis would typically mean quick access to a cheap umbrella, the current (normal) weather conditions meant that aquiring one would take several minutes digging around in storage to become adequately equiped. And given that time was of the essence, Endo had to rely on not much more than a hastily deployed sheet of newspapers before joining up with La Sirene de Diamant. Which did not last very long.

So when the actual umbrella fails a few seconds later it's not a big deal since the boy in the armor was already soaked.

Still, the wall of water--while a formidble obstacle--is not the foremost thing on his mind. The sight of the familiar building in shambles is enough to make his blood run cold, and he almost pushing past La Sirene in her brief moment of hesitation.

"Hurry!" He calls back, the sound nearly swallowed up by the noise of the downpour. The rain only partially masks the fightened edge in the words.

His device is grasped firmly in hand, creating ripples in the ground as the end of it is dragged through the massive puddle of water outside of the building.

<Pose Tracker> Ginka Shimizu [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

EARLIER

Ginka paused in her notetaking as she caught a whiff of ''something'' on the air. It was, perhaps to everyone else, inconsequential. A little bit of salt, possibly leftover from someone's lunch who seasoned it too heavily, or some bag of junk food that is far more unhealthy than any person should eat.

But she is, one might say, something of an expert or even a connoisseur when it comes to matters regarding tears. (She has said it in fact, repeatedly, and often.) There is a certain aroma, a even a certain taste to these tears that registers in the back of her throat.

It can only mean one thing.

''So she really wasn't kidding about how infrequently they manifest here... Disappointing, but there are other ways. For right now though...''

A quick illusion later and she's slipping out of the classroom unseen to search for the source of the oncoming storm.

NOW

A girl with long, wavy silver hair and eyes stands on the edge of a building some distance away, regarding the storm silently. She is wearing a strapless black gothic dress, with a black leather bolero jacket thrown over it, thigh-high boots and gloves. Her rapier is nowhere in sight. She can see the way it becomes a solid wall, scowling to herself.

"This is going to be trouble."

For more reasons than just her 'cousin' or the other magical girls (and boys) coming to intrude.

Another moment of cold, silent evaluation in her head and then she sighs. "One does as one must, I suppose." A quick leap to ground level and she approaches the wall of water that confines the storm. With visibility so poor she has to make her way by foot, and slowly, and it rankles her to delay even that little bit for her own safety. If she takes too long--

Ah. There are others.

But she took a different path, and so one might be forgiven for not noticing her sooner, with the rain so thick as it is. And when Diamante hesitates, for just that moment...

"This storm will only grow worse if we do not deal with it swiftly. If you're going to hesitate, then just let me handle it," she demands coldly.

She's lost the smirking, entirely-too-pleased-with-herself demeanor of her previous appearance... but none of the condescension. Maybe that was just an act, or maybe she's just grumpy from being so rain soaked.

She does kind of look like a drenched wet rat, with her silver hair damp and limp and clinging to her face and jacket.

COMBAT: Ginka Shimizu transforms into La Sirene d'Argent!
COMBAT: Nori Ankou transforms into La Sirene de Diamant!

<Pose Tracker> Fate Testarossa [Infinity Institute (5)] has posed.

"<This is very strange. It doesn't feel like ritual magic though, at least not Midchildan, or Belkan.>"

"<Hmmm you think it could be that Jail guy stirring up trouble?>"

"<Probably not. The magic they use is very distinct.>"

"<Still I don't think I like it. I'm calling Takamachi.>"

"<Oh! ... It'd be great if she were here but I can call her myself.>"

Yet before Fate can do anything, she feels the magic attempting to link in another person as if her head as a conference call.

"<OI! TAKAMACHI! FEITO NEEDS YOU! LIKE YESTERDAY! IF SHE GETS SWEPT AWAY INTO THE WET JERK DIMENSION IT'S ON YOU!>"

"<Arf!? You really didn't need to- Hello. I'm investigating a magical storm near Juuban. If you're available to come you may want to put on a raincoat first.>"

Rain performs violence upon an Umbrella picked up at an exchange in these blocks near Juuban - thoroughly basic black, the girl beneath soaked to the bone otherwise. Her Infinity Uniform, her hair. Of course she didn't bring a raincoat or galoshes today, but she didn't hesitate to enter. Storms? They're comfortable for her - even ones that should not be.

There's a Golden triangle in her hand, even as the other clings to the Umbrella. A ring of runes issues from it, and one might wonder if it's some toyetic device - or perhaps even a weird AR game, but people aren't really looking.

It's not the weather to look at other people. It's not the weather for anyone - the smell just bad enough that Fate just knows she'll be rinsing off for a half hour in the shower before even dreaming of a bath tonight, but that is the lowest on her list of concerns

She doesn't focus on it. It's on her basic search spell. It hasn't been active long, and as she walks that stretch between just past where the storm's border blatantly begins, hurrying along as she gets progressively more soaked, legs drowning in puddles that are becoming higher than that due to overwhelmed storm drains.

She still looks like a wet dog though, in her presentation.

She squints dimly, plodding along, having to slow her pace more and more under threat of being bowled over by the wind and the rain - carried away by where there are now currents. 'Wait... is that...?'

Dread fills her, the epicenter so close to a certain place - and visuals so obscured of the area that it's easy to worry that it could be... The basic search spell ends, and the Bardiche floats in front of her. "Bardiche Impulse - Set! Up!"

<Drive Impulse - Ignition!>

Some might mistake what happens next as the Storm growing more violent, the suddenly lightning flash, and thunderclap, reflecting off the raindrops, the water - the windows. That blindingly bright glow.

And then the girl swooping out of it, a blur as she comes to land - behind Endo and La Sirene. "I came as quickly as I could."

As she touches down, she looks at Ginka with a sense of curiosity, and- for some reason she just focuses on Ginka, with those red eyes, even as La Sirene reaches for the door. In that moment perhaps, seeking something... familiar. But she doesn't speak, she just stares at her, ready and waiting.

Perhaps what she considers most important in this moment is Nori's response.

<Pose Tracker> Nanoha Takamachi [Infinity Institute (5)] has posed.

Standing at the edge of the strange downpour, Nanoha whimpers a little. "But my uniform," she complains to no one in particular, catching the scent of excessive salt. Her Infinity Institute dress is a bright, freshly laundered white nearly from collar to hem, with the notable exception of the navy stripe wrapping it near the latter. It always gets dirty so easily.

ACKNOWLEDGED. STAND BY READY.

Nanoha shakes her head, smiling sheepishly as she slides the cover off a compact umbrella. "I wouldn't do that just for rain. I hope you don't mind, but... I thought I'd use a different device for this."

THOOP. A pink umbrella flexes out forcibly. Nanoha swings its little dome above her far littler head. Taking a fortifying breath, she gazes sternly into the downpour. "Yo-ssha."

She has a heroic mien. But in a few moments, anyone standing near their window might hear a tiny "aaaaaaa" dopplering past through the rain.

-=-=-

When Fate touches down on the ground, that pink dome swings up over her head. Nanoha, this slim elementary schooler in a damp dress, nonetheless seems for the moment a calm professional, lifting the red marble on her necklace close to her lips to limit the sound of the rain. "<Fate-chan won't get swept anywhere,>" she says serenely. She looks over to Fate with a smile and an unhurried sparkle in her eyes, letting Raising Heart dangle by her strap again.

"Yappari," she sighs. "You already transformed after all."

She gives Fate a one-armed hug, around the waist. A soft little moment. Then she's standing straight again, under her umbrella, looking at Ginka.

"Naoki-san and Diamant-san won't hesitate," she reassures, as if it were a reasonable but unfounded concern. "They don't want to be reckless either. We'll all cooperate together and solve this quickly... ne?"

The alternative, for Ginka, seems to be disappointing some very big, hopeful blue eyes.

COMBAT: Fate Testarossa transforms into Barrier Jacket Impulse!
COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi transforms into Barrier Jacket Sacred!
COMBAT: Endo Naoki transforms into Barrier Jacket Zerstörer!

<Pose Tracker> Pink Moon Stick [Admin] has posed.

<SoundTracker> Heaven - Persona 4 OST - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0d9Oqm0Dt60

As people approached Izakaya Joji, all the lights were red. You could wait forever at the intersection and they would never change. No one would wait, not in weather like this. But it's dangerous to jaywalk when visibility is so poor. And there's just something about all those stoplights. They're blaring. Screaming

STOP STOP STOP

At least inside the Izakaya they can't saturate the air. Even if there was neon decor in the restaurant, it's just too wet; it is possible to breathe, but otherwise almost exactly like floating underwater.

Which makes it not an especially safe place for a middle-aged woman who looks an awful lot like Endo Naoki to have fallen into a swoon. She is collapsed out in the dining area, which is otherwise empty -- if there were any co-workers or customers, they all fled when the storm erupted, and in their haste or callousness or maybe just obliviousness, left her undisturbed.

But the waters are rising around her, carrying fallen trays and napkins, seeping under knocked-over chairs. If she hadn't fallen backwards, face up, she might already be drowning. As it stands, even if a Nanohite were to erect a barrier so that they can fight properly without blowing up the izakaya -- which Yuuno, who's in ferret-form tagging along with Nanoha, promptly begins to invoke --

<< I'll grab her, >> he chirps, which is very adorable. << We can't leave her behind. >>

Yuuno leaps onto the real Naoki-san's shallowly breathing chest, and, in a puff of minty green sparkles, shifts everyone over half a dimension. Normally it would be safer and preferable to keep her out of this, but not if she's drowned by the time they get back.

As if on cue, a second Naoki-san steps out of the kitchen. She is not perfectly twinned in the mirror, not to her son (of course; still, one can see her in him, in the wings of his eyebrows, the thickness of his nose, the spikiness of his hair poking through her net); but also not to the person swooning on the floor. This one is... exaggerated, in various proportions. Her waist is thicker, her lines deeper, her jowls more pronounced. Those changes are relatively minor, if consistent in their conception of her as... old, older than she normally looks, old in a way Endo has never imagined her to be. More dramatic is the way her eyes are compound now. Totally black, with a different image in every of the dozens of lenses; snapshots of the room and people in it, for now.

One might expect this monster to open her mouth and an inhuman scream to emerge. Certainly she is a parasite -- a Cardiax, which has taken on a form that echoes its victim. But instead it is the rain that rages harder than ever, soaking everyone, Cardiax Naoki-san most of all. She brushes some soaked hanks of hair out of her face with a not-quite-human hand, a hand that has one or two too many fingers, all of them callused and mottled from too much dishwashing. She looks exhausted.

"Irasshaimase, kids," she sighs. "I was going to close up early, but..." They're here, so now she can't. It's somewhat hard to read the expression of a bug-eyed mom-emotion-drainer but within those inscrutable boundaries, it's fair to say that she might be the slightest bit frustrated by this turn of events. Her cheeks puff out, but her breath isn't strong enough to blow a persistent wet lock out from between her eyes.

"Well," she says. There's a beat. "I can just keep going. One more hour. One more day. One -- more --"

The water in the restaurant is suddenly falling horizontal rather than vertical. Such is the force of her pain.

"--LIFETIME--!"

COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick transforms into Cardiax Naoki!
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick has used I Must Go On Standing on La Sirene de Diamant.
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick has used I Must Go On Standing on Endo Naoki.
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick has used I Must Go On Standing on La Siren d'Argent.
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick has used I Must Go On Standing on Fate Testarossa.
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick has used I Must Go On Standing on Nanoha Takamachi.
COMBAT: Fate Testarossa partially dodges 10 Fatigue damage from Pink Moon Stick's I Must Go On Standing, taking 38 Fatigue damage!
Critical Hit! Fate Testarossa's Fade and Flash abilities activate!
COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi dodges 13 Fatigue damage from Pink Moon Stick's I Must Go On Standing, taking 20 Fatigue damage!
Critical Hit! Nanoha Takamachi's Fade and Flash abilities activate!
COMBAT: La Siren d'Argent partially dodges 8 Fatigue damage from Pink Moon Stick's I Must Go On Standing, taking 32 Fatigue
damage! Critical Hit! La Siren d'Argent's Fade and Flash abilities activate!
COMBAT: Endo Naoki fails to brace Pink Moon Stick's I Must Go On Standing, taking 40 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!
COMBAT: La Sirene de Diamant counters 16 Fatigue damage from Pink Moon Stick's I Must Go On Standing, taking 16 Fatigue damage!
La Sirene de Diamant's Reverse and Tactician abilities activate!
COMBAT: La Sirene de Diamant's counterattack, Les Mysteres, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Pink Moon Stick!

<Pose Tracker> La Sirene de Diamant [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

De Diamant's head turns to look back towards the silver-haired Siren. Her eyes flash! Not literally. Not quite. But they are pale and limned by that glow. "For your information," la Sirene de Diamant huffs, "I am concerned for my fellows in this storm, a problem which I suppose you would be unfamiliar!"

Her head tilts up a little. Hmf!!

But that is as far as it goes. "Thank you," she says to Fate. Nanoha gets a small smile, in an equal balance of 'thank you, for coming' purity and somewhat less high-minded 'thank you, for sticking up for me.' This, of course, despite being perhaps twice Nanoha's size. Size, after all, matters not.

Endo, too, gets a smile (this one somewhat less tainted by the impurities of the world, i.e. jealousy and/or d'Argent) and then in they go.

Or at least, the door is opened. "Ah," she says, raising a hand. But not forcefully or with haste. But Yuuno is there - and la Sirene looks at the *second* Naoki-san who emerges, and there is a moment of total shock followed by a pivoting of her head to look at Endo in thunderstruck surprise, then back ahead.

Except, of course, that there's one thing they don't share... those eyes.

"I, I mean," she begins to say, and then the water is suddenly changing its direction and la Sirene de Diamant's stammered statement abruptly segues into the more comfortable and familiar call of "LES MYSTERES," as her upraised hand forms the horned sign -- good thing she reached out towards Yuuno with the left one, huh! -- and the right comes upwards to strike home with a shouted, "COME!"

The familiar (to many, anyway... maybe it's a little different for Nanoha) burst of black-and-silver slaps into the oncoming sheet of water, blasting much of it aside in the same way that an abrupt explosion can disrupt the fall of rain for a few moments. Much, of course, is not all, but it does mean that when it strikes against la Sirene it is indirect, perhaps even baffled, and so she is not simply blown through the wall.

She does hit it though, which is probably not good for it. "Ghhk!" Her follow-up is muffled somewhat by both angle and the sound of the torrent, raising up her right hand instead, palm facing outwards as inverse-light throbs out from the Pharos, coruscates in a thousand tiny anti-prisms on its way up to her hand, and then a pulsating flash-flash-GLEAM towards the infuriated Naoki-san.

"The one with the strange eyes is the enemy!" she cries out. "Endo-san--!!"

COMBAT: La Sirene de Diamant has used Shine On Through The Night on Pink Moon Stick.

<Pose Tracker> Endo Naoki [Juuban Public School (12)] has posed.

If there was a doubt as to what was agitating Endo so greatly, the mystery is revealed with one simple word:

"Mom!" He says, sloshing forward with little regard for anything else. Not a smile for the appearance of his favorite grade schoolers, nor a nod of acknowledgement for De Diamant, hardly even a glance at the appearance of the equally soaked and unfamiliar D'Argent.

Thankfully, Yuuno is on the case. As the barrier comes to life Endo comes to an awkward stop, jerking back and forth with indecession as he fights with the urge to do more or leave it in his allies hands. The decision is made for him by the apperance of the dark facsimilie of his mother, which is both alarming and immediately confusing.

Enough that he's taken almost entirely unaware by the torrent of water, swept away and bashed against the wall of the izakaya with a burble of alarm and pain. He flounders, flopping with fish-like action before gaining his feet again.

Now he does hesitate. Because while it's clear that the youma is not his parent, it is parent shaped. Enough so that his reponse is nigh-unthinkable to those who know him well: He does not run blindly forward to attack.

<KNIGHT. COMPOSE YOURSELF.> Fallen Stern warbles sternly.

Which is enough to get him to do something. With an awkward, shaky hand the boy reaches out and forms a Belkan sigil in front of himself. The triangle burns to life, glowing with power before exxploding in a mass of chains. They stretch outward, acting with minds of their own as the shackles race forward to capture the enemy that stands before the group of magical girls.

<KETTE BINDEN.>

COMBAT: Endo Naoki has used Kette Binden on Pink Moon Stick.

<Pose Tracker> La Siren d'Argent [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

La Siren d'Argent (There are, after all, ''two'' La Sirenes present) glances to Fate as the other girl just stares at her. Her eyes scan the much younger girl up and down. "What are ''you'' looking at?"

Unfortunately for Nanoha, causing disappointment, and ''sorrow'', in particular, is her specialty. She looks at Nanoha and snorts. "The rest of you can do as you wish. ''I'm'' only here for one thing, and I won't let anybody else slow me down."

Diamant's declaration of concern for her fellows is met with a derisive snort. "Whatever. Just get ''on'' with it. If they can't keep up that's on them."

Argent tsks softly as she sees the woman laying on the floor. To think they just left her here... more concerned with the storm than her. But then...

A ferret--a ''ferret'' of all things performs some magic.

What the hell is going on in Tokyo??

It ''is'' a good call, though she'll never admit it. Argent silently approaches the unconscious woman, kneels, and checks for a pulse and for breathing. Still alive. Good. Which means the Cardiax can't be far behind...

And ''there'' she is. Ginka stands slowly as she regards the manifestation of the woman's grief (she does not know Endo or her mother, so she is just another victim, in her mind). She snaps her hand out to the side, and a gleaming silver rapier appears in it in a flash of light, long and sharp, with an intricate guard covering her hand.

She brings her rapier up in front of her in a brief salute. "I will end your suffering," she utters quietly, keeping her voice low so that hopefully nobody else will hear her declaration. She charges forward--but then the rains ''shift'' and her boots are still ''wet''. There is a squeak of sole on floor as her feet suddenly move sideways and she is sent tumbling into a countertop.

She slowly picks herself back up, sparing a glance for Endo. Ah, there is a resemblance. But what was she just saying about hesitating? "Your mother will recover once the Cardiax is defeated," she snaps. "Hesitating will only put her at more risk."

She pulls a wet clump of hair out of her eyes to throw it behind her shoulder. She brings her rapier up to attack again and then barges forward, thrusting at the monster with her blade.

COMBAT: La Siren d'Argent has used Allez! on Pink Moon Stick.

<Pose Tracker> Fate Testarossa [Infinity Institute (5)] has posed.

"That is a good question." Is Fate's response to La Siren D'Argent, "Will you answer it?" It is not intentionally rude at least, the way she answers her.

The tiny 'aaaa' doppler is unfortunately drowned out by the rain, so the first time she does so it's upon sight of her with the pink Umbrella, just as her gaze tears away from La Siren D'Argent. "Nanoha..." Like many encounters, this one begins with her simply calling her name.

As the one armed hug moves around the cape of her barrier jacket, she allows a smile, "... Well you always were a little incautious in these situations." Certainly, it's not meant to ''drag'' Nanoha, more like to say 'That's just how Nanoha is' as if to comment on this as an intrinsic factor of her existence.

Or at least - it has been ever since Nanoha started running onto the scenes of the Jewel Seed incidents, untransformed, while Fate was quite ready for battle.

<<I'll hold you to that!>>

It is at least a step up from her past of threatening to eat Nanoha and Yuuno alive. She has definitely acknowledged her.

"You can see for yourself how abnormal this is."

Certainly however, she's drawn so easily into the spirit of cooperation that Nanoha fosters, at least ''now'' that is. Communication between the two of them is important in that sense. "We will." She doesn't - necessarily include Ginka in that.

She doesn't get her hopes up perhaps in the same way, having taken a similar position in the past.

Yuunos presence is similarly comforting, but perhaps not moreso than Nanoha - his support spells are a boon, but inside the Izakawa, there's blaring red.

And what she sees, instantly shifts her stance wide, subtly stepping not ''in front'' of Nanoha but rather ''out'' at her side, as if to present herself as the closer target without breaking from her side. She often fights at closer range after all. The ferret moving to care for the woman - that looks so much like Endo... her eyes look towards Endo in alarm. "Endo. It's going to be okay. We're here for her now."

<<Thank you Yuuno. Take care of her.>>

The 'other Naoki' that emerges however is strange for a magical threat, but she does not relax. The intensity is so much.

Abruptly the water shifts, pouring down as she shifts from potential threat to definitive, and Fate calls abruptly.

<<Left.>>

It is not saying to dodge Left, just that she is going Left, and she streaks right into that water, which crests up higher at just the wrong moment, abruptly smashing her against the Izakaya wall. Whatever teamwork she intended is immediately disrupted.

The wind knocked out of her, she forces herself up, and as if to redeem herself for falling short of her own expectations for herself, Fate suddenly rushes in, and around - Bardiche swinging again and again and again. Each time from a different angle.

However, one might notice she's... using the flat as a bludgeon, almost like she can't quite shake the feeling of how much she looks like the other woman.

"If you're tired, then it isn't right to force yourself." That is Fate's initial comment at least, perhaps she has difficulty speaking her mind even to strange monstrous effigies of a Mother. La Siren's words do offer enough reassurance though that she at least resolves to stop holding back.

"If that's the case then... Nanoha!"

COMBAT: Fate Testarossa has used Aerial Ace on Pink Moon Stick.
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick braces 14 Fatigue damage from La Sirene de Diamant's Shine On Through The Night, taking 6 Fatigue damage!
La Sirene de Diamant is Psyched! Pink Moon Stick's Block and Parry abilities activate!
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick dodges 9 Fatigue damage from Endo Naoki's Kette Binden, taking 6 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Pink Moon
Stick is Quipped! Pink Moon Stick's Fade and Flash abilities activate! Trap applied to Pink Moon Stick!
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick braces 9 Fatigue damage from La Siren d'Argent's Allez!, taking 4 Fatigue damage! La Siren d'Argent is
Psyched! Pink Moon Stick's Block and Parry abilities activate! Tangle applied to Pink Moon Stick!
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick fails to dodge Fate Testarossa's Aerial Ace, taking 17 Fatigue damage! Fate Testarossa is Psyched!

<Pose Tracker> Nanoha Takamachi [Infinity Institute (5)] has posed.

"Fate," Nanoha answers to her own name cheerfully, though just when it seems like a statement in itself, she ends up using it to start a sentence, "always had her guard up."

Nanoha smiles a little at Arf's admonition, but it fades as Fate draws her attention back to the scene. There are a lot of ways this seems abnormal to Nanoha; there is one she is wondering about. "Do you think it has something to do with Juuban Elementary?" Cute right? Nanoha thinks of the three Sister Schools as three sororal ''elementary schools''.

A ferret doesn't just perform magic. A ferret performs some very powerful, obscure magic.

"Thank you, Yuuno-kun," Nanoha agrees firmly. She is not a leaving people behind sort of person. "Is she--"

Nanoha's voice cuts off with a puff of surprise as the same woman walks in again. Her eyes flick to Endo, and her shoulders slump a little at his reaction. "Naoki-san," she says unhappily. She has a mother too. Her mother washed this dress just yesterday.

<<STAND BY READY.>> Raising Heart's tone is no different than it was the first time, yet Nanoha infers the tone change. Last time was the alert offer of a helper. This is more of an urging.

"Un," she nods slightly in the affirmative. She is standing by quite a bit herself at this point. And when the Naoki matriarch begins to grow agitated, she lets her pink umbrella (now folded) clatter to the ground, as Raising Heart lifts her and rapidly girds her. It can get done quick when it has to. But not as quick as Nanoha can ''move'' when she has to.

Pink flame ignites, with smaller puffs coming from the other side to counter-adjust where needed, as Nanoha blasts away right while Fate goes left. She stifles a cry as the rain peppers her, sending her flight into chaotic turbulence; she prefers to fight with more space available than she has right now. The pink stabilizing jets go wild for a moment, and then she is through, gasping, as she watches Fate make an attack. Her lips part a little in adoration as Fate, even knowing Naoki's mother is elsewhere, hesitates to harm her. It is not surprise; it never surprised her. She always knew.

But it makes her happy.

Now, that said, it doesn't mean Nanoha agrees gentleness is the right approach.

"Here!" she cries out an acknowledgement to Fate, as a hard blast of propulsion stops her dead. <<SHOOTER MODE,>> Raising Heart says in her clipped, pleasant tone even as they halt. Nanoha's staff swings down instantly in a well-practiced motion.

"Divine Shooter!" Nanoha shouts, as a withering barrage of arcane bolts lance from the end of her staff.

COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi has used Divine Shooter on Pink Moon Stick.
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick braces 7 Fatigue damage from Nanoha Takamachi's Divine Shooter, taking 6 Fatigue damage! Pink Moon
Stick's Block and Parry abilities activate!

<Pose Tracker> Pink Moon Stick [Admin] has posed.

La Sirene de Diamant fills the oncoming water with black and silver, but after Les Mysteres fades, it's just black. And there's so much of it, animated perhaps more emotionally than prehensile-y but still very much alive, refracting away the worst of the Pharos' gleam so that the Cardiax is, though not untouched, mostly unharmed. It is similar for Nanoha, who finds that her crisp pink bolts, which have been known to saturation fire kaiju to smithereens, are oddly slowed and diluted by that which is in the air; that which is all around them. It isn't NOT water, but it's definitely not rain.

And it is powerful, indeed.

La Siren d'Argent and Fate, however, force a different response; too close for the storm to intervene, they must grapple with the matter of the Cardiax's flesh. It is mercifully inhuman -- no ordinary waitress could withstand even one blow from Bardiche, flat of the blade or no, yet the Midchildan's speed overwhelms her defenses -- or maybe it was her words. More to the point, however, d'Argent scores a pierce...

...and the tip of her rapier emerges, as the creature steps back off of it with a sharp jerk of her shoulder. There is a wound, but there is no blood. There are only... maggots, or at least maggot-adjacent, a dozen Cardiax worms in miniature, tiny and white and slithering and criss-crossing and then the wound is gone, truly gone, not just in 'flesh' but in 'fabric', which really solidifies the appearance of the air quotes around both words. There was a rapier hole in her clean but simple and moderately shabby white blouse -- and then there wasn't anymore, just the slim white line of a worm like a bloated patch seam.

"It isn't right to force yourself," she echoes Fate, vaguely. "It isn't right...?"

Endo is there, and Endo calls for his mother. Suddenly every individual pane of her compound eyes is filled with a different reflection of her son, but none of them are the young man before her, out of whose way she dove, escaping the bindings before they could catch her, at the cost of heaving breast and panting breath, and some sweat beading at her temples. There is Endo in his high school uniform, and his Juuban one too, from middle school, the old retired black, pre-blazer. There's an Endo playing rugby who cannot possibly be in the double digits. There's an Endo flicking peas out of his high chair. There's a tiny baby Endo being bathed in the sink of a small apartment.

"What do you think motherhood ''is'', little girl? It isn't something that you're allowed to ''stop''."

She windmills her arms, whipping the storm into twin serpents, thick and heavy, which then spin so fast that they might as well be giant sawblades.

"There are ''words'' for a mother who just... stops."

She slams her left arm to a stop, outthrust, and the first blade soars at Nanoha and Fate, exploding around them with force and sharpness and, most of all, wetness, as water becomes water again, after.

"But," she seethes, some heat infecting her emptiness, "I would never want to stop. ''I love my son.'' He's--"

--now her right arm, and the disk shatters towards the two Sirenes--

"--all I have ''left''," she says, raggedly.

She does not look at the Meteor Knight, somehow carefully keeps him in her peripheral vision. And she does not attack him... at least, not with a gestured hand and a waterspout of fury.

But her compound eyes cry tears and each tear is a knife, a liquid knife that soars straight towards the boy, accelerating on the wings of her words. The blades are so sharp. The voice is so soft.

"He looks more like his father every day."

COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick has used You Can't Break That Which Isn't Yours on Fate Testarossa.
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick has used You Can't Break That Which Isn't Yours on Nanoha Takamachi.
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick has used You Can't Break That Which Isn't Yours on La Sirene de Diamant.
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick has used You Can't Break That Which Isn't Yours on La Siren d'Argent.
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick has used I'm Not My Own on Endo Naoki.
COMBAT: Fate Testarossa perfectly counters 18 Fatigue damage from Pink Moon Stick's You Can't Break That Which Isn't Yours, taking
0 Fatigue damage! Critical Counter! Fate Testarossa's Reverse and Tactician abilities activate!
COMBAT: Fate Testarossa's counterattack, Thunder Arm, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Pink Moon Stick!
COMBAT: La Sirene de Diamant braces 13 Fatigue damage from Pink Moon Stick's You Can't Break That Which Isn't Yours, taking 11
Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! La Sirene de Diamant's Block and Parry abilities activate!
COMBAT: Endo Naoki braces 19 Fatigue damage from Pink Moon Stick's I'm Not My Own, taking 8 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Endo
Naoki's Block and Parry abilities activate!
COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi fails to counter Pink Moon Stick's You Can't Break That Which Isn't Yours, taking 19 Fatigue damage!
Stagger applied to Nanoha Takamachi!
COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi's counterattack, Flash Move, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Pink Moon Stick!
COMBAT: La Siren d'Argent decisively counters 15 Fatigue damage from Pink Moon Stick's You Can't Break That Which Isn't Yours,
taking 5 Fatigue damage! La Siren d'Argent's Reverse and Tactician abilities activate!
COMBAT: La Siren d'Argent's counterattack, Les Mysteres, partially gets through, doing 33 Fatigue damage to Pink Moon Stick!
Critical Counterhit!

<Pose Tracker> Endo Naoki [Juuban Public School (12)] has posed.

Endo has been hurt by a lot of things. Orbital missiles, trees, apocalyptic giants, a book--but this feels like one of the most personal. His weapon is raised, the broad surface of the blade used as a makeshift shield to mitigate the spray of liquid blades that come his direction. It works to some effect, though there are several vicious scapes across his barrier jacket from the few that get through.

Fate's voice and helpful words of assurance at least help steady him somewhat. He's unfamiliar with D'Argent, but her claim that defeating the monster will help his actual mother recover also seems to help spur him onward.

Still, it's hard to bring the full strength of his Device against the youma in front of him. So he doesn't--not yet. Instead the flat of the massive blade is used as a battering ram, the knight charging forward in attempt to knock the Cardix backward and provide oppertunities for allies to do further violence.

"Nanoha! Fate! Diamant!" He calls, only failing to add d'Argent to his plea out of unfamiliarity. He doesn't give instruction, but the request for help is clear enough.

COMBAT: Endo Naoki has used Blauverschiebung on Pink Moon Stick.

<Pose Tracker> La Sirene de Diamant [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

Mom!

A painful word to cry out. La Sirene had thought it, from the sight, even if she had not had the time or the presence of thought to ask it. (Ugh!! Curse you, d'Argent!) It is perhaps well enough that she is here and she's not turning against them.

The others move quickly. In these close quarters, hope of a coordinated assault is somewhat forlorn. Put their trust in Yuuno to prevent the unthinkable. She can see colorful flashes, and a blade that cuts and brings back -- euuugh! -- the vermiform shapes of the Cardiax.

What is motherhood?

La Sirene de Diamant can't say. She has greater things on her mind, at least - or at least greater things coming towards that mind. She throws up her right arm with a twinkling surge of that energy around her -- glamorous! Spectacular! It means the plate breaks and only scrapes her arm hard enough for her to hiss (for the water around them, after all, is salty) rather than drawing a gash.

"This -- is not the woman who raised Endo Naoki!" de Diamant forces out through the pain. "She was made a victim by unholy hands. All of her sorrow and anguish has been diverted from its rightful course - a false relief that's led to, to this!"

This meaning, presumably, the localized (and not THAT localized... and increasingly less so...) disaster area... but also the fallen shape of what must be the true face of Endo's mother.

"If it's come this far, I don't think that the Cardiax can be talked into wisdom... they are like a boil!" wow, mean thing to say about someone's mom, la Sirene de D., but perhaps she has some experience. Frustration guides her tone more, perhaps, than it usually is, but there is shock and sorrow of her own in there too.

Her right hand forms a momentary tight fist (she hisses at the pain) and does a single long dervish turn before sweeping it forwards in another shimmering flash, this one towards those myriad eyes. At least, I suppose, thinks la Sirene de Diamant, she won't be able to blink.

I hope, she concludes.

COMBAT: La Sirene de Diamant has used Carbonado Kaleidoscope on Pink Moon Stick.

<Pose Tracker> La Sirene d'Argent [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

Fate rather deftly turns her own, very rhetorical question, back on her to make it a genuine one. It's Argent's turn to stare at her for a moment. That girl is smarter than she would have given her credit for.

"La Sirene d'Argent," she says.

Speaking of 'more impressive than she would have initially given credit for', Nanoha transforms and joins the fight. Argent casts a glance to Diamante. "Allying yourself with children, Diamante?" comes the rather arch question.

But she scores a clean hit on not-Endo's Mom, and even though the wound swiftly disappears as if it were never there, this provides a useful talking point as Cardiax larvae appear. "There, see? Now don't hold back."

After the pierce she'd taken a quick step back, when suddenly a watery sawblade is sent towards her. She's more than prepared though, having flung her rapier up to jab into what remains of the ceiling. With her newly-freed right hand she makes what may be a familiar sign to those who have fought with Diamante before. Her left comes up, strums, and there is a bright, dazzling blast of white light--rather the inverse of Nori's black and silver--that lashes out to blast away the incoming attack.

But Endo ''still'' holds back, and Argent gives a disgusted sigh. If you want something done ''right''... She jumps up to snatch her rapier out of the ceiling, and then lands nimbly on her feet. She draws it around in a great sweeping circle, and as she does an array of dazling silver daggers suddenly materialize in front of her.

And with another sweeping gesture of her blade she sends them all flying directly at the Cardiax. She is being careful not to endager the real elder Naoki, of course... but she doesn't seem to be so sparing with the other magical guardians.

"A ''boil''?" she says, admonishingly. "It is more like a parasite, feeding on its victim. And it feeds still, even now."

She has no qualms about the deed--this is far from her first rodeo... and not even the first mother she has had to help, surely.

COMBAT: La Sirene d'Argent has used Storm of Silver on Pink Moon Stick.

<Pose Tracker> Fate Testarossa [Infinity Institute (5)] has posed.

In many ways, Fate still has her guard up. It's just over other things. There are many precious things she wants to protect.

Like those words that it could be Juuban elementary.

Or the way she's unhappy over this situation. The way Endo's unhappy over this situation. When Nanoha calls out, 'Here!' Fate's timing in response is impeccable, a sudden abrupt reversal so fast she leaves an Infinity Elemental Schooler shaped blur, just a split second before her Shooter Mode sends that barrage out. And she's ready too, to press the attack.

Yet, before she can...

There are those images, of Motherhood, reflections of her son. Images. Images. Images. It presents such a different version of Motherhood than she's known.

It feels like Precia would never have been tired or sad or angry if - she had been Alicia. Indeed one mother, after another - every idea that she has of what it is like is challenged, immediately and thoroughly by that answer, into something exhausting.

It all meets in the middle before she can even think of Lindy- because... because... that spinning arm is suddenly met by Fate not parrying with Bardiche, but that gauntleted arm as Bardiche announces. <Thunder Arm.>

That gauntlet, crackling with brilliant, thunderous magic abruptly shoves the serpent sawblade aside, as she in turn looks at Nanoha in alarm as buzzsaw smacks into her. "Nanoha!"

La Sirene shouts that it's not the woman who raised Endo - that her feelings were made victim, but - they're still her feelings aren't they? Even blackened and bereft of the positive context. Still, La Sirene offers the wisdom. To deal with a boil... "Then we will apply the proper force." Even as Endo calls upon her to act. And Argent gives her more information to act upon - not a boil, but a parasite.

Fate swings Bardiche back, and he shifts, with a synthetic intonation, <Haken Form>

And the metallic polearm changes, becoming a hooked scythe implement, it's blade a sparking electrical arc. In the blink of an eye, she charges at her, but then seems to seems to swerve up, and around pivoting in mid-air as she strong arms the scythe around in a full rotation.

<Haken Slicer>

The full revolution results in a spinning crescent of energy, that grows and grows into a grinding wave of energy, further and further gathering, building, until it is several times larger than it was when it was a part of Bardiche ramming into its target and continually pressing against her.

It hurts, to hear her think of how she has nothing else. It hurts.

It still hurts.

Perhaps it will never stop.

She concentrates on keeping it going - she'll know when she's done so long enough, she'll know when she hears Nanoha speak the words that precede her own application of force.

COMBAT: Fate Testarossa has used Haken Slicer on Pink Moon Stick.
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick fails to brace Endo Naoki's Blauverschiebung, taking 31 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick fails to dodge La Sirene de Diamant's Carbonado Kaleidoscope, taking 24 Fatigue damage! Stagger applied
to Pink Moon Stick!
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick fails to dodge Fate Testarossa's Haken Slicer, taking 57 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick braces 11 Fatigue damage from La Sirene d'Argent's Storm of Silver, taking 16 Fatigue damage! Pink Moon
Stick's Block and Parry abilities activate! Diversion applied to Pink Moon Stick!

<Pose Tracker> Nanoha Takamachi [Infinity Institute (5)] has posed.

Nanoha is watching the spinning, serpentine blade as Endo's 'mother' prepares it. She and Fate can feel one another's reluctance to try to outrun this one. No, they must time it. Their tension rises together. Three... two... one...

Nanoha either moves so swiftly the eye loses her for a moment, or teleports a small distance; it is hard to tell which. The blade misses her, narrowly. She's ready to strike back.

But talented as she is, this is a new enemy to her. She did not understand that this buzzsaw blade would burst.

Nanoha only barely dodged this to begin with, and she is ''fully'' within its area of effect when it goes off. Her barrier jacket is pelted with blades, her youthful voice capable it seems of a truly high shriek. She blindly tries to keep herself from the ground at the last second, but disoriented, she cannot find the balance of magical thrust needed to keep her steady; one side pushes too hard and she flips before landing, skidding on her back as the chunks of what had seemed like metal revert to a drenching puddle beneath her. She coughs delicately, staring dazed at the ceiling.

"Feito," she echoes her best friend's cry, much softer. It lets her push herself up before she's even thinking. And as her featherweight body stands again, Endo's call for aid joins it. Nanoha shakes her head, catching up to the exchange Fate just had with Diamant. She realizes all at once what Fate, with that upset look on her face, is doing: holding an attack, at cost of mana and endurance, until Nanoha is ready. And that is all Nanoha needs to be ready.

Force? Nanoha sets her feet, the wing-like stabilizers on her little boots flaring wide.

<<BUSTER MODE. DRIVE IGNITION.>>

"Naoki-san! We're all right here!" she calls to her fellow mage. "Load cartridge!"

<<LOAD CARTRIDGE.>> The staff's front bracket jerks back and expels a metal cylinder, the extended prongs of the staff beginning to crackle. Ribbons of magic rotate around them.

"Diviiiiiine!" Nanoha's auburn twintails flutter wildly behind her head as a white orb gathers. Everyone here knows to give this one a little space except Argent. And Nanoha, the sweet little girl Argent was so impressed by a moment ago simply because she could henshin... Nanoha seems to assume the increasingly brilliant coruscation trembling to be released from her staff speaks for itself.

"BUSTAAAAA!" she shouts, as the four intangible wings bracing the energy flex under the force of its launch.

COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi has used Divine Buster! on Pink Moon Stick.
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick braces 27 Fatigue damage from Nanoha Takamachi's Divine Buster!, taking 22 Fatigue damage! Pink Moon
Stick is Quipped! Pink Moon Stick's Block and Parry abilities activate!

[[Category:Logs]]

2024-03-27 - Pain At Izakaya Joji

2024-12-03T04:25:36Z

Talnora: Talnora moved page 2024-03-27 - Pain At Izakaya Joji to 2024-03-27 - Pain At Izakaya Joji 1: Uploading Part 2, changing part 1's title to indicate it is, in fact, part 1

#REDIRECT [[2024-03-27 - Pain At Izakaya Joji 1]]

2024-03-27 - Pain At Izakaya Joji 1

2024-12-03T04:25:06Z

Talnora: Add the '1' along with part 2 being uploaded.

2024-12-02 - A World Without Magic: Raiko Takshima

2024-12-03T02:24:07Z

Talnora: How could precious words from an earnest heart fail to reach their recipients?

{|class="toccolours" cellspacing="2"
|-
! style="background:#CC6699; border: 2px #CC0033 solid; font-size: 110%;" align="center" colspan="2" | '''Title: A World Without Magic: Raiko Takashima'''
|-
|'''Summary''': 
''In the wake of Space-Time Criminal Jail Scaglietti [[2024-11-30 - The Labyrinth Resurrections 1|stealing all magic for himself]], magical girls everywhere fall into a deep sleep, dreaming of a life without magic. Raiko Takashima sees a vision of what might have been--and what might still be--and has a chance to say some precious words. (Expanded to include Raiko waking up.)''
|-
| '''Who:''' 
[[Raiko Takashima]], Kiyo Tagawa, Cheiko Otomo, Asami Yakumo, Takeshi Yakumo, Kenji Takashima, Shiori
|-
| '''Where:''' 
Infinity Dorms
|-
| '''OOC - IC Date:''' 
12/2/2024 - Friday, June 17, 2016
|-
|}

Soft, rhythmic thumping filled the dorm room as Raiko studied the inside of the microwave. Not the part with the turntable, but the /inside/--she'd pulled it out from the wall, unplugged it, and removed the outer housing. Bright orange eyes traced lines of circuitry and wiring, and she'd tied her long blue hair back into a ponytail to keep it from being a distraction.

She bit her lip as she studied it. /Something/ had shorted, and she was certain she'd almost figured it out. She was /almost/ there, if she didn't lose her concentration--

"Oi, Sprocket! You done yet?"

Nope. She'd lost her train of thought. Raiko sighed, glancing over her shoulder. "I told you, I'll be done sooner if you stop asking me when I'll be done." She was dressed in sky blue overalls and a plain white t-shirt.

The dorm was lavishly appointed but still small, despite being for 3 people. Kiyo was in the middle of the living space. She was taller and more athletic than the other two, with short, unruly green hair and clear blue eyes, dressed in a pair of plain black shorts and a green tank top. She'd been practicing juggling a soccer ball, bouncing it from knee to knee to head, for at least the last 20 minutes. "C'mon, I'm getting hungry over here."

Raiko rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well, maybe if you'd stop playing with your ball in the dorm, you wouldn't be so hungry."

The ball hit the floor, and Kiyo trapped it with her foot. "Well /maybe/ if you didn't insist on taking everything apart around here I could've eaten sooner."

"Oh yeah?" Raiko crossed her arms, letting her screwdriver dangle from her fingertips. "In case you forgot, /I/ was the one who fixed the baseball team's pitching machine when /someone/ hit a line drive right into it, /Ace/."

Kiyo stepped forward, the ball and her practice forgotten for the moment. "Oh yeah? And who was it /I/ had to organize a search party for on the last field trip when you went missing?"

Raiko's cheeks flushed. "I wasn't missing, I said I'd be right back," she protested hotly. "/You/ just got impatient."

"Oh please," said Kiyo with an exaggerated roll of her eyes. "It was like, half an hour. And don't give me that 'you lost track of time' line again."

On the couch sat the third member of the dorm room, Cheiko. She was much more quiet, her long rose-red hair fixed up into an elaborate bun. She'd been relaxing on the couch, dressed in a t-shirt and skirt, sketching ideas in a sketchbook. She did her best to ignore the shouting, but finally her green eyes flickered up to look at the two shouting girls. "Get a room, why don't you," she muttered under her breath.

... She thought better of it when she remembered her bedroom was in between theirs. Maybe not, then.

Cheiko sighed, raising her voice and taking on a far more gentle but still firm tone. "Kiyo-chan, Raiko-chan."

Both girls paused and looked to her questioningly.

Pointing her pencil at Kiyo, Cheiko said, "We agreed to no balls in the dorm. The carpet is still stained from where you knocked my ink pot over last week."

Kiyo rubbed the back of her neck, blushing as she glanced aside. "Ahhh... yeah..."

Turning her attention to Raiko, Cheiko said, "And we agreed on a three 'oops' limit, didn't we? How many are you at?"

Raiko blinked, counting off something on her fingers, then looked chagrined. "... Oh. Five."

Cheiko raised an eyebrow at Raiko.

"Fiiiiine," said Raiko with a sigh. "I'll call maintenance." She pushed the half-disassembled microwave aside. "Sorry, Ki-chan. You're gonna have to use the stove top." Raiko moved to take a seat on the couch, while Kiyo headed to the sink and started filling a small pot.

"It's fine, the cup noodles shouldn't take /that/ long," said Kiyo quietly.

Raiko looked at the sketches in Cheiko's notebook. "Whatcha working on, Manga-chan?"

Without looking up, Cheiko said, "It's a new story about a girl who has to put up with her roommates constantly bickering, and the stress of it finally makes her snap and become a serial killer."

Kiyo and Raiko shared a glance, and both had the grace to blush.

"I mean... it /was/ sweet of you to be so concerned, Ki-chan..." admitted Raiko.

Kiyo grunted a bit as she prepared her cup noodles. "And it /was/ pretty cool how you discovered the limiter setting on the pitching machine... Probably wouldn't have scored that last home run without all that practice batting fastballs."

Both girls looked to Cheiko, who finally looked up to them and smiled. "Better."

The other two girls let out a sigh of relief.

Suddenly, Raiko's phone chimed, and she pulled it out of her pocket to check it. "Oh! Hey, they're ready for the video call!" She sprang up and dashed to her room to grab her laptop, coming back and setting it on the table. The screen sprang to life as she started the right app, initiated the call...

And suddenly two windows popped up, side-by-side. In the first window sat her parents. Asami Yakumo, who had the same blue hair and bright eyes, was wearing a bright yellow sundress. Her hair had been left free to drape about her shoulders. She grinned broadly and waved, "Raichan! It's so good to see you!"

Next to her sat Takeshi Yakumo, who had short brown hair and half-rimmed glasses. He was wearing a simple polo shirt, grinning as he spotted his daughter. "Rairai!"

And in the second window was an older gentleman with silver hair, wearing a shirt with the last few buttons casually undone. He smiled kindly, "Ahh, Mago-chan, it's so good to see you." He was really just a friend of the family, but he'd been so for a very long time.

Raiko beamed, addressing each one in turn, "Okachan, Otochan! Ojiisan! It's so good to see you all!"

With a meow, a calico tabby cat wandered into the room and hopped up on the table. She sniffed at the laptop screen and then mewed plaintively at the image on the screen.

Raiko laughed, standing up to pick up Shiori and sit down with the cat in her lap, petting her. "And Shiori says hi, too."

Asami laughed gently, waving to the feline on the camera. "Hiii, Shiori. It's nice to see you, too."

Raiko grinned as Shiori mewed at the camera. "Oh! And my friends are here, too!"

Cheiko leaned in close to Raiko to get into frame, smiling and offering a wave. "It's very nice to see you all again, Asami-san, Takeshi-san, Kenji-san!"

"Ahhh, Otomo-chan," said Takeshi. "It's nice to see you again as well!"

"Thank you for agreeing to have us again for our next break!" said Cheiko, doing her best to affect a bow from a seated position.

"Think nothing of it! It's always a delight to have Rairai's friends over. You're welcome anytime!" said Takeshi with a bright smile.

Cheiko smiled warmly, "You're too kind!"

Kiyo suddenly barged into the frame on the opposite side of Raiko, slinging an arm around her shoulders so she could get in close. "Hey! I'm looking forward to the trip, too! Thank you!"

Raiko laughed and playfully shoved at Kiyo's side without any real force. "H-hey! C'mon."

Asami laughed softly, smiling at the sight of her daughter flanked by her friends on the screen. "Hello, Kiyo-chan. It's nice to see you too."

The green-haired girl pointed emphatically at the screen. "Kenji-ojiisan, your teriyaki was amazing last time! Can we have some more?"

Kenji chuckled softly, "I'll see what I can do."

Raiko grinned, "Oh, I can't wait. There's so much to catch up on-- Oh! And guys, I can't wait to show you what my mom's been working on, too. It's state of the art robotics stuff, it'll be really cool, promise."

Noogying Raiko, Kiyo stood up. "As long as you don't take it apart like you did the microwave."

"Wha--hey, that's..." Raiko's cheeks flushed. "... I'd /never/ do that to one of my mom's projects."

"Yes you would," said both Kiyo and Asami in unison.

Raiko groaned and covered her face with her hands. "... is it too late to stay here for break?" she muttered.

"Yes," said Cheiko gently. "But you'll be fine."

"So, Mago-chan," started Kenji, trying to move the conversation along. "Your parents tell me you've been up to plenty of your own projects."

"Oh! Yeah!" Raiko brightened, getting up from the couch and setting Shiori down. "One sec!" she called out from over her shoulder. She came back a moment later, her arms laden with several small machines she'd built. "Some of these are hard to see, but I'll bring them with me on break. So this one--" She paused, as her phone buzzed in her pocket. "Oh, sorry, lemme check that really quick."

Raiko reached into her pocket and pulled it out, and then paused. It was a shiny metallic blue. It was a great color, especially for her, but... a moment ago it had been black.

... hadn't it?

"Ooh, Raichan," said Asami enthusiastically on the other side of the screen. "Is that your phone? Did you do that yourself?"

A bit numbly, Raiko held the phone up for the camera, the message momentarily forgotten. "Yeah, I did it when... when..."

'When I enchanted it,' came the thought.

Raiko's eyes widened as she processed the thought. /Magic/. She'd... she'd... she'd been fighting. Trying her hardest to protect everyone. But she hadn't been able to stop...

She gasped in shock, a hand flying to her mouth as she /remembered/.

Her magic had been drained. All of it. All magic, /everywhere/.

But she was /here/, and... and that meant...

Her eyes were stinging as her gaze slowly slid up to the screen, fixated on the image of her smiling parents. Her throat was locked up, her chest was tight, and as she tried to speak, to say /anything/, all that came out was a hiccup and weak, helpless laugh as something wet ran down her cheeks.

Cheiko instantly had her arm around Raiko, giving her a tight squeeze. "Raiko! Are you okay?"

Takeshi, Asami, and Kenji on the screen all frowned, leaning in. "Raiko-chan, honey," started Asami. "Is something wrong?"

Raiko shook her head furiously, though she leaned into Cheiko's embrace. "N-nothing... I-I'm just..." She felt something on her shoulder, and Raiko looked up to see Kiyo's hand there. The other girl was looking down at her with a frown, but at a loss for words. Even Shiori was nuzzling against her leg.

"I'm okay," Raiko insisted, taking a deep breath. "I-I'm just..." She managed a smile, her voice still trembling a little. "... r-really happy to be here, with... with everyone that's important to me, th-that's all."

This next part was going to hurt. She'd do it gladly, willingly, because she knew what her responsibilities were. But it didn't stop the pang of longing in her chest, or the fresh wave of tears from welling in her eyes. "B-but..." She looked at the image of her parents on the screen. "... I w-won't... I won't be able to make it home for break. There's something /really/ important I have to do, b-but I wanted to say..."

These weren't her parents. They were just the figments of a mind trying to cope with the sudden loss of her magic. They weren't real, and yet, if there was any hope that her words might reach them...

Who knew better the power of words than a witch? And what kind of a magical girl would she be if there was no room in her heart to believe in miracles, no matter how small they might be?

Somehow, she managed a smile, despite all the conflicting feelings waging a war in her. "... Okachan, otochan... Thank you. For... e-everything you've done for me. I'll never forget it. P-Promise."

"Of course, Rairai," said Takeshi, with a smile. "Just do your best, okay?"

"We're proud of you, Rai-chan," said Asami warmly. "And we always will be."

"Th-thanks." Raiko sniffed wetly as she reached over to tap the screen. The window with her parents vanished, and the image of Kenji expanded to fill the screen.

She took a moment to dry her tears, then looked to Cheiko and Kiyo. They were still rebuilding their friendship, after having fallen out for three years, but... she was more certain than ever that she wanted to keep making that effort. To Shiori, who had been faithfully looking over her, guiding her, and was as much family to her as... She looked to the screen, where Kenji's smiling face was watching her. "Jiichan... Wherever you are, I know you're still fighting, so I'll keep fighting too." To everyone else, she smiled and said, "I'll see you all soon."

There was one more precious person she needed to see, too: Yumi, who'd been so kind and patient with her, as she took her first steps to accepting her destiny.

Raiko stood up and held out her hand. In a flash of blue lights, her staff appeared. "Okay. Let's go!" She raised the staff high, letting magic flow through it as lightning started to dance upon its length. The crystal on top shone brighter and brighter until everything was a pure yellow light.

[[Category:Cutscenes]]

2024-12-02 - A World Without Magic: Ginka Shimizu

2024-12-03T01:51:29Z

Talnora: Why does the caged bird sing...?

{|class="toccolours" cellspacing="2"
|-
! style="background:#CC6699; border: 2px #CC0033 solid; font-size: 110%;" align="center" colspan="2" | '''Title: A World Without Magic: Ginka Shimizu'''
|-
|'''Summary''': 
''In the wake of Space-Time Criminal Jail Scaglietti [[2024-11-30 - The Labyrinth Resurrections 1|stealing all magic for himself]], magical girls everywhere fall into a deep sleep, dreaming of a life without magic. There is a cage that Ginka Shimizu desperately wants to escape...''
|-
| '''Who:''' 
[[Ginka Shimizu]], Misaki Tokita, Momoka Shimizu
|-
| '''Where:''' 
The Iyama Estate, somewhere in Japan
|-
| '''OOC - IC Date:''' 
12/2/2024 - Friday, June 17, 2016
|-
|}

The sitting room was hushed, silent save for the gentle, delicate melody that wafted through the air. Gentle streams of notes twined and wove themselves through the deft hands of their players, rising and falling in sublime harmonies and crescendos.

Ginka sat in an ornate wooden chair, violin tucked under her chin, left hand deftly dancing across the strings, her right hand carefully measuring and doling out angle, tension, and tempo. Her long, wavy, honey blonde hair spilled down to midback, her brown eyes were closed as she lost herself into the music for the recital. She was wearing a long black dress, sleeveless, not quite her formal concert wear.

This was a dinner party, after all, not a concert.

Seated across from her, at a piano was a young man a year her senior, dressed in a tuxedo with a dark black tie. He had short brown hair, and he was letting his fingers dance lightly across the keys of the piano. This was soft, delicate music; neither of them could afford too heavy a hand, lest a melody clutch up, or a chord simply fall flat.

The young man, Hiroshi, gently produced the final chord of the melody, a soft, trembling chord signaling resolution cast out into the audience. Ginka joined that with a single long violin note, sounded out in wistful, aching tension as the piano chord faded and it was the only note left.

It lingered in the air, before poignantly dissipating into the ether.

The assembled guests clapped politely, and Ginka slowly opened her eyes. She always imagined a caged bird when she played this song, eternally seeking freedom, eternally hopeful and yet... denied, in the end, every time.

No, that was absurd. How else would the song end, if not for the way it was written?

"Shimizu-san," said Hiroshi, reaching a hand to her.

Ginka realized she'd been lost in her thoughts, and hastily set her bow and violin down to reach out and take Hiroshi's hand. "My apologies, that song... it simply captivates my imagination." She gracefully rose to her feet, where they took a bow together.

After they finished bowing, Hiroshi lifted her hand to place a kiss on the back of it. Ginka allowed her cheeks a light flush. "Merci, you are too kind, Iyama-san."

"I can't help it, I find /you/ captivating," murmured Hiroshi before the dinner guests started to crowd them.

Ginka made polite conversation, laughing amiably at poor jokes, expressing condolences and sympathy at all of the right moments, and made all the empty promises expected of her. Eventually she excused herself, explaining that she was seeking out her mother.

She stepped out from the crowd, and an older woman with short brown hair and a red cocktail dress instantly fell into step with her.

"Ojou-sama, your performance was splendid, as always." This was Misaki Tokita, who had been in her family's employ for as long as Ginka could remember. Her role had changed quite a bit over the years, but... she was a constant in Ginka's life, even when her mother was off on yet another business trip.

Ginka smiled a smile she did not feel, and simply said, "Of course it was." After a moment, more gently, she said, "... But it was kind of you to say."

Misaki just smiled, "Of course. Please, your mother is this way."

In another sitting room, devoid of all guests but two, Ginka found her mother, Momoka Shimizu. She'd worn her hair up in an ornate bun for this occasion, wearing a sleek black dress and long white gloves. She was seated, leg crossed, talking to an older gentleman. Ginka walked in, approaching the two, while Misaki stepped to the side of the door, remaining at a respectful distance.

"Mother, Iyama-sama," said Ginka respectfully, clasping her hands in front of her. "I hope you enjoyed the performance."

"Mmm, yes, quite so," said the older man. "I've never heard anyone who can perform quite like you and my Hiroshi. I'm sure your partnership will be quite rewarding going forward."

"Yes, of course," said Ginka amiably, smiling a perfectly polished smile.

"Speaking of partnerships," said Momoka with a gracious smile, "we were discussing a sort of... partnership between our families, if you will."

And there was that sinking feeling. She'd suspected it would come, eventually. "Ah, tres bien. I am, of course, looking forward to working together."

She noticed her mother hadn't even said what she thought of the performance. But now wasn't the time to bring that up--there was /never/ a time to bring that up.

The role of the caged bird was to sing, after all.

"If you would excuse me," Ginka said with a bow towards the Iyama elder. "I have something I must see to, but I wanted to make sure I paid my respects."

"Of course, of course. We will come find you when dinner is served."

Ginka smiled a hollow smile and turned, heading out of the sitting room and heading for... anywhere.

Anywhere but here.

----

Ginka sighed as she stared out the bay window. In the distance a storm roiled, trees bending in the wind and occasional flashes of light highlighting the nighttime landscape in sharp relief. There was a certain beauty to it, or so Ginka had always thought.

The bedroom was extravagant, of course, filled with a mixture of Japanese and Western decorations, to honor both her Japanese and French heritages, with elegant touches like a four-poster bed. It was her own private space, ensconced within the Iyama household's luxury. No one save Misaki would dare intrude upon her here... her mother would have every right to, but Ginka knew she would never bother.

Ginka sighed as she stared out the window. She was dressed in a soft pink yukata and socks, an utterly inappropriate state to receive guests, yet not so... /common/ as to be scandalous if, by chance, she were to be seen. She'd curled up into the bay window to watch the storm, her cheek pressed against the cold glass. The pitter patter of raindrops striking glass tapped gently yet rhythmically against the window. Her long honey blonde hair was pulled in front of her as she absently worked on braiding it for bed.

There was a grand dinner tonight. Ostensibly, she and her mother were the guests of honor, being received and given lodgings as they had. And given the news of the upcoming 'partnership' between the families... well, there would be time enough to make that announcement.

Misaki would know to make all of the appropriate apologies on her behalf. She would explain, as always, that she was simply 'fatigued', both from travel and performing for the others earlier. It was... a lie, but a socially acceptable and palatable one. She was 'fatigued' a lot, they would understand and express the same empty sympathies Ginka knew how to express.

Ginka sighed and closed her eyes, her hands falling to her lap and growing still. She lost track of the time until there was a soft knock at the door. "Ojou-sama?" came Misaki's soft, gentle voice.

Without opening her eyes, Ginka said, "Enter."

The door slowly opened, and Misaki slowly stepped inside. She'd changed out of her cocktail dress into a pair of slacks and a warm beige sweater. Slowly she crossed the room and gently took Ginka's hair into her hands, working to finish the braid. She didn't ask how Ginka was doing. She didn't need to. Instead, as she worked, she said, "I had someone bring up dinner. You should eat."

"Mm... Oui, I should," mumbled Ginka. She made no effort to get up at first, waiting for Misaki to finish with her hair and then rising to her feet. Together, they walked into the parlour.

It would be more appropriate to say that Ginka had been given quest quarters, not merely a room. It came with a small parlour--decorated just as lavishly as her own bedroom, of course, and it had a small dining nook as well. There was even a second bedroom, smaller but no less refined, for Misaki, so her valet could be on hand to attend to her needs.

Or to receive a requested meal, as she had tonight. The dining nook included a large bay window that still showed the nighttime storm, and it had a small dining table just large enough for 4 people, at most. A covered tray sat on top of it. Ginka sat down, watching as Misaki quickly set out two places. Vegetable broth, with rice, two small sandwiches, several macarons, and of course, a fragrant tea. Ginka waited until Misaki had finished the table placement, poured the tea, and then sat down herself.

They ate in silence. The warm tea and the hot soup filled her belly, and as the warmth filled her she started to relax, just a little. Misaki kept looking to her but didn't press any conversation, which Ginka was grateful for. Eventually, as Ginka nibbled at a macron, she said quietly, "... You're too good to me, Tokita-san."

Misaki just smiled, instead asking, "I hope everything was to your liking."

"Oui, c'est exquis." And she meant that. It was not the refined, multi-course meal that was undoubtedly being served in the dining hall, but... it was exactly what she had wanted, and that was rare enough to make it precious.

"I'm glad to hear that, Ginka-sama," said Misaki gently and warmly.

"Tch, you are much too familiar, Misaki-san." But the edge of Ginka's mouth turned slightly upwards, and she couldn't keep the warmth out of her voice as she continued. "Whatever am I going to do with you, hmm?"

"Je suis désolée, ojou-sama," said Misaki, with a mix of warmth and gravitas, smiling herself. "It won't happen again."

"See that it doesn't," said Ginka, still smiling faintly. "It would be much too difficult to find someone else who could perform your duties to your standard of excellence."

"Of course."

Ginka's smile broadened for just a moment, but then fell away as she looked out the window once more to observe the storm. "To be so free as a storm..." she murmured softly. With a heavy sigh she tore her gaze away from the storm, looking to the room, where something caught her eye. "Oh, my violin." She blinked a bit. "I did not realize..."

"I had it brought up," said Misaki quietly as she poured herself another cup of tea. "You must have been resting."

"Ah, I see," said Ginka neutrally as she slowly stood and strode over to it. She frowned as she picked up the bow. The wood was aged and stained, with dark blemishes all along its length. The lacquer had long worn off.

"Mon dieu," she gasped as she turned it over in her hands. "What has happened to my bow? This is not at all how it was just a few hours ago..."

As she turned it around in her hands, something flashed and caught her eye. On the inside surface, along the handle, was set a long, thin mirror. As she angled the bow to take a better look she could see her reflection, except the eyes that greeted her were silver. And her hair was out of its braid, and also silver, in cascading waves down her back. Ginka raised a hand to her face in disbelief, and in the reflection it wore a leather glove, and she could see the edge of the sleeve of a bolero jacket.

All at once, realization hit her. "Ah. Un rêve. I see."

She was silent for a long moment, studying her reflection.Then, abruptly, she burst into gales of laughter. "Well, well, well. I suppose that insipid Diamant is still fighting, hmm? Making some grand declaration or a flowery speech, no doubt. It would not do to let her show me up, non?"

Ginka held the bow aloft, and in a flash of white light it turned into a gleaming silver rapier, with an ornate guard covering her hand. She smirked in satisfaction as she watched the light of the room reflect off of the blade, then turned to look at Misaki one last time. "I must be taking my leave, Tokita-san." Her smirk briefly broadened into a warm smile. "But I'll be counting on you as always."

And with that, Ginka drew her arm back, letting silvery moonlight alight upon the blade from the window... and with a fierce swing she moved to slash through the remnants of the dream--

And through the bars of her gilded cage.

[[Category:Cutscenes]]

School: Ohtori Academy

2024-11-09T16:16:47Z

Talnora: /* Fencing Club */ Added Ginka to the roster.

Ohtori Academy was founded by the Ohtori Group in the early 1900s on Southern Cross Island. The Academy was built out of a number of smaller schools acquired by the Group, but all of those are now just parts of the Ohtori machine. Based on principles of elegance, nobility and talent, Ohtori Academy is considered an elite institution for elite people. As it boasts a healthy, even aggressive, scholarship program, students from the middle classes and up are perfectly capable of attending, but the best-known students are for the most part very wealthy, very powerful, and very dangerous. That density of wealthy students gives Ohtori a disproportionate influence, with businesses lining up around the block to win the favor of future magnates.

Ohtori Academy's emphasis on personal greatness gives it a number of eccentricities. Its sports programs eschew 'commoner' activities for gentleman's sports; while [[Juuban Public School|Juuban]] practices lacrosse and [[Infinity Institute|Infinity's]] as likely as not to field an ultimate frisbee team to a regional event, Ohtori's top coaches teach combat sports like fencing and boxing, and refined athletics like basketball and rugby. Similarly, Ohtori expects all of its students to obtain a broad education, bulwarking its wide-based general program with after-school arts programs. Unlike Infinity, it offers little in the way of specialty programs; Ohtori expects excellence in everything, from everyone.

By far the most unique feature of the school, however, is Ohtori Academy's enormously powerful student council. A powerful student government has been a part of the Ohtori Group's dream since the foundation of the school, and the student council has long wielded very wide powers. In the modern Ohtori that power has expanded to the point the students wield sometimes more authority than the staff.

Although an informal rule, it is widely known among students that those who oppose the student council quickly find themselves expelled, and by the same token, working with the council provides enormous benefits. Nominally, the student council's task is to protect the interests of the student body, but the current council often seems more interested in its own...

The student council is broken into two parts: The actual Student Council itself, which governs the junior and senior high schools; and the Guardians, a smaller, somewhat more idiosyncratic body which protects the interests of the elementary school students. The youthful Guardians are easily the more idealistic, and although technically they govern different spheres, there are plenty of rumors about the Guardians and Student Council coming to blows over one or the other overreaching their authority.

Ohtori, being a home for elites and nobles, is inevitably rife with intrigue. The Student Council, and a select few other students, wear a rose signet they guard jealously; some say there are others around campus who wear a strange golden mask. People in black suits who won't talk to anyone, businessmen of world-class companies who come by seemingly much too often. Ohtori is a hub of mysterious agendas and transformative people, and the rumors about those many agendas are myriad.

Unbeknownst to the normal students but nakedly obvious to those with the sight, Ohtori is a veritable goldmine of mystic power. Where Infinity's very foundations were designed to leash the World Tree's power, and Juuban draws strange people to it like a magnet, Ohtori Academy's grounds are rife with the seals and signs of ancient evil. The island is so thick with ancient powers of the soul that emotion on the island runs thicker - passions higher, obsessions hotter, loves more powerful and hates more virulent.

Perhaps that should have been the first sign of the doom that lives on Southern Cross Island, but it is far from the only. The clock in the library ticks on, but not to anything so pedestrian as tomorrow; the mine in the hills leads down, but what is the light at the bottom? Witches, Orphans and Noise throng across the island, drawn to a rich stew of emotion, and in turn thickening that miasma of obsession. Above it all, the Castle Where Eternity Dwells looms invisible and insubstantial over the island - a silent harbinger of the coming revolution of the world.

__TOC__

==History==
Long ago, in another Age, there was the Land of Fuuka - a shining island of light and wonder. In that place, the Obsidian Lord held court over his kingdom; a demon king of phenomenal power, sealed away by the power of the Silver Crystal. To placate him, and to serve as entertainment for the masses, once in three hundred years the HiME Festival was held, where those chosen by the King's power would battle for supremacy, the King's hand in marriage - and the honor of a single miraculous wish from their new groom. It was one such wish that allowed the release of Metallia, bringing about the fall of the Silver Millennium.

Amid the ruins of the Serenity Dynasty, the Silver Queen's bindings shattered, and at last the Obsidian Lord was free. Summoning to his side the spirits and powers of his innumerable brides past, the Obsidian Lord called forth the beacon of his omnipotence, the HiME Star. With the Senshi fallen and the Earth Court sundered, the few surviving HiME themselves were forced to rise to the challenge, binding the King to Fuuka, and using great magic to seal the island away; then giving their lives to hurl the HiME Star far into space, where Serenity's final wishes ensured it would once again wander, lost.

The Age turned, as ages do; but the new world would not be safe forever. Clow Reed wouldn't break the Earth's seals for hundreds of years, but another force found its way across the stars, an alien race seeking respite from the destruction of their world by their own hubris. Crashing to Earth, the power that their science could barely contain blew through the seals hiding the Land of Fuuka from the world; when people arrived to investigate, the visitors begged for the aid of magic to seal away the accursed legacy they had created, and together, they settled what would become Southern Cross Island - and buried yet another terrible secret beneath its hills.

The greatest seal broken, the HiME Star veered toward Earth anew, beginning yet again the ancient Festival - more savage now, without the Silver Queen's bindings to soften the Obsidian Lord's ravenous malice. But the Earth was lucky, for the Obsidian Lord's new bride was cunning and brave, and found a way to cast him back to sleep and send the Star hurtling back into space. On the site of the island, before vanishing into history, she founded an academy that became the moniker for the whole island: Southern Cross.

More recently, Southern Cross Academy and several other Island schools were acquired by the wealthy Ohtori family, and the whole collection of schools renamed after its new masters. Patterning the new curriculum after Western academies and building toward a future of excellence, Ohtori became known for its harsh studies but sterling graduates. Building on that tradition of superiority, the Ohtori student council was given phenomenal power, and faculty allowed to override them only rarely. In time, a young prodigy in the elementary school campus, with bright eyes and a powerful insight, even convinced the Family to create the elementary section its own body, to protect the hearts and interests of the younger students: The Guardians.

In the last few years, the present head of the Ohtori house has fallen ill. The position of president of Ohtori Academy - de facto master of the grounds - has fallen to his daughter's fiance, Akio. Akio is perhaps the most hands-off president the school has ever seen, leaving things largely to the respective principals and student bodies of the various schools; however, when Akio speaks, every student listens.

==Student Body==
''This list can be edited by players to add their characters and NPCs to their appropriate grade. Feel free to add your name as a link to your character page!''

{| class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed wikitable" style="border:0px solid #ffffff;background: #ffffff;vertical-align: top;"
!style="text-align: left;background: #hhhhhh; width:1000pt"|''Ohtori's Student Body''
|-
|
'''[[Schools: Faculty and Staff#Ohtori Academy|Faculty and Staff]]''': [[Midori Sugiura]], Akio Ohtori, Souji Mikage, Yuu Nikaidou.

'''University''': [[Shizuru Fujino]], [[Mamoru Chiba]]

'''Grade 12''': [[Kyouichi Saionji]], [[Juri Arisugawa]], [[Touga Kiryuu]], [[Mai Tokiha]], [[Natsuki Kuga]], [[Takeo Akamizu]], [[Shiori Takatsuki]], [[Rinji Sakurai]], [[Chihaya Izumi]]

'''Grade 11''': [[Nao Yuuki]], [[Mikoto Minagi]], [[Ye-jin Song]], [[Kasagami Araki]], [[Georgia Jenks]]

'''Grade 10''': [[Anthy Himemiya]], [[Utena Tenjou]], [[Rei Hino]], [[Umi Ryuuzaki]], [[Homura Akemi]], [[Madoka Kaname]], [[Eri Shimanouchi]], [[Sayaka Miki]], [[Nori Ankou]], [[Inori Yamabuki]], [[Chigusa Sanjouin]], and [[Kaori Fujino]]

'''Grade 9''': [[Miki Kaoru]], [[Nanami Kiryuu]], [[Kimiko Akane]], [[Ai Yamamoto]]

'''Grade 8''':

'''Grade 7''': [[Haruka Haruno]]

'''Grade 6''': [[Kukai Souma]]

'''Grade 5''': [[Amu Hinamori]], [[[Kairi Sanjou]], [[Nadeshiko Fujisaki]], [[Tadase Hotori]].

'''Grade 4''': [[Yaya Yuiki]]

'''Grade 3''':

'''Grade 2''':

'''Grade 1''':

'''Grade K''':
|}

==Student Council==
Among the significant adults of Ohtori's staff, Elementary School Principal Tsukasa Amakawa and Middle/High School Principal Mashiro Kazahana report directly to the headmaster of the overall academy; the Ohtori clan patriarch is presently very ill, however, and so the acting headmaster is Akio Ohtori, the fiance of the Ohtori heiress. Akio engages his duties extremely rarely, but when he does, his word is absolute.

However, Ohtori is notable for its especially powerful student body. This is an old tradition, and it is one of the few things Akio Ohtori has involved himself directly in maintaining. The Middle and High School Student Councils in particular wields nearly absolute authority, even able to overrule Principal Kazahana if they wish to... although that might be more the fact that the faculty lives in elemental terror of [[Juri Arisugawa]]. Indeed, there is a policy - informal and yet absolute - permitting the council to unilaterally expel students who defy their will (although often the Guardians of the Elementary School involve themselves when this clause is enacted).

It is entirely common for positions to be made up and eliminated by the Councils as necessary. While there are occasionally elections, Ohtori isn't exactly a bastion of democracy, and councilors are often summarily replaced by siblings (or rivals!) if they become mysteriously unable to perform their duties.

''If you'd like to join the Student Council (new characters can easily be retconned in), please contact the Staff on-game.''

{| class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed wikitable" style="border:0px solid #ffffff;background: #ffffff;vertical-align: top;"
!style="text-align: left;background: #hhhhhh; width:1000pt"|''Ohtori's Student Council''
|-
|
====High School Student Council====
* '''President:''' Touga Kiryuu
* '''President's Dubiously-Ranked Flunky:''' Kyouichi Saionji
* '''Vice President:''' [[Ye-jin Song]]
* '''Secretary:''' [[Kasagami Araki]]
* '''Treasurer:''' [[Juri Arisugawa]]
* '''Disciplinary Executive:''' Yukino Kikukawa
* '''University Advisor:''' [[Shizuru Fujino]]

====Middle School Student Council====
* '''President:''' Open!
* '''Vice President:''' Open!
* '''Secretary:''' [[Miki Kaoru]]
* '''Treasurer:''' Open!

====The Guardians====
* '''King's Chair''': [[Tadase Hotori]]
* '''Queen's Chair''': Open!
* '''Jack's Chair''': [[Nadeshiko Fujisaki|Nagihiko Fujisaki]]
* '''Ace's Chair''': Yaya Yuiki
* '''Joker's Chair''': Amu Hinamori
* The '''Chair of Ten''' through the '''Chair of Two''' currently don't exist, but would be invented on the spot by Tadase and Tsukasa if they were needed.
|}

==Clubs==
Owing to its venerable history, Ohtori's clubs are often especially formal and tradition-heavy. Many observe their own small holidays on especially significant dates, such as the anniversary of the club's founding. Clubs of the same and different types often engage in intrigue against one another, to their own ends or simply for pleasure.

''This list may be edited by any player who wishes to note the on-camera existence of their club. There are many other clubs at Ohtori not listed here because they don't currently have any player characters in them.''

{| class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed wikitable" style="border:0px solid #ffffff;background: #ffffff;vertical-align: top;"
!style="text-align: left;background: #hhhhhh; width:1000pt"|''Clubs of Ohtori''
|-
|
====Aikido and Aiki-ken Club====
Founded by Morihei Ueshiba, Aikido is a 'peaceful' martial art performed by blending with the motion of the attacker and redirecting the force of the attack rather than opposing it head-on. This requires very little physical strength, as the defender 'leads' the attacker's momentum by using entering and turning movements. The techniques are completed with various throws or joint locks. It is a very 'ki' centered style. In addition there is the Aiki-ken club; Aiki-ken is the art of the sword based upon the principles of Aikido, originated by Ueshiba and his student Morihiro Saito. Aiki-ken uses wooden bokken, and currently shares the Aikido-club's funding.

'''Members''': [[Azyana Konstantinov]]

====Animal Care Club====
For horse enthusiasts who don't care to focus on competitive riding, and budding veterinarians.

'''Members''': [[Inori Yamabuki]]

====Boxing Club====
This is not Fight Club, so you can talk about it. Widely admired throughout the school.

'''Members''': Touga Kiryuu, Yua Chouku

====Crafts Club====
Ohtori has clubs specializing in every conceivable art and craft; essentially all of them see the Crafts Club as a bunch of amateur dilettantes, because this club's stated goal is to explore and enjoy different crafts through weekly, monthly and annual projects. For those interested in being a jack of all trades but a master of none, it makes for a fun, relatively casual place to be.

'''Members''': [[Madoka Kaname]], Kairi Sanjou

====Dance Club====
All people, they love to dance. Separate from Ohtori's extra-curricular dance classes, dance club focuses on creative choreography and fierce competition. Classical styles are always in fashion, but more modern routines also see some representation.

'''Members''': [[Ye-jin Song]]

====Falconry Club====
A school as prestigious as Ohtori wouldn't be complete without sports of nobility, and it's Falconry Club is both well funded and well respected among animal lovers as well as those that enjoy hunting. It's birds are both rare and expensive, the club's members sparing no expense in showing their mastery over such beautiful, dangerous birds.

'''Members''': [[Kasagami Araki]]

====Fashion Club====
Ohtori's fashion club is about as cutthroat as the industry itself, but friendships are founded here on shared enthusiasm and obsession, and there are very real connections to be made with Ohtori alums who've gone professional.

'''Members''': [[Inori Yamabuki]]

====Fencing Club====
With over a century of tradition behind it, Ohtori Academy's fencing club is among the most glamorous clubs on campus, and unquestionably the most prestigious fencing club in Japan. They primarily practice classical fencing, but swap to sports fencing a few times a year in order to dominate regional, national, and even international meets. They don't win everything all the time, but it's always notable when they lose. Members who are not dedicated and passionate for the sport do not last long, but no prior experience with a blade is expected in order to join the fun; they train fencers at every level, from the simple to the sublime.

'''Members''': [[Juri Arisugawa]] (Captain), [[Miki Kaoru]], [[Nori Ankou]], Umi Ryuuzaki, [[Ginka Shimizu]]

====Gardening Club====
Landscaping is a little bit declasse by the standards of Ohtori's elite, who mostly prefer less dirty and more formal clubs like ikebana, but the gardening club toils gloriously onward with justifiable satisfaction: the Academy is overflowing with flowers, and while they certainly don't tend every lawn or trim every terrace, most of the truly spectacular manicured gardens and endless fields of blooms are their pride and joy. Those sufficiently interested in the study of botany, such that they're willing to get their hands a little dirty, can learn many secrets about the language of flowers, and other, more subtle plants besides. With the destruction of most of the forests of Southern Cross Island, the Gardening Club is leading the effort to restore greenery around campus.

'''Members''': [[Eri Shimanouchi]], [[Madoka Kaname]], [[Tadase Hotori]], [[Anthy Himemiya]] (vague affiliate)

====Kendo Club====
The ancient art of kendo has been performed at Japan's most prestigious private school for a very long time. They enjoy a proud and ancient tradition -- and a rivalry with the fencing club.

'''Members''': Kyouichi Saionji (Captain), Masashi Takeda (Sub-Captain), Kairi Sanjou, [[Takeo Akamizu]], Touga Kiryuu

====Music Club====
Ohtori actually has lots of music clubs which form along genre lines or a desire to form a coherent band, but the overarching umbrella exists, mostly to give them more clout in efforts to lobby the Student Council for funding. It tends to focus on classical music.

'''Members''': [[Georgia Jenks]], Yua Chouku

====Softball Club====
Sumo may be Japan's ''official'' national sport, but everyone knows it's actually baseball. In the Softball Club, the balls are a little softer, but the romance of the ballgame is the same. Pitchers stare down batters for an elemental duel, home runs rush toward the sky with all the force of an untamed metaphor, and individuals become something more as part of a team. A few times per academic session, the coaches will wrangle seats at a professional game, too, and the club will go meet their jerseyed heroes.

'''Members''': [[Sayaka Miki]] (centerfield/batter), [[Sachiko Majime]] (starting pitcher)

====Swim Team====
Ohtori has a long and proud tradition in swimming, an underwater torch carried forward into the future by its latest batch of students. The sweet silence beneath the water, the roar of the stands above it, the burn of screaming muscles... it's all here.

'''Members''': [[Eri Shimanouchi]], [[Kozue Kaoru]], [[Ai Yamamoto]]

====Tea Ceremony Club====
One of Ohtori's oldest clubs, the Tea Ceremony Club owns millions of yen in equipment and kimono (a sentence they would find redundant). Many of the wealthiest children are enrolled in elementary school, and the clique is a tight one. Visitors by invitation only.

'''Members''': [[Chihaya Izumi]], Shizuru Fujino

====Tennis Team====
A very popular and glamorous sport at Ohtori, played extensively by many students; the girls' team tends to get more attention.

'''Members''': [[Chihaya Izumi]], Nanami Kiryuu, Wakaba Shinohara
|}

==Uniforms==
Ohtori Academy's yellow-themed uniforms may be found [[Schools: Uniforms#Ohtori Academy: Elementary|here]].

For more information, please see: [[Schools]], [[Organization: Ends of the World]], [[Theme]]

[[Category:Schools]]
[[Category:Ohtori]]
[[Category:Theme]]
[[Category:History]]

Raiko Takashima

2024-08-13T23:14:57Z

Talnora: Updated history, rearranged the relationships and notable NPCs sections

{| class="toccolours" style="width: 25em; float: right; margin-left:2em; margin-right:0em; margin-bottom:2em; text-align: left; font-size: %110" cellspacing="2"
|-
! style="background:#7DF9FF; border: 2px #536878 solid; font-size: 110%;" align="center" colspan="2" | '''Raiko Takashima'''
|-

! style="background:#7DF9FF; border: 2px #536878 solid; font-size: 110%;" align="center" colspan="2" | '''IC Information'''
|-
! style="text-align:left" | Full Name:
| Raiko Takashima
|-
! style="text-align:left" | Aliases:
| Witch of Wise Levin, Inheritor Wise Levin, Levin
|-
! style="text-align:left" | Gender:
| Female (she/her)
|-
! style="text-align:left" | Age/Birthdate:
| 15 (June 30, 2000)
|-
! style="text-align:left" | Height:
| 5'2"
|-
! style="text-align:left" | Hair Colour:
| Light Blue
|-
! style="text-align:left" | Eye Colour:
| Bright Orange
|-
! style="text-align:left" | Astrological Sign:
| Gemini
|-
! style="text-align:left" | Blood Type:
| A
|-
! style="text-align:left" | Favorite Food:
| Hot Chocolate, Sweets
|-
! style="text-align:left" | Least Favorite Food:
| Spicy foods
|-
! style="text-align:left" | Favorite Subject:
| Math, Science, Magic
|-
! style="text-align:left" | Least Favorite Subject:
| History
|-
! style="background:#7DF9FF; border: 2px #536878 solid; font-size: 110%;" align="center" colspan="2" | '''Dossier'''
|-
! style="text-align:left" | Organization:
| Magic Association
|-
! style="text-align:left" | Position:
| Apprentice Witch
|-
! style="text-align:left" | School:
| [[School: Infinity Institute|Infinity Institute]] (Grade 9)
|-
! style="background:#7DF9FF; border: 2px #536878 solid; font-size: 110%;" align="center" colspan="2" | '''OOC Information'''
|-
! style="text-align:left" | Source:
| [[Lost Inheritor Yumi]] (OC)
|-
! style="text-align:left" | Player:
| [[User:Talnora|Talnora]]
|-
|}

<blockquote>''"Staff of Wise Levin, hear me! In my hand discovered be!"''</blockquote>

'''Raiko Takashima''' is a young, bright, determined witch chasing a dream: to combine her witchcraft with her love of electronics and technology. A dream that she is starting to make progress on… at the cost of her grades, reputation at school, and her closest friendships. And to make matters wore, her only living relative, her grandfather, has gone missing on a mission for the Magic Association. This means she's been moved into Infinity's dorms… right in the middle of where she's bungled her social standing, and she doesn't even have her grandfather's advice anymore to help her fix it. And if all of /that/ wasn't bad enough, she's also discovered she is the heir to a long with bloodline, and the latest person to inherit the Staff of Wise Levin--adding being a magical girl to her list of problems. Now she has to juggle chasing her dreams, fixing her relationships, and fighting back against The Hungry Queen and her forces.

== Personality ==
<blockquote>''"Oh! That just gave me an idea…"''</blockquote>

Raiko is always looking to the future and the possibilities that lie within… though sometimes she loses sight of the present.

In better times she is a bright, cheerful girl, with an enthusiastic zeal for her work. Lately, due to a school presentation that blew up in her face and the friendship it cost her, she's become more withdrawn. And the recent disappearance of her grandfather hasn't helped her very much…

But she's still plugging away at her dreams of modernizing witchcraft, though. She's just kept her work to herself.

She grew up taking apart electronics and other appliances, learning how they worked, and putting them back together--an interest fostered by her grandfather. At the same time, growing up with her grandfather, a mage, and his familiar, Shiori, she always knew she would one day become a witch herself. And as she started in her magical studies, she grew frustrated with some of the antiquated thinking and the slowness of some of the older magic users to embrace modern ideas. Would it kill the Magic Association to just get a digitized card catalog already?

However, after meeting [[Yumi Ohzora]] and then discovering that she was the next person to inherit the Staff of Wise Levin, her confidence and outlook have slowly started to improve, thanks to several successes and victories: Helping to defeat Conflagria not once but twice, using her studies to create a new new storage spell for her staff (which involved reverse engineering an ancient spell, to boot!), and even just getting to meet other magical girls and start to form new friendships.

== Current Events ==

=== Lineage ===

Since accepting her staff, Raiko has been doing her best to live up to the responsibility of her legacy, and especially to support her new friend Yumi, wanting to pay her back for all the kindness she showed. Having Yumi as a friend has provided the motivation she's needed to try and put some things in her life back together. Starting with her grades, anturally. But she has also turned her attention to improving the Staff of Wise Levin: first, reverse-engineering a storage spell for her staff based on the spell for the Staff of Lost Ivy, and then fully empowering Shiori as a familiar.

But it hasn't been all positives. During a crucial encounter with Conflagria, it was revealed that The Hungry Queen was none other than Yumi's mother, a devestating secret that has certainly made their quest to oppose her complicated, to say the least.

In the wake of this, while attempting the carry out the ritual to empower Shiori, Raiko and Shiori kept facing setbacks. At first it was Raiko's lack of openness preventing it from succeeding, but after admitting to Shiori that she sometimes imagined having Shiori around was what having a mother felt like, it turned out that Shiori was now the one with reservations.

Shiori revealed to Raiko that Kenji Takashima was not, in fact, her biological grandfather. She explained that Kenji had been a friend of Raiko's parents, and that they had been able to divine both that the newborn Raiko was likely to become the next Inheritor of the staff… but that The Hungry Queen would almost certainly know this as well, and take action. Raiko's parents gave her over to Kenji's care, making the ultimate sacrifice to protect her.

Shiori feared that this revelation would damage Raiko's trust in both her and Kenji, having intended Kenji to explain himself when the time was right. A teary-eyed Raiko confessed that she had figured out she was adopted when attempting to research her family line, but thanked Shiori for finally telling her parents had done for her.

A chance encounter with her two former best friends, Cheiko Otome and Kiyo Tagawa, has also lead to the start of a reconciliation between the three. It's still in its early days, but Raiko is glad to be speaking with them again.

There still remain many threats to the world to solve, and it's not at all clear how they will deal with The Hungry Queen, but Raiko is determined to be someone Yumi can rely on in these troubled times.

== Background ==

=== Early Childhood ===

For as long as Raiko can remember, it's just been her, her grandfather Kenji Takashima, and his familiar, a cat named Shiori. Kenji provided all of the love and attention she ever needed, so she doesn't often think about her missing parents--and all she's ever been told about them is that they died in an accident.

Raiko has always been a curious and inquisitive child, and at a very young age once took apart a vacuum cleaner because she was curious how it worked. Kenji wasn't… ''too'' upset. Instead, when he had it fixed he asked the repair person to both show Raiko how it worked as well as how to put it back together. This fostered a love of working with electronics and devices.

She's lived in Tokyo all of her life, and has attended Infinity Institute since kindergarten. He has also been enrolled in their magic program, with her very earliest instruction coming from her grandfather and his familiar. There she made two best friends, also fellow Infinity and magic students, Kiyo Tagawa and Cheiko Otomo. They bonded over their shared magic classes, and also naturally complimented each others' strengths academically and in group work, so formed a fast friendship.

As Raiko started to learn more magic, she became more and more frustrated with some of the antiquity associated with it, when she could easily look up manuals or specs for an appliance or a phone online that she was working with, why couldn't she do the same for her magic studies? And being intimately familiar with how, say, her cell phone worked, what was really preventing her from using the phone's compass for a finding spell instead of a dowsing rod? Her friends were intruiged, and encouraged her efforts.

=== Scholastic Setbacks and a Friendship Fractured ===

When Raiko, Kiyo, and Cheiko moved up to 7th grade, Raiko was inspired by starting a new phase in her academic career, and wanted to make a big impression on her classmates. She did, though unfurtunately not in the way she'd intended. For their first group project Raiko decided to try and demo one of her prototype ideas. Unfortunately, it failed. Horribly. The group got a bad grade and Kiyo was incredibly upset with her.

Since Raiko had only finished it the night before, she hadn't had a chance to test it and work out all the bugs. It also meant she hadn't had a chance to show it to anybody else who could then vouch for it. Obsession consumed Raiko as she attempted to get it working, and when she did, she took it to show Kiyo and Cheiko… but Kiyo was unreceptive, upset at Raiko for letting her other responsibilities slip and ultimately broke Raiko's prototype. This, in turn, angered Raiko, and no amount of peacekeeping from Cheiko was able to diffuse the tensions. Kiyo and Raiko ultimately ended up calling their friendship over and went their separate ways.

Raiko, troubled by the public failure of her demonstration and now bereft of her friends for support, retreated into her research, putting less and less effort into her studies until she was barely scraping by. She did make some headway, but over time realized that she was ultimately in the wrong. She attempted to make amends, but Kiyo was unreceptive. (Cheiko was more willing to forgive, but said she couldn't be fully friends with either girl unless they were both on spekaing terms again.)

Raiko was once an academic star, but her grades have slipped so badly that it's clear she isn't trying her best at the moment, leading her to be viewed askance by Infinity's student population. Her grandfather and the other teachers, meanwhile, have been trying to get her to reapply herself to her studies again.

=== Storms Brewing on the Horizon ===

Once Raiko reached a certain age, Kenji would take leave for a few days at a time on Magic Association business. A fellow mage from the organization, Akinori Ayase, would check up on Raiko during those times, and Raiko was always secure in the knowledge he would return.

Until he didn't.

When Kenji failed to return from his latest mission, and a week had passed with no word, Akinori had to break the news to her that they had lost contact with him. And what's worse, she couldn't stay by herself at her home long-term. Akinori, while able to stop by and check in on Raiko, couldn't take care of a child full time, so Raiko would be moving into the dorms at Infinity.

Right in the middle of where she had been bungling things for the last couple of years.

Once the news came that contact had been broken off, Shiori took off, ostensibly to find her mage, so Raiko didn't even have her for support when she moved into the dorms. And without her former friends to lean on, she's had a hard time adjusting to her new circumstances.

=== Destiny and Inheritance ===

By chance, Raiko met a fellow Inheritor, Yumi Ohzora, in the nurse's office at Infinity. During that chance encounter she accidentally dropped a cell phone case she had been in the middle of enchanting, and Yumi picked it up. Yumi recognized it for what it was and took it back to Raiko, guessing (correctly!) at its intended functionality, which surprised Raiko. Raiko was unused to anyone appreciating her work, and was overjoyed to gush about her interests with a fellow witch.

Their conversation eventually strayed to family, however, and Raiko eventually let slip her recent difficulty dealing with her missing grandfather and moving into the dorms… and then spilled her realizations of her just how badly she'd bungled her social standing in school. Yumi was kind and empathetic, which Raiko needed dearly.

Despite having finally admitted (to both herself and to Yumi) how she got into her current state, which was incredibly cathartic for her… the realization left her feeling more empty, and the following day she ditched class to go back to her house and brood. There she discovered the newly-returned Shiori, and inadvertently discovered the Staff of Wise Levin, as well. Entering the study to demand answers, the staff reacted to Raiko's presence, emitting enough power to destroy the wards and make The Hungry Queen aware of its presence.

Shiori tried to convince Raiko to take up the staff, to no avail. She was forced to turn to Tama and then Yumi for help. The three of them eventually found Raiko sitting by herself by a lake. Yumi revealed he was a fellow inheritor, and they continued their heart-to-heart talk from the day prior, now will full knowledge of each other's identities as Inheritors.

Their talk was interrupted by an Ogre attack however, and while Yumi bravely tried to fight it off, it was clear to all present, including Raiko, that she was outmatched. Shiori drove home that she had to try, despite her fear of failure, or her inaction could cost all of their lives. Raiko finally accepted and formed a pact with the staff, transforming into the Witch of Wise Levin. Together, Yumi and Raiko unleashed a fearsome combination attack to banish the ogre.

== Skills and Abilities ==
<blockquote>''"Oh, you cracked your phone's screen? I can replace that for you, no problem. Tell me what model it is and we can order a new one online. I'll look up replacement batteries, too, just in case. Oh and what size memory card do you have, maybe we can…"''</blockquote>

In academics her best subjects are STEM and magic, though her grades are currently suffering from dealing with various issues.

Raiko loves taking things apart to see how they work, fixing them up or even making them better, and then putting them back together. Electronics like cell phones, laptops, and computers certainly get most of her attention, but she's comfortable working with many different home or consumer products.

She is also a witch in training. Her current focus and specialty are enchantments, and spells that search or find things, and spells that work with information. She also regularly practices telekinesis as a useful tool for her work.

Of course, her love of both have let her to attempt to combine the two, and her current masterpiece is her cellphone. She's added a storage enchantment to it to allow her to store and retrieve items at will. She also uses it as the focus for many of her spells.

She has also created an enchanted cell phone case, that can wirelessly recharge a smart phone, one of her proudest achievements. Her latest project involves enchanting a new broom to replace the one that was destroyed in the past: she planes to enhnace the basic flight enchantment to make the broom extra durable, to boot.

=== The Witch of Wise Levin ===
Raiko is the Inheritor of the Staff of Wise Levin, aligned to the element of Air, and able to call forth its vast lightning magic in order to smite wrong doers. The staff's guardian, a cat named Shiori, is now her familiar as well, serving as a mentor and a guide as she starts to learn the ins and outs of its power.

==== Transformation ====

Raiko wills her staff to appear from where it normally resides, causing it to fade into existence in her gripped, outstretched hand. She shouts, "Staff of Wise Levin, hear me! In my hand discovered be!" A magic circle appears at her feet, encircling both caster and staff. Raiko slams the staff down, and it transforms into a thin bolt of lightning that surges up, splits, and then descends as four thinner bolts, striking the inner edge of the circle at the four cardinal points. From there, four sparks trace along the circle until the entire thing is aglow. The witch looks upward, raises a hand to the sky--and a massive column of lightning descends from above to engulf her.

From within, a yellow glow builds up on her body. Raiko looks down, directly ahead, and with a smirk ends the pillar of lightning. The glow increases for just a moment more before it explodes in a massive swirl of electrical sparks. It temporarily engulfs her body but then dies away to reveal a buttoned, charcoal-gray shirt, with a black vest overlaying it, and a black, multi-layered, frilly skirt that goes down to her knees.

Raiko then lowers her hand from above, pointing with it. An electric spark appears at her pointing fingertip which explodes outward into radiating lines of electric force. The lines spin rapidly around the spark as it travels down her arm to her elbow, leaving behind a yellow glow. The spark and lines vanish, only to reappear at Raiko's other elbow and continue to her fingertips, leaving behind a matching yellow glow. The light on both hands burst into a smaller shower of sparks to reveal elbow-length amber-yellow leather gloves, secured in place with black leather belts fastened with silver buckles. Winds swirl around her feet as she momentarily lifts up. A much larger spark and horizontally radiating electric lines appear at her feet. They spin as the lines and spark travel upwards over her legs to her knees, leaving behind a yellow light that bursts to reveal a pair of leather boots that match the gloves. As they appear the winds gently set her back down on her feet.

Raiko makes a quick sideways swiping gesture, and in time with that motion a line of electricity encircles her hips. It builds in intensity and then bursts to reveal a yellow leather belt. On the left side are two square pouches, while the right has a square pouch in back but a silver pocket watch, embedded in the front right of the belt, with a chain that also attaches to the belt. She brings her hand up to her throat, and a field of shimmering electrical energy spreads out from her her throat to drape down to mid-thigh, exploding with a shower of sparks to reveal a cloak.

From her throat, Raiko draws her hand back, seemingly pulling a ribbon out from the collar of her shirt with her fingertips. They hang in the air as she lets them go, and then, with a snap of her fingers, they start to move, tying themselves into an ornate bow. Another snap, and a ring of lighting encases her hair running down her hair, causing her hair to twist and turn rapidly as it's worked into a braid. Once the lightning reaches the end of her hair it tightens down to solidify into a silver ring to secure the braid.

Raiko's fingertips spark with electricity, and she reaches over to the left side of her vest to make a quick swiping gesture, leaving behind a silver quill insignia. The sparking fingertips then travel upwards to make a quick swiping gesture past her forehead, tracing the brim of a not-yet-extant hat. The spark continues around her head, leaving a trail as it forms a circle. Next, a shimmering field of energy flows in from the circle, then upwards to form a cone in the center. A final shower of sparks marks the formation of a witch's hat. Wide-brimmed, in the classic style, with a yellow belt and silver buckle encircling the base of the cone.

The staff reappears, and Raiko reaches out to grab it with her left hand. But just before her hand touches it she yanks her hand away and leans in, so her face is next to it. She grins, bringing the fingertips of her right hand up to touch the bridge of her nose. With a shimmer of magic, a pair of goggles appear on her face. Her grin grows a little bit wider as she winks from behind the goggle's lens. She stands back up, grabbing the staff with a swipe of her hand as she does a little spin and then poses with the staff. A bolt of lightning strikes dramatically behind her. "I am the Witch of Wise Levin! And if you don't wise up, you'll be sorry!"

== Relationships ==

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="width: 90%; text-align: center;"
|-
| scope="col | Name
|scope="col" class="unsortable"" |
|-
| [[#Kenji Takashima|Gramps]]
| ''"Grandpa… I'm trying to be the best witch and magical girl I can be. Wherever you are, I hope you're safe. I miss you, but I 'm doing my best to make you proud."''
|-
| [[#Shiori|Shiori]]
| ''"She's my familiar, but… she means a lot more to me than just that. She's always looked after me, even in non-magical stuff, and… she's family to me, too."''
|-
| [[#Akinori Ayase|Aya-kun]]
| ''"He's one of my grandpa's friends from the Magic Association, but he's always been really good to me, too. He looks after me while my grandpa is… away on business, but he's always interested in seeing what projects I'm working on!"''
|-
| [[Yumi Ohzora|Yumi-chan]]
| ''"When I didn't have anyone else, you were there for me. You made me feel like it was possible to fix things again. No matter what happens, I'll be behind you, 100%."''
|-
| [[#Kiyo Tagawa|Ki-chan]]
| ''"I know things haven't been great between us, but... I want to keep working at it. I've missed being able to talk to you."''
|-
| [[#Cheiko Otomo|Chitomo]]
| ''"I know Ki-chan and I put you in a tough spot, and I'm sorry for that. But thanks for being so patient with us."''
|-
| [[Michiko Nakara]]
| ''"… She seems nice… She barely knows me, but… I can tell she's still really concerned for me. … It's nice that there are people like that in the world."''

|}

== Notable NPCs ==

=== Kenji Takashima ===

Raiko's grandfather, and the only family she's known growing up all of her life. He is kind, supportive, and devoted to his granddaughter's development.

He's also a mage for the Magic Association, and his work sometimes takes him away from home. He works to thwart The Hungry Queen by attempting to locate and secure artifacts and objects of power that are of interest to The Hungry Queen before she can get her hands on them. He didn't return from his last mission, forcing Raiko to move into the dorms at Infinity.

He was also helping Shiori safeguard The Staff of Wise Levin, which Raiko has now accepted as her destiny. She's hoping that by fighting The Hungry Queen that she can eventually discover what happened to her grandfather and bring him home safe. She also has access to his study, and is hoping she can decipher his notes to find some clue of his whereabouts, or ways to foil The Hungry Queen's plots.

Raiko adores her grandfather, but without him she feels so lost, especially with having to move into the dorms. But now that Shiori has returned and she's made friends with Yumi, she doesn't feel quite so hopeless. But she's still looking forward to the day when she can show her grandfather that she's trying to turn her life around.

She realized sometime after taking up Wise Levin that she was adopted, or at least she strongly suspected it. In attempting to research her family lineage she hit a dead end, and suspected that was the reason why. Shiori has since confirmed this, along with the fate of her parents.

=== Shiori ===

A tabby calico cat, who is the guardian of the Staff of Wise Levin and, upon Raiko accepting her destiny, now also Raiko's familiar. She's been a part of Raiko's life for as long as the young girl can remember, though formerly she was told Shiori was Kenji's familiar, as they were not ready to disclose her destiny to her yet. Raiko views her as just as much a family member as her grandfather, a bond that has only strengthened now that she has learned of her destiny, and Shiori's patience and care in helping her to accept it.

Shiori has provided assistance to Raiko with her magical studies ever since she was ready to start studying magic, tutoring her in the basics whenever Kenji wasn't available. Now Shiori is also her advisor as she learns about and adapts to the power of her staff.

The feeling between them is mutual. Shiori has watched over Raiko her entire life, and feels a sense of fondness and affection for the girl that goes beyond her role as a guardian and familiar. She provides counsel and advice for any number of issues Raiko faces, taking an interest in the rest of her academics as well as her emotional well-being.

Despite Shiori's fears that revealing the truth of her parentage would cause mistrust or hurt feelings, Raiko was instead grateful. Together, they were able to finish the ritual to fully empower Shiori as a familiar, meaning their bond has become closer than ever as they both get used to their new roles.

=== Kiyo Tagawa ===

A fellow 9th year Infinity student, and formerly one of a best friend group with Raiko and Cheiko, and also a fellow magic student. Kiyo was always the most athletic one of the trio of friends, proudly tomboyish, and usually took the lead on organizing projects and boosting up others.

She grew upset when Raiko's surprise demonstration hurt their project grade in 7th grade, and lost her temper completely after Raiko attempted to show her the working version after increasingly ignoring her studies and other responsibilities. She broke Raiko's prototype… which is an action she now regrets.

Things remained tense between Kiyo and Raiko for several years. However, a chance meeting with Raiko while she was working late in a lab lead her to discover all of the progress that Raiko had

=== Cheiko Otomo ===

A fellow 9th year Infinity student, and formerly one of a best friend group with Raiko and Kiyo, and also a fellow magic student. Cheiko was the artistic one of the group, often providing creative flare for flourishes to their presentations, and also a bit softer and something of a peacemaker between the stronger personalities of Kiyo and Raiko.

Cheiko attempted to mediate the growing rift between Raiko and Kiyo, but was unable to prevent the arguments from blowing up the way they did. She grew upset at how they treated each other, and told them both off after the prototype was broken and the fight really kicked into high gear.

She calmed down the fastest of the three, and is perfectly willing to be cordial with both Kiyo and Raiko… however, out of respect for the other she won't be fully-invested friends with either of them until the two other girls can patch things up between each other.

Raiko and Kiyo have recently seemed to reach an understanding, and Cheiko is doing her best to quietly encourage this development, wanting to get back to their old status quo as much as the other two girls do.

=== Akinori Ayase ===

A fellow mage from the Magic Association. He's much younger, and was chosen to look after Raiko because she got along well with him. He's friendly and personable, and genuinely interested in the new things Raiko is doing with her magic. He often stops by to check in on Raiko when Kenji is out on a work trip.

Akinori was also entrusted with enacting certain contingency plans should Kenji not return from one of his trips. Since he's not situated to take in a child, it was agreed Raiko would be moved into the dorms at Infinity instead. This would bring her more under the auspices of the Magic Association's protection as well as take advantage of the infrastructure already in palce to support students living on their own.

He is also Raiko's primary contact within the organization for any matters she may need related to her own membership.

Raiko recently revealed to Akinori that she took up the Staff of Wise Levin, much to his surprise. He was concerned that she didn't come forward about this sooner, but is doing his best to support her now that he's been made aware.

==Scenes==

{{#dpl:
|category = cutscenes¦logs
|linksto = Raiko Takashima
|notcategory = News Files
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 1
|rowcolformat=width=50%
|suppresserrors = yes
| addcategories = true
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| format = ,,\n* [[%PAGE%]] (²{#switch:²{#count:%CATNAMES%¦Cutscenes}²¦0 = Log¦Cutscene}²),
|noresultsheader=There are no scenes on this wiki that {{PAGENAME}} participated in.
}}

[[Category:Characters]]

2024-08-13 - Best Friends and Broomsticks

2024-08-13T17:58:46Z

Talnora: To new beginnings...

{|class="toccolours" cellspacing="2"
|-
! style="background:#CC6699; border: 2px #CC0033 solid; font-size: 110%;" align="center" colspan="2" | '''Title: Best Friends and Broomsticks'''
|-
|'''Summary''': 
''Raiko is at school late working hard on the enchantments she'll need to create a new broom for the Staff of Wise Levin. Her late work unexpectedly attracts the attention of Kiyo Tagawa and Cheiko Otomo, her two former best friends that she had a falling out with three years prior. An awkward reunion ensues.''
|-
| '''Who:''' [[Raiko Takashima]], [[Raiko Takashima#Kiyo Tagawa|Kiyo Tagawa]], [[Raiko Takashima#Cheiko Otomo|Cheiko Otomo]]
|-
| '''Where:''' 
Infinity Institute Magic Labs
|-
| '''OOC - IC Date:''' 
8/13/2024 - Wednesday, June 29, 2016
|-
|}

"And test run number fifteen is... a failure."

Raiko sighed as she started jotting down notes. She was in one of Infinity's magic labs, and one that she had booked for the entire afternoon and evening to run her experiments with. Arcane sigils and wards lined the walls, ceiling and floor, adding extra protection from magical mishaps on top of the reinforced steel construction of the room. There were any number of workstations for various types of workings, from potioncraft to artifact construction, but the one that concerned Raiko the most today was enchantment.

In the center of the room, on the floor, a magic circle had been inscribed, meant to offer extra protection (and containment) to whatever spell or enchantment one might be working with. And in the middle of that was a broom that had, until a moment ago, been hovering a foot off the ground. Now it was laying on the ground, sparking and crackling with residual magic in a blue hue.

Raiko herself was standing next to the circle, dressed in her school uniform and with her blue hair tied back in a ponytail. She had a notebook and pencil in hand. Her phone was hovering next to her, suspended in midair with several rings of concentric magic circles surrounding it. The screen was on, displaying a stream of numbers and glyphs that Raiko was dutifully copying down.

Slowly pacing around the magic circle was Shiori, a tabby calico cat—Raiko's familiar—examining the broom from multiple angles. "It rather seems like there was a crossover between two or more enchantments." The familiar's voice paused as she turned to Raiko, regarding her phone. She understood that the integration of magic and technology worked for Raiko, but still didn't quite understand the technology side of things. "What do your... readings show, dear?"

The apprentice witch reached out to tap at the phone screen, swiping through several menus until she pulled up a graph. A rather large spike towards the end stood out. She sighed. "Yeah... there's a kilothaum burst right near the end. It's... ''possible'' that the engraving failed and caused a short circuit, but... it's more likely the pathways are too close together and caused a harmonic resonance alignment."

There was a moment of silence between witch and familiar.

Raiko sighed. "Okay, it's a crossover either way, I just... like distinguishing what the root cause might be."

Shiori nodded slowly. "Of course, dear. Being precise in matters of experimentation certainly has its virtues."

With a wave of her hand, Raiko dismissed the barrier and picked up the broom. It was utterly traditional in its construction, a plain wooden handle with a bundle of straw at one end. It wasn't the broom she intended to use permanently, but she was trying to eliminate the number of variables she would have to account for with the final enchantment. Still, she looked it over for a moment before putting it with a series of other brooms awaiting further examination. She carefully applied a tag to it, and then grabbed the next broom waiting to be tested.

"Alright, Shiori. Next up is—"

A knock at the door cut her off. Raiko frowned and looked at the clock. It was late, certainly, but she still had the room reserved for another hour yet. She wasn't expecting, well, anybody. Yumi knew where she was, but... her fellow Inheritor would call or text if she needed something, right?

Raiko left the newest broom in the middle of the circle and then moved to answer the door. "Hello? Can I—" Her thought trailed off as she took in who was there.

Two of her fellow students were at the door. And more than that, her two best friends.

Or, well, her former best friends, anyway. They'd had a falling out after starting middle school together. Raiko had tried to impress on a project with a still-unproven and not ready technique for doing a new type of enchantment, and had made a fool of herself and her two friends in front of the entire class.

That had been Raiko's fault. She could admit that she had been impatient, and had let her enthusiasm get the better of her. But then she had gotten it working. A real working prototype that she had properly tested this time. She'd wanted to show it to her friends first this time, not the entire class, she'd thought they'd be excited, but Kiyo...

She shook herself from those thoughts. "Cheiko-chan, Kiyo-chan..."

Cheiko was about Raiko's height, with rose-red hair even longer than her own, and green eyes. Her hairstyle today seemed to be two buns formed out of braided her. She was always so good at that, thought Raiko. Her own manual dexterity, honed through years of working with small electronics, never quite seemed up to the task, and there were times she missed having Cheiko's help for things like that.

Of the three, Cheiko was the artist, with aspirations of becoming a well-known mangaka. She would often have her head in the clouds, and Raiko would be right there with her, and it was usually Kiyo who kept them both grounded.

Kiyo, meanwhile, was taller than either of them by a couple of inches, with clear blue eyes and sporting bright green hair. She kept her hair short and unruly, but unruly in a way that took more effort to do, not less. Where Cheiko and Raiko would bond over manga and anime, discussing character motivations and story structure, Kiyo and Raiko shared a passion for video games, instead.

But that was Kiyo for you: she liked being active, even if only digitally, and outside of video games she was the natural born athlete of the three. You could even call her competitive, at times, and headstrong. But Raiko often had strong ideas about how to do things, too, and it usually took Cheiko to be the mediator of the three, to suggest compromises they could both be happy with.

Cheiko and Kiyo were also both apprentice witches, like Raiko. All three had started at Infinity together in grade school, and had grown up always teaming up for class assignments and projects, or formed study groups to help each other with homework. Or they used to, at least.

... What did she bring to their friendship, Raiko wondered, not for the first time.

Cheiko and Kiyo both seemed just as surprised to see her there as well. Cheiko's normally ever-pleasant smile was replaced by an expression of concern, while Kiyo's expression was a bit sharper, becoming a frown of annoyance as she realized who was at the door.

"Oh, Raiko-chan," started Cheiko. "I didn't expect... what are you doing here?"

"Working on a project," Raiko said simply. She glanced back into the room. "Shiori's here, too."

The familiar leapt up onto a counter and sat primly upright, nodding to the two new arrivals. "Good evening, girls. It has been a while, hasn't it?"

"That's... not ''quite'' what I—"

Kiyo cut in. "She ''means'' you're gonna miss the last bus if you don't get out of here. Or did you get so wrapped up—" She cut herself off as Cheiko put a hand on her arm. Kiyo looked to her, frowning deeper.

"Oh," said Raiko flatly. She looked down at her feet. "... I'm actually staying in the dorms, now, so..."

"What!?" shouted Kiyo.

"... Since when?" asked Cheiko, a bit more calmly, but still with plain concern on her face.

Shiori stood up again, striding forward. "Perhaps you two had better come in." She looked to Raiko. "... Is that okay with you?"

"Yeah." Raiko stepped back from the door. "What are you two doing here, anyway?"

Cheiko started to walk inside. "Oh, you know, we got paired up for that assignment in Elemental Enchantments? We were working on it in a different lab, but when we left we saw the lights on here and were curious who else was working so late."

"Oh, yeah. Which one did you decide to work on?"

"The glow one," said Cheiko cheerfully. "I'm hoping I can turn it into an art piece of some kind later."

Raiko managed a smile. "I bet you'll make something amazing with that."

Both girls realized then that Kiyo had yet to enter the room. Kiyo was still in the hallway, determinedly avoiding making eye contact with anybody else.

"You know it is pretty late," Chieko said hurriedly. "Kiyo-chan, you've got that soccer match tomorrow, right? Why don't you go rest up, and I'll fill you in later?"

Kiyo still didn't say anything for a moment more. Then, without making eye contact still, she asked, "Is it serious?"

Raiko sighed and nodded. "... Yeah."

There was a quiet grunt of assent, and then Kiyo stepped in and closed the door behind her.

This was the first time in 3 years the three of them had been in the same room together for something that wasn't school-related in some way. Raiko and Kiyo couldn't quite make eye contact, while Cheiko was looking between the two, lost for words that might help the situation.

Hospitality. That'd be a start, right? It wasn't really the right answer, but it was ''an'' answer, at least. Raiko cleared her throat. "Do either of you want a snack? I've got extra. I've got, um... let's see..." Raiko concentrated and held her hands out. In a shimmer of blue energy, two snack bags appeared, one in each. She held them up for Cheiko and Kiyo to see. "Mochi and cherry flavors."

The other two girls stared at her.

Raiko blinked. "What? Why are you—" Then she realized that they were, in fact, looking at her hands. At the snack bags. "... Oh, right." Of course. They didn't know about that little trick of hers. Hardly anybody knew, except for Yumi and some of her magical girl friends.

"Raiko, how...?" started Cheiko.

"Did you seriously spend the last three years working on... on ''snack magic''?" accused Kiyo hotly.

"Kiyo-chan," said Shiori sharply. "Allow Raiko a chance to explain before jumping to conclusions."

Kiyo stiffened and nodded. "... yes, Shiori-san."

Raiko mentally thanked Shiroi, knowing her familiar could pick up on the gratitude. But she'd make it a point to verbally thank her later, too. She took a deep breath. "Okay, so—"

Cheiko's attention, meanwhile, was on Raiko's phone, which was still hovering in mid-air next to her experiment, surrounded by several rings of magic sigils. "Raiko, why is your phone doing that?"

Before Raiko could respond, Kiyo latched onto something else. "Forget the phone! Is that a ''broom''? Don't tell me you're seriously trying to enchant a broom."

How had this gotten so complicated so fast? Raiko struggled to try and organize her thoughts so she could get the conversation on track. "W-well, you see—"

The green-haired girl wheeled on her, hands on her hips. "This is ''just'' like you. Messing with stuff you don't understand. I don't know who you're trying to impress, you big idiot, but you need to get your head out of the clouds if you ever want to bring your grades back up. Nobody in our class is ready to work an enchantment like that. This is college stuff!"

Both Cheiko and Shiori tried to interrupt, but their protests were cut off by Raiko herself. "''Hey!''" She was glaring at Kiyo now, meeting her angry gaze with one of her own. "In case you haven't noticed, I actually ''have'' been bringing my grades up. ''And'' I did okay on my entrance exams." Not ''great'', not everything she was capable of, but... better than she would have expected, considering. "And I'll have you know I can actually enchant a broom."

Kiyo rolled her eyes. "Oh yeah, right. I'm supposed to believe you went from barely passing your classes to enchanting a broom? What, did you make it glow, like our class assignment?"

"Nope. Real flight. Watch—" Raiko reached a hand for her phone, recalling it to her with her telekinesis. She put it down next to a notebook, and then stomped over to the line of brooms. She picked up the first one and turned back to her friends.

Wordlessly, Raiko tossed the broom forward, and instead of clattering to the ground it instead caught itself in midair, bobbing gently. Raiko slipped onto it sideways, making sure to smooth out her skirt and observe the proper form. At her mental urging the broom lifted itself up into the air and made a slow lap of the lab before lowering itself again. She left it sitting just a little higher than when she started, so her legs were dangling without touching the ground. It still felt as amazing and awe-inspiring as the first time she'd taken it for a test ride.

Raiko couldn't help but grin at seeing her friend's shocked expressions. Especially Kiyo's.

"Amazing..." was all Cheiko could say.

"No way," said Kiyo in an awed voice. "Did... you didn't ''really'' do that yourself, did you?"

"Well, Shiori helped," admitted Raiko. But familiars were supposed to help, so that wasn't really cheating.

Shiori had sat again, her tail curled up around her paws. "I provided some assistance, yes. But only at Raiko's direction. She did the hard work of understanding and applying the enchantment."

"But if you have a working broom," asked Cheiko, "why does it look like you're getting ready to enchant another one?"

Raiko couldn't admit she was making a broom to help enhance an ancient magical artifact, of course. But she could still explain some of what she was working on. "I'm experimenting with augmenting the flight enchantment. Speed, maneuverability, maybe a defensive ward..." She was determined not to leave any future Inheritors of her staff without a broom again if she could possibly help it. "But I had to make sure I understood the basic enchantment first before I could build on it."

"But if you can do that—you should be acing all of your magic classes!" protested Kiyo.

The broom touched down again, and Raiko stepped off of it, putting the broom back in the lineup. "I... overspecialized. I spent all my time researching and studying enchantments, and everything else... kind of suffered. I'm working on catching back up."

"Wait wait wait. I thought you got all obsessed with, you know, combining magic and technology? Did you give that up?"

Raiko shook her head. She picked up her phone and then let it float between her hands. "Nope. I managed to figure out a bunch of stuff. Like my phone. I can use it as a focus for scrying spells. That was the spell you saw earlier. And it has a subdimensional pocket enchantment with a few modifications I added onto it for convenience. ''That'' was where the cookies came from."

"You.... put a storage enchantment on your phone and you use it to store cookies?" asked Cheiko, with some concern.

"Yeah." The apprentice witch shrugged a little. "It's more convenient than interrupting a flow state to get a snack. Plus I store other stuff in here too. Pencils, tools, all my magic textbooks..."

Cheiko stepped closer. She didn't need to look to Shiori for confirmation; she hadn't heard of anybody else doing this type of enchantment. "That's amazing, Raiko."

A nervous laugh. "Nah..." Raiko shrugged a little. "It's... mostly sympathetic magic. Just... from a different viewpoint, that's all..." There was a lot more to it, of course, but they would understand the basic idea that way, at least.

"Hey!" snapped Kiyo. The other two girls turned to look at her, but Raiko was already cringing a little in anticipation of what she might say. Instead, Kiyo just folded her arms. "Don't sell yourself short, dummy. This is incredible and you're incredible for figuring it out and you should take the damn compliment."

"K-Ki-chan..." Raiko glanced away, at a loss for words momentarily. In a quiet voice, she eventually said, "... thanks."

The other girl huffed and looked aside. "Welcome," she mumbled. "... just... pisses me off, when people do that."

A momentary silence settled between the three girls, the lull in the conversation quickly giving way to awkwardness.

"... How long?" Kiyo finally asked.

Raiko shrugged a little. "A while."

Kiyo finally looked at Raiko again. "Why didn't you tell us?"

Another shrug. "I didn't want you to break my phone." There was something accusatory in her tone.

It was harsher than she'd meant, and Kiyo flinched back before quickly looking away. This time, her expression was more guilty. Raiko couldn't blame her friend; it kind of surprised her, too, hearing that tone coming out of her mouth.

Cheiko's expression grew tight with worry as she looked between the two girls. Shiori watched quietly, but said nothing, her expression inscrutable.

Kiyo huffed. "Yeah... that's... that's a fair hit." She couldn't bring herself to look at Raiko directly, but she did look at the corner of her eye towards the other girl. "... I'm sorry for breaking your prototype."

Raiko nodded, looking downcast at the floor. "Thanks. I'm... sorry for ruining the presentation."

There was a small sigh of relief from Cheiko. Shiori simply blinked slowly.

"So..." started Cheiko. "... does any of this have anything to do with you staying in the dorms?"

Raiko was instantly tense again as she shook her head. "No. That's... something else." She took a moment to steel herself, and then looked up. "My grandfather is missing. He was on a trip taking care of Magic Association business, but... he hasn't come back yet."

Cheiko gasped. "Rai-chan—" She stepped forward to wrap Raiko in a tight hug. "I'm so sorry. If I'd known—"

"It's okay, Chitomo-chan," mumbled Raiko as she accepted the hug. Things were complicated enough between the three of them without adding fresh guilt onto the pile. She felt a hand on her shoulder, blinking in surprise to see Kiyo standing there.

"Hey, um..." Kiyo glanced away for a moment, but then managed to look at Raiko again. "Your grandpa's really cool, so... I hope they find him."

Cheiko let Raiko go. "Okay. If you're up for it, you're filling us in on everything that's happened."

"Yeah, but let's move this to one of our dorms, my battery's gonna die any minute now."

Raiko perked up. "Oh! I have just the thing for that." In her hand suddenly appeared a phone case. Raiko flashed it to Cheiko and Kiyo to show them the intricate enchantment engraved within. "Kiyo-chan, can I see your phone?"

Kiyo shrugged and handed it over, "I guess, but I dunno how that's going to help."

"You'll see~" Raiko fit the phone to the case, and then held it up for her friends to see. The battery icon changed to include a plug, and a message on the lock screen indicated that wireless charging was active.

"Whoa!"

"No way!"

"Way!" said Raiko with a grin. She put the phone on the counter and started to explain.

[[Category:Cutscenes]]

Logs

2024-04-08T16:42:03Z

Talnora: Updated for April 2024.

To create a page for your log, simply create a page with a title of 'YYYY-MM-DD - Log Title'. This index page will automatically link it in the appropriate month folder, as long as the appropriate category is included at the end with:

<pre>
[[Category:Logs]]
</pre>

For the fancy summary table you may use this code:
<pre>
{|class="toccolours" cellspacing="2"
|-
! style="background:#CC6699; border: 2px #CC0033 solid; font-size: 110%;" align="center" colspan="2" | '''Title: <Your title>'''
|-
|'''Summary''': 
''<The summary>''
|-
| '''Who:''' 
<Who is involved. Make sure to place their names [[Between the brackets]]>
|-
| '''Where:''' 
<The location>
|-
| '''OOC - IC Date:''' 
<RL Date - IC Date>
|-
|}
[[Category:Logs]]
</pre>
If you're interested in using an automatic log-cleaning script, please reference [https://pastebin.com/LGXybZ8r Log Muncher], made and shared by our former player [[Lucy Iwai]].

For the overall story of Battle Fantasia MUSH, please see our [[Timeline]].

[[Cutscenes]] are listed on their own page.

===2013===
'''September:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2013-09-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of September.
}}

'''October:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2013-10-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of October.
}}

'''November:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2013-11-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of November.
}}

'''December:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2013-12-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of December.
}}

===2014===
'''January:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2014-01-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of January.
}}

'''February:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2014-02-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of February.
}}

'''March:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2014-03-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of March.
}}

'''April:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2014-04-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of April.
}}

'''May:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2014-05-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of May.
}}

'''June:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2014-06-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of June.
}}

'''July:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2014-07-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of July.
}}

'''August:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2014-08-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of August.
}}

'''September:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2014-09-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of September.
}}

'''October:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2014-10-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of October.
}}

'''November:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2014-11-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of November.
}}

'''December:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2014-12-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of December.
}}

===2015===
'''January:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2015-01-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of January.
}}

'''February:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2015-02-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of February.
}}

'''March:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2015-03-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of March.
}}

'''April:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2015-04-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of April.
}}

'''May:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2015-05-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of May.
}}

'''June:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2015-06-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of June.
}}

'''July:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2015-07-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of July.
}}

'''August:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2015-08-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of August.
}}

'''September:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2015-09-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of September.
}}

'''October:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2015-10-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of October.
}}

'''November:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2015-11-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of November.
}}

'''December:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2015-12-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of December.
}}

===2016===
'''January:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2016-01-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of January.
}}

'''February:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2016-02-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of February.
}}

'''March:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2016-03-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of March.
}}

'''April:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2016-04-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of April.
}}

'''May:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2016-05-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of May.
}}

'''June:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2016-06-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of June.
}}

'''July:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2016-07-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of July.
}}

'''August:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2016-08-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of August.
}}

'''September:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2016-09-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of September.
}}

'''October:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2016-10-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of October.
}}

'''November:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2016-11-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of November.
}}

'''December:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2016-12-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of December.
}}

===2017===
'''January:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2017-01-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of January.
}}

'''February:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2017-02-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of February.
}}

'''March:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2017-03-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of March.
}}

'''April:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2017-04-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of April.
}}

'''May:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2017-05-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of May.
}}

'''June:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2017-06-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of June.
}}

'''July:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2017-07-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of July.
}}

'''August:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2017-08-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of August.
}}

'''September:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2017-09-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of September.
}}

'''October:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2017-10-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of October.
}}

'''November:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2017-11-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of November.
}}

'''December:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2017-12-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of December.
}}

===2018===
'''January:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2018-01-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of December.
}}

'''February:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2018-02-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of December.
}}

'''March:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2018-03-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of December.
}}

'''April:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2018-04-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of December.
}}

'''May:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2018-05-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of December.
}}

'''June:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2018-06-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of December.
}}

'''July:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2018-07-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of December.
}}

'''August:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2018-08-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of August.
}}

'''September:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2018-09-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of September.
}}

'''October:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2018-10-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of September.
}}

'''November (note for IC chronological purposes that we started a [[Previously On Battle Fantasia|flashback timeloop plot]] on 11/11/18):'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2018-11-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of September.
}}

'''December:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2018-12-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of December.
}}

===2019===
'''January:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2019-01-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of September.
}}

'''February:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2019-02-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of September.
}}

'''March:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2019-03-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of September.
}}

'''April (note for IC chronological purposes that we ended a [[Previously On Battle Fantasia|flashback timeloop plot]] on 04/06/19):'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs¦cutscenes
|titlematch = 2019-04-%
|notcategory = News Files
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of April.
}}

'''May:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs¦cutscenes
|titlematch = 2019-05-%
|notcategory = News Files
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of May.
}}

'''June:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2019-06-%
|notcategory = News Files
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of June.
}}

'''July:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2019-07-%
|notcategory = News Files
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of July.
}}

'''August:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2019-08-%
|notcategory = News Files
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of July.
}}

'''September:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2019-09-%
|notcategory = News Files
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of July.
}}

'''October:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2019-10-%
|notcategory = News Files
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of July.
}}

'''November:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2019-11-%
|notcategory = News Files
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of July.
}}

'''December:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2019-12-%
|notcategory = News Files
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of July.
}}

===2020===
'''January:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2020-01-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of January.
}}

'''February:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2020-02-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of January.
}}

'''March:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2020-03-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of January.
}}

'''April:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2020-04-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of January.
}}

'''May:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2020-05-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of January.
}}

'''June:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2020-06-%
|notcategory = News Files
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|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
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|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of January.
}}

'''July:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2020-07-%
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|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of January.
}}

'''August:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2020-08-%
|notcategory = News Files
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|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of January.
}}

'''September:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2020-09-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of January.
}}

'''October:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2020-10-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of January.
}}

'''November:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2020-11-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of January.
}}

'''December:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2020-12-%
|notcategory = News Files
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|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of January.
}}

===2021===
'''January:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2021-01-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of January.
}}

'''February:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2021-02-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of January.
}}

'''March:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2021-03-%
|notcategory = News Files
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|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of January.
}}

'''April:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2021-04-%
|notcategory = News Files
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|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of January.
}}

'''May:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2021-05-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of May.
}}

'''June:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2021-06-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
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|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of June.
}}

'''July:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2021-07-%
|notcategory = News Files
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|columns = 2
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|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of July.
}}

'''August:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2021-08-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of August.
}}

'''September:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2021-09-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of August.
}}

'''October:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2021-10-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of August.
}}

'''November:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2021-11-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of August.
}}

'''December:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2021-12-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of August.
}}

===2022===
'''January:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2022-01-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of January.
}}

'''February:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2022-02-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of January.
}}

'''August:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2022-08-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of January.
}}

'''September:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2022-09-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of January.
}}

'''October:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2022-10-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of January.
}}

'''November:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2022-11-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of January.
}}

'''December:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2022-12-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of January.
}}

===2023===
'''January:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2023-01-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of January.
}}

'''February:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2023-02-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of January.
}}

'''March:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2023-03-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of March.
}}

'''April:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2023-04-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of March.
}}

'''May:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2023-05-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of March.
}}

'''June:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2023-06-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of June.
}}

'''July:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2023-07-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of June.
}}

'''August:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2023-08-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of June.
}}

'''September:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2023-09-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of June.
}}

'''November:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2023-11-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of June.
}}

===2024===
'''January:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2024-01-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of June.
}}

'''February:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2024-02-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of June.
}}

'''March:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2024-03-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of March.
}}

'''April:'''
{{#dpl: |category = logs
|titlematch = 2024-04-%
|notcategory = News Files
|notcategory = cutscenes
|ordermethod = title
|columns = 2
|rowcolformat=width=100%
|suppresserrors = yes
|noresultsheader=There are no logs on this wiki for the month of April.
}}
[[Category:Logs]]

2024-04-08 - A Stadium of Sorrows

2024-04-08T16:40:13Z

Talnora: Argent's true colors have finally been revealed.

{|class="toccolours" cellspacing="2"
|-
! style="background:#CC6699; border: 2px #CC0033 solid; font-size: 110%;" align="center" colspan="2" | '''Title: A Stadium of Sorrows'''
|-
|'''Summary''': 
''The world-renowned star Jagged Stone is playing a concert to a packed stadium, but La Sirene d'Argent has designs on inflicting sorrow on all those gathered. Her fellow siren, La Sirene de Argent strenuously objects to inflicting so much additional sorrow, and The Witch of Lost Ivy backs her in putting an end to Argent's efforts.''
|-
| '''Who:''' 
[[Ginka Shimizu]], [[Yumi Ohzora]], [[Nori Ankou]]
|-
| '''Where:''' 
Ajinomoto Stadium (Tama Outer City)
|-
| '''OOC - IC Date:''' 
4/6/2024 - Sunday, May 29, 2016
|-
|}

.****************************** Tama Outer City *******************************.
*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ Ajinomoto Stadium +*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+
Though its primary purpose is soccer/football games (the Japanese use both
terms for the same popular sport), Ajinomoto Stadium is used for many
different sports year-round. One of the largest stadiums in Tokyo at 50,000
seats, Ajinomoto is a donut-shaped disk of white poles located near the
Chofu Airport, and sunken partially into the ground to avoid disrupting the
planes, such that its playing field is considerably below ground level. Two
vast tiers of seating ring the field, which during soccer season is a
rectangle of green grass. During rainy days or the hotter periods of Tokyo's
scorching summers, a panorama roof extends to shield viewers from the
elements.

Ajinomoto is unusually well-integrated into the Chofu community, and is
often put to other purposes. It is an emergency station during extreme
weather events, but when the weather is pleasant instead of dangerous, its
law is often converted into a sprawling open-air flea market, with tables
and stalls selling used goods to bargain hunters.

<Pose Tracker> Ginka Shimizu [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

The atmosphere in Ajinomoto Stadium is positively electric tonight. There is no sporting event or a flea market being hosted this night: instead, it is a concert for the one and only Jagged Stone! Sister School students had plenty of chances to win tickets or purchase them at friendly student discounts, and the stadium is full of eager, excited fans. It promises to be an amazing performance from a beloved performer, a dazzling rock concert that has reached a very wide audience.

Far to the west, the sun is already starting to dip below the horizon, leaving the sky over the stadium a warm orange rapidly fading to a deep, inky blue. The weather report said it would be clear skies tonight, but from the stadium grounds one can see a handful of clouds starting to gather. A cold, biting wind sweeps through the gathered concert-goers but does nothing to quell their excitement.

The stadium lighting dims temporarily, along with the stage lighting going completely dark. Shadowed figures can be spotted moving about on stage--the band taking their places. A few excited hollars go up from the crowd at this, and then die down again.

Suddenly, a loud chord rings out from the stage, a spotlight fires up, and front and center is Jagged Stone, wearing his best showman's smile for the audience. Two large screens flare to life on either side of him, projecting his image for everyone to see far into the back of the stadium. The crowd erupts into cheers again, and Jagged Stone lets them continue for a few moments, the smile turning a shade more genuine. "Alright, alright," he finally says as the crowd begins to quiet down. "Thank you, Tokyo! Are you ready--"

A bright flash of light from the back of the stadium illuminates the stage, and in the same instant everything goes dark. The stage lights, the screens, everything inside the stadium facilities. The speakers go dead, so nobody gets to hear the last part of Jagged Stone's question.

A murmur of unease starts to swell among the gathered fans. The stadium staff react quickly, bringing out flashlights and doing their best to reassure the crowds and keep order. On stage is a small huddle consisting of the band and staff, but during all that a few droplets of rain can be felt on the field. The clouds overhead have gotten much thicker, and some are speculating that there might have been a lightning strike that took out the power.

Finally, someone locates a megaphone to start communicating with the crowd. "We apologize deeply for this inconvenience, but without power we cannot continue tonight's performance as planned. We are working very hard to fix this issue, but unfortunately, due to safety concerns from the impending storm, we must ask everyone to take shelter within the stadium until it passes."

With that, the staff members start directing the crowds inside, away from the potential danger, with ample flashlights and emergency lighting to make it possible to see. The excitement and energy of the crowd, however, has cratered, and even many of those who are insisting that the show might still continue are rapidly losing hope. There is almost a sense of mourning at the loss of something that ''almost'' was.

A sense of sorrow.

But those in the crowd with magic know that it was not a lightning strike--at least, not a ''normal'' one. Whether it is the telltale feel of magic in the air, the scent of salt on the breeze too far from an ocean breeze, or the faint ghostly strand of violin notes just on the edge of perception... whatever it is, it's coming from the roof. With the dim lightning and the confusion of staff directing crowds, it's easy enough to 'accidentally' get separated from the crowds and get to work.

ON THE ROOF

Fun fact: Ajinomoto Stadium has a roof covering its upper tier of seating and a large portion of the lower tier. Most of it is a solid, opaque white, but on the two ends of the stadium it is clear.

Picture, if you will, a sea of glass, latticed through with steel. It is almost like walking on air, the uncanny sensation of standing on something that isn't there at all. What's more, there is a whole world trapped beneath it, formed of rows of seats, an ocean of potential and possibility that will not be realized tonight. Above, storm clouds churn and swirl angrily. Winds swirl and buffet those on the roof of the stadium, but there is a clear locus, a spot of tranquility.

In the middle of a great big glass pane lies a puddle of salt water, clay pot fragments, and obsidian sand. On the larger pieces of the clay pot fragments are ancient, faded markings, incomplete even before its untimely sacrifice moments ago. The shards have been carefully arranged, and an intricate pattern drawn in the black sand. It forms a sort of unshape, an impossible symbol that seems to slide off the eye and defy categorization.

But the assembled magical girls are not alone up here. Standing on the very edge of the roof, with both feet together, seemingly in defiance of concerns like 'wind' or 'gravity' or 'gee that's an awfully long way to fall, maybe you'd better step back a little', stands another magical girl, one who was already here. Her silver hair is long and wavy, falling down to midback. She is dressed in a black leather bolero jacket over a short black strapless dress in a gothic style, with gloves and thigh-high boots. Her right hand is raised up high, holding a gleaming silver rapier with an intricate guard.

In the darkness of dusk, and with all of the stadium's lighting shut off, it is easy to see that something is flowing up into the rapier from the grounds below. Streams and swirls of something soft and ephemeral are carried on invisible currents from all of the disappointed concert goers below.

They glimmer like tears.

COMBAT: Ginka Shimizu transforms into La Sirene d'Argent!

COMBAT: La Sirene d'Argent has fully healed herself. She is now ready to take on 2 opponents!

COMBAT: Yumi Ohzora transforms into Inheritor Lost Ivy!

COMBAT: Witch of Lost Ivy has fully healed herself.

<Pose Tracker> Witch of Lost Ivy [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Yumi Ohzora is still pretty troubled, but a concert sounds like a nice thing. She's on her own this time--well, no. She only bought one ticket. She is ''not'' alone.

Tama got in for free!

"This noisy music is ''not'' my idea of a good time," Tama grumbles from the seat next to Yumi, her fluffy tail lashing back and forth as she waits. A few people have noticed that she's here, but nobody is hearing her murmur in all the chaos of the audience.

"It's good!" Yumi says. "Really wakes you up!"

"That's the problem," the cat answers.

But suddenly--

"Aw, man," Yumi answers. The power..." And the rain starts to fall. Yumi sighs, at first. "Guess you win," she says to the cat, and starts to stand up. Except...

Except--

"Wait," Tama says. "That wasn't ordinary lightning."

r"...You're right," Yumi answers. "It's from the roof."

-=-=-

A girl all in black and green and pink rises up around the roof in the rain, seated on a beautiful, ivy-ensnared broom. She hovers over the glass, coming over towards the girl who is there, at that something flowing...

"It's your doing," The Witch of Lost Ivy says. "You're the one who cut the power."

She frowns, sharply, hefting the Staff of Lost Ivy in her hand.

"...Collecting sadness is one thing, but ''causing'' it is entirely another," says the cat on the broom, Tama. "Ivy. You see this spell; you can undo it, if you can stop her."

"That's what I'll do," the Witch says. "HEY!" she calls out to the girl with the rapier. "Come bother someone else!"

COMBAT: Nori Ankou transforms into La Sirene de Diamant!

<Pose Tracker> La Sirene de Diamant [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

To be honest with you, Constant Reader, this isn't really Nori's genre of music.

Nori likes music, of course, but many of her tastes have gone towards classical pieces, thanks to numerous influences in her social circles. (You wouldn't expect someone like Sayaka to be into classical music, huh?) When divergent from that, she has tended to move towards jazz, not least because it is the nearest Earthbound equivalent to the ambiant music styles present in her far-off homeland.

But of course she knew OF Jagged Stone. Her slightly shocking name; her overall styles; all of it was *interesting*, just not really the thing she's going buy a ticket to -

Until she is confronted in her home by a grim-faced otter holding up a ticket.

"What? J-just one? Are you going or -"

"No, no, I thought that - listen, never mind. But I think --"

*But that was then.* 
*and this is now:*

La Sirene de Diamant is late.

It's not her fault. She had to get here somehow, and unlike some magical girls, she cannot fly - though she can vault between buildings, she is chary of doing so, as, after all, she does not have the raw durability to simply dent the pavement, nor does she have some sort of spider's-web to sling between them. (Ironically, a Siren active in the 1750s did have such magic, but this preceded the profusion of taller buildings that makes such a strategy viable.)

She is running.

She is running across the roof of the stadium. She can be easily seen, a blot-drop of ink-black at a distance, moving across the paler material. (Batiste has found a vantage point on the other side of the stadium.)

One more long leap --

"LOST IVY!"

Wow, that was loud. (The crowd may remember it out of context, later.)

She lands, near enough to be resolved. Breathing heavily, she runs closer. "She is --"

La Sirene de Diamant looks at Tama.

She looks at Lost Ivy.

She nods once, briskly.

Then she wheels about to face d'Argent, raising her left hand to jab an accusing finger. "Explain yourself, cousin!" she declaims, if less over-emphatically. "You are redoubling their sufferings! Stop this instant!!"

IN THE DISTANCE:

Batiste, wielding a monocular magnifier like a telescope, watches. He is too far away to do anything. But he will witness what happens... and perhaps how it ends, as well.

<Pose Tracker> La Sirene d'Argent [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

'It's your doing. You cut the power.'

"Well of course." The magical girl is facing away from Ivy, but the smirk on her face is evident in the way her voice oozes with smug self-assuredness.

She doesn't move to face Ivy, or lower her arm (and thus her rapier) or take any action that might stop her from her work.

Ivy issues a demand to come bother someone else, and the mystery magical girl just laughs at that, seemingly unconcerned with responding to a challenge. "Mmm, no, I think not. I rather like what I'm currently doing already."

Positioned as she is, at one end of the stadium, d'Argent can see Diamant's approach. Someone, much closer to her, could hear the barest sigh of exasperation that escapes her lips, her smirk (which, perhaps, Batiste can see), momentarily dimmed.

Her fellow Siren demands that she explain herself, and Argent gives a huge, theatrical sigh, with a shake of her head. "''Must'' I, 'cousin'?" Why does her tone make it sound like she's still smirking? (Because she is, a fact that Batiste knows without the context of the conversation.)

Her voice takes on the tone of talking to a small child. "Very well, our task is to gather the sorrows of the world--"

'You are redoubling their sufferings!'

d'Argent laughs, then. "Oh good. So I don't have to explain ''everything'' to you. And no, I don't think I will stop. In fact..."

Here d'Argent turns her head, just enough to look back and meet Diamant's gaze with those cold silver eyes. Her smirk widens into a a full on grin as she continues talking. "Be a dear, and keep this other one out of my way, s'il vous plaît? I could see my way to sharing, if you were willing to assist."

"There's more than enough for the both of us, after all."

She doesn't look like she's doing to stop from words alone.

<Pose Tracker> Witch of Lost Ivy [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Tama is a smart cat. She has knowledge of many things. Diamant may not even be the first Siren that she's met. ...But that's not important right now. Diamant calls to Ivy, and says, "Diamant!"

Then--well. That's apparently what it is. And Nori confirms that she's not just causing suffering, she's making it ''worse'' somehow. Which Yumi didn't entirely realize.

"I don't care if you like it!" Yumi answers ARgent. But 'must'...

Yumi doesn't believe for even a second that La Sirene de Diamant will do Argent this favor. INstead, she narrows her pink eyes. It might be the first time she's fought since...

"Fine. Then I'll show you the power of an Earth Witch."

Yumi reaches out her hand, the Staff floating before her as green light hbegins to gather about her feat. In the air, she traces a sigil of misfortune--

A curse. A curse she learned from Mother. Yumi grits her teeth as she finishes the spell.

"Ivy Binding!" She shoves the air forward, and an aura of black-edged green appears at Argent's feet, bursting upward into ethereal vines to try to bring her arms and her sword down all at once.

COMBAT: Witch of Lost Ivy has used Ivy Binding on La Sirene d'Argent.

COMBAT: Witch of Lost Ivy has finished attacking.

COMBAT: You don't have an incoming attack from 1. Please check +queue to see your incoming attacks.

COMBAT: La Sirene d'Argent partially dodges 2 Fatigue damage from Witch of Lost Ivy's Ivy Binding, taking 9 Fatigue damage! Witch of Lost Ivy is Psyched! La Sirene d'Argent's Fade and Flash abilities activate! Tangle and Trap applied to La Sirene d'Argent!

<Pose Tracker> La Sirene de Diamant [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

"Well you don't HAVE to do anything," la Sirene de Diamant answers d'Argent in a surprisingly hot tone, "but if you do NOT explain yourself I am going to throw you into the parking lot and see if this teaches you a lesson! How could you do something like this?! Did you set the entire affair up!?"

There is a note of petulance in Diamant's voice that usually ISN'T there. Maybe they are related.

Her eyes widen. Her face blanches - it is possible she *cannot* blush in this raiment, but perhaps she would be. "What -- what do you possibly -- I don't do this kind of thing, you cruel beast!! There is enough sorrow in the world without your assistance! You should -- agh!!"

Flustered, she yields the initative. Fortunately, witches prevail where Sirens fail, and by the time she has gotten herself together, she sees that the binding has washed out and engulfed d'Argent. "Y- yes, good," she says. "And now, the parking lot!"

Diamant stalks forwards towards d'Argent. This is probably a mistake, but it seems she intends to make good on her promise, which is going to start by trying to armbar her across the throat! YEAH! THAT'LL LEARN YOU!

(Inwardly, Nori Ankou writhes in humiliation.)

(Batiste, who can lipread, says, "Diamant... don't... don't take that kind of temptation, there's so many other -- oh, good. Wait no she has a sword!!")

(BIG ZOOM OUT - la Sirene de Diamant is over 100m from Batiste as the crow flies, and Batiste is an otter.)

COMBAT: La Sirene de Diamant has used Siren Body Attack on La Sirene d'Argent.

COMBAT: La Sirene de Diamant has finished attacking.

COMBAT: La Sirene d'Argent braces 21 Fatigue damage from La Sirene de Diamant's Siren Body Attack, taking 9 Fatigue damage!

<Pose Tracker> La Sirene d'Argent [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

Argent ''is'' making things worse. And even worse... without interruption, she can ''prolong'' the suffering here this night, at least for a while. With the dark and the power out, the crowds will be stuck, unable to leave... and at Argent's mercy (or lack thereof) the entire while.

She is, to be honest, rather proud of the plan she devised.

Diamant threatens to toss her into the parking lot--and here Argent laughs. This one, notably, is less performative and genuine, for some twisted reason that perhaps only Argent herself can fathom. "Well, well, well. You are certainly welcome to ''try''."

"And yes, I ''did'' set this entire affair up. As for why..." She grins, just a little broader. "You ''know'' why." She told them, when they first met--her aim is to be Queen of the Sea of Sorrows.

When Argent turned to look at Diamant, she didn't quite turn far enough to also look at Ivy. The power of an Earth Witch... Argent laughs, as if unconcerned. "Oh, a ''witch''? Well that is certainly novel."

But she sends a curse--an actual curse! What might Argent say, if she knows enough about magic to identify that fact?--and vines sprout from beneath her feet. Argent waits until the last possible moment to move, to continue her task for every scrap of time she can before turning to face the intruders...

And mistimes. She's only taken a single step before the vines latch onto her, leaving one hand free while the other is slowly dragged down.

All of the coalescing sorrow stops, swirling around aimlessly and without purpose. It just hangs there, glittering tears forming a sea of lights in the stadium below.

And then Argent comes for her, looking to send her flying--but with her free hand she brings it up to brace the blow, struggling with her physical might against that of her cousin's. "Well, well, well... since you're both so eager to stop me..."

<SoundTracker> (Don't Fear) The Reaper - Blue Oyster Cult https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dy4HA3vUv2c

The hand holding her rapier turns, downwards, the tip of her blade flicking through the fines to free herself. In the next instant she is gone, having moved a step back seemingly without passing through the space in between. (That is, a step back along the edge of the roof, not off of it.)

"I like your trick, Witch. Let me share one of mine." Argent throws her hand out, and something in the air swells around Ivy--and then suddenly come vines bursting from thin air, made entirely out of pure silver. Any that touch or bind bring the heaviness of past regrets and misfortune with them.

For Diamant herself she simply sildes one foot back, and for the briefest of instants is in a textbook perfect fencing stance--before she surgest forward just as quick to lash out with a swift strike of her blade.

COMBAT: La Sirene d'Argent has used Fetters of the Heart on Witch of Lost Ivy.
COMBAT: La Sirene d'Argent has used Allez! on La Sirene de Diamant.
COMBAT: La Sirene d'Argent has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Witch of Lost Ivy perfectly braces 0 Fatigue damage from La Sirene d'Argent's Fetters of the Heart, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Brace! Witch of Lost Ivy's Block and Parry abilities activate!
COMBAT: La Sirene de Diamant partially dodges 2 Fatigue damage from La Sirene d'Argent's Allez!, taking 8 Fatigue damage! La Sirene d'Argent is Psyched! Tangle applied to La Sirene de Diamant!

<Pose Tracker> Witch of Lost Ivy [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Diamant's questions could illuminate much of what's going on; Yumi listens carefully to the answers. She doesn't notice the petulance, though.

Tama does.

"The parking lot?" Yumi asks. "Are you sure??"

That could hurt! But Yumi doesn't have time to enjoy a moment of confusion for very long. Instead, Argent laughs at her. And Yumi delivers her curse.

"Ivy!" Tama calls. "Be careful! A Siren strong enough to harvest this much sorrow is a dangerous foe!"

The two Sirens clash, and Yumi watches Argent free herself. "Thanks," she says sardonically to the 'compliment', and then the air swells. Yumi senses it coming, and traces a sigil of negation in the air before her, the green runes burning their way into the air; a dark aura suddenly blossoms around her.

A spell that would have been potent against her is stopped; even so, Yumi feels those past misfortunes and past regrets.

...It makes her angry.

"You think you can toy with peoples' emotions!?"

She may be fencing, but Yumi has a different idea. "Know the agony of hunger unfulfilled!" Yumi calls, clenching her hand around the Staff. "Hollow Curse!"

A wave of dark power erupts towards La Sirene d'Argent, to sap at her will and her might both.

"Ivy!" Tama says sharply. "Don't let her get to you!"

"But--"

"Your anger won't save these people!"

COMBAT: Witch of Lost Ivy has used Hollow Curse on La Sirene d'Argent.

COMBAT: Witch of Lost Ivy has finished attacking.
COMBAT: La Sirene d'Argent braces 5 Fatigue damage from Witch of Lost Ivy's Hollow Curse, taking 4 Fatigue damage! Stagger and Stun applied to La Sirene d'Argent!

<Pose Tracker> La Sirene de Diamant [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

The laughter from d'Argent just makes Diamant's face contort even more. This is objectively probably hilarious. Later, Nori will probably be glad that only Tama and Yumi were here to see it. (And Tama she may have to buy off.)

"That isn't how it works! That isn't how any of this works!" whines la Sirene de Diamant. (In this, she is, in a sense, wrong; because if nothing else, she was never told NOT to do this.)

The tears hang like a fine mist -- and then she parries her arm bar! Diamant is briefly flummoxed by the grapple and hops a little around, as if to figure out how she can get some of her boots into play. They are pretty heavy boots. Good for kicking. But she's moving her blade --

"Yeeaaagh!!" la Sirene cries out even as she flinches and pulls away. She puts a hand on her side.

(Zoom in! There is a scratch there. Is it... bleeding? It's... sort of... blackish-red, maybe? It's the sort of thing you might not bother to put a bandaid on.)

FAR AWAY:

Batiste lets out a huge gasp. "She's striking for true...! She's putting it all on the line... cousin, please, don't give up-!!"

HERE NOW

"Y - yes! She's manipulative and treacherous! Don't listen to what she's saying!" la Sirene de Diamant hastily agrees with Tama. She seems to be agonizing for a moment over what to do next -- and perhaps now it is her turn to entangle her, because the unlight-aura around her surges 'down' and pours like a living wash of black ink along the surface only to erupt into tenebreous tentacles up and around d'Argent!

Hopefully. That's the plan.

COMBAT: La Sirene de Diamant has used Polyploia on La Sirene d'Argent.

COMBAT: La Sirene de Diamant has finished attacking.

COMBAT: La Sirene d'Argent perfectly dodges 31 Fatigue damage from La Sirene de Diamant's Polyploia, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge! La Sirene d'Argent's Fade and Flash abilities activate!

<Pose Tracker> La Sirene d'Argent [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

Tama has a warning about the power of a Siren such as d'Argent. Argent is still grinning smugly as she glances over, "She's right you know. I won't think any less of you if you'd like to reconsider."

Well ''someone'' is full of themselves--but then again, the sea of glimmering lights might speak for themselves.

But Ivy manages to counteract her spell--and for a moment, there is the barest downturn of her lips, a narrowing of the eyes as she sees and considers, evaluating the threat anew.

She is, to a very small degree, impressed, but will never voice it.

Toying with peoples' emotions? "If it gets me what I want, then certainly." Keep your opponent angry and off-balance, and they'll be more likely to make mistakes--a strategy Tama might be all too aware of, with her next warning to Ivy.

And Diamant is flustered still, protesting that it's not how this works. And d'Argent actually tsks softly. "Do not blame me for ''your'' lack of imagination, 'cousin'. You know as well as I do that our charge is to gather the sorrows of the world. Nothing more, nothing less." She brushes a lock of hair back behind her shoulder on her way to gesturing to the stadium. "As you can see, it clearly works ''quite'' well."+qu

A Hollow Curse comes for her, and Argent turns to meet the spell with the flat of her blade, bracing herself against it. But still it washes over her, stoking the great and cavernous desires already within her. She wants an awful lot as it is, and in some sense, this is not that much more--but for a brief moment she believes all her efforts might be for naught, and that is a cruel twist of the knife.

It's enough to forces her a step back, then another. When the blade lowers she is breathing just a little bit harder, her mood dampened for a moment.

"Do you seriously think making me want ''more'' will make me ''less'' dangerous?" Something of the playful edge she had has escaped her voice. Not entirely, but just enough to be noticed.

Tentacles erupt from the ground--from the ''glass'' beneath her, remember, and d'Argent seems to just dive right through the tentacles, planting her empty hand on the ground in just the perfect spot to handspring forward and land in a tight crouch on the other side of the obstacle.

She stands, and traces a quick circle in the air in front of her with her rapier, and a sea of glowing white lights form--no, they're daggers, or dagger-shaped. And once the revolutin is complete she slashes straight through, standing a spray of daggers for both Ivy and Diamante.

COMBAT: La Sirene d'Argent has used Storm of Silver on Witch of Lost Ivy.

COMBAT: La Sirene d'Argent has used Storm of Silver on La Sirene de Diamant.

COMBAT: La Sirene d'Argent has finished attacking.

COMBAT: La Sirene de Diamant counters 15 Fatigue damage from La Sirene d'Argent's Storm of Silver, taking 15 Fatigue damage! La Sirene de Diamant's Reverse and Tactician abilities activate! Diversion applied to La Sirene de Diamant!

COMBAT: La Sirene de Diamant's counterattack, Les Mysteres, partially gets through, doing 18 Fatigue damage to La Sirene d'Argent!

COMBAT: Witch of Lost Ivy fails to dodge La Sirene d'Argent's Storm of Silver, taking 39 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Diversion applied to Witch of Lost Ivy!

<Pose Tracker> Witch of Lost Ivy [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

With the face-contorting, Yumi notices Diamant's expression this time. Tama indeed may have to be bought off, but Yumi won't narc on her friend.

"I'm not reconsidering anything," Yumi assures Argent. Tama ''is'' familiar with that strategy--and Yumi tries to collect herself. "It's all about what you want, isn't it? Your ''hunger''."

Apparently it is how it works. Though Diamant tries to tell her not to listen, Yumi shakes her head. "I don't think of you like her, Diamant."

Even if... that's some weird bleeding. It's probably fine.

Yumi sees that her spell hit home. It's satisfying, in a spiteful way. But Tama told her not to get lost in her anger..

"...No," Yumi says. And that's not why she used that one, anyway. But better not to indulge that impulse--

Since she's already off-balance enough as the light hits her. Yumi attempts to step out of the way, but loses her balance, and the daggers slam into her, knocking her backward and forcing her to jab the Staff against the roof in order to keep her footing. "Ugh--"

"Ivy!" Tama calls.

"...You were right," Yumi says. "I'm letting her get to me. I won't do that again."

Yumi looks to Diamant. "I've got your back!" she calls, and then traces a few more runs in the air with her free hand. "You want to go big... we'll go big."

The runes hang on the air as if burning.

"Wrath of forgotten spirits..."

"Dark Radiance!" Yumi pushes her open hand forward, and the runes turn into cascading beams, green and black torrents of energy that crash toward Argent all at once, four, five of them.

COMBAT: Witch of Lost Ivy has used Dark Radiance on La Sirene d'Argent.

COMBAT: Witch of Lost Ivy has finished attacking.

COMBAT: La Sirene d'Argent counters 13 Fatigue damage from Witch of Lost Ivy's Dark Radiance, taking 38 Fatigue damage! La Sirene d'Argent's Reverse and Tactician abilities activate!

COMBAT: La Sirene d'Argent's counterattack, Les Mysteres, partially gets through, doing 10 Fatigue damage to Witch of Lost Ivy! Critical Counterhit!

<Pose Tracker> La Sirene de Diamant [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

"I am not going to let you simply suck the suffering out of these people!" la Sirene de Diamant exclaims, still heated. "This is not healthy, nor is it wise! Perhaps you aren't making them into Cardiax worms in any sort of haste but you're still harming them--"

But if she gets what she wants --

"You're not gathering them, you're stealing them!! If you cut off cherry blossoms ahead of time, would you be gathering cherries?!" It is mostly dignity plus the fact that her boots probably weigh two kilograms each that is keeping her from hopping up and down. And then Argent calls up the knives --

"What was that thing you did to her?" la Sirene de Diamant asks Ivy, parenthetically. And then --

Her left hand pushes forwards as she cries out, "Les Mysteres, COME!" Then she brings down her other hand and the light back-wash from the invocation of the charm is able to ripple out over the crowd (at least the ones near the front), which is possibly going to keep them focused on the potential for the show.

Is that good or bad?

Batiste sure as heck is sweating it!!!

In the aftermath of this, it seems that Diamant has avoided serious harm, though there may be a few more scratches.

"Alright," she huffs. "If you're going to be like --" Her eyes cut towards Ivy for a moment, and then she does something inexplicable, perhaps, from d'Argent's perspective. She reaches over to unfasten something and slides off her left glove. It twinkles, the black diamonds in its back shining. She then finishes her sentence, "THAT" --

She hurls the glove at d'Argent, with scorn.

Then she grins when the blade comes up to cut the garment in half. It cuts, of course, because it's made out of... something that SEEMS like leather, anyway, with the diamonds mounted in the back. The split makes four of them go one way and two the other, but la Sirene de Diamant steps back and swirls her bare hand around for a moment.

The aura around her seems to bubble outwards, enlarging as the Pharos at her hip twinkles. Then it surges forwards, engulfing the two thrown-aside pieces of the garment in a circuit of that surging, light-that's-kind-of-like-water -- which in turn surges back towards her, a feeling like being immersed in cold seawater *and* subject to churning tides at the same time!

COMBAT: FINISHER! La Sirene de Diamant has used Saturday's Delight on La Sirene d'Argent.

COMBAT: La Sirene de Diamant has finished attacking.

COMBAT: You don't have an incoming attack from Diamante. Please check +queue to see your incoming attacks.

COMBAT: La Sirene d'Argent partially dodges 22 Fatigue damage from La Sirene de Diamant's Finisher, Saturday's Delight, taking 87 Fatigue damage! La Sirene d'Argent's Fade and Flash abilities activate!

<Pose Tracker> La Sirene d'Argent [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

Ivy isn't reconsidering. "Mmm, no, I didn't expect as much," says Argent dismissively. At the accusation of her hunger, though, she manages to chuckle darkly. "As I told ''her''--" meaning Diamant, "--I ''always'' get what I want."

Diamant challenges her on the wisdom of her actions, and Argent scoffs, though it comes out as a half-scoff, half-laugh. "Oh ''please''. If you want ''wise'' find some other type of magical girl. Without a steady supply of Cardiax around, I'm simply doing what I must to ensure that I reach my goals. You would be ''wise'' to do the same."

"And ''that'' is where you are mistaken, my dear 'cousin'. I am not simply cutting cherry blossoms. I am ripening my harvest." A creul way to phrase it--but she ''is'' just using a similar metaphor that Diamant just did.

Argent manages to catch the witch partially off guard with the casting of ephemeral daggers, though her attack at Diamant is interrupted by the summoning of a familiar charm. Light washes back at her, and Levin is forced to bring rapier back in front of her to try and stem the blast, though it drives her backwards.

But Ivy is ready to go big, too. "Good!" says Argent, taking up a fencing stance once more to prepare herself for the incoming attack, her right hand with her rapier blade held forward. "Show me what you're made of, earth witch. Though I must say... what kind of magic of the earth is a hollow ''curse''? Bit out of your lane for your righteously indignant types, isn't it?"

She knows Ivy is trying to keep her cool--so she's probing, fishing for any weakness she can find to needle on. Really it's just a basic principle of fencing.

But that witch summons cascading beams of green and black light, and Argent considers the incoming attack. Well, Diamant was good enough to show hers... With a flick of her wrist she rapier vanishes, and the motion brings her hand up high to form a sign that Ivy and especially Diamant may both know very well.

With her left hand she brings it up and strums down with force. Where Ivy and Diamant command dark lights, however, Argent commands a bright white light that swells and bursts out to the incoming beams of light. But she is the definite loser of the exchange, driven back perilously close to the edge of the roof as the black and green rays of light start to tear through her magical clothing.

By the time the exchange is done she is panting haggardly for a moment, her arm having lowered into a defensive position across herself.

"Hmph. So you're not a pushover." This might be her way of complimenting Ivy? Maybe??

Something is hurled her way, and reflexively Diamant turns to slice it out of the air with her rapier, two pieces of glove falling down on either side of her. Her momentary triumph of 'Ha, did you see that masterful strike' is undercut a moment later as she looks down, frowning. "Wha--"

It's the first time she looks like she's truly lost her footing all night. "Wait why did you--"

Her eyes go wide, as she realizes, moments too late, just what Diamant is up to. Light surges for her, light that is and is not like water. She starts to move, but it is all around her, thanks to that ploy she so haplessly fell into. She very nearly makes it out--but her leg is caught in the blast and she is dragged back in. She lets out a yelp as the sensations of sea and tide rock her, buffet her from every side, and when it is done...

... she is on a knee. Parts of the skirt of her dress are torn through, her jacket and gloves have cuts, are peeling from the force of the magics they've been subjected to. Even her thigh-high boots are scuffed now. And Argent is no longer smiling. She is leaning, heavily, on one knee, the other arm dangling limp, and it seems like, for a moment, she might not have the strength to stand once more.

The stare she levels on Diamant is baleful, with none of the amusement, or the intent to poke and anger, that was in it before. All of her humor, forced or genuine, was washed away with that assault. "Hmph. A pathetic trick, 'cousin'."

It is the barest, flimsiest pretense she has, in the moment, to try and claim some sort of upper hand, and it is woefully, ''painfully'' transparent.

But then, even though her breathing is haggard, and she still doesn't seem to be able to stand, she is smiling. It is a grim, slow smile, sickening and perverse under that hateful glare that is affixed on Diamant.

"But know this... when I said I always get what I want..." She presses down, bracing against her knee as she strains with her muscles... and begins to rise, slowly, unsteadily, to her feet. Once standing she almost stumbles, catching herself just in time. All of her poise and grace is gone, with her arms and rapier hanging lmp by her side.

A moment, to catch her breath, and then she finishes. "... I ''meant'' it." She lifts her rapier up high. The force of sorrow flows through the universe, and at her prompting it draws closer to her, swirls, starts to surround her as she draws it up into her blade in twin streams. It starts to shine, brighter and brighter, until it could be as bright as the lightning bolt that seemed to knock out the power earlier. And when it is full, and cannot hold any more light, or sorrow, or energy she lowers it to point at Diamant.

She takes off runnig, suddenly surging forward far faster than she could before, striking at Diamant with a wordless yell.

COMBAT: FINISHER! La Sirene d'Argent has used Marée déferlante d'Argent on La Sirene de Diamant.

COMBAT: La Sirene d'Argent has finished attacking.

COMBAT: La Sirene de Diamant braces 69 Fatigue damage from La Sirene d'Argent's Finisher, Marée déferlante d'Argent, taking 46 Fatigue damage! La Sirene de Diamant's Block and Parry abilities activate!

<Pose Tracker> La Sirene de Diamant [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
<SoundTracker> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4tVJASr_54

"The Earth has many hollow spaces!" retorts la Sirene de Diamant, who wants to stand up for Ivy, perhaps. She had no comeback for the rest. But then -

But then -

Her hands spread apart as she looms upwards, raising them upwards as her eyes turn down towards d'Argent and for a moment, perhaps, she does not look very human at all as the flush of apparent triumph surges and swells and her lips draw back from her pearlescent teeth and Argent leans.

When did she get that tall, anyway.

"You should take responsibility for your errors, cousin," she continues as she takes another step forwards. And then:

The sorrow flows upwards. La Sirene de Diamant's grand posture fades backwards as she takes a step, looking up at the flowing diamond-silver-mist of the drawn-forth Sorrow with astonishment if not, exactly, terror. But then it comes together, transmuted in arts fell and sacred to a single point. It crowns the blade. The blade is coming.

She raises her arms in defense but her left hand is bare --

The light touches a black diamond.

There is a great surge of light - with a black spot in it. The black spot disappears before the light goes away. The world is filled with glory and fury, as once it was, when all things began.

When it fades - when vision returns -

Diamant kneels, thrown back a half-dozen paces and one to the right. Her right hand is cradled behind her still-gloved left, as if in an attitude of prayer. Her skin is streaked with thin trails of black. For a moment, she is wholly bare, although it seems curiously like someone drew her on the world's background for a second or two before the light from the Pharos begins to pool again. Shredded lacing falls from the tops of her boots, where she slid.

She straightens, but sways. There is no saucy remark from her.

<Pose Tracker> Witch of Lost Ivy [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

"It was a curse," Yumi explains. "I just cursed her with the kind of feelings she's causing other people." While that could be worrying, Yumi doesn't dwell on it. Instead, she continues the battle. She does say though, "...Thanks." About hollow spaces.

She always gets what she wants. Yumi narrows her eyes. But--'Ripening her harvest.' Yumi visibly steps back for a moment at that, daunted not by the words themselves, but by the emotion of a conflict that never was. "...You don't know what you're doing," Yumi says then, suddenly a lot more subdued than she was before. "You don't know where that path leads."

What kind of magic is it?

"It's the magic I grew up with," Yumi answers coolly, though the conflict within her is not insignificant. "...The magic I learned from my mother."

"Ivy," Tama says, but it is less a warning this time and more a note of concern.

"Don't worry Tama," Yumi says. "...I know who I am."

Not a pushover. "I've earned my place," Yumi says. "Just like you."

But--suddenly--Diamant delivers a powerful attack, and Yumi hopes that it does the trick. ...It does, wel enough--Argent is no longer smiling. She almost can't stand. And then, she calls it pathetic.

Yumi is not so sure. But she is not the target of this next assault. She knows the two of them are 'cousins', competing over... something.

She turns her face away from the brilliant light for a moment--and then returns to it. She looks back to the Sirens. Tama does, too.

They are both swaying. Both powerful, both working against the other. Yumi has a feeling, suddenly, that there is a great thing here in which she is not a part--something in which she could meddle... but should not beyond a certain point.

Yumi walks over carefully to La Sirene de Diamant, her broom following her with Tama on it. Yumi hefts her Staff and looks at La Sirene d'Argent.

"I believe you did," Yumi says, mean what she said, that is.

The Staff's head glows, its aura peace and tranquility and just a hint of deep, deep melancholy.

"...Your spell is ended, Siren." Tama the familiar's voice rings over the roof. "There is naught more for you here tonight."

Yumi is quiet. She stands by Diamant... But does not move to strike.

She waits.

<Pose Tracker> La Sirene d'Argent [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

The last clash, between siren and siren, between diamond and silver, is bright and dazzling in many wrong and worrying ways, and when Diamant is revealed, in the aftermath, to be kneeling some number of steps back and one step over...

Argent, instead, is revealed to be on her side, flung backwards with such great force she could not maintain her standing. Her rapier is flung from her grasp, skittering a hop or two more along the glass of the roof before coming to a rest.

She is still, for a moment.

The magic that powered the storm came from the Sea of Sorrows, carried in borrowed objects, and fueled by the sorrow of this world, but all of it was maintained by Argent's will.

She has no strength left, this night. The storm breaks, clouds and rain dispersing as if they had never been. The assemblage of sea water, black sand, and clay fragments explodes as the backlash of the interrupted spell blows it apart.

Tama is right. The spell is unwinding, and quickly at that. It only takes a few more moments after that for the power to be restored, and moments after ''that'' the stage lighting comes back to life, the speakers and sound system spring alive, and suddenly people are rushing back onto the field. They will be none the wiser for the experience, and in the harsh, bright, stadium lightning the lingering sorrow in the air seems to evaporate.

It takes Argent much longer, this time, to stir, pushing herself slowly upright. Pieces of the lace underlining her skirt are falling apart, and there are much bigger tears in her clothing. In a fitting bit of irony her right glove seems to have been taken off with the rapier, and she is holding her right shoulder as she struggles to stand.

Ivy accuses her of not knowing what she's doing. That she doesn't know where her path leads... she doesn't look at the Witch as she says, "It leads me to a throne. That's all I care about."

They're the same, in that they've both earned their place. "Hmm." There is a very slight, momentary incline of her head. A nod.

But she does looks, for just a moment, at that staff, her eyes going wide... "Y-your staff, it..." Melancholy, not ''quite'' the same as sorrow, but like recognizes like, shall we say. She looks to Tama, and snorts, but she can only muster the barest bit of outward disdain in the gesture.

To Diamant, she glowers, quietly and coldly. "... I won't underestimate you again."

She reaches out with her right hand, and her rapier leaps into it, though she winces at the strain on her shoulder. She manages to crouch her knees just enough to jump backwards, and in a blurring of moonlight she vanishes, reappearing on the other end of the arena. There is just a moment for her gaze to register Batiste.

"Enjoy the show," she says, curtly.

And in the next leap she vanishes.
[[Category: Logs]]

2024-03-13 - Food, Foxes, and Fledgeling Friendships

2024-03-14T06:03:17Z

Talnora: It can be hard to make the first offer of trust, when so much has happened already.

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! style="background:#CC6699; border: 2px #CC0033 solid; font-size: 110%;" align="center" colspan="2" | '''Title: Food, Foxes, and Fledgling Friendships'''
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|'''Summary''': 
''Kyouka invites Setsuna over to discuss the events with the [[2024-03-08 - The Hunt for Red Familiar|recent orphan attack]], but also to test out a new recipe. Then, Akari makes a surprise appearance with an even more surprising gift.''
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| '''Who:''' 
[[Kyouka Okazaki]], [[Setsuna Higashi]]
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| '''Where:''' 
Kyouka's House - Shitamachi Low City (Shitamachi Low City)
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| '''OOC - IC Date:''' 
3/13/2024 - Thursday, May 05th, 2016
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|}

.**************************** Shitamachi Low City *****************************.
*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+* Shitamachi Low City +*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*
The traditions that the Shitamachi cultural region keeps alive were ancient
long before the Shogun turned the fishing town of Edo into Tokyo, "Eastern
Capital." The area has evolved greatly since then, but though Shitamachi is
a highly modernized metropolis, its traditions somehow coexist with bullet
trains, research universities, and electronics markets. The occasional
person in kimono and sandals will wait at the crossing alongside salarymen
in business suits. Compared to Yamanote, there are more bicycles, family
businesses, and food carts, and fewer scooters, corporations, and
convenience stores. Certain wards in Shitamachi can be just as dense and
urbanized as anything in Yamanote, but there's a tendency toward low-rise
apartment complexes in the residential areas, and office buildings rather
than office towers in the commercial.

The distinction between Shitamachi and Yamanote is messy, both
geographically and demographically, but significant enough that it remains
the most significant cultural divide in Tokyo. Shitamachi people, as a
whole, take themselves less seriously, and have a stronger sense of
community that feeds upon their active street culture of markets, shops, and
festivals. They may not be fashionable, but they are /fun/. The Juuban
public schools, undistinguished but in some ways better off for it,
exemplify this plebeian joie de vivre quite well. The Shitamachi dialect is
less distinct than it used to be, but it is still a force to be reckoned
with, with a broader, less refined, and more energetic sound to it than
standard Japanese.

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

It's been a few days since the surprising reappearance of Akari and Strike Wolf--and Kyouka's impromptu decision to wield him again, if only temporarily. The impulse to do so had given her a lot to think about, those few days, and she'd confided in Setsuna what had happened to get hr take on it.

And she'd been feeling... weirdly okay about things, since then. About that, at least. There were some other things still weighing on her, but somehow... she had a sense the magic thing would work itself out.

Somehow.

But she hadn't invited Setsuna over ''just'' to talk about magical girl business. There had been another, grander purpose in mind as well.

She's testing new recipes!

She'd been busying herself in the kitchen as she talked, readying a few smaller bite-sized portions of taiyaki, a fish-shaped pastry with different fillings. She'll accept help if Setsuna is willing, but otherwise is comfortable talking and cooking at the same time.

"... and that's about all of it. We helped her to safety, she dropped the barrier and fixed her leg up, and then she just... took off."

She puts several different smaller taiyaki on two different plates, and carries them over to the kitchen table, setting one plate down for each of them. "So... Strike Wolf is doing okay, but I'm still not sure what's up with Akari. Anyway, lemme know what you think. I've been trying a few different recipes.

She's just at home, so she's only got a t-shirt and jeans on, along with her old hairstyle. And an apron, which she hangs on the back of a chair before sitting.

Meanwhile, Wolfy is lounging, after having been rebuked for begging food, though he'll certainly pay attention to Setsuna if she takes an interest in him.

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Higashi [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

It was a surprise to hear about all that! But Setsuna Higashi listened, and now she's hre. It's good to feel 'okay'; it's nice to feel that things will work out. But--

It's also nice to feel... snacks!

Setsuna is happy to wait for the recipes to be tried and done, though she ''will'' help by getting out dishes for Kyouka and so on, doing her part. And as they talk--

"It's hard to take when your assumptions are challenged," Setsuna says. "I remember feeling that way..."

She has a lot of memories, now. But Setsuna in turn is dressed up a little more; she's always like that, though, in a fancy red top and jeans. No shoes, because she's inside of course.

She gave Wolfy attention earlier! Now it is Food Time and not Dog Time.

"So how do you feel about it?"

A pause. "These look good, too."

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Wolfy was ''very'' glad to receive attention earlier, eagerly greeting Setsuna with happy barks, a tagging tail, and plenty of nuzzles and attempted face licks.

Kyouka appreciates the help with getting plates out. "Thanks, Setsuna-chan!"

But having your assumptions challenged... "Yeah... I had to do a lot of soul searching about what I wanted, but... I think I always knew the answer, I just... had to let myself believe it, I guess." She looks at Setsuna thoughtfully as she recollects having a similar experience.

Given what they've talked about regarding her past... "Yeah, I can imagine..."

She grins as Setsuna compliments the snacks. "Thanks. Dig in, while they're still hot."

But she considers the question. "I guess... I feel like the right thing. Both in protecting Akari and giving Strike Wolf back. Even though I don't think she's honoring the deal... I dunno. If I'd decided to take Strike Wolf back, I don't think she could've done anything about it, but..."

She picks up a taiyaki and considers it for a moment. "That's not how I'd want to do it. Taking him more or less by force, you know?" She takes a bite out of the treat and savors the flavor in her mouth for a moment.

"Mmm."

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Higashi [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Setsuna likes dogs. ...She didn't always.

"You're welcome," she says of the plates, and then nods, thoughtfully, as Kyouka explains. "Sometimes it's like that," she agrees. "You know... but you aren't ready to believe it. Until something changes. Until someone makes the difference."

But of course, Setsuna knows how ''that'' goes.

"I will!" Setsuna says, and noms. She can talk after Kyouka actually answers her, and after chewing. ...It does take her a moment.

"Yes," Setsuna says. "You 'could' have. But it wasn't the way you wanted to do it..."

"You didn't want to 'take' him, even if it would've let you do what you wanted to do."

"Mm!"

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Wolfy is happy to see just about anybody. It's kind of his thing. But it's especially better if they also happen to like dogs.

"Yeah, this... whole thing has been kind of a wild ride, you know? Finding out magic exists, and doing... all the things I've done." She takes a deep breath to center herself and then sighs. "I used to tell myself it was just... a temporary thing for so long, you know? Maybe I was protecting myself for when I knew I'd have to give it up."

Until someone makes the difference... She nods. "Yeah." And she considers for a moment. "... Thanks, again, for reaching out all the way back then. I dunno what I would've done, back then, without someone to talk me through things."

"Yeah, exactly. The way I see it, we're supposed to prevent people from being selfish like that, right?"

She's still figuring out what being a Magical Girl really ''is'', but... she feels like that much ought to be true.

Wolfy, meanwhile, perks his ears up from where he's curled up on a doggie bed, and gets up, slowly wandering his way over to the front door, sniffing... and then he starts growling and barking angrily.

The ''last'' time he did that... was at the party.

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Higashi [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

"Yes," Setsuna says. It has been wild, she's sure. But what she said... "Mm. Yes."

"You're welcome," Setsuna says again, a girl of fewer words than Kyouka. She means those words, though. "I'm glad that I could help."

"...No," Setsuna thinks. "I don't think it's what 'magical girls' are supposed to do. ...But I could see it being what 'people' should do. It's..." She trails off, "It's possible to take it too far. But we can decide who ''we'' want to be, at least."

But Wolfy starts growling...

Setsuna frowns. She looks towards the front door, and reaches for her phone at her pocket--for her Linkrun.

She doesn't move to transform, but just in case.

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Kyouka's fine with Setsuna being of fewer words. She's fought side by side with her numerous times, she knows what she stands for, and that's fine.

But she offers a minor counterpoint, and Kyouka considers that, and then nods. "Yeah, fair enough. At the very least, it's not the kind of magical girl ''I'' want to be." Is she still a magical girl, though, without a device to transform with?

She'll figure ''something'' out.

Kyouka frowns as she looks over to Wolfy. "Hey-- Wolfy, come here, boy." She glances to Setsuna, and sees she's gone for her Linkrun, and nods to acknowledge it, then gets up to walk over to the door.

"''Wolfy'', heel. Come on, boy." She pulls Wolfy away from the door, looks through the peephole--

--and suddenly yanks herself back a few steps. "Sh--"

Kyouka turns to Setsuna, hissing out in a low volume. "It's ''her''. It's Akari!"

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Higashi [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Setsuna isn't going to judge semantics for the moment; Kyouka ''wants'' to be a magical girl, and wants to be a particular way of being a magical girl. That's good enough.

But Setsuna takes her hand away from her Linkrun when Kyouka says who it is. She isn't worried that Akari is going to attack, considering.

Sure, it's possible. But it doesn't seem likely.

"Then let her in," Setsuna suggests. "I'm sure she has something to say."

A pause. "...I'll follow your lead."

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Setsuna doesn't seem to be worried, and neither is Kyouka, not ''really''. Not considering what Akari did the last time she was here. And what else could The Phantom Fox possibly want from her, anyway? She already has Strike Wolf.

... A thank you might be nice, at a bare minimum...

She nods to Setsuna as she says she'll follow her lead. "Right. Though I'm not asking you to leave the room just to discuss magic business with her." Not that she'll out Setsuna's magical girl identity or anything, but... it'll at least let on that Setsuna knows about magic.

"Wolfy--" The dog is still growling (and probably pretty fairly too, considering), but Kyouka grabs him gently by the collar. "''Back''. ''Follow''." The extra firmness gets through, and Wolfy allows himself to be led back to his doggie bed. Kyouka points. "Lay down. And ''stay''."

Wolfy does so, laying down but not curling up like he was before, still watching.

"Good boy."

Kyouka returns to the door and opens it. Akari is there, red hair, black dress, and lab coat. The ears and tails are hidden, but... Strike Wolf is there, hanging around her neck.

Akari quickly holds up her hands in a placating gesture. "I'm just here to talk!" she blurts out quickly. "Honest."

She looks somewhat tired, and... far less certain of herself than the last time Setsuna (or Cure Passion) saw her.

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Higashi [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

"That's all right," Setsuna says. "My identity isn't a secret to the people it's most dangerous to know." Labyrinth. They know her identity better than her adoptive parents do. ...Something she doesn't always feel good about.

But Wolfy allows himself to curl up, and Setsuna watches him. "...I'll protect her," Setsuna assures Wolfy. As if he can understand. And maybe he can.

But Akari comes to talk, and, "Then we can all talk."

A pause. She can't invite Akari in, of course. But she does listen. Even she can notice the changes in her.

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Kyouka looks to Setsuna and nods. "Right. Just... checking." She can imagine that being a former dark general doesn't... make you a lot of friends. Not from that side, at least.

Wolfy gives Setsuna a little whine, but... he's staying put. Does he understand? Well, his owner and his owner's friend seem confident enough, so... maybe that helps.

Akari's eyes flick over to Setsuna when she speaks up, and she frowns. "Look, can we talk in private? ... Away from your dog?"

Kyouka steps back and shakes her head. "Nah. She knows about me, you, ''and'' Strike Wolf." She leans against the arm of the couch, crossing her arms. "So whatever you gotta say, she gets to stay."

Kyouka's not being her most hospitable and welcoming in that moment, but, well... that's something you have to earn, after attacking someone in their home.

Akari glances about the room, looking over Kyouka, Setsuna, and Wolfy--though her gaze very briefly latches onto the taiyaki. But she quickly snaps her gaze away from that.

There's a moment before she speaks again, as if trying to think of what to say. "May I... come in?" That's how you politely ask to enter a place, right? She doesn't really practice that skill all that often.

Kyouka nods, and the foxwoman steps in, shutting the door behind her.

Wolfy offers a low growl in greeting, but doesn't get up.

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Higashi [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

It sure doesn't! But she has friens, all the same.

Setsuna does know. And Setsuna nods back. "I have no intention of leaving."

But then... She asks to come in, and ''does'' come in. Setsuna notices the taiyaki...

She does not offer, at this time.

"I won't interfere, so long as everyone operates honestly." A pause. "...But I don't think your intentions are bad at this point," she says to Akari. "That they ever were. But you came to talk."

"So I won't stop you talking."

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Kyou,a ''definitely'' counts Setsuna as one of her friends.

Akari pauses, when Setsuna speaks up, looking her over. The way she confidently implies that she ''could'' in fact, interfere if she wanted to... and knowing that Kyouka has, in fact, made a lot of powerful friends... she balks, just a little. (It would be easier to see if she had her ears and tails out, but she still flinches a little, regardless.)

"... Thank you," she says, after a long moment. She says it a bit awkwardly, like sincere gratitude is a foreign concept to her.

There is a small snort of disbelief as Setsuna declares she doesn't think her intentions were bad, but she doesn't elaborate on that as she looks to Kyouka.

"I..." she only gets one word in before she pauses.

Kyouka quirks an eyebrow, but doesn't create a conversational opening for her.

Akari finally grunts in frustration. "Look, just..." She pulls Strike Wolf out from around her neck and just thrusts him at Kyouka. "Here."

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Higashi [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

And likewise!!

Setsuna doesn't really notice the balking or the flinch. She's just not that good at reading people these days, especially people she doesn't know. But she does notice the pause... which suggests she had to think about what she was going to say.

Setsuna has to think about most things she wants to say.

"Were they?" Setsuna asks, as if it's strange nnot to believe something obvious. "I don't like how you went about it, though."

And then... she presents Strike Wolf to Kyouka.

Setsuna looks at Kyouka. It's hers to respond to ''that''.

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

There's another glance, towards Setsuna, as she asks that very simple follow-up question. And then she averts her gaze away. "... I was... working on the best information I had at the time."

Strike Wolf finally chimes in, then. <Akari.>

The woman sighs. "Look, I'm just... used to operating in a certain way." That's moderately more truthful, though it's not really an explanation... nor is it a direct answer to Setsuna's question about her intentions.

Kyouka, for her part, just blinks in stunned silence. It takes her a few moments to come up with the very eloquent response of "... what?"

Akari scowls in frustration. "I'm just... I'm giving him back. Just, take him back before I change my mind, okay?"

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Higashi [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

"Yes," Setsuna says. "That's what I thought."

She knows darkness; she knows malice. She doesn't see it in Akari, no matter how she may seem to act. Sure, Strike Wolf chimes in, but--

"Right. And that way didn't end up working for you."

But Kyouka and Strike Wolf...

"You should explain," Setsuna prompts Akari.

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Akari huffs. She's still holding out Strike Wolf, and her arm might be tired, but she's ''trying'' to do... some version of the right thing here, so she keeps her arm held out.

"It was working just ''fine''," she scowls in annoyance. "I just..."

She has to swallow a serious amount of pride with her next admission. "... wasn't ready to deal with you and..." She's addressing Kyouka with 'you', but her eyes flick to Setsuna for a moment before returning to Kyouka. "... and all of your 'friends.'" She means other magical girls.

"That's fine and all," says Kyouka finally, "But that still doesn't answer the question of 'What are you doing?'"

Does Kyouka feel bad tossing Akari's question back at her like that?

Maaaaaaybe a little.

Akari lets out an exasperated sigh and finally lets her hand drop for a moment. "Look, Strike Wolf needs an operator--" she grits her teeth for a moment. "I'm sorry, a ''partner'', and... despite being an untrained brute without a proper magical education--"

She catches herself and looks down. She mumbles something that might be a 'sorry' and tries again. "You and he have... proven effective. So... You can work together. No conditions. I'll..." she hesitates a moment, but continues quicklyl. "I've cleared it, with my master. So just... do your thing, okay?"

Kyouka actually looks uncertain as she glances to Setsuna, as if trying to get her read on the situation. "... What do you think?"

Then, to Akari: "What's the catch?"

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Higashi [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Setsuna does not think it was working just fine. She gives the Judging Eyebrow, accordingly.

"...If she didn't mean it, she'd have no reason to come here," Setsuna says when asked what she thinks. "She already had Strike Wolf."

Pause. "I think she's being unpleasant but she's sincere."

But there may be a catch.

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Akari tries not to notice that Judging Eyebrow. (But she definitely does, by the way she is trying so hard not to look at it.)

"That's true," Kyouka agrees with Setsuna, then looks back to Akari. "You ''did'' hae Strike Wolf already. Why are you so keen to give him up now?"

Kyouka called her out as being a person who likes to make deals, and Akari is finding herself in a very, ''very'' awkward position: trying to convince someone of sincerity when she's used to just sweet talk everyone to get what she wants.

But Setsuna calls her out for being unpleasant, and Akari snaps back, "H-hey! I'm ''trying'' to do a nice thing, here." This is from a person who is definitely not used to doing 'nice' things.

"Look, there's no catch, I just..." She thrusts her hand out again. "Look, my master and I worked really hard on this device, and I just--I ''refuse'' to let excellent craftsmanship like this be wasted."

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Higashi [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Setsuna is very good at judging facial expressions. That is to say, facial expressions that are judging. Not always so much the other. Still...

"You are trying," Setsuna says. "Which is why I'm advising that Kyouka accept your offer."

"..I think she's doinng her best, but she's probably not going to be able to give you an entirely straight answer."

"...She's too proud. I used to be that way, too. I still am, sometimes," she admits, to be fair. "...But she wants you reunited, and she's making it happen. So... if you want him back..."

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Akari is normally ''great'' at reading people... that she knows she can haggle with or make a bargain with.

This is outside of her wheelhouse.

The foxwoman actually seems to relax a little bit when Setsuna gives her opinion, that she's trying. It... means a lot, for some reason, to have someone acknowledge that. She knows she's not great at this but...

It's hard to undo habits in the blink of an eye.

But Kyouka nods at Setsuna's assessment. She's of a like mind, honestly, but to her there's one voice that she values most highly, at least on this particular matter.

"Strike Wolf? Is this legit?"

?There is barely a moment to consider before Strike Wolf responds with a calm and collected, <Affirmative.>

The girl nods, and reaches out to take Strike Wolf, slipping him around her neck. "Alright then." Whether she wanted him back wasn't ever in doubt. She smiles down to the device, "Welcome back."

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Higashi [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Setsuna, while not great at intricate social cues, is also somewhat hard to read herself. (Or very hard to read, if you ask Miki Aono.)

But she does recognize sincerity, she thinks, and she is willing to say so. Strike Wolf seems to agree, so...

Setsuna smiles. "It's good to see you together again," she says.

Then she pauses. "...This shouldn't be the end of it, though."

She waits a moment for that to sink in, "...You should continue watching over Kyouka-chan and Strike Wolf," Setsuna says to Akari. "You don't want to leave your Device unattended... and you do care, even if you don't want to show it."

"And I think Kyouka-chan should let you, too."

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Kyouka puts her hand around Strike Wolf's standby form, taking a deep breath as she feels that connection reestablsh itself...

And she opens her eyes. "Something's different about you, buddy." She drops her hand and looks to Akari. "What did you do?"

Akari, hands now free, shoves her hands back into her lab coat pockets. "We finished his construction--mostly, at least. You'll find he's a lot more capable than he was before, Strike Wolf can fill you in on the details."

Setsuna says that Akari should keep working with them, and she nods quietly. Then turns, as if to leave. "... Strike Wolf knows how to contact me. Let me know if you need anything, and... I'll get out of your hair, now."

Kyouka looks uncertain, but looks down to Strike Wolf. "Well, if she's willing to help, then... sure. If that's okay with you."

Strike Wolf is silent for a moment as Akari reaches the door. She's got her hand on the doorknob when he finally speaks up.

<Clara, wait.>

A moment later he adds, <You should tell her.>

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Higashi [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Something's different... yes. Setsuna recognizes it, when they talk about it; a finished Device. The difference that that can make. But--

Akari makes to leave. And Strike Wolf speaks up again.

"..."

She doesn't interfere, this time.

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Akari--or maybe Clara--has her hand on the doorknob, and her head hangs when Strike Wolf calls her by the other name. "... How long?"

<Since activation of administrative credentials.>

She sighs. "You really think she'll listen, after..." Her free hand gestures vaguely. After the everything that's transpired between them.

Strike Wolf's gem form shimmers with an inner light as he replies, <Affirmative.>

Kyouka looks down to Strike Wolf curiously, and then up to Akari, and remains silent.

Akari herself is silent for a long moment, but finally she takes her hand off of the doorknob. But she doesn't turn away from the door or even move to look directly at Kyouka.

"... My real name is Clara--that's the name my master gave me. But I'm used to working under aliases." She closes her eyes for a long moment.

"Strike Wolf was stolen, as I've said before, from our lab. I... wasn't there, that day. I was carrying out some errands for my master. When I returned, I found our lab ransacked, and..."

In a much quieter voice she admits, "... my master, Amalie Zeigler... was missing. She's still missing."

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Higashi [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Setsuna waits. And she waits. And she listens.

Clara...

Setsuna is quiet, at that. "...I'm sorry," she says. "That must have been very hard."

She was missing. She ''is'' missing.

Setsuna looks at Kyouka.

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Clara just nods a little as Setsuna expresses her sympathy. There's no bravado left in her, now, by the way her head hangs, how she isn't looking at anybody directly.

Kyouka might have put her life on the line to save Akari's life, because magical girl, but there's a long way to go to make up for her other behaviour. Sure, giving Strke Wolf back is an excellent first step in rebuilding trust, but it's going to take more than that.

And she gets it, in the form of an admission.

And her expression softens instantly as she considers that. She can make a few educated guesses, based on just that. "... do you have any support?"

Clara shakes her head. She did have Strike Wolf, which... she'll never admit was helpful, in its way, but... not anymore.

Kyouka's uncrossed her arms, resting them behind her on the arm of the couch she's leaning against. She looks to Setsuna. "... What do you think?"

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Higashi [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

There wouldn't be, would there? Setsuna recognizes well that point, where there's othing left. And she sees it in Akari--in Clara.

It may take more than a llittle while to really establish trust, but...

"I think."

Setsuna looks directly at Kyouka. "You already told me the kind of magical girl you want to be," she says.

"I think you should be her."

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Kyouka smiles just a little as Setsuna calls back to her own words, and nods. "Yeah, I did, didn't I?"

She seems to weigh it for a moment, and then looks down to Strike Wolf. "... You sure about this, buddy?" Strike Wolf prompted Clara to reveal that for a reason, and Kyouka's pretty sure she knows why.

Strike Wolf gives his customary, <Affirmative.>

Kyouka nods. "Alright then." She pushes herself up to a standing position and walks over to the table, sitting down. "Hey, Clara."

The woman looks up, and glances over. "... What?"

The magical girl just picks up her plate and shifts it over, so it's halfway between her and the empty seat next to her. "Do you like taiyaki?"

Clara just blinks, staring, and there's a much longer pause before she replies. "... What?"

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Kyouka picks up the half-eaten taiyaki she'd started before Clara arrived. "Grab a seat. It's getting cold."

"I don't..." Clara finally turns, looking in disbelief. "... what are you doing?"

"Inviting you to share some taiyaki. You can give me an opinion, I'm still working on the recipe."

"No, but... ''why''? After... after everything I put you through, you should be kicking me out. Why would you invite me to... to sit with you, to give me ''food''?"

Kyouka shrugs. "'Cause I'm gonna help you."

Clara opens her mouth, and then closes it again as she tries to formulate a reply. "... With what?"

"Hey, when I found Strike Wolf, all I wanted to do was return him to his creator. But now that I know she's missing... I'm still looking for her, just for different reasons." Kyouka looks over to Setsuna. "What do you think? Will the others help?"

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Higashi [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

It is getting cold. Setsuna moves back over to take a seat as well, without so much as a blink at what Kyouka says. It's what she expected, after all.

"Food is a good way to establish friendship," Setsuna says. "Even if you didn't have it beforehand."

She nods, then. "Yes," Setsuna answers Kyouka. "I think they will."

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Kyouka grins a little more as Setsuna comments on the wonders of good food for establishing friendships. "Definitely. Couldn't agree more." And when Setsuna confirms the others will help, she nods. "Good."

"So..." Kyouka pushes the chair next to her out with a food. "Have some taiyaki. And we'll talk it out."

Clara might as well be frozen by the door, not moving away from it still. "Are... are you..." Her eyes drop to Strike Wolf. Quietly, she asks, "Is she being serious?"

<Affirmative.>

Strike Wolf was a lot like Kyouka was, Clara reflected. Forthright, willing to help. And entirely way too willing to extend help to a stupid lonely fox like her.

And the taiyaki... there had been someone else who offered her food, once, without expecting anything in return.

Clara slowly took a step closer, and then another, until she was almost at the chair. And after a moment of hesitation, she sat down. She folded her hands in her lap, looking down at them, before glancing up, just a little, to look at Kyouka and Strike Wolf. "... Thank you. Both of you."

Then she slowly picked up a taiyaki and bit into it. And closed her eyes as she enjoyed the flavors playing out over her tongue.

"Mmm."
[[Category: Logs]]

2024-03-09 - Deal or No Deal

2024-03-09T16:56:39Z

Talnora: An understanding, if only a small one.

{|class="toccolours" cellspacing="2"
|-
! style="background:#CC6699; border: 2px #CC0033 solid; font-size: 110%;" align="center" colspan="2" | '''Title: Deal or No Deal'''
|-
|'''Summary''': 
''In light of being saved from a [[2024-03-08 - The Hunt for Red Familiar|Hummingbird Orphan]], Akari reflects on her experiences with Kyouka Okazaki, and comes to a conclusion.''
|-
| '''Who:''' 
[[Kyouka Okazaki#Akari|Akari]], [[Kyouka Okazaki#Strike Wolf|Strike Wolf]]
|-
| '''Where:''' 
A small, run-down apartment
|-
| '''OOC - IC Date:''' 
3/9/2024 - Thursday, April 28, 2016
|-
|}

Akari burst into her apartment and slammed the door behind her with a frustrated grunt. She had barely stepped inside before letting her ears and tails out, and began pacing back and forth in the cramped space.

"That... that ''girl''!"

It just didn't make any sense. Akari had offered Kyouka Okazaki exactly what she had wanted, with some very modest terms, and she had refused to help. And then, when she had-- when she had been ''momentarily disadvantaged'', that girl had then decided to step in, wield the prototype in her defense, and then just... give it ''back''.

There was nothing Akari would've been able to do, not against a fully-powered magical girl. Not against a magical girl and all of her allies.

And she had voluntarily given up the prototype. ''Twice.''

Her tails lashed wildly behind her as she paced. The aging carpet was already threadbare and getting worse as she retrod the same spot again and again, but Akari paid it no mind.

"You're just some... dumb teenager!" she said out loud to nobody in particular. "You can't be that complicated! I've made deals with half the magical underworld by now and ''you're'' the only person who's given me any problems!"

Something sharp dug into her palms. Akari stopped in her pacing and looked down to see her hands were balled into fists, and her nails were digging into her skin. She forced her hands to unclench and took a deep breath.

Akari threw herself on the couch with a frustrated grunt and let herself slouch, crossing her arms. She was better than that, of course, but there was nobody else to observe her in this moment and so frankly she didn't care how she looked.

What it ultimately came down to was the fact that Kyouka Okazaki had intervened to save her life, seemingly without asking anything in return, and Akari just couldn't understand ''why''.

But there was someone who understood her intimately.

Akari groaned, covering her face with a hand. She really was in a bad way if she was considering ''that''.

Taking a deep breath to steel her nerves, Akari let out a terse sigh. "Strike Wolf?" She still refused to accept that as his actual name, but she didn't really have the resources to do a ground-up overhaul right now, so she was forced to use it to address the prototype.

Strike Wolf was in his standby form, a small five-sided purple gem hanging from a cord around her neck. The core of the device pulsed pleasantly as he spoke. {{Strike Wolf|<Greetings. How may I be of assistance?>}}

"You spent a bunch of time with that brat. What's her deal?"

The Intelligent Device silently processed this question for a moment, lights pulsing deep within its form.{{Strike Wolf|<Please elaborate.>}}

"She's a teenager. She's got to want ''something'', right? Money? Popularity? I dunno, a boyfriend or... a girlfriend? If she wasn't even a mage why did she even pick you up to begin with?"

{{Strike Wolf|<Kyouka responded to my distress call.>}}

Akari bit her lip. "That's... it? She helped you just... out of the goodness of her heart?"

{{Strike Wolf|<Affirmative.>}}

"But..." sputtered Akari. "... there's no way that someone like that, without magic, would go against a ''mage'' without even knowing what was going on!"

She paused and glanced aside. "... right?" she asked herself.

The device's surface shone, and in the air projected a recording of the events that had led to Kyouka coming in contact with Strike Wolf. Akari was very familiar with the scene by now, even without the timestamp displayed in a floating panel or the extra readings hovering around the outskirts.

There was the distress call, that girl was the only one to respond, she almost didn't make it. "Yes, yes, I've looked at this a thousand times already."

The recording paused at the point where Kyouka was shoving another girl out of the way of a fireball. A bright violet rectangle traced itself around the pair, and the image of the save was slid off to the side, and the recording continued. The next image to be saved was Kyouka sliding under the mage to catch Strike Wolf, followed by Kyouka, newly-transformed, defiantly challenging the mage.

The recording ended, only to be replaced by a new one. Akari frowned as she glanced at the timestamp. Some time later. There was... a parade, it seemed. "Why--" She cut herself off as an Ogre manifested, attacked--

From the crowd Kyouka transformed, jumped straight up, and then did a mid-air dashing motion to catch a falling woman. The image of Kyouka saving the woman slid off to join the other still images, and then another one a moment later when Kyouka turned to face the Ogre.

Then another, at the Dark Burger, with Kyouka readily joining in to face an opponent of overwhelming power-- Akari's eyes widened in shock. "What ''is'' that thing?"

{{Strike Wolf|<Unkown.>}}

More images joined the others, images of Kyouka fighting various creatures, or saving others, defending her friends. Then images of Kyouka practicing, training with her power, developing it further and figuring out how to create new spells with Strike Wolf.

"I thought you said she wasn't a mage..." muttered Akari with a frown.

{{Strike Wolf|<Affirmative.>}}

"Then... then why did she go through..." Akari gestured at the gallery of images floating in the air before her now. "... all of ''that''?"

A soft inner light pulsed within Strike Wolf as he processed the query. {{Strike Wolf|<Kyouka has a strong protective instinct, and a desire to improve her potential.>}}

The foxwoman frowned deeply. "She... must have kept training without you, too..."

The image of the recent skirmish came up in midair, freezing with the image of Kyouka casting her Protection spell around herself and Akari. {{Strike Wolf|<Supposition has a high likelihood of correctness.>}}

"But..." muttered Akari, trying to process these facts. "Without proper training, there's no way she could do nearly as much without a device..."

{{Strike Wolf|<Affirmative.>}}

Akari reached out and gestured at the most recent image, scrolling forward until the moment where Kyouka was handing the prototype back, and then paused the playback. She sat, staring at that image for a long time.

"... She's honest," muttered Akari with a sinking feeling in her heart. "And principled. She uses power for others' benefits, but not her own."

There was a tremor in her voice as she spoke the next words. "... I can't make a deal with her. I can only trick her, and she's more perceptive than I've been giving her credit for." Akari closed her eyes and sagged back into the couch.

This was never going to work, was it?

So where did that leave her?

Akari stared at the images arrayed before her. Silently, she pulled them towards her, playing through them, studying the data recorded, and sifting through everything Strike Wolf would let her view. Threads of thoughts and ideas started to weave together in the back of her mind, and as she went she started making notes. She kept going until her stomach rumbled at her and then stopped to look at the results.

Yes, this was more than enough.

Hiding her ears and tail again, Akari stood and left, coming back some time later with several large fast food bags. Dumping them out onto a small side table, she then turned to toss off the couch cushions, lifting the folding bed enough to get at her stash beneath.

Everything she had salvaged from her old lab, everything she had collected in all her dealmaking. She pulled it all out and arrayed it on the floor of the dingy apartment. These weren't the best conditions to work in, but... she had to make do with what she had. She replaced the couch cushions and flumped herself down. A small circular device was placed on the table, and Akari slipped Strike Wolf's standby form off of her chest and placed it on the device. Lights lit up to indicate a connection, and the woman reached into one bag of fast food to retrieve a tray of chicken nuggets.

"Okay, Strike Wolf," she said as she dumped several packets of barbeque sauce on the nuggets. "Please call up all of my notes and enter maintenance mode."

She had a lot of work ahead of her.

[[Category:Cutscenes]]

2024-03-08 - The Hunt for Red Familiar

2024-03-09T07:22:02Z

Talnora: Taking forward steps.

{|class="toccolours" cellspacing="2"
|-
! style="background:#CC6699; border: 2px #CC0033 solid; font-size: 110%;" align="center" colspan="2" | '''Title: The Hunt for Red Familiar'''
|-
|'''Summary''': 
''It's a pleasant day in Akihabara when Akari crashes into the street, being pursued by an Orphan. Several of Tokyo's magical guardians rally to defend the beast... including one unexpected one.''
|-
| '''Who:''' 
[[Kyouka Okazaki]], [[Endo Naoki]], [[Nori Ankou]], [[Eri Shimanouchi]], [[Cowstian Dior]], [[Mikoto Minagi]]
|-
| '''Where:''' 
Akihabara Electric Town (Shitamachi Low City)
|-
| '''OOC - IC Date:''' 
3/8/2024 - Thursday, April 28th, 2016
|-
|}

.**************************** Shitamachi Low City *****************************.
*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+* Akihabara Electric Town +*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*
Brave Akihabara, holy land of nerds, Akihabara of the cartoony signs and
gumball-machine colors. One can buy anything in Akihabara, as long as it is
computer gear, electronics or anime merchandise. The main strip is the
glitziest, with a large percentage of the visible building faces covered in
electronic signs, huge posters, or garish paint jobs, and there one can
purchase coveted new items at (or just a hair before) their street dates.
The streets to either side are home to a messier brand of store, where one
can, with a little luck and persistence, find used goods like that rare
out-of-print first edition Sailor V figurine or vanity press Pretty Cure
doujinshi. These smaller stores compete ferociously for space, and can be
found crammed into alleyways and spilling out onto sidewalks as well as in
more standard configuration.

Those whose tastes run more to programming than fandom can find the area,
also known as Akihabara Electric Town, quite rewarding as well. It's the
perfect place to shop for computer parts and other gadgets for projects both
personal and paranormal, with the venue ranging from a posh cutting-edge
robotics store on the main strip, to tiny stalls wedged into alleys that
sell high-grade electronics on the cheap. The latter category manage this
feat of thrift by selling unpackaged items taken from wholesale lots, and
piled up for display like supermarket apples.

It's relatively safe to be seen wearing unusual clothing here; it's likely
to be taken for cosplay, or the uniform of one of the diversely themed maid
cafes.

COMBAT: Kyouka Okazaki has fully healed herself.

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Akihabara is as busy as ever on this Friday afternoon. It's been threatening to rain all day, with a deep overcast hanging ominously in the sky, but so far it's been perfectly dry; there are still plenty of raincoats and umbrellas to spot among the crowds, but otherwise it's been a mostly warm and pleasant day. The crowds are certainly out in full force, with lots of people browsing the stores, and every here and there crowds can be seen gathering to gawk over some new store display full of action figures or a bank of video screens showing teasers for an upcoming OVA or a graphics demonstration of some recently released hardware.

Kyouka is here, milling about as she browses through some of the less crowded stores. She's dressed in jeans, a black t-shirt, blue flannel shirt, her favorite purple parka, and her warm hiking boots. She'd needed a distraction, to get out for a bit and to try something a little different. She'd had... well, a ''lot'' on her mind recently, grappling with her complicated feelings about being a Magical Girl, her continued lack of a partner device, and some personal difficulties that still felt fresh and raw. All in all...

A distraction had been in order.

She was still getting used to the anime Japan had to offer, but she'd had more than enough recommendations for good series to watch. She wasn't a die-hard otaku yet, but she was still starting to appreciate it more and more. And on a lark, she'd decided to head down to Akihabara to see if she could pick up some older series in a box set that she could catch up on.

She'd been in and out of various stores, and was currently strolling down the street to see what caught her interest.

<Pose Tracker> Endo Naoki [Juuban Public School (12)] has posed.
Endo is in Akihabara today to do some shopping, the boy one of the many faces amongst the crowds that pack the streets on this rainy afternoon. He carries a simple plastic umbrella to protect himself from the rain, dressed in a large dark coat and casual clothing. A shopping bag is in his other hand, swinging by his side.

He still has a few more stores to hit, but he isn't in any great hurry. Some window shopping is done, the boy occasionally stopping to examine signage and displays. It's been a few weeks since the last time he made it down to Akihabara, so there's plenty of new merchandise and displays to admire.

<Pose Tracker> Nori Ankou [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

Nori is *also* here to shop, although as she emerges from... Mandarake? The old geek stuff shop in the curiously towering black building that's just nerd stuff on top of nerd stuff like some sort of geological column? It is an open question just WHY she is here.

But she does have a rather large bag slung over one shoulder and resting against her hip... with a dark and breathable mesh... almost as if it's a pet carrier...?

Of course, it's not a PET carrier, exactly.

IN THE BAG: Batiste leans on his side, gazing at his battered but wellprotected Smartphone, which is currently showing him one of his K-dramas. He's taking it easy. He had to make some calls and do some choosing but it was on the DL, and it's agreed: He'll make dinner. For now, though? He's riding in style.

And just how protected is that phone?

It's an otterbox, of course.

<Pose Tracker> Eri Shimanouchi [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

An umbrella sticks out of a floral print tote bag, with the Characters for 'Takikawa Nanohana Festival 2009' upon it.

A girl in a wrap skirt, a pink T-Shirt with the words 'Love Daisy' in English and an anthromorphic flower upon it, and a light dark green jacket bears it. She's just another face in the millions that live in Tokyo.

Yet there is a hierarchy, know it or not, all participate in it. Her senpai called it the food chain. To her it's far more simple. Those who choose to be predators to predators - and those who are never given the choice, and remain prey.

There is no shame in living in ignorance of this hierarchy. It just means one anxiously grabs one's keys when a man is a little too forward, or looks a little too long, rather than avoids ... living at all, drowning in the helplessness of the wealth of the supernatural that can kill you.

... But besides the usual Puella Magi introspection/internal monologue, her bag also contains several newer volumes of Shoujo manga.

Because if she said she was here ONLY to hunt, she'd be a dirty dirty liar, and on occasion she needs the wind taken out of her serious vibe.

She's also standing near a Crepe Stand, and munching on a sweet Crepe because... it's rude to eat and walk! Plus she could drop it.

"Hmmm." Wiping her chin with a napkin, she checks her watch again. "This isn't like her..."

For a moment she stands there, contemplating this, then holds the crepe up higher, "Maybe when the wind shifts..."

<Pose Tracker> Cowstian Dior [Admin (S)] has posed.

<Assistance requested.>

Strike Wolf's telepathic call rings through the immediate vicinity, to all those of a magical inclination.

It's not clear ''where'' it's coming from at first--but a moment after that a burst of green magic explodes in 
midair, and someone comes hurtling through it at a tremendous speed, crashing right into the ground. A woman with bright red hair, green eyes, a pair of fox ears and two fox tails: Akari, a.k.a. The Phantom Fox. Hanging from a black leather cord around her neck is a small, purple five-sided gem: Strike Wolf, in his standby form.

Akari hits the ground with a sickening thud, landing on her side. Her black dress has several long gashes in the skirt, as does her normally-pristine lab coat. And on her right leg are several long, bloodied wounds.

Through the same bright green light comes a strange creature indeed. The first thing to come into view is its long, pointed beak, resembling nothing less than that of a hummingbird writ large. From there, the creature's white form takes in the sunlight until broad, feathery wings stretch out to either side. It is bird-shaped--wings, head, terrible talons for feet. Its maw is toothy; its eyes are--No, there are too ''many'' eyes, and not where they should be, all down its neck and along the arms of its wings. Each eye is wide, black, and staring directly at--

Akari.

"D-dammit!" strains Akari as the beast appears. She holds out a shaky hand with a shout of "Barrier!", and suddenly everything shifts half a dimension over to the right. The crowds milling about, that were starting to flee from the monster suddenly in their midsts all vanish, leaving her--and the gathered magical guardians--alone with the beast.

The Orphan makes a terrible screech, and there is a moment's reprieve, but only a moment's, as it looks all around to react to the new setting it finds itself in.

<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

Mikoto ''was'' going to go out shopping. She made plans with her best friend Eri and everything! She's not afraid of the rain, but someone made her wear a poncho, just in case. It goes rustle, rustle, rustle, but none of that rustling is evident by the crepe stand, where Mikoto is supposed to be.

Not even when Eri holds up a crepe to the sky, to let its delicious scent waft downwind.

No, Mikoto is --

"RRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH--!!"

A horrific bird-monster looms overhead, and as Akari casts that barrier, a girl with a massive blade crashes down from overhead. She does not strike with the flat of her blade; if it doesn't get out of the way, it will be carved straight through.

Not that that's ever stopped an, "ORPHAN!" Mikoto barks, a single word of orientation and explanation, as she lands and turns in a broad, sword-dragging circle. Sparks fly from where she gouges a deep wound in the ground, before she brings her sword about to slash at the Hummingbird Orphan a second time.

"Fixes itself," she claims enough sense back from her bloodsoaked brain to explain, in short, clipped, panting words. "Changes. Hit it harder. It'll die."

And that's all the explanation they're getting, apparently.

They should have sent a poet.

COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi transforms into HiME Mikoto!

COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has fully healed herself.

COMBAT: Cowstian Dior transforms into Youma Form Hummingbird Orphan!

COMBAT: Cowstian Dior has fully healed herself. She is now ready to take on 5 opponents!

COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has used Obsidian Blade: Destruction on Cowstian Dior.

COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Kyouka's not carrying an umbrella on this day. Then again, she ''is'' wearing her parka, which has seen her through all kinds of incliment weather, and it has a hood, to boot, so she'll probably be okay. She's got her backpack with her, so whatever purchases she's made, if any, must be in there.

Without anyone watching her she seems... rather low energy, all things considered. She's looking in shop windows with some interest but she's a touch distant. She does her best to put on a smile as she sees Endo. "Hey, Endo-kun... How's it going?"

She blinks as she sees Nori next, her eyes going to that bag. "Hey, Nori-chan... How... much did you buy...?" Must be a lot, to have a bag that big hanging over her shoulder. There's no comment on the contents of the store, though. Maybe she doesn't know how weird it is, or.... more likely she doesn't care.

Someone's trying to catch a cat, but there is someone else who does smell the crepe, too. "That smells kind of good, and it's cold out..." She turns her head to find the source, and... "Oh. Hey, Shimanouchi-chan," she says with a wave. "Been a while, how've you been?"

Kyouka freezes as she hears that telepathic call. "Strike Wolf...?" She immediately starts looking around for the source, taking a few steps forward as Akari comes crashing in. Those injuries--she must be in serious trouble, to have her barrier jacket damaged like that.

Then the orphan appears, and Kyouka recoils. "What in the world--" Instinctively, she knows it's bad news, and something tightens in her chest, cold clammy fingers gripping her heart. She dimly, distantly registers Mikoto's explanation, but for a moment it's far from the most pressing thing on her mind.

Akari's injured. ''You can't fight that thing!'' She needs help. ''You can't fight!'' I can't just ''ignore'' her. ''What can'' you ''do?''

The logical thing to do would be to run. Instead her foot took a step forward. The others were better suited to fighting. She took another step forward. Akari was hurt and maintaining a barrier. Another step. It wasn't just her, it was everyone half a dimension back that had to be protected.

She broke into a dead run.

A green shield started to form around Akari, but Kyouka dropped to the ground, her boots scraping against asphalt as she slid under it just before it finished forming.

The outside world grows more muted as the shield closes. Outside, the beast screeches, pecking and clawing furiously at the flimsy protection. The strikes and blows reverberate through the tiny space, but the screeches felt more distant.

"Akari! Strike Wolf! I'm gonna get you out of here!"

"You again!?" sputtered Akari. She was barely looking at the girl, letting out a pained hiss as the Orphan kept pounding on the shield.

Kyouka started working her arms under Akari's body. "Drop the shield. I'll get you out of here while the others hold it off."

"N-no good. It won't stop, now that it has my scent." The familiar couldn't bring herself to look at Kyouka. "Just... go. This isn't your problem." She let out another pained whimper as more blows kept falling on the shield.

It won't hold long.

COMBAT: Endo Naoki has fully healed himself.

COMBAT: Endo Naoki transforms into Barrier Jacket Zerstörer!

<Pose Tracker> Endo Naoki [Juuban Public School (12)] has posed.

When spotted by Kyouka, Endo raises his hand to wave at the girl. He abandons looking at the big robot figure he was engaged in and starts to head over in that direction--

But he doesn't get very far before Akari and the Orphan come crashing onto the scene. When Kyouka goes charging towards it he does the same, not hesitating for a second.

He transforms mid-sprint, purple light flaring to life. When it fades the boy is in full barrier jacket, sword raised high as he leaps to assist the beleaguered mage.

He sweeps to the side of the shield to come at an angle opposite Mikoto's. Her plan more than sufficient for his purposes: Hit it until it does.

Fallen Stern arcs through the air in a horizonal slash, aiming to cleave off a chunk of the avian-adjacent Orphan.

COMBAT: Endo Naoki has used Blauverschiebung on Cowstian Dior.

COMBAT: Endo Naoki has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Eri Shimanouchi [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

Eri looks towards Kyouka, in that moment, "Hey... Okazaki-chan right?"

As if she were recalling her name, after all, it has been some time - and that girl was rather new to this, it's perhaps a strange sight, with the Crepe extended higher in the air, with no apparent reason for it.

"I'm doing well, yourself?"

She's... not lowering her arm is she?

Then the telepathic call goes out, and Eri doesn't say anything, even as chaos arrives all around her in it's myriad forms.

A Magical Girl crashing to the ground, the formation of a Barrier. And... an orphan, followed by Mikoto's telltale shout and call of one-

"Oh! There she is."

Taking care not to spill anything, Eri puts down the half-eaten crepe behind the counter of the Crepe Stand, delicately, and licks her fingers.

Her eyes look up at the bird monster behind her glasses, and then she grabs them from the side, pulling them away, folding them up and putting it in her bag, with a motion of her hand, a ring on her finger becomes her soul's cage, and with a gleam of green, she transforms, a thorned whip extending into her hand, even as she flicks the side of her hair, a barrette with the gem appearing there.

"Mikoto-chan, hope you don't mind, I'm tagging in."

She tells her with the same casualness as if she were asking someone to move by them on the train. Her eyes had noticed Akari injured of course - and the magical nature of her that goes beyond simple transformation - but Kyouka...

"Ah."

It's a quick assessment of the situation, the telepathic voice of the device from before, and not on Kyouka's person. It's almost like history repeats itself, isn't it?

With a pivot, her legs press into the ground, as she leaps on high, and her whip flickers out, length upon length as it blurs through the air, and abruptly tries to wrap around the creature's beating wings. The momentum of her fall is then utilized, that upon hitting the ground, she yanks it taut, and pulls.

AND PULLS-!

Straight towards Miroku and Fallen Stern.

"Get moving!" She demands of Akari and Kyouka, without saying anything like they'll hold it off or the like - no such things are implied.

COMBAT: Eri Shimanouchi transforms into Puella Magi Eri!

COMBAT: Eri Shimanouchi has used Gardener's Grasp on Cowstian Dior.

COMBAT: Eri Shimanouchi has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Cowstian Dior perfectly dodges 72 Fatigue damage from Mikoto Minagi's Obsidian Blade: Destruction, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge! Cowstian Dior's Fade and Flash abilities activate!

COMBAT: Cowstian Dior dodges 5 Fatigue damage from Eri Shimanouchi's Gardener's Grasp, taking 8 Fatigue damage! Eri Shimanouchi is Psyched! Cowstian Dior's Fade and Flash abilities activate! Stagger and Tangle applied to Cowstian Dior!

COMBAT: Cowstian Dior braces 13 Fatigue damage from Endo Naoki's Blauverschiebung, taking 20 Fatigue damage! Cowstian Dior's Block and Parry abilities activate! Stagger applied to Cowstian Dior!

<Pose Tracker> Nori Ankou [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

"Oh, this?" Nori says, shrugging up her shoulder bag. "This isn't something I bought, you know." She winks at Kyouka, and the bag makes a familiar squeak that might be something like 'how's it going?' if you were listening closely. Nori then smiles upon the presence of Eri, considering what to say -- it has been a while --

WHEN!

A call rings through the air. Nori, who had been eyeing a L*wson outlet speculatively for its probability of hot, fresh, quick-grab croquettes, pauses when she hears it.

"Did you --?" Nori asks her bag.

"I did," the bag replies.

And then Akari appears and removes all doubt. Nori stares, slightly poe faced for a moment, and then does a volte face and marches around the Mandarake building towards the back.

A few moments later, there is a scent as if the memory of the ocean has been revealed...

Followed by a bursting darkling vision from an alleyway, running with thrown-sparks from diamonds against pavement. She sees Endo with relief - her head turns and she sees Mikoto, who is a good sign if slightly more provisionally, and then gives the PHANTOM FOX another glance before--

Well, that's a bigger problem. La Sirene de Diamant throws a hand outwards, wordlessly hurling a glimmering streak of inverse light towards the Orphan's... head! Its eyes! It has many eyes -- that means it can see! thinks la Sirene.

Batiste is scrabbling to catch up, but is also probably going to stay somewhat clear of the -- you know -- Orphan. He is small, if feisty.

COMBAT: Nori Ankou has fully healed herself.

COMBAT: Nori Ankou transforms into La Sirene de Diamant!

COMBAT: La Sirene de Diamant has used Carbonado Kaleidoscope on Cowstian Dior.

COMBAT: La Sirene de Diamant has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Cowstian Dior braces 21 Fatigue damage from La Sirene de Diamant's Carbonado Kaleidoscope, taking 9 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Cowstian Dior's Block and Parry abilities activate! Stagger applied to Cowstian Dior!

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

"Then if we can't run..." Kyouka looks up at the shield. It's obvious, even to her, that it wasn't going to hold. And the barrier might be next, too.

''What can'' you ''do?''

There was only one thing ''to'' do.

"Strike Wolf!"

Strike Wolf's surface lit up as he replied, <Standby ready.>

Kyouka grabbed at Strike Wolf's standby form, still hanging around Akari's neck. Despite the grim circumstances, she couldn't help but smile as she felt that sense of connection reestablish itself like nothing had ever changed.

Akari stared at the girl in shock. "What are you--"

"Set up!" <Set up.>

A talon crashes through the shield, shattering it right as a wild burst of bright violet energy fills the space. And when the light clears--

<SoundTracker> Fist Bump (Sonic Forces OST) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwo7xig99Gw

Kyouka is standing over Akari, struggling as she holds the massive set of talons back. She has her arms around its foot, with talons closing in oh so precariously close around her neck and body. She's in her barrier jacket (the old one), consisting of just armored boots and gauntlets, a black top, purple shorts and vest, and an amber-colored visor. Strike Wolf is present on the back of her right hand.

"Wha-- Why--" Akari's hand goes to her chest, as if she couldn't believe Strike Wolf was on Kyouka's hand currently.

"Akari! Focus!" snaps Kyouka as she wrestles with the Hummingbird Orphan. "I need you to keep that barrier up! Those people are counting on you!"

Akari swallows hard but then nods. "R-right."

"Good. Strike Wolf, let's go!" With a great, heaving effort Kyouka shifts her footing, heaving the beast up, over her head, and slamming it into the ground before taking a defensive stance between it and Akari. "What'd you say, Mikoto? Hit it harder?" She sinks into a low ready stance, feat spread, one arm forward, one arm high and back.

"I think we can manage that."

COMBAT: Kyouka Okazaki transforms into Barrier Jacket Wolf Fighter!

COMBAT: Kyouka Okazaki has used Bodyslam on Cowstian Dior.

COMBAT: Kyouka Okazaki has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Cowstian Dior perfectly dodges 13 Fatigue damage from Kyouka Okazaki's Bodyslam, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Critical Dodge! Cowstian Dior's Fade and Flash abilities activate!

<Pose Tracker> Cowstian Dior [Admin (S)] has posed.

Mikoto's terrible blade swings down, down, down into the ground. This time, it is able to move out of the way of her strike, as another strike she'd inflicted begins to heal; Miroku hits the ground an gouges an additional wound in the Barriered ground. The great rent in the earth exposes dirt and concrete both, well beneath the sidewalk.

Endo's sprint takes him clear close, and the Orphan cannot evade both Mikoto ''and'' Endo today. A chunk of its feathers are scythed off. In the next moment, it is unable to avoid Eri's grasp, ''yanked'' towards her.

Then, Kyouka and Strike Wolf come toether--and the creature is already back against that shield of Akari's. It struggles through, until Kyouka wrestles it--And ''hurls'' it back--

It manages to bank, in the air, hitting hard a cart instead of the solid ground, destroying more illusory property as it rises.

A flower bursts out of the air suddenly, falling towards Mikoto--and EXPLODES in a flurry of white feathers. The feathers themselves burst outward, and one approaches Eri and the other Endo, ''exploding'' likewise outward in a cascading chain reaction.

It dives, then, battering at La Sirene with its wings along the way back towards Kyouka, where it ''slashes'' at her, instead of at Akari now.

They've gotten its attention, all right. It caws a shrieking noise, and its wounds are aleady starting to heal again.

Better be quicker.

COMBAT: Cowstian Dior has used Bursting Flower on Mikoto Minagi.

COMBAT: Cowstian Dior has used Pinion Explosion on Eri Shimanouchi.

COMBAT: Cowstian Dior has used Pinion Explosion on Endo Naoki.

COMBAT: Cowstian Dior has used Kill Rush on La Sirene de Diamant.

COMBAT: Cowstian Dior has used Rending Talons on Kyouka Okazaki.

COMBAT: Cowstian Dior has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Eri Shimanouchi dodges 20 Fatigue damage from Cowstian Dior's Pinion Explosion, taking 13 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Eri Shimanouchi's Fade and Flash abilities activate! Diversion, Stagger, and Stun applied to Eri Shimanouchi!

COMBAT: La Sirene de Diamant counters 13 Fatigue damage from Cowstian Dior's Kill Rush, taking 13 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! La Sirene de Diamant's Reverse and Tactician abilities activate! Stagger applied to La Sirene de Diamant!

COMBAT: La Sirene de Diamant's counterattack, Les Mysteres, partially gets through, doing 18 Fatigue damage to Cowstian Dior!

COMBAT: Kyouka Okazaki braces 11 Fatigue damage from Cowstian Dior's Rending Talons, taking 17 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Endo Naoki counters 12 Fatigue damage from Cowstian Dior's Pinion Explosion, taking 12 Fatigue damage! Endo Naoki's Reverse and Tactician abilities activate! Diversion and Stun applied to Endo Naoki!

COMBAT: Endo Naoki's counterattack, Asteroid Eilen, partially gets through, doing 25 Fatigue damage to Cowstian Dior!

COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi partially dodges 10 Fatigue damage from Cowstian Dior's Bursting Flower, taking 40 Fatigue damage! Mikoto Minagi's Fade and Flash abilities activate! Cowstian Dior drains 16 fatigue from Mikoto Minagi!

<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

Here's Endo, following her lead with more violence; of course Mikoto can rely on him to do that. And she can rely on ''Eri'' to tag in, entangling that strange creature without a moment's hesitation. Unfortunately, Orphans aren't only tough and regenerative but ''fast,'' and she growls frustration as her blade hits the ground instead.

La Sirene, as well, has her own take on obsidian, and her unlight is a welcome addition.

But -- there's something Eri said --

"Huh? Kyouka! In here?!" Mikoto yelps, whirling towards Akari and Kyouka. She, at least, is shocked to see someone who hasn't been fighting for ''some time'' inside the Barrier. Aren't Barriers supposed to keep civilians ''out?''

Orphans don't really care about whether they hurt people who can't fight...

Luckily, Strike Wolf forms an accord, and Kyouka proves she's not quite as vulnerable as Mikoto might have thought. "... right!" She says, grasping her blade, and -- the distraction of watching Kyouka might have killed someone else.

As it is, Mikoto moves before she consciously realises she ought to -- but not so quickly that the flower-feathers don't rush over her, buffeting her like any number of foes. (Eri's seen her weather worse.) "Rrrrhhh--!!" She growls, as she spins, once, twice, three times, one eighty three sixty seven twenty degrees --

And SLAMS her blade into where she estimates the Hummingbird will be a second after she last saw it on her last revolution.

COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has used Obsidian Blade: Dauntlessness on Cowstian Dior.

COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Cowstian Dior braces 17 Fatigue damage from Mikoto Minagi's Obsidian Blade: Dauntlessness, taking 14 Fatigue damage! Mikoto Minagi is Psyched! Cowstian Dior's Block and Parry abilities activate!

<Pose Tracker> Endo Naoki [Juuban Public School (12)] has posed.

The feathers are concerning, but Endo is focused on hurting the Orphan as much as he can in the shortest time possible. Accordingly, her pursues. Through the barrage of deadly projectiles no less, gritting teeth as his barrier jacket absorbs the heavy impacts. It's enough to hurt--but not enough to stop him from reaching his target.

"Nice one, Kyouka-chan!" He calls. He doesn't have time to comment further on her and Strike Wolf's reunion. Nor to give a much-deserved thanks to the other magical girls on the scene. But he slips easily in synch, intending to press the threat further with their much-needed aid.

A Belkan triangle burns to life under Endo's feet, providing a launch pad to send him hurtling toward the monster at top speed. He streaks through the air like a comet, making one sweeping spin to build momentum for the coming blow. Rotation, as Mikoto has demonstrated, is a necessary part of the equation. Purple-black flame trails behind the blade, leaving burning lines in the air that mark the knight's passage.

<METEOR ABSTURZ>

And then blade descends, aiming to take another, larger chunk out of the Orphan.

COMBAT: Endo Naoki has used Meteor Absturz on Cowstian Dior.

COMBAT: Endo Naoki has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Eri Shimanouchi [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

Only one thing to do?

Eri at least might disagree with that, even as the girl calls out to Strike Wolf. Sometimes it's a bittersweet thing to know people choose this life, and keep choosing it. Again and again.

It's akin to a sigh perhaps, even as Kyouka barrels at the thing, saying she can manage that- "Then, show us." -and it banks- sending out a burst of white feathers.

Eri suddenly spins on one foot, and launches her into the air, in a sideways rotation, as multiple feathers skim by her, tracing lines across her Henshin.

But far worse than the alternative, of the whole mass hitting her dead on.

The rotation stops suddenly as gravity sends her back down, landing with only the most imperceptible stumble. Nori had contemplated earlier, what to say to her? And it's in this moment while not even looking at her that she asks the important question.

"So how's Bautiste doing?"

Couldn't she ask about Nori herself!?

"Is he still on Legend of the Blue Sea?"

That's the title of a popular K-Drama this year, but how does she know Bautiste likes K-Dramas!? ... Social Media of course.

It's a serious life or death situation and, that's what she's talking about!?

... Well yes, obviously.

Her eyes flick to Mikoto, but this state for Mikoto isn't even close to alarming. What's more alarming typically is that Mikoto isn't a long haul fighter. She's someone who operates in short bursts, which makes her ill suited for a persistence hunt.

And so this time, when she launches herself at the Orphan, her whip divides into two, of equal size, one in each hand, as she just wields them in a different way. Faster and faster blurs from her hand motions, of vicious rending cuts. Each one slicing and tearing and ripping at its flesh. Despite the butchery, there is something like surgical precision to it.

It is not merely death by a thousand cuts. It is a thousand cuts simultaneously, lacerations conjoining into larger ones, and savaging the orphan's body.

There's no time for playing around with it today.

COMBAT: Eri Shimanouchi has used Aerating Edge on Cowstian Dior.

COMBAT: Eri Shimanouchi has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Cowstian Dior fails to counter Endo Naoki's Meteor Absturz, taking 72 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Cowstian Dior's counterattack, Rending Talons, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Endo Naoki!

COMBAT: Cowstian Dior dodges 24 Fatigue damage from Eri Shimanouchi's Aerating Edge, taking 36 Fatigue damage! Cowstian Dior's Fade and Flash abilities activate!

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

"Endo! Thanks for backing me up!" Kyouka shouts as she gets ready to confront the beast. He's reliable like that. She should tell him how inspiring that is some time.

"That's me," Kyouka confirms to Eri. "Let's catch up later, okay?" This ''is'' the only choice, but Kyouka doesn't really have time to explain... well, everything she's been through.

"Diamante! Is Batiste safe?" She heard that voice, and she sees what the deal is with the mehs bag now. Hopefully the otter can keep himself safe.

She sees Mikoto's stare and gives her a nod. "I'm good--let's beat this thing down."

Kyouka stands her ground for the moment, keeping near Akari as she tracks the birds movements, studies how it attacks--and when it comes for her again, she's ready. "Strike Wolf! Follow my lead!"

/sw<Affirmative.>

She holds her hands out, and a glowing purple magic circle appears in front of her. She shouts "Protection!" and a purple shield of energy appears right as the talons strike at her. She keeps her hands out, her feet skidding back as the Orphan keeps scratching at it, frunting with the effort of repelling it.

"W-what are you-- Strike Wolf doesn't have that spell!"

"That's cause it's not his, it's ''mine''!"

The foxwoman stares, jaw hanging open. "But--you're not a mage!" She'd had ''that'' made abundantly clear to her.

Kyouka shoves the orphan away with the last bit of strength left in the spell. "And I wasn't always a magical girl, either."

She crouches, a brief magic circle appearing at her feet before she jumps straight upwards, but at the apex of her jump she reorients herself, another circle appears at her feet and suddenly she's charging straight down at the monster, flipping in midair to bring an axe kick smashing down on its head.

<Fangbreaker>

COMBAT: Kyouka Okazaki has used Fang Breaker Strike on Cowstian Dior.

COMBAT: Kyouka Okazaki has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> La Sirene de Diamant [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

Before --

"Oh," Nori says to Eri softly. She smiles. Perhaps disarmingly. (Did she GROW? AGAIN?) "Oh, well, you could ask him yourself, just - hm, I suppose we aren't trying to raise attention, you know--"

Batiste paws his face. He knows what must have happened. Eri found his show-nerd account-- otter disgrace...

("Nearly done," he says. "No spoilers!")

BUT HERE AND NOW --

As it swoops towards her, there is a cry: "Les Mysteres!"

"COME!"

And the burst of simmeringly silver and black powers up la Sirene's arm as she completes the gesture and the charm and the bloom forms up and WHAM there goes the Orphan, STRAIGHT into it, powering through in part in order to smash against la Sirene - its path deflected, but the energy simply too strong. The stray unlight flies around, like fabulous but rapidly-evaporating luminous paint, as la Sirene is bowled over onto the ground.

Her remarks? "Gwuh!"

She kips herself back upwards, then, wiping her forehead off with the back of one hand. (The diamonds don't cut *her*.) As the jewels glitter in the Akiba light, her eyes come up -- Meteor Absturz, and Eri is managing the thing... yes, la Sirene thinks, they're making the right kind of call. A sweep of her hand as she sends a river of that strange light along the ground to arc up and wrap round the Orphan, so they hope.

And with that her head turns to look towards Kyouka as her eyes go wide.

"Ah!" comes a squeak. Not from her!

From the second floor landing of Mandarake! It's Batiste, leaning against the railings!!! (He is easy to spot because he's an otter running around loose.)

"Kyouka-- you've been reunited at last...!!"

COMBAT: La Sirene de Diamant has used Polyploia on Cowstian Dior.

COMBAT: La Sirene de Diamant has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Cowstian Dior braces 16 Fatigue damage from Kyouka Okazaki's Fang Breaker Strike, taking 7 Fatigue damage! Kyouka Okazaki is Psyched! Cowstian Dior's Block and Parry abilities activate!

COMBAT: Cowstian Dior counters 9 Fatigue damage from La Sirene de Diamant's Polyploia, taking 27 Fatigue damage! Cowstian Dior's Reverse and Tactician abilities activate! Tangle applied to Cowstian Dior!

COMBAT: Cowstian Dior's counterattack, Rending Talons, partially gets through, doing 11 Fatigue damage to La Sirene de Diamant! Critical Counterhit!

<Pose Tracker> Cowstian Dior [Admin (S)] has posed.

Les Mysteres strike back at the Orphan, their mystic unlight blinding some of its many eyes. Meanwhile, Asteroi Eilen ''slams'' down against the Orphan's terrible hide. Mikoto has concerns, but her eternal berserker approach is enough. She swings, swings, swings, and this time her blade hits home. The Orphan is able to regenerate some of it immediately--but only some, as ichorous black blood drips to the illusory ground. Next, purple-black flame leave sburning lines in the area to approach--

And while it tries to scythe into him with those dark claws, instead it SHRIEKS as Meteor Absturz hammers through its counterattack and sends burning black ichor to the ground, blinding yet more of those eyes.

A thousand cuts come next. The Orpahn's hummingbird beak tilts ''up'' as it tries to evade, but that doubled whip scythes through the Orphan's flesh, feathers and black blood raining down.

Still, it is regenerating. That is paused, by the axe kick Kyouka drags down upon its head, which it can only mostly guard against, still knocked downward towards the ground by the blow. That river of light, meanwhile, wraps round the Orphan as it throws itself at La Sirene de Diamant. This mostly accomplishes being savaged harder by the unlight.

But it isn't through, yet. It roars, and its eyes all glow, in random-seeming orders, crashing up towards Endo in a hoorrid stare. Meanwhile, it thrashes, and carts fly outward; a merch cart for Nori and Kyouka, and if no one's careful, Eri's crepe cart will be gone forever.

But the debris of its flailing sends rock and plant matter for Eri and Mikoto, huge chunks that threaten to bowl them back as the Orphan tries to make space for itself.

COMBAT: Cowstian Dior has used Throw Cart on La Sirene de Diamant.

COMBAT: Cowstian Dior has used Throw Cart on Kyouka Okazaki.

COMBAT: Cowstian Dior has used Debris Fall on Mikoto Minagi.

COMBAT: Cowstian Dior has used Alien Manifestation on Endo Naoki.

COMBAT: Cowstian Dior has used Debris Fall on Eri Shimanouchi.

COMBAT: Cowstian Dior has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi partially dodges 2 Fatigue damage from Cowstian Dior's Debris Fall, taking 8 Fatigue damage! Mikoto Minagi's Fade and Flash abilities activate!

COMBAT: Endo Naoki partially dodges 6 Fatigue damage from Cowstian Dior's Alien Manifestation, taking 22 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: La Sirene de Diamant fails to dodge Cowstian Dior's Throw Cart, taking 13 Fatigue damage! Tangle applied to La Sirene de Diamant!

COMBAT: Eri Shimanouchi fails to brace Cowstian Dior's Debris Fall, taking 18 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!

COMBAT: Kyouka Okazaki counters 3 Fatigue damage from Cowstian Dior's Throw Cart, taking 10 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Kyouka Okazaki's counterattack, Return to Sender, partially gets through, doing 2 Fatigue damage to Cowstian Dior!

<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
Quite so -- Mikoto moves in sprints, not marathons, just as Eri knows. How long ''was'' she chasing this monster before it found them? That's a question for Mikoto to know, and Mikoto has never been much of a conversationalist.

Particularly not in a fight.

Eri's vines, Nori's unlight, and Endo's sword -- each, Mikoto knows, are forceful in their own way. Even Kyouka's magic, not entirely Strike Wolf's doing.

Mikoto can see: its regeneration isn't perfect.

Its own force is enough to send the scenery flying, though, and Mikoto springs to the side just in time to avoid getting clobbered by a rock. "To defeat the enemy," she says, "hit it REALLY hard!"

As if in demonstration, she leaps high into the air, slashing at the hummingbird's wings to try and shatter its defenses.

She lands by Eri, and frowns, with the barest glance to her. "But it's an Orphan," she says, to her erstwhile hunting partner. "I might need Miroku..."

Eri knows, of course, how bad ''that'' is.

COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has used Obsidian Blade: Devastation on Cowstian Dior.

COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Cowstian Dior dodges 13 Fatigue damage from Mikoto Minagi's Obsidian Blade: Devastation, taking 19 Fatigue damage! Mikoto Minagi is Psyched! Cowstian Dior's Fade and Flash abilities activate! Stagger applied to Cowstian Dior!

<Pose Tracker> Endo Naoki [Juuban Public School (12)] has posed.

The blast from the Orphan's eyes is too fast for Endo to avoid completely. He's thrown backward, tossed and sent tumbling before he comes to a hard stop against a piece of debris. The boy finds his footing again after a moment, using his device to help prop himself back up. Time is of the essence, and the Orphan's wounds are busily sealing. 
"Ah...it's really hanging in there." He breathes, "Come on already."

Endo speeds forward once again, not intending to give it any of the space it wants. He takes a running leap, mimicking Mikoto's earlier attack as he swoops down from above.

COMBAT: Endo Naoki has used Blauverschiebung on Cowstian Dior.

COMBAT: Endo Naoki has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Cowstian Dior fails to counter Endo Naoki's Blauverschiebung, taking 39 Fatigue damage! Stagger applied to Cowstian Dior!

COMBAT: Cowstian Dior's counterattack, Kill Rush, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Endo Naoki!

<Pose Tracker> Eri Shimanouchi [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

"You don't need Miroku, you've got this just fine."

Eri says simply, not sounding ''alarmed'' because she knows Mikoto would hear that.

The Ogre Child showing up in all of its glory is bad news.

A huge chunk of rock and plant matter comes her way. And she hardly has time to just twist and avoid it striking a particularly vulnerable spot on her head. Instead it smashes into her jaw, and sends her sprawling into a section of the sidewalk, clanging against a fire hydrant.

Squinting against the haze of pain as her head throbs, she tells Batiste, "... Sorry... but can't promise that one. Might want to cover your ears." Wait what could she possibly be saying about a specific K-Drama here that's relevant!?

"Spoiler Alert!" Eri stands up, as she brushes the dust off her henshin, and looks straight at the Orphan, "Mikoto is going to kill you."

Mikoto, not Miroku.

If Batiste doesn't give her a >:| from that she's going to be a little disappointed.

COMBAT: Eri Shimanouchi has used Spoiler Alert: We All Die In the End on Mikoto Minagi.

COMBAT: Eri Shimanouchi has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> La Sirene de Diamant [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

What brooks it, that the Orphan hurls a cart towards her? La Sirene is more concerned at the sight of the thing still healing against the tidal barrage of horror and pain they are unleashing on it! What are these things even made of?

La Sirene leaps upwards to attempt to avoid --

Ah!! Her eyes widen as she realizes it's a Crepe Cart!! The one she was standing next to! Did the bystanders escape?! Has this Orphan made another orphan, one far less fabulous and perhaps more trag--

"Ghhk!!" la Sirene says, as some of the cart's kinetic energy hits her in the legs. She actually, heavens bless her, manages to do a full tumble in the air rather than flying off, landing heavily with a grimace on her lips.

Her eyes cut towards Mikoto. "..."

She knows darn well what Miroku can do.

Batiste, meanwhile, gasps -- before making a :I face at Eri for a moment, an instant before he calls out, "La Sirene--!!"

"Everyone! You have, I think, to enclose it closer! what I mean is --"

Batiste sucks in a deep breath and spreads his paws. "The creature can move freely! You have tried to confine it and it is damnably strong but I know that all of you can do it --!! Endo, Mikoto, your blades are mighty! You are a canny warrior, Eri Shimanouchi, even if you are cruel regarding the threat of spoilers! And I do not know you as well, but --"

"You may be the one who it cannot predict!!"

La Sirene's hands form fists after this, and she leaps to the side, as if to cover a possible avenue of escape. Or, perhaps, get smashed into again - but let it smash into her, not them! Then the Orphan will learn what's what.

COMBAT: La Sirene de Diamant has used An Encouraging Squeak on Endo Naoki.

COMBAT: La Sirene de Diamant has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Endo Naoki accepts La Sirene de Diamant's An Encouraging Squeak, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Withstand applied to Endo Naoki!

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

They've been reuanited, at last! Kyouka considers those words for a moment. "Sure seems that way," she says, finally.

Akari might have something to say about that, but even ''she'' realizes that it's not really wise to bite the hand that's currently protecting her. She is also, as it turns out, a wee bit distracted by the goings on.

Her kick drives the bird to the ground, and she backflips off of that kick to land back on the ground, reasonably sure she's got its attention now. The beast flails, knocking a cart at her--and she's about to dodge it when she remembers just what is behind her, and she charges towards it instead--she and the card collide in midair as she meets it head on, but she twists and manages to akwardly redirect the cart back ato the orphan.

Though it seems she only scores a glancing hit--her aim was a little off.

She clumsily lands on the ground after that in a three-point stance, panting for a moment as she catches her breath.

Hit it really hard, Mikoto says... What were their options for that, again...? Oh, yes. That'll do. But then she pauses and glances over when she says she needs Miroku. "Uh, aren't you already using your sword?"

"Hang in there, Endo--it can't outregenerate all five of us!"

And then Eri--it has been far too long since they've talked, and really, they've barely hung out except for one shopping trip that was--months ago, apparently. So she's not really used to Eri's sense of humor either yet or anymore. "Hey, can we focus on--" And then the punchline. "... Well we knew that."

But Akari has found voice for a frew more words. "Why are you doing this?" shouts Akari. "Why did you take him ''now'' of all times when you wouldn't even take him back before?"

Kyouka... hasn't really ''mentioned'' that bit to anybody, except for one person.

The girl doesn't respond as she gets up. Batiste suggests enclosing it. "Right!" Makes sense, keep it pinned down, prevent it from using its maneuverability. She rises into a runner's spring and charges forward, leaping high into the air and over its head, before doubling back with a dash downwards from behind.

This time she leads with a punch, searching for any kind of a weak spot she can get to land a decisive hit.

COMBAT: Player not found.

COMBAT: Kyouka Okazaki has used Piercing Fang Strike on Cowstian Dior.

COMBAT: Kyouka Okazaki has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Cowstian Dior decisively counters 6 Fatigue damage from Kyouka Okazaki's Piercing Fang Strike, taking 2 Fatigue damage! Kyouka Okazaki is Psyched! Cowstian Dior's Reverse and Tactician abilities activate! Stun applied to Cowstian Dior!

COMBAT: Cowstian Dior's counterattack, Rending Talons, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Kyouka Okazaki!

<Pose Tracker> Cowstian Dior [Admin (S)] has posed.

Hit it REALLY hard. That is the strategy. And indeed, as an Orphan, Miroku might be needed...

Because the orphan ''barely'' manages to avoid being chopped in half outright by Mikoto's sword slash, instead losing half a talon with another SCREECH. The talon still twitches as it hits the ground. Endo speeds forward too, and it doesn't get the space it wanted or needed. Hanging in there as best it can, the Orphan snaps its hummingbird jaws at endo--and loses a chunk of beak and tooth as he slashes. Eri, too, sure it seems(?) that they won't need the great Miroku, clangs into a fire hydrant--and delivers a spoiler.

The Orphan's eyes all point towards Eri at once and stare.

La Sirene speaks of cheer and of prediction, and with full power, encourages the group!

And Kyouka, reuinited with Strike Wolf, says that it can't outregenerate all of them. And that might be true.

But, as Kyouka swings in, there is another factor that may be an issue. The punch can't find purchase--but she eels power welling up inside her.

And the Orphan...

"RRR!"

It has a strategy: it can outregenerate ''all'' of them if it kills a few first.

The eyes stare at Eri. Flowers rush out, and in their rush they glow--glow brilliantly, brightly, until they EXPLODE at Kyouka and Endo, the resultant feathers burstin about Mikoto too. The Orphan in the meantime just tries to savage Nori outright.

It's fine.

COMBAT: Cowstian Dior has used Alien Manifestation on Eri Shimanouchi.

COMBAT: Cowstian Dior has used Kill Rush on La Sirene de Diamant.

COMBAT: Cowstian Dior has used Pinion Explosion on Mikoto Minagi.

COMBAT: Cowstian Dior has used Bursting Flower on Endo Naoki.

COMBAT: Cowstian Dior has used Bursting Flower on Kyouka Okazaki.

COMBAT: Cowstian Dior has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Endo Naoki braces 35 Fatigue damage from Cowstian Dior's Bursting Flower, taking 15 Fatigue damage! Endo Naoki's Block and Parry abilities activate! Cowstian Dior drains 6 fatigue from Endo Naoki!

COMBAT: Eri Shimanouchi partially dodges 4 Fatigue damage from Cowstian Dior's Alien Manifestation, taking 17 Fatigue damage! Eri Shimanouchi's Fade and Flash abilities activate! Trap applied to Eri Shimanouchi!

COMBAT: La Sirene de Diamant fails to brace Cowstian Dior's Kill Rush, taking 19 Fatigue damage! Stagger applied to La Sirene de Diamant!

COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi accepts Eri Shimanouchi's Spoiler Alert: We All Die In the End, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!

COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi partially dodges 4 Fatigue damage from Cowstian Dior's Pinion Explosion, taking 18 Fatigue damage! Mikoto Minagi's Fade and Flash abilities activate! Diversion and Stun applied to Mikoto Minagi!

COMBAT: Kyouka Okazaki fails to counter Cowstian Dior's Bursting Flower, taking 57 Fatigue damage! Cowstian Dior drains 23 fatigue from Kyouka Okazaki!

COMBAT: Kyouka Okazaki's counterattack, Howling Wind Barrier, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Cowstian Dior!

<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

Eri assures Mikoto that she doesn't need Miroku for this -- which might be confusing, with Miroku grasped in her hands, but ''she'' knows what Eri means. Kyouka, though -- "Miroku is Miroku," Mikoto explains, helpfully. "Miroku's waiting."

A poet might have been more ominous, too.

Batiste, this poor little creature beset by spoilers, has tactics for them which Mikoto doesn't have -- though Endo, at least, understands her strategy excellently.

She looks to Eri, frowning. "Then, we'll..."

End of sentence; they'll do it.

"Rrrraaaaaaaaaghhhhhhh---!!" Mikoto leaps into the air, and swings her sword with such force that eyes blink open along its black length, as if staring down at the hundred-hundred eyes of that hummingbird-thing. She comes down like one of Endo's meteors, blade coming down like a tower.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Mikoto Minagi has used Obsidian Blade: Deontology on Cowstian Dior.

COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Endo Naoki [Juuban Public School (12)] has posed.

"We can do it!" Endo echoes the tiny voice of Batiste. The encouragement is enough to get him moving again, even after taking another powerful blow from the explosion of flower explosion. He turns his head toward his allies, calling, "Just a little more!"

Or maybe a lot more. Endo gathers his remaining strength, another triangle forming as Fallen Stern begins to pulse with energy. Purple light begins to flood from the dark blade as the boy raises it over his head in preparation for a final blow. It builds and builds, until it becomes more like a pillar than a sword; A vivid line that stretches toward the firmament.

<STERN BRECHER.>

He brings it downward with a a cry of effort, slamming the mass of destructive energy into the Orphan.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Endo Naoki has used Stern Brecher on Cowstian Dior.

COMBAT: Endo Naoki has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> La Sirene de Diamant [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

It would be a mistake to assume that only Eri could command the flowers.

The Orphan's got the flowers, too.

Buoyed, perhaps, by Batiste's trust, la Sirene does not attempt to parry or to dodge the incoming blow from the savage creature. It may seek to kill but her fists come up in a block that derives from simple gym lessons long ago -- she steps back and she does not topple backwards, even as she can feel the pain and her teeth grit.

She leans backwards -- Breathes out --

And raises her hands above her head. Forming a loop with them as her back stays arched; she straightens but she does not stand aloft. It's a contorted posture, something that isn't quite of earth. As Mikoto strikes with a screaming blow; as Fallen Stern sends his indescribable crushing force down; la Sirene's glow brightens -

Contracts against her --

And then washes outwards with a sudden surge, and now that memorial-scent of an ocean is a lot less like a memory, even if it's a peculiarly *warm* sort of sea-smell, and though it is only light it nonetheless seems to draw the dirt and dust of the ground along with it, and when it hits the Orphan, it will burst in an enormous silver cascade of evanescent effervesence.

The scent may be warm, but the light, itself, is not.

COMBAT: FINISHER! La Sirene de Diamant has used The Light That Never Warms on Cowstian Dior.

COMBAT: La Sirene de Diamant has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

She might have been out of the game for a while--but when she feels that power welling up, her eyes widen. She can tell what that is. "I think it's gearing up for something big!" she shouts as she rebounds off of the hummingbird to find purchase.

Flowers erupt out and burst at her. A thin purple band of magic glyphs encircles her gauntleted hand as she draws back, a flurry of winds encirling her hand. She charges forward, thrusting her hand out--

<Howling Wind>

And the explosion of light tears through the wind barrier, sending Kyouka flying backwards and into the ground floor of the Mandarake. There is quite a clatter and destruction of illusory property as she is sent through a becy of shelves, displays, and a counter. She lays there for a moment as a few pieces of merchandise on the counter just slooooooowly slide down the broken countertop before smacking into her.

"We're out of practice, huh...?" she mutters.

<Affirmative.>

Kyouka pulls herself to her feet and with a quick burst magical power, barrels forward back into the street, skidding to a stop in front of Akari.

Mikoto has an explanation for her--and Kyouka, while good at taking things as they come, is still terribly confused. "Later," she decides. "Explain this one to me later."

Endo calls for just a little more, and Kyouka nods. "Right with you."

She might be looking worse for the worse for the wear right then, but she is determined still, her gaze fixed on the creature. A light purple Midchildan magic circle appears at her feet, and she holds her hand out in front of her. Mana begins to build there, forming a brightly glowing ball that begins to intensify more and more.

"... You want to know why I'm helping you now, when I didn't before?" she says.

This isn't the aria to her spell.

She's keeping her eye on the Orphan as that energy builds up more and more. "It's because, when I saw you today, I realized--my first instinct is to run towards those in need, not away from them."

It was true the day she met Strike Wolf, and though there were multiple feelings waging a war within her chest when she was offered Strike Wolf back, and then again when she saw Akari appear today... most of that sensation has vanished in the ensuing fight.

Most.

She grasps at that ball of energy in her hand and her gauntlet begins to glow with a bright light. It continues to build, while energy slowly spreads to the rest of her body, encasing her in a light violet aura. She shifts stances, no longer standing upright but preparing to move, legs tensed in a crouch, and arm drawn back to prepare for an attack.

"For the longest time, I thought this was just temporary, that me meeting Strike Wolf was a fluke, that I'd gone through things nobody should have to for a temp job." Three of the other magical girls gathered might well remember an incident with Kyouka, a Sulfuric Ogre, and her Pure Hart, shining so radiantly in the night air.

The light flares brighter still, redoubling as the charging of the spell reaches its zenith. "But with or without Strike Wolf, I am still a magical girl, and I will always protect those in need. Moonliiiiiiight--" She shifts forward and in the blink of an eye she vanishes. Suddenly she's right on top of the orphan, swinging into an attack as she releases all of that stored up energy in one massive explosion.

"STRIKE!"

COMBAT: FINISHER! Kyouka Okazaki has used Shining Moonlight Strike on Cowstian Dior.

COMBAT: Kyouka Okazaki has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Eri Shimanouchi [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

As Kyouka asks her if it's really the time, Eri's eyes, now bereft of glasses, glance in her direction. She says nothing to 'Well we knew that.'

She tries not to :3 too hard when Batiste calls her cruel regarding spoilers. Of things she's been called cruel for, it's probably the mildest. She'll own that one.

The Orphan stares at her, and for a time she shakes it off, but she doesn't actually comprehend the true form of it's attack. Because the eyes stare...

... and stare...

... and stare...

What does Eri see in these moments? What does she experience? Her face twitches, and a bead of sweat forms on her forehead...

Then wordlessly she drops to her knees, as if something had made her faint, and places both palms down. Panting, she holds herself up by her palms, and then abruptly, a wave of radiant green spreads out from each palm across the concrete.

And then something erupts. Twisted and tangled, strands of vine as thick as tree trunks, braided in an unnatural symmetry. It rises, and rises, like a colossal manifestation of nature in it's most savage form. However...

... those who look close, might tell by the slight arc it makes at the end, that it is an unnaturally large manifestation of her whip. Putting a hand against it, that green magic traces across it, unintelligible runes making sparkling circles all over its length, each blooming into an opening flower along its trunk, as it suddenly moves, pulling back taut, and then it lets go, all that momentum reversing, as it snaps down gracelessly to try and smash the Orphan into the concrete.

Nori was correct. It would be a mistake to assume that only Eri can command the flowers.

Not for long though.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Eri Shimanouchi has used Footsteps of the Kodama on Cowstian Dior.

COMBAT: Eri Shimanouchi has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Cowstian Dior fails to brace Mikoto Minagi's Finisher, Obsidian Blade: Deontology, taking 125 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Cowstian Dior fails to dodge Kyouka Okazaki's Finisher, Shining Moonlight Strike, taking 129 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Cowstian Dior is unable to keep fighting!

COMBAT: Cowstian Dior fails to brace Endo Naoki's Finisher, Stern Brecher, taking 186 Fatigue damage! Cowstian Dior is unable to keep fighting!

COMBAT: Cowstian Dior fails to brace La Sirene de Diamant's Finisher, The Light That Never Warms, taking 150 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Cowstian Dior is unable to keep fighting!

COMBAT: Cowstian Dior fails to brace Eri Shimanouchi's Finisher, Footsteps of the Kodama, taking 111 Fatigue damage! Cowstian Dior is unable to keep fighting!

<Pose Tracker> Cowstian Dior [Admin (S)] has posed.

The Orphan does its best to defeat its enemies, Akari long forgotten in the face of these magical warriors assembled. But as it comes to pass, Miroku is waiting... and will continue to wait. 
Mikot leaps into the air, and that tower of a blade ''hacks'' off one wing. Endo's Stern Brecher, meanwhile, pules and floods and destroys--''cleaving'' through the other wing, forcing the Orphan to the ground with a load roar of dismay. It tries to lunge forward, to stab with its beak, but that enormous silver cascade from La Sirene is not warm--it batters the Orphan back. Black ichor floods the Barriered area, ruined as ever. And Kyouka... explains herself. She explains, and swings into an attack--

Eri's floral magic ''slams'' the Orphan into the concrete, herding it perfectly into the path of Kyouka's fist. It is crushed from above and beside, and a massive explosion results.

The orphan disappears in that burst of light. The area is quiet, again.

Quiet, until someone releases the Barrier, at least. The danger has.... passed?

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Blade, flowers, and light all converge on the beast, and all the blades have been swong, flowers sprouted, and the light fades... the orphan is defeated. Kyouka lands lightly on the ground as the last remnants of her attack dissipate, and she looks at the space where the Orphan was.

"... Someone's gonna have to explain that one to me later, I'm pretty sure I've never fought one of those before." And the thing about Miroku.

She's silent for a moment as she looks down at her gauntlet, smiling faintly. "You were ''amazing'' buddy. Just like always."

<Thank you. Likewise.>

Kyouka nods, and then releases her henshin. She appears in her street clothes, and Strike Wolf is now hanging around her neck. She turns and walks over to Akari, who is still staring at her in shock. The teenaged girl kneels beside her, "Let's get your leg fixed up. But first..."

She slips off Strike Wolf and puts the necklace down around Akari's neck instead.

"Wha-- What are you ''doing''?" sputters Akari.

It's a fair question.

<Pose Tracker> La Sirene de Diamant [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

La Sirene lands on her feet. She breathes heavily, the light seeming to sizzle against her skin for a few moments as she blinks a couple of times. She raises her hands up and sweeps them through her hair, before giving Eri - Mikoto - and Endo a pale but authentic smile.

And then...

She turns.

As Kyouka returns to her human form, la Sirene approaches her, and perhaps interferes with the dynamic tension between Akari and Kyouka by suddenly administering a brief and powerful hug to Kyouka. "Oh!" she says: "I know it's risky and it isn't always the best or easiest thing but I am so glad to --"

The hug relents. (It was a little like being hugged by an ocean wave?)

She looks over.

La Sirene's eerie-painted pale-eyed face looks at Akari.

Then back at Kyouka.

"...??"

Batiste seems puzzled in his second-story perch as well.

<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

Mikoto lands, and this time, they don't need a Child to make the Orphan grieve. Those motes of light float upwards, and Mikoto breathes out, shrugging her sword-case off of her back to sheathe her blade again.

"We did it..."

She shakes her head, looking to Kyouka. "Orphans -- hate HiME. I'm HiME," she explains, lifting her poncho and the sleeve of her shirt to show Kyouka a strange, spiral birthmark.

And apparently that's the whole explanation.

She frowns, looking to Kyouka and Akari -- and looks up to Eri, coming to stand beside her, before she looks to Kyouka again. "Kyouka... decided you don't wanna fight?" She asks, unsure.

<Pose Tracker> Eri Shimanouchi [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

The Orphan vanishes in a burst of light, and not long after, Eri's giant 'whip' does as well. Such expressions use an enormous amount of magic, and she's learned her lessons about keeping them around for too long.

She learned that lesson quite well.

When she's finished-

She takes a breath, and reaches behind the crepe cart to take back her paper.

With a smile towards Mikoto she says, "Take a breather, I'll get you one too, my treat." Though they'll have to wait for the owner to return.

The Orphan STILL appeared and STILL terrified away civilians before the Barrier formed. Which gives her time to see Kyouka slip it over Akari's neck. And Akari sputtering and-? Eri looks towards Mikoto, and- speaks to her, even though everyone can overhear it.

"Honestly? She's making the best choice she could possibly make."

The statement is made without a hint of irony.

"What's this life giving her? The satisfaction of making a difference?"

Eri's eyes shift towards her, "That feeling goes away before long. Then it becomes long nights, loved ones and teachers and friends who punish you for that service and don't understand - who can't understand. Life or death fights with others who won't allow themselves to be understood. Or worse - understanding only makes it clear you'll never come to terms. It's thankless work, to be just another girl who shows up whenever people - the world is in trouble."

There's a loft of her shoulders.

"Best case scenario, you get a real high from it for a while, before all the wonders of this life become ashes in your mouth. Worse case scenario, you end up dead and your friends and loved ones will never get the answer to the question of 'Why?'"

She takes a bite of her crepe, chew, chew, swallow. She's not about to explain a thing, of how she came to such conclusions. How she stands it now, each and every day.

"She runs away now, she might regret it for a while, but there's no world in which she won't be better off."

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

It ''is'' risky, and hard, and if you do it right, very few people will know what you've done for them.

And Kyouka's fine with that. Protecting people ''means'' something, something important.

Despite the seriousness of the moment, and the tense dynamic, Kyouka actually laughs a little, good-naturedly, as La Sirene goes in for a hug. Kyouka takes it in stride, grinning a bit. She's kneeling and in a bit of an awkward position to reciprocate, but once Diamante lets go she stands and turns, embracing her in a tight hug of her own.

She's the type of person who can give bear hugs without even really meaning to. "I know. And thanks."

She nods to Mikoto as she explains. "Orphans hate HiME. Got it." She's rather used to Mikoto's brief explanations for things. She'll just make a mental note to watch out for freaky animal things.

Mikoto asks if she's giving up the fight. They had discussed that once, that it was okay for Kyouka not to fight if she didn't want to. But... "No, I'm not."

Eri has... quite a bit to say, on the subject. There is a lot to unpack there, and Kyouka looks at her silently for a long moment as she considers all that. "That's... not quite it, either."

She looks to Akari again, while speaking to everyone else present. "We had a deal. I don't think you've kept up your end of the bargain, but I'm not going to take Strike Wolf back just because of that. If I did that... I'd be no better than the mage I rescued Strike Wolf from."

"You tried to sell me some sort of story, give me a little song and dance, and now that I've had a moment to reflect... I know your type. Real wheeler dealer type. That might might work on other people, but now that I've got your number? It's not gonna work on me."

"So tell you what. If you need help, just... ''ask''. Don't try to sell me a story, or make some crazy deal, just... Ask."

"You deal with me straight, and I'll do the same."

She kneels down next to Akari again and slips an arm around her, pulling the woman's arm over her shoulders to take her weight. "Let's get you up, and we'll get you seated someplace safe."

Akari is silent as she lets herself be helped up, limping along as she stares at the ground in contemplation.
[[Category: Logs]]

Logs

2024-03-04T05:49:35Z

Talnora: /* 2024 */ Add Match logs

03-03-2024 - Familial Revelations, Part 1

2024-03-04T05:48:08Z

Talnora: Talnora moved page 03-03-2024 - Familial Revelations, Part 1 to 2024-03-03 - Familial Revelations, Part 1: Whoops, messed up the date format in the page title.

#REDIRECT [[2024-03-03 - Familial Revelations, Part 1]]

2024-03-03 - Familial Revelations, Part 1

2024-03-04T05:48:07Z

Talnora: Talnora moved page 03-03-2024 - Familial Revelations, Part 1 to 2024-03-03 - Familial Revelations, Part 1: Whoops, messed up the date format in the page title.

{|class="toccolours" cellspacing="2"
|-
! style="background:#CC6699; border: 2px #CC0033 solid; font-size: 110%;" align="center" colspan="2" | '''Title: Familial Revelations, Part 1'''
|-
|'''Summary''': 
''Raiko and Shiori attempt to enact a ritual to finally empower Shiori as a fully-fledged familiar. It fails, but they take some time to reflect and regroup, and Raiko makes an admission to Shiori.''
|-
| '''Who:''' 
[[Raiko Takashima]], [[Raiko Takashima#Shiori|Shiori]]
|-
| '''Where:''' 
Raiko's Home (Chofu Suburban District)
|-
| '''OOC - IC Date:''' 
3/3/2024 - Friday, May 20, 2016
|}

Magic filled the air of Kenji Takashima's office, stirred gently to life by the breath of its two living inhabitants. The Witch of Wise Levin sat on the floor in her henshin, eyes closed and her breathing steady. She felt the magic swirling around her, gently brushing against her. To draw it in was a delicate process, reaching out with her mind to not grasp but to ''suggest'' a shape and a path it might follow. The strands of magic were gossamer thin and just as delicate; they had to be, for the working they were undertaking was complex and intricate.

But Levin was not alone in this undertaking. Across from her sat her familiar, Shiori. The calico tabby was sitting upright, mirroring Levin's posture. Her eyes were closed, and she was also taking slow, gentle breaths in time with Levin's own. The familiar was undertaking the same working, the two of them working in tandem to try and create a spell of the utmost intricacy together.

The last participant of the ritual was The Staff of Wise Levin itself. It was laid out on the floor between witch and familiar both. No lightning danced up and down its length, but the yellow crystal at the top of its staff was pulsing with a faint inner light, slowly strobing in rhythm with the breath of the two other participants. The Witch had her hands on the staff, and Shiori had her front paws on it as well. The Staff was the conduit between the two, and magic flowed out from it into the other two, and then was supposed to flow from them, back through the staff, and into each other.

It was beginning to take shape, the pattern starting to form that would link witch and familiar to each other. Shiori made an offer of a strand of magic and the Witch of Wise Levin accepted it, but as she was working with it it slipped from her grasp. On instinct she made a desperate grab for it--but the action was too violent, and it shattered the nascent spell. The staff dimmed, and Levin let out a frustrated grunt as she tossed herself onto her back, releasing her henshin.

Raiko let out a frustrated groan, now dressed in a pair of light blue overalls and a t-shirt. "Uggggh. I felt like we almost ''had'' it that time." She threw an arm over her forehead as she stared up at the ceiling. "Sorry, Shiori."

Strolling up to Raiko's side, Shiori shook her head. "Do not be so hard on yourself, dear. It is a most delicate spell, and you have made tremendous strides in casting it. Your hard work and persistence will pay off, in the end."

"I knowwww," whined Raiko gently. "But we've tried to cast it like..." She quickly tallied it in her head. "14 times now."

"Raiko, dear, this is a most demanding spell. To bind two minds together, willingly, and without damaging either is a tremendous undertaking. Not only that, we must both open ourselves willingly to the other for the spell to take hold. That you have made the progress you have is remarkable. There are not many who share the requisite amount of trust, nor the capacity to understand the finer details as you have."

Reaching with the arm that had been draped over her forehead, Raiko gently scratched behind Shiori's ears. "Thanks. That makes me feel better." She sat back up. "Alright, Attempt number 15, I guess."

Shaking her head, Shiori walked to the door to the office instead. "Let's take a break, dear. You could use something to eat."

"I'm fine--" Raiko started to protest, only to be cut off by her stomach rumbling. She blushed, and then slowly nodded. "Okay, okay. Guess I hadn't noticed how hungry I'd gotten." She reached out to touch her staff, which vanished in a small spray of sparkles, then stood up. "Alright then."

The two headed downstairs together, into the kitchen. Shiori jumped up onto the kitchen table, while Raiko set about filling a small pot with water and setting it on the stove to boil. From a small grocery bag she pulled out a cup noodle and opened the lid, then set that aside while she waited for the water to boil.

"Raiko, dear, you really should vary your diet more," said Raiko gently.

"I know, I know, but you said I couldn't store anything perishable, remember?" Raiko patted the bag. "So this is the only stuff I can keep here."

"I did say that, yes, but you should buy a few pieces of fruit the next time we go to the store. They'll keep for a few days, and if we are making frequent trips here you'll have plenty of opportunities to eat them." Shiori gave Raiko a flat look. "Just because the cookies are full of preservatives..."

"Eheheh." Raiko had the good grace to at least look sheepish. "I got them for... emotional support? We're kinda going through a lot, you know..."

Shiori regarded Raiko silently for a moment and then sighed softly. "I suppose you are, at that. 'Emotional support' is fine in the short-term, but please do consider the long-term."

Nodding thoughtfully, Raiko regarded her pot of water for a moment as she considered. "What if I bought some granola? Or maybe some trail mix? They've got the kind with dried fruits in it, and nuts..." She gave Shiori a smile. "And I'll even try to find one that doesn't have a lot of extra sugar added."

"Yes, I believe that will be an excellent choice," said the familiar. She looked at Raiko and slowly closed her eyes before slowly opening them again. "Thank you."

Raiko smiled back at Shiori and returned the slow blink. When the water started to boil, she finished preparing her cup noodle, then brought it to the table with a glass of water. She stirred it with her chopsticks to help it cool and cook evenly.

Shiori curled up on the table, watching the steam billow off of the cup. "So how was your day at school?"

"Oh, it was good," replied Raiko. "I surprised everyone in my magic class by answering a really hard enchantment question, so... That felt nice." She sighed. "And then I completely flubbed one about potions. And I thought I was getting the hang of those, too..."

"Do not be disheartened. You are making tremendous strides. I can help you review those questions later."

"Thanks, Shiori. I really appreciate it."

"You are most welcome, dear... How was the rest of your day?"

Raiko tested the temperature of her cup noodle and then took a small bite from it as she considered the question. "Well... I've got a bunch of homework, but that's not really news..." She chewed on both the noodles and the question in silence for a moment more. "Well... I guess there was this one thing..."

Shiori lifted her head up to show interest. "Do tell, dear."

The girl's cheeks flushed as she stared at her cup noodle. "W-well... at lunch there were some girls discussing a new show that sounded super interesting. And one of them had a super cute hair clip, and I wanted to go up to them and ask about the show and tell her I thought her hair clip was cute but..." Raiko groaned and planted her head on the table before muttering, "... I chickened out at the last moment."

The vagaries of a teenage girl's heart were not something Shiori was prepared to address. But she did not need to understand that to see how her charge was suffering. "Raiko..." The feline's ears flattened in sympathy, and she got up to approach Raiko and offer a soft nuzzle to her cheek. "I'm sorry, dear."

Raiko sat back up again and reached up to pet Shiori's back. "I don't get it, I've fought ogres, wraiths, Conflagria twice, I can ''fly'', and I even reverse-engineered an ancient relic's enchantment. Why does ''this'' seem so hard all of a sudden?"

Shiori purred gently, mainly for Raiko's benefit. "In the matters of your duties, you have a great deal of assistance. Myself, the staff, and of course, your fellow inheritor, Yumi. While I and the staff cannot offer the same assistance in your mundane associations, perhaps Yumi may well have some insight?"

Raiko thought about that for a moment but then shook her head. "I... yeah, but she's going through a lot right now too, you know? I dunno if... now's a good time to bother her with stuff like that."

"Hmm... Perhaps you should ask, and let her decide if she is willing to offer that assistance. But what about your clubs? It has been quite some time since you engaged with those regularly. The students there will all have a common interest, so perhaps it will be easier to engage them in conversation."

The guilt of skipping out on her clubs for so long made Raiko hang her head. "I guess... but that feels so awkward, too, you know? I'm not exactly... popular, you know?"

Shiori leaned her head down to rub her cheek against Raiko's arm. "It may well be difficult, dear, and I do not have any easy answers. But I hope you have learned recently that you are so much braver and stronger--and wiser--than you think. Nobody else can take that first step for you."

Raiko smiled gently at that, running her head up to scritch at Shiori's ears. "You really mean that?"

"Of course dear," said the familiar, closing her eyes to enjoy the affection. "Now make sure to eat up while your meal is still hot."

"Okay." Raiko pulled the cup to her and started to eat again. Between mouthfuls she said, "You know, you've always been there for me, huh?"

"Well, of course, dear. It is my duty, after all."

Raiko shook her head. "I mean, that too, but like..." She stopped eating for a moment and looked down at her cup. "I don't have any memories of my parents, you know? And sometimes I think about it, and it makes me really sad that I never got to know them. But... I've never felt like I didn't have a family. Because as far back as I can remember, there was always Grandpa, and there was always you."

She looked to Shiori and smiled shyly. "It was always the three of us, here in this house, and even when Grandpa had to go on trips, you were still here. And I know you had a duty, but... you guys couldn't be 100% sure I was going to inherit the Staff, even with all of the signs. And besides that, you played with me, you offered advice, and encouragement, and help with my homework, and... Even though there were things you couldn't do, like cook, that I had to learn to do on my own, you still reminded me to eat, when I forgot, or reminded me about the weather, and a whole bunch of other stuff..."

Shiori's tail, which had been swishing gently, slowly stilled. She was regarding Raiko with wide open eyes now, but could not bring herself to interrupt. Raiko was building to a point, she was sure, but she couldn't figure out what it might be.

Another blush graced Raiko's cheeks as she looked at her cup noodle again. "And, I dunno... I guess part of why I never missed my mom and dad that much is that... having you around always kind of felt like what I imagined having a mom was like. Y-you can't do all the same things other moms do, but you were still there, and you still cared... so..." Her cheeks turned redder as she wiped away something wet from her eyes with her hand. "Sorry, this is kind of embarrassing to say."

The familiar grew still, ears laid back in stunned silence. She dropped her gaze to the table as she considered those words. "It's... quite alright, dear. I am..." What was the right word here? "... honored, to know that you hold me in such high esteem."

Raiko sniffed a little and picked up her cup noodle. "A-anyway, once we finish empowering you, we'll be linked, and you're gonna know how I feel anyway, so... no reason to hold back, right?"

"Mm. Quite so, dear."

Standing up from the table with her cup, Raiko gave Shiori one last pat. "I'm... gonna go watch something on my laptop while I eat, okay? Maybe once Yumi-chan and Tama get here, we can try the ritual again?" She needed to give herself some emotional breathing room after making such a personal confession, and Raiko couldn't blame her one bit.

Shiori nodded, "Very well, dear." She listened as Raiko headed up the stairs, and turned her head to look out the window.

She had to go through with the ritual, for Raiko's sake. But could she, knowing what she knew?

[[Category:Cutscenes]]

2024-03-03 - Familial Revelations, Part 2

2024-03-04T05:47:30Z

Talnora: Talnora moved page 03-03-2024 - Familial Revelations, Part 2 to 2024-03-03 - Familial Revelations, Part 2: Whoops, messed up the date format in the page title.

{|class="toccolours" cellspacing="2"
|-
! style="background:#CC6699; border: 2px #CC0033 solid; font-size: 110%;" align="center" colspan="2" | '''Title: Familial Revelations, Part 2'''
|-
|'''Summary''': 
''Yumi and Tama arrive to observe the progress being made on the ritual to empower Shiori as a familiar. A new difficulty is discovered, and eventually the choice is made to reveal a truth about Raiko's family to her.''
|-
| '''Who:''' 
[[Raiko Takashima]], [[Yumi Ohzora]]
|-
| '''Where:''' 
Chofu Suburban District (Tama Outer City)
|-
| '''OOC - IC Date:''' 
3/3/2024 - Friday, May 20, 2016
|-
|}

.****************************** Tama Outer City *******************************.
*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+* Chofu Suburban District +*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*
Chofu was built on a vast natural terrace that reinforces the town against
the slope down to the sea. It has its own town limits, and it is large
enough that you can get anything you need without leaving them. It has
lovely houses and apartments, well-appointed town centers, and beautiful
green fields around it. But the Tama River that flows through and past Chofu
feeds into the main city, and the great splay-legged power lines that follow
its course at a safe distance link town to metropolis. This is and is not
Tokyo.

Just fifteen minutes (and a scant 230 yen) by high-speed rail from Shinjuku
Station, Chofu is one of the largest "bed towns" for central Tokyo. Most of
the people who live here work in the Special Wards, the short commute buying
them vastly cheaper, less cramped lodgings, though some maintain local
businesses. While this makes Chofu a suburb of inner Tokyo, it is certainly
still Tokyo, and the expansive lawns and sprawling development one envisions
when thinking of a suburb are not to be found here. Still, there are no
skyscrapers here, and freestanding houses replace the massive apartment
buildings of Tokyo.

Chofu's river banks host old-fashioned festivals that draw many from
surrounding areas at the proper times of year. In contrast, Chofu is also
home to the headquarters of JAXA, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency.
Though Japan is not yet involved in manned space travel, those interested in
Japan's satellite or other space-related technology can find ample materiel
for research or wrongdoing.

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

Raiko had greeted Yumi and Tama when they had eventually shown up after school, invited them in, offered snacks and refreshments, and then invited everybody up to Kenji's study to try a few more attempts at the empowerment ritual. Kenji's office was largely as it always was: a desk, bookshelves, and some filing cabinets stuffed full of books, papers, and various magical trinkets, and then a space carved out on the other side for workings and rituals. Raiko had done some additional work to try and straighten things up from when they had cleaned up the room to reinforce the wards, but it was still largely the same.

The desk had the only chair, so Raiko had brought up another one for Yumi to sit in. Raiko then transformed into Wise Levin, sitting down on the ground with Shiori once more, and the Staff laid down on the ground between them. Witch and familiar put their hands and paws on the staff, closed their eyes, and got to work.

It's slow, delicate work, and although they've made great strides, it always seems to fail at one of the later stages, when the workijng is at its most delicate and thus most prone to being disrupted. To hear them describe their previous attempts, it had been Levin fumbling most of their previous tries. However, now, with Yumi and Shiori watching, Levin doesn't seem to be making any clear errors now.

But by the third attempt, it might be clear that Shiori is the one struggling. It was slight, at first, attributable to an accident or a stray magic fluctuation. But on this third attempt, as Levin gets closer and closer... her body language tells it all. Her tail is flicking intermittently, her ears laying back, and her breathing isn't quite as steady as Levin's.

The spell falls apart a third time and Raiko lets out a groan as she opens her eyes. Her henshin vanishes and she lets herself flop back on the floor. "Uggggh. Not ''again''. What did I mess up ''this'' time?"

Shiori opens her eyes, but cannot quite meet Raiko's gaze.

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Yumi and Tama are doing well enough. Yumi is still frazzled over everything, but she is caught up on her schoolwork at least, and recovered from the fight. The office is as it was, and Yumi... Well, at first, Yumi was going to stay untransformed, because it wasn't necessary for both of them to.

But eventually, she decided that making the right Environment for the local mana was best, so she transformed too.

Slow, delicate work... But Yumi does notice. So does Tama. Refreshments are long ago now.

Tama and Yumi look at each other as Raiko flops back onnto the floor. Lost Ivy, thus, lets go her own transformation for now too, and says, "Don't be so hard on yourself; maybe you should get some water?"

Tama, on the other hand, pads over towards Shiori.

"...Yes," she agrees, "That's a good idea. And you, Shiori..."

Her tail flicks, seemingly lazily, but there is a message in it. She Knows.

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

Raiko appreciates that Yumi transformed! This is Official Witch Business and it helps to have Yumi transformed into Ivy. It helps the local mana out, certainly, but it also helps put Raiko in the right frame of mind, as well.

She's dressed in light blue overalls and a t-shirt outside of her henshin. The younger of the two girls doesn't respond for several moments as Yumi suggests she get some water. Raiko seems a little exhausted, if not physically at least mentally. They've tried it numerous times already this day, and the strain of such delicate casting is exhausting. Add on the sting of repeated failures...

Eventually she nods and rolls over onto her side to pick herself up. She quickly taps the staff to magically put it away, and then stands up with a slow stretch. "Yeah, that's a good idea, Yumi-chan. Think I'll get a snack, too." She looks to the room, seemingly not having noticed what Yumi and Tama have, or the way that Tama flicks her tail. "Anybody wanna come with me?"

"You go along, dear," says Shiori quietly. She's sitting upright, trying to maintain her compsure for her witch, but it is a little forced. "I will... confer, with Tama."

Raiko might be too tired to notice it. "Alright."

Raiko leaves to go downstairs, and Shiori looks to Yumi. "Would you be so kind as to keep her company?" Read: 'distract her while we talk.'

Once the other witch has left the room, Shiori's ears fold back and she hangs her head. She falls silent and waits for Tama to speak first.

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Yumi's in green and gray, outside her henshin. And she can tell Raiko's kind of exhausted. She would be, too. But as she rolls over, picks herelf up, Yumi smiles with a nod. "Good," Yumi answers, and then when Shiori asks her to keep Raiko company...

"You know," Yumi says, "I'm a little hungry myself, Shiori." She smiles, and pushes herself up; she leaves the Staff of Lost Ivy, for now. It's safe with the familiars.

But then, of course...

"You are holding back," Tama says. It is not gentle, because she is not gentle. But it is not ''un''kind, at least. "Your hesitation prevents the bond from settling. This is no mere secret; this is a secret about your relationship to your Witch. ...And you will have to resolve it, to complete the ritual."

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

Raiko has cookies! (Even though she promised to get some granola or trail mix, or fruit, she hasn't had time to go to the store yet since they had that conversation. But she ''does'' still have the cookies.) She will happily share cookies and water with Yumi.

Shiori, meanwhile, can't quite bring herself to look at Tama. "I know," she admits quietly. "I do not intend to let her labor under the assumption that it was her error, but..." She falls silent as she considers. It is not her place to reveal to Tama how Raiko feels about her, but she has to say ''something'', to explain...

Her gaze shifts over a little bit, looking down in the direction of the kitchen. At long length she says, "... she deserves to know the truth about her relationship with Kenji Takashima. She has impressed upon me that she regards me as... family, a revelation she stated I would have learned eventually, once we finished the ritual."

Shiori looks to Tama now, though she's drawn back a little, making herself look a little smaller in front of the sterner, elder familiar. "I am afraid she will realize, eventually, that I am holding something back from her."

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Yumi likes cookies. She'll share, too!

But Tama keeps her deep green eyes on Shiori, in the meantime. She doesn't try to maintain eye contact very hard--that would be actively aggressive, after all. But neither does she look away, studying the younger familiar as she does.

"...Mm."

Tama lets her tail continue to shift back and forth, and eventually inclines her head. "Yes," Tama says. "I concur."

"Particularly because you're right. It took me a long time to learn how to hide feelings like that in the bond. I couldn't do it at all, with my first mistress."

"I know that it is not easy to find a way to say that you have held back, however. ...Mm."

She considers, and then, "You..."

"You have my support, in doing so, Shiori."

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

There is a lightening of the tension within Shori's body as Tama says she concurs, a slight lifting of the ears, a release of tension. "I am full glad to hear that. By all rights it is Kenji Takashima's secret to tell, but given the circumstances..."

Shiori's eyes widen, and she draws back slightly in surprise as Tama admits that she can, in fact, hide some things from the bond. "So you can..." She tries to compose herself and then nod solemnly. "... I see." So perhaps that is something she might learn, in time, as well...

She takes a deep, steadying breath as Tama gives her support. "Thank you, Tama. It is much appreciated." She rises to all fours and stretches for a moment. "Then I see no reason to delay." She strides out of the room and down the stairs.

Raiko and Yumi are on the small couch in the living room, which is far more comfty than the kitchen chairs. Raiko's set up a TV tray for each of them, just off to their respective sides, each with a glass of water and a small plate of cookies on it. She's got her laptop open, showing Yumi a 3D model that turns and pulls apart as she taps and drags her finger across the screen. It's a sleek design, made of high-tech materials. She quickly closes the laptop and sets it aside as Shiori and Tama come down the stares, though.

"Hey, Shiori. Hey, Tama," she says with a smile. The smile fades a moment later. "... everything okay?" Perhaps she's picked up on a little of the mood after all.

Shiori strides over to stand before Raiko and Yumi both. "Not quite, dear..." She has recomposed herself, but her tail is still twitching with nervous energy. "The reason our most recent attempts failed is not due to your error. It... was mine. Raiko, there is something I must tell you."

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Given the circumstances--Tama agrees. "Yes."

But Shiori is surprised, and well, "It took a very, very long time; it is mostly a matter of controlling one's emotions to begin with. ...We can discuss it later."

Tama has been around, after all, for a very long time indeed.

"You are welcome," she says. "...And good. Let u see this ritual to its completion.

Tama follows, padding along at a short distance, but not so far that she isn't obviously with her.

Yumi watches the model thoughtfully--until the cats come down.

"Hi," Yumi says too. And then--

Hmm.

"Do you want to do it alone?" Yumi offers.

"...I think it best that we remain," Tama decides, given that she just said Shiori would have her support in this matter.

"Okay. Lips zipped, then. Talk whatever you need to."

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

Shiori nods as Tama says they can discuss it later. There will be, perhaps, many things they will need to discuss, once she finally becomes a fully empowered familiar.

Yumi offers to give them some privacy, and Tama voices a vote to stay. Raiko pipes up too. "I want you to stay, too. If it's super important, you both should hear it, too." She says that, and then looks at Tama curiously. Does she already know?

(Yes, in fact, she does.)

Raiko sets her laptop aside on the couch cushion beside her, and moves to sit upright a little bit more.

"Very well," says Shiori. She takes another deep breath and sits, upright, again. "Please understand, Raiko, that it was never our intention to... deceive you. This was a matter Kenji had always meant to address with you when you were old enough. By all rights, it is his to share, but given our current circumstance... I could not keep this from you, while also binding myself to share my emotions with you."

More secrets... but Raiko slowly nods. "Okay... it's... not anything bad, is it...?"

Shiori doesn't quite have an answer for that. "... Let me just explain." She takes one last breath to steady herself. "There is no delicate way to say this, so I will just begin. Raiko, Kenji Takashima is not your grandfather, not by birth." She pauses a moment to let that settle in. "... Your mother and father were Asami Yakumo and Takeshi Yakumo. Kenji Takashima was a friend of your mother's family, who knew their lineage, and he was a friend to your parents, as well."

"We all were aware of the signs and portents that indicated their only child would one day become the next Inheritor in their line. However, through some means, so was The Hungry Queen." Though they might well be able to guess, now, how The Hungry Queen might have been able to come across this information. "It was decided, that..."

It is here that Shiori falters, and it takes her several moments to find her word again. She continues, but her voice is much quieter and softer than before. "... Please understand, Raiko, that your parents loved you dearly. They... they made a very difficult decision, to protect... to protect that which they held most dear. Kenji and I were to keep you safe, keep you hidden, to protect and prepare you for the day you could accept your destiny."

The normally calm and reserved familiar is slowly losing more and more of her composure as she watches Raiko's stunned reaction. "They loved you so much, Raiko. They only wnted you to be happy, to--to thrive, and you have, and... and... they would be so ''proud'' of you..."

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

There are many things Tama knows, some of which others know as well. It's just her way; she's the keeper of the Staff, but also the keeper of all the Staves' history.

But as usual, she doesn't answer that unspoken question.

Shiori starts to explain... and Yumi listens, carefully. Very carefully. There have been a lot of secrets of late. Not all of them have been good at all.

But....

That's who her parents were, and...

Yumi can guess how the Hungry Queen came across it, too. She grimaces. It's hard to tell if it's guilt or just worry, though.

Yumi... doesn't say anything. Instead, she reaches out for Raiko's hand. "...I'm with you," she says quietly. "Like you've been with me."

Tama says nothing, but if Shiori happens to look back at her, she is resolute as well. Certain. And she is a quiet pillar of support.

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

Raiko is attentive when Shiori begins to explains. Kenji Takashima... is not her real grandfather. She blinks, surprise clearly evident on her face, but not quite shock. The names of her parents, however, draw a shocked breath from her. She mouths the names silently to herself, as if committing them to memory.

She looks like she so desperately wants to ask questions, but she can't quite bring herself to do it as Shiori continues her explanation.

And a sharper breath as Shiori mentions The Hungry Queen. It may take Shiori some long moments to continue the tale, Raiko seems to have gotten ahead of her. She's staring at her lap, eyes wide, with hot, heavy tears starting to slide down her cheeks to drip off of her chin. "Th-they..." comes a shaky whisper. "... for ''me''..."

Yumi's hand on hers gets a firm squeeze from Raiko, who leans heavily against Yumi for a moment letting her head rest against her arm as she takes a moment to process the new revelation. But Raiko can see Shiori struggling too, and after a moment of taking Yumi's support she sits back up, lets that hand go...

And holds both arms out to Shiori, wordlessly. Shiori runs forward and jumps into her lap, and Raiko hugs her tight to her chest. The tears are streaming freely down her face now, but she hasn't broken out into sobs yet. Maybe she's still processing the information, or maybe it's simply too much in the moment.

But Raiko is hugging and petting Shiori gently, her voice quivering as she says, "It... i-it's okay, Shiori."

"... I already knew."

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Those names should be remembered. Yumi will, too. Not just because it's her mother who's responsible, though that is a factor now. It does matter.

Shiori speaks, and Yumi and Tama both listen. When Raiko leans against her, Yumi gives her a brief side-hug, to support her--but it's not her that Raiko decides to support. not heself, but...

"Raiko-chan... Shiori..."

She already knew. Tama looks thoughtfully at Raiko at that. "You are a smart girl. ...I suppose I'm not surprised that you would have figured that much out."

"...All the same, it was difficult for her to say. But she has performed her duty, in sharing it with you."

Tama nods. That's as close as she's likely to get today of saying something soft, but she says it all the same.

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

Tama may be nonplussed, but Shiori draws back, blinking widely as Raiko says she knew. "... You did...?"

Raiko lets Shiori sit back up, and has a soft smile that is a little bit sheepish. "W-well... k-kinda..." She takes a few moments to collect herself, going for a napkin to dab at her face until her cheeks are at least a little dry.

"... I... w-well, when I first found out about the inheritors, that I was one, I... I got curious about the witches in my line. I realized I didn't really know anything about my parents, and I thought Grandpa might know, but I didn't know if you'd know, so I looked up their names on my birth certificate, and then tried to look them up in the chronicles at the Magic Association, to trace my family tree, but..."

Raiko looks to Tama and Yumi. "I couldn't find anything about them. Like... like they didn't exist. And the more I kept looking, the more I realized... Grandpa never talked about my parents. We never went to visit their grave, we didn't have their pictures up anywhere, I've never heard about... any cousins, or aunts, or uncles, or anything... They only thing you and grandpa ever wanted to say was..."

"... they had been in an accident," says Shiori softly.

Raiko nods. "So I kinda figured... well, the people on my birth certificate might not be real, and if they weren't then... Grandpa wasn't really my grandfather. It just... made sense, once I thought of it."

Shiori frowned softly. "Raiko, why didn't you say something...?"

Raiko shrugged. "I dunno, because... I thought he'd tell me when he was ready. And even though he wasn't really my grandfather... well, I decided that he ''was''. He took care of me when I was sick, taught me magic, encouraged me to learn about how machines worked, helped me study, did everything he could for me, so... even if he wasn't 'really' my grandfather, even if we're not technically family..."

Raiko glances to Yumi. "He chose to be my family," she says softly.

"I, um... didn't know about the stuff with The Hungry Queen, not exactly, but... it does kinda make sense, too..."

Raiko smiles and pulls Shiori close into another hug. The familiar nuzzles her back, gently. "I know this was hard, but... thank you, for telling me. For being there for me just like he was." And then she reaches out to take Yumi's hand again and give it a squeeze. "I don't blame you for this, either."

Shiori is grateful for Tama's words, but will have to find the time later to properly express that gratitude, sharing a moment with Raiko as she is.

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Tama is rarely put on the back foot in a conversation. It usually takes something like an Ogre chasing her to harm her composure. But that's fine; it means she doesn't have to take attention away from Shiori in this.

But Raiko explains why she knows, and Shiori answers, and...

"I see," says Tama first. "Yes. The deception was not complete... which of course. He would not have wished to lie to you more than necessary."

But Raiko and Shiori...

Yumi is quiet. "Chose to be your family, huh? ...He certainly acted like it."

The rest makes sense. Yumi can't smile at nnot being blamed, but...

"Thanks," she says. "...It looks like you two really needed to talk about this, huh?"

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

Shiori is normally much better at keeping her composure. But considering the things that Raiko had said to hear earlier... she was very concerned with how this revelation might impact her relationship with Raiko. She may have been surprsied to learn that Raiko thought of her as a mother figure, but she had to admit... Raiko meant a lot to her, as well.

Raiko looks to Tama. "I didn't question it all these years, not until I had a reason to, so... it did work..."

She looks up to Yumi next. "Just like I chose to be yours. Your coven sister, I mean." He definitely acted like it, and Raiko nods firmly to Yumi.

She gives Yumi's hand another firm squeeze for the thanks. "You're welcome," she says quietly. Raiko looks to Shiori and nods, smiling a little bit more. "Sorry I didn't tell you I figured it out sooner, Shiori. If I'd know this would be troubling you, I would've."

Shiori is slowly getting her composure back. "Yes, well... we haev cleared the air, as it were. I do wish Kenji could have told you himself. But I am relieved that you are taking the news so well..."

Raiko grins, "So, ready for another shot?"

The familar blinks in surprise. "Are you certain? You do not wish to collect yourself further?"

"Nope! No time like the present, isn't that what you've always said?"

Shiori sighs, "That was regarding homework, dear, but if you insist..." Shiori jumps down from Raiko's lap as she stands up, and Raiko turns back to flash Yumi a grin.

"C'mon! I got a good feeling about this one!"
[[Category: Logs]]

03-03-2024 - Familial Revelations, Part 2

2024-03-04T05:47:30Z

Talnora: Talnora moved page 03-03-2024 - Familial Revelations, Part 2 to 2024-03-03 - Familial Revelations, Part 2: Whoops, messed up the date format in the page title.

#REDIRECT [[2024-03-03 - Familial Revelations, Part 2]]

2024-03-03 - Familial Revelations, Part 2

2024-03-04T05:44:31Z

Talnora: Revelations made, and a burden lifted.

{|class="toccolours" cellspacing="2"
|-
! style="background:#CC6699; border: 2px #CC0033 solid; font-size: 110%;" align="center" colspan="2" | '''Title: Familial Revelations, Part 2'''
|-
|'''Summary''': 
''Yumi and Tama arrive to observe the progress being made on the ritual to empower Shiori as a familiar. A new difficulty is discovered, and eventually the choice is made to reveal a truth about Raiko's family to her.''
|-
| '''Who:''' 
[[Raiko Takashima]], [[Yumi Ohzora]]
|-
| '''Where:''' 
Chofu Suburban District (Tama Outer City)
|-
| '''OOC - IC Date:''' 
3/3/2024 - Friday, May 20, 2016
|-
|}

.****************************** Tama Outer City *******************************.
*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+* Chofu Suburban District +*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*
Chofu was built on a vast natural terrace that reinforces the town against
the slope down to the sea. It has its own town limits, and it is large
enough that you can get anything you need without leaving them. It has
lovely houses and apartments, well-appointed town centers, and beautiful
green fields around it. But the Tama River that flows through and past Chofu
feeds into the main city, and the great splay-legged power lines that follow
its course at a safe distance link town to metropolis. This is and is not
Tokyo.

Just fifteen minutes (and a scant 230 yen) by high-speed rail from Shinjuku
Station, Chofu is one of the largest "bed towns" for central Tokyo. Most of
the people who live here work in the Special Wards, the short commute buying
them vastly cheaper, less cramped lodgings, though some maintain local
businesses. While this makes Chofu a suburb of inner Tokyo, it is certainly
still Tokyo, and the expansive lawns and sprawling development one envisions
when thinking of a suburb are not to be found here. Still, there are no
skyscrapers here, and freestanding houses replace the massive apartment
buildings of Tokyo.

Chofu's river banks host old-fashioned festivals that draw many from
surrounding areas at the proper times of year. In contrast, Chofu is also
home to the headquarters of JAXA, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency.
Though Japan is not yet involved in manned space travel, those interested in
Japan's satellite or other space-related technology can find ample materiel
for research or wrongdoing.

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

Raiko had greeted Yumi and Tama when they had eventually shown up after school, invited them in, offered snacks and refreshments, and then invited everybody up to Kenji's study to try a few more attempts at the empowerment ritual. Kenji's office was largely as it always was: a desk, bookshelves, and some filing cabinets stuffed full of books, papers, and various magical trinkets, and then a space carved out on the other side for workings and rituals. Raiko had done some additional work to try and straighten things up from when they had cleaned up the room to reinforce the wards, but it was still largely the same.

The desk had the only chair, so Raiko had brought up another one for Yumi to sit in. Raiko then transformed into Wise Levin, sitting down on the ground with Shiori once more, and the Staff laid down on the ground between them. Witch and familiar put their hands and paws on the staff, closed their eyes, and got to work.

It's slow, delicate work, and although they've made great strides, it always seems to fail at one of the later stages, when the workijng is at its most delicate and thus most prone to being disrupted. To hear them describe their previous attempts, it had been Levin fumbling most of their previous tries. However, now, with Yumi and Shiori watching, Levin doesn't seem to be making any clear errors now.

But by the third attempt, it might be clear that Shiori is the one struggling. It was slight, at first, attributable to an accident or a stray magic fluctuation. But on this third attempt, as Levin gets closer and closer... her body language tells it all. Her tail is flicking intermittently, her ears laying back, and her breathing isn't quite as steady as Levin's.

The spell falls apart a third time and Raiko lets out a groan as she opens her eyes. Her henshin vanishes and she lets herself flop back on the floor. "Uggggh. Not ''again''. What did I mess up ''this'' time?"

Shiori opens her eyes, but cannot quite meet Raiko's gaze.

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Yumi and Tama are doing well enough. Yumi is still frazzled over everything, but she is caught up on her schoolwork at least, and recovered from the fight. The office is as it was, and Yumi... Well, at first, Yumi was going to stay untransformed, because it wasn't necessary for both of them to.

But eventually, she decided that making the right Environment for the local mana was best, so she transformed too.

Slow, delicate work... But Yumi does notice. So does Tama. Refreshments are long ago now.

Tama and Yumi look at each other as Raiko flops back onnto the floor. Lost Ivy, thus, lets go her own transformation for now too, and says, "Don't be so hard on yourself; maybe you should get some water?"

Tama, on the other hand, pads over towards Shiori.

"...Yes," she agrees, "That's a good idea. And you, Shiori..."

Her tail flicks, seemingly lazily, but there is a message in it. She Knows.

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

Raiko appreciates that Yumi transformed! This is Official Witch Business and it helps to have Yumi transformed into Ivy. It helps the local mana out, certainly, but it also helps put Raiko in the right frame of mind, as well.

She's dressed in light blue overalls and a t-shirt outside of her henshin. The younger of the two girls doesn't respond for several moments as Yumi suggests she get some water. Raiko seems a little exhausted, if not physically at least mentally. They've tried it numerous times already this day, and the strain of such delicate casting is exhausting. Add on the sting of repeated failures...

Eventually she nods and rolls over onto her side to pick herself up. She quickly taps the staff to magically put it away, and then stands up with a slow stretch. "Yeah, that's a good idea, Yumi-chan. Think I'll get a snack, too." She looks to the room, seemingly not having noticed what Yumi and Tama have, or the way that Tama flicks her tail. "Anybody wanna come with me?"

"You go along, dear," says Shiori quietly. She's sitting upright, trying to maintain her compsure for her witch, but it is a little forced. "I will... confer, with Tama."

Raiko might be too tired to notice it. "Alright."

Raiko leaves to go downstairs, and Shiori looks to Yumi. "Would you be so kind as to keep her company?" Read: 'distract her while we talk.'

Once the other witch has left the room, Shiori's ears fold back and she hangs her head. She falls silent and waits for Tama to speak first.

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Yumi's in green and gray, outside her henshin. And she can tell Raiko's kind of exhausted. She would be, too. But as she rolls over, picks herelf up, Yumi smiles with a nod. "Good," Yumi answers, and then when Shiori asks her to keep Raiko company...

"You know," Yumi says, "I'm a little hungry myself, Shiori." She smiles, and pushes herself up; she leaves the Staff of Lost Ivy, for now. It's safe with the familiars.

But then, of course...

"You are holding back," Tama says. It is not gentle, because she is not gentle. But it is not ''un''kind, at least. "Your hesitation prevents the bond from settling. This is no mere secret; this is a secret about your relationship to your Witch. ...And you will have to resolve it, to complete the ritual."

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

Raiko has cookies! (Even though she promised to get some granola or trail mix, or fruit, she hasn't had time to go to the store yet since they had that conversation. But she ''does'' still have the cookies.) She will happily share cookies and water with Yumi.

Shiori, meanwhile, can't quite bring herself to look at Tama. "I know," she admits quietly. "I do not intend to let her labor under the assumption that it was her error, but..." She falls silent as she considers. It is not her place to reveal to Tama how Raiko feels about her, but she has to say ''something'', to explain...

Her gaze shifts over a little bit, looking down in the direction of the kitchen. At long length she says, "... she deserves to know the truth about her relationship with Kenji Takashima. She has impressed upon me that she regards me as... family, a revelation she stated I would have learned eventually, once we finished the ritual."

Shiori looks to Tama now, though she's drawn back a little, making herself look a little smaller in front of the sterner, elder familiar. "I am afraid she will realize, eventually, that I am holding something back from her."

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Yumi likes cookies. She'll share, too!

But Tama keeps her deep green eyes on Shiori, in the meantime. She doesn't try to maintain eye contact very hard--that would be actively aggressive, after all. But neither does she look away, studying the younger familiar as she does.

"...Mm."

Tama lets her tail continue to shift back and forth, and eventually inclines her head. "Yes," Tama says. "I concur."

"Particularly because you're right. It took me a long time to learn how to hide feelings like that in the bond. I couldn't do it at all, with my first mistress."

"I know that it is not easy to find a way to say that you have held back, however. ...Mm."

She considers, and then, "You..."

"You have my support, in doing so, Shiori."

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

There is a lightening of the tension within Shori's body as Tama says she concurs, a slight lifting of the ears, a release of tension. "I am full glad to hear that. By all rights it is Kenji Takashima's secret to tell, but given the circumstances..."

Shiori's eyes widen, and she draws back slightly in surprise as Tama admits that she can, in fact, hide some things from the bond. "So you can..." She tries to compose herself and then nod solemnly. "... I see." So perhaps that is something she might learn, in time, as well...

She takes a deep, steadying breath as Tama gives her support. "Thank you, Tama. It is much appreciated." She rises to all fours and stretches for a moment. "Then I see no reason to delay." She strides out of the room and down the stairs.

Raiko and Yumi are on the small couch in the living room, which is far more comfty than the kitchen chairs. Raiko's set up a TV tray for each of them, just off to their respective sides, each with a glass of water and a small plate of cookies on it. She's got her laptop open, showing Yumi a 3D model that turns and pulls apart as she taps and drags her finger across the screen. It's a sleek design, made of high-tech materials. She quickly closes the laptop and sets it aside as Shiori and Tama come down the stares, though.

"Hey, Shiori. Hey, Tama," she says with a smile. The smile fades a moment later. "... everything okay?" Perhaps she's picked up on a little of the mood after all.

Shiori strides over to stand before Raiko and Yumi both. "Not quite, dear..." She has recomposed herself, but her tail is still twitching with nervous energy. "The reason our most recent attempts failed is not due to your error. It... was mine. Raiko, there is something I must tell you."

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Given the circumstances--Tama agrees. "Yes."

But Shiori is surprised, and well, "It took a very, very long time; it is mostly a matter of controlling one's emotions to begin with. ...We can discuss it later."

Tama has been around, after all, for a very long time indeed.

"You are welcome," she says. "...And good. Let u see this ritual to its completion.

Tama follows, padding along at a short distance, but not so far that she isn't obviously with her.

Yumi watches the model thoughtfully--until the cats come down.

"Hi," Yumi says too. And then--

Hmm.

"Do you want to do it alone?" Yumi offers.

"...I think it best that we remain," Tama decides, given that she just said Shiori would have her support in this matter.

"Okay. Lips zipped, then. Talk whatever you need to."

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

Shiori nods as Tama says they can discuss it later. There will be, perhaps, many things they will need to discuss, once she finally becomes a fully empowered familiar.

Yumi offers to give them some privacy, and Tama voices a vote to stay. Raiko pipes up too. "I want you to stay, too. If it's super important, you both should hear it, too." She says that, and then looks at Tama curiously. Does she already know?

(Yes, in fact, she does.)

Raiko sets her laptop aside on the couch cushion beside her, and moves to sit upright a little bit more.

"Very well," says Shiori. She takes another deep breath and sits, upright, again. "Please understand, Raiko, that it was never our intention to... deceive you. This was a matter Kenji had always meant to address with you when you were old enough. By all rights, it is his to share, but given our current circumstance... I could not keep this from you, while also binding myself to share my emotions with you."

More secrets... but Raiko slowly nods. "Okay... it's... not anything bad, is it...?"

Shiori doesn't quite have an answer for that. "... Let me just explain." She takes one last breath to steady herself. "There is no delicate way to say this, so I will just begin. Raiko, Kenji Takashima is not your grandfather, not by birth." She pauses a moment to let that settle in. "... Your mother and father were Asami Yakumo and Takeshi Yakumo. Kenji Takashima was a friend of your mother's family, who knew their lineage, and he was a friend to your parents, as well."

"We all were aware of the signs and portents that indicated their only child would one day become the next Inheritor in their line. However, through some means, so was The Hungry Queen." Though they might well be able to guess, now, how The Hungry Queen might have been able to come across this information. "It was decided, that..."

It is here that Shiori falters, and it takes her several moments to find her word again. She continues, but her voice is much quieter and softer than before. "... Please understand, Raiko, that your parents loved you dearly. They... they made a very difficult decision, to protect... to protect that which they held most dear. Kenji and I were to keep you safe, keep you hidden, to protect and prepare you for the day you could accept your destiny."

The normally calm and reserved familiar is slowly losing more and more of her composure as she watches Raiko's stunned reaction. "They loved you so much, Raiko. They only wnted you to be happy, to--to thrive, and you have, and... and... they would be so ''proud'' of you..."

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

There are many things Tama knows, some of which others know as well. It's just her way; she's the keeper of the Staff, but also the keeper of all the Staves' history.

But as usual, she doesn't answer that unspoken question.

Shiori starts to explain... and Yumi listens, carefully. Very carefully. There have been a lot of secrets of late. Not all of them have been good at all.

But....

That's who her parents were, and...

Yumi can guess how the Hungry Queen came across it, too. She grimaces. It's hard to tell if it's guilt or just worry, though.

Yumi... doesn't say anything. Instead, she reaches out for Raiko's hand. "...I'm with you," she says quietly. "Like you've been with me."

Tama says nothing, but if Shiori happens to look back at her, she is resolute as well. Certain. And she is a quiet pillar of support.

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

Raiko is attentive when Shiori begins to explains. Kenji Takashima... is not her real grandfather. She blinks, surprise clearly evident on her face, but not quite shock. The names of her parents, however, draw a shocked breath from her. She mouths the names silently to herself, as if committing them to memory.

She looks like she so desperately wants to ask questions, but she can't quite bring herself to do it as Shiori continues her explanation.

And a sharper breath as Shiori mentions The Hungry Queen. It may take Shiori some long moments to continue the tale, Raiko seems to have gotten ahead of her. She's staring at her lap, eyes wide, with hot, heavy tears starting to slide down her cheeks to drip off of her chin. "Th-they..." comes a shaky whisper. "... for ''me''..."

Yumi's hand on hers gets a firm squeeze from Raiko, who leans heavily against Yumi for a moment letting her head rest against her arm as she takes a moment to process the new revelation. But Raiko can see Shiori struggling too, and after a moment of taking Yumi's support she sits back up, lets that hand go...

And holds both arms out to Shiori, wordlessly. Shiori runs forward and jumps into her lap, and Raiko hugs her tight to her chest. The tears are streaming freely down her face now, but she hasn't broken out into sobs yet. Maybe she's still processing the information, or maybe it's simply too much in the moment.

But Raiko is hugging and petting Shiori gently, her voice quivering as she says, "It... i-it's okay, Shiori."

"... I already knew."

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Those names should be remembered. Yumi will, too. Not just because it's her mother who's responsible, though that is a factor now. It does matter.

Shiori speaks, and Yumi and Tama both listen. When Raiko leans against her, Yumi gives her a brief side-hug, to support her--but it's not her that Raiko decides to support. not heself, but...

"Raiko-chan... Shiori..."

She already knew. Tama looks thoughtfully at Raiko at that. "You are a smart girl. ...I suppose I'm not surprised that you would have figured that much out."

"...All the same, it was difficult for her to say. But she has performed her duty, in sharing it with you."

Tama nods. That's as close as she's likely to get today of saying something soft, but she says it all the same.

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

Tama may be nonplussed, but Shiori draws back, blinking widely as Raiko says she knew. "... You did...?"

Raiko lets Shiori sit back up, and has a soft smile that is a little bit sheepish. "W-well... k-kinda..." She takes a few moments to collect herself, going for a napkin to dab at her face until her cheeks are at least a little dry.

"... I... w-well, when I first found out about the inheritors, that I was one, I... I got curious about the witches in my line. I realized I didn't really know anything about my parents, and I thought Grandpa might know, but I didn't know if you'd know, so I looked up their names on my birth certificate, and then tried to look them up in the chronicles at the Magic Association, to trace my family tree, but..."

Raiko looks to Tama and Yumi. "I couldn't find anything about them. Like... like they didn't exist. And the more I kept looking, the more I realized... Grandpa never talked about my parents. We never went to visit their grave, we didn't have their pictures up anywhere, I've never heard about... any cousins, or aunts, or uncles, or anything... They only thing you and grandpa ever wanted to say was..."

"... they had been in an accident," says Shiori softly.

Raiko nods. "So I kinda figured... well, the people on my birth certificate might not be real, and if they weren't then... Grandpa wasn't really my grandfather. It just... made sense, once I thought of it."

Shiori frowned softly. "Raiko, why didn't you say something...?"

Raiko shrugged. "I dunno, because... I thought he'd tell me when he was ready. And even though he wasn't really my grandfather... well, I decided that he ''was''. He took care of me when I was sick, taught me magic, encouraged me to learn about how machines worked, helped me study, did everything he could for me, so... even if he wasn't 'really' my grandfather, even if we're not technically family..."

Raiko glances to Yumi. "He chose to be my family," she says softly.

"I, um... didn't know about the stuff with The Hungry Queen, not exactly, but... it does kinda make sense, too..."

Raiko smiles and pulls Shiori close into another hug. The familiar nuzzles her back, gently. "I know this was hard, but... thank you, for telling me. For being there for me just like he was." And then she reaches out to take Yumi's hand again and give it a squeeze. "I don't blame you for this, either."

Shiori is grateful for Tama's words, but will have to find the time later to properly express that gratitude, sharing a moment with Raiko as she is.

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Tama is rarely put on the back foot in a conversation. It usually takes something like an Ogre chasing her to harm her composure. But that's fine; it means she doesn't have to take attention away from Shiori in this.

But Raiko explains why she knows, and Shiori answers, and...

"I see," says Tama first. "Yes. The deception was not complete... which of course. He would not have wished to lie to you more than necessary."

But Raiko and Shiori...

Yumi is quiet. "Chose to be your family, huh? ...He certainly acted like it."

The rest makes sense. Yumi can't smile at nnot being blamed, but...

"Thanks," she says. "...It looks like you two really needed to talk about this, huh?"

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

Shiori is normally much better at keeping her composure. But considering the things that Raiko had said to hear earlier... she was very concerned with how this revelation might impact her relationship with Raiko. She may have been surprsied to learn that Raiko thought of her as a mother figure, but she had to admit... Raiko meant a lot to her, as well.

Raiko looks to Tama. "I didn't question it all these years, not until I had a reason to, so... it did work..."

She looks up to Yumi next. "Just like I chose to be yours. Your coven sister, I mean." He definitely acted like it, and Raiko nods firmly to Yumi.

She gives Yumi's hand another firm squeeze for the thanks. "You're welcome," she says quietly. Raiko looks to Shiori and nods, smiling a little bit more. "Sorry I didn't tell you I figured it out sooner, Shiori. If I'd know this would be troubling you, I would've."

Shiori is slowly getting her composure back. "Yes, well... we haev cleared the air, as it were. I do wish Kenji could have told you himself. But I am relieved that you are taking the news so well..."

Raiko grins, "So, ready for another shot?"

The familar blinks in surprise. "Are you certain? You do not wish to collect yourself further?"

"Nope! No time like the present, isn't that what you've always said?"

Shiori sighs, "That was regarding homework, dear, but if you insist..." Shiori jumps down from Raiko's lap as she stands up, and Raiko turns back to flash Yumi a grin.

"C'mon! I got a good feeling about this one!"
[[Category: Logs]]

2024-03-03 - Familial Revelations, Part 1

2024-03-04T05:25:55Z

Talnora: If at first ou don't succeed...

{|class="toccolours" cellspacing="2"
|-
! style="background:#CC6699; border: 2px #CC0033 solid; font-size: 110%;" align="center" colspan="2" | '''Title: Familial Revelations, Part 1'''
|-
|'''Summary''': 
''Raiko and Shiori attempt to enact a ritual to finally empower Shiori as a fully-fledged familiar. It fails, but they take some time to reflect and regroup, and Raiko makes an admission to Shiori.''
|-
| '''Who:''' 
[[Raiko Takashima]], [[Raiko Takashima#Shiori|Shiori]]
|-
| '''Where:''' 
Raiko's Home (Chofu Suburban District)
|-
| '''OOC - IC Date:''' 
3/3/2024 - Friday, May 20, 2016
|}

Magic filled the air of Kenji Takashima's office, stirred gently to life by the breath of its two living inhabitants. The Witch of Wise Levin sat on the floor in her henshin, eyes closed and her breathing steady. She felt the magic swirling around her, gently brushing against her. To draw it in was a delicate process, reaching out with her mind to not grasp but to ''suggest'' a shape and a path it might follow. The strands of magic were gossamer thin and just as delicate; they had to be, for the working they were undertaking was complex and intricate.

But Levin was not alone in this undertaking. Across from her sat her familiar, Shiori. The calico tabby was sitting upright, mirroring Levin's posture. Her eyes were closed, and she was also taking slow, gentle breaths in time with Levin's own. The familiar was undertaking the same working, the two of them working in tandem to try and create a spell of the utmost intricacy together.

The last participant of the ritual was The Staff of Wise Levin itself. It was laid out on the floor between witch and familiar both. No lightning danced up and down its length, but the yellow crystal at the top of its staff was pulsing with a faint inner light, slowly strobing in rhythm with the breath of the two other participants. The Witch had her hands on the staff, and Shiori had her front paws on it as well. The Staff was the conduit between the two, and magic flowed out from it into the other two, and then was supposed to flow from them, back through the staff, and into each other.

It was beginning to take shape, the pattern starting to form that would link witch and familiar to each other. Shiori made an offer of a strand of magic and the Witch of Wise Levin accepted it, but as she was working with it it slipped from her grasp. On instinct she made a desperate grab for it--but the action was too violent, and it shattered the nascent spell. The staff dimmed, and Levin let out a frustrated grunt as she tossed herself onto her back, releasing her henshin.

Raiko let out a frustrated groan, now dressed in a pair of light blue overalls and a t-shirt. "Uggggh. I felt like we almost ''had'' it that time." She threw an arm over her forehead as she stared up at the ceiling. "Sorry, Shiori."

Strolling up to Raiko's side, Shiori shook her head. "Do not be so hard on yourself, dear. It is a most delicate spell, and you have made tremendous strides in casting it. Your hard work and persistence will pay off, in the end."

"I knowwww," whined Raiko gently. "But we've tried to cast it like..." She quickly tallied it in her head. "14 times now."

"Raiko, dear, this is a most demanding spell. To bind two minds together, willingly, and without damaging either is a tremendous undertaking. Not only that, we must both open ourselves willingly to the other for the spell to take hold. That you have made the progress you have is remarkable. There are not many who share the requisite amount of trust, nor the capacity to understand the finer details as you have."

Reaching with the arm that had been draped over her forehead, Raiko gently scratched behind Shiori's ears. "Thanks. That makes me feel better." She sat back up. "Alright, Attempt number 15, I guess."

Shaking her head, Shiori walked to the door to the office instead. "Let's take a break, dear. You could use something to eat."

"I'm fine--" Raiko started to protest, only to be cut off by her stomach rumbling. She blushed, and then slowly nodded. "Okay, okay. Guess I hadn't noticed how hungry I'd gotten." She reached out to touch her staff, which vanished in a small spray of sparkles, then stood up. "Alright then."

The two headed downstairs together, into the kitchen. Shiori jumped up onto the kitchen table, while Raiko set about filling a small pot with water and setting it on the stove to boil. From a small grocery bag she pulled out a cup noodle and opened the lid, then set that aside while she waited for the water to boil.

"Raiko, dear, you really should vary your diet more," said Raiko gently.

"I know, I know, but you said I couldn't store anything perishable, remember?" Raiko patted the bag. "So this is the only stuff I can keep here."

"I did say that, yes, but you should buy a few pieces of fruit the next time we go to the store. They'll keep for a few days, and if we are making frequent trips here you'll have plenty of opportunities to eat them." Shiori gave Raiko a flat look. "Just because the cookies are full of preservatives..."

"Eheheh." Raiko had the good grace to at least look sheepish. "I got them for... emotional support? We're kinda going through a lot, you know..."

Shiori regarded Raiko silently for a moment and then sighed softly. "I suppose you are, at that. 'Emotional support' is fine in the short-term, but please do consider the long-term."

Nodding thoughtfully, Raiko regarded her pot of water for a moment as she considered. "What if I bought some granola? Or maybe some trail mix? They've got the kind with dried fruits in it, and nuts..." She gave Shiori a smile. "And I'll even try to find one that doesn't have a lot of extra sugar added."

"Yes, I believe that will be an excellent choice," said the familiar. She looked at Raiko and slowly closed her eyes before slowly opening them again. "Thank you."

Raiko smiled back at Shiori and returned the slow blink. When the water started to boil, she finished preparing her cup noodle, then brought it to the table with a glass of water. She stirred it with her chopsticks to help it cool and cook evenly.

Shiori curled up on the table, watching the steam billow off of the cup. "So how was your day at school?"

"Oh, it was good," replied Raiko. "I surprised everyone in my magic class by answering a really hard enchantment question, so... That felt nice." She sighed. "And then I completely flubbed one about potions. And I thought I was getting the hang of those, too..."

"Do not be disheartened. You are making tremendous strides. I can help you review those questions later."

"Thanks, Shiori. I really appreciate it."

"You are most welcome, dear... How was the rest of your day?"

Raiko tested the temperature of her cup noodle and then took a small bite from it as she considered the question. "Well... I've got a bunch of homework, but that's not really news..." She chewed on both the noodles and the question in silence for a moment more. "Well... I guess there was this one thing..."

Shiori lifted her head up to show interest. "Do tell, dear."

The girl's cheeks flushed as she stared at her cup noodle. "W-well... at lunch there were some girls discussing a new show that sounded super interesting. And one of them had a super cute hair clip, and I wanted to go up to them and ask about the show and tell her I thought her hair clip was cute but..." Raiko groaned and planted her head on the table before muttering, "... I chickened out at the last moment."

The vagaries of a teenage girl's heart were not something Shiori was prepared to address. But she did not need to understand that to see how her charge was suffering. "Raiko..." The feline's ears flattened in sympathy, and she got up to approach Raiko and offer a soft nuzzle to her cheek. "I'm sorry, dear."

Raiko sat back up again and reached up to pet Shiori's back. "I don't get it, I've fought ogres, wraiths, Conflagria twice, I can ''fly'', and I even reverse-engineered an ancient relic's enchantment. Why does ''this'' seem so hard all of a sudden?"

Shiori purred gently, mainly for Raiko's benefit. "In the matters of your duties, you have a great deal of assistance. Myself, the staff, and of course, your fellow inheritor, Yumi. While I and the staff cannot offer the same assistance in your mundane associations, perhaps Yumi may well have some insight?"

Raiko thought about that for a moment but then shook her head. "I... yeah, but she's going through a lot right now too, you know? I dunno if... now's a good time to bother her with stuff like that."

"Hmm... Perhaps you should ask, and let her decide if she is willing to offer that assistance. But what about your clubs? It has been quite some time since you engaged with those regularly. The students there will all have a common interest, so perhaps it will be easier to engage them in conversation."

The guilt of skipping out on her clubs for so long made Raiko hang her head. "I guess... but that feels so awkward, too, you know? I'm not exactly... popular, you know?"

Shiori leaned her head down to rub her cheek against Raiko's arm. "It may well be difficult, dear, and I do not have any easy answers. But I hope you have learned recently that you are so much braver and stronger--and wiser--than you think. Nobody else can take that first step for you."

Raiko smiled gently at that, running her head up to scritch at Shiori's ears. "You really mean that?"

"Of course dear," said the familiar, closing her eyes to enjoy the affection. "Now make sure to eat up while your meal is still hot."

"Okay." Raiko pulled the cup to her and started to eat again. Between mouthfuls she said, "You know, you've always been there for me, huh?"

"Well, of course, dear. It is my duty, after all."

Raiko shook her head. "I mean, that too, but like..." She stopped eating for a moment and looked down at her cup. "I don't have any memories of my parents, you know? And sometimes I think about it, and it makes me really sad that I never got to know them. But... I've never felt like I didn't have a family. Because as far back as I can remember, there was always Grandpa, and there was always you."

She looked to Shiori and smiled shyly. "It was always the three of us, here in this house, and even when Grandpa had to go on trips, you were still here. And I know you had a duty, but... you guys couldn't be 100% sure I was going to inherit the Staff, even with all of the signs. And besides that, you played with me, you offered advice, and encouragement, and help with my homework, and... Even though there were things you couldn't do, like cook, that I had to learn to do on my own, you still reminded me to eat, when I forgot, or reminded me about the weather, and a whole bunch of other stuff..."

Shiori's tail, which had been swishing gently, slowly stilled. She was regarding Raiko with wide open eyes now, but could not bring herself to interrupt. Raiko was building to a point, she was sure, but she couldn't figure out what it might be.

Another blush graced Raiko's cheeks as she looked at her cup noodle again. "And, I dunno... I guess part of why I never missed my mom and dad that much is that... having you around always kind of felt like what I imagined having a mom was like. Y-you can't do all the same things other moms do, but you were still there, and you still cared... so..." Her cheeks turned redder as she wiped away something wet from her eyes with her hand. "Sorry, this is kind of embarrassing to say."

The familiar grew still, ears laid back in stunned silence. She dropped her gaze to the table as she considered those words. "It's... quite alright, dear. I am..." What was the right word here? "... honored, to know that you hold me in such high esteem."

Raiko sniffed a little and picked up her cup noodle. "A-anyway, once we finish empowering you, we'll be linked, and you're gonna know how I feel anyway, so... no reason to hold back, right?"

"Mm. Quite so, dear."

Standing up from the table with her cup, Raiko gave Shiori one last pat. "I'm... gonna go watch something on my laptop while I eat, okay? Maybe once Yumi-chan and Tama get here, we can try the ritual again?" She needed to give herself some emotional breathing room after making such a personal confession, and Raiko couldn't blame her one bit.

Shiori nodded, "Very well, dear." She listened as Raiko headed up the stairs, and turned her head to look out the window.

She had to go through with the ritual, for Raiko's sake. But could she, knowing what she knew?

[[Category:Cutscenes]]

2024-02-23 - Stepping Up

2024-02-24T15:41:14Z

Talnora: Fixed some small typos and formatting mistakes.

{|class="toccolours" cellspacing="2"
|-
! style="background:#CC6699; border: 2px #CC0033 solid; font-size: 110%;" align="center" colspan="2" | '''Title: Stepping Up'''
|-
|'''Summary''': 
''There are serious things afoot, and Raiko knows she needs to step up so that she can do more to help Yumi. So she does something she's been putting off for a while...''
|-
| '''Who:''' 
[[Raiko Takashima]], [[Raiko Takashima#Akinori Ayase|Akinori Ayase]] (Takashima family friend)
|-
| '''Where:''' 
Raiko's Home (Chofu Suburban District)
|-
| '''OOC - IC Date:''' 
2/23/2024 - Wednesday, May 18, 2016
|-
|}

Raiko fidgeted and got up to take one more pass through the small living room of her house. She had spent the morning cleaning, dusting, and tidying up as much as she could, and everything was in absolutely perfect condition.

Almost.

She frowned to herself, muttering, "I think I missed the spot, I bet I could do one more pass with the vacuum..."

"Dear," said Shiori gently. She was sitting primly upright on the back of a small stuffed chair, watching Raiko work. "The carpet is fine. It is good that you want to present yourself well to Ayase-san, but he is also a trusted friend. He will not be offended if there is one speck of dust out of place."

Raiko sighed and turned to her familiar. She was dressed in a simple black dress, over a white shirt with a black ribbon tied in a bow. This was specifically her witch's dress, that she used for conducting official Witch Business, such as when she was performing shifts at the Magic Academy. She had made sure to brush her hair out and braid it, tying off the end with a matching black bow. It would have been easier with her telekinesis, but she had done it all by hand. Some things were too important not to do them Right.

"I ''know'', Shiori, but this is ''important''. I have to make a good impression. To make up for... all of the bad impressions."

She'd managed to bring her grades up some, but... they were still nowhere near where they could be. She did, however, have one important advantage on her side.

"Raiko, dear, I have every confidence you will succeed. Remember--" Shiori stopped, and she flicked an ear sideways towards the door, then turned her head. "He's here. Remember, you are ready for this."

Raiko nodded. "Right. Thanks." A knocking came from the front door, and Raiko opened it with a smile. "Ayakun!"

Akinori Ayase was an easy-going man in his late 20's, with shaggy gray hair, and a perpetually relaxed smile. His grin broadened as he saw Raiko and exclaimed, "Hey, Takachan." He was dressed rather casually, in slacks and an untucked, short-sleeved shirt. He looked over the apprentice witch, and the smile faded slightly. "You're dressed up."

"Yep," said Raiko as she stepped back from the door. It was an implicit invitation, but not an explicit one. Thresholds were important, and she couldn't be too careful, after all. "I wanted to discuss some business."

"Ahh, I see..." Akinori stepped inside and closed the door behind him. "Then please allow me a moment to change." He snapped his fingers, and in a soft flash of light his appearance instantly changed. He was wearing a black robe now, the shirt now had a simple black tie, and his hair had been parted and combed out. "There we go. Thanks for waiting."

Raiko let go of some internal worry as Akinori entered the home without issue. She hated needing to be cautious about her friend, but in these times she couldn't be too safe. "Of course!" she said cheerfully. She turned and gestured to the kitchen. "I have some tea prepared."

They retreated to the kitchen, and Raiko served tea and cookies. Shiori joined them, laying primly on the tabletop as the two mages talked. They chatted for a while, catching up on various matters: how Raiko was holding up at Infinity (she was coping, thanks to some good friends), her grades and entrance exam results (Akinori was much delighted to see the improvements), and some other matters (such as Raiko showing off her enchanted phone case that would magically charge a phone; Akinori excitedly peppered her with questions about its workings.)

But once they had exhausted the small talk, Akinori's expression grew more serious. "If you want to ask about your grandfather, I'm afraid I don't have any news for you. But rest assured, we are sparing no resources to locate him."

Raiko sat up straighter, and Shiori did as well, curling her tail around her paws. "Actually," started Raiko. "I did want to discuss my grandfather, but about something else." She cleared her throat. "I know about his work. His ''real'' work, combating The Hungry Queen."

Akinori fumbled for a denial, but Shiori spoke up. "There is no need, Ayase-san. I have explained matters to her."

The older mage frowned softly at Shiroi. "Please forgive my rudeness, Shiori-san, but why would you do such a thing?"

"Because I found out about the Staff," interjected Raiko. "She had to explain about the Staff, my grandfather, and... my lineage."

The furrow of Akinori's brow deepened as he studied Raiko, then looked to Shiori once more. "Was this wise?"

"It was ''necessary''," replied Shiori. "The details are not important at this time, but suffice it to say she entered the office due to a lapse in my vigilance. The Staff reacted to her presence, and the release of magic destroyed the wards protecting it."

"It ''what''!?" The mage sat up suddenly, "Why didn't you report this? We have to protect the staff at once!"

"Ayakun," said Raiko softly. She put on a smile to try and reassure him. "It's okay. ''I'' have the staff now, and it's safe. I repaired the wards, too."

"But those wards were set by your grandfather, a mage of tremendous power and skill. I know you're skilled with enchantments, but there's no way you would have the strength necessary. Not without..." Akinori looked between witch and familiar as realization struck. "... wait..."

Raiko's smile broadened into a grin as she quickly slipped out of her chair and wordlessly held out her hand. The staff appeared in a shower of soft yellow sparkles of light. She grasped it tightly in her hand, feeling the power and the connection with the staff flowing through her. "Staff of Wise Levin, hear me! In my hand discovered be!"

She was engulfed in a bright light, and with a small roar of thunder the light burst to reveal The Witch of Wise Levin in her full regalia: a shirt and vest, cloak, frilly skirt, buckled boots and gloves, and of course, her witch's hat. She did a little pirouette and then posed with the staff. "Swift as the wind and powerful as a storm! The Witch of Wise Levin is here to help!"

Levin stood up from her pose, grinning. "Okay, I added that last part. I'm still working on it."

From the table Shiori just sighed quietly and shook her head slowly. It was one of her better attempts, at least.

Akinori was halfway to his feet as the surprising transformation took place. He stared, wordlessly, between Levin and Shiori, as if unable to believe his eyes. "But... you have not yet come of age..."

"As you can see," said Shiroi. "The Staff felt otherwise. And it is the final arbiter, in the end. While it has not been... ''customary'' for an inheritor to take up her staff so young, apparently there is nothing in the Staff's magic that specifically forbids it."

Levin let the staff go, which remained standing upright as she retook her seat. She carefully took her hat off and set it on the chair next to her. "You're right. As Raiko Takashima I couldn't have restored the wards. But as the Witch of Wise Levin, I could."

"I don't believe it..." muttered the older mage as he sat down again, holding a hand to his forehead. "I always knew you were a bright kid, but I wasn't prepared for... ''this.''"

Levin sighed. "It was... quite a surprise to me, too. It was kind of a day full of surprises, in fact." She sat up straighter, trying to project confidence and maturity, though plenty of her excitement showed through still. "But, well... I'm a magical girl now. And I want to register as one with the Magic Association. I know it'll mean more responsibilities, but... I think I'm ready to handle them."

Akinori's expression grew more somber as he considered the request. "Well, the Staves are certainly of interest to the Association, and I can clearly see that you are, in fact, a magical girl." He rubbed his chin softly as he thought. "We weren't planning on this happening quite so soon, but... I'll talk to the higher-ups and we'll sort this out." He studied Levin for a moment, looking her over. "How long...?"

"Almost four months," admitted Levin.

"Why now?"

Levin's hands figited in her lap as she struggled to put her feelings into words. "Several reasons. I guess I just... needed time to come to terms with being a magical girl. I never thought I'd become one, and well... I guess I wasn't really sure if I deserved to be one at first." She looked up. "But I've been working really hard to deserve it. My grades are better, I'm getting better at controlling the Staff's magic. And... well, there's people counting on me, too, who make me feel like I really ''can'' do this, so I don't want to let them down, either."

She took a deep breath. The next part was still concerning, but her staff lent its support, which helped steady her nerves. "There have also been some troubling developments in our fight with The Hungry Queen. We need more help, and more resources."

Steepling his fingers together, Akinori contemplated something silently for a moment. "That is troubling to hear. Your grandfather had a lot of plans, but I think we may have to go off-script from here on out." He reached into a pocket and pulled out a note, sliding it across the table towards Levin. "Take this. I was to use it in case... well, nevermind that. I think under the circumstances, you might make far better use of it than I could."

"What is it?" asked Levin as she accepted the note and looked it over. Shiori padded over to look, and they both frowned in thought as Levin turned the note over. There were several workings present--one of which Levin immediately realized was flawed, but the flaw seemed intentional. On the reverse side were several cryptic diagrams and several strings of magically encrypted text.

"I'm not certain," admitted Akinori. "But if it's tied to your grandfather's work, it will undoubtedly help you with The Hungry Queen as well."

"Thank you," said Levin quietly. The note vanished from her hands in a small spray of magical sparkles for safekeeping.

Akinori stood, and gave Levin a nod. "It was a surprise, but certainly a pleasure to meet you, Witch of Wise Levin. I'll go make the arrangements with the Association and get back to you."

Levin quickly rose from her seat and offered Akinori a formal bow, which the older mage returned. "Thank you, Ayase-san."

"Hey," said Akinori gently as he stepped forward to place a reassuring hand on Levin's shoulder. "I want you to know, no matter where your grandfather is, he would be so proud of you."

Raiko let her henshin go, her clothing replaced with her simple black witch's dress from before. She looked up to Akinori and nodded with a small smile. "Thanks."

[[Category:Cutscenes]]

2024-02-23 - Stepping Up

2024-02-24T00:41:28Z

Talnora: New responsibilities... but new opportunities, too.

{|class="toccolours" cellspacing="2"
|-
! style="background:#CC6699; border: 2px #CC0033 solid; font-size: 110%;" align="center" colspan="2" | '''Title: Stepping Up'''
|-
|'''Summary''': 
''There are serious things afoot, and Raiko knows she needs to step up so that she can do more to help Yumi. So she does something she's been putting off for a while...''
|-
| '''Who:''' 
[[Raiko Takashima]], [[Raiko Takashima#Akinori Ayase|Akinori Ayase]] (Takashima family friend)
|-
| '''Where:''' 
Raiko's Home (Chofu Suburban District)
|-
| '''OOC - IC Date:''' 
2/23/2024 - Wednesday, May 18, 2016
|-
|}

Raiko fidgeted and got up to take one more pass through the small living room of her house. She had spent the morning cleaning, dusting, and tidying up as much as she could, and everything was in absolutely perfect condition.

Almost.

She frowned to herself, muttering, "I think I missed the spot, I bet I could do one more pass with the vacuum..."

"Dear," said Shiori gently. She was sitting primly upright on the back of a small stuffed chair, watching Raiko work. "The carpet is fine. It is good that you want to present yourself well to Ayase-san, but he is also a trusted friend. He will not be offended if there is one speck of dust out of place."

Raiko sighed and turned to her familiar. She was dressed in a simple black dress, over a white shirt with a black ribbon tied in a bow. This was specifically her witch's dress, that she used for conducting official Witch Business, such as when she was performing shifts at the Magic Academy. She had made sure to brush her hair out and braid it, tying off the end with a matching black bow. It would have been easier with her telekinesis, but she had done it all by hand. Some things were too important not to do them Right.

"I ''know'', Shiori, but this is ''important''. I have to make a good impression. To make up for... all of the bad impressions."

She'd managed to bring her grades up some, but... they were still nowhere near where they could be. She did, however, have one important advantage on her side.

"Raiko, dear, I have every confidence you will succeed. Remember--" Shiori stopped, and she flicked an ear sideways towards the door, then turned her head. "He's here. Remember, you are ready for this."

Raiko nodded. "Right. Thanks." A knocking came from the front door, and Raiko opened it with a smile. "Ayakun!"

Akinori Ayase was an easy-going man in his late 20's, with shaggy gray hair, and a perpetually relaxed smile. His grin broadened as he saw Raiko and exclaimed, "Hey, Takachan." He was dressed rather casually, in slacks and an untucked, short-sleeved shirt. He looked over the apprentice witch, and the smile faded slightly. "You're dressed up."

"Yep," said Raiko as she stepped back from the door. It was an implicit invitation, but not an explicit one. Thresholds were important, and she couldn't be too careful, after all. "I wanted to discuss some business."

"Ahh, I see..." Akinori stepped inside and closed the door behind him. "Then please allow me a moment to change." He snapped his fingers, and in a soft flash out light his appearance instantly changed. He was wearing a black robe now, the shirt now had a simple black tie, and his hair had been parted and combed out. "There we go. Thanks for waiting."

Raiko let go of some internal worry as Akinori entered the home without issue. She hated needing to be cautious about her friend, but in these times she couldn't be too safe. "Of course!" she said cheerfully. She turned and gestured to the kitchen. "I have some tea prepared."

They retreated to the kitchen, and Raiko served tea and cookies. Shiori joined them, laying primly on the tabletop as the two mages talked. They chatted for a while, catching up on various matters: how Raiko was holding up at Infinity (she was coping, thanks to some good friends), her grades and entrance exam results (Akinori was much delighted to see the improvements), and some other matters (such as Raiko showing off her enchanted phone case that would magically charge a phone, which Akinori took much delight in and peppered he with questions about its workings.)

But once they had exhausted the small talk, Akinori's expression grew more serious. "If you want to ask about your grandfather, I'm afraid I don't have any news for you. But rest assured, we are sparing no resources to locate him."

Raiko sat up straighter, and Shiori did as well, curling her tail around her paws. "Actually," started Raiko. "I did want to discuss my grandfather, but about something else." She cleared her throat. "I know about his work. His ''real'' work, combating The Hungry Queen."

Akinori fumbled for a denial, but Shiori spoke up. "There is no need, Ayase-san. I have explained matters to her."

The older mage frowned softly at Shiroi. "Please forgive my rudeness, Shiori-san, but why would you do such a thing?"

"Because I found out about the Staff," interjected Raiko. "She had to explain about the Staff, my grandfather, and... my lineage."

The furrow of Akinori's brow deepened as he studied Raiko, then looked to Shiori once more. "Was this wise?"

"It was ''necessary''," replied Shiori. "The details are not important at this time, but suffice it to say she entered the office due to a lapse in my vigilance. The Staff reacted to her presence, and the release of magic destroyed the wards protecting it."

"It ''what''!?" The mage sat up suddenly, "Why didn't you report this? We have to protect the staff at once!"

"Ayakun," said Raiko softly. She put on a smile to try and reassure him. "It's okay. ''I'' have the staff now, and it's safe. I repaired the wards, too."

"But those wards were set by your grandfather, a mage of tremendous power and skill. I know you're skilled with enchantments, but there's no way you would have the strength necessary. Not without..." Akinori looked between witch and familiar as realization struck. "... wait..."

Raiko's smile broadened into a grin as she quickly slipped out of her chair and wordlessly held out her hand. The staff appeared in a shower of soft yellow sparkles of light. She grasped it tightly in her hand, feeling the power and the connection with the staff flowing through her. "Staff of Wise Levin, hear me! In my hand discovered be!"

She was engulfed in a bright light, and with a small roar of thunder the light burst to reveal The Witch of Wise Levin in her full regalia: a shirt and vest, cloak, frilly skirt, buckled boots and gloves, and of course, her witch's hat. She did a little pirouette and then posed with the staff. "Swift as the wind and powerful as a storm! The Witch of Wise Levin is here to help!"

Levin stood up from her pose, grinning. "Okay, I added that last part. I'm still working on it."

From the table Shiori just sighed quietly and shook her head slowly. It was one of her better attempts, at least.

Akinori was halfway to his feet as the surprising transformation took place. He stared, wordlessly, between Levin and Shiori, as if unable to believe his eyes. "But... you have not yet come of age..."

"As you can see," said Shiroi. "The Staff felt otherwise. And it is the final arbiter, in the end. While it has not been... ''customary'' for an inheritor to take up her staff so young, apparently there is nothing in the Staff's magic that specifically forbids it."

Levin let the staff go, which remained standing upright as she retook her seat. She carefully took her hat off and set it on the chair next to her. "You're right. As Raiko Takashima I couldn't have restored the wards. But as the Witch of Wise Levin, I could."

"I don't believe it..." muttered the older mage as he sat down again, holding a hand to his forehead. "I always knew you were a bright kid, but I wasn't prepared for... ''this.''"

Levin sighed. "It was... quite a surprise to me, too. It was kind of a day full of surprises, in fact." She sat up straighter, trying to project confidence and maturity, though plenty of her excitement showed through still. "But, well... I'm a magical girl now. And I want to register as one with the Magic Association. I know it'll mean more responsibilities, but... I think I'm ready to handle them."

Akinori's expression grew more somber as he considered the request. "Well, the Staves are certainly of interest to the Association, and I can clearly see that you are, in fact, a magical girl." He rubbed his chin softly as he thought. "We weren't planning on this happening quite so soon, but... I'll talk to the higher-ups and we'll sort this out." He studied Levin for a moment, looking her over. "How long...?"

"Almost four months," admitted Levin.

"Why now?"

Levin's hands figited in her lap as she struggled to put her feelings into words. "Several reasons. I guess I just... needed time to come to terms with being a magical girl. I never thought I'd become one, and well... I guess I wasn't really sure if I deserved to be one at first." She looked up. "But I've been working really hard to deserve it. My grades are better, I'm getting better at controlling the Staff's magic. And... well, there's people counting on me, too, who make me feel like I really ''can'' do this, so I don't want to let them down, either"

She took a deep breath. The next part was still concerning, but her staff lent its support, which helped steady her nerves. "There have also been some troubling developments in our fight with The Hungry Queen. We need more help, and more resources."

Steepling his fingers together, Akinori contemplated something silently for a moment. "That is troubling to hear. Your grandfather had a lot of plans, but I think we may have to go off-script from here on out." He reached into a pocket and pulled out a note, sliding it across the table towards Levin. "Take this. I was to use it in case... well, nevermind that. I think under the circumstances, you might make far better use of it than I could."

"What is it?" asked Levin as she accepted the note and looked it over. Shiori padded over to look, and they both frowned in thought as Levin turned the note over. There were several workings present--one of which Levin immediately realized was flawed, but the flaw seemed intentional. On the reverse side were several cryptic diagrams and several strings of magically encrypted text.

"I'm not certain," admitted Akinori. "But if it's tied to your grandfather's work, it will undoubtedly help you with The Hungry Queen as well."

"Thank you," said Levin quietly. The note vanished from her hands in a small spray of magical sparkles for safekeeping.

Akinori stood, and gave Levin a nod. "It was a surprise, but certainly a pleasure to meet you, Witch of Wise Levin. I'll go make the arrangements with the Association and get back to you."

Levin quickly rose from her seat and offered Akinori a formal bow, which the older mage returned. "Thank you, Ayase-san."

"Hey," said Akinori gently as he stepped forward to place a reassuring hand on Levin's shoulder. "I want you to know, no matter where your grandfather is, he would be so proud of you."

Raiko let her henshin go, her clothing replaced with her simple black witch's dress from before. She looked up to Akinori and nodded with a small smile. "Thanks."

[[Category:Cutscenes]]

2024-02-20 - Moving Forward

2024-02-23T23:29:13Z

Talnora: Time to drop that puzzle into a bottomless pit.

{|class="toccolours" cellspacing="2"
|-
! style="background:#CC6699; border: 2px #CC0033 solid; font-size: 110%;" align="center" colspan="2" | '''Title: Moving Forward'''
|-
|'''Summary''': 
''After some [[2024-02-08 - Burn It All Down|startling revelations]], Raiko and Yumi take some time to reckon with it. Raiko invites Yumi over to her house to discuss how they move forward from there.''
|-
| '''Who:''' 
[[Raiko Takashima]], [[Yumi Ohzora]]
|-
| '''Where:''' 
Chofu Suburban District (Tama Outer City)
|-
| '''OOC - IC Date:''' 
2/20/2024 - Tuesday, May 17, 2016
|-
|}

.****************************** Tama Outer City *******************************.
*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+* Chofu Suburban District +*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*
Chofu was built on a vast natural terrace that reinforces the town against
the slope down to the sea. It has its own town limits, and it is large
enough that you can get anything you need without leaving them. It has
lovely houses and apartments, well-appointed town centers, and beautiful
green fields around it. But the Tama River that flows through and past Chofu
feeds into the main city, and the great splay-legged power lines that follow
its course at a safe distance link town to metropolis. This is and is not
Tokyo.

Just fifteen minutes (and a scant 230 yen) by high-speed rail from Shinjuku
Station, Chofu is one of the largest "bed towns" for central Tokyo. Most of
the people who live here work in the Special Wards, the short commute buying
them vastly cheaper, less cramped lodgings, though some maintain local
businesses. While this makes Chofu a suburb of inner Tokyo, it is certainly
still Tokyo, and the expansive lawns and sprawling development one envisions
when thinking of a suburb are not to be found here. Still, there are no
skyscrapers here, and freestanding houses replace the massive apartment
buildings of Tokyo.

Chofu's river banks host old-fashioned festivals that draw many from
surrounding areas at the proper times of year. In contrast, Chofu is also
home to the headquarters of JAXA, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency.
Though Japan is not yet involved in manned space travel, those interested in
Japan's satellite or other space-related technology can find ample materiel
for research or wrongdoing.

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

Raiko... has been doing a ''lot'' of thinking the past day or two. There was... well, a ''lot'' to take in, and she had almost gotten sucked into it that night at the hospital, but had pulled herself out of it by a need to take care of Yumi. Yumi had wanted to go to Mikoto's dorms for a couple of days to get away from things, and Raiko had been hesitant but accepted it, in the moment.

She /did/ make absolutely clear that Yumi was, under no conditions, allowed to go confront her mother at home. With threats that she would be Very Cross if shedid.

Her own retreat from the dorms was to go back home, after filling Shori in on things and picking some stuff up from her dorm. Her first act had been to reinforce and strengthen the wards around her house, just to put herself at ease, and then for the rest of that night and most of the next day she had let herself wallow in thoughts with Shiori, trying to make sense of everything they had learned. And then...

She'd gotten to work.

First order of business: collect and isolate the book and the puzzle. The puzzle didn't like her, and Raiko was fine with that. She didn't like it either. She'd have preferred to shove them into a pocket dimension, hopefully never to be seen again, but they proved too magical for that. So plan B was to stuff them in a box, lock it, and then enchant the lock.

The main thing was to try and keep them from influencing Yumi until they could figure out what was going on.

Next was to sit down and start making plans. Real, actual plans, not just wallowing in the doom and gloom of it all. Clear, actionable steps to address the myriad issues this presented. And she had been working on plans until she'd gotten word from Yumi that she was ready to talk.

A quick trip to a nearby restaurant, and she had several containers of take-out curry, with plenty of sides and drinks for herself and Yumi, and a couple of fish for Shiori and Tama.

She was curled up on her couch, dressed in a skirt and t-shirt, trying to keep her mind occupied until Yumi arrived.

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

There was a ''lot'' to take in indeed, but Yumi needed rest, and she needed rest somewhere ''away'' from her usual haunts. Mikoto took her away for that, and Yumi trusts Mikoto. When she woke up the next night, after a long day of emotional exhaustion, she'd texted Raiko:

>Definitely not going home. Don't worry. Will come to see you tomorrow. Can we go to your house? I'm not ready to go to the dorms yet.

The puzzle, indeed--didn't and doesn't seem to like anyone touching it but Yumi or with Yumi's permission. But the book is only a book, and while it won't be held without more specialized magic, it at least doesn't have super bad vibes to send.

Yumi arrives on time; she's in some of her usual clothes, a green dress and a light jacket over it, with flats. "Raiko-chan?" Yumi says, after she knocks.

Tama is there, too; she had a chance to catch up with Yumi, and is quietly standing next to the young witch.

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

> I'm already here and cleaning up.

The house is a compact two-story with a small footprint. Where other people might say 'cramped', Raiko's grandfather had always preferred cozy, and somehow they had made it work for the two of them for as long as Raiko could remember.

There was a quick shout of "Coming!" and Raiko rushed to the door. She's in a white t-shirt with the logo for some magical girl show on it, a blue skirt, and plain white socks. When she opened the door to see Yumi there she rushed forward and pulled her into a tight hug. "Yumi-chan!" She stayed in the hug for a moment if Yumi let her, then stepped back inside. An implicit invitation, but not an explicit one.

"Hi, Tama. I got food for all of us. Shiori's here, too. It's all in the kitchen." She turns to head that way.

Shiori comes strolling out of the kitchen at that. "Hello, dear." She's much calmer now than she was, but she still shows signs of stress, but she's mostly calm. Tama gets a respectful nod of acknowledgement.

Raiko's stressed too, but she's been dealing with it by keeping busy doing things.

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

It's cozy! Cozy is a good word for it.

Yumi hugs back, and does indeed let Raiko linger. There's a sigh, then--she still looks... fatigued. That's the word for it; she looks like this sometimes when she's in the hospital, but she's ''not'' going there right now, and she's able to walk around under her own power, anyway.

"Thanks," Yumi says about the food, and follows.

"Good," Tama agrees. "And good day."

hiori strolls out, and Yumi waves, following Raiko to the kitchen, as Tama pads over to Shiori.

"Raiko has informed you?" Tama confirms, seriously and not ungently. "I've been out getting in touch with some of our contacts--checking movement. ...There's no sign of her minions acting just now."

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

Raiko honestly can't blame Yumi for being fatigued. She would be too, in Yumi's shoes. She does worry about Yumi's health, but... she trusts Tama to steer her there if it becomes truly necessary.

The kitchen, like the rest of the house, is Also cozy. A few appliances on one side of the kitchen, and a table on the other side, with several large windows for light from the back corner of the house. There's plenty of room for 2 people to sit, though. There's several bags of food there, still steaming hot, and Raiko quickly gets to work unpacking them and setting out places for both her and Yumi, and once that's done, she gets some fish out for Tama and Shiori.

"There's plenty, so... eat up!"

She's definitely trying, a little, to put on a brave face, and also compensate for things by keeping busy. But she's nowhere near the bad state she was in when Yumi and Raiko first met.

Shiori nods to Tama. "Yes, Raiko and I have been discussing the situation at length. She has reinforced the wards on the house, and we have done our best to sequester the book and the... puzzle." But no signs of her minions moving... Shiori nods. "That is good. Perhaps She--" Shiori would rather not say either of The Hungry Queen's names in front of a distressed Yumi "--is keeping them on a tighter leash, after..." After the stunt Conflagria pulled.

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Tama will accept fish--but only after she confers with Shiori. First, she looks at her sister familiar and then inclines her head. Her tail flicks lazily in thought. "Wise. While the book seems to be safe... the puzzle I have suspicions about. Especially given the dreams that Yumi described, in light what we now know."

Yumi grimces and takes a seat. "Thanks, Raiko-chan," she says for the food. "I'm really hungry."

She does notice that Raiko is having a hard time, so, "...You don't have to go too hard, though. I'm okay, really. Tired, but... I'm not going to just do as she wants. Even if she is my mother."

A pause. "...But I'm sorry. I didn't now... I was linked. That means the trouble my family has caused yours..."

Tama's ears flatten, but in what may be a surprising move--she looks to Raiko, rather than immediately retorting.

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

"Yes. Raiko described that the puzzle was... displeased, shall we say, with her handling it. I presume the feeling is mutual." The dreams... Shiori nods. "They may contain portents of what is to come."

Raiko nods. "Gotta keep your strength up, right, Yumi-chan?"

She blushes a little as she's called out, looking down at her bowl. "Is... it that obvious?" She fidgets with her spoon for a moment, stirring a bit. "I'm just... it helps me to have my hands busy, instead of sitting around not doing anything."

She looks up, then, blinking. "Wha--But, that was your ''mom'', not you! ''You've'' been amazing, and supportive, and I'm not gonna blame you for any of this. Because--" she pauses for a moment, struggling with how to phrase something. "There's more to family than just... who you're related to by blood, you know? You don't get to pick that. But I think the family that you pick matters more than the one you get by chance."

"Anyway... you were there for me when I needed someone really badly, and... I'm gonna make sure you can lean on me now, Yumi-chan."

Shiori blinks a little, sharing a glance with Tama and making note of Tama's own reaction. She looks back to her witch and quietly comments, "Well-spoken, dear..."

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

"They do," Yumi says quietly. Of her dreams. "I understand them better, now. They were showing me what to expect. ...The sort of power I could expect."

Yumi smiles when Raiko says to keep her strength up--and when she fidgets, too. "It's only obvious because I know you," she says. But Raiko has--a lot to say, actually. Yumi is surprised, at the way she phrases that. At the way she says it...

"...I'm not so sure," Yumi says, "Family is... The family by blood is important. I can't ignore that."

"...But it's nice, to remember that my friends--my covenmate--that you're important too."

"So okay," Yumi says. "I'll... try not to think like that. Instead of feeling bad, I'll just try to rely on you. Okay?"

Tama closes her eyes, slowly. "Just so," she says. "While I think your ideas are a little more advanced than the traditions Yumi is used to..."

"...It is true that ''some'' family, at least, is chosen. The pact of the coven; the bonds of adoption, or marriage."

"Marriage..." Yumi sighs. "My life did kind of blow up though," she admits. "I don't know what I'm going to do. I mean, I know what I ''shouldn't'' do. But..."

"Everything I was planning was based on my family..."

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

"The Hungry Queen's kind of power?" Raiko asks quietly.

"I guess we have gotten to know each other pretty well," Raiko says with a small smile.

"It's important, yeah, but... you don't have to be defined by it," asserts Raiko. But there's a bigger smile and a firm nod when Yumi says that her friends are important too.

"You can feel bad, it's... probably not good to pretend this isn't bad news, but... you don't ahve to feel responsible for what happened to my grandfather, okay? I'm not blaming you, so you shouldn't either."

"You can count on me, Yumi-chan!"

"Yeah!" enthuses Raiko to Tama's statement about choosing family. "We're covenmates! Well, I mean, I guess we sort of are just because of the staves, but... even if I hadn't been picked to be the Witch of Wise Levin, I... I still would've chosen you as... a coven sister." Or possibly just a sister, but maybe now's not the time to say that.

"This is certainly a complication, dear, but..." says Shiori. "You have strong friends who will stand by your side and support you in your time of need."

Raiko scoots her chair over next to Yumi's and brings her dinner with her, and leans over to give her a side hug. "Then we'll figure out new things to do for yourself."

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

"Yeah. That's what she wants, Mikoto and I figured out. The reason she's 'leaving it up to me'," she says. "Instead of just... using her powers to force it, or something. She wants me to take over the family. It's just... It's not the family I thought it was. Or it's not the... Well, you know what I mean."

Right?

She smiles back; it's not a big grin or anything, but it is real.

"I'll... remember that. Both of those things." Not being blamed, and that she can count on her.

"You still chose the path. You could've walked away, remember? But you wanted to help me." She smiles. "So I believe you."

Strong friends...

Yumi leans back against Raiko. "Okay," she says. "I'll... figure that out later. It's not like Mother's pulling me out of school or anything, so I can still figure that out."

"...It explains why she's been so distant the past year or so, though..."

Tama doesn't add much, here; she just hops up to a high place, thoughtful. "I'll eat as well," she says. "But... I have a lot to consider, as well. This frankly shouldn't be possible. And I'm still figuring out why it is."

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

"What if she can't force it...?" says Raiko quietly. "Lots of stuff in magic works on will and intent, right? Like, you can't use mind control to make someone enter into a magically binding oath--" She pauses, and looks to Shiori. "... Right?"

Shiori shakes her head. "No, dear."

"Okay good. Anyway... remember what Mikoto said, when we found the book? That it was for tempting? I'd wondered for a long time why Conflagria would tell her that..."

Raiko bites her lips and frowns. The subject of Mikoto brings up some unpleasant things to discuss, and she shares a concerned look with Shiori.

The familiar catches the look and sighs, then gives a slow nod.

"That's true... so I guess in a way I chose to be your coven sister, then." Raiko considers that for a moment and then smiles. That's a nice thought. "And I still do. Shiori and I have been discussing a bunch of things, and, well... I think one of the first things I need to do is tell the Magic Association that I'm a magical girl now."

"It's okay to take your time to figure that out, I think." But not being pulled out of school... "Okay. Um... if you ever want to go to a place that isn't your dorm, you can always come here. I tried to reinforce the wards on the house to make it safer."

Raiko gets up and places the fish in the high place for Tama, and then Shiori picks a second high place for her meal.

"There is much we do not know," comments Shiori. "If we could locate Kenji, his assistance would be most valuable to us."

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

"Yeah," Yumi says. "If she wanted me to be her servant, she could definitely force it--Conflagria managed to trick us like that, and she's not half as powerful as the Hungry Queen. But... If she wants me to be the next Queen, then..."

"Then she wouldn't be able to force it, yeah."

For tempting... Hmmm. "I think... The book I'm going to want back," she says. "Running away from understanding Conflagria almost got us all really hurt. If I'd tried to understand her sooner, maybe things would be different. Maybe she wouldn't be dead now."

"The better we understand our enemies, the better we can fight them. But..."

She shakes her head. "I don't want what that puzzle is offering." Then, she smiles. "I'm glad, too. And..."

"I think that's a good idea," she says. "Telling the Magic Association. We need all the allies we can get. And I'll... remember that, too. The dorm should be safe--the Association sees to that--but I... I didn't want to go back, yet."

"But I thin you're right, Shiori. That's our next priority. We find him, and see if he can help."

"Better than waiting for her to strike again, right?"

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

Raiko sits up straighter as Yumi mentions wanting the book back. "I've been thinking about it a lot. I think we should study it, but... I think that I should be with you when we do, and that we shouldn't leave it with you. It..."

Raiko looks down. "Yumi-chan, I said that I would still pick you as a coven sister, and I ''mean'' that. But... you're also linked to The Hungry Queen, so... we should take that into account when making decisions."

She hesitates a moment more and then says, "... That goes for Mikoto-chan, too."

She doesn't feel great about saying it, and Shiori doesn't look pleased either, but it's something they've given a lot of thought to together, the last couple of days.

"Conflagria... I dunno if she ever would've gotten what she wanted... It's kind of sad, but... she made her own choices, too...."

"That puzzle ''really'' doesn't like me," admits Raiko. "I'm really worried it might have some kind of hold on you, or a link of some kind... but we definitely need to understand The Hungry Queen better."

"Not just allies," comments Shiori. "But also resources and information. If we are to understand our enemies, we will need to avail ourselves of every advantage we can get."

"Shiori and I have also discussed making sure that we're at our full capacity," says Raiko. "I need to empower Shiori, and make a new broom."

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

"...I'm not going to run away," Yumi says. "And I'm not going to be handled with kid gloves, either." She's ''very'' insistent about that. Especially since, "And Mikoto didn't know what she knew. I'm not going to treat her any differently."

A pause. "If I were going to be 'influenced', I would've been by now." Yumi says this quite seriously. "...But I'm willing to study it ''with'' you, too; it's part of where I got the power to face Conflagria the last time, remember? I got it because I was studying that book."

"No, she probably wouldn't have. But I could've acted differently. And that matters to me."

She pauses, "The puzzle probably does have some link. But it's fine, we'll keep ''that'' locked away unless we think of a way to use it, together. I have a lot less interest in being with the puzzle alone, considering that talking with Tama, it was definitely meant to influence me."

Resources, and information...

"I agree," Yumi says to Shiori, as Tama continues to listen for now. But Tama does chime in, "Good. We'll need to arrange that as soon as it's safe and possible for you to do so."

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

Raiko looks up to Yumi. "I'm not saying to run away, and I'm not saying not to do stuff, I'm just saying..." She sighs. "Look, there's a ''lot'' that we don't understand yet. We can't just ignore that there might be some trap, or a connection, or ''something''. That puzzle still has a connection to you, right? And... Conflagria was intent on taunting Mikoto-chan with information about the book. What if it goes deeper than that? Don't you owe it to her to and to yourself to at least consider the possibility that there might be problems to address?"

She looks up to Yumi again. "I know the book helped, I'm just saying... I want to be extra careful with it now, knowing what we know."

They could have acted differently. "Yeah, I guess you're right... I still think about what Conflagria said to us the last time... it still doesn't sit right with me."

"We did manage to discuss some of the specifics today," comments Shiori. "On both of those matters. But we will proceed with all due haste."

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

"Sure, there might be problems," Yumi allows. "...But it sounds like you were getting on the verge of not trusting me." She pauses, and considers how to phrase, "...Basically, I'm not saying there's no possibility of issue--we ''should'' go in with our eyes open. But at the same time, we shouldn't let it stop us moving forward at all."

"Being careful is one thing. Setting you up as my ''keeper'' is another thing completely. That's what I'm not willing to do. So, no more of this talk about keeping stuff away from me unless I'm on board with it."

"...Which thing?" Yumi wonders. "She said a lot of things."

Tama says, "Good, good. Let me know if I or my contacts can assist."

Yumi adds, "Me too. Let me know. I want to help, too. I'm not... some invalid that you have to 'look out' for. We're partners. Right?"

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

Raiko sits up straight. "Yumi-chan, the only people I might trust more than you are Grandpa and Shiori. I'm just... worried about you, that's all. I..." She blushes a little and glances away. "I spent a lot of time the other night just running through all sorts of crazy magic theories before concluding that I didn't know enough about dark magic to substantiate any of them."

"And I would stress, Raiko, that is a ''good'' thing," interjects Shiori.

"I know, I know, I just... don't want to lose you, that's all."

"Okay, okay, I won't keep the book. But I do want to look at it, too. Getting fresh eyes on it should help us look at the book from multiple angles, right?"

"That retribution is a hunger for vengeance..." It's hard to forget parting words like that. "You mentioned trying to understand her better, and... well... if e'd been able to react to her in a different way..."

Shiori nods to Tama. "I will."

And Raiko nods to Yumi. "Right."

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

"...I'm sorry to have worried you," Yumi says more gently. "Shiori's right. It's not a bad thing that that's not your area. ...I ''do'' know a little more of them, so..." She gestures.

"Anyway cool. I ''will'' leave the puzzle here, though--I don't... Have any interest in what it has to show me, right now. Maybe, when we know more, that'll change. Do you think we should leave it here, behidn the wards?"

A faint smile. "We can look at it together," she says. "''That'' I'm definitely on board with."

Pause. Retribution... "I'd say vengeance definitely is. ...So let's think about it. Let's analyze our own 'hungers'."

"But right now," Yumi says, "The biggest hunger I've got is the literal one... How about we eat before it gets cold?"

A pause. "Thanks, Raiko-chan."

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

"It's not you, it's just... this whole situation. Sorry, I'm just trying to keep my head on straight so I can face this head on." She glances to Yumi. "... Yeah, I know..." She's owrired that Yumi knows about that, but... right now they might need to try and work that to their advantage.

Raiko shakes her head. "I'm not so sure. Until we understand it better, that makes my house a potential target, and I'd rather not risk it long-term. We could ask the Magic Association to store it, but I dunno if they'll take the risk. But if we don't want to do that, or theyu don't want to take it... I say we bury it. Ward up the box as much as I can and dump it in the woods. Maybe find a nice sanctified area to do it in."

She nods quietly to the thought of considering their own hungers. "... Yeah..."

A small smile at that thought as she nods more enthusiastically. "Sure!" She leans in for another hug again. "You're welcome, Yumi-chan!"
[[Category: Logs]]

2022-11-07 - First Things Fixed

2024-02-15T20:30:33Z

Talnora: Cleaned up a random OOC line

{|class="toccolours" cellspacing="2"
|-
! style="background:#CC6699; border: 2px #CC0033 solid; font-size: 110%;" align="center" colspan="2" | '''Title: First Things Fixed'''
|-
|'''Summary''': 
''Now that Raiko has accepted her destiny, her first order of business is to fix something at home. She invites Yumi and Tama along to share in the experience.''
|-
|'''Who''': 
[[Raiko Takashima]], [[Yumi Ohzora]]
|-
|'''Where:''' 
Tama Outer City
|-
|'''OOC - IC Date:''' 
November 07, 2022 - Saturday, January 23, 2016
|-
|
{|
|-
| '''Previous:''' [[2022-11-02 - Meetings and Beginnings]]
||
|}

*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+* Tama Outer City +*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*
While the the 23 wards of the Yamanote and Shitamachi zones comprise the
core of Tokyo, an equally populous and geographically larger section of the
city lies inland, to the west. This is the Tama region, consisting of a
multitude of districts that, like the wards of inner Tokyo, are considered
cities in their own right, but which combine together to form the
megalopolis of Tokyo.

In inner Tokyo, the government has to build and protect little squares of
nature, but in Tama, nature is the default, and humans build squares of
civilization. Surprisingly close to the city, one can find clean rivers,
open fields, and, of course, great snow-capped mountains. The Shitamachi
zone may be down-to-earth, but its residents are still thoroughly cityfolk,
part of the "Floating World." In Tama, the urban culture intermingles with
the rural, giving a taste for what life is like in the rest of Japan,
outside of the big city. Buildings are low, sidewalks are wide, and cars are
much more viable means of transportation than anywhere else in the city.
High up in the foothills, one can even find a few tiny villages, whose
residents technically live in Tokyo, but whose lifestyle is more akin to the
most rural of provinces. The majority of Tama, though, is more of a suburban
area, with modestly developed downtown districts scattered throughout.

Life in Tama is less frantic than in Inner Tokyo, and natural beauty
abounds. The Tama river forms the southern border of the zone, and many of
the nearby mountains were considered sacred, and even today they are guarded
by Shinto shrines near their peaks. Inner Tokyo's dense, churning morass of
emotional energy holds a certain sort of power, but a more primal magic
sleeps under Tama, and because of this, it is home to the Infinity
Institute, which secretly trains a new generation of sorcerers away from the
bustle (and inevitable collateral damage) of the big city.

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Today... had been an odd day. Between learning the real reason for her grandfather's disappearance, that she had a secret destiny she had never known about, that Shiori wasn't who she seemed, that ''Yumi'' wasn't who she seemed, not to mention the ogre and the surprise discovery that she was, in fact, a magical girl, well...

It was a lot to take in.

After the banishment of the ogre, and much crying and hugging, when Raiko had settled down some, there was still one matter of business to attend to. Given... everything that had occured, Raiko felt it only right to extend the invitation to Yumi... to visit her house.

It was a small, two-story affair, a bit old-fashioned, and what some might call cozy, but her grandfather preferred to call 'cozy'. She led the small group of two magical girls and their familiars up the stairs until they reached the study, which... was still a mess. Raiko hadn't been able to bring herself to come back to clean it up after the Staff of Wise Levin had responded to her, but she had to do it sooner or later... especially if she was going to fix up the wards.

There's definitely still a sense of the old enchantments hanging about, but they're torn to pieces and inoperable. Papers, books, and other stationary are scattered about the floor, with the requisite bookshelves and filing cabinets, and a magic circle taking up the center of the room.

"So... this is my grandpa's study. This is where Grandpa and Shiori were keeping the Staff until... well... today." Shiori is holding onto the staff for the moment. Raiko continues, "I was told never to go in here, but..." Kind of a moot point, now.

"Um... Yumi-chan, I hate to ask this, but... could you help me straighten up? That way I can fix the wards faster..." Without even waiting for a reply she's already starting to pick up the stuff right at her feet.

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
Yumi is a lot of things! And seems like a lot of other things! ...But in this case, now Raiko knows the big secret she keeps. There was a lot o crying and hugging, and Yumi might've cried a little too, just a little. But he house is lovely!

The study, which is... a mess, is still very nice.

"Hmmm," Yumi says, looking around. "I can sense the power," she comments, and then looks at Shiori as she holds the staff and explains. "Yeah, you're here now, and the reason you were supposed to stay out is in your hand, so..."

Then Yumi laughs. "That's fine, I'll help. Let's see... Just let me know where stuff goes," she says, and starts to work on it. She gets papers, picks up books, all that. But she also looks at things as she does, because--well, of course she does.

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
It's a secret Raiko is keeping now, too. And one she's also sharing now, which makes things seem... not as daunting.

Raiko nods to Yumi's assessment of the situation and why she shouldn't worry about being in here anymore. "Yeah, I think not all of the old wards got ruined, so... I might be able to reuse some of the old enchantments? But I don't want to start casting spells until the mess is under control..."

"Thanks, Yumi-chan. I appreciate it. Um..." When Yumi says to tell her where things go, Raiko looks around a bit helplessly, and then glances to Shiori.

She's never been in the office, so she doesn't really know where anything belongs.

Shiori nods and jumps carefully up onto the desk to supervise. "It's fine, dear. Let's just get everything organized into neat stacks for now, and we can worry about putting them away later. I will admit, I don't fully understand your grandfather's organization scheme myself."

Raiko is also looking things over as she gathers them up. There's plenty of neat little trinkets, reference tomes of various types, and lots and lots of paperwork... though a large portion of the written and even some of the printed materials seem to be garbled. She frowns as she holds up one item, turning it over and squinting at it. "Shiori... is... this some kind of magical encryption?"

"Yes, dear. Your grandfather is very insistent on protecting his research." She frowns slightly. "It's part of why I had such a difficult time locating him."

Raiko looks thoughtful as she starts sorting out encrypted and nonencrypted materials into separate piles on the desk. "Well, presumably there's a way to decrypt it..." she mumbles to herself as she keeps cleaning.

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
"Right. It'll be easier if you can re-use some of the old ones," Yumi agrees, though the mess. And--"Oh, right," Yumi says, "Of course." She looks to Shiori and nods, and gets to work doing that much for the moment. Tama, of course, does not help. Shiori's got supervising covered so Tama just hangs out for the moment, eyeing the study.

"Right," Yumi says. "You never know with organization!" There's lots of interesting stuff in here, though Yumi notices the garbling too. "That's smart," she says. "I wonder if I shouldn't consider using some of this for stuff..." The encryptions, that is.

"Probably!" Yumi says of a way to decrypt it, as she sets some more stuff into piles, and then pauses to straighten a shelf that got out of sorts.

"There's obviously some more important stuff in here..."

"Best not to worry about breaking the ciphers right now," Tama comments. "Getting it in order and protected again is your priority."
Hotaru Tomoe walks over from Infinity Institute.

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Shiori... has a bit of an eye for the organization, even if she isn't able to exactly place everything back into its original position, she's keeping an eye on what's been cleaned and still needs tidying, and making suggeestions about where to place and move things around to.

She may have been forced to insist Raiko clean up a time or two when she left an in-progress project sprawled about.

"I've got encryption set up on my laptop to protect some of my files," Raiko comments, as she works to align all of the pieces of paper in a stack into... well, hopefully piles with the tops and bottoms of the pages all lined up the same way, but the encrypted text makes it difficult. "I'll have to research how the magical equivalent works."

The shelf definitely got out of sorts. As did the bookshelf, and even the pictures on the wall are knocked a little askew. Once Raiko finishes with her stack she's moved to the bookshelves to load it up again with books and some of the magical doodads.

Raiko glances over to Tama as she comments on the cipher. "Oh, right. I was just... thinking out loud, is all..." she says with a light blush.

It's hard not to chace down an interesting line of thought sometimes.

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
Yumi's pretty good at organizaion too, but this isn't her office to mess with; she's happy to defer to Shiori on this one, just like Tama seems to be willing to not intervene and countermand Shiori in her house, as it were. Yumi does a lot of little bitty work; she can't grab the super heavy stuff, but papers are fine.

"Oh, yeah?" Yumi asks. Encryption of files is pretty high-end stuff, she thinks. Maybe she should do more of that. "I just rely on the Staff's magic to guard my phone, and a password on the laptop..." Hmm. "I can help you with the magic a little though. We've gone over some of that in class, so I know where to start."

Yumi also helps; and in short order, they'll be done!

Tama repies, "It's fine. I just wanted to be sure your thoughts didn't run away with you yet."

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Raiko can get the heavier stuff! She's used to slinging small appliances around, and lifting desktop computer towers, so it's not too out of line for her.

"Well... there's a bunch of open-source tools to help manage it, so it's not ''that'' hard... plus, I do hae some of my important files backed up online and and I've encrypted them to keep them safer." But then she pauses, and looks over to Yumi, frowning. "Wait... why is your staff guarding your phone...? I know I'm new to this but 'cell phones' don't seem like they're in the domain of 'Ivy'..."

She does perk up a bit at the mention of getting help with the magic. "Oh really? Cool! I'd really appreciate it." Someone's excited to learn something new, it seems.

"Thanks, Tama-san."

And with the combined efforts of Shiori, Raiko, and Yumi... the office is cleaned up!

"Whew. Okay. Next, let's examine the wards." She pulls her cell phone out of her pocket, leaves it suspended in mid-air, and starts gesturing around it, causing a magic circle and runes to appear as she prepares her spell. Seems like the cell phone itself is the focus for her spell, much like how it was being used as the focus for her phone case finding spell the day before.

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
"Oh, I see!" Yumi nods. 'Open source tools' are outside her gneral experience. The matter of the phone gets a laugh, though, and Yumi ys, "They aren't! I borrowed a spell from Tama."

Tama sighs audibly.

"The transport spell she used for the staff; you can 'imbue' the staff into an object that way. I picked my cellphone! Now it's magic, and I can bring the staff back out with an app! I keep the broom in there, too, with the same magic."

She smiles at the matter of helping something new.

"Okay! War!" Yumi notices the phone and the spell, the way she's using the working...

Interesting, she thinks, and sts out of the way to let Raiko work.

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Raiko looks extremely interested as Yumi mentions a transport spell. "There's a spell that could do that?" She hears the sigh from Tama but doesn't react to it.

Shiori, on the other hand, does, glancing over to Tama, with an expression of '... is this really okay?' She hadn't heard that particular detail, before.

"Then why don't we use that for Wise Levin?"

"I'm afraid that won't work, Raiko," says Shiori, cutting in. "The spell is individualized to the staff, and..." She glances away a little. "I don't currently have access to the one for Wise Levin."

"Oh, I see," says Raiko, frowning and biting her lip as she considers. "It might mess up the enchantment on my phone, too. But maybe we can adjust it..."

Raiko finishes preparing the spell, and with a few uttered words, activates it. There's a wide beam of ethereal energy that emerges from the cell phone, and Raiko slowly turns to sweep it over the floor, ceiling, and walls of the room, highlighting the wards. "I figured out how to use my cellphone to cast sympathetic magic," she explains as she works the spell. "It's got so many sensors and components, there's loads of stuff you can do with it once you work it out... but it's like the cell phone case, it requires a lot of adjustments to avoid damaging the phone."

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
"Totally!" Yumi answers, and Shiori looks to Tama who gives her the flattest look. This is a battle she has fought before.

Shiori cuts in as to the expalnation and Yumi says, "Oh, no? Then yeah, adapting a new one would take a while..."

The chantment? Yumi looks over Raiko as she considers her spells. "...I see" she says. "That's really cool. Then go on for it!"

"Hmmmm. So if we know where they are, you can strengthen them again, right? If you need help, I'll back you up, but--"

"But Yumi can't be the one to do them primarily," Tama chimes in. "There's too much chance that the servants of the Hungry Queen are familiar with her magic. Once they're settled it won't matter if they're familiar, but until then..."

It's all up to Raiko it seems!

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Shiori is still rather unfamiliar with the workings of modern electronics, despite having been around to see most of its development. She gets the basics but... most of the stuff Raiko is doing does not count as 'basics'. On either the technological or the magical side of things.

Once Raiko has the whole room scanned, she frowns a little as she studies the highlighted runes. "Okay, there, and there, and... Hrm." She uses her telekinesis to hold the cell phone aloft as she lets it go, maintaining the spell in the meantime. In her hands suddenly appear a notebook and a pen, and she flips through to find a blank page. "This will be a little crude, but I just need to get the basic outline to work from..." She pauses a moment. "Oh, um... I enchanted my cellphone. It's just your basic subdimensional pocket spell, like you'd use on a chest or a bag, just... applies to my cell phone."

Shiori is just shaking her head a little. Not in a ''totally'' disapproving way, just... in a way that makes it clear she doesn't understand it.

She answers Yumi on knowing where they area. "Yeah! I'm pretty sure I can manage, but it'd be really helpful if--" Oh. Yumi can't do it. She frowns a little, biting her lip again, but then nods. "Okay, I understand. In that case..." She shows off her notebook to the gathered parties. "I ''think'' this should do it, but can you guys double check my work?"

For having sketched it out freehand just now, it's remarkably detailed, including adjustments for most of the wards and a complete replacement for one particularly damaged one, all of which appear to be correct.

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
Yumi uses electronics, but she's never been very focused on their inner workings. They've just been ice to have! ...So she's beyond Yumi's weight class when it comes to the technological side.

"Oh neat," Yumi says of the cellphone's enchantment. "That's handy." Yumi nods along, and she does understand it; she smiles about it. But Raiko--

"Yeah, sorry Raiko-chan," Yumi says, confirming what Tama says. "Double-checking I can do, though!"

"...I will trust Yumi on this one," Tama says. "It is important to let you two have a certain amount of independence." Pause. "And I'll know if it doesn't work."

Just in case.

Yumi peers over Raiko's shoulder, looking down at the detailed notes. "Yeah, looks good to me. And with the Staff's power behind them, these will be solid."

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Raiko nods firmly in agreement on it being handy. "It's like having an extra backpack that doesn't weigh anything!"

"It's okay, I understand. Guess it's a good thing nobody else would be familiar with my magic yet, then..." Or with the Staff of Wise Levin, for that matter. At least, she hopes that's the case.

Shiori echos Tama's sentiment, "Between the two of you, I'm certain everything will be in order."

Raiko nods, a bit relieved as Yumi gives it her seal of approval. "Okay, good. And... right. This is going to be... an interesting experience."

She's used minor enchanted items before. This... is on a whole other level.

She sets her notebook on the desk, and then puts her cellphone away in her pocket. She knows where the runes are, now, and she doesn't want to risk overloading it. "Shiori, may I please have the staff?"

"Certainly." Shiori releases her hold on it, and the staff appears, which Raiko takes hold of. She takes a deep breath, and... "Staff of Wise Levin, hear me! In my hand discovered be!"

There is a bright flash of light, and a bit of a sound of echoing thunder bouncing around the room, and Raiko appears in her vaguely Victorian-era witch's garb. With a gesture of her hand, she brings the notebook over to her telekinetically, giving it one final readover... and then sets it down again.

Raiko grips the staff tightly, a magic circle appearing at her feet as she begins to channel the power. The crystal on the tip of her staff sparks to life, and as an internal glow in the yellow crystal intensifies suddenly it bursts, yellow lines of electricity arcing from the tip to each ward in the room that was just identified by her prior spell. She's muttering under her breath, guiding the casting. Those arcing lines of electricity intensify, becoming brighter and more wild... and then all the magic stops.

"I think that should do it." She looks down at herself, frowning as she realizes she doesn't have her cell phone to check. "Shiori? Tama-san?"

Shiori looks about the room, inspecting Raiko's handiwork. "Hmmm..."

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
"Yeah!!"

But Raiko gets it, and that's good enough. "Would any of them be familiar with the Staff already?" Yumi wonders, when she mentions her own magic being ufnamiliar. So Tama replies, "Probably not, at least not directly. Many of the Ogres have felt its wrath, but it was last wielded well over a century ago."

A very interesting experience. Shiori hands over the staff, and Yumi watches Raiko transform. She didn't get a chance to appreciate it last time, busy as she was, so she smiles this time upon watching Raiko go. She watches, and listens, and notices it--stop--

Tama likewise looks about the room, but mostly she closes her green eyes and focuses.

"...The study is warded once again."

"Great work, Raiko-chan!" says Yumi. "Tama means that too, she's just not used to saying nice things to people--"

"Hmph."

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Shiori concurs with Tama, "Yes, I agree." She lets out a small sigh of relief. "It is good to have the study in order once again."

Raiko smiles gratefully to both Tama and Shiori. "Thank you, both of you--" And she giggles a little at Yumi's comment about Tama. "Thanks, Yumi-chan."

Shiori, on the other hand, is giving Yumi a little bit of a look. She doesn't say anything though, since she's not about to admonish another familiar's witch. Tama can settle that herself, if she feels the need.

Raiko lets the transformation go, reappearing in her civilian garb and holding the staff. This is the one thing she does know where it goes, and she places it back up on the wall, now safely guarded once again. She spends a look moment just looking it over, and then looks to the rest of the room, silent and contemplative.

"Raiko," says Shiori quietly. "Your grandfather would be proud of you. ''Is'' proud of yuou," she adds, after a moment. And not just because of the wards.

Raiko sniffles a little but nods, looking pensive, but not about to break into a crying fit. She kind of worked that out of her system earlier. "Thanks..." She clears her throat and speaks up again. "I made some modifications to the wards. In addition to allowing Grandpa and Shiori, they'll also now allow myself, Yumi-chan, and Tama-san, as well." She's looking to the elder girl as she says this. "Um... since my Grandpa was researching stuff about The Hungry Queen, I figured... it was only fair to share. I don't think he'd mind."

[[Category:Logs]]

Organization: The Magic Association

2024-02-15T19:33:57Z

Talnora: /* Cast of Characters */ Found a list I hadn't added Raiko to yet.

The Magic Association is a brotherhood of wizards and witches as old as the world. Since its creation, it has served as the center of occult knowledge and growth on Earth and the handful of magic worlds that remained tied to it.

The Magic Association's highest duty is to ensure human happiness and comfort; novice wizards are often sent out into the world near their academies to use simple magic to bring little comforts to those in need. More powerful mages are deployed directly into the hearts of darkness, using strength or kindness to combat threats while masquerading as charitable organizations and NGOs.

The Magic Association is split into hundreds of regional branches, focusing on the specific needs and attitudes of the local population. It is no surprise, then, that neighboring Associations are often at each others' throats; Wizards are a fractious, egotistical bunch, men and women with the pride and guts to pierce the veil hiding the Fantastic World from the eyes of the mundane.

That egoism leads the Association to believe itself a sort of "magical police," the only organization with the resources and wards needed to protect the sacred items and mystic artifacts enshrined throughout the worlds. The Association similarly holds itself as the keeper of the secret of magic, working to keep the world of the arcane hidden from mundane eyes for the sake of keeping order and balance.

This job has become more difficult as of late, particularly in Tokyo, which seems to be a focal point for otherworldly activity. Often, the Association finds magical girls to be more nuisance than anything else; while more progressive mages will do what they can to help, the Association will usually only assist and recognize magical girls who draw their power from an artifact in which the Association is interested.

In Japan, the Magic Association has two major branches, the Kantou Association and the Kansai Association. The Kansai Magic Association is led by Eishun Konoe, and is based in Kyouto, out of the Konoe family's sprawling compound. It favors Eastern-style magic, employing a mixture of sword techniques and Onmyo mysticism. The Kanto Magic Association is led by the 107th Devil Hunter Madoka Mano, and is based out of Infinity Institute. Infinity's magic classes cover every field, but its highest-ranked wizards prefer Western-style spirit invocation and elementalist magic, much to the chagrin of Mano, who is Eastern to the core. It is perhaps indicative of how deep wizard rivalries can run, that the dispute over favored magic schools has led to a deep rift between the two Associations.

__TOC__

==Example Character Concepts==

'''Appropriate Magic Association characters include: '''
*A young wizard between the ages of 10 and 15, gone out into the world to provide a little light to the darkness with simple magic. They probably have a lot of pluck, but not so much combat power...until an artifact finds them, perhaps.
*An arrogant magician seeking to secure magical artifacts to secure power and prestige for his or her family. They may or may not actually have anyone's permission to be doing that.
*A neophyte magical girl recently selected as the personal guardian of an artifact the Association thought it had a pretty good grip on...until it was stolen!

'''Example Theme Affiliations:''' Cardcaptor Sakura, Devil Hunter Yohko, Little Witch Academia, [[Pretty Cure]] (especially Heartcatch, also many Fairy Realms keep embassy relations), [[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]] (Midchildan connections to Earth go through the MA), Magic Knight Rayearth (Fuu, also Clef), Miraculous Ladybug, Shugo Chara!, Vividred Operation
* ''This list is not exhaustive, nor universally accurate for a given theme's protagonists, but exists to give an idea of typical themes (or characters within a theme) connected to the organization.''

==Cast of Characters==
''This list can be edited by players to add their characters to their appropriate organization. Feel free to add your name as a link to your character page!''

'''Cardcaptor Sakura''': Syaoran Li

'''Cooking With Mascot''': Kuniko Saito, Gordon

'''Lost Inheritor Yumi''': Yumi Ohzora, [[Raiko Takashima]]

'''Magic Knight Rayearth''': [[Fuu Hououji]], Hikaru Shidou, Umi Ryuuzaki

'''Puella Magi Madoka Magica''': [[Mami Tomoe]]

'''Shugo Chara!''': Amu Hinamori, Kukai Souma, [[Nadeshiko Fujisaki]], [[Tadase Hotori]], Yaya Yuiki, Yuu Nikaidou

==History==
In the years following the end of the [[History: The Silver Millennium|Silver Age]], the wizards of the world scrabbled for direction in a world that could no longer accept them. Most chose to retreat; many of the Earth Court's scions retreated to the faraway realm called Elysium, vanishing from Earth forever. Others chose a less final option: Following the new archwizard the Lifemaker into his hand-crafted dimension, the Magical World, Mundus Magicus. Although there were natives, mostly the Beastmen of Hellas, the mages were able to carve out their own nation and begin securing territory. That other world's stories are long and many...and matter only little, to the wizards of Earth.

When [[Puella Magi Madoka Magica|Puella Magi]] began appearing on the scene, the wizards who remained on Earth were dazzled. It became clear quickly, as the Puella Magi Madoka Magica outpaced them at every turn, that the Earth mage community needed guidance. On Earth, their ability to advance their art was limited; both training and artifice was more difficult, for the scattered wizards of Earth. The Magic World presented them with the extra magical potential that would be necessary to keep pace with the powers of magical girls - and with the shocking strength of the powers of darkness. Therefore they made a pact: The Magic Association headquarters in Mundus Magicus would have governance over Earth's wizards, keeping secured artifacts safe and advancing the cause of magic development. They would provide support when things get dire, and license and support the great Earthly magic academies. In exchange, the mages of Earth would continue on their work, going about their most important work of all: Guiding the people of Earth to happiness.

Slowly, mages drew together into local communities, mastering their arts and engaging in local rivalries. The young went out into the world to help the common man; adults, and adolescents with the guts to force the issue or the Contracts to strengthen them, went out to fight the darkness as demon-hunters and researchers, preparing the way for the future. That compact has endured into the modern day, but it has been a bumpy road. When [[History: Clow Reed|Clow Reed's]] world-breaking wish tore open the doors of the worlds, darkness unlike what had been poured in from every portal. This new darkness was more powerful than what had plagued the world until now - and more numerous. The [[Tuner Organization]] formed to fight this upsurge, and the Magic Association had to match it with new training, new spells, new weapons... and old ones, unearthed from their vaults when they'd hoped to keep them locked up forever. They could manage it, but only just...and when Lord Dune appeared, everything changed again. He represented a new, terrifying reality of power; darkness that dwarfed any other, a shadow that could only be dispelled by the light of miracles that the Magic Association simply did not have.

The Magic Association's masters in Mundus Magicus began to doubt that the Earth could be saved, anymore. The modern leadership has largely removed themselves from Earth's troubles; sending aid when asked, but leaving Earth's mages largely to their own devices. They have much bigger concerns than the trials of a world swarmed by an impossible doom.

This was only exacerbated by the fiasco of the Bellum Scismatica. The Great Wizard War that rocked both Mundus Magicus and Earth, a battle that nearly spilled into full view of the public and reshaped landscapes; although the treachery at the heart of that war was in time rooted out, the dozens of unbelievably powerful mages who emerged from it, and the troubling revelations that only the privileged few have heard, have rendered the Association's leadership more distant than ever, contemplating terrible deeds.

In the Schism War, the Gateport between Mundus Magicus and Infinity Institute was broken. Because of this, even in this age of isolation at the top, the Magic Association in Tokyo is somewhat traditional, directed most chiefly by Madoka Mano and her personal foibles to safeguard the innocent - and fight that which would bring them harm.

For more information, please see: [[Organizations]], [[Theme Primer]], [[Theme]]

[[Category:Organizations]]
[[Category:Magic Association]]
[[Category:Theme]]
[[Category:History]]

2024-02-13 - Heart to Heart

2024-02-13T22:02:07Z

Talnora: Sometimes a change of scenery is just what you need.

{|class="toccolours" cellspacing="2"
|-
! style="background:#CC6699; border: 2px #CC0033 solid; font-size: 110%;" align="center" colspan="2" | '''Title: Heart to Heart'''
|-
|'''Summary''': 
''Following her [[2024-01-22 - Tense Negotiations|unsettling run-in]] with [[Kyouka Okazaki#Clara|Akari]], and her subsequent [[2024-01-31 - Breakthrough|chat]] with [[Setsuna Higashi|Setsuna]], Kyouka is left in a rather unsettled state. Her parents notice, and her father, Drew Channing, shows up to take her camping.''
|-
| '''Who:''' 
[[Kyouka Okazaki]], Drew Channing
|-
| '''Where:''' 
A campsite somewhere in the Tama wilderness
|-
| '''OOC - IC Date:''' 
2/13/2024 - Saturday, April 23, 2016
|-
|}

Kyouka sighed as she trudged up to the front door of her house after school. The last couple of weeks had been a bit of a jumbled mess in her head. Ever since getting that offer from Akari, and then balking at the chance to work with Strike Wolf again, she wasn't sure what to think about herself anymore. Talking to Setsuna had... well, helped in that she had finally been able to put a name to some of her feelings.

But she still didn't know what to ''do'' with them.

There were lots of little things that kept her anchored: taking care of Wolfy, keeping up with her studies, and doing her part of the household chores. But everything else... she'd just been drifting.

Her mom had tried to ask her what was wrong, and... what could she even say to that? There was no way she could tell her the ''truth''. No, it wasn't a problem at school, no, it wasn't a problem with her girlfriend, she wasn't sick, she wasn't injured. She was fine, just a little tired, it'd pass, don't worry about it.

Kyouka wasn't any more convinced by those responses than her mom had been.

She sighed and opened her front door. "Hey, Wolfy--" she started to call out, and then stopped. "Dad...?"

Her dad, Drew Channing, was there. He was six foot tall, broad shouldered, with cropped-short blonde hair, and the same bright blue eyes Kyouka had inherited. And he appeared to be dressed for camping, in cargo pants, a light t-shirt, and a vest with many pockets and compartments.

Kyouka hadn't known he was coming. And what's more, her father was busy wrangling Wolfy into his trail backpack. The Siberian husky looked up and barked excitedly as Kyouka stepped into the house, struggling with Drew who eventually gave up and let the dog run to her owner.

Wolfy jumped up on Kyouka, half-fitted backpack flopping about. Kyouka couldn't help but smile a little and hug Wolfy to herself, accepting the slobbery licks to her face. "H-hey there, boy." From his seat, Drew smiled as he watched the two.

"Alright, down, Wolfy. Go to Dad," said Kyouka, with a gentle push and then a point. Wolfy barked and ran back over to Drew, tail wagging. She switched back to English, since it was just the two of them. "Dad, what are you doing here? Why are you dressed in your camping gear? Don't you have things to attend to on base?"

Drew gave Wolfy's ears a scritch and issued a firm 'Stay' while he set about securing the harness for the doggy backpack. "I managed to pull some strings and get some time off. Thought I'd surprise you with a little father-daughter bonding time." Wolfy barked, and Drew chuckled. "Father-daughter-dog bonding time, then."

Stepping fully inside, Kyouka closed the door behind her and kicked off her shoes. "Well, that sounds nice, but I've got homework, Mom's working late tonight, I was going to make dinner for her..."

"I'll have you back in plenty of time to do your homework tomorrow evening, and your mother is okay with eating leftovers." Drew finished securing the saddle-bag style backpack to Wolfy, and then stood up. "I'll be level with you, kiddo. Your mom's worried about you, and, well... we haven't been able to spend nearly enough time together lately, so I figured we could get away from things for a bit and have a talk."

"I.." She should be jumping at the chance to do this. Why was she so hesitant? Eventually she nodded. "Okay... I'll go get changed, then."

----

The last camping trip she had been on, with Yumi, had been different than she was accustomed to, because of the work she had put in to accommodate Yumi's needs. Not that she was complaining--far from it! She had told Yumi then that she was happy to put in the work, if it meant sharing something she enjoyed with a person whose company she liked, and she'd meant it. And besides...

The sight of Yumi's deep pink eyes glittering in the firelight was a memory she would treasure forever.

But this trip was different (not better or worse, just different, and enjoyable in its own way.) With Dad and Wolfy along, all three of them knew their parts, could share the burdens involved, and most of all it was comfortable. They settled into a familiar routine, one they had practiced time and again, and this left Kyouka with tasks she could focus on to distract her mind for a while.

They had fished for their dinner in a nearby lake, dressed the fish and then cooked it over a campfire. It was a simple meal, but still delicious.

But that had been a while ago, while the sun was still up. Drew had taken Wolfy for a last walk of the night, leaving Kyouka to mind the campsite. Kyouka had cleaned up from dinner, cleaning their cooking implements and securing them, along with the rest of their food, in a safe place. The fire was still crackling softly, giving off a gentle heat as Kyouka sat on the ground, back to a log, and stared up at the night sky.

She had to admit, the campsite her dad had found was breathtaking. It overlooked a lake--the same one they had caught their dinner from--which, in the late evening light, shimmered softly with reflected moonlight. The surrounding treeline provided a peaceful yet invigorating scent, and of course, overhead the deep, velvety blue sky and twinkling starlight provided space for her thoughts to wander.

What was it about outdoors like this that just made it easier to just... think?

The soft crunching of dirt under a boot and subdued panting reached her ear, and without averting her gaze from the sky she lifted a hand up to wave. "Hey." She was dressed in denim jeans, a warm jacket, and of course, her favorite hiking boots for the cold.

Wolfy barked and ran ahead, jumping over a log and curling up next to Kyouka. She lowered her hand and rubbed Wolfy gently over his side.

Drew took the long way around, reaching over to gently stoke the fire some more and add a few more branches before finally lowering himself down to the ground to sit next to Kyouka on her other side. "Hey, Kyou-chan. Campsite looks good."

She nodded. "Thanks. Everything's stashed, and I made sure the tents are all set up. Whenever we're ready to go to sleep we can just douse the campfire and go."

They sat together like this in amiable silence, with only the sound of the fire or the calls of nighttime birds and insects to disturb their thoughts. Eventually, Kyouka sighed and looked down from the stars to her lap. She knew her dad wanted to talk, but... he was also waiting, giving her the space to get her thoughts together.

There was a lot on her mind, and... some of it was easier to talk about than others. For a number of reasons. Start with some of the easier reasons, then.

"So... there's..." she started, and then stopped to consider some more. "This might be kinda jumbled."

Drew nodded. "Alright."

"So, I guess... basically, I've been thinking a lot about... my future, you know? Like... 'when I grow up', and all that."

"Hmmm. I see." Drew's tone was non-judgemental, acknowledging Kyouka's thoughts and inviting her to say more.

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "So... I dunno. It's... I've made a lot of friends here, and a lot of them are thinking about their futures already, you know? Yumi-chan's entering her 12th year, she's thought about university or taking over her family business. I've got other friends worried about, like... senior finals, or university, or enlisting with the JDF, and meanwhile I'm just... I dunno."

Kyouka looked up to the stars again. "I guess I'm starting to think about that for myself."

Drew lifted an arm to hug Kyouka around the shoulder. "I guess it's only natural you'd be starting to think about such things. You're getting older, and there'll be a lot of decisions to make in the future. ''But''." he added, "While it's healthy to think ahead, don't forget that it's okay to live in the moment, too."

"I mean... I've kind of been thinking about it for a while..." Kyouka admitted. She leaned against her father when he went for the hug. His presence had always been comforting, like a rock of steadiness she could rely on when everything else was crazy and chaotic. "It's kind of why I fought so hard to attend a regular school while we were stationed here, you know? I knew that, well... this might be my last chance to do it and to like... really fit in, to just have that kind of normal experience."

"Kyou-chan, one of the things I've always admired about you is how you have the capacity to make your own space for yourself, no matter where you go."

"Aww, Dad, thanks. But... it's..." Kyouka struggled to articulate the feeling that brought up in her.

"I know," said Drew, with another squeeze. "It's difficult to have to make that effort all the time."

Kyouka nodded. "Yeah."

"Your mom and I know that this lifestyle hasn't always been the easiest on you all these years. But you've always handled it like a champ. We tried our best to provide you with some stability, but... if we missed the signs that it wasn't enough, then I'm really sorry. ''We're'' sorry."

"Hey, no, you guys were ''great''." Kyouka looked up to her dad with a grin. "I've done some ''amazing'' things, you know? I've set foot in more countries than most people even think about, eaten some of the best food the world has to offer, seen some truly jaw-dropping sights. I wouldn't give all of that up for anything."

"But..." prompted Drew gently.

She signed and looked down again. "I dunno... I guess... after a while, it got hard not having an answer for some things. Like when someone asked me where I was from. Like... I could say that I was a citizen of the world, or that I was a U.S. citizen, or from whatever base we were stationed from, but... none of those answers ever felt 'real'."

Drew considered that for a long while, watching the flames dance in the firepit. "Were you hoping Japan could be a place you were from?"

"I dunno... maybe? I mean... I love most of the places I've been, but... Tokyo's ''really'' going to hold a special place in my heart. I've made some amazing friends, and I thought..." Kyouka trailed off as she lapsed into silence.

Tokyo had been a place where she'd made friends that looked like her, certainly, but it was also where she had learned about magic. That ''she'' had magic, and the great power within her that could do so many meaningful things.

And it was where she had met Yumi, who helped her figure out some important things about herself.

After a few moments of quiet, crackling flames, Drew spoke up. "You thought...?" he prompted, gently.

It took a few more moments before Kyouka could bring herself to continue. "I thought... Well, I thought that... maybe I'd finally found a place I fit in, like... ''really'' fit in. I've made friends here that I have things in common with that I've never found anywhere else. And I thought maybe I was figuring out exactly who I wanted to be."

"Hmm..." Drew gently ruffled Kyouka's hair. "And now you're not so sure?"

Kyouka nodded glumly.

"Did something happen recently to make you doubt that?"

A pause, and then another nod.

Drew let the conversation lull, giving Kyouka time and space to continue it when she was ready. Wolfly, meanwhile, yawned wide and stood up, circled around in place a few times, and then plopped down again, laying his head in Kyouka's lap. She obliged with some gentle ear scritches.

"So..." She paused to consider her words. It would be so much easier if she could just... ''explain''. To tell her mom and dad about magic, about everything she'd been going through. But that wasn't a bell she could unring, explaining about magic and opening them up to all of the weird things that happened in the world. It rankled her, to her core, not to be completely honest, but while she had magic and could sort of look after herself, her parents didn't.

Kyouka looked up to her father. "Dad, you and Mom trust me, right?"

Drew regarded Kyouka silently for a moment before nodding. "We do. Are you worried we don't?"

"No," said Kyouka with a quick shake of her head. "I just... something happened, and it's hard to talk about, but I don't want you to freak out, okay?"

"I can't promise I won't freak out, but I'll do my best to listen with as little judgment as possible and keep an open mind."

Kyouka nodded. "Yeah, I guess that's fair. So... a while ago I was hanging out with my friends, and there was this guy causing trouble. We tried to talk him down but it turned into a fight. I had..." Her breath caught in her throat, and her hand rose to clutch at her chest reflexively. "... a close call." Kyouka forced her hand back into her lap and hurriedly added, "I'm okay though! I'm okay. I wasn't hurt, and... my friends are ''amazing''. They were looking out for me, and we're all okay."

"Kyouka... why didn't you say anything to us?" Drew was sitting upright now, looking at his daughter with grave concern. "Were you worried we would be upset about the fight?"

Kyouka shook her head. "No, it's not that, I just... it didn't seem like that big a deal at the time, you know? Nobody got hurt, everybody walked away, it just... ended. I thought that was that. I was... a little upset for a while, I guess, but it just passed and I thought that was it. No harm no foul, you know?"

Drew studied his daughter carefully. "... Intense experiences like that can still leave a mark, even if they don't cause physical injuries."

A long, tired sigh escaped her. "... Yeah. I think... I'm starting to realize that." She looked up to her dad. "Now, whenever I think about... the kinds of things I thought I wanted to do, I just think of... ''that'', instead. How... do I make it stop?"

"First of all, kiddo, don't think I didn't notice how skimpy on the details you were. That concerns me, but I'm willing to put my trust in you." Reaching up, Drew lightly tousled Kyouka's hair. "You gotta process it, and accept what happened to you. It's hard, and not pleasant, but it's the only way to come out the other side stronger for the experience."

Kyouka closed her eyes. Even now she could feel that clammy coldness snaking its way into her chest, threatening to make everything seize. "But... I ''hate'' that this happened to me."

"Denying it isn't healthy, Kyouka," said Drew softly. "Seen some good people get lost down that path. I've struggled with it myself."

Two eyes turned sharply to look up at their father, widening in surprise. "Really? You?"

"Yep."

Kyouka looked down at her lap again. "... I never knew."

"Because that's not the kind of thing parents burden their kids with. It was a long time ago, anyway." Drew considered for a moment. "Remember that time you were climbing a tree, fell out, and broke your arm?"

"Ugh," groaned Kyouka, letting her head roll back. "Don't remind me. I had that cast on for ''ages''."

Drew patted his daughter's head gently. "It was only a few months. Anyway, the point is... the doctors had to set your arm and put a cast on it, and you had to let it heal. If you'd just tried to carry on like nothing had ever happened, it would've just made things worse, right?"

Kyouka stretched out her left arm, working her fingers and turning it a few times. "Yeah, but... it's good as new, now."

"Not quite." Drew reached over to tap one spot in particular along Kyouka's arm. "You remember the x-rays, right? How the bone grew back a little thicker than before, to keep it from breaking again?"

Bringing her arm in to feel it with her other hand, Kyouka frowned softly in thought. "Oh yeah... You're right... but... why is this sticking with me so much more than that did?"

"You're growing up. You're dealing with bigger thoughts, bigger ideas... You're at a natural time in your life where kids start to worry about identity, self-expression, their future, all that." Drew gave Kyouka a firm pat on the back. "I've got some books that might help, and if you want, we can get you some professional help. But... if you want my opinion?"

"Please, Dad," said Kyouka, looking up to her father. Her eyes were slightly wide and pleading. "I'll take anything you got."

Drew smiled and ruffled Kyouka's hair once more, drawing out a smile from his daughter. "I think you're gonna be fine."

The smile faded quickly, though. "But... how can you be sure?"

"Well, a couple of things. You're young, and resilient, but most importantly you're already willing to talk about it and ask for advice. That'll go a long way."

Kyouka considered those words and then nodded softly. "Yeah, I guess you're right... I still don't know what I want to do in the future, though..."

Drew reached out to hug Kyouka around the shoulders, pulling her in tight. ""Kyouka, you've got good instincts, and a big heart. But most importantly you care about the people around you, and you're proactive about it. Your mother and I couldn't be prouder of you for that. I have no doubts that you'll figure it out, and be ''amazing'' at it."

"Aww, Dad, if you're gonna get all sappy on me," complained Kyouka with a grin and no real venom in her voice. She reached an arm around behind her dad and leaned in to return the hug. "Thanks, Dad. That means a lot."

"Anytime, kiddo."

[[Category:Cutscenes]]

2024-01-31 - Breakthrough

2024-02-13T21:52:45Z

Talnora: Also fix the IC date to be a real date.

{|class="toccolours" cellspacing="2"
|-
! style="background:#CC6699; border: 2px #CC0033 solid; font-size: 110%;" align="center" colspan="2" | '''Title: Breakthrough'''
|-
|'''Summary''': 
''Kyouka is having a difficult time dealing with her encounter with Akari, but luckily Setsuna is able to lend some support.''
|-
| '''Who:''' 
[[Kyouka Okazaki]], [[Setsuna Higashi]]
|-
| '''Where:''' 
Gymnasium and Fields (Shitamachi Low City - Juuban Public School)
|-
| '''OOC - IC Date:''' 
1/31/2024 - Thursday, April 14, 2016
|-
|}

.***************** Shitamachi Low City - Juuban Public School *****************.
*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+* Gymnasium and Fields +*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+
Accessed through a covered, open-air walkway linked to the school, the
Juuban gymnasium is a warehouse-like structure with an impressively high
ceiling (a fact impressed on many a child during their first rope-climb).
Its golden-brown laminated hardwood floor is decades old by now, with arcane
scrawls of shoe-rubber burnt into it beyond the influence of any mop, but
it's held up well, though a few boards near the walls creak a complaint if
stepped on. A spacious equipment room contains the volleyball nets, balls of
various sizes, and other miscellanea the gym teachers use to keep Juuban in
shape.

When weather permits, the students are often taken to the athletic fields
instead. A ruddy brown, rubber-coated track rings the main field with
concentric spray-painted rings, and is used for track and field activities,
as well as forming the center ring of a three ring circus of athletics
during the sports festival. The other two rings are the soccer field and the
baseball field, the former of which is often put to use for other sports as
well. While not as expansive as a country school might enjoy, the fields are
a considerable privilege in high-rent Tokyo, one much-appreciated by
Juuban's numerous afterschool sports clubs.

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Kyouka has been... in a notably quiet and sullen mood today at school. Normally friendly and engaging with those around her, today she's been distracted: not really engaging with conversation with others or seemingly even paying attention in class. (It took the teacher calling her name three times to get her attention at one point, and even then someone had to lean over and poke her on top of that.)

When asked about it she just said she was 'fine' and 'thinking about some stuff', but... it's obvious everything isn't fine.

She didn't even show up to Track and Field practice today. She never misses practice, not without telling someone first. Instead she just... got up from the last period of class and left.

After practice, though, Setsuna could overhear two girls talking in the locker room.

"... Do you know what's gotten into Okazaki-chan?"

"No, what happened."

"I saw her in one of the equipment storage rooms and she was wailing away at a punching bag."

"Did you ask her what was wrong?"

"Make the last line 'Heck no! I'm not getting in between her and that punching bag."

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Higashi [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Setsuna Higashi is usually someone who doesn't engage very much in active conversation for very long, but she ''is'' observant. She notices when Kyouka is distracted. She notices when she has to be poked about even a techer trying to get her attention. And she noticed her absence from track andfield today.

Pausing at the doorway when the girls talk about Kyouka, she listens for a moment. "..."

In short order, Setsuna has arrived at the storage room, in uniform. She looks around to see if this is the one Kyouka is in, her large red eyes focused and thoughtful.

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

It is easy enough to realize which room it is as Setsuna gets closer: there is a steady and rhythmic sound of impacts landing true on a punching bag as she gets closer, and when she steps in...

Kyouka is indeed there. She changed into her gym uniform at some point, and her attention seems entirely focused on the bag before her. Her hair is matted with sweat, and if there's a long enough pause to get a look at her hands, her knuckles seem a bit red, too.

She's been at this for a while.

She's varying things up with a few elbows, knees, and kicks, but it's mostly punches to keep the bag from swinging too far away and interrupting her flow.

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Higashi [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Setsuna watches in silence for long enough to see Kyouka's condition, including the condition of her hands. She is quiet as she considers what to do, until eventually--

"...You're... upset, aren't you?"

She is always a little hesitant at guessing emotions, but it's hard not to make that guess. "..."

She steps inside. "Let me hold the bag for you, if you're not too tired to keep going."

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Kyouka whirls around when she hears Setsuna's voice, arms immediately coming up in a defensive posture. But it only takes her a moment to realize who she's looking at, and she drops her hands a second later, standing more upright.

She's upset.

Kyouka shakes her head, "No, I'm..." However fine she seemed when she was in her groove, now that she's stopped it suddenly catches up to her and she starts breathing hard as she tries to recenter herself. Finally she admits, "Y-yeah, maybe. Just... working something out."

She wipes hair out of her eyes with the back of her hand as Setsuna offers to hold the bag. "... Sure, but... you're gonna miss Track and Field if you hang out here too long."

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Higashi [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Setsuna sees it! Tension. Upsetness. Even being wrapped up in herself about it...

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Setsuna offers without judgment or expectation; it's a simple question, delivered simply, and as she offers it, Setsuna moves to take hold of the bag.

"That's okay," she says. "It's fine to miss sometimes."

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

There are times when Kyouka doesn't hide her feelings very well. Today is definitely one of those times.

The offer to talk causes Kyouka to glance aside as something flashes across her face. It might be guilt, or shame, or something else.

"I..." she sighs. "Yeah, I guess I better. Not like I can talk to anybody else about this."

She waits for Setsuna to take hold of the bag and then starts in on it again. She's holding back, but only a little. This is a girl who prides herself on working out every morning.

She settles back in her groove of pummeling the bag for a moment before she starts to talk. "So, that damn fox showed up yesterday. Finally."

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Higashi [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Guilt, shame? It's all mysterious to Setsuna; she knows that something is Wrong, and that is about it. Since she stopped trying to manipulate Pretty Cure all those years ago now, she's less confident in guessing at people's emotions.

She's more wwilling to listen sincerely, though.

So, the purple-haired girl takes hold, and, "You don't have to. But if you want to, I'll listen."

A pause. The fox...

Setsuna nods. "I see." 'Go on', is unstated.

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Kyouka is usually a little better at signalling what she's feeling for Setsuna's benefit, or at least being clear, but... well, today she's obviously got something on her mind.

It takes a few more moments after that unstated 'Go on' for Kyouka to continue. There's something tearing at her as she tries to figure out how to phrase it, but finally she can't help but blurt it out. "She tried to get me to take back Strike Wolf." This is punctuated with a full throttle punch delivered with her rear hand, completely with follow through in her back foot.

Her right wrist is noticeably bare.

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Higashi [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Setsuna is patient. She can wait as long as it takes; as Kyouka hits the punching bag, Setsuna keeps herself braced so as to keep both it and herself stable, despite the hard hits. And so, when Kyouka mentions Strike Wolf...

"But you didn't," Setsuna confirms. Because Strike Wolf, of course, is not here.

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Kyouka's punching starts to grow faster and harder as she keeps going. "No," she confirms. "She was... she was running a con, or something. I... I tried to speak to her master, to make it real, and she wouldn't, and Strike Wolf wouldn't say anything, and I could tell something was ''wrong''..."

the words and the punches both flow like water once she really gets started. "And I can't... I don't know if I did the right thing, or if I should've just... went along, so I could keep helping you guys, and I keep going around and around in my head and... augh!"

she finishes off her current stream of attacks with a backkick then stops, panting again. She can't bring herself to look at Setsuna in the eye. "I'm just... I don't know what I want."

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Higashi [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

A con? That does admittedly sound like the fox Kyouka has talked about. But, "I see..."

Setsuna pushes back against the bag with the punches, until that back kick.

"It's hard to know what the 'right thing' is," Setsuna says after a moment, tilting her head to watch Kyouka even though she won't look her in the eye. That's fine.

"...That's a hard situation. It sounds like you listened to your instincts, though."

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Kyouka pushes her hair back out of her eyes again, though she's turned slightly away from Setsuna as she comments on listening to her instincts. "I... I don't know if I did."

She returns to the bag, and unleashes with a fresh flurry of strikes. "She was... offering to let me work with Strike Wolf again, in exchange for favors. Nothing big. Magical Girl stuff. The stuff I wanted to do anyway, right?"

An elbow strike and a knee mixed in with the punches. "But I'm just... .''angry''. She was selling me a line and I avoided it. End of story, right? Nevermind the fact that I let you guys down, nevermind the fact that I'm still worried about Strike Wolf, or that I got--"

She pauses, chest heaving as she stares at the bag, hand frozen in mid-punch. Her eyes are wide and troubled, and her breathing has subtly shifted from the effort of exertion to the effort of control, now subtly shaky.

Instead she lets out a frustrated grunt and turns, starting to pace the room.

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Higashi [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

"Hmm..."

So she isn't sure. "I see." Favors. Stuff she wanted to do. And yet...

Setsuna watches Kyouka, and lets go the bag, standing up straight to look towards her. "...I don't like being used," Setsuna settles on eventually. "And I don't think you do either."

"I don't think of it as you letting us down, anyway. You should focus on what you feel, for yourself; we supported you in your decision, and we still do."

"That's... what I think."

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Setsuna doesn't like being used. And she suspects Kyouka doesn't either. "No, I don't, but... she made it sound... so ''reasonable''. They couldn't find Strike Wolf's intended partner. They wanted him with someone who could keep him safe, they'd just need some help. I... I didn't even ''question'' it at first. I almost took it. I almost..."

Kyouka grunts and returns to pacing. "I can't focus on how I feel," she lets slip. "Every time I do I just got so angry at myself." They supported her decision. "I know, but... we saw what happened with Jail. They're not going to stop coming after me. I can make a barrier now but that just makes me a target."

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Higashi [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

"So are you upset that you didn't take her deal?" Setsuna wonders. "...Or are you mad that you almost did?"

They supported her decision, and...

Setsuna hesitates, before, "I set down my powers, once. I haven't told you about that. Would you like me to? It might... show you why I feel the way I do, about you doing the same."

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Which was she mad about? "I... I was..." Kyouka clutches her a hand over her chest, over her heart. Maybe she's trying to reassure herself.

Or hold something in.

There's something almost there, but she can't quite let out yet.

She lets her hand drop as she looks to Setsuna in surprise. "Wait... really? What... what happened?" She seems to be momentarily distracted from her own situation, at last, her full attention on Setsuna.

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Higashi [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Almost...

"It was when I stopped being Eas," Setsuna explains. "...I didn't see how I could go on, as I was. But I couldn't use those same powers against Labyrinth. So I ran away from it. I made a choice, knowing that it made me potentially a risk--maybe a liability, to people I cared about. ...Not that I understood much about caring, back then."

"But I still did it, because I had... reasons. Strong reasons."

"Reasons more important than anything else."

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Kyouka didn't realize, not ''really'' realize, that she would become a liability herself, but Setsuna seemed to... and yet... she chose to set down her Labyrinth powers anyway. For some really strong resons.

More important than anything else...

"... what were they?" Kyouka asks softly. "It's... okay if you don't want to say."

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Higashi [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

"..."

Setsuna looks down. "Because..."

She meets Kyouka's eyes, if Kyouka will let her. "The 'happiness' of Earth... was something I could no longer stand to destroy. Because Love was my friend. Because I couldn't put Lera through this fighting anymore. Because..."

"Because I wanted to pursue what my own 'feelings' meant. To live."

"...I don't think you could 'live', being used by someone like that. I couldn't."

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

For Setsuna, her own feelings were something she couldn't ignore anymore. The friends she'd made, some of whom were now her sister and girlfriend...

Kyouka does let Setsuna meet her eyes to explain, but after the topic comes back to being used, she looks away. "That's true, but... that's not why I coldn't go through with it..."

She turns and slumps against a wall, sliding down until she's sitting against it.

"I... I got scared," she finally admits. "Scared of fighting again." She's looking down at her lap, now, knees still bent.

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Higashi [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

And now, she's 'living' for herself. But Kyouka isn't. Kyouka has another reason that she denied taking Strike Wolf back up, and--

And Setsuna pauses, and then nods, once. No udgement is apparent in her face; no harsh statement.

"Fighting can be very scary," Setsuna says. "I didn't really want to do it anymore either..."

She steps closer to Kyouka, puts herself at her level by bending her knees.

"It's not bad to be scared."

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Kyouka is, genuinely, happy for her friend living her best life. She said as much, when she learned of Setsuna's past.

Even if she's not in the right frame of mind to communicate that sentiment in the moment.

It can be scary... Kyouka stays looking down at her lap. "I know, but... I... I always thought I didn't ''get'' scared, but..."

But something happened.

She looks up to Setsuna, as she lowers herself. "I know, it's healthy, but I can't..." She glances aside. "I can't ''stop'' thinking about it. I'm mad and angry with myself and..."

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Higashi [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

"...Everyone does," Setsuna thinks. "I don't know anyone who doesn't. Not who's a person."

"But?"

Then, there's, "...Okay. So, don't try not to think about it."

"If you can't stop from thinking about it, what happens if you just... let yourself think about it, instead?"

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

"I mean, ''okay'', I'd get scared of stuff, but... I could always manage it before. 'Hey that jump looks scary better be careful', 'hey I heard something better check for wolves', stuff you fix and it goes away and ''this''..."

What happens if she tries to think about it instead?

The one thing she's been trying ''not'' to do, but of course, once the suggestion's been made... "I..." She looks to Setsuna, and then quickly looks away.

She's silent, for a long time, as something weighs on her. Finally... "It... it's not a contest, right?" she mumbles. Advice she had heard so long ago, it feels like.

She draws her knees to her chest. "There was a fight..." She glances sidelong to Setsuna, unable to face her fully. "... Have... you seen a Pure Heart before?"

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Higashi [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

It's different? But... Kyouka looks away, and Setsuna looks at Kyouka without guile. She waits through that silence, her red eyes blinking slowly now and then as she lets Kyouka set the pace.

"It isn't," she agrees.

And then... a fight? "..."

"I don't like to think about those very much," she admits, "Because it reminds me of the time I lost mine... It was always strange to think that I would even have such a thing."

She looks back to Kyouka. "Why?"

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Setsuna lost hers once-- There is a very sharp intake of breath as she says that, and Kyouka looks to Setsuna. Her eyes are blue and wide and just a little haunted. "Then you know," she says, her voice almost a whisper. "What that's like."

Kyouka hugs herself tighter. "There was an ogre. A Sulfuric Ogre. She could pluck them right out of people. She was going after Diamant, I tried to get in the way, block her, but..." Her hand goes to her chest again, protecting her heart. "Sh-she got mine. I couldn't do anything to stop it, she just ''took'' it a-and..."

Deep breathes. Trying to calm herself. "I-I thought... I thought I'd put it behind me. I wasn't alone, my friends got it back, we saved everyone... And as long as I still had Strike Wolf there wasn't anything I could ''do'' about it. I had to keep fighting."

"... but then I had the chance to give it up. I think... I think I might have decided too fast. That... that stupid fox might've sold me a line, like she tried to do yesterday. Told me exactly what I needed to hear to make the decision she wanted..."

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Higashi [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

"I do."

The Ogre... Setsuna nods, thoughtfully. She doesn't elaborate on her own experience. Instead, she keeps watching Kyouka. A monster too powerful to fight...

"I see..."

"Well," she says, "Now you do have time to think about it."

"What will you do?"

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

"... I don't know," she admits. "I... as long as I didn't have a choice, I could live with it, I guess. Or at least pretend that I could live with it, but..."

Kyouka closes her eyes. "She offered me Strike Wolf. I reached out, thinking of all the good I could do again. How I could help my friends."

"How I'd have to fight." She shudders, that sickening feeling running through her body as she clutches protectively at her chest. "And suddenly, all I could think about... was that I could almost die again, and it's ''stupid'', because Jail's goons attacked me and I could've died ''there'', but I didn't, and..."

Another deep shudder. "I should've been strong enough to make that choice, to keep going. Now I don't know what to feel about myself."

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Higashi [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

"...I see."

Setsuna nods. "So as long as you didn't have to think about your feelings, you could ignore them. But now you can't. ...It was like that for me, too. Until I couldn't ignore them anymore."

"Fighting, or not fighting... it's your choice. There's not a 'right' answer like you're saying there is."

"But it sounds like you already know the answer for you."

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

As long as she didn't have to think about her feelings she could ignore them. Kyouka actually blushes a little. "Well when you put it that way..."

Doesn't sound like the healthiest thing, does it?

No right answer... but ''does'' she know the answer for herself? "... I don't know. I thought I did, but... I'm not sure anymore. I hate... I hate letting my friends down, but there's just..." She shivers. "I can still feel it."

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Higashi [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

"Is it a strange way to put it?" Setsuna wonders.

But, "I think... If you're regretting the choice you made so much, maybe that means you wanted the other. But also, I think it was a good idea to try to get her to be more honest with you."

"But only you can decide."

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

"No, it just..." How to explain. "... ignoring your feelings is geeeenerally considered an unhealthy thing to do."

"Maybe? I don't know. It's just... a big complicated mess in my head right now. I hate... being like this, not knowing what to do, what's right. I like being able to know what the right thing is and then to just ''do'' it..."

Kyouka sighs. "That woman is definitely screwing with me though. I just don't know ''why''."

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Higashi [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

"Oh." Pause. "Yes."

But it's a mess, and Kyouka doesn't like it; Setsuna can't really blame that. "I was always sure what the right thing was, back then," Setsuna says. "Back when I was Eas. ...Since then, it's been harder to be sure sometimes."

"...I think you're right. Do you think you can talk to her again?"

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

"Well... you talking with me right now is helping, so... good call there, at least," she offers. "It's... good to know I'm not alone in that experience." She sighs. "I still don't feel like I have answers, but... it does help."

Kyouka shrugs. "I dunno. I kind of though the only thing she wanted from me was Strike Wolf, but with this stunt... I don't know. Maybe they needed a guinea pig or something. I've tried contacting her telapathically before, but... that didn't get me anywhere."

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Higashi [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

"I'm glad." Setsuna smiles briefly and warmly. "I don't have a lot of answers that you wouldn't," she says. "But it always seems easier to me when I can talk about it with someone else."

Then... Hmm. "Well," Setsuna says, "She wants something from you, whatever it is. So that gives you a place to start."

"...I don't want to suggest anything underhanded, but... You could start there, in renegotiations?"

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Kyouka has a brief smile for Setsuna in turn, though hers is a lot more uncertain. "Thanks... I appreciate it."

"She wants ''something'', I just don't know what. And... I don't know what ''I'' want right now either. I... I have a lot of thinking to do, I think... Then I have to figure out if I can even trust her. I think... I think the deal we made is probably off, at this point." Under her breath, she mutters, "Maybe I should go bug her representative and see if she has any ideas where her client is."

She starts to rub her knuckles a bit gingerly, sensation having finally caught up to them. "Ouch... how long was I at this...?"

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Higashi [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Setsuna nods. "I know."

So... "So you have to think more." A pause. "If you know a representative that might be a good idea, too. But if you don't, telepathy might work."

A pause, and Setsuna rises, walking over to the first aid kit. She picks it up and turns back around. "Yes," Setsuna says. "I can use this, or we can go see the nurse. But you have to choose one."

She smiles again.

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

"I'll text her later. If not that then... I dunno. Telepathy didn't work last time and I'm not... ''exactly'' sure what my range is now, without Strike Wolf? Some of the other Mages could probably help, though." She considers that a moment. "It's either that or I wait to run into her while she's being chased by something again."

She considers that for a moment and then sighs, slowly pshing herself up to her feet. "Alright, I'll let you do it. I'd... rather not have to come up with a lie to tell the Nurse about what I was doing."
[[Category: Logs]]

2024-01-22 - Tense Negotiations

2024-02-13T21:47:44Z

Talnora: Fix the IC date so it's a real date

{|class="toccolours" cellspacing="2"
|-
! style="background:#CC6699; border: 2px #CC0033 solid; font-size: 110%;" align="center" colspan="2" | '''Title: Tense Negotiations'''
|-
|'''Summary''': 
''Akari realizes she may need additional assistance, and tries to make an enticing offer to Kyouka.''
|-
| '''Who:''' 
Akari, Strike Wolf, [[Kyouka Okazaki]]
|-
| '''Where:''' 
Shitimachi Residential Area
|-
| '''OOC - IC Date:''' 
01/22/2024 - Wednesday, April 13, 2016
|-
|}
[[Category:Cutscenes]]

The background drone of conversation drifted through the restaurant like a gently rolling fog, chased by an ethereal strand of piano notes. Large, floor-to-ceiling windows made up all four walls of the restaurant, affording an excellent view of the nighttime skyline. Plush back carpet helped dampened the sound, and the soft, low lightning lead a measure of privacy to the whole affair. ... Not to mention the subtle magic charms to prevent eavesdropping woven into the fabric of the building.

Most people might miss them. But not Akari. She could just barely smell them, hidden behind a gentle veil of illusory magic though they were.

She had taken on one of her more useful guises for this meeting. Mister White, a middle-aged man with long brown hair, fine features, and an always-immaculate white suit. It was an alias, it was ''obviously'' an alias, but that was how these types of meetings typically went. She had switched Strike Wolf to a much more sensible pendant form, and the device hung from her neck beneath her shirt, hidden and out of sight.

Across from her sat a small, unpleasant man, dressed in a precisely tailored suit and wearing exactly one too many gold rings for good taste. Not that Akari would say that to his face, of course. It wouldn't do to insult her host.

Akari had endured a three-course meal, making small talk about nothing and everything all at once. (It was, as always, lovely, and honestly the highlight of her trips here, but always a prelude to the main conversation that followed it.) And then, once the plates had been cleared and the wine glasses refilled, they had started on the negotiations.

There was a familiarity to the back and forth, as they discussed and haggled on what could or could not be obtained. It was mostly a formality. This was not the type of negotiation where surprises were welcome, save for the 'expected' ones that were part of the back and forth.

"... of course," said the man, "what you're asking for doesn't come easy."

The last-minute upcharge. It never failed. Mister White put on an easy, congenial smile. "Why of course not. And in exchange for the generous expenditure of your time, my employer is prepared to offer you a finder's fee. Will the usual suffice?"

The other man smiled a grin that, much like the rings, had exactly two too many teeth in it for good taste. "This is why I like dealing with you."

He made a subtle hand gesture, and a waiter materialized from seemingly nowhere. He looked like any of the countless others that had passed them by that night, save for one important distinction: he wasn't human.

But then again, neither was his host.

Mister White silently held up the briefcase he had brought, and the waiter took it smoothly without comment. They chatted for a few more moments, and then the not-waiter (it could have been the same or a different one, Akari was never quite certain with them), appeared holding another briefcase. It was offered to Mister White, who silently accepted it.

He offered another smile to the other man, moving to stand up. "As always, it is a pleasure doing business with you."

The other man did not rise, but did nod and offer another of those too-wide grins. "Of course. Come back any time."

Mister White quickly left the restaurant. One quick dimensional shift and a shedding of a disguise later, Akari stepped into her apartment while heaving a sigh of relief. She rushed to sit down on the aging couch, opening the briefcase and checking the contents.

It was all there, exactly as she had asked for.

As for what would come next...

From around her neck, Strike Wolf's inactive form, a purple five-sided gem, chimed with an inner light as he spoke. {{Strike Wolf|<Heart rate in excess of one hundred beats per minute detected. Cortisol levels are highly-->}}

"Shut it!" snapped Akari, slamming the briefcase closed. "I ''know'' what I'm doing."

There was a long silence in the cramped studio apartment as Akari put the briefcase beside her and silently fumed.

After a time, Strike Wolf spoke again. {{Strike Wolf|<Available assistance limited without full synchronization. Increasing probability of success will require-->}}

"Don't," interrupted the foxwoman. "Just..."

Akari groaned and slumped on the couch, holding a hand to cover her face. After a long moment of intense internal debate she sighed. "... Fine. We'll try it your way."

----

It was easy enough to find that girl. Strike Wolf knew her usual routes home, after all. Akari frowned as she observed the girl from a nearby rooftop. Her tails twitched in agitation as she thought over everything she had seen of her in action, and everything she had witnessed through Strike Wolf's logs.

"You sure about this?" she muttered.

{{Strike Wolf|<Affirmative.>}}

Akari scowled. "I'd better not regret this. I'll give this a shot, but you let ''me'' do all the talking, got it?"

The device was silent for a moment before he finally acknowledged the command with a simple {{Strike Wolf|<Affirmative.>}}

A bright green magic circle appeared under Akari's feet, and she vanished with a soft flash of light.

----

Kyouka hummed to herself as she walked home from school. She was still in her school uniform, a pair of earbuds in her ears, and a bag full of groceries in one hand. She was already planning out her afternoon. Feed Wolfy and take him for a walk, dinner prep, and in between... yes, she could probably get a couple of assignments done. And after dinner... maybe see if Yumi-chan wanted to hang out for a bit.

Yeah, that'd work.

She stopped, as something tickled at the edge of her senses.

''Magic.''

And it was close.

Her entire body tensed as she yanked her earbuds out of her ears, letting them dangle by her side. Tinny music blared from the dangling earbuds as she slowly canned her surroundings. Not many other people on the street--this was good, because it meant less people might be in danger, but also bad, since it meant less eyewitness for someone to worry about.

Kyouka tried to latch onto the magic residing within her linker core, to tease it out, hold it ready to do... something. She could cast a protection spell or a barrier, but would either be enough?

It would be a lot easier if her heart wasn't pounding so hard.

Akari stepped out from around a corner. She had hidden her animal features, and was dressed in a simple black dress and flats, with a white lab coat. Kyouka whirled around to face her, and Akari held up her hands in a placating gesture. "Please, Miss Okazaki. There is no need to be alarmed. May we talk?"

It was only then that Kyouka realized she'd slipped into a fighting posture: Legs spread for stability, right arm drawn back in preparation to strike. She forced herself to take a deep breath and stood back up again. One hand reached into her pocket to pause her phone before stuffing it and her earbuds back into it.

Kyouka studied the other woman, eyes narrowing. "You want to talk? ''Now?'' It's been a month! What happened to our deal, huh?"

Akari's smile vanished for a moment as she nodded. "You are right, of course. It has been far too long, and for that, I offer our most sincere apologies." She bowed deeply to Kyouka before standing upright again. "Please understand, with our lab having been compromised, reestablishing security has been something of a priority for us. It would not do for Strike Wolf to be stolen a second time."

"I guess that sounds reasonable," said Kyouka slowly as she considered that. Something about that struck her as being a bit off, but... she couldn't point a finger at anything specific. Maybe it was just her jumpiness getting the best of her. "So... how is he?"

Slipping her hands back into her lab coat pockets, Akari's smile returned, bright and cheerful. "I'm happy to report that Strike Wolf is doing just fine. There were some minor underlying structural issues we were able to correct, and Strike Wolf should operate just fine. We haven't been able to commence with completion, but..." She sighed, softly. "... these thighs take time, as I'm sure you can imagine."

"Yeah, I guess..."

"But I'm afraid I do not have only good news to share," said Akari, her smile fading into a grim expression. "We have lost contact with Strike Wolf's intended partner. At present, we do not have anyone capable of forming a partnership with him. This leaves Strike Wolf somewhat vulnerable."

Kyouka drew in a sharp breath. "But... can't you and your master unlock his full potential?"

"We have full access to all of Strike Wolf's functionality, certainly, however, we were not his intended partners, so we are not fully compatible users for Strike Wolf."

"So... what are you planning to do, then?"

"Actually, that's where you come in."

The teenager blinked as she processed that. "W-wait. Are you saying what I think you're saying?"

Akari nodded. "Yes, Miss Okazaki. We need someone who can utilize Strike Wolf's potential--and someone whose full potential Strike Wolf is capable of unlocking--to help keep him safe. While it may be possible there are, and I mean no offense, more experienced mages who could be compatible with Strike Wolf, none of them would have the personal experience working with Strike Wolf that you have. Given that such a search could take considerable time, as well, and... we believe that at this time, you would be the most suitable person to wield Strike Wolf."

Kyouka was stunned into silence. She'd get to work with Strike Wolf again... it was almost too good to be true.

No, it was exactly too good to be true.

She stared Akari in the eyes. "What's the catch? You put up all this fuss before, and now suddenly you're turning to ''me'' for help? I don't buy it."

"There is no 'catch', Miss Okazaki," said Akari gently. "However, we would like to establish something of a... working relationship. We all have a vested interest in Strike Wolf's safety and continued operation, do we not?

"What we are proposing is that we support both you and Strike Wolf, and in exchange, you assist us with various matters. Testing Strike Wolf's capabilities, helping us recover other stolen property, or providing protection when relevant. We won't take up all your time, of course; we have no wish to detract from your studies, of course."

Akari slipped the necklace holding Strike Wolf's standby form up over her head, and held it out to Kyouka. The purple gem glinted in the afternoon sun. "What do you say?"

That all seemed reasonable enough. An exchange of services.

Her hand started to lift.

Think of all the good she could do. The people she could help. She could support her friends again, and not be a liability.

Strike Wolf was almost within her grasp.

She'd have to fight again.

From the depths of her doubts and uncertainties, something cold and clammy--''five'' somethings, in fact--suddenly burst out and wrapped themselves around her heart. They squeezed tightly, and suddenly Kyouka was short of breath. Her heart was pounding and the rest of the world seemed to fade for a moment. The hand that had been about to accept Strike Wolf withdrew, going to her chest instead as she recoiled.

Kyouka stumbled a few steps back, gasping for air.

Akari frowned, still holding up Strike Wolf. "Miss Okazaki, are you quite alright?"

"W-wait," Kyouka managed to choke out. She closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. She forced her nerves to steady, as best as she could, and with several more breaths her heart finally calmed down. No, it was still jittery, but she could breathe. Her mind was racing now, though, and replaying every part of the conversation back in crystal clear detail.

"Wait," she said again, more firmly, though there was a tremor in her voice that she couldn't quite squash. "If... ''If'' I'm going to do this... I want to speak with your master."

The other woman's frown deepened. "I assure you, Miss Okazaki, that I am duly authorized to speak on my Master's behalf."

Kyouka frantically shook her head. "No. If we do this, we make it official. I deserve to meet her if we're going to be working together."

Akari's expression grew more strained. "My sincerest apologies, but as I am sure you are aware, the dimensional tremors will make that exceedingly difficult, if not impossible to arrange."

"Video, then. Or telepathy," insisted Kyouka. "''You're'' still in touch with them, after all."

"W-well, yes, of course, but--" Akari started to protest.

"Then you can arrange for me to speak with her."

Akari's left eye twitched. "If you want some assurances that things are on the up-and-up, I'm sure Strike Wolf would be more than willing to do so."

Strike Wolf remained silent, hanging from the end of the necklace cord.

Kyouka watched her former partner in silence. "You haven't said a word this entire time, Strike Wolf." Her gaze switched to Akari. "What did you do to him?"

It was Akari's turn to take a step back from Kyouka's accusatory glare. "Why--nothing, I promise. Strike Wolf is perfectly fine, I promise. Aren't you?"

There was another tense moment of silence as Strike Wolf failed to respond.

Snorting in disgust, Kyouka turned away. "I don't know what you've done to him, but if you want any kind of deal, get me a meeting with your Master. Until then, I'm not falling for whatever game you're playing." She walked away, leaving a flabbergasted Akari sputtering on the street.

A moment later Akari vanished in a flash of light.

----

"Augh!" exclaimed Akari, slamming the door behind her as she entered her dingy studio apartment. "What is ''with'' that girl!?" She looked down to Strike Wolf, who hanging around her neck again. "And a fat load of help ''you'' were. What happened out there!?"

After a moment to process the order, Strike Wolf's device form lit up as he spoke, {{Strike Wolf|<Conflicting directives issued.>}}

"Conflicting!?" Akari paused in her pacing to stare down at the gem-like form of Strike Wolf. "I ''told' you, very clearly, to back me up!"

{{Strike Wolf|<Directive 1: 'Let you do all the talking.'>}}

Akari's jaw went slack as she stared in disbelief. Finally a low growl sounded from the back of her throat. "Are. You. ''Serious''!?"

{{Strike Wolf|<Affirmative.>}}

Letting out a growl of frustration, Akari stomped over to a small, yellowing refrigerator and pulled out a pint of ice cream. She then threw herself onto the couch and started to dig in, muttering to herself.

Fine. If she couldn't get that brat to support her, she would just have to handle things herself.

2023-04-05 - A Familiar Conversation

2024-02-07T17:22:08Z

Talnora: Removed an errant OOC note

{|class="toccolours" cellspacing="2"
|-
! style="background:#CC6699; border: 2px #CC0033 solid; font-size: 110%;" align="center" colspan="2" | '''Title: A Familiar Conversation'''
|-
|'''Summary''': 
''Following her successful completion of the enchantment to store her staff with, Raiko heads outside for some fresh air. Tama comes across her while conducting her own business and the two converse for a while on various topics. Understandings are reached, encouragements are given, and resolutions are made.''
|-
| '''Who:''' 
[[Raiko Takashima]], Tama (Played by [[Yumi Ohzora]])
|-
| '''Where:''' 
Infinity Institute (Tama Outer City - Infinity Institute)
|-
| '''OOC - IC Date:''' 
4/5/2023 - Saturday, February 27, 2016
|-
|}

.******************** Tama Outer City - Infinity Institute ********************.
*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ Infinity Institute +*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*
The inner wards of Tokyo boast most of its largest skyscrapers, but there is
an unusual exception. Located in Hachioji District, the Infinity Institute
is by far the largest building in Tama, and the second-largest skyscraper in
Tokyo. At 52 stories tall, its glass and stone the sort of primeval obsidian
that shimmers like oyster shell, Infinity is commonly supposed, by visitors,
to house some megacorporation, but there is only a scrap of truth to that.
Infinity is, in fact, a school, and what a school it is.

Offering a complete education from elementary to university, this daring new
charter school offers talented students a literal and figurative chance to
climb in the world: its vertical campus has students moving up a few floors
every year. Black metal monoliths with lighted white globes flank students
as they approach the entranceway, itself styled like an abstracted
grandfather clock, purplish glass panes forming an arch on the facade.
Within, a lushly austere atrium whispers water-sound from its great
fountain, beams of light slicing falling water elaborately. The atrium's
ceiling is five stories tall, and so many balconies and walkways are visible
as one stands on the violet carpeted black granite.

There is considerable variation between the fifty two floors, but the
unifying theme is one of sleek modernity. Heavy use of polished metal and
glass lend the building the feeling of an appliance freshly peeled of its
plastic coating. The walls are painted in cool tones of purple and deep
blue, and the accommodations are lavish, if stark. At times, the architects
even seem to have played artful little tricks, making a hallway appear too
long, or bend in a way that it does not. It is just a trick of the eye,
isn't it?

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

Night has fallen in Tokyo, and the city is lit up brilliantly. Just outside the impressive Infinity Institute, Raiko sits on a bench, bundled up for the cold and alternating between looking at her phone and gazing up at the night sky. She's not ''using'' it, at the moment, just looking it over, turning it over in her hands to examine it, and, every so often, holding her hands apart and using her telekinesis to turn it in between them. She'd had a great success earlier that night, but after celebrating, had felt the need to get outside for a bit and take in some fresh air.

The phone looks like any other smart phone a teenager might have... save for the distinct metallic blue color. That's new, the result of a successful enchantment performed earlier that same night. Only a few people know about her phone and its enchantment at the moment: Yumi, who had congratulated her with a hug; Shiori, who seemed relieved to no longer have the burden of carrying the Staff of Wise Levin, which was safely stowed inside her newly-enchanted phone, and also proud of her witch's progress; and Tama, who seemed to accept the Staff's judgment in awarding Raiko with a pair of well-made goggles for her efforts.

Raiko ''felt'' accomplished at having decoded an ancient spell, meant for Yumi's staff, enough to rework for her own staff, and to have integrated it with her old enchantment for her phone, to boot. She was happy, mostly, but...

There was still one person she really wanted to share her accomplishment with, and he was still missing.

The young witch sighed as she stared up at the sky, contemplating her missing grandfather. It just didn't feel complete without being able to share it with him.

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Yumi stayed inside, for her part; she had some more things to take care of herself, having seen Raiko's accomplishment, including 'not being out in the chill' as one of those things. But Tama happened to slink along out when Raiko left.

It would be easy to miss that she's been walking along near her, since she ''did'' wander off in the other direction once they got outside... but now the fluffy black elder cat is padding close again, hopping up onto the bench and taking a seat beside Raiko.

She glances around, once, and then, "Hello, Raiko."

She doesn't look at her for the moment, looking up to the sky as well, her tail still.

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

Shiori, for her part, was still inside; having relieved herself of the burden of carrying Wise Levin, she was taking it easy for a bit.

Raiko had been lost in thought so hadn't paid too much attention as Tama slunk out after her and parted ways... but at the same time she didn't seem too perturbed when she felt Tamam jump up onto the bench. She glanced down and noted who it was, offering a melancholy smile and a soft, "Hi, Tama" before looking back up at the sky.

It's the kind of night that keeps people off the street as much as possible, so there's not a lot of passers by at the moment.

Raiko sets her phone in her lap and uses a now-free hand to give Tama a few gentle scritches behind her ears.

Very quietly, she says, "It still feels hard to believe any of this is happening, sometimes..."

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Tama is willing to be silent for a few moments, and also willing to accept a little affection, maybe as much for the sake of Raiko's clear distress as anything. It's hard to say; Tama's emotions are hard to read as a rule, except for when she's annoyed, which is very easy.

She is often annoyed, it would seem. But not now.

"Yes," Tama says. "I imagine that it is."

"...I've seen it many a time," she reflects. "Many girls whose lives changed suddenly, and who had to adjust accordingly."

"Is that what you're feeling now? dfficulty believing it?"

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

It's such a small and simple thing, but... giving a little affection to Tama does help, in its own way. It's calming, if nothing else.

Raiko listens as Tama reflects, about how many other girls have gone through the same thing as her. Similar, but yet...

"I... well... yeah, a little bit," admits Raiko in response to Tama's question. "Did... any of them have their parents go missing when they got their powers?"

She tries to ask that question innocently, in a general sense, but there is too much melancholy in her voice to hide the truth of what she's thinking of.

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Some familiars or other mascots would be offended by such a thing, but Tama is more... cat, than certain others. Of course, this means that as soon as she's had enough she's likely to wander off, too. But not yet. No...

"...Yes," Tama answers. "And it was just as hard on them as it is on you, now."

"Your grandfather is a very brave man," Tama says. "...And I believe that he's still alive, out there. It is cold comfort, I know. But he is doing what he believes in. The things Shiori has helped him to do for some time."

"...Has Shiori ever told you of how they met?" Tama wonders. "It's her business, of course. But if not, I suggest you ask."

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

Raiko grew up around Shiori, so may have picked up a few assumptions about how to treat feline familiars. Though, really, she didn't try to offer up that kind of affection until the first time or two Tama showed affection first, most notably right after asking Tama not to call her inexperienced in front of the Sulfuric Ogre. But when Tama's had enough she won't protest when Tama leaves.

The girl sniffs a little as Tama says it was just as hard on those other girls in her situation, but nods a little to acknowledge the familiar's words.

"I know. Keeping The Hungry Queen from getting artifacts and sources of power to carry out her plans is important. I just..." She stops petting Tama for a moment to pick up her phone again, turning it over in her hands. "I just wish he could know that... I'm trying my best to clean up all the messes I made. That I'm trying really hard to live up to his example."

Raiko shakes her head at the question. "All she's said is... Let me see... that he was kind to her, and that helped earned her trust. And that... that I'm kind too, in the same way he was. I don't really know any details other than that... maybe I'll ask her sometime."

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Tama has remembered that!

Tama looks to the metallic blue phone, the new host of the Staff of Wise Levin. She considers it, for a few moments, her eyes still relatively wide in the dim, in the way a cat's eyes are.

"It is my hope," she says, "That we will be able to go back into contact with him again, eventally. And then you can tell him these things for yourself."

It's her hope. She can't guarantee it, she doesn't say; it would be cruel.

"Hmm. Those things are true," Tama says, including the talk of kindness. "Yes, I recommend that you do. I tiwll tell you a little more about your grandfather and Shiori both."

"...But I see the efforts you make, at least."

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

Raiko tilts the phone in Tama's direction just a little, in case she was interested in getting a better look.

She sighs a little. "I hope so, too. There's... a lot I want to tell him. And to ask him about." A beat. then, quietly, "... and apologize, for." What she has to apologize for, she doesn't say.

But she does smile a little as Tama confirms those things are true, including the bit about her. "I'll do that. I've thought about asking more, but it's been so busy it keeps slipping my mind."

There is a small smile as Tama says she sees her efforts, and she reaches out to pet gently along Tama's back. "Thank you, Tama. I appreciate it. Having you, Shiori, and Yumi around helps. I know I'm not alone in all of this, at least."

Her other hand is still holding the phone, and she looks it over a moment more. "I get the sense that you're not exactly thrilled with me using the staff's enchantment on my phone..." It's not accusatory, and her petting never changes its rhythm as she makes that statement. "I think Shiori was worried about what you'd think about that."

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Tama does regard a little closer, but doesn't move to try to either take the phone or manipulate it; she just looks more closely.

"I'm sure you have much to say," Tama says, rather than inquiring or pressing about what she might apologize for. She does notice the smile, though... and inclines her head, closing her eyes slowly in what is notable as a pleased sort of gesture. "There's much to do. But you'll find the time, I think."

Tama stretches as she's petted, accepting a little more affection. "You're not," she agrees, and there's a wry tone in her voice, "But you're correct. I am not... 'thrilled', as you put it. I believe in certain traditions. You should be storing the staff in a ring or pendant, inlaid with valuable jewels that befit the status of such a mighty Artifact."

"However," Tama allows, "The Staff approves, clearly. And thus I am willing to relent. I suppose these... phones, are also valuable in their own right. But take great care of it. It is now the vessel of a precious item."

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

Raiko knows how to read that gesture, at least, and appreciates receiving it from Tama. She might show annoyance rather easily, but... it's also nice to know she can show affection and approval, too.

"Yeah... Shiori tried to convince me to do that, too... And I know tradition is important for witches, but..." She sighs a little, but this one is more wistful than sad, this time. "I love magic, and I want to be able to help contribute new things to this field, too, you know? To be able to make witchcraft better and easier to use, so it can help more people..."

"Not that I think it's bad or lacking!" she hastily adds. "Just... I don't want to see it get left behind."

"Though..." she looks down to Tama, her tone serious and respectful. "Would it help you to know that things like gold, silver, and titanium make up the circuitry in a phone like this? I know they're not jewels, but... it's something, right?" She doesn't know if that will help, but... she's trying.

"I will, I promise," she says of being careful with her phone. "I always have it with me wherever I go. And I promise I'll treat the Staff with all the respect I can. If it weren't for that, well... I wouldn't be able to help Yumi-chan, or live up to my grandfather's example."

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

"...Hmm." Tama reflects on Raiko's words. "I can see that," she says. "Your predecessor also sought to push the limits of magic, albeit in different ways. I suppose it's something about your line..." Of course Tama would think in those ways. She's a traditionalist, after all.

"I see," she answers about the components. "Yes," she says, "That is helpful. If the components of this... device... are sufficiently serious, then perhaps that's acceptable after all. Though I do admit I prefer that you thought about it and enchanted it fully instead of just deciding to do it on a whim..."

But Raiko will be careful. "...That's exactly right," Tama says of respecting the Staff. "And you have a lot ahead of you in responsibilities. If you want to return your Grandfather's home and research to him in the same or better condition than you received it, especially."

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

Raiko smiles a little more as Tama compares her to her predecessors. It's a nice thought, knowing that not only is she following in her grandfather's footsteps, she's echoing the great mages in her ancestral line. "I really hope that someday I can add something to the staff as well, like my predecessor did.

Her jacket is all zipped up, so they can't be seen, but the new goggles are hanging from her neck underneath it. It's... comforting, in its own way.

She smiles as Tama compliments her work on enchanting the phone, and giggles a little as the familiar compares her own efforts to Yumi's, even though she knows she shouldn't laugh at Yumi's expense. "That does sound like her, doesn't it? But thanks. It took a lot of work to figure out the spell, and..." She flips it over to see the back, which is all metallic blue. "... I didn't even figure everything out, like this harmonization effect."

A pause of consideration. "Yumi can be... she likes to go for things, huh?" is the nicest way she can think of to phrase it. She gives Tama another ear scritch. "... I bet she makes you worry a lot. I worry about her too," she admits.

There is a resigned nod as Tama mentions all the responsibilities. "Trying to fix my grades, stay in Infinity, be a magical girl, live up to my grandfather's example... and I already fixed the wards on his office. Though I haven't had a lot of luck accessing his research, but with entrance exams I haven't had a lot of time, and now finals are almost here..." But there is a bit of firmness in her voice as she says, "When Grandpa comes home--" and there's no doubt, in that instant, that he will "--I want to show him everything I've been able to accomplish and make him proud."

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

"I hope that as well," Tama answers, quite seriously. They share a number of hopes, it would see.

"You did quite well with it. Only one unexpected side-effect is an accomplishment for an adult witch when it comes to converting an ancient and powerful spell to a new method. That much is true."

But Yumi... Tama sighs, and shakes her head, her ears flattening for a moment. "She is impetuous, perhaps even reckless. But she is strong and clever enough to get out of most of the scrapes she jumps into. It does reassure me that she has you around to help look after her, now. I have noticed that you've tried to counsel her to more caution. ...I doubt it will have much effect, but I appreciate it regardless."

Tama finally wanders a little further on the bench, to sit and look out over the road, tail flicking thoughtfully. "Shiori will support you in that. I have every faith that the two of you will be able to do just that."

"...Provided," Tama says, as she looks back, "That you do keep up this resolve. Focus on your own needs first; the notes will keep a little longer."

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

There is a very pleased--and somewhat shy smile as Tama compliments her skills, comparing her efforts very favorably to that of a more experienced witch. "Thank you, Tama. That means a lot to me to hear, especially coming from you."

But she sighs a little as Tama uses the word 'impetuous.' "Yeah..." It's hard not to agree. "I'll admit, when she's encouraging me about my studies or my magic work, it's... nice. It makes me feel like I really can do all the things I need to be responsible for. But when it comes to combat or handling dangerous magic... well..." She nods as Tama recognizes her efforts to counsel her. "Yeah... I try, but..." Well, they both know what Yumi is like. "You're welcome, Tama. I'll do my best to watch out for her. If something happened to her, I'd..."

"Well, I'll just make sure nothing bad happens to her." Perhaps a tad unrealistic, but it's easier than trying to enumerate the consequences of harm befalling Yumi.

Raiko lets Tama wander further away without complaint, drawing her hand back to her lap. "Yeah. Shiori was really helpful double checking my work for this enchantment. I'm used to her teaching me, but... it still feels weird that we were more like partners on this. Good, but still weird. It's just... different, from how we've been before."

She regards Tama thoughtfully as the familiar explicitly gives her permission to take care of her own needs before trying to crack the mystery of her grandfather's notes. "... okay, thanks. I'll keep that in mind. Keeping up with all of this is hard, but... I'll keep trying."

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

"I am only saying things that are true," Tama says, with a little sniff to indicate that she's not planning to get ''too'' sappy about it. "If you continue to work hard, you will continue to do well. That's all."

As for Yumi, well... "Yes, she has many fine qualities... but 'carefulness with herself' is not particularly among them." She nods. "Yes. Together, we will keep her safe, even if she's not always much of a participant in that particular activity."

"I know that you rely on her, but she is coming to rely on you, as well. Remember that."

Tama considers the matter of Shiori. "It's part of growing up," she says. "You have a while to go, yet--but the two of you will become true partners, more and more, as you work together. She will not steer you wrongly."

It is of course different. "Good," Tama says of trying. "You can succeed, if you do. I want you all to understand that. ...But, of course," she says, "I do not pretend to be an expert in human schooling. So you'll have to accomplish much of that on your own."

She hops down from the bench, and looks up at Raiko. "...Hang onto that feeling you have tonight," she says. "Remember it. And let it sustain you when times are harder."

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

Raiko is used to dealing with Shiori who, while quite affectionate and close, is still a cat. So she thinks she understands what Tama is saying (or not saying) when she makes that little sniffing noise. "Then I'll continue to work hard," she says simply, to acknowledge Tama's words without getting too 'sappy' about it.

She giggles at Tama's description of Yumi's participation, or rather lack thereof, in keeping herself safe. "Let's both do our best, then."

She is, however, rather taken aback for a moment as Tama mentions that Yumi is relying on ''her'', as well. She flashes back to Ivy asking her, in the heat of battle, to try and locate Conflagria at the mirror maze. She hadn't given it much thought in the heat of the moment, but looking back on it now...

That ''was'' rather a lot of trust to place in her, wasn't it? And there was no hesitation with entrusting her with the task, either.

"... I'll remember that. Thanks. I'll do my best to be someone she can depend on."

"Yeah, Shori's been helping me for as long as I can remember... and I guess in more ways than I ever realized, too... I know she only has my best interests at heart. And I'll make sure to take care of her, too, like I am with Yumi-chan."

Of course Tama's not an expert in human schooling. Though Shiori's managed to pick up a little in her time working with Raiko. "Right. I know what I have to do there's just... a lot to make up for." But she doesn't sound as defeated admitting that this time as previous times.

Raiko looks down to Tama and nods firmly. "I will," she says, and she means it. She doesn't really want to conetemplate things being ''harder'' than they are now, but... well, she won't be alone in dealing with it. Just like she isn't now.

She lips her phone into her pocket and stands up, stretching her arms over her head for a moment. "It was nice talking with you, Tama. I think I'm going to go back to my studies now. Have a good night."

There's a lot to do, but... it's not quite as daunting as it was a while ago.
[[Category: Logs]]

2024-01-31 - Breakthrough

2024-02-01T05:47:39Z

Talnora: A burden shared...

{|class="toccolours" cellspacing="2"
|-
! style="background:#CC6699; border: 2px #CC0033 solid; font-size: 110%;" align="center" colspan="2" | '''Title: Breakthrough'''
|-
|'''Summary''': 
''Kyouka is having a difficult time dealing with her encounter with Akari, but luckily Setsuna is able to lend some support.''
|-
| '''Who:''' 
[[Kyouka Okazaki]], [[Setsuna Higashi]]
|-
| '''Where:''' 
Gymnasium and Fields (Shitamachi Low City - Juuban Public School)
|-
| '''OOC - IC Date:''' 
1/31/2024 - Friday, April 17, 2016
|-
|}

.***************** Shitamachi Low City - Juuban Public School *****************.
*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+* Gymnasium and Fields +*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+
Accessed through a covered, open-air walkway linked to the school, the
Juuban gymnasium is a warehouse-like structure with an impressively high
ceiling (a fact impressed on many a child during their first rope-climb).
Its golden-brown laminated hardwood floor is decades old by now, with arcane
scrawls of shoe-rubber burnt into it beyond the influence of any mop, but
it's held up well, though a few boards near the walls creak a complaint if
stepped on. A spacious equipment room contains the volleyball nets, balls of
various sizes, and other miscellanea the gym teachers use to keep Juuban in
shape.

When weather permits, the students are often taken to the athletic fields
instead. A ruddy brown, rubber-coated track rings the main field with
concentric spray-painted rings, and is used for track and field activities,
as well as forming the center ring of a three ring circus of athletics
during the sports festival. The other two rings are the soccer field and the
baseball field, the former of which is often put to use for other sports as
well. While not as expansive as a country school might enjoy, the fields are
a considerable privilege in high-rent Tokyo, one much-appreciated by
Juuban's numerous afterschool sports clubs.

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Kyouka has been... in a notably quiet and sullen mood today at school. Normally friendly and engaging with those around her, today she's been distracted: not really engaging with conversation with others or seemingly even paying attention in class. (It took the teacher calling her name three times to get her attention at one point, and even then someone had to lean over and poke her on top of that.)

When asked about it she just said she was 'fine' and 'thinking about some stuff', but... it's obvious everything isn't fine.

She didn't even show up to Track and Field practice today. She never misses practice, not without telling someone first. Instead she just... got up from the last period of class and left.

After practice, though, Setsuna could overhear two girls talking in the locker room.

"... Do you know what's gotten into Okazaki-chan?"

"No, what happened."

"I saw her in one of the equipment storage rooms and she was wailing away at a punching bag."

"Did you ask her what was wrong?"

"Make the last line 'Heck no! I'm not getting in between her and that punching bag."

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Higashi [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Setsuna Higashi is usually someone who doesn't engage very much in active conversation for very long, but she ''is'' observant. She notices when Kyouka is distracted. She notices when she has to be poked about even a techer trying to get her attention. And she noticed her absence from track andfield today.

Pausing at the doorway when the girls talk about Kyouka, she listens for a moment. "..."

In short order, Setsuna has arrived at the storage room, in uniform. She looks around to see if this is the one Kyouka is in, her large red eyes focused and thoughtful.

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

It is easy enough to realize which room it is as Setsuna gets closer: there is a steady and rhythmic sound of impacts landing true on a punching bag as she gets closer, and when she steps in...

Kyouka is indeed there. She changed into her gym uniform at some point, and her attention seems entirely focused on the bag before her. Her hair is matted with sweat, and if there's a long enough pause to get a look at her hands, her knuckles seem a bit red, too.

She's been at this for a while.

She's varying things up with a few elbows, knees, and kicks, but it's mostly punches to keep the bag from swinging too far away and interrupting her flow.

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Higashi [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Setsuna watches in silence for long enough to see Kyouka's condition, including the condition of her hands. She is quiet as she considers what to do, until eventually--

"...You're... upset, aren't you?"

She is always a little hesitant at guessing emotions, but it's hard not to make that guess. "..."

She steps inside. "Let me hold the bag for you, if you're not too tired to keep going."

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Kyouka whirls around when she hears Setsuna's voice, arms immediately coming up in a defensive posture. But it only takes her a moment to realize who she's looking at, and she drops her hands a second later, standing more upright.

She's upset.

Kyouka shakes her head, "No, I'm..." However fine she seemed when she was in her groove, now that she's stopped it suddenly catches up to her and she starts breathing hard as she tries to recenter herself. Finally she admits, "Y-yeah, maybe. Just... working something out."

She wipes hair out of her eyes with the back of her hand as Setsuna offers to hold the bag. "... Sure, but... you're gonna miss Track and Field if you hang out here too long."

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Higashi [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Setsuna sees it! Tension. Upsetness. Even being wrapped up in herself about it...

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Setsuna offers without judgment or expectation; it's a simple question, delivered simply, and as she offers it, Setsuna moves to take hold of the bag.

"That's okay," she says. "It's fine to miss sometimes."

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

There are times when Kyouka doesn't hide her feelings very well. Today is definitely one of those times.

The offer to talk causes Kyouka to glance aside as something flashes across her face. It might be guilt, or shame, or something else.

"I..." she sighs. "Yeah, I guess I better. Not like I can talk to anybody else about this."

She waits for Setsuna to take hold of the bag and then starts in on it again. She's holding back, but only a little. This is a girl who prides herself on working out every morning.

She settles back in her groove of pummeling the bag for a moment before she starts to talk. "So, that damn fox showed up yesterday. Finally."

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Higashi [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Guilt, shame? It's all mysterious to Setsuna; she knows that something is Wrong, and that is about it. Since she stopped trying to manipulate Pretty Cure all those years ago now, she's less confident in guessing at people's emotions.

She's more wwilling to listen sincerely, though.

So, the purple-haired girl takes hold, and, "You don't have to. But if you want to, I'll listen."

A pause. The fox...

Setsuna nods. "I see." 'Go on', is unstated.

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Kyouka is usually a little better at signalling what she's feeling for Setsuna's benefit, or at least being clear, but... well, today she's obviously got something on her mind.

It takes a few more moments after that unstated 'Go on' for Kyouka to continue. There's something tearing at her as she tries to figure out how to phrase it, but finally she can't help but blurt it out. "She tried to get me to take back Strike Wolf." This is punctuated with a full throttle punch delivered with her rear hand, completely with follow through in her back foot.

Her right wrist is noticeably bare.

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Higashi [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Setsuna is patient. She can wait as long as it takes; as Kyouka hits the punching bag, Setsuna keeps herself braced so as to keep both it and herself stable, despite the hard hits. And so, when Kyouka mentions Strike Wolf...

"But you didn't," Setsuna confirms. Because Strike Wolf, of course, is not here.

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Kyouka's punching starts to grow faster and harder as she keeps going. "No," she confirms. "She was... she was running a con, or something. I... I tried to speak to her master, to make it real, and she wouldn't, and Strike Wolf wouldn't say anything, and I could tell something was ''wrong''..."

the words and the punches both flow like water once she really gets started. "And I can't... I don't know if I did the right thing, or if I should've just... went along, so I could keep helping you guys, and I keep going around and around in my head and... augh!"

she finishes off her current stream of attacks with a backkick then stops, panting again. She can't bring herself to look at Setsuna in the eye. "I'm just... I don't know what I want."

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Higashi [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

A con? That does admittedly sound like the fox Kyouka has talked about. But, "I see..."

Setsuna pushes back against the bag with the punches, until that back kick.

"It's hard to know what the 'right thing' is," Setsuna says after a moment, tilting her head to watch Kyouka even though she won't look her in the eye. That's fine.

"...That's a hard situation. It sounds like you listened to your instincts, though."

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Kyouka pushes her hair back out of her eyes again, though she's turned slightly away from Setsuna as she comments on listening to her instincts. "I... I don't know if I did."

She returns to the bag, and unleashes with a fresh flurry of strikes. "She was... offering to let me work with Strike Wolf again, in exchange for favors. Nothing big. Magical Girl stuff. The stuff I wanted to do anyway, right?"

An elbow strike and a knee mixed in with the punches. "But I'm just... .''angry''. She was selling me a line and I avoided it. End of story, right? Nevermind the fact that I let you guys down, nevermind the fact that I'm still worried about Strike Wolf, or that I got--"

She pauses, chest heaving as she stares at the bag, hand frozen in mid-punch. Her eyes are wide and troubled, and her breathing has subtly shifted from the effort of exertion to the effort of control, now subtly shaky.

Instead she lets out a frustrated grunt and turns, starting to pace the room.

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Higashi [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

"Hmm..."

So she isn't sure. "I see." Favors. Stuff she wanted to do. And yet...

Setsuna watches Kyouka, and lets go the bag, standing up straight to look towards her. "...I don't like being used," Setsuna settles on eventually. "And I don't think you do either."

"I don't think of it as you letting us down, anyway. You should focus on what you feel, for yourself; we supported you in your decision, and we still do."

"That's... what I think."

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Setsuna doesn't like being used. And she suspects Kyouka doesn't either. "No, I don't, but... she made it sound... so ''reasonable''. They couldn't find Strike Wolf's intended partner. They wanted him with someone who could keep him safe, they'd just need some help. I... I didn't even ''question'' it at first. I almost took it. I almost..."

Kyouka grunts and returns to pacing. "I can't focus on how I feel," she lets slip. "Every time I do I just got so angry at myself." They supported her decision. "I know, but... we saw what happened with Jail. They're not going to stop coming after me. I can make a barrier now but that just makes me a target."

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Higashi [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

"So are you upset that you didn't take her deal?" Setsuna wonders. "...Or are you mad that you almost did?"

They supported her decision, and...

Setsuna hesitates, before, "I set down my powers, once. I haven't told you about that. Would you like me to? It might... show you why I feel the way I do, about you doing the same."

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Which was she mad about? "I... I was..." Kyouka clutches her a hand over her chest, over her heart. Maybe she's trying to reassure herself.

Or hold something in.

There's something almost there, but she can't quite let out yet.

She lets her hand drop as she looks to Setsuna in surprise. "Wait... really? What... what happened?" She seems to be momentarily distracted from her own situation, at last, her full attention on Setsuna.

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Higashi [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Almost...

"It was when I stopped being Eas," Setsuna explains. "...I didn't see how I could go on, as I was. But I couldn't use those same powers against Labyrinth. So I ran away from it. I made a choice, knowing that it made me potentially a risk--maybe a liability, to people I cared about. ...Not that I understood much about caring, back then."

"But I still did it, because I had... reasons. Strong reasons."

"Reasons more important than anything else."

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Kyouka didn't realize, not ''really'' realize, that she would become a liability herself, but Setsuna seemed to... and yet... she chose to set down her Labyrinth powers anyway. For some really strong resons.

More important than anything else...

"... what were they?" Kyouka asks softly. "It's... okay if you don't want to say."

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Higashi [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

"..."

Setsuna looks down. "Because..."

She meets Kyouka's eyes, if Kyouka will let her. "The 'happiness' of Earth... was something I could no longer stand to destroy. Because Love was my friend. Because I couldn't put Lera through this fighting anymore. Because..."

"Because I wanted to pursue what my own 'feelings' meant. To live."

"...I don't think you could 'live', being used by someone like that. I couldn't."

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

For Setsuna, her own feelings were something she couldn't ignore anymore. The friends she'd made, some of whom were now her sister and girlfriend...

Kyouka does let Setsuna meet her eyes to explain, but after the topic comes back to being used, she looks away. "That's true, but... that's not why I coldn't go through with it..."

She turns and slumps against a wall, sliding down until she's sitting against it.

"I... I got scared," she finally admits. "Scared of fighting again." She's looking down at her lap, now, knees still bent.

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Higashi [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

And now, she's 'living' for herself. But Kyouka isn't. Kyouka has another reason that she denied taking Strike Wolf back up, and--

And Setsuna pauses, and then nods, once. No udgement is apparent in her face; no harsh statement.

"Fighting can be very scary," Setsuna says. "I didn't really want to do it anymore either..."

She steps closer to Kyouka, puts herself at her level by bending her knees.

"It's not bad to be scared."

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Kyouka is, genuinely, happy for her friend living her best life. She said as much, when she learned of Setsuna's past.

Even if she's not in the right frame of mind to communicate that sentiment in the moment.

It can be scary... Kyouka stays looking down at her lap. "I know, but... I... I always thought I didn't ''get'' scared, but..."

But something happened.

She looks up to Setsuna, as she lowers herself. "I know, it's healthy, but I can't..." She glances aside. "I can't ''stop'' thinking about it. I'm mad and angry with myself and..."

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Higashi [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

"...Everyone does," Setsuna thinks. "I don't know anyone who doesn't. Not who's a person."

"But?"

Then, there's, "...Okay. So, don't try not to think about it."

"If you can't stop from thinking about it, what happens if you just... let yourself think about it, instead?"

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

"I mean, ''okay'', I'd get scared of stuff, but... I could always manage it before. 'Hey that jump looks scary better be careful', 'hey I heard something better check for wolves', stuff you fix and it goes away and ''this''..."

What happens if she tries to think about it instead?

The one thing she's been trying ''not'' to do, but of course, once the suggestion's been made... "I..." She looks to Setsuna, and then quickly looks away.

She's silent, for a long time, as something weighs on her. Finally... "It... it's not a contest, right?" she mumbles. Advice she had heard so long ago, it feels like.

She draws her knees to her chest. "There was a fight..." She glances sidelong to Setsuna, unable to face her fully. "... Have... you seen a Pure Heart before?"

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Higashi [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

It's different? But... Kyouka looks away, and Setsuna looks at Kyouka without guile. She waits through that silence, her red eyes blinking slowly now and then as she lets Kyouka set the pace.

"It isn't," she agrees.

And then... a fight? "..."

"I don't like to think about those very much," she admits, "Because it reminds me of the time I lost mine... It was always strange to think that I would even have such a thing."

She looks back to Kyouka. "Why?"

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Setsuna lost hers once-- There is a very sharp intake of breath as she says that, and Kyouka looks to Setsuna. Her eyes are blue and wide and just a little haunted. "Then you know," she says, her voice almost a whisper. "What that's like."

Kyouka hugs herself tighter. "There was an ogre. A Sulfuric Ogre. She could pluck them right out of people. She was going after Diamant, I tried to get in the way, block her, but..." Her hand goes to her chest again, protecting her heart. "Sh-she got mine. I couldn't do anything to stop it, she just ''took'' it a-and..."

Deep breathes. Trying to calm herself. "I-I thought... I thought I'd put it behind me. I wasn't alone, my friends got it back, we saved everyone... And as long as I still had Strike Wolf there wasn't anything I could ''do'' about it. I had to keep fighting."

"... but then I had the chance to give it up. I think... I think I might have decided too fast. That... that stupid fox might've sold me a line, like she tried to do yesterday. Told me exactly what I needed to hear to make the decision she wanted..."

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Higashi [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

"I do."

The Ogre... Setsuna nods, thoughtfully. She doesn't elaborate on her own experience. Instead, she keeps watching Kyouka. A monster too powerful to fight...

"I see..."

"Well," she says, "Now you do have time to think about it."

"What will you do?"

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

"... I don't know," she admits. "I... as long as I didn't have a choice, I could live with it, I guess. Or at least pretend that I could live with it, but..."

Kyouka closes her eyes. "She offered me Strike Wolf. I reached out, thinking of all the good I could do again. How I could help my friends."

"How I'd have to fight." She shudders, that sickening feeling running through her body as she clutches protectively at her chest. "And suddenly, all I could think about... was that I could almost die again, and it's ''stupid'', because Jail's goons attacked me and I could've died ''there'', but I didn't, and..."

Another deep shudder. "I should've been strong enough to make that choice, to keep going. Now I don't know what to feel about myself."

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Higashi [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

"...I see."

Setsuna nods. "So as long as you didn't have to think about your feelings, you could ignore them. But now you can't. ...It was like that for me, too. Until I couldn't ignore them anymore."

"Fighting, or not fighting... it's your choice. There's not a 'right' answer like you're saying there is."

"But it sounds like you already know the answer for you."

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

As long as she didn't have to think about her feelings she could ignore them. Kyouka actually blushes a little. "Well when you put it that way..."

Doesn't sound like the healthiest thing, does it?

No right answer... but ''does'' she know the answer for herself? "... I don't know. I thought I did, but... I'm not sure anymore. I hate... I hate letting my friends down, but there's just..." She shivers. "I can still feel it."

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Higashi [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

"Is it a strange way to put it?" Setsuna wonders.

But, "I think... If you're regretting the choice you made so much, maybe that means you wanted the other. But also, I think it was a good idea to try to get her to be more honest with you."

"But only you can decide."

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

"No, it just..." How to explain. "... ignoring your feelings is geeeenerally considered an unhealthy thing to do."

"Maybe? I don't know. It's just... a big complicated mess in my head right now. I hate... being like this, not knowing what to do, what's right. I like being able to know what the right thing is and then to just ''do'' it..."

Kyouka sighs. "That woman is definitely screwing with me though. I just don't know ''why''."

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Higashi [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

"Oh." Pause. "Yes."

But it's a mess, and Kyouka doesn't like it; Setsuna can't really blame that. "I was always sure what the right thing was, back then," Setsuna says. "Back when I was Eas. ...Since then, it's been harder to be sure sometimes."

"...I think you're right. Do you think you can talk to her again?"

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

"Well... you talking with me right now is helping, so... good call there, at least," she offers. "It's... good to know I'm not alone in that experience." She sighs. "I still don't feel like I have answers, but... it does help."

Kyouka shrugs. "I dunno. I kind of though the only thing she wanted from me was Strike Wolf, but with this stunt... I don't know. Maybe they needed a guinea pig or something. I've tried contacting her telapathically before, but... that didn't get me anywhere."

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Higashi [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

"I'm glad." Setsuna smiles briefly and warmly. "I don't have a lot of answers that you wouldn't," she says. "But it always seems easier to me when I can talk about it with someone else."

Then... Hmm. "Well," Setsuna says, "She wants something from you, whatever it is. So that gives you a place to start."

"...I don't want to suggest anything underhanded, but... You could start there, in renegotiations?"

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Kyouka has a brief smile for Setsuna in turn, though hers is a lot more uncertain. "Thanks... I appreciate it."

"She wants ''something'', I just don't know what. And... I don't know what ''I'' want right now either. I... I have a lot of thinking to do, I think... Then I have to figure out if I can even trust her. I think... I think the deal we made is probably off, at this point." Under her breath, she mutters, "Maybe I should go bug her representative and see if she has any ideas where her client is."

She starts to rub her knuckles a bit gingerly, sensation having finally caught up to them. "Ouch... how long was I at this...?"

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Higashi [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Setsuna nods. "I know."

So... "So you have to think more." A pause. "If you know a representative that might be a good idea, too. But if you don't, telepathy might work."

A pause, and Setsuna rises, walking over to the first aid kit. She picks it up and turns back around. "Yes," Setsuna says. "I can use this, or we can go see the nurse. But you have to choose one."

She smiles again.

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

"I'll text her later. If not that then... I dunno. Telepathy didn't work last time and I'm not... ''exactly'' sure what my range is now, without Strike Wolf? Some of the other Mages could probably help, though." She considers that a moment. "It's either that or I wait to run into her while she's being chased by something again."

She considers that for a moment and then sighs, slowly pshing herself up to her feet. "Alright, I'll let you do it. I'd... rather not have to come up with a lie to tell the Nurse about what I was doing."
[[Category: Logs]]

2024-01-26 - Springtime Rain in the Library

2024-01-27T17:52:02Z

Talnora: I'm sure they'll become best of friends.

{|class="toccolours" cellspacing="2"
|-
! style="background:#CC6699; border: 2px #CC0033 solid; font-size: 110%;" align="center" colspan="2" | '''Title: Springtime Rain in the Library'''
|-
|'''Summary''': 
''Ginka is studying in the library, staring wistfully out the window at the rain. Nori notices and comes over to introduce herself.''
|-
| '''Who:''' 
[[Ginka Shimizu]], [[Nori Ankou]]
|-
| '''Where:''' 
Library (Yamanote High City - Ohtori Academy)
|-
| '''OOC - IC Date:''' 
1/26/2024 - Wednesday, May 11, 2016
|-
|}

.******************** Yamanote High City - Ohtori Academy *********************.
*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+* Library +*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*
Ohtori's library would be one of the least architecturally dramatic
buildings on campus, if it wasn't for the fact that the relatively mundane
facade is built around a silo-like glass dome. Polished golden metal braces
support the dome, and the tinted glass keeps the interior dim, since the
electrical lighting is subtle, and tinted purple from the color of the walls
it reflects off of.

Directly below the apex of the dome, on the marble floor of the ground
level, is an exceptional clock, set directly into the floor, its toothed
mechanism partially exposed. No railing prevents approach, but it would be
difficult to fail to notice the spikey hands of the clock. Seen from a
distance or the floors above, the clock's esoteric design is obvious; odd
circles are engraved around its diameter, their arbitrary spacing suggesting
a code or language, and it is dominated by a copper, sunlike circle
inscribed inside an iron pyramid.

The library around this clock is of typical Ohtori calibre, with an
exceptional selection of fragrant old tomes. Several wings have restricted
access, requiring teacher permission to enter, and a few stacks are outright
forbidden to students.

<Pose Tracker> Ginka Shimizu [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

It is an exceptionally drab, dull day today. A thick overcast cast the morning into a soft pallor, dark clouds threatening the advent of inclement weather, and by the time morning classes were underway the rain had started. The entire school day has been subdued: outdoor activities, obviously, were cancelled, leaving the student body cooped inside. But more tan that, the steady drone of rainfall has naturally invited everybody to be just a little bit quieter. There is a constant white noise that melds into the back of one's subconscious without ever fading away completely.

Ginka Shimizu is a new arrival to Ohtori Academy. She has been, by and large, a warm, friendly presence to all those she has met, with a kind smile or an encouraging word for anyone she meets. Long, wavy honey blond hair, warm brown eyes that are flecked with green, and a somewhat exotic set of features--not to mention that she is tall, quite a bit taller than the average. And of course, her appearance is always expertly put together.

But today, on a day like this, she is in a rare mood.

She's staked out a table in the library by a set of overly large, arched windows. Dim outdoor light just barely spills onto the table from outside. Near her there is a dark red raincoat and umbrella on a coat rack nearby that must be hers, and she has added on tights and a sweater to her school uniform for good measure.

The books are all spread out in front of her, but she barely seems to be paying them any mind. Instead, she is staring out the window. her gaze distant. The rain is still pouring as hard as it has been all day, and the seas are churning under the wind and the rain. There is no smile, but instead the barest of pouts, and her eyes are large and maybe very slightly troubled.

It's like she's looking at something far, far beyond the ocean's horizon, something she misses dearly.

Like she's missing her home.

<Pose Tracker> Nori Ankou [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

Is it drab? The sky has a rich textured gray, like selvedge denim, perhaps.

Is it dark? Some would say this level of light is ideal.

Nori Ankou always likes it when it's gray outside. (She wasn't squinting when she was out in the Kappabashi intersection with her transformed eyes, for a joke. It seriously did bug her.)

But today is far from bad.

Nori had been passing through the library, doubtless on some academic task -- a book on Heian-era literature is tucked into the crook of one arm -- when she saw HER: the new girl. The girl with the long hair and the tall look. Probably foreign, at least in part. And yet, she's there, gazing outwards, towards the seashore visible from much of Ohtori.

"Good afternoon," Nori says as she comes up nearer to where the girl is seated -- inwardly congratulating herself at being willing to say so, to a total stranger, heh heh, eat my dust, Nori of Two Years-ish Ago -- "I don't think that we have met... you're a recent transfer, yes? I hope you've been settling in alright. It's quite a complex campus, after all..."

<Pose Tracker> Ginka Shimizu [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

Ginka honestly does not mind the weather all that much, either. It is comforting, in a way, as it does remind her of a place she thinks about fondly. But there are other things that weigh on her deeply, connected to thoughts of that place she remembers fondly, that weighs on her.

Not that she can share such thoughts with others, of course.

She is seated, her cheek resting on her palm, as she watches the waves crashing against the shore.

Nori's voice startles her out of her reverie. Her eyes widen for a brief moment as she realizes she's been seen, and tries to turn to see who's approaching while simultaneously trying to put on that warm, social smile she's put on for everyone else.

It's taking her a moment to fully switch gears.

"Oh! Good afternoon," she says, pleasantly, with a smile that is still warming up. "Oh, yes, I am. Ginka Shimizu. Thank you, and I have, yes. Everyone's simply been lovely, and I've been doing my best to get up to speed on this breathtaking campus. And you are...?"

<Pose Tracker> Nori Ankou [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

Nori is probably a pretty pleasant interruption. Even if she is in her school uniform and has only token makeup on (mostly sunscreen, if we're honest, though she may not even be capable of tanning) she has the side effects of months and months of practice at modelling.

Which means poise, and it means her smile is unusually illuminating. "Welcome to Ohtori, Shimizu~" she says. Her hands have clasped together. "I'm Nori Ankou, and I ''think'' we're in the same grade... And I just want to tell you that this place is delightful once you get to know it. Will you be staying over the summer break? I imagine you had to come here when you came here, but transferring at this part of the year can always be difficult..."

"You see," Nori continues, "people come and they go... sometimes rather abruptly, but there's always a very good reason!"

"Do you mind if I join you for a moment...? I've been trying to find a copy of, hm, I think I wrote down the title," Nori continues, feeling around in her blouse pocket and bringing out a scrap of paper.

Which has ink.

Ink from a fountain pen.

... which has hopelessly smeared despite having been delicate, almost calligraphic kanji for -- some old author's name.

Nori turns it over. "This author -- do you recognize the name...?"

<Pose Tracker> Ginka Shimizu [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

Seeing Nori's dazzling smile makes it easier for Ginka to bring her own smile out--it's a little easier when you have something to mirror, after all. Ginka does not have modeling experience, but she was instructed in poise regardless, and she stands up to be polite as Nori introduces herself. And it might be here that Nori realizes that Ginka can, in fact, look Nori in the eye at the same eye level as her.

"Thank you so much," she says, with her own warm smile. "Enchanté, Ankou-san. And I do believe you're right. There have been so many new people to meet, I simply haven't been able to meet everyone personally yet." She nods, "Ah, yes, I will. The timing ''has'' been a bit awkward, non? To move and then to travel back home so soon after is a bit of an imposition." She sighs, in a way that is both bemoaning her terrible misfortune, but also signaling her acceptance of the situation and her willingness to forge ahead. "But one cannot help these things, sometimes."

People come and go. "I see. I suppose those who abruptly leave must have their own reasons, whether we are privy to them or not."

"Please do," Ginka says, gesturing to a chair and taking her own once more. "It is a rather embarassing state you caught me in, but... well, I have always adored the rain, and the sea. The sound is so soothing, is it not?"

She squints at the smeared Kanji with a throughtful frown, and after a few moments she shakes her head. "I am afraid not... the ink appears to have smudged. Do you remember what the book was about, perhaps?"

<Pose Tracker> Nori Ankou [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

"Oh! Parlezvous francais?" Nori asks, but it's a casual sort of bright spot. She takes a deep breath and lets it out. "Oh - so you're a traveller," she says, with an air of confidence.

"I've never had much of a chance to travel outside of Japan," Nori says as she sets down. "To Hawaii, of course; and I suppose in a sense I have travelled to Tokyo from the north... but..."

"Oh," Nori says about the note.

She looks at the letters.

(Darn, thinks Nori. I was hoping she might be able to make it out.)

"Hm, well... it's a literature class," Nori says, tap-tapping the top of the book she had been carrying. "This has translations into modern Japanese of some writings from the Heian period... I think I'm looking for someone who wrote in... the Kamakura period, immediately after, with the rise of Buddhism and everything. Someone who revisited those old works and compared them to... I'm not sure what."

she didn't pay attention.

"But I'm always glad to get into these books even if it's hard to find the patience to sit down, without a class assignment to guide me," Nori says. "Even if we may not always travel in space, with things like this, it does feel," and here she smiles as if at a private joke, "as if it is possible to travel through time. At least in our thoughts."

"And -- it is," Nori says. "It's very soothing... can you hear it well, from here?" The pit-pat-pit of raindrops, easily. The sea itself? Depends...

<Pose Tracker> Ginka Shimizu [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

"Oui!" exclaims Ginka with a bright smile. But a traveller? "Oh, yes, but only a little. The occasional holiday with my parents. Their business interests take them abroad quite frequently, you see."

"I'm from Kyoto, originally, myself."

She looks at interest as Nori indicates the book. "You're a fan of literature?" she asks, conversationally. "How wonderful. Well, if the author was mentioned in class--may I?" she asks, reaching for the note.

She starts going back through her own notes, trying to match up the smudged Kanji with several possible authors that were mentioned. She turns the notebook to show Nori, which reveals that her handwriting is neat and precise. "Was it one of these?"

Travelling through time... "What a wonderful sentiment. There are some poets I am rather fond of," she says, with another of those oh-I-am-so-busy-but-what-can-you-do sighs, "the demands on one's time can be rather formidable, can they not?"

"Oh the rain, certainly, but the sea... well, I shall have to imagine that, from here."

<Pose Tracker> Nori Ankou [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

"Oh! How beautiful," Nori says with a widening of her eyes. "Kyoto is gorgeous - and you would have been able to see it each and every day... Ah, it must have been wonderful. And to go overseas too!" Her lips pooch down.

"My father's business is almost wholly in the country," Nori sighs. "Crabbing... it feels so pedestrian, sometimes."

Only at Ohtori could you pout about such things.

After this, she turns the note over happily. "Of course," she says. "And hm, well, I don't know if I'm a ''fan'' fan, but I enjoy the class... it took me a little while, I suppose perhaps I had to grow, but I can appreciate the feeling underneath so many of these words."

She tilts her head. "Oh!" she says. "I think it wasssss..."

Nori points. "Him!"

She jots down the name, which your author will not look up because there are limits to everything. "And yes, they can be quite demanding," Nori half-sighs. "I miss spending more time on campus, even if I suppose my, hm, part time job is really quite rewarding~."

She doesn't clarify on this. "Speaking of which," she adds, "Have you met Utena-san? Long hair, sakura pink in most light... she's really quite a regal person, and I'm sure if you need anything at all to help you feel at home here, she'd be the one to talk to. (I'd offer myself but I live off campus.)"

<Pose Tracker> Ginka Shimizu [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

"Oh yes, it is quite lovely, though I am finding that Tokyo has its charms, as well. The Rainbow Bridge, for instance, is simply magnifique."

"Oh, Ankou-san, do not be so down on yourself. I am sure your father does very well for himself. And crabbing sounds delicious." She leans in, as if about to share a secret, and also lowers her voice. "To tell the truth... my mother is in the business of baked goods."

"It is nice to find something that truly speaks to you, c'est-ne pas?" Ginka smiles as Nori finds the name and hands the original note back. "Oh? A part-time job? And what is it that engages the attention of one Miss Nori Ankou, if I may ask?"

"Utena-san..." Ginka taps her chin with a finger as she contemplates that. "Ah, do you mean Utena Tenjou? The girl that dresses rather daringly and fetchingly in a boy's uniform? I have not had the pleasure of her acquaintance, though I could scarcely fail to notice her. Everyone has been so lovely but I will indeed seek her out as soon as I am able."

<Pose Tracker> Nori Ankou [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

"It's a legitimate line of business," Nori pouts (nonetheless), "but sometimes it just feels, I suppose, pedestrian? And yet..."

She smiles, wanly.

And then less wanly. "Oh," she says, raising her eyebrows. "Is she a baker or a patissier...? Now I'm quite curious. But," Nori says with a hand covering her mouth, "well, I suppose we haven't had a campaign in the last little bit so it's understandable but about a year ago you would have --"

"Here, I'll show you a photo," Nori says, as she searches. "And yes! You know, I've never asked her about that, but even so, you should say hello to her. Her, roommate, is a very remarkable person as well."

hm interesting pause there

"ah, here we are!"

Nori turns her phone to show some photos.

These images are from sample posters''stickers''logotypes which can be found in finer detail at...

https://battlefantasia.pinksugarheartattack.net/AoAka

Her eyes half lid and her cheeks color just a bit.

<Pose Tracker> Ginka Shimizu [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

"It is only as pedestrian as you allow it to be, Akou-san," says Ginka, by way of encouragement. She has an awful lot of encouragement, it seems.

"I believe she started as a patissier, though she is rather less involved in that part of the business, these days. Still, she seems quite happy with her success."

"Maybe I shall ask, then. Whatever the reason, she certainly wears it well." She nods as Nori mentions the roommate. "Then I shall endeavor to make their acquaintance as well."

"Hmm?" She looks at the photos, with interest, though her eyes widen a little as she recognizes one of the models. "Why..." a sharp little intake of breath. "... you are simply ''stunning''."

<Pose Tracker> Nori Ankou [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

"Oh, you're too kind," Nori says, but she says it in a way that suggests she is basking in it. "We have a line in several of the shops - there's quite the generous discount, but!" she says, raising an index finger, "You have to pick a side~."

("Though I encourage you to pick the one you like best, I won't be offended at all if Aohime suits you better. Think of it as a way to better build a personal image! ... Of course, you may already have one, you carry yourself quite well. In which case, just browse for any pieces you like!")

"Oof - I want to hear all about these pastries - but I think that I have to move along, Shimizu-san," Nori continues. "It's lovely to meet you, though!"

She really does seem like a nice person, Nori thinks. I wonder why she came to Ohtori from Kyoto?

<Pose Tracker> Ginka Shimizu [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

"Nonsense!" exclaims Ginka. "Oh? Well then, I shall have to seek them out." But a catch... "Oh, how interesting!"

"You wear it so well, how could I help but choose Akai Mirai? It never hurts to explore new ideas with expressing one's self, does it not? Perhaps, when the weather is better, I shall make a trip to see the styles for myself."

"Certainly, I will be more than happy to tell you about them another time. I should return to my studies as well, I fear. Good luck finding the book you were seeing though, Ankou-san. It was quite lovely meeting you. I would love to talk again sometime."

She tries to restart her studies, but slowly, inexorably, finds her attention drawn back to the rain and the sea.
[[Category: Logs]]

2024-01-23 - A Moment of Reflection

2024-01-24T04:52:37Z

Talnora: New city, new challenges.

{|class="toccolours" cellspacing="2"
|-
! style="background:#CC6699; border: 2px #CC0033 solid; font-size: 110%;" align="center" colspan="2" | '''Title: A Moment of Reflection'''
|-
|'''Summary''': 
''After dispatching a Cardiax and meeting magical girls (including a Siren she is now in competition with), Ginka returns to her dorm after classes let out to reflect with Coraline on what she's learned.''
|-
| '''Who:''' 
[[Ginka Shimizu]], [[Ginka Shimizu#Coralie|Coralie]]
|-
| '''Where:''' 
Ginka's Dorm at Ohtori Academy
|-
| '''OOC - IC Date:''' 
01/23/2024 - Tuesday, May 10, 2016
|-
|}
[[Category:Cutscenes]]

Ginka let out a satisfied sigh as she stepped into her dorm room after school. Fighting a Cardiax certainly provided a break from the monotony of the school day, but even so, it was just as well that it had been resolved quickly. Her studies were important, after all. But for her reputation and for her future prospects as a Queen of the Sea of Tears.

Still, it could have been resolved ''faster''...

The dorm room, of course, was tastefully appointed and very spacious. After closing the door behind her and kicking off her shoes she called out, with a slightly singsong lilt, "Coralie! I'm back!" She didn't see her anywhere, but had a feeling she knew where she'd be.

She entered her bedroom and smiled as she saw the sea mink stretched out luxuriously in the sunlight of a bay window. Her glossy red-brown coat caught the sunlight as Ginka approached. Coralie was reading a book spread out before her, and when she looked up, her dark brown eyes glistened with intelligence.

"Welcome back, Ginka," she said in a warm voice. She rose to all fours and made a leap into Ginka's waiting arms, then climbed up to her shoulders to drape across them. "How did it go?" She didn't mean the classes.

"Mmm. Well..." Ginka threw herself onto her bed, on her back, staring up at the ceiling. She was still in her Ohtori uniform, and she crossed her legs as she considered. "I killed it, but..." She made a face. "I was too slow. There were three other magical girls fighting it by the time I got there."

Coralie leapt off of Ginka's shoulders as she threw herself onto the bed, landing on the pillow next to where her head was about to fall. She sat up, looking down at Ginka with concern. "Did something happen?"

Ginka sighed and shook her head briefly, closing her eyes. "No, not really. I just need to get better at navigating Tokyo, that's all." She frowned. "I should have gotten there faster. I don't like leaving my responsibilities to others."

"A temporary setback, dear. You can't expect to have as complete mastery of Tokyo as you did Kyoto, after all. We'll take some trips this weekend to familiarize ourselves with the city better."

"I know, Coralie." Ginka drew in a long, slow breath and then let it out just as slowly. "I still managed to deal the killing blow, but... I'm not letting the next one get away from me."

Coralie considered that for a moment. "Well, how did the other magical girls fare?"

There was a long, silent moment as Ginka replayed the events in her head. "Acceptable. They got the man out of the way and even put a protective shield over him, but they let the Cardiax run loose for far too long. The street was a mess. Still, they did get it to reveal its true form. I think they would have resolved it without me."

"Well, well." The mink curled up on the pillow, watching Ginka. "What else did you learn about them?"

"Mmm... I think one of them was a Puella Magi. She called herself Mami Tomoe. She actually kept her temper when I tried to provoke her." Ginka smiled at that. "And she has a way with words. I think I rather like her." The smile vanished. "She's probably best avoided, however. She seems to fight with long-range tactics, and if I can't bait her into making a mistake, that might leave me at a disadvantage."

"We should find out where her territory is, then."

The siren nodded. "I was thinking about that. I'll have to look around. See if I run into her or spot some wraiths."

Coralie nodded slowly. "Yes. That may be wise. What of the other two?"

Ginka laughed softly. "Oh, the second one calls herself Sailor Mars. She seems to use fire magic, and I think I saw an ofuda in her hands at one point. Fiery personality to match. Very easy to provoke. Why, she almost slapped me!" She should have been horrified by that, but instead she just sounded amused.

She rolled to her side to face Coralie, propping her head with an arm. "But the last one, Coralie... it seems we have found another of our dear cousins. La Sirene de Diamant."

Coralie sat up at that. "Mm. This could prove tricky, then. What was your impression of her?"

Covering her mouth politely, Ginka chuckled softly for a moment before letting it drop to continue with a full-bellied laugh. "Oh, oh Coralie! You should have ''seen'' her face! She was so perplexed, when I dropped in and finished it off at the last moment. She could hardly speak!"

The mink smiled and laid back down again. "Well you certainly ''do'' know how to make an entrance, dear. How did she do, fighting the Cardiax?"

Ginka took a moment to consider the question. "Not bad, honestly. She's been at this for a while, but... I don't think she's been at it as long as I have. She had someone with her advising her, who seemed knowledgeable. A sea otter. So it seems she's still reliant on frontline support. If it were just me and Diamant, I don't think I'd have anything to be concerned about."

"But...?" prompted Coralie.

"She's made allies. Mami Tomoe and Sailor Mars were quick to jump to her defense, and she was quick to praise them as well. There's probably others, given the number of magical girls I've seen around. She may not be up to my level, but she has support."

"I see... then we should be careful about confronting them directly."

Ginka nodded. "I agree. Provoking them all to see how they reacted was fun, but I probably shouldn't do that again." A smirk crept its way onto her features. "Well, not ''too'' often, at least."

Coralie chuckled softly. "Perhaps not. Did you learn anything else?"

The siren rolled back onto her back, draping her forearm across her forehead. "Mm. Well, if what they said is true... they only average one Cardiax a month, sometimes two."

That news made Coralie sit up again, eyes widening in surprise. "That's quite low. Do you think it was a bluff?"

"Not sure. It's possible, I suppose, but... they'd know we could sense them just as well as they could. Even if they caught us off guard a few times, it wouldn't take us very long to catch on."

Coralie's brow furrowed in thought. "Then... we shall have to prepare our own plans, non?"

Silence lulled in the air for a moment before Ginka nodded. "Bien sûr."

"Is something wrong, dear?" Coralie uncurled herself, slinking up to nose at Ginka's cheek.

The girl sighed and reached up to pet Coralie's back. "Not exactly, just... There's a lot more going on here than I'm used to. More types of magical girls I've never seen before, new creatures with new plots. I'll have to be in top form if I want to survive here."

"My dear, I have seen you overcome every challenge set before you. I have every confidence you will do the same here. And don't forget, I am by your side."

Ginka turned her head to face Coralie. The smile she wore for her friend was warm and genuine, and she leaned in to touch her nose against Coralie's for a brief moment. "Yes, of course. I'll be counting on you, as always."

She stood up with a stretch, "Right then. Let's get to work." She stepped behind a screen to get changed.

Coralie scampered back over to the bay window, where she picked up a tiny notepad and pencil. "Certainly. Did you find any new leads today?"

From behind the screen, Ginka smiled. "You know, I spent my lunch chatting with this charming boy who was in the culinary arts club, and he was telling me about a big event they were preparing for..."

2024-01-22 - Tense Negotiations

2024-01-22T20:17:44Z

Talnora: Old wounds cast long shadows.

{|class="toccolours" cellspacing="2"
|-
! style="background:#CC6699; border: 2px #CC0033 solid; font-size: 110%;" align="center" colspan="2" | '''Title: Tense Negotiations'''
|-
|'''Summary''': 
''Akari realizes she may need additional assistance, and tries to make an enticing offer to Kyouka.''
|-
| '''Who:''' 
Akari, Strike Wolf, [[Kyouka Okazaki]]
|-
| '''Where:''' 
Shitimachi Residential Area
|-
| '''OOC - IC Date:''' 
01/22/2024 - Thursday, April 16, 2016
|-
|}
[[Category:Cutscenes]]

The background drone of conversation drifted through the restaurant like a gently rolling fog, chased by an ethereal strand of piano notes. Large, floor-to-ceiling windows made up all four walls of the restaurant, affording an excellent view of the nighttime skyline. Plush back carpet helped dampened the sound, and the soft, low lightning lead a measure of privacy to the whole affair. ... Not to mention the subtle magic charms to prevent eavesdropping woven into the fabric of the building.

Most people might miss them. But not Akari. She could just barely smell them, hidden behind a gentle veil of illusory magic though they were.

She had taken on one of her more useful guises for this meeting. Mister White, a middle-aged man with long brown hair, fine features, and an always-immaculate white suit. It was an alias, it was ''obviously'' an alias, but that was how these types of meetings typically went. She had switched Strike Wolf to a much more sensible pendant form, and the device hung from her neck beneath her shirt, hidden and out of sight.

Across from her sat a small, unpleasant man, dressed in a precisely tailored suit and wearing exactly one too many gold rings for good taste. Not that Akari would say that to his face, of course. It wouldn't do to insult her host.

Akari had endured a three-course meal, making small talk about nothing and everything all at once. (It was, as always, lovely, and honestly the highlight of her trips here, but always a prelude to the main conversation that followed it.) And then, once the plates had been cleared and the wine glasses refilled, they had started on the negotiations.

There was a familiarity to the back and forth, as they discussed and haggled on what could or could not be obtained. It was mostly a formality. This was not the type of negotiation where surprises were welcome, save for the 'expected' ones that were part of the back and forth.

"... of course," said the man, "what you're asking for doesn't come easy."

The last-minute upcharge. It never failed. Mister White put on an easy, congenial smile. "Why of course not. And in exchange for the generous expenditure of your time, my employer is prepared to offer you a finder's fee. Will the usual suffice?"

The other man smiled a grin that, much like the rings, had exactly two too many teeth in it for good taste. "This is why I like dealing with you."

He made a subtle hand gesture, and a waiter materialized from seemingly nowhere. He looked like any of the countless others that had passed them by that night, save for one important distinction: he wasn't human.

But then again, neither was his host.

Mister White silently held up the briefcase he had brought, and the waiter took it smoothly without comment. They chatted for a few more moments, and then the not-waiter (it could have been the same or a different one, Akari was never quite certain with them), appeared holding another briefcase. It was offered to Mister White, who silently accepted it.

He offered another smile to the other man, moving to stand up. "As always, it is a pleasure doing business with you."

The other man did not rise, but did nod and offer another of those too-wide grins. "Of course. Come back any time."

Mister White quickly left the restaurant. One quick dimensional shift and a shedding of a disguise later, Akari stepped into her apartment while heaving a sigh of relief. She rushed to sit down on the aging couch, opening the briefcase and checking the contents.

It was all there, exactly as she had asked for.

As for what would come next...

From around her neck, Strike Wolf's inactive form, a purple five-sided gem, chimed with an inner light as he spoke. {{Strike Wolf|<Heart rate in excess of one hundred beats per minute detected. Cortisol levels are highly-->}}

"Shut it!" snapped Akari, slamming the briefcase closed. "I ''know'' what I'm doing."

There was a long silence in the cramped studio apartment as Akari put the briefcase beside her and silently fumed.

After a time, Strike Wolf spoke again. {{Strike Wolf|<Available assistance limited without full synchronization. Increasing probability of success will require-->}}

"Don't," interrupted the foxwoman. "Just..."

Akari groaned and slumped on the couch, holding a hand to cover her face. After a long moment of intense internal debate she sighed. "... Fine. We'll try it your way."

----

It was easy enough to find that girl. Strike Wolf knew her usual routes home, after all. Akari frowned as she observed the girl from a nearby rooftop. Her tails twitched in agitation as she thought over everything she had seen of her in action, and everything she had witnessed through Strike Wolf's logs.

"You sure about this?" she muttered.

{{Strike Wolf|<Affirmative.>}}

Akari scowled. "I'd better not regret this. I'll give this a shot, but you let ''me'' do all the talking, got it?"

The device was silent for a moment before he finally acknowledged the command with a simple {{Strike Wolf|<Affirmative.>}}

A bright green magic circle appeared under Akari's feet, and she vanished with a soft flash of light.

----

Kyouka hummed to herself as she walked home from school. She was still in her school uniform, a pair of earbuds in her ears, and a bag full of groceries in one hand. She was already planning out her afternoon. Feed Wolfy and take him for a walk, dinner prep, and in between... yes, she could probably get a couple of assignments done. And after dinner... maybe see if Yumi-chan wanted to hang out for a bit.

Yeah, that'd work.

She stopped, as something tickled at the edge of her senses.

''Magic.''

And it was close.

Her entire body tensed as she yanked her earbuds out of her ears, letting them dangle by her side. Tinny music blared from the dangling earbuds as she slowly canned her surroundings. Not many other people on the street--this was good, because it meant less people might be in danger, but also bad, since it meant less eyewitness for someone to worry about.

Kyouka tried to latch onto the magic residing within her linker core, to tease it out, hold it ready to do... something. She could cast a protection spell or a barrier, but would either be enough?

It would be a lot easier if her heart wasn't pounding so hard.

Akari stepped out from around a corner. She had hidden her animal features, and was dressed in a simple black dress and flats, with a white lab coat. Kyouka whirled around to face her, and Akari held up her hands in a placating gesture. "Please, Miss Okazaki. There is no need to be alarmed. May we talk?"

It was only then that Kyouka realized she'd slipped into a fighting posture: Legs spread for stability, right arm drawn back in preparation to strike. She forced herself to take a deep breath and stood back up again. One hand reached into her pocket to pause her phone before stuffing it and her earbuds back into it.

Kyouka studied the other woman, eyes narrowing. "You want to talk? ''Now?'' It's been a month! What happened to our deal, huh?"

Akari's smile vanished for a moment as she nodded. "You are right, of course. It has been far too long, and for that, I offer our most sincere apologies." She bowed deeply to Kyouka before standing upright again. "Please understand, with our lab having been compromised, reestablishing security has been something of a priority for us. It would not do for Strike Wolf to be stolen a second time."

"I guess that sounds reasonable," said Kyouka slowly as she considered that. Something about that struck her as being a bit off, but... she couldn't point a finger at anything specific. Maybe it was just her jumpiness getting the best of her. "So... how is he?"

Slipping her hands back into her lab coat pockets, Akari's smile returned, bright and cheerful. "I'm happy to report that Strike Wolf is doing just fine. There were some minor underlying structural issues we were able to correct, and Strike Wolf should operate just fine. We haven't been able to commence with completion, but..." She sighed, softly. "... these thighs take time, as I'm sure you can imagine."

"Yeah, I guess..."

"But I'm afraid I do not have only good news to share," said Akari, her smile fading into a grim expression. "We have lost contact with Strike Wolf's intended partner. At present, we do not have anyone capable of forming a partnership with him. This leaves Strike Wolf somewhat vulnerable."

Kyouka drew in a sharp breath. "But... can't you and your master unlock his full potential?"

"We have full access to all of Strike Wolf's functionality, certainly, however, we were not his intended partners, so we are not fully compatible users for Strike Wolf."

"So... what are you planning to do, then?"

"Actually, that's where you come in."

The teenager blinked as she processed that. "W-wait. Are you saying what I think you're saying?"

Akari nodded. "Yes, Miss Okazaki. We need someone who can utilize Strike Wolf's potential--and someone whose full potential Strike Wolf is capable of unlocking--to help keep him safe. While it may be possible there are, and I mean no offense, more experienced mages who could be compatible with Strike Wolf, none of them would have the personal experience working with Strike Wolf that you have. Given that such a search could take considerable time, as well, and... we believe that at this time, you would be the most suitable person to wield Strike Wolf."

Kyouka was stunned into silence. She'd get to work with Strike Wolf again... it was almost too good to be true.

No, it was exactly too good to be true.

She stared Akari in the eyes. "What's the catch? You put up all this fuss before, and now suddenly you're turning to ''me'' for help? I don't buy it."

"There is no 'catch', Miss Okazaki," said Akari gently. "However, we would like to establish something of a... working relationship. We all have a vested interest in Strike Wolf's safety and continued operation, do we not?

"What we are proposing is that we support both you and Strike Wolf, and in exchange, you assist us with various matters. Testing Strike Wolf's capabilities, helping us recover other stolen property, or providing protection when relevant. We won't take up all your time, of course; we have no wish to detract from your studies, of course."

Akari slipped the necklace holding Strike Wolf's standby form up over her head, and held it out to Kyouka. The purple gem glinted in the afternoon sun. "What do you say?"

That all seemed reasonable enough. An exchange of services.

Her hand started to lift.

Think of all the good she could do. The people she could help. She could support her friends again, and not be a liability.

Strike Wolf was almost within her grasp.

She'd have to fight again.

From the depths of her doubts and uncertainties, something cold and clammy--''five'' somethings, in fact--suddenly burst out and wrapped themselves around her heart. They squeezed tightly, and suddenly Kyouka was short of breath. Her heart was pounding and the rest of the world seemed to fade for a moment. The hand that had been about to accept Strike Wolf withdrew, going to her chest instead as she recoiled.

Kyouka stumbled a few steps back, gasping for air.

Akari frowned, still holding up Strike Wolf. "Miss Okazaki, are you quite alright?"

"W-wait," Kyouka managed to choke out. She closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. She forced her nerves to steady, as best as she could, and with several more breaths her heart finally calmed down. No, it was still jittery, but she could breathe. Her mind was racing now, though, and replaying every part of the conversation back in crystal clear detail.

"Wait," she said again, more firmly, though there was a tremor in her voice that she couldn't quite squash. "If... ''If'' I'm going to do this... I want to speak with your master."

The other woman's frown deepened. "I assure you, Miss Okazaki, that I am duly authorized to speak on my Master's behalf."

Kyouka frantically shook her head. "No. If we do this, we make it official. I deserve to meet her if we're going to be working together."

Akari's expression grew more strained. "My sincerest apologies, but as I am sure you are aware, the dimensional tremors will make that exceedingly difficult, if not impossible to arrange."

"Video, then. Or telepathy," insisted Kyouka. "''You're'' still in touch with them, after all."

"W-well, yes, of course, but--" Akari started to protest.

"Then you can arrange for me to speak with her."

Akari's left eye twitched. "If you want some assurances that things are on the up-and-up, I'm sure Strike Wolf would be more than willing to do so."

Strike Wolf remained silent, hanging from the end of the necklace cord.

Kyouka watched her former partner in silence. "You haven't said a word this entire time, Strike Wolf." Her gaze switched to Akari. "What did you do to him?"

It was Akari's turn to take a step back from Kyouka's accusatory glare. "Why--nothing, I promise. Strike Wolf is perfectly fine, I promise. Aren't you?"

There was another tense moment of silence as Strike Wolf failed to respond.

Snorting in disgust, Kyouka turned away. "I don't know what you've done to him, but if you want any kind of deal, get me a meeting with your Master. Until then, I'm not falling for whatever game you're playing." She walked away, leaving a flabbergasted Akari sputtering on the street.

A moment later Akari vanished in a flash of light.

----

"Augh!" exclaimed Akari, slamming the door behind her as she entered her dingy studio apartment. "What is ''with'' that girl!?" She looked down to Strike Wolf, who hanging around her neck again. "And a fat load of help ''you'' were. What happened out there!?"

After a moment to process the order, Strike Wolf's device form lit up as he spoke, {{Strike Wolf|<Conflicting directives issued.>}}

"Conflicting!?" Akari paused in her pacing to stare down at the gem-like form of Strike Wolf. "I ''told' you, very clearly, to back me up!"

{{Strike Wolf|<Directive 1: 'Let you do all the talking.'>}}

Akari's jaw went slack as she stared in disbelief. Finally a low growl sounded from the back of her throat. "Are. You. ''Serious''!?"

{{Strike Wolf|<Affirmative.>}}

Letting out a growl of frustration, Akari stomped over to a small, yellowing refrigerator and pulled out a pint of ice cream. She then threw herself onto the couch and started to dig in, muttering to herself.

Fine. If she couldn't get that brat to support her, she would just have to handle things herself.

2024-01-20 - Making it Big in Asakusa

2024-01-21T05:37:30Z

Talnora: Argent has clearly read 'How to Win Friends and Influence People'.

{|class="toccolours" cellspacing="2"
|-
! style="background:#CC6699; border: 2px #CC0033 solid; font-size: 110%;" align="center" colspan="2" | '''Title: Making it Big in Asakusa'''
|-
|'''Summary''': 
''Nori and her friends respond to the threat of a Cardiax worm. They almost have it sortd, when a newcomer makes herself (and her intentions) known.''
|-
| '''Who:''' 
[[Nori Ankou|La Sirene du Diamant]], [[Mami Tomoe]], [[Rei Hino|Sailor Mars]], [[Ginka Shimizu|La Siren d'Argent]]
|-
| '''Where:''' 
Asakusa Traditional District (Tokyo - Shitamachi Low City)
|-
| '''OOC - IC Date:''' 
1/20/2024 - Tuesday, May 10, 2016
|-
|}

.************************ Tokyo - Shitamachi Low City *************************.
*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+* Asakusa Traditional District +*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+
The heart of Shitamachi, Asakusa is an emblem of tradition and street
culture. Once, this was the city's foremost pleasure district, a place for
entertainment, music, and parties. Left behind by rebuilding and
modernization, today it is famous instead for its temples and shrines. With
Ueno's parks to the west, the slow waters of the Sumida River to the east,
and plenty of old-fashioned buildings, Asakusa is scenic and colorful.
Sightseeing and temple visits bring a lot of traffic, and it's one of the
few places in Tokyo that rickshaw drivers and (a small handful of) geisha
can call home.

Asakusa is not, however, merely a historic district or tourist spot. It's
very much a living part of the city, with department stores, apartment
complexes, and corporate offices. The street life is lively, with many
storefronts spilling out well into the street. More traditional street
markets are available near the temple districts, too, with stalls that sell
handmade goods, local food, and religious charms. Interaction feels a bit
easier here than in most of the city; it's certainly no small town, but
there's something of a personable, mid-twentieth century ease to the urban
bustle.

"ALRIGHT!!!" shouts the man standing in the middle of the Kappabashi intersection.

Except, perhaps, that it is not a man at all.

Getting to this man was difficult. The intersection was jammed up - not that rare in Tokyo even if it's usually transient. Approaching the intersection would reveal a subtle scent to those who have eyes to see. Or a nose to sniff, that is to say.

A grotesque smell, lurking in between what might be taken as the dust and haze of jackhammers and construction, or the burnt smell of a recently extinguished fire. The storm of a Cardiax: and what swirls is not rain, of course, or tears, or sand, or any of a thousand other possible things. It is instead a smell of something prosaic, perhaps even familiar:

The scent of cheap chargrilled yakitori, half-eaten and left to cool into something rancid.

But like many storms, this one has an eye. And it faces, not on a darkling night or a high vaulted ceiling, but a bright early afternoon with clear blue May sky up above.

Like many - most? - of the Cardiax in their early stages of manifestation, the man seems to be twins. The one who stands in the middle of the road, grinning as he faces those who strive against him, and the other one, slumped against a fire hydrant at one corner of the intersection. The fallen one is mute, unconscious beyond suffering but certainly alive.

They have the same face and the same shape: A man in his late forties, unmarried, wearing a suit that doesn't fit. An expressive and care-lined face, but not a weathered one. The face of a man who's strived hard to do his best to entertain you -- you may have seen him on the TV, here and there, perhaps in passing as you left the house and saw Mama or Papa or big brother watching the morning variety shows.

AND DID WE SAY VARIETY SHOWS?

The talent man always dreamed of running his own. But he never could.

It wasn't his fault. He had what it took. He ALWAYS had what it took.

And you will understand WHY.

A devilishly cunning Cardiax, leaping up and down and vaulting along part of Kappabashi - forcing pursuit - he helps himself to the contents of stores as he swings past. Restaurant pans and pots hurled and banged! Wax and plastic food samples set out for people to "try". Lanterns and signs hurled! He may not have broken into TV entertainment, but his sorrow has flexible and agile with a rictus-grin and a high-energy presentation.

Striking blows against him all but demands you play along with his game.

But however it happened, the great run up and down Kappabashi ended up where it began - running in circles, just like his life. And as has always seemed to happen with the sorrow-bloated otherworldly parasites, the form of that man faded away, and in the seething storm of rancid bar food and unwept regrets, the great worm rose upwards -- six meters long, with a pair of wickedly-jagged jaws resting, hideously out of proportion for a small and pathetic mouth positioned quite poorly. Hideous but iridescent scales make it almost painful to look at, managing somehow to be a single color in a thousand different shades. A muddy and filthy color.

The Cardiax screams, the pretense of humanity gone.

-=-=-=-

OOC:
Welcome! This scene is not a conventional combat scene.

For your first pose, frame things as a montage of how you got here -- probably sneaking out of class -- and your own contributions to the struggle against the Cardiax before it revealed its true wormy form. Ideally, you will conclude at the point where you're getting ready for your big and flashy finale --

But don't pose FIRING your finisher!

If you have any questions, ask Nori. And speaking of Nori...

<Pose Tracker> Nori Ankou [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

THIS MORNING:

"Cousin," said Batiste as he dips a cracker in his little bowl of reheated vegetable soup which is the primary course of today's elegant breakfast, "I have scented something..."

"Oh?" said Nori, still in her night shirt. She leaned forward, slurping some of the hot soup. (Her own share of crackers were spread as an elegant crust atop the stormy vegetable sea.)

"I think... but I am not sure... there may be another Cardiax rising. And not far away."

"Should I skip class?" said Nori, perhaps a little too eagerly.

Batiste pointed a cracker at her. "No! A queen needs mastery of all knowledge to command the myriad isles, you know that. I also am concerned about your long term career prospects."

"It's too early to have that talk," pouts the model, before slurping up a little more soup.

"If it becomes worse, I will tell you," Batiste affirms. "I am sure you won't mind skipping out of class."

10:24 AM, DURING A LITERATURE CLASS

Nori's phone buzzes. A glance down.

> it became worse! 
> i think... kanda station 
> i'll meet you there

A glance up. Nori's eyes turn left, then right. When the teacher turns to write an ancient kanji in elegant chalkboard technique, she sneaks towards the door. Once safely in the hall, she sends out texts...

Which may be how YOU found out about this.

AT THE STATION

Batiste is standing on top of a cold drinks machine. "Hello, everyone -- hurry!" He hops on Nori's shoulder, a stole of guidance.

SOON, AFTER CROSSING THE BRIDGE INTO ASAKUSA:

La Sirene de Diamant, fresh from her transformation, shades her eyes against the bright sunlight. "Why did it get brighter...?"

EVEN SO --

La Sirene is swift but is not quite as agile as some of her peers. She has taken great vaulting leaps - Mami may recall one in particular - but for the pursuit of the Cardiax, she kept to the street, which has fortunately emptied out, due to the """roadwork""" discouraging foot traffic.

Bursts of the glimmeringly luminous abyssal 'light' that surrounds her snap upwards, trying to pin the Cardiax down. While she is, at least, able to cut the creature off, the only time she scores a good telling blow is when he threw several tables into the road and started explaining something about hurdle jumps when he was in school.

The Cardiax was struck.

La Sirene did not leap over the tables in time.

Someone as gracious as she never looks *ridiculous*, as such; but she did sprawl out on the ground, the diamonds on her uniform leaving peculiar scrapings in the Kappabashi pavement before she could regain her feet. The Cardiax, afterwards, makes a big "X" with his arms.

"I didn't ask you!!" cries la Sirene, at the creature.

The creature makes the big "X" again.

<Pose Tracker> Mami Tomoe [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

Mami Tomoe would never--

No, that would be a lie. Mami Tomoe would ''definitely'' skip class for magical business, and is doing so today. She got a text and quietly slipped out of the classroom and just didn't go back, making an elegant egress from the educational estate.

NOW...

"La Sirene!" Mami Tomoe calls in alarm as she sees her fall. Mami hops down from her perch, where she'd been taking potshots at the Cardiax to keep it off-balance while waiting for La Sirene to do her thing. She is dressed gloriously as ever, in her Puella Magi attire complete with flower pin, and she points a rifle at the Cardiax.

"To repeat oneself unduly is ''very'' rude," Mami declares, and then looks to her friend, "Are you all right? I think we need to reconsider our strategy..."

<Pose Tracker> Rei Hino [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

It ''was'' a pleasant Tuesday morning, before Rei saw a crow perched on the windowsill of her Social Studies class, a rap-tap-tapping on her classroom door. (Window. A window is just a door for birds.)

She made an excuse to the teacher, and snuck outside, and that's when she got a ''text'' to explain Deimos's strange behaviour --

"What kind of warped question is this?!" Sailor Mars cries, as she ''loses at a riddle.'' "I ''could have gotten that!!''" All she's gotten is significant morale damage over the thought that maybe her head is as empty as a blonde.

Really, it's almost a ''relief'' when the Cardiax reaches the next stage. Except, of course, for --

"Agahhh!!!" Sailor Mars goes flying, as that worm makes a big 'X'. She lands on her heeled feet, but it's a bare thing, her arms flailing. "How am I still getting the questions wrong when it ''keeps looping?!''"

It seems she's about to unleash Hell because her morale is almost guttered.

She ''hates'' losing in public.

(And in private, too.)

<Pose Tracker> Nori Ankou [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

Whatever cruel jibes the Cardiax made when it wore a human form are written on the wind. In the end, the Cardiax can't achieve whatever the original could not. And while that man has many virtues, drowned as they were in sorrow...

He wasn't the Memorable One Liner guy, except by accident, which can be anybody.

But despite the best efforts of the worm-as-man, the three of them prevailed against it. Not easily, and certainly with plenty of suffering; La Sirene de Diamant had to stumble at least once more, and Sailor Mars may be feeling the irritating burn of being snapped at by quiz questions and other things, unfairly suggesting her to have an internal pressure void for a head!

But that's over now.

The Cardiax, revealed, has little to say, but plenty to scream.

Over its high pitched and ululating clamor, la Sirene calls to Mami, "If we box it in, can you hit it with the big --" She makes a rifle-shooty gesture with her hands as the Cardiax's raising volume makes talking aloud difficult.

La Sirene looks then towards Sailor Mars. As she does it, she unfastens her glove. Nodding once, she hurls the bejeweled glove forwards, leaving it sprawling in the Kappabashi street. The discarded treasure gleams faintly; in this bright daylight, it's LESS obvious, but a ripple of un-light cycles between her and the glove as the Cardiax leans that way, doubtless preparing for a sweep attack that would smite them all -- and perhaps the helpless man besides. (Hopefully someone put him, like, against a wall somewhere.)

La Sirene raises her bare white hand to her forehead, smiling faintly even as her fingers veil her eyes from view. The Cardiax reels somewhat from where it struck that light, jaws gaping as strange black eyes turn downwards towards the heroines arrayed against it.

A second pair of jaws slip into that useless little mouth. Oh: it had more of them.

The Cardiax rears up, glaring furiously at them. And the Cardiax seems to settle on MAMI TOMOE, perhaps because she is not laden with either abyssal light or the spiritual power of Sailor Mars. The creature twists, head arcing forwards, and surge towards --

<Pose Tracker> La Sirene d'Argent [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

There is, from behind the Cardiax, a blur of motion, a glimmer of something flashing bright in the midday sun, the faintest whip-thin sound of something slicing through the air.

And then all of a sudden the Cardiax freezes in place, mouth open in a bellow of pain that never comes.

Through its belly sticks something shiny and silver and sharp, shimmering with a pale white light.

The great worm trembles for a moment, as energy ripples within it. Violently it shudders, bulging a bit as it swells more and more. And finally, when the entire thing is bloated and cannot possibly contain anymore

It explodes.

Sorrow-made flesh transmutes into saltwater, the bitterest of tears of a life unfulfilled and left wanting being released back to the man who spawned them, for better or for worse. And as she worm dissolves, it becomes clear what that object that pieced its gut from behind is.

A rapier. Held by a girl.

She is lunged forward in a picture-perfect fencing stance. Right hand extended, left arm back and up for balance. Black dress, a leather bolero jacket and gloves, boots, and...

Long wavy silver hair and eyes.

She does not move, does not even seem to flinch or recoil from the dying Cardiax as it unwinds and is unmade, not until the last of it is gone and she can draw back to a standing posture, rapier down and to the side.

And through it all, even before she could ''see'' her, with the Cardiax between them, her gaze was aimed squarely at Diamant, a fun little thing for her to discover when the worm started to dissolve and they could lock eyes properly.

Once standing, she casually brushes some hair back with her left hand, behind her shoulder, and looks to the others. She is smirking, faintly.

"Thank you for keeping it busy for me."

COMBAT: Ginka Shimizu transforms into La Sirene d'Argent!

<Pose Tracker> Mami Tomoe [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

Mami's grace to Rei is that she doesn't answer her rhetorical questions. It would be... unkind.

The Cardiax is screaming, and Mami narrows her eyes, radiating confidence. She is a beacon to her friends. That is part of the role she plays. But also...

"I can!" Mami calls out to Nori, and the barrier she's thrown up to shield the helpless man nearby should protect him against whatever comes. But it has more jaws, it seems. And it furiously comes towars her. It arches forward, and Mami braces, not inclined to make the same mistake she once made--

Until abrubtly it is frozen. Mami leaps back as it makes to explode, shielding her eyes with a hand so that she doesn't have to look away. And there s that girl, with the rapier, who...

Hm.

"You're welcome," Mami replies, dry, and looks her over. "Though we could've accomplished it more easily had we known there was another fighting it."

A pause. "I'm Mami Tomoe. And you are...?"

<Pose Tracker> Nori Ankou [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

La Sirene de Diamant doesn't see the light at first. She's too busy looking upwards. Calculating perhaps if she can save Mami with a shield or with some sort of counterblast to deflect the creature and when it might happen. When she makes her decision she hops to change her orientation, raises her left arm--

The thing shakes.

And swells.

La Sirene's head whips to look at it.

B U R S T

The splashing eruption as the Cardiax meets an unexpected and (for the Cardiax) unfortunate end washes outwards.

La Sirene de Diamant stares with her mouth hanging slightly open.

(Batiste, who had been hanging out at a post box nearby because he is a small otter and is not able to fight anything much larger than a salmon with hope of success, does much the same.)

Mami speaks up and reminds la Sirene that she is actually still in her regalia and standing in the middle of the street. In the background, the Cardiax's storm-clouds begin to fade away, leaving a certain amount of inexplicable gross yakitori meat in the street. The cats will be eating good tonight.

"Keeping it BUSY -- for you?!" la Sirene blurts. "We --!!"

Huff in a deep breath, push it out.

Her eyes still wide, she continues as her hand comes down to her hip, "Your assistance, oh stranger, is WELCOME but -- anyway -- I --"

Batiste glances at la Sirene de Diamant with some concern, then towards Mami, who, in his experience, is a rock on which many more people could stand to build their church. (Also, she lets him have cheesecake, historically.)

<Pose Tracker> Rei Hino [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

Sailor Mars, naturally, princess-carried the man off to the side where he could be protected by Mami's barriers more easily. And unlight and fire are a wonderful mix, and Mars is ready to burn the Cardiax on the pyre of purification. Except--!

Her prayer slip burns to nothing in her hands, as she watches that rapier stick the Cardiax through. "What's that?!" She exclaims, and it's only when the form of that girl resolves behind the Cardiax that she drops her gloved hand.

"''You're'' certainly confident," Sailor Mars scowls. But Mami, at least, minds her manners, and so she puts her hand to her chest. "... and I'm Sailor Mars. But you're not really wondering about ''us'' -- are you?"

She follows this stranger's gaze, deliberately, to la Sirene.

"So," she says, in open prompting.

<Pose Tracker> La Siren d'Argent [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

'Though we could've accomplished it more easily had we known there was another fighting it.'

Those silver eyes drift over to Mami, slowly regarding her and her weapon. As for those words... "Hmm. Yes, I suppose you could have."

She glances over to the man, who was protected by Mami's barrier, then directly at Diamant. "Good work remembering to protect that poor man, Mami Tomoe." How does she make a compliment somehow sound like an insult at the same time?

She looks to Sailor Mars, next, as she introduces herself. She's confident. "Of course," she says, plainly and matter-of-factly. "''I'' knew that there was only one person going to Saint Ives--the man narrating the riddle himself."

''Obviously.''

'But you're not really wondering about ''us'' -- are you?'

That smug, confident smile broadens just a little bit wider as she says, "No."

She spares a glance towards Batiste, for just a moment. Does she see him? More importantly, does she ''recognize'' him for what he is? It's brief, before she turns her attention back to Diamant.

'Keeping it BUSY -- for you?!'

"You're welcome," she says. "After I saw you falling all over yourself like that, well, I just ''had'' to step in and render my assistance."

Diamant seems to ahve trouble with her words, and Argent tsks softly. "I know I make quite a first impression, but please do try to compose yourself."

But she was asked for her name, and two of them have provided theirs, so it's only fair... She lifts her chin up a little, looking to the three others in turn. "As for myself..."

"I am La Sirene d'Argent."

<Pose Tracker> Mami Tomoe [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

Mami always appreciates Nori's defense--but in this case it turned out unnecessary. She knows, all the same, that she can rely on la Sirene de Diamant in all things. She does try to keep them all composed, though. This could easily dissolve into a fight...

Mami hasn't had to fight other magical girls like ''this'' in a while, but she remembers all too well.

There may be cheesecake for Batiste later.

"Our most vital goal as magical girls is the protection of the populace," Mami states boldly. "We would do no less." 'We', not 'I', this time.

But Mami's opinion of this other girl rapidly sours, given how she treats la Sirene de Diamant.

"I would say it's a pleasure," Mami answers, "But I think a lie is a poor way to begin our acquaintance." Her words are chilly, her expression icy. "But we don't have to start on such a wrong foot. I'd much prefer if we could all be friends."

"...But ultimately," she says, meeting eyes with Rei, "I'll be taking my cues for La Sirene de Diamant on that."

<Pose Tracker> Rei Hino [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

"What is your ''problem?!''"

Mami is diplomatic. Sailor Mars is not.

"I was prepared to think it was just an awkward meeting -- but there's no mistaking an explanation like that!" She swipes her hand through the air, before levelling her finger, pointing straight at d'Argent. It's a terrible insult in its own right, like the anger in her voice. "Do you think you can just march in here and declare yourself Queen of the Cardiaxes?! ''I've'' never seen you defeat one before -- not once!"

She gestures -- open-palmed, this time -- to de Diamant. "And do you want to know how many people I've seen ''her'' save from those worms?! An ''APPRECIABLE AMOUNT!'' So I suggest,"

she takes a step forward,

"you IMPROVE YOUR ATTITUDE,"

fire in her eyes and her lungs and her heart,

"or I'll ''wipe that smirk from your face!''"

Well, diplomacy was nice while it lasted.

<Pose Tracker> Nori Ankou [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

La Sirene de Diamant absolutely picks up on that jibe. Her eyes widen.

Her shoulders raise up. Her expression darkens towards something that approaches a theatrical mask and not one of the happy ones. The aura around her twitches a little, a small blob of unlight actually erupting from her forehead and making a distinct little orbit before coming to a silent landing on the back of her head.

Her hands make fists!

"Oh," she says in a deliberately mild and meek tone of voice as her eyes turn downwards to stare at the pavement about ten paces in front of her. "Then I thank you, cousin, for your assistance. I suppose you were, moved to assist, while passing through, yes? I so rarely see other Sirens here. In fact, I believe you're the first one ina very long time!"

She looks upwards.

Batiste essays a small cough. "It's always difficult when there are surprises, isn't it?" he says, hopping down to scutter forwards, deliberately putting himself in between de Diamant and d'Argent.

Which works, in that de Diamant crosses her arms and looks off to the side.

"I believe this particular Cardiax had, hm, many... frustrations to work out, and sadly, la Sirene de Diamant, and her dear comrades Mami Tomoe and Sailor Mars, were - hm - the unfortunate recipients!" says the otter.

He's about to say more when:

SAILOR MARS ATTACK!

La Sirene de Diamant looks at her, and for a moment there is real, clear gratitude on the elegantly alien masque laying atop the face of Nori Ankou.

"W-w-w-w-wait, Sailor Mars!" Batiste implores, but he's also getting out of the way.

<Pose Tracker> La Siren d'Argent [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

d'Argent is not posturing to attack. She is, after all, just standing there, in the same spot, where she had casually slain the Cardiax not a moment before. Her rapier--''surely'' it must be enchanted in some way, given the name she just introduced herself with--is just hanging there by her side, still in hand.

Then again, nobody quite saw her get into position in the first place, did they?

"Of course," she says, with a faint nod to Mami. But when Mami makes that cutting remark about lies and starting acquaintances, she actually laughs a little, free hand coming up to politely cover her mouth. "Why, you ''do'' have a way with words, Mami Tomoe."

Why is she impressed by that!?

She lowers her hand, letting it rest on her hip as Mars takes her turn next, ''pointing'' at her--why, that is frighteningly rude of her! Not that it seems to bother Argent any. "Oh, Sailor Mars, but you did see me defeat one. Just now, in fact. And by that same token, I haven't seen you defeat any."

"Besides," she follows up, dismissively. "It is not the Cardiax that I seek to be Queen of, but rather..." She looks to Diamant again.

"The Sea of Tears."

Do Diamant's friends know what she's about? Argent doesn't know and she really doesn't care. As long as ''Diamant'' knows, that's all that matters.

"My, my. So aggressive. Is this really the sort of company you keep, 'cousin'?" And still she just stands there, rapier by her side, not even readying herself for Mars' (inevitable??) attack.

"Passing through? Oh, but only if I were, for your sake. No, my dear Diamant, I do believe this is... how do they say... the beginning of a beautiful friendship? Something like that."

Batiste has some more to say about the nature of the man's suffering, and Argent's gaze does turn somber for a moment as she looks to the man. "Mmm. The life of a man with ambitions unfulfilled."

She looks to the others, suddenly serious. "That won't be my fate."

<Pose Tracker> Mami Tomoe [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

"Thank you," Mami answers the compliment primly. Then, Sailor Mars speaks her heart. Mami can't really blame that; it's something she appreciates about the Inner Senshi in general. But la Sirene de Diamant is acting... Well, very un-Nori like to her, in this mild and meek tone of voice. Passing through...

Perhaps it's a gambit. But it rankles at Mami to see her friend speaking this way.

"Mars," Mami says, "I know exactly how you feel."

To be Queen of the Sea of Tears... that place that was such a balm to Mami, too, at her lowest. She remembers it well, their visit there when they were closest to Earth's Hokkaido. It is a precious set of memories--too precious to be trod upon by what she views as an upstart.

"It's certainly good to know that you'll be with us for a long while," Mami says, turning to Diamant instead. "And..."

She looks to the man so easily dismissed, and begins to walk towards him, to check his condition. Without looking back she says, "It's nice to want, isn't it? ...I'm sure your fate is in your own hands."

<Pose Tracker> Rei Hino [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

Sailor Mars marches right up to d'Argent, ''fearless'' of that rapier, and by all visual suggestion unarmed. Her hand lifts, each elegant finger parting just so, as the back of her hand flashes --

W-w-w-w-wait --

-- and, face still twisted in indignant rage, she lowers her hand ''moments'' before she loses her temper outright and slaps the other girl. It curls to a fist beside her instead, with the grit of her teeth, before she half-turns to stomp her foot and glare at anything other than that smug ''face.''

For Batiste, and for Batiste alone, she sheathes her weapon, though she's glad to know Mami sees her perspective. (Her weapon is her hand. Her slapping hand.)

"Then you're her competition," she sniffs, haughtily, "and I've nothing more to say to you." She makes a liar of herself moments later, of course, when she puts her hand to her hip, fingers clutching in at her skirt.

"If you pursue your ambitions so arrogantly," an arrogant, ambitious woman says, as she turns her head back to look in the mirror, "you'll only end up lost, you know." And when she meets d'Argent's eyes, there's a depth to her outrage beyond surface ''offence.''

This girl... really irritates her.

<Pose Tracker> Nori Ankou [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

La Sirene de Diamant's lip woobles which really ruins the face she's trying to pull at d'Argent here. It's transient, but it's there. What the other Siren says makes her lift her voice: "They have fought with me and I have fought with them with honor and valor and, importantly, SUCCESS-- so I will THANK you not to speak poorly of them!"

She sweeps her hands open. "I can give them no greater introduction than they could give themselves!"

MEANWHILE, Batiste breathes out.

They're not going to fight! Yay!

"Well, then, however long you are in this lovely and enormous city," Batiste says, because la Sirene de Diamant is spreading her hands dramatically, "I hope that you will enjoy yourself, and I do hope you will forgive us if er -- the hunting is -- irregular. Rarely do we see more than - hm, we did have two in that one month, one time?"

La Sirene's hands stay spread.

"la Sirene de Diamant?"

"Hm? Oh," she says, glancing down. "Yes, two in one month -- and it was near the turn of the month too, so if you aren't going by the calendar --"

The distraction has reduced if not removed the tension; her hands go to rest on her hips instead. La Sirene de Diamant makes a purse-lipped face, but has nothing else to say to d'Argent for the moment, it seems.

(Also, her thrown glove is still laying in the street, but she's sure not going to go over and pick it up right this moment.)

<Pose Tracker> La Siren d'Argent [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

"It is, isn't it?" She says, of being here for a while. "I suppose it means I'll be able to 'assist' you all again, should another Cardiax arrive."

She's mostly not trying to rankle Mami at this point--she's too calm and collected, Argent can tell.

Mars and Diamant, on the other hand...

"I usually get what I want," she states, simply and plainly, and with a dismissive casualness.

She's watching, as Mars comes stomping up to her, looking her directly in the eyes the entire time. She doesn't move, or make a motion to defend herself, or even do the very simple thing of taking a step back.

She is, seemingly, completely open for the slapping, should Mars choose to go through with it.

When she doesn't, that infuriating smirk just grows ''wider''.

She 'wins' by Mars backing down... and she would have won had she followed through.

At least, it's clear to see that ''Argent'' believes that.

She's Diamant's competition. "So you understand my meaning. Good."

Argent hasn't ''moved'' since withdrawing into her standing posture, but when Mars offers that final advice... she does lean forward, just a tiny bit, just enough to really rub it in. Along with that smug smile. "My, my... Is that given from personal experience, I wonder?"

A brief, contented chuckle, buried deep in the back of her throat, as she sees that quiver of the lip from Diamant.

"Well then," she says airily, "I suppose I will have to take your word for it, if you are willing to vouch for them so."

She looks to Batiste. "Why, I ''do'' think I will, if there is such... spirited company here." But... they had two in a month.

Once.

"Really, now," she says, feigning disappointment. (Or the disappointment is real and she is saying it in a mockingly insincere way.) "Then I suppose I shall be far less busy than I used to be." She brightens (or pretends to brighten, or...) again with that same infuriating smile. "I'll simply have to find something to occupy my time, won't I?"

<Pose Tracker> Mami Tomoe [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

Competition. Yes, that's the shape of it, isn't it? Mami watches Argent quite carefully. She does indeed understand Mars's perspective, and if she were as hot-blooded as Mars she'd have registered that displeasure much more plainly.

Diamant lifts her voice, and... Of course, it is to defend them. Batiste is peacemaking, of course, and perhaps Mami should help him, but...

"How wonderful," Mami answers Argent. Indeed she is unruffled, though not un''bothered''. She usually gets what she wants...

"I've known many girls who felt that way," Mami says, and looks up from where she'd checked on the man. He seems reasonably fine for now, at least--but that laugh...

"Sailor Mars is a stalwart ally and a skilled fighter. You would do well to consider her advice, rather than to dismiss it. But of course, it is your choice what to do with the gifts given you."

"I'm sure you'll find much to do," Mami says with a smile. It is a pleasant expression, but it doesn't entirely meet her eyes, which still focus on Argent.

"It has been most illuminating meeting you. I do hope that you get a chance to see the shores of your home sooner than later."

She turns to Diamant, "He'll be all right. I'll get him somewhere safer."

A pause. "...But," she says, looking back to Argent, "You should know that la Sirene de Diamant has my utmost faith... and loyalty."

<Pose Tracker> Rei Hino [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

De Diamant's fervent support is a balm against the anger Mars is feeling -- even if she's ''still'' quite cross.

But at least, with the ebbing tension, she ''probably'' won't get violent. Even if her eyes narrow, when d'Argent rubs salt in the wound. "I'm in the business of getting what I want, myself," she tells her, sour. "And I happen to know a thing or two about the process."

Her brow lifts; her chin tilts up; her lips fall.

"Lessons it doesn't seem you ever learned."

She can't help but look down her nose at her, even if she knows it's not what Usagi would do. Screw it: this is what ''Rei'' would do. ''Rei'' doesn't let ''upstarts'' march in and ''insult'' her friends.

On some level, she ''knows'' she's undercutting Mami's attempt to make d'Argent listen to her, but she just ''can't help herself.''

"School life should keep you occupied enough," she assures her, archly. "Since I don't suppose a girl like you would ever find a ''boyfriend.''" And has ''Rei'' found one? Listen, she has suitors lined up, no one's just fit her ''standards'' yet.

"As for me --" because Mami and Mars are one of a kind in this, even if their methods are disparate -- "I'll be supporting my ''friends.''"

<Pose Tracker> Nori Ankou [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

'I usually get what I want' gets another one of those purse-lipped glower faces from de Diamant!! But no words.

And then she looks... baffled, at the mention of the frequency of Cardiax being so ''low''.

Diamant looks to Batiste but he has no real input on this one. He isn't gasping, but he also isn't rolling his eyes.

"Well, perhaps Tokyo is a city with less despair and sorrow than we might expect," she mutters, folding her arms again. She has been fidgeting. Her eyes turn towards Mami -- and her face turns a little red. Just a touch, but it's a touch of color in an otherwise monochromatic outfit. To the ground go her eyes again.

Batiste, perhaps knowing what he should do, also moves nearer to her, scampering a little. He crosses her vision but does not squeak for 'up' - he can do it himself if he must.

"There's plenty to do here, whatever your tastes," la Sirene concludes, even as Rei takes straight and level shots. (Some of which make her own face redden just a bit more, though it does make her finally lift her head up and just look at... nothing in particular.)

"I imagine though, that if you will stay here, that..."

I can do it, she tells herself, as the hot rush of anger had already plunged into the cold of 'oh no maybe she IS way better than me' - a certain sort of despair.

"... I may have to take my share of journeys; if you have been elsewhere in Japan, that is to say."

To Sailor Mars, now, she says, "We should - help the gentleman somewhere... He doesn't seem to be in awful health, or I think Mami would have coaxed us, but it can't be nice to wake up in the middle of the street. People will start coming by soon enough."

As if on cue, a car turns, hopefully, onto the street two blocks up. It's going slowly, though, but this may complicate standing in the middle of the street.

<Pose Tracker> La Siren d'Argent [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

If Argent has bothered Mami, then perhaps she can consider that a win, of sorts, even if she has not brought her to the point of her anger boiling over.

The gifts given to her... "Why, Mami Tomoe, I think I will quite look forward to hearing more of your lovely words."

Spoilers: She won't.

Finding something to do, however... "Certainly. Tokyo is ''such'' a large city, after all. So full of opportunities, wouldn't you agree?"

It has been illuminating. "Enchanté, Mami Tomoe. I'm quite certain that I shall."

To Mars, she purses her lips in contemplation. She knows about the process of getting what one wants. "Mmm. Do you now. I suppose we shall see, sooner or later."

"Oh I can quite assure you, Sailor Mars, that I work very hard to get what I want. You can be sure of that."

Difficulty finding a boyfriend.

Oh, that is ''such'' an easy shot to take, and Argent is tempted... but no. No, no. None of that, now.

So instead, she lowers her voice, just enough so that only Mars can hear her, and says, while looking her directly in the eyes, "And whoever said I was looking for a... boyfriend, hmmm?"

But both Mami and Mars announce their support for Nori. "What marvelous loyalty," she says. "Turly inspiring to see."

The undercurrent to her words is clear: 'You'll need it.'

If she's lying about how low the Cardiax activity is here... it's hard to tell. But then again, she's been so flippant about so many things, it might be hard to tell what's sincere and what's not in general.

Diamant has a theory, and Argent casually shrugs. "Perhaps. I'll simply have to investigate for myself." While Diamant is fidgeting, Argent is calm and still. She's barely moved at all, save the select few subtle and deliberate motions she's made.

Both Mars and Diamant suggest that school life will keep her busy, and that there are plenty of things to do in Tokyo. "Perhaps. I suppose, with all my newfound free time... I'll join a club." No points for guessing which one she has in mind.

Diamant announces her intention to take a journey. "You really should. It is quite the wide world out there... And Tokyo will remain in good hands until you get back."

Her hands, specifically.

"I shall leave the gentleman to you, and take my leave. Au revoir." A car turns the corner and honks, but if their attention is pulled by that and they look to Argent again, there is nothing left but a shimmer of light.

And then she is on the roof of a nearby building, standing at the edge looking down at the three of them. The posture is much the same: standing upright rapier casually at her side. And with another flicker of light, she is gone.

[[Category: Logs]]

Sirens of Sorrow's Sea

2024-01-15T02:24:53Z

Talnora: Added Ginka.

==Current Cast==
'''[[Nori Ankou]], La Sirene de Diamant''' 
A girl with a naturally dark style who has found joy and fulfillment as a fashion model as well as a soldier of justice. However, the pain of beauty and the suffering of a chevalier's path bring tears to her eyes.

'''[[Mizuki Aleksandrova]], La Sirene de l'Est''' 
A quiet student of the Infinity Institute who silently blames herself for her parents' terrible breakup. Distracts herself from the sadness with pursuits like archery, swimming, and musical composition. She can't decide to what extent she wants to embrace her Siren alter-ego, and hasn't got much experience to draw on yet.

'''[[Ginka Shimizu]], La Sirene d'Argent''' 
An experienced Siren who recently transferred to Ohtori, and is taking her first steps into the wider Magical Girl world. She is dead set on becoming the next Queen of the Sea of Sorrows, and has no reservations about causing the very sorrow she needs to make this happen.

==Theme Summary==
Joy and happiness have their realms - so too does sorrow, a far-away Sea of Tears where great rocky shores weather eternally the endless storms that surround them, where strange creatures and stranger peoples live and love, in their way. This land is ruled by a queen - a descendant of the Mother of Sorrows, the patroness of this realm since time immemorial! And soon a new one will be chosen from among the Sirens - young women from this ancient bloodline called back to their haunting, ancestral home and given gifts by the Mother; sent out to "gather the sorrows of the world"... in whatever form they choose, and under their benefactor's mysterious eye.

The Sea of Tears is an alternate magical world. It is said, and may be literally true, that every shed tear finds its way to the Sea, which would explain why it is full of saltwater. The Sea is an inhospitable place to most life from Earth, but home to the Mother of Sorrow's many descendants. (She has taken lovers but never wed, and, of course, her descendants have themselves begun families.)

Those descendants are found throughout the world, a recurring thread in the tapestry of humanity. Touched as they are by sorrow, many have trouble living in the mortal world, but the Mother of Sorrows has granted them a boon: any of her descendants who should sail or swim into the water, with tears in their eyes and no thought for their paths, may find a way to the Sea of Tears, where houses have been prepared for them. These houses are not luxurious (save for those held by the queens); simple but comfortable furnishings, decorated by flotsam and jetsam. There is enough to eat, and peace, and others when you want them. It is a mercy and a blessing to many who come here.

Society, such as it is, is ruled by common agreement: luxury and ostentation rests upon the Queen, who is a lifetime appointment. (Little do at least one of the Sirens suspect that this role is more of a town mayor than a position of dominance and authority, but then, that is perhaps what they must learn.)

The Mother of Sorrows is herself an enigmatic figure, but not a wicked one. She appears typically as a mature but not elderly woman, and at times walks abroad in other worlds. Sorrow is inevitable, even in the most happy of places, and its full expression - from its creation, to its experience, to its resolution - is her business.

==Theme Essentials==
'''Theme Organizational Connections''': Sirens walk their own paths, with no pre-destined affiliation other than to the Sea itself. The Mother of Sorrows has no stated opinion on the conflicts of Earth, and does not interfere with the paths Sirens forge for themselves, save to collect the beaten and the broken to herself.

"Gathering the sorrows of the world" is an unclear matter. Some Sirens address it by standing by and gathering pain as a witness or a watcher, others try to heal hurts, still others try to bring more pain to the world. The Mother of Sorrows does not seem to remark on which path is better or worse. Historically, all of these broad routes have led Sirens to the queendom.

'''Example Theme Paths to Power''': 
''Artifact (the Black Mirrors)'' 
The proof of one's role as a Siren. The Black Mirrors are formed from obsidian gathered from the shallow seas in the drowned tomb-city of Luxor in the Sea of Tears. They are usually highly decorated, if in a dark or flashy way. Through these mirrors, the Sea of Tears can let the descendants of the Mother of Sorrow shed the bonds of mortality and become truly fantastic. Individual Mirrors often have other tricks, such as serving as a physical portal to the Sea of Tears or reflecting images in one's heart.

''Legacy (descent, however distant, from the Mother of Sorrows)'' 
The Mother of Sorrows' human children all come (at a great remove) from the wedding of the Mother's one daughter, Melancholy, to a mortal man. This ineffable ancestry earns one the right to dwell in the Sea of Tears (if you can find the way). Some young women, of course, follow in the footsteps of Thalatte, the first of the Sirens. This touch of alien divinity wends throughout all of humanity, although it is most likely to be found in coastal societies.

''Contract (agreement, however informal, to gather sorrow)'' 
The Mother of Sorrows does not give many orders or instructions, but she is not distant or unpleasant to speak with.

If a brief explanation of their potential true place in the world is understood and accepted with their whole heart, one of these descendants is granted a Black Mirror and a vague instruction to gather sorrow, with the potential to one day be Queen. The method, the ramifications, and almost everything else are left up to the Siren to determine.

'''Quick and Dirty Rules:'''

* Sirens could be antagonistic as easily as they could be heroic, with only other Sirens and magical girls to serve as a moral compass.
* A Siren's purpose is vague, and the Mother of Sorrows does this deliberately. Should they feel compelled to step in and protect innocent people, or should they just hoover up tears and stay in the shadows? Or bring sorrow to the world themselves?
* Five exiled sons of the Mother of Sorrows represent the main antagonistic force of the Sirens. These exiles have access to the Cardiax worms, which can infest humans and dam up their natural sorrows, producing strange effects and shadowy echoes and, eventually, killing their hosts.
* Sirens may have mascot allies - intelligent talking animals, usually of coastal temperate species. (Otters, gulls, stranger things...) These friends are of other lines of descent from the Mother of Sorrows, and tend to be well educated as well as suited to providing emotional support.

[[Category:Cast Pages]]

User:Talnora

2024-01-15T02:19:25Z

Talnora: Added Ginka

Hi there! My pronouns are she/her and in addition to roleplaying I also dabble with programming stuff.

I made a log cleaner! Check it out: https://gitlab.com/Talnora/bflogcleaner/-/releases Please let me know if you use it or find it helpful or have any other requests. (I can provide other binaries upon request.)

Character list:
* [[Kyouka Okazaki]]: [[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]] OC
* [[Raiko Takashima]]: [[Lost Inheritor Yumi]] OC
* [[Ginka Shimizu]]: [[Sirens of Sorrow's Sea]] OC

Birthday Calendar

2024-01-15T02:18:46Z

Talnora: /* August */ Added Ginka.

Whether publicly IC knowledge or not, birthdays do arrive once a year for every character! This page lists PC birthdays, for OOC scene organizational (party??) purposes. Feel free to add yours! The current in-character date can be checked with the command '''+date'''. Since Battle Fantasia is on a 4:1 timescale, it may be quite different than what you'd expect.

==January==

'''January 6''' - [[Hotaru Tomoe]]

'''January 7''' - [[Haruka Tenoh]]

==February==

'''February 14''' - [[Zoisite]]

'''February 15''' - [[Erythrite]]

'''February 18''' - [[Kinzo Hiroyuki]]

'''February 29''' - [[Anthy Himemiya]]

==March==

'''March 3''' - [[Umi Ryuuzaki]]

'''March 6''' - [[Michiru Kaioh]]

'''March 15''' - [[Nanoha Takamachi]]

==April==

'''April 1''' - [[Lera Camry]]

'''April 4''' - [[Honoka Yukishiro]]

'''April 6''' - [[Midori Sugiura]]

'''April 7''' - [[Kyouka Okazaki]]

'''April 10''' - [[Takeo Akamizu]]

'''April 17''' - [[Hotaka Domen]], [[Suzi Kato]]

'''April 24''' - [[Ikiko Hisakata]]

'''April 30''' - [[Sakura Akagi]]

==May==

'''May 9''' - [[Kyouko Sakura]]

'''May 28''' - [[Kozue Kaoru]], [[Miki Kaoru]]

'''May 30''' - [[Maron Kusakabe]]

==June==

'''June 4''' - [[Hayate Yagami]]

'''June 5''' - [[Mami Tomoe]]

'''June 17''' - [[Chihaya Izumi]]

'''June 30''' - [[Usagi Tsukino]], [[Raiko Takashima]]

==July==

'''July 4''' - [[Nadeshiko Fujisaki]]

'''July 7''' - [[Asagao Uekawa]]

'''July 22''' - [[Mai Tokiha]]

==August==

'''August 8''' - [[Hikaru Shidou]]

'''August 12''' - [[Daiki Asuka Jr.]]

'''August 15''' - [[Ginka Shimizu]]

'''August 24''' - [[Eri Shimanouchi]]

==September==

'''September 20''' - [[Sayaka Miki]]

'''September 29''' - [[Meimi Haneoka]]

==October==

'''October 3''' - [[Madoka Kaname]]

'''October 10''' - [[Nagisa Misumi]]

'''October 22''' - [[Minako Aino]], [[Runealy Waldia]]

==November==

'''November 4''' - [[Mikoto Minagi]]

'''November 11''' - [[Oriko Mikuni]]

'''November 12''' - [[Sei Itazura]]

'''November 15''' - [[Mayuko Kuonji]]

==December==

'''December 1''' - [[Ikuto Tsukiyomi]], [[Juri Arisugawa]]

'''December 5''' - [[Ren Aizawa]]

'''December 8''' - [[Junko Ishiki]]

'''December 12''' - [[Fuu Hououji]]

'''December 20''' - [[Azyana Konstantinov]]

'''December 21''' - [[Yukimi Amane]]

'''December 24''' - [[Chitose Shiratori]]

'''December 29''' - [[Utena Tenjou]]

'''December 30''' - [[Hisae Musumi]]

For more information, please see: [[Holidays and Events]], [[Culture]], [[Theme]]

[[Category:Culture]]
[[Category:Theme]]

Characters

2024-01-15T02:17:25Z

Talnora: /* Sirens of Sorrow's Sea */ Added Ginka.

[[File:Magical_girls_by_eudetenis.jpg|750px|center|From left to right: Cardcaptor Sakura, Nurse Angel, Nanoha Takamachi, Fate Testarossa, Sailor Chibimoon, Sailor Saturn, and Amulet Angel|link=]]
''Commissioned from [http://www.pixiv.net/member.php?id=2933491 Eudetenis] for Battle Fantasia by Eri Shimanouchi's player.''

To create a page for your [[Main_Page|Battle Fantasia]] character, simply edit this index page, add a link for them under the appropriate cast heading, save your changes, then click the new link. Please note that this page is not indicative of a character's availability; that information is accessible in-game with the +cast commands.

====[[Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon]]====
* [[Ami Mizuno]]
* [[Haruka Tenoh]]
* [[Hotaru Tomoe]]
* [[Makoto Kino]]
* [[Mamoru Chiba]]
* [[Michiru Kaioh]]
* [[Minako Aino]]
* [[Setsuna Meioh]]
* [[Usagi Tsukino]]
* [[Zoisite]]

====Cardcaptor Sakura====
* [[Sakura Kinomoto]]

====Cooking With Mascot====
* [[Gordon]]

====Futari wa [[Pretty Cure]]====
* [[Honoka Yukishiro]]
* [[Nagisa Misumi]]

====Fresh [[Pretty Cure]]====
* [[Inori Yamabuki]]
* [[Setsuna Higashi]]
* [[Soular]]
* [[Westar]]

====Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne====
* [[Maron Kusakabe]]

====[[Happiness Charge: Pretty Cure]]====
* [[Hime Shirayuki]]
* [[Iona Hikawa]]
* [[Megumi Aino]]
* [[Phantom]]
* [[Yuko Omori]]

====[[Knights of the Round Table REBORN!]]====
* [[Azyana Konstantinov]]
* [[Chihaya Izumi]]
* [[Renjiro Masaki]]
* [[Takeo Akamizu]]

====Little Witch Academia====
* [[Sucy Manbavaran]]

====Lost Inheritor Yumi====
* [[Yumi Ohzora]]
* [[Raiko Takashima]]

====Magic Knight Rayearth====
* [[Fuu Hououji]]

====[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]====
* [[Endo Naoki]]
* [[Fate Testarossa]]
* [[Lera Camry]]
* [[Nanoha Takamachi]]
* [[Ren Aizawa]]
* [[Vita]]
* [[Kyouka Okazaki]]

====Mai-HiME====
* [[Georgia Jenks]]
* [[Mai Tokiha]]
* [[Mikoto Minagi]]
* [[Shizuru Fujino]]
* [[Ye-jin Song]]

====Miraculous Ladybug====
* [[Fumiko Inoue]]
* [[Marinette Dupain-Cheng]]
* [[Niramo Umokeshi]]

====[[Open Heart Guardians]]====
* [[Akemi Kimura]]

====Princess Tutu====
* [[Duck]]
* [[Mytho]]
* [[Tsuru]]

====Pretear====
* [[Hayate]]

====[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]====
* [[Eri Shimanouchi]]
* [[Homura Akemi]]
* [[Kimiko Akane]]
* [[Kyouko Sakura]]
* [[Madoka Kaname]]
* [[Mami Tomoe]]
* [[Sachiko Majime]]
* [[Sayaka Miki]]

====[[Revolutionary Girl Utena]]====
* [[Anthy Himemiya]]
* [[Juri Arisugawa]]
* [[Kasagami Araki]]
* [[Kozue Kaoru]]
* [[Miki Kaoru]]
* [[Utena Tenjou]]

====[[Shining Rune Maiden Akemi]]====
* [[Akemi Tsukiyama]]

====[[Sirens of Sorrow's Sea]]====
* [[Nori Ankou]]
* [[Ginka Shimizu]]

====Saint Tail====
* [[Meimi Haneoka]]

====Senki Zesshou Symphogear====
* [[Shigure Shiratsuyu]]

====Shugo Chara!====
* [[Ikuto Tsukiyomi]]
* [[Nadeshiko Fujisaki]]
* [[Tadase Hotori]]

====Steven Universe====
* [[Garnet]]
* [[Steven Universe]]

====[[Yuna Yuki is a Hero]]====
* [[Akira Moto]]
* [[Fu Inubozaki]]

[[Category:Characters]]

Ginka Shimizu

2024-01-15T02:15:27Z

Talnora: Initial version of page

2023-08-30 - Dear Grandpa...

2023-08-30T14:35:19Z

Talnora: Not pictured: The 37 other pictures Levin insisted be taken to make sure she got the cloak billowing /just/ right.

{|class="toccolours" cellspacing="2"
|-
! style="background:#CC6699; border: 2px #CC0033 solid; font-size: 110%;" align="center" colspan="2" | '''Title: Dear Grandpa...'''
|-
|'''Summary''': 
''Raiko writes a letter to her missing grandfather, sharing the things that have been going on in her life.''
|-
| '''Who:''' 
[[Raiko Takashima]]
|-
| '''Where:''' 
Raiko's Home (Chofu Suburban District)
|-
| '''OOC - IC Date:''' 
08/30/2023 - Wednesday, April 06, 2016
|-
|}
[[Category:Cutscenes]]

''Dear Grandpa,''

''I'm not really sure how to start this letter. I started a scrapbook, to show you everything that's been going on with me, but not everything I've been thinking of is really a moment I can put into a photo or a printout. So I'm writing this letter to go in the scrapbook, so I can say some things that have been on my mind, and help remind myself of how far I've come.''

''First, I wanted to say I'm sorry. I know you and Shiori have been worried about me, because of how wrapped up I got in my projects. I know I really made you guys worry, and I'm really really sorry. You both never gave up on me though, and I wish I'd listened to you both sooner. Thank you for always supporting me and believing in me, and I hope someday I'll get to tell you that in person. I've started working really hard again. I included the results from my entrance exam and my finals! I know they should be better, but I'm trying again. I hope I get to tell you about that someday, too.''

''There's another reason I'm sorry, though. I found out about the Staff of Wise Levin, and Shiori told me about what your work really is. I know it's stupid, but I can't help but think, if I'd been more responsible sooner, then maybe you could have told me about the Staff, or at least about your work, and I could have helped you in some way. I know that you going missing isn't my fault, but it's hard not to feel like I could have made a difference somehow, if you guys could have trusted me more.''

''But the Staff knew I was ready. It called to me, and at first I was too scared, but with Yumi-chan and Shiori's help I finally accepted.''

''I am The Witch of Wise Levin.''

''I'm going to do my best to keep fixing things. I'm going to do my best to fight The Hungry Queen, and make sure she doesn't succeed. I'm going to make both you and Shiori proud. And I'm going to figure out what happened to you and bring you back home. Promise.''

''Oh! And I should explain… Yumi Ohzora is a friend I made. She was really kind and supportive to me when I was alone in the Infinity Dorms, and she is also The Witch of Lost Ivy. (Yumi-chan said it was okay if I mentioned her. She said that if both Tama and Shiori trust you, that she could too.) She's really brave, and she makes me feel like it's possible to start fixing all the mistakes I've made. Sometimes I wish she'd be more careful, but I'm doing my best to look out for her and keep her safe. I look up to her a lot, and she's become really important to me, too.''

''She's important to me in the same way that you and Shiori are important to me. I'm doing my best to not let her down too, so she can be proud of me.''

''Just like how I hope you'll be proud of me when you get back and see all the effort I've been making.''

''I just know you'll be back someday. I'm sure of it. And until you're back I promise I won't stop trying to figure out a way to bring you home.''

''I really miss you, Grandpa. Please come back soon.''

''Love,''

''Raiko'' 
''The Witch of Wise Levin''

''(P.S.: This scrapbook was Yumi-chan's idea, and I'm really glad she suggested it.)''

The following pages contain…

A selfie of Raiko and an older and taller gray-haired girl, both in Infinity's High School Uniforms. Raiko also has a pair of goggles around her neck. Both are huddled in close for the picture, and Raiko's hand is outstretched to take the picture with her phone. The caption reads, 'Me and Yumi-chan! (The goggles came from Wise Levin!)'

A full body photo of The Witch of Wise Levin standing on a rooftop under a full moon. Her staff is gripped tightly in hand, its blue gem sparking brightly with electricity, and an evident breeze is causing her cloak to blow dramatically back. She is posed for maximum dramatic impact and also coolness. The caption reads, 'The Witch of Wise Levin'

Another selfie, this one of Wise Levin and another witchy magical girl who is dressed more traditionally than Levin's more modern garb. They're both huddled in close, smiling for the camera, though with their arms around each other and their free hands holding their staves, it's not clear who's holding the camera. It looks to be on the same rooftop as the full body photo. The caption reads, 'Wise Levin and Lost Ivy! Together we're unstoppable!'

A printout of the results from Raiko's entrance exams for Infinity High School, her final exam scores, and several pages of a paper she wrote. They're all markedly better than prior years, though still have room for improvement. The caption reads, 'I'm trying, Grandpa, honest. See?'

A picture of a phone case with an enchantment inscribed in it, along with a diagram showing the details of the enchantment. There's a note on the diagram that reads, 'Finally got this to work! Still needs testing though.'

Another schematic, this one far more complex than the previous, and invoking ancient magics. In the upper left corner is a picture of Raiko's enchanted cell phone, a modern smartphone with a metallic blue shell, and in the bottom right is a picture of the phone dismantled, showing all of the enchantments and how they were laid. In the upper right is a picture of a pair of steel goggles, of an old style but in impeccable condition, with perfectly clear lenses. A note in the lower left of the schematic reads, 'This is the spell protecting Wise Levin now! I had to rework it based on Ivy's spell, which was really really hard. But when I completed it, the staff awarded me with these goggles. They look really cool, but don't seem to be magical.'

The diagram Raiko used to restore the wards in Kenji's study. A photo in the upper right shows the study, in order, if organized slightly differently from before. A note reads, 'When Wise Levin activated, it kind of maybe sort of ruined the wards in your study. And wrecked your study. Sorry!! But I fixed the wards using Wise Levin's magic and cleaned up the office as best I could. P.S. I also added Yumi-chan, Tama, and myself to the list of people allowed to access it. It only seemed fair, since they helped me clean up, and, well, I had to do the enchanting. Hope that was okay.'

2023-08-16 - One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

2023-08-21T05:51:56Z

Talnora: Fix templating code for Strike Wolf's speech

{|class="toccolours" cellspacing="2"
|-
! style="background:#CC6699; border: 2px #CC0033 solid; font-size: 110%;" align="center" colspan="2" | '''Title: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back'''
|-
|'''Summary''': 
''Akari, formerly known as The Phantom Fox, has finally secured the prize she has been seeking: the recovery of the prototype device, Strike Wolf. She retreats to a safe place to continue her investigations with this vital new lead.''
|-
| '''Who:''' 
Akari, Strike Wolf (written by [[Kyouka Okazaki]])
|-
| '''Where:''' 
A small, run-down apartment
|-
| '''OOC - IC Date:''' 
8/16/2023 - Monday, March 14, 2016
|-
|}
[[Category:Cutscenes]]

Akari stepped into her apartment and locked the door behind her. She was currently wearing the appearance of a young woman with impossibly bright red hair and green eyes, and as she let the magical wards in her apartment reassert themselves, she relaxed, letting a pair of fox ears poke out through her hair and two bushy fox tails appear behind her.

"Finally," she muttered, as she leaned back against the apartment door and tried to collect her thoughts.

The apartment she was renting was, by no means, luxurious. In fact, it was quite the opposite. It was small and cramped, but most importantly it was cheap, and she could pay her rent in cash. That meant less questions, and less of a paper trail to leave.

The living room of the apartment doubled as the bedroom, with a bed folding out from the couch. With the bed unfolded, there was barely enough room left to stand in the living room, not that she really used it. Old and faded carpet covered the floor, and there were several spots where the carpet was worn through to the bare floor. The kitchen was barely any better; it would be fair to say it just took up one wall of the living room, consisting of a paltry amount of counter space and a couple of appliances, at least one of which didn't work.

The best thing that could be said about the bathroom was that the shower and toilet did, in fact, function.

The small size of the apartment was also an advantage: it was far easier to ward the small space to hide any presence of her magical signature. It provided her with some small assurance of safety, though safety was truly a thing she could not take for granted anymore, after…

Well, the ''last'' place she'd considered safe was wrecked now. She couldn't afford to drop her guard anymore, not until she got some answers and had found everything that was dear to her.

Akari had done her best to increase her operational security. Multiple dimensional shifts to try and hide her trail, which meant expending more of her Master's energy, but that was a calculated risk she had to take. Next was a long bus ride in from the next city over to force anybody that might be tailing her to either get close enough to be on the bus or to expend magic to keep up with her, which she could hopefully detect. It was frankly an exhausting procedure to do, one she didn't always bother with, but tonight she had a reason to go through the effort.

But she was here, now. In her left hand she clutched a fast food bag and a soda cup. Her right, after locking the door again, had slipped into the pocket of her white lab coat, to clutch at a small object within. She withdrew it, looking it over. The bulk of it was a black leather bracelet, but the real prize was seated on top: a small, purple five-sided gem. But within that seemingly simple facade lied a wondrously complex blend of magic and technology that was native to her but alien to the planet she was stuck on.

An Intelligent Device, capable of granting the right mage access to a wealth of power. It was, as yet, incomplete, the prized creation of her and her Master. Their greatest work, though one she was realizing she knew frustratingly little about. Even incomplete, it had already caused so much trouble, but right now…

It was her only hope of finding more answers.

Something odious tickled at her nose and she frowned, tilting her head up to sniff at the air. "What in the…" Next to the couch there was a small table overflowing with discarded candy wrappers and chip bags, and she pushed most of them onto the floor to make room for her fast food and the device. It only took 3 steps to cross the tiny apartment to get to the fridge. She opened it up and recoiled, gagging as she slammed the door shut.

A cloud of a rancid odor had spilled out, insinuating itself into her nostrils and causing her stomach to churn. She coughed as she tried to breath deep and dispel the odor threatening to settle into her sinuses. The only thing in the fridge had been a chinese takeout container.

When had she even bought that? Akari couldn't remember. It wasn't like her to not finish something like that. Maybe she'd been in a rush and had simply forgotten about it?

She was always in a rush these days, wasn't she? But she couldn't afford to stand still, not until she had fulfilled her duty to her Master. Akari couldn't even remember the last time she'd gotten a proper night's sleep. Having to keep one eye open in case danger came looking for her, driving herself to exhaustion to look for answers, the last time she'd just been able to truly rest seemed so impossibly long ago.

Akari rubbed at her face before giving her head a shake. Even now, exhaustion was threatening to overtake her, but she couldn't afford to give in. Not now, not when she was so close to getting the answers she wanted.

"No more mistakes," she told herself firmly. "You messed up and let that ogre tail you. If it hadn't been for that girl…" Akari gave the refrigerator a wary sideglance. "... I'll clean you up later. No sense stinking up the rest of the joint."

The foxwoman turned back to the couch and threw off the cushions. Underneath was the metal frame of a folded up bed. She pulled it up just enough, not to unfold the bed, but to get at the stash of equipment underneath. Everything she had managed to salvage from the invaded lab, everything she had been collecting running her errands for her Master. Akari pulled out a small diagnostic device, a circular thing with a flat surface on top, then stood and pushed the bedframe back down. Only one cushion was replaced before she sat down, crossing her legs as she settled in.

The bag of fast food got moved to rest on the still exposed metal frame of the bed next to her. It was still warm, and a tantalizing bouquet of aromas drifted up from it, making her mouth water. In the bag's place she put the diagnostic reader, and put the intelligent device on top. The diagnostic reader stirred to life, lights on its surface flickering as a connection was established with the Intelligent Device, and a pleasant hum chimed when the connection was complete.

Akari reached into the bag and pulled out a double bacon cheeseburger, unwrapping it and biting into it with relish. She closed her eyes and let the medley of flavors play out over her tongue before swallowing.

"Okay, prototype. Enable diagnostic mode."

The device did not respond.

Akari grunted in frustration and poked at the device's standby form with a finger. "It says the connection's established, and I know you're functioning. Don't tell me that girl disabled your audio receptors or something."

Figures. First she steals the prototype–though both her and the prototype insisted she hadn't–and now when she finally agreed to turn it over, she had committed some form of sabotage. She should have expected that.

{{Strike Wolf|<Audio receptors nominal.>}}

"Then ''what'' is your problem?" snapped the familiar.

The device's surface pulsed with a soft inner light as it replied, {{Strike Wolf|<Designation 'Prototype' is not recognized.>}}

Akari stared. "Oh you have ''got'' to be kidding me." If she didn't know any better she would say the device was giving her sass. But devices weren't built with those kinds of personality traits. At least, she and her master hadn't been building it that way.

Or so she'd thought, anyway. There are a large number of irregularities that Akari couldn't account for. Which had been the whole point of finding the damn thing to begin with.

"Fine." Through gritted teeth, she spat out, "''Strike Wolf'', can you please enable diagnostic mode?"

She still couldn't believe that girl had named the prototype. Who did she think she was, anyway?

Strike Wolf let out a pleasant chime in time with a light flashing across his surface. {{Strike Wolf|<Affirmative. Authenticating… Authorizing… Access granted.Diagnostic mode enabled.>}}

Akari scowled as she took another bite out of her burger, but this one she couldn't even enjoy. She watched as an array of holographic panels sprang to life in front of her, filling up with data and information. There was a dizzying amount of it, but Akari was practiced at dealing with such things. She was still chewing as she reached out, moving several of the panels aside, and then grabbing one and bring it front and center. A quick gesture made it expand to a larger size.

"Okay," she mumbled around her still half-full mouth of food, "Take me back to device activation."

{{Strike Wolf|<Affirmative.>}}

Information started to fill the panel. A set of coordinates caught Akari's eye and she barked out, "Halt! Show me those coordinates." A window popped up to the side, showing a satellite view of a city street in Tokyo.

"No, no, no! This isn't the lab. Show me the lab already!"

{{Strike Wolf|<No records exist. Please clarify.>}}

Akari turned her head to stare at the device. "What do you mean– The ''lab''. The one where you were made. The one where my Master and I built you. You know, my ''home''? Why can't you show me that, you stupid–"

She blinked. Strike Wolf was suddenly a lot closer than she had expected. Somewhere in her line of questioning she had leaned in closer to the intelligent device, teeth bared and a growl rising in her throat.

Was she seriously trying to intimidate…

Akari forced herself to lean back, pinching at the bridge of her nose with her free hand. "Just… start playback with the earliest recordings you have, no audio."

A small holographic diorama sprang to life, depicting an unknown mage trying to forcibly activate Strike Wolf in the middle of a city street. Akari kept an eye on the logs scrolling by. A call for help, and…

The familiar frowned as an all-too-familiar girl appeared. She pushed another girl out of the way of a fireball, and then…

"Is that girl nuts?!"

Kyouka Okazaki appeared to be… challenging the mage, running around and even throwing a garbage can lid. But no recordings of magic were registering in the logs.

"Strike Wolf, pause." The holographic display froze instantly, with Kyouka sliding underneath the mage to grab at Strike Wolf. Akari reached up to grab a panel showing some readouts of the ambient magical energy. "Run an integrity check on your logs. You're missing magic readings for that girl."

{{Strike Wolf|<Negative. Kyouka Okazaki was not a mage prior to device synchronization.>}}

Akari stared at Strike Wolf. "You're telling me that girl took on that mage without any magic? Seriously?"

{{Strike Wolf|<Affirmative.>}}

She couldn't help but laugh, letting out several sharp barks. "She really ''is'' nuts. Continue playback."

Akari thought the knowledge that the human girl who'd given her such trouble was crazy would be some comfort, but she couldn't help but stew in her thoughts as the playback continued. They transformed, and Kyouka managed to drive the mage off.

Everything had happened exactly as Kyouka had been insisting this entire time. She'd responded to a call for help, rescued the prototype, and hadn't stolen it at all.

The familiar wasn't sure why that bothered her so much.

The playback continued into something involving a grocery store, and Akari waved her hand to cut off the recording.

"So you weren't active when you were stolen from the lab," pondered Akari out loud. "Or… your files were sabotaged, or I don't have access to that data." She eyed Strike Wolf suspiciously. The only person who could conceivably do that would be her master, and surely she would never shut her out like that, right?

Just like how she definitely hadn't failed to warn her loyal and most trusted familiar of any danger that had been afoot.

Surely not. It would ''never'' be that.

There must just be something she was overlooking because she was so tired. That must be it.

Akari shifted the burger to her free hand, reaching into her bag to draw out some garlic fries and pop them into her mouth, chewing as she thought. Digging into the prototype's active memory was the simplest way to investigate, but wasn't the only one.

"Strike Wolf, dismiss holographic playback. Bring up file manifest." The recording closed, and one of the windows she had set aside before came back, enlarging itself. Akari reached up and pulled in another window, listing an alarmingly long list of errors.

"You're missing… a ''lot'' of things…" murmured Akari before biting into her burger again. She browsed through both lists in silence, taking mental notes of everything that was either missing or incomplete.

None of this was right. The prototype wasn't due to be operational yet–it almost looked like just enough had been installed to get it operational, but in the process several critical parts and pieces of the device's infrastructure had been skipped. She could only draw one conclusion.

Getting the prototype operational had been a rush job. Having something functioning was deemed more important than having something at 100% capacity.

And she couldn't figure out ''why''.

No matter how much she combed through the device's files, she couldn't find any rationale for the changes. The hours crept by as she searched, her fast food dinner gradually consumed as she searched frantically for anything. A note, a letter, a message, some hidden data file, anything.

Akari slammed her fist down on the arm of the couch. "Nothing!" she shouted. "Master, what were you even thinking…?" Something hot and wet welled up in her eyes, and as she blinked, it began to roll down her cheeks. The foxwoman choked off a sob as she brought a hand to her face, trying in vain to wipe them away.

"... And why didn't you tell ''me''?" she muttered, her voice breaking as she fought to regain her composure.

There was more to look through, more she could look into, but it had been a very long day already, and the slow drain as she realized answers weren't so easy and forth coming had both taken their toll, and she transformed into her native Midchildan fox form, curling up and letting tears stain the fur on her cheeks. Exhaustion quickly overtook her though, and soon enough she grew still.

----

Strike Wolf, for his part, wisely decided to remain quiet, and when he detected that Akari had fallen asleep, silently closed all of the diagnostic menus to preserve power and keep the light from disturbing her slumber. Then, he internally analyzed the situation.

Something was clearly amiss. The situation did not seem to align with how Akari had represented it to him and Kyouka. It would be a simple matter to reach out to Kyouka or one of her friends telepathically, to summon them for aid. But Akari had not asked for help, and Strike Wolf calculated a very low probability she would accept it if offered.

Strike Wolf was concerned for his partner. She had put on a brave face, but he knew she was upset about the ending of their partnership. But she had insisted so stringently that Strike Wolf think of himself, he could not acceptably deny her wishes. But Kyouka had numerous friends, and would find support among them.

Akari needed support, and there was as yet no evidence she would receive it.

Strike Wolf thought on all this and more, and finally made a decision.

He raised power to his sensors and took up a silent vigil over the slumbering fox.

2023-08-16 - One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

2023-08-17T03:28:23Z

Talnora: Akari is not the only one investigating her circumstances now.

{|class="toccolours" cellspacing="2"
|-
! style="background:#CC6699; border: 2px #CC0033 solid; font-size: 110%;" align="center" colspan="2" | '''Title: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back'''
|-
|'''Summary''': 
''Akari, formerly known as The Phantom Fox, has finally secured the prize she has been seeking: the recovery of the prototype device, Strike Wolf. She retreats to a safe place to continue her investigations with this vital new lead.''
|-
| '''Who:''' 
Akari, Strike Wolf (written by [[Kyouka Okazaki]])
|-
| '''Where:''' 
A small, run-down apartment
|-
| '''OOC - IC Date:''' 
8/16/2023 - Monday, March 14, 2016
|-
|}
[[Category:Cutscenes]]

Akari stepped into her apartment and locked the door behind her. She was currently wearing the appearance of a young woman with impossibly bright red hair and green eyes, and as she let the magical wards in her apartment reassert themselves, she relaxed, letting a pair of fox ears poke out through her hair and two bushy fox tails appear behind her.

"Finally," she muttered, as she leaned back against the apartment door and tried to collect her thoughts.

The apartment she was renting was, by no means, luxurious. In fact, it was quite the opposite. It was small and cramped, but most importantly it was cheap, and she could pay her rent in cash. That meant less questions, and less of a paper trail to leave.

The living room of the apartment doubled as the bedroom, with a bed folding out from the couch. With the bed unfolded, there was barely enough room left to stand in the living room, not that she really used it. Old and faded carpet covered the floor, and there were several spots where the carpet was worn through to the bare floor. The kitchen was barely any better; it would be fair to say it just took up one wall of the living room, consisting of a paltry amount of counter space and a couple of appliances, at least one of which didn't work.

The best thing that could be said about the bathroom was that the shower and toilet did, in fact, function.

The small size of the apartment was also an advantage: it was far easier to ward the small space to hide any presence of her magical signature. It provided her with some small assurance of safety, though safety was truly a thing she could not take for granted anymore, after…

Well, the ''last'' place she'd considered safe was wrecked now. She couldn't afford to drop her guard anymore, not until she got some answers and had found everything that was dear to her.

Akari had done her best to increase her operational security. Multiple dimensional shifts to try and hide her trail, which meant expending more of her Master's energy, but that was a calculated risk she had to take. Next was a long bus ride in from the next city over to force anybody that might be tailing her to either get close enough to be on the bus or to expend magic to keep up with her, which she could hopefully detect. It was frankly an exhausting procedure to do, one she didn't always bother with, but tonight she had a reason to go through the effort.

But she was here, now. In her left hand she clutched a fast food bag and a soda cup. Her right, after locking the door again, had slipped into the pocket of her white lab coat, to clutch at a small object within. She withdrew it, looking it over. The bulk of it was a black leather bracelet, but the real prize was seated on top: a small, purple five-sided gem. But within that seemingly simple facade lied a wondrously complex blend of magic and technology that was native to her but alien to the planet she was stuck on.

An Intelligent Device, capable of granting the right mage access to a wealth of power. It was, as yet, incomplete, the prized creation of her and her Master. Their greatest work, though one she was realizing she knew frustratingly little about. Even incomplete, it had already caused so much trouble, but right now…

It was her only hope of finding more answers.

Something odious tickled at her nose and she frowned, tilting her head up to sniff at the air. "What in the…" Next to the couch there was a small table overflowing with discarded candy wrappers and chip bags, and she pushed most of them onto the floor to make room for her fast food and the device. It only took 3 steps to cross the tiny apartment to get to the fridge. She opened it up and recoiled, gagging as she slammed the door shut.

A cloud of a rancid odor had spilled out, insinuating itself into her nostrils and causing her stomach to churn. She coughed as she tried to breath deep and dispel the odor threatening to settle into her sinuses. The only thing in the fridge had been a chinese takeout container.

When had she even bought that? Akari couldn't remember. It wasn't like her to not finish something like that. Maybe she'd been in a rush and had simply forgotten about it?

She was always in a rush these days, wasn't she? But she couldn't afford to stand still, not until she had fulfilled her duty to her Master. Akari couldn't even remember the last time she'd gotten a proper night's sleep. Having to keep one eye open in case danger came looking for her, driving herself to exhaustion to look for answers, the last time she'd just been able to truly rest seemed so impossibly long ago.

Akari rubbed at her face before giving her head a shake. Even now, exhaustion was threatening to overtake her, but she couldn't afford to give in. Not now, not when she was so close to getting the answers she wanted.

"No more mistakes," she told herself firmly. "You messed up and let that ogre tail you. If it hadn't been for that girl…" Akari gave the refrigerator a wary sideglance. "... I'll clean you up later. No sense stinking up the rest of the joint."

The foxwoman turned back to the couch and threw off the cushions. Underneath was the metal frame of a folded up bed. She pulled it up just enough, not to unfold the bed, but to get at the stash of equipment underneath. Everything she had managed to salvage from the invaded lab, everything she had been collecting running her errands for her Master. Akari pulled out a small diagnostic device, a circular thing with a flat surface on top, then stood and pushed the bedframe back down. Only one cushion was replaced before she sat down, crossing her legs as she settled in.

The bag of fast food got moved to rest on the still exposed metal frame of the bed next to her. It was still warm, and a tantalizing bouquet of aromas drifted up from it, making her mouth water. In the bag's place she put the diagnostic reader, and put the intelligent device on top. The diagnostic reader stirred to life, lights on its surface flickering as a connection was established with the Intelligent Device, and a pleasant hum chimed when the connection was complete.

Akari reached into the bag and pulled out a double bacon cheeseburger, unwrapping it and biting into it with relish. She closed her eyes and let the medley of flavors play out over her tongue before swallowing.

"Okay, prototype. Enable diagnostic mode."

The device did not respond.

Akari grunted in frustration and poked at the device's standby form with a finger. "It says the connection's established, and I know you're functioning. Don't tell me that girl disabled your audio receptors or something."

Figures. First she steals the prototype–though both her and the prototype insisted she hadn't–and now when she finally agreed to turn it over, she had committed some form of sabotage. She should have expected that.

{{Strike Wolf:<Audio receptors nominal.>}}

"Then ''what'' is your problem?" snapped the familiar.

The device's surface pulsed with a soft inner light as it replied, {{Strike Wolf:<Designation 'Prototype' is not recognized.>}}

Akari stared. "Oh you have ''got'' to be kidding me." If she didn't know any better she would say the device was giving her sass. But devices weren't built with those kinds of personality traits. At least, she and her master hadn't been building it that way.

Or so she'd thought, anyway. There are a large number of irregularities that Akari couldn't account for. Which had been the whole point of finding the damn thing to begin with.

"Fine." Through gritted teeth, she spat out, "''Strike Wolf'', can you please enable diagnostic mode?"

She still couldn't believe that girl had named the prototype. Who did she think she was, anyway?

Strike Wolf let out a pleasant chime in time with a light flashing across his surface. {{Strike Wolf:<Affirmative. Authenticating… Authorizing… Access granted.Diagnostic mode enabled.>}}

Akari scowled as she took another bite out of her burger, but this one she couldn't even enjoy. She watched as an array of holographic panels sprang to life in front of her, filling up with data and information. There was a dizzying amount of it, but Akari was practiced at dealing with such things. She was still chewing as she reached out, moving several of the panels aside, and then grabbing one and bring it front and center. A quick gesture made it expand to a larger size.

"Okay," she mumbled around her still half-full mouth of food, "Take me back to device activation."

{{Strike Wolf:<Affirmative.>}}

Information started to fill the panel. A set of coordinates caught Akari's eye and she barked out, "Halt! Show me those coordinates." A window popped up to the side, showing a satellite view of a city street in Tokyo.

"No, no, no! This isn't the lab. Show me the lab already!"

{{Strike Wolf:<No records exist. Please clarify.>}}

Akari turned her head to stare at the device. "What do you mean– The ''lab''. The one where you were made. The one where my Master and I built you. You know, my ''home''? Why can't you show me that, you stupid–"

She blinked. Strike Wolf was suddenly a lot closer than she had expected. Somewhere in her line of questioning she had leaned in closer to the intelligent device, teeth bared and a growl rising in her throat.

Was she seriously trying to intimidate…

Akari forced herself to lean back, pinching at the bridge of her nose with her free hand. "Just… start playback with the earliest recordings you have, no audio."

A small holographic diorama sprang to life, depicting an unknown mage trying to forcibly activate Strike Wolf in the middle of a city street. Akari kept an eye on the logs scrolling by. A call for help, and…

The familiar frowned as an all-too-familiar girl appeared. She pushed another girl out of the way of a fireball, and then…

"Is that girl nuts?!"

Kyouka Okazaki appeared to be… challenging the mage, running around and even throwing a garbage can lid. But no recordings of magic were registering in the logs.

"Strike Wolf, pause." The holographic display froze instantly, with Kyouka sliding underneath the mage to grab at Strike Wolf. Akari reached up to grab a panel showing some readouts of the ambient magical energy. "Run an integrity check on your logs. You're missing magic readings for that girl."

{{Strike Wolf:<Megative. Kyouka Okazaki was not a mage prior to device synchronization.>}}

Akari stared at Strike Wolf. "You're telling me that girl took on that mage without any magic? Seriously?"

{{Strike Wolf:<Affirmative.>}}

She couldn't help but laugh, letting out several sharp barks. "She really ''is'' nuts. Continue playback."

Akari thought the knowledge that the human girl who'd given her such trouble was crazy would be some comfort, but she couldn't help but stew in her thoughts as the playback continued. They transformed, and Kyouka managed to drive the mage off.

Everything had happened exactly as Kyouka had been insisting this entire time. She'd responded to a call for help, rescued the prototype, and hadn't stolen it at all.

The familiar wasn't sure why that bothered her so much.

The playback continued into something involving a grocery store, and Akari waved her hand to cut off the recording.

"So you weren't active when you were stolen from the lab," pondered Akari out loud. "Or… your files were sabotaged, or I don't have access to that data." She eyed Strike Wolf suspiciously. The only person who could conceivably do that would be her master, and surely she would never shut her out like that, right?

Just like how she definitely hadn't failed to warn her loyal and most trusted familiar of any danger that had been afoot.

Surely not. It would ''never'' be that.

There must just be something she was overlooking because she was so tired. That must be it.

Akari shifted the burger to her free hand, reaching into her bag to draw out some garlic fries and pop them into her mouth, chewing as she thought. Digging into the prototype's active memory was the simplest way to investigate, but wasn't the only one.

"Strike Wolf, dismiss holographic playback. Bring up file manifest." The recording closed, and one of the windows she had set aside before came back, enlarging itself. Akari reached up and pulled in another window, listing an alarmingly long list of errors.

"You're missing… a ''lot'' of things…" murmured Akari before biting into her burger again. She browsed through both lists in silence, taking mental notes of everything that was either missing or incomplete.

None of this was right. The prototype wasn't due to be operational yet–it almost looked like just enough had been installed to get it operational, but in the process several critical parts and pieces of the device's infrastructure had been skipped. She could only draw one conclusion.

Getting the prototype operational had been a rush job. Having something functioning was deemed more important than having something at 100% capacity.

And she couldn't figure out ''why''.

No matter how much she combed through the device's files, she couldn't find any rationale for the changes. The hours crept by as she searched, her fast food dinner gradually consumed as she searched frantically for anything. A note, a letter, a message, some hidden data file, anything.

Akari slammed her fist down on the arm of the couch. "Nothing!" she shouted. "Master, what were you even thinking…?" Something hot and wet welled up in her eyes, and as she blinked, it began to roll down her cheeks. The foxwoman choked off a sob as she brought a hand to her face, trying in vain to wipe them away.

"... And why didn't you tell ''me''?" she muttered, her voice breaking as she fought to regain her composure.

There was more to look through, more she could look into, but it had been a very long day already, and the slow drain as she realized answers weren't so easy and forth coming had both taken their toll, and she transformed into her native Midchildan fox form, curling up and letting tears stain the fur on her cheeks. Exhaustion quickly overtook her though, and soon enough she grew still.

----

Strike Wolf, for his part, wisely decided to remain quiet, and when he detected that Akari had fallen asleep, silently closed all of the diagnostic menus to preserve power and keep the light from disturbing her slumber. Then, he internally analyzed the situation.

Something was clearly amiss. The situation did not seem to align with how Akari had represented it to him and Kyouka. It would be a simple matter to reach out to Kyouka or one of her friends telepathically, to summon them for aid. But Akari had not asked for help, and Strike Wolf calculated a very low probability she would accept it if offered.

Strike Wolf was concerned for his partner. She had put on a brave face, but he knew she was upset about the ending of their partnership. But she had insisted so stringently that Strike Wolf think of himself, he could not acceptably deny her wishes. But Kyouka had numerous friends, and would find support among them.

Akari needed support, and there was as yet no evidence she would receive it.

Strike Wolf thought on all this and more, and finally made a decision.

He raised power to his sensors and took up a silent vigil over the slumbering fox.

2023-08-02 - A Match Made in Protest

2023-08-02T20:48:34Z

Talnora: Fix the OOC date

{|class="toccolours" cellspacing="2"
|-
! style="background:#CC6699; border: 2px #CC0033 solid; font-size: 110%;" align="center" colspan="2" | '''Title: A Match Made in Protest'''
|-
|'''Summary''': 
''In the aftermath of [[2023-03-31_-_Dance_Club_Showcase|Ohtori's Dance Club Showcase]], Himeko tries to reckon with the fact that she's just been assigned a permanent dance partner she in no way wants.''
|-
| '''Who:''' 
Himeko Hasegawa, [[Kyouka Okazaki]]
|-
| '''Where:''' 
Ohtori Academy
|-
| '''OOC - IC Date:''' 
8/2/2023 - Sunday, February 28, 2016
|-
|}
[[Category:Cutscenes]]

Himeko Hasegawa was not happy. But this was not a new state of affairs.

She wasn't happy that her dance partner for the Showcase had broken his leg. While horseback riding, of all things. An activity that, famously, relied on the use of the horse's legs, and not one's own.

She wasn't happy that she had failed the entrance exams for Ohtori, where her parents had insisted she attend. Instead she had been forced to enroll at Juuban, and every day there was a reminder of her personal failing.

She wasn't happy that her parents–

She was… not sure how to feel about Kyouka Okazaki. That girl was far too unserious for her own good, and seemed to lack ambition while also having a strong work ethic, which Himeko could not understand. On the other hand, Kyouka had stepped up when Himeko needed a dance partner (not that either of them had much of a choice in the matter; Inaguma-san had ''far'' too much influence to be denied). And the other girl's dancing in the actual performance was… not an embarrassment. But Himeko could tell that Kyouka was having ''fun'' for some unfathomable reason.

Dancing wasn't fun. It was hard work. Why couldn't the other girl see that?

But currently Himeko was not happy with Yasuhito Inaguma.

No, that wasn't right. Inaguma-san was working hard to help her meet the goals her parents had for her. She was just… frustrated, because she didn't understand his thought process, that's all. He was an artiste, after all, and who could understand the thinking of a visionary in their own time?

Still, despite all that… Inaguma-san's declaration following their performance that ''Kyouka'', of all people, would become her new permanent training partner beggared belief.

The two of them rarely saw eye to eye. For many, many reasons. And especially during the rehearsal process, when Kyouka had somehow saw fit to.. make suggestions. To improvise. Experiment. Yes, she had learned the routine quickly enough, but ''still''. It wasn't her future on the line.

Yet, in that moment, as they made mutual eye contact, she knew they both agreed on one thing: Neither of them wanted this.

But the only thing either of them could articulate as they turned back to Inaguma-san was an incredulous "What?!"

"Yes, yes, I know," continued Yasuhito with a blithe ignorance to the shared understanding between the two girls. "Isn't it simply an inspired choice? One wonders why I did not think of it sooner, but mine is not to challenge the whisperings of my muse. Now, if you girls will excuse me, I really must be on my way."

Yasuhito gave a carefree wave and turned away to vanish back into the crowd, but paused and looked down to the boy in the wheelchair, looking down the length of his nose as if seeing something unpleasant. "You, boy, come with me. I may yet find a use for you." Then he walked off without waiting to see if he was following along.

"Ah, I suppose I must be going," remarked the boy as he turned his wheelchair around to follow Yasuhito. "Again, great performance, Hasegawa-san, and… ah, congrats…?" He glanced between the two girls still watching Yasuhito walk away, and gave a weak chuckle. "Or… maybe not? … Good luck, then?" He hastened to follow after Yasuhito before he got too far out of sight.

Himeko wheeled on Kyouka. "I don't know how, but this must be all ''your'' fault!"

Kyouka blinked and held up her hands defensively. "Wh– ''Seriously''? You think I want this? This was fun and all, but I definitely don't want to make this a permanent arrangement."

"Fun? ''Fun?!'' Don't you know what this ''means'' to me?!" Himeko crossed her arms. "Besides, I didn't say you wanted this, I just said it was your fault." It had to be, with how… underious the other girl was, how she was having… 'fun', when she was working so hard to accomplish her goals.

The other girl didn't even have any goals that she could tell.

"Actually, no, I don't. Despite me asking. Multiple times." Kyouka arched an eyebrow at her.

Himeko scoffed. Like she needed to get to know Kyouka better. "Whatever. Let's just… talk to our parents. I'm sure they can straighten this out."

Shrugging, Kyouka glanced to the stage, where Yuki Okazaki was currently introducing the next act. "Suit yourself. I'm gonna have to wait, though."

"Fine." Himeko turned to scan the crowds. Her parents had to be somewhere, and she was concerned they hadn't come to find her after her performance. Even Kyouka's mother had congratulated her backstage after the performance. Okazaki-sensei had congratulated both of them, actually. And if it had been good enough to impress Inaguma-san…

Himeko set off into the crowd, and caught Kyouka moving to follow her. She stopped, and stared at the other girl. "What are you doing?"

"Following you?" Kyouka gestured to their outfits–Himeko was wearing a simple and sleek black swing dress, while the other girl was dressed in slacks, a buttoned shirt, and suspenders. "You know, we're supposed to stick together."

Himeko rolled her eyes. "We're not little kids, and we're done performing. We don't need to stick together."

Frowning, Kyouka looked her over in a way Himeko wasn't entirely sure she liked. Why would that girl, who seemed too lax and carefree, try to pretend to be concerned for her? The other girl's voice softened. "Hey, seriously, you okay? You seem kind of worked up."

"I'm ''fine''!" snapped Himeko. "Just worry about yourself, okay?"

Kyouka fell silent for a moment before slowly nodding. "If you say so." She didn't sound convinced. Himeko didn't care whether she believed it or not. "I know we don't really get along, but if you wanna talk…"

Himeko turned away without replying.

The hall was crowded, and it took Himeko a couple of passes through it before she spotted her parents, Yoshiki and Kanami Hasegawa. Yoshiki, her father, was a middle-aged businessman who spent far too much time currying favor with his superiors, and Kanami, Himeko knew, had probably spent far too much time fretting over her appearance for a school function, even an Ohtori one. (Luckily, Himeko had escaped being drawn into that this time around, citing the need to arrive early to prepare.)

Himeko approached her parents, who were busy conversing with another couple, and stood politely off to the side, hands folded in front of her. Just the right spot to be noticed, but not to intrude. The conversation quickly broke up, and Himeko's parents turned towards her.

"Himeko, darling, there you are!" exclaimed Kanami. "We just heard from Inaguma-san, and we must say, he was very impressed with your performance."

"Oh, yes, he told me so himself." Himeko put on her most polite smile. "But I actually need to talk to you–"

Yoshiki cut her off. "Splendid work, my dear."

Her smile became slightly more relaxed. "I'm glad you both enjoyed the performance. But–"

"Oh no, I'm afraid we missed it, darling," said Kanami. "Your father was conducting a very important negotiation just now and we simply lost track of the time. I'm sure you understand."

''Of course. It's not like Okazaki-sensei announced my name right before the performance or anything.'' Himeko forced her voice to be steady. "Of course, Mother. I'm sure I can find a video recording of our performance…"

Wasn't Kyouka going on about that…? Surely she had to know ''someone'' else that could provide her with one.

"Very good, dear," said Kanami dismissively. She draw Himeko close to her side and lowered her voice a nominal and truly insufficient amount. "I must say, dear, that taking pity on the less fortunate is admirable, but you simply ''must'' consider where your time is best spent. You have your future to think about, after all."

That took Himeko by surprise, and it took her a moment to try and figure out what her mother could be talking about. "I'm sorry, what are you talking about?"

Kanami sniffed disdainfully. "That Higashi girl, dear. I know she's in your class, but even so."

''So you're paying enough attention to see who I'm talking to, but not to watch my performance.'' Himeko frowned softly. "Mother, Higashi-san is…" Odd, certainly, but if the rumors she'd heard were true, then some of her 'eccentricities' might be perfectly understandable. "... fine. Maybe a bit quiet, but she's nice."

Her mother tutted softly. "Be that as it may, dear, your time would be much better spent talking to someone like that Akamira girl I saw you talking to earlier."

That one still confused Himeko. "It was actually Okazaki-san who was talking to her. Though I'm not sure how they know each other…" Kyouka seemed to be like that. Willing to talk to anyone, and her tone, even when using formal language, always seemed just a bit too casual. One more thing that made the other girl confusing and perplexing.

"Yes, well, she must be doing ''something'' right, to make such a strong impression on Inaguma-san. You really should be taking more cues from her."

Himeko's hands clenched. Absolutely not. That would never happen.

But the conversation was finally on the right topic. "About that, Mother, that arrangement is never going to work. Okazaki-san only agreed to be my dance partner temporarily because there wasn't anybody else who could both learn and perform the routine in time. She has her own things going on." Whatever those were. Himeko hadn't bothered to ask, but there must be something, she was sure.

Kanami tutted softly. "Now, now, dear. Don't be like that. We'll have a talk with her mother after the performance and see if we can't straighten all this out. Now, come along, I think your father's spotted someone else we need to have a chat with."

Himeko sighed. "Yes, Mother."

The rest of the evening was spent accompanying her parents. Himeko wished she could have seen more of the performances, but there were people to meet, names to memorize, and polite chatter to make. Of course she had seen the dress rehearsals, but there was something different about watching a performance with a live crowd.

But eventually the last group performed, Okazaki-sensei said good night to the crowd, and people started to slowly make their way to the doors. Himeko steered her parents gently but firmly towards the backstage area. It would be far better to nip this arrangement in the bud before it persisted any longer than it already had.

"Mother, father, I'll be right back after I find–" started Himeko. But before she could finish that sentence, she could already hear Kyouka's voice emerging from the door. The other girl was followed by her mother.

"Alright, alright," Kyouka was saying in far too casual a manner for speaking to her own mother. "Twist my arm why don't you–" She stopped short when she saw Himeko and her parents. "Oh, hey Hasegawa-san."

How could she say that so casually? She might as well have been saying 'Hasegawa-chan' for how casual she sounded. Didn't she know they weren't supposed to like each other?

"Okazaki-san," said Himeko in a far more respectful tone. "Okzaki-sensei, please tell me you agree that Inaguma-san's proposal is not feasible."

Kyouka chuckled weakly. "Actually… Mom kinda talked me into it."

Himeko stared flatly. "... What? She… talked you into it?"

"Yep." Kyouka gave a hapless shrug, as if that explained everything.

"Splendid!" Yoshiki stepped forward to speak to the teacher. "I must say, you've done a terrific job, and we truly appreciate all of the instruction you've given our daughter."

"Your daughter is a delight to instruct," replied the elder Okazaki. "But truly the credit goes to her hard work, she is very driven."

The conversation continued on about but without them, as Himeko stewed in her personal thoughts.

'Talked into it.' That must mean Okazaki-sensei was forcing Kyouka to do it. That was a state of affairs Himeko could understand.

And if she had to accept it to make her parents happy, she would.

2023-08-02 - A Match Made in Protest

2023-08-02T20:48:02Z

Talnora: I'm sure nothing bad can come from an ordinary girl with inner turmoil who associates with a magical girl.

{|class="toccolours" cellspacing="2"
|-
! style="background:#CC6699; border: 2px #CC0033 solid; font-size: 110%;" align="center" colspan="2" | '''Title: A Match Made in Protest'''
|-
|'''Summary''': 
''In the aftermath of [[2023-03-31_-_Dance_Club_Showcase|Ohtori's Dance Club Showcase]], Himeko tries to reckon with the fact that she's just been assigned a permanent dance partner she in no way wants.''
|-
| '''Who:''' 
Himeko Hasegawa, [[Kyouka Okazaki]]
|-
| '''Where:''' 
Ohtori Academy
|-
| '''OOC - IC Date:''' 
0/2/2023 - Sunday, February 28, 2016
|-
|}
[[Category:Cutscenes]]

Himeko Hasegawa was not happy. But this was not a new state of affairs.

She wasn't happy that her dance partner for the Showcase had broken his leg. While horseback riding, of all things. An activity that, famously, relied on the use of the horse's legs, and not one's own.

She wasn't happy that she had failed the entrance exams for Ohtori, where her parents had insisted she attend. Instead she had been forced to enroll at Juuban, and every day there was a reminder of her personal failing.

She wasn't happy that her parents–

She was… not sure how to feel about Kyouka Okazaki. That girl was far too unserious for her own good, and seemed to lack ambition while also having a strong work ethic, which Himeko could not understand. On the other hand, Kyouka had stepped up when Himeko needed a dance partner (not that either of them had much of a choice in the matter; Inaguma-san had ''far'' too much influence to be denied). And the other girl's dancing in the actual performance was… not an embarrassment. But Himeko could tell that Kyouka was having ''fun'' for some unfathomable reason.

Dancing wasn't fun. It was hard work. Why couldn't the other girl see that?

But currently Himeko was not happy with Yasuhito Inaguma.

No, that wasn't right. Inaguma-san was working hard to help her meet the goals her parents had for her. She was just… frustrated, because she didn't understand his thought process, that's all. He was an artiste, after all, and who could understand the thinking of a visionary in their own time?

Still, despite all that… Inaguma-san's declaration following their performance that ''Kyouka'', of all people, would become her new permanent training partner beggared belief.

The two of them rarely saw eye to eye. For many, many reasons. And especially during the rehearsal process, when Kyouka had somehow saw fit to.. make suggestions. To improvise. Experiment. Yes, she had learned the routine quickly enough, but ''still''. It wasn't her future on the line.

Yet, in that moment, as they made mutual eye contact, she knew they both agreed on one thing: Neither of them wanted this.

But the only thing either of them could articulate as they turned back to Inaguma-san was an incredulous "What?!"

"Yes, yes, I know," continued Yasuhito with a blithe ignorance to the shared understanding between the two girls. "Isn't it simply an inspired choice? One wonders why I did not think of it sooner, but mine is not to challenge the whisperings of my muse. Now, if you girls will excuse me, I really must be on my way."

Yasuhito gave a carefree wave and turned away to vanish back into the crowd, but paused and looked down to the boy in the wheelchair, looking down the length of his nose as if seeing something unpleasant. "You, boy, come with me. I may yet find a use for you." Then he walked off without waiting to see if he was following along.

"Ah, I suppose I must be going," remarked the boy as he turned his wheelchair around to follow Yasuhito. "Again, great performance, Hasegawa-san, and… ah, congrats…?" He glanced between the two girls still watching Yasuhito walk away, and gave a weak chuckle. "Or… maybe not? … Good luck, then?" He hastened to follow after Yasuhito before he got too far out of sight.

Himeko wheeled on Kyouka. "I don't know how, but this must be all ''your'' fault!"

Kyouka blinked and held up her hands defensively. "Wh– ''Seriously''? You think I want this? This was fun and all, but I definitely don't want to make this a permanent arrangement."

"Fun? ''Fun?!'' Don't you know what this ''means'' to me?!" Himeko crossed her arms. "Besides, I didn't say you wanted this, I just said it was your fault." It had to be, with how… underious the other girl was, how she was having… 'fun', when she was working so hard to accomplish her goals.

The other girl didn't even have any goals that she could tell.

"Actually, no, I don't. Despite me asking. Multiple times." Kyouka arched an eyebrow at her.

Himeko scoffed. Like she needed to get to know Kyouka better. "Whatever. Let's just… talk to our parents. I'm sure they can straighten this out."

Shrugging, Kyouka glanced to the stage, where Yuki Okazaki was currently introducing the next act. "Suit yourself. I'm gonna have to wait, though."

"Fine." Himeko turned to scan the crowds. Her parents had to be somewhere, and she was concerned they hadn't come to find her after her performance. Even Kyouka's mother had congratulated her backstage after the performance. Okazaki-sensei had congratulated both of them, actually. And if it had been good enough to impress Inaguma-san…

Himeko set off into the crowd, and caught Kyouka moving to follow her. She stopped, and stared at the other girl. "What are you doing?"

"Following you?" Kyouka gestured to their outfits–Himeko was wearing a simple and sleek black swing dress, while the other girl was dressed in slacks, a buttoned shirt, and suspenders. "You know, we're supposed to stick together."

Himeko rolled her eyes. "We're not little kids, and we're done performing. We don't need to stick together."

Frowning, Kyouka looked her over in a way Himeko wasn't entirely sure she liked. Why would that girl, who seemed too lax and carefree, try to pretend to be concerned for her? The other girl's voice softened. "Hey, seriously, you okay? You seem kind of worked up."

"I'm ''fine''!" snapped Himeko. "Just worry about yourself, okay?"

Kyouka fell silent for a moment before slowly nodding. "If you say so." She didn't sound convinced. Himeko didn't care whether she believed it or not. "I know we don't really get along, but if you wanna talk…"

Himeko turned away without replying.

The hall was crowded, and it took Himeko a couple of passes through it before she spotted her parents, Yoshiki and Kanami Hasegawa. Yoshiki, her father, was a middle-aged businessman who spent far too much time currying favor with his superiors, and Kanami, Himeko knew, had probably spent far too much time fretting over her appearance for a school function, even an Ohtori one. (Luckily, Himeko had escaped being drawn into that this time around, citing the need to arrive early to prepare.)

Himeko approached her parents, who were busy conversing with another couple, and stood politely off to the side, hands folded in front of her. Just the right spot to be noticed, but not to intrude. The conversation quickly broke up, and Himeko's parents turned towards her.

"Himeko, darling, there you are!" exclaimed Kanami. "We just heard from Inaguma-san, and we must say, he was very impressed with your performance."

"Oh, yes, he told me so himself." Himeko put on her most polite smile. "But I actually need to talk to you–"

Yoshiki cut her off. "Splendid work, my dear."

Her smile became slightly more relaxed. "I'm glad you both enjoyed the performance. But–"

"Oh no, I'm afraid we missed it, darling," said Kanami. "Your father was conducting a very important negotiation just now and we simply lost track of the time. I'm sure you understand."

''Of course. It's not like Okazaki-sensei announced my name right before the performance or anything.'' Himeko forced her voice to be steady. "Of course, Mother. I'm sure I can find a video recording of our performance…"

Wasn't Kyouka going on about that…? Surely she had to know ''someone'' else that could provide her with one.

"Very good, dear," said Kanami dismissively. She draw Himeko close to her side and lowered her voice a nominal and truly insufficient amount. "I must say, dear, that taking pity on the less fortunate is admirable, but you simply ''must'' consider where your time is best spent. You have your future to think about, after all."

That took Himeko by surprise, and it took her a moment to try and figure out what her mother could be talking about. "I'm sorry, what are you talking about?"

Kanami sniffed disdainfully. "That Higashi girl, dear. I know she's in your class, but even so."

''So you're paying enough attention to see who I'm talking to, but not to watch my performance.'' Himeko frowned softly. "Mother, Higashi-san is…" Odd, certainly, but if the rumors she'd heard were true, then some of her 'eccentricities' might be perfectly understandable. "... fine. Maybe a bit quiet, but she's nice."

Her mother tutted softly. "Be that as it may, dear, your time would be much better spent talking to someone like that Akamira girl I saw you talking to earlier."

That one still confused Himeko. "It was actually Okazaki-san who was talking to her. Though I'm not sure how they know each other…" Kyouka seemed to be like that. Willing to talk to anyone, and her tone, even when using formal language, always seemed just a bit too casual. One more thing that made the other girl confusing and perplexing.

"Yes, well, she must be doing ''something'' right, to make such a strong impression on Inaguma-san. You really should be taking more cues from her."

Himeko's hands clenched. Absolutely not. That would never happen.

But the conversation was finally on the right topic. "About that, Mother, that arrangement is never going to work. Okazaki-san only agreed to be my dance partner temporarily because there wasn't anybody else who could both learn and perform the routine in time. She has her own things going on." Whatever those were. Himeko hadn't bothered to ask, but there must be something, she was sure.

Kanami tutted softly. "Now, now, dear. Don't be like that. We'll have a talk with her mother after the performance and see if we can't straighten all this out. Now, come along, I think your father's spotted someone else we need to have a chat with."

Himeko sighed. "Yes, Mother."

The rest of the evening was spent accompanying her parents. Himeko wished she could have seen more of the performances, but there were people to meet, names to memorize, and polite chatter to make. Of course she had seen the dress rehearsals, but there was something different about watching a performance with a live crowd.

But eventually the last group performed, Okazaki-sensei said good night to the crowd, and people started to slowly make their way to the doors. Himeko steered her parents gently but firmly towards the backstage area. It would be far better to nip this arrangement in the bud before it persisted any longer than it already had.

"Mother, father, I'll be right back after I find–" started Himeko. But before she could finish that sentence, she could already hear Kyouka's voice emerging from the door. The other girl was followed by her mother.

"Alright, alright," Kyouka was saying in far too casual a manner for speaking to her own mother. "Twist my arm why don't you–" She stopped short when she saw Himeko and her parents. "Oh, hey Hasegawa-san."

How could she say that so casually? She might as well have been saying 'Hasegawa-chan' for how casual she sounded. Didn't she know they weren't supposed to like each other?

"Okazaki-san," said Himeko in a far more respectful tone. "Okzaki-sensei, please tell me you agree that Inaguma-san's proposal is not feasible."

Kyouka chuckled weakly. "Actually… Mom kinda talked me into it."

Himeko stared flatly. "... What? She… talked you into it?"

"Yep." Kyouka gave a hapless shrug, as if that explained everything.

"Splendid!" Yoshiki stepped forward to speak to the teacher. "I must say, you've done a terrific job, and we truly appreciate all of the instruction you've given our daughter."

"Your daughter is a delight to instruct," replied the elder Okazaki. "But truly the credit goes to her hard work, she is very driven."

The conversation continued on about but without them, as Himeko stewed in her personal thoughts.

'Talked into it.' That must mean Okazaki-sensei was forcing Kyouka to do it. That was a state of affairs Himeko could understand.

And if she had to accept it to make her parents happy, she would.

2023-07-10 - Making the Grade

2023-07-28T21:26:30Z

Talnora: First thing going in the scrapbook? A copy of her final exam results.

{|class="toccolours" cellspacing="2"
|-
! style="background:#CC6699; border: 2px #CC0033 solid; font-size: 110%;" align="center" colspan="2" | '''Title: Making the Grade'''
|-
|'''Summary''': 
''Raiko's been studying hard trying to make up for her past poor academic performance. Final exam results have been released—Raiko's last final exam as an Infinity Middle School student—so now it's time to see if all that effort has paid off...''

''... but a little moral support wouldn't hurt, so she goes over to Yumi's dorm before she looks.''
|-
| '''Who:''' 
[[Raiko Takashima]], [[Yumi Ohzora]]
|-
| '''Where:''' 
Dormitories (Tama Outer City - Infinity Institute)
|-
| '''OOC - IC Date:''' 
7/10/2023 - Thursday, March 24, 2016
|-
|}

.******************** Tama Outer City - Infinity Institute ********************.
*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+* Dormitories +*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*
The main dormitories of the Infinity Institute are, like most other school
services, within the monolithic tower itself. The accommodations are
slightly more homey than the class and club levels, though, with dorm levels
having warmer lighting and wood paneling. Built-in furnishings are fairly
ordinary: A desk and bed for each occupant, a Japanese-style table for
sitting around, and, most luxuriously, a small kitchenette. Each room houses
two or three students, with separate floors for boys and girls, with floors
arranged by grade level. Each floor also has a live-in teacher of the
appropriate gender to make sure nothing goes too terribly wrong.

The communal accommodations are fairly lavish. The baths on each level are
enormous, laid out in the fashion of large public Japanese baths and
arranged with artful stones and greenery like a resort. Exactly which kind
of resort depends on the school level. Similarly, the gymnasium has lifting
machines that can support loads of multiple dozen tons and treadmills that
at least claim to be capable of going up to sixty miles an hour.

Although accommodations can be made for talented younger children,
officially speaking the dorm only accepts students once they reach middle
school. Although attending Infinity is free due to its charter status, the
boarding costs are steep, so poorer students tend to live at home or seek
scholarships. Much to Infinitys fiscal delight, the dorms remain a popular
choice for those who can afford it; parents consider them a safe and healthy
environment, and students enjoy the relative lack of supervision.

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

The day.... has been agonizing. Raiko could barely concentrate on her classes, knowing that final exam grades were due to be posted, and honestly still feeling exhausted from all of the studying and exam-taking she had just done. There are more than a few people feeling a bit burned out--everyone in their class had pushed themselves to their fullest, doing their best to make a good impression for their last final exams of middle school.

Raiko just hopes she did okay.

The grades were posted, publically, as was tradition, but Raiko couldn't deal with being around the throng of other students to look at them. She knew her reputation, she knew the other students knew it, and she knew the 'competition' would be fierce. The last thing she wanted was to deal with disappointing results in front of everyone else.

So... she'd gone to Yumi's dorm just before she was due to get back and waited for her. (She was still in her school uniform, so maybe she had come straight to Yumi's dorm without stopping by her own first. It's probably fine.) She'd offered a sheepish wave, asked to come in, and...

Now she was sitting at a table in Yumi's dorm. Her phone before her. She'd been working up her nerve for a couple of minutes now but finally she picked it up, logged in with her account, scrolled to the link that would open up the results and....

She suddenly held the phone out to Yumi. "I can't look. Just... tell me what it says? But don't tell me if it's bad! Well, it'll probably be bad, but it might be a better bad than it used to be, and you can tell me then but if it's a worse bad then don't tell..."

Raiko trails off, blushing. Her voice is quiet and shakey. "Sorry. I'm rambling. I'm just... really nervous. Can you look? Please?"

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Yumi's been hard at work for finals, too... But it's not quite as iconic as the ''middle school'' finals. She's kept up with them, and it's a lot of work--she knows when to take breaks--but she is not super worried about her score. SHe's feeling confident!

She's also feeling surprised, because when Yumi--likewise in blue Infinity uniform--comes back to her dorm, there's a Raiko there! She blinks, and then smiles at her. "C'mon in," she'd said.

There, the table. Yumi has set down her bag and sat on the side to a right angle of where Raiko is, listening along--until--

"Aw," Yumi says. "You should look yourself! ....But I get it," she says.

So Yumi takes the phone, and has a look, clicking the link... and then smiles.

"Not bad," Yumi says to Raiko. "You really turned things around." She slides the phone on the table across to Raiko so that she can see, too.

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

Raiko is immensely grateful for Yumi letting her in.

She hands over the phone, and is clearly bracing herself when Yumi declares... 'Not bad.'

She opens her eyes and blinks in astonishment. "Wait, really?" Once the phone is slid back her way she picks it up... and slowly a grin breaks out across her face. "Whoa! No way! Yumi-chan! Did you see this?!" She turns the phone to show Yumi... seemingly forgetting that she ''just'' asked her to look at it.

And then she turns it back towards herself to look at her score again, scrolling through to see her other classmates. "I mean, I could do ''better'' but the last two years were way worse, and honestly, with everyone trying really hard to do their best for finals this year, I didn't think..."

She falls silent for a moment, just staring at her phone screen with a big grin on her face. It's by no means the best score, but... it's definitely a marked improvement from past years.

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Yumi could've just let Raiko sit out there. But she wasn't ever going to.

Yumi beams at Raiko proudly, noticing that grin, and laughing a little as Raiko tnrs the phone to show her. "It's great!" she says. She doesn't call her out on that little bit--it's a nice moment, no sense in being mean about it. But as Raiko scrolls through...

"You did your best, and it paid off," Yumi says. "That's what counts, right?"

"I saw how hard you worked at it, too. I think a lot of people did."

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

Raiko is just that ridiculously excited, that's all. It's hard for her to muster that kind of excitement these days.

"Yeah... That was... a ''lot'' of studying. It's making me more tired just thinking about it." She sighs in an overly dramatic but clearly playful way. "But... maybe high school will be a clean slate of sorts? I mean, I still have a lot to catch up on, but I'll have more time now...."

A lot of people saw how hard she worked. "Yeah... Shiori's gonna be really happy to see these scores, I bet..." She falls quiet, contemplating something.

"... I wish I could show Grandpa," she says quietly. "He'd be really proud of me too, I bet." There's sadness in that statement... but not the absolute despair and melancholy it's had in the past. Maybe even a little bit of hopefulness.

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

It is--and it's accordingly really nice to see. Yumi's happy for her!

Then she laughs. "A lot," she agrees. "I think it will be; sure, your history follows you and all, but high school... it's a new start. It was for me, anyway. If only a little."

Shiori will be happy. ANd...

"I'm sure he would. ...Maybe you should write this stuff down. Do you ever do scrapbooks? Have something to show him, when you see him again. That's a nice idea, right?"

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

History follows... "Yeah," she agrees, and there's an edge of exasperation... but then she brightens up. "Oh! Buuuuut you know what I just realized?! We're gonna be in the same school next year!" She's beaming at Yumi as she says that. "I mean, we're already in the same building, but I'll have a new uniform!"

Raiko shakes her head at the question of scrapbooks. "No, I haven't but..." She thinks about it, slowly nodding. "Yeah, I should. I could... include how I'm doing as a magical girl, too? Maybe? I... I bet he'd be happy to know I'm trying my best with that, too, right? And I'm still working on some of my projects...."

She blinks. "Oh! That reminds me... Um... I ran into your friend Ankou-san once, and we got to talking... I mentioned about my grandpa, and she mentioned she knew this divination thing. I mean, it's silly, the Magic Association probably has way better spells and rituals for this sort of thing but... it couldn't hurt to try, right? Just to see?"

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Same school! "That's true!" Yumi agrees. "It'll be fun--Personally I like the high school uniform best of Infinity's uniforms." They are in the same building, but now closer to the same floors!

She hasn't, but... "I think that's all a great idea. Include anythnig you'd want to tell him--I bet he'd be extra proud knowing that you're making that work." Then she pauses.

"Hm? Oh!" Nori! Yumi considers for a moment then. "A divination...? Well," Yumi says, "She'd know a lot of things like that..."

"She might have some specialized knowledge the Association doesn't. And if not..."

"Well, why not?"

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

Yumi likes the high school uniforms better. "Oh? Why's that?" She picks up her phone again and starts navigating though it until she finds pictures of the three girls' uniforms. "That reminds me, gonna have to talk to Ayase-san about getting supplies for the upcoming school year..."

Raiko considers a moment. biting her lip a little. "I... should maybe talk to him about.... how I'm a magical girl now, too?" she glances to Yumi, recalling their earlier conversation.

Include anything she wants. "Could... I include stuff about you?" Hastily she adds, "It's okay if you don't want me to, or you only want me to mention Yumi Ohzora but not Lost Ivy or Lost Ivy but not Yumi Ohzora--I don't know if he knows or not, but um..."

She slips out of her chair and walks over to Yumi and gives her a hug. "You're been really helpful with... well, everything, and you really mean a lot to me and, um... sorry if I bug you too much sometimes." She pulls away, blushing a little. "Having Shiori back helps a lot, but having someone like you around helps a lot too."

But Yumi says they should try the divination ritual, and Raiko nods. "Okay. I've been... way too busy, but maybe once the break starts, we can give it a try."

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

"I like the color on the jacket, and it looks nice with the tights I usually go for." SHe just likes the designs! "That's important to remember, though!"

Then... Yes. Yumi nclines her head--and then she gives an easy smile and a V-sign. "That's just fine," Yumi says. "YOu can tell him stuff about me as Yumi and stuff about me as Lost Ivy. Everything you've said about him... If Shiori and Tama can trust him, and you trust him, then I trust him too."

Yumi hugs back Raiko, squeezing once and then smiling again. "I don't mind," she says. "it's what friends do, right?"

"...Sounds good. I really am proud of you, Raiko-chan."

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

Raiko, of course, doesn't need to look at her phone to see the high school uniform--Yumi's wearing it already! But she does pull up the middle school uniform since it's easier to compare it that way, since she's not in front of a mirror. "Oooh, yeah. I like that color, too. But, well... I might be biased." It is her favorite color, after all...

She nods as Yumi gives her permission. "Okay! Thanks! He's kept lots of stuff secret, so I'm sure he'll keep this secret, too. And thank you. I... wouldn't have been able to do any of this without you, so... I want him to know about you, too."

"Yeah! And if you ever need anything, I'll be there for you, no matter what!"

She blinks a bit as Yumi says she's proud of her, too. "Really...?"

The second hug is fast and maybe a bit tighter than it should be, but she does remember to relent after a moment. "I'll make sure I won't let you down!"

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

"Haha. It's fine to have a little bias with this kind of thing." Yumi's favorite colors are green and pink, but she can represent both of those in the uniform, if she just makes her own little alterations. Which she does! It's fine.

"I believe you," Yumi says easily, smoothly. But just because it's easy doesn't mean it's not true; she can give her trust the places she wants to give it. "You've been a great help, yourself, you know."

Then--if she needs anything... Yumi smiles back. "I'll hold you to that."

There's a second hug, and of course there is, and even if it squeezes Yumi slightly more than is comfortable...

"I know," Yumi says. "I know you won't."
[[Category: Logs]]

2023-06-08 - Spilling the Hot Chocolate

2023-06-09T04:23:35Z

Talnora: Every magical girl deserv4es a catchphrase.

{|class="toccolours" cellspacing="2"
|-
! style="background:#CC6699; border: 2px #CC0033 solid; font-size: 110%;" align="center" colspan="2" | '''Title: Spilling the Hot Chocolate'''
|-
|'''Summary''': 
''After the first day of finals, Raiko heads over to Yumi's dorm so they can talk, catch up a bit, and share various magical news with each other.''
|-
| '''Who:''' 
[[Raiko Takashima]], [[Yumi Ohzora]]
|-
| '''Where:''' 
Dormitories (Tama Outer City - Infinity Institute)
|-
| '''OOC - IC Date:''' 
6/8/2023 - Wednesday, March 16, 2016
|-
|}

.******************** Tama Outer City - Infinity Institute ********************.
*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+* Dormitories +*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*
The main dormitories of the Infinity Institute are, like most other school
services, within the monolithic tower itself. The accommodations are
slightly more homey than the class and club levels, though, with dorm levels
having warmer lighting and wood paneling. Built-in furnishings are fairly
ordinary: A desk and bed for each occupant, a Japanese-style table for
sitting around, and, most luxuriously, a small kitchenette. Each room houses
two or three students, with separate floors for boys and girls, with floors
arranged by grade level. Each floor also has a live-in teacher of the
appropriate gender to make sure nothing goes too terribly wrong.

The communal accommodations are fairly lavish. The baths on each level are
enormous, laid out in the fashion of large public Japanese baths and
arranged with artful stones and greenery like a resort. Exactly which kind
of resort depends on the school level. Similarly, the gymnasium has lifting
machines that can support loads of multiple dozen tons and treadmills that
at least claim to be capable of going up to sixty miles an hour.

Although accommodations can be made for talented younger children,
officially speaking the dorm only accepts students once they reach middle
school. Although attending Infinity is free due to its charter status, the
boarding costs are steep, so poorer students tend to live at home or seek
scholarships. Much to Infinitys fiscal delight, the dorms remain a popular
choice for those who can afford it; parents consider them a safe and healthy
environment, and students enjoy the relative lack of supervision.

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

Raiko resists the urge to yawn as she trudges to Yumi's dorm, but fails and yawns anyway. She's still in her school uniform, with her backpack, and is carrying a tray from Starbooks with two extra large drinks in it.

It's been... rather hectic, academically. Cramming constantly for a month to get ready for entrance exams, only to then turn around and dive right back into studying for finals. So, so much studying. And still trying, as best she can, to try and catch up with all the stuff she's missed over the past three years diving into her obsession.

And of course, there's still her new magical girl duties on top of that. Figuring out her enchantment was freeing, in a way, since she wasn't stuck on Shiori being around for every disaster. But on the other hand, Shiori's presence was often very comforting. She'd had to face several challenges on her own, which was... scary, certainly. Though Mami had said...

She blushed a little thinking of it.

But all the studying meant she'd missed seeing Yumi some, too--Yumi had gone to TAF, and she so desperately wanted to go, but she just couldn't justify the time investment, especially not with being so behind.

Maybe next year.

And now, the first day of finals was over. She should go back to studying but she needed a break. So she'd textd Yumi about hanging out, offered to bring drinks (she got hot chocolate for herself, as always), and was now at her door. She carefully shuffled the tray so she could hold it with one hand and knock on the door with the other. "Hiii, Yumi-chan," she calls out tiredly.

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Yumi will also have hot chocolate this time!!

Because finals are rough. Yumi for her part is in the 'easy' year relative to next, but it's still a lot of work making sure she has all her work--especially including the occasional day or period out of class that she ends up at the nurse's office or just sleeping through. Which means makeup. And then there's also magical girl issues, and witch issues, and and and.

Yumi needs a break, too. SO she's happy to open the door for Raiko and say, "Hiii, Raiko-chan."

Then, "Ooh drinks. Nice. She reaches out to lighten Raiko's burden and then steps back, allowing her into the room, past the bar, into the wide-set living room, complete with nice couches, little pillows, and so on.

"How's it going?"

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

Raiko smiles gratefully as Yumi takes the drinks, and then steps inside, closing the door behind her. She sets her backpack down by the couch... and then falls over face-first onto it, before rolling onto her side so she can look at Yumi as she talks.

"I'm tiiiiired. I feel like I've done nothing but studying for forever, now... First entrance exams, now finals, and I'm still trying to catch up on... ''everything''." She yawns widely and thinks back to that day's exams.

"... I think things went okay with my exams today, though? I... well, better than they would've before..." Before she met Yumi and started ''trying'', that is--before she started trying to be Responsible.

She makes a half-hearted attempt to cover her mouth as she yawns again. "How're you, Yumi-chan? How was the convention? Did you see anything cool, there?"

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

"Awww," Yumi says, and then laughs a little. "I can tell." Studying for forever... It felt that way for Yumi back then, too. "I'm glad! I think you're gonna do well." For the same reason that Raiko is finding it--that she's trying more!

But that yawn prompts Yumi to set the hot chocolate down on the coffee table and walk around to the chair nearby and flop into it. She doesn't have to yawn herself; it's kind of fun to be the one with energy.

She siiiips her hot chocolate. "I'm pretty good. I've been studying a lot too, but I did get to do the convention, and that was fun. Watched a lot of new shows, tried a few panels. I did see some cool things, but.... Probably the most relevant to ''you'' is not next season's new show!"

Beat, "Met an Ogre. A friend of mine took care of it with me, but it was a weird one. Icy. Most of them we've seen so far like fire..."

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

Raiko ''is'' trying, but it still takes a while to see any of that effort pay off, especially in the form of exam scores. Though her homework has had a little bit of an uptick... "I hope so," she says. "Thanks for the vote of confidence, Yumi-chan."

She gestures vaguely to her backpack. "I got a couple of muffins, too. I couldn't remember what was okay for you, but they're Starbooks muffins, so... You can have one, if you want."

"Oh cool, what panels did you see? Most years I try to keep up with the new shows but I've been so busy lately... And... I dunno. Haven't really been able to get excited about magical girl shows and games recently, just given..." she gestures a bit. The whole 'being an actual magical girl' thing.

But something relevant to her that isn't a new show? She blinks and looks up at Yumi, still laying on her side on the couch. "What's that?"

Her heart seizes. "What?!" Adrenaline gets her to sit up. "Was anybody hurt?! Are you okay?" But she and a friend of hers took care of it, and she lets out a sigh of relief. "I'm glad you had someone there to back you up..." She frowns a little. "Huh... Icy ogre... wonder if they had to do something special to summon that, then, since we haven't seen it before..."

She grabs a pillow and flumps back over again, putting it under her head. "Well, I guess I have something to share with you, too, then. You know those tellun plants that were all the rage?" A beat. "Turns out they were evil. I ''think'' they were draining Jindai for sustenance. And also they tried to steal a bunch of peoples' Pure Hearts."

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

"Anytime. I mean it!"

Muffins... "Oh, that's great. We should have those in a bit! As long as it's not grapefruit it should be OK." Hers beat, "Hmm. Yeah, that's fair. Oh, I saw one on cosplay, which was pretty good, and another on..." There's a few! More than one mighit expect! But she doesn't dwell too long on them because ofthe excitement issue.

And then, of course--

"It's OK, it's OK!" She smiles. "Yeah. It was fine." She decides not to mention the rude fox. It might muddy the issue. "Maybe; there's a lot we don't know. But Tama has mentioned there's ogres we haven't seen..."

Flump. "Oh, wow?" Yumi says. "Yikes. Thaaat's terrible!" She almost got one of those... But it clashed with the decor in her room.

"I guess you found out the hard way?"

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

Raiko is too tired to get up and get them from her backpack at this moment, so later is good. "Nah, I didn't get grapefruit. Blueberry and chocolate chip." She pauses. "... Annnd a poppyseed for later."

"Doing some cosplay might be fun sometime," muses Raiko.

"Guess every ogre is a new ogre at some point..." she muses. "You guys took care of it really quickly, though. I didn't see anything on the news about the convention." Or rather, anything about whatever mass delusion everyone would have believed about it. "Glad you guys got through it okay, though..."

"Yeaaaaaah. There was an event, where you could decorate the pot for a tellun, and I went there because..." She blushes a little. "I was kiiiinda maaaaaybe getting you one as a gift? Then they started growing and stealing peoples' Pure Hearts. There were a bunch of amazing magical girls that showed up to put a stop to it, though."

"Annnnnd..." A long pause. "Teruno-san was in on it, I think."

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Yumi's not particularly hungry at the moment anyway. "Sounds great," Yumi says of the muffins, and--"Ooh yes. Planning ahead!"

"New to us, anyway," Yumi says. "Tama says that they're all ancient. They don't so much make new ogres as summon different ones. That's how it apparently works. So they might have others we don't know about."

Nothing on the news... "Yeah, it was chasing an animal," Yumi explains, "And we managed to corner it in an area where nobody was. Pretty rough, but we came through!"

Then, an event... "Oh, that sounds nice," Yumi says, and beams back. "That's really thoughtful! Even if I'm glad you didn't, since, evil plant. But the thought counts."

Growing, and stealing Pure Hearts...

"That's--" Pause. "Wait, really? Lulu Teruno? That's..."

She pauses. "I always thought PE was a little evil, but... that's something else."

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

"That makes sense," she says of summoning ogres. "The Sulfuric Ogre seemed to remember us--or at least one of my ancestors, when we fought her... so maybe sometimes its just the same one getting summoned again and again?"

"An animal...?" Raiko blinks a little. "Okay, I know they're always hungry, but why was it chasing an animal and not like... anybody else at the convention? I mean, not that I ''want'' anybody to get hurt or anything, of course, but I'm just saying..."

"Yeaaah... you would've liked the pot I designed for you. Or, well, I hope you would've. I tried to do it up as a witch's blessing for plant growth. ... Which I guess was a little silly since they turned out to be evil vampire and heart-stealing plants, but I learned it recently and wanted to put it to use..."

"Yeeep. Called herself Tellu, of the Witches 5, and... eventually she merged with all of the plants? I, uh... I'm not sure she survived."

A long, somber pause. "She said she was trying for a promotion, and offered me her old spot. You know, because I'm a witch and all. I turned her down."

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

"Yeah. I think that's exactly how it is," Yumi answers.

An animal! "Well, a magic animal," Yumi admits. "And kind of a jerk. But we saved her, anyway. I think it's just that they found that animal first, and... fixated."

"Aw. That does sound pretty nice! I'd like a plant potted like that. ...But like you say, not ''that'' one. Maybe some nice flowers or something."

The Witches 5... Yumi frowns. "I see..." She shakes her head. "Sometimes that's how it is. It sucks, but we can't always hold back when other lives are on the line. So I thnik you did the right thing."

Pause. "Heh. ...Good for you," Yumi says. "Turning her down. That's not our kind of Witch, right?"

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

"Oh, a ''magical'' animal... I guess that makes a little more sense..." She ponders for a moment. "Do you think she was there to see the convention, too?"

Raiko smiles up to Yumi and nods. "Okay! Maybe after finals are over I can try and find something nice. Er... Promise you'll pretend to be a little surprised? Since it was supposed to be a gift, originally?"

She sighs a little and nods as Yumi says she did the right thing. "Thanks. There wawsn't really a choice once she merged with all of the Telluns and became a giant... plant tentacle monster thing, so... And we couldn't just let her get away with all those Pure Hearts, so..."

She does smile a little when YUumi agrees with her rejecting the job. "That's right!" she says, and even though she's tired there's a bit of determination in her voice as she says that. "I told her she gave witches a bad name. I tried to be all cool and dramatic about it but it's ''really'' hard to think of cool lines when you're in the middle of a fight."

"They make it look so easy in anime..."

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

"I--" Yumi opens her mouth, and closes it. "I doubt it, but maybe? I can't imagine that one doing much for fun..."

She smiles back--and then laughs. "Okay, okay. I'll try." But gifts are nice either way!

Yumi nods, though. "Yeah... Transformations like that..." Yumi shakes her head. "That's awful. But you're right! People need those. And whatever they can do with them I don't want to see, for sure."

Determination... Yumi sees it, and she's proud to see it. "It is, isn't it?" Yumi says. "I don't manage it all the time myself..."

A laugh. "They do, huh?" Yumi sips her hot chocolate. "I guess it's not practical to just come up with them first," she muses.

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

"Well, you stopped that animal from being eaten so I guess either way it works out..."

Raiko does smile a bit when Yumi promises to try and act surprised. She really did want to do something nice for Yumi after everything she's done for her.

"Yeah, me neither... They all went back to their owners, though, once we... defeated Tellu." Careful word choice, there. "There might be more of those Witches 5 out there, though..."

Raiko finally pushes herself up, reaching over to grab her own hot chocolate and sip at it. "Mmmm... Yeahhh... you gotta tailor the lines to the situation, you know? Unless you have a catchphrase or a motto or something. Those can be prewritten, but it's nice if you can modify them to fit the situation."

She says that with all the conviction of a studied academic.

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

"Yeah."

She is happy enough to do her best there. As for the Hearts, "That's good. That's how it usually works, I think. I've... dealt with things that take Pure Hearts before." Then she pauses. 'Defeated'. That's very careful indeed. "Yeah. Should be four more." She sounds like she's not just saying that because 'Witches 5' though, but perhaps from experience.

Mmmm hot chocolate. "Oh, yeah..." Yumi gets a little mischief in her eyes. "is that so?" she wonders. "Well, maybe we should work on that. When you're done with finals."

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

"Kind of scary to think that someone can just... take something so precious from people... And not only can, but ''would''." She shakes her head. "Sounds like it... Unless they've already defeated some of the others, I guess? I didn't get a chance to stick around and ask the other magical girls about it."

She lights up and gives a very eager nod at that suggestion. "Yeah! We should! I've been thinking about that! We could have like... a speech that we each give part of, maybe even trade off lines back and forth, or we could have some quick catchphrase to introduce ourselves when we arrive at a battle. Maybe some sort of a theme? Witches would be obvious but but we could also do something else--like justice, or harmony, the power of nature, something like that."

She might have thought about that already.

"... Oh, right. Yumi-chan, I've been meaning to ask. You're in the Magic Association, right...? Do they... know about you and Lost Ivy?"

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

"It is." Yumi agrees seriously. But, "Not that I know of, anyway. If there's four more and that one was that dangeorus, though... Well. We'd better be ready."

A good suggestion. "Hm!" Yumi considers. "That could be good. I might lose track of a whole speech trading back and forth, but having some stuff ready about ourselves would be good. Especially the nature angle. I think my Staff would like that one."

Just a smidge.

"Mm-hm," Yumi answers. "They do. It comes in pretty handy--they can help with things sometimes."

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

"Guess I'd better keep up my training, then... I hope they don't try anything until after finals, though."

Nature might be the winning topic, which is fine, because they all have elemental powers. "Okay! Let's talk about it after finals, then. It'll be... um... fun? I mean, not that fighting evil is ''fun'' or anything, don't get my wrong, but if we're doing it ''anyway'', and you know having mottos could be inspirational too and like set people at ease or maybe strike fear into the hearts of our enemies so they could be useful maybe?"

She's rambling.

"O-oh, okay." She sounds a little surprised, but not ''that'' surprised. "I met another magical girl who... well, there were these monsters, and... well, long story short, it turns out she's in the Magic Association too. She mentioned there was some information about the monsters we were fighting that the Association has, but that they probably wouldn't give me access to stuff like that unless they knew I was a magical girl, so..."

She blushes a little. "She was really nice."

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

"Hopefully! That'd be good, anyway." Yumi isn't eager to try to balance both at once, either...

"Sure. It'll be fun," Yumi agrees. And a team-building exercise, maybe! But maybe it dosn't work if you say that's what you're doing, so Yumi doesn't. "We're going to be doing it anyway, after all."

"Oh, yeah?" Yumi asks. "Hmmm. Yeah, we do have a lot of info on things like that. But it's kept out of the hands of your average apprentice--too dangerous, they say. And they're probably right. But girls like us... Well, we need to know."

She smiles. "Glad you had a good experience. It's nice when they're nice, isn't it?"

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

Raiko is just excited to be doing something with Yumi, secret team-building exercise or no. "Yeah! And... maybe we could go do something fun sometime, after finals and just hang out? As long as there's no big emergencies, at least."

She nods, "Yeah... so... do you think it's a good idea, then? How did you go about telling them about your secret identity?"

"Yeah, she was... ''really'' nice..." She blushes a little harder but takes a sip of her hot chocolate to try and keep herself from saying anything anything else. "Oh, and... we saw each other transform, so I guess she knows my secret identity, too... It... still feels weird having other people know..."

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

"That'd be nice," Yumi answers, and smiles about it to boot. "We'll figure something out when we have more space to breathe."

But... "I do, but..." Hm. "What worked for me might not work as well for you; a lot of times they know more than you think, though. I could introduce you to some of the right people, maybe."

Really nice... Hmmm! "Oh yeah? Well, that's good." She seems to be amused at something, but it's good-natured at least. "It's not so weird to me; I got used to it a long time ago. We can do more together when we can contact each other more easily."

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

"Okay! I'm looking forward to that."

Sometimes they know more than you think. "Hmm... I guess that's possible. Grandpa's a member of the magic association, after all. I'd... Well, normally I'd ask ''him'', but..."

But she can't.

But Yumi offers to introduce her. "That'd be helpful. I don't really know what the... I mean, ''is'' there a procedure for this kind of thing, anyway? Though... Maybe I could ask Ayase-san..."

"I guess I could ask Shiori, too. Maybe she knows something."

She's lost in thought for a moment, but she catches Yumi's amused attitude and blinks, blushing a little harder. "Wh-what's so funny? Nothing happened!" But she nods, "Yeah, that's true... though there are still some magical girls who try really hard to protect their identities... I can understand why they might feel that way, too."

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

"Right." Yumi is sympathetic, but not going to drag that out, either. They can move on.

"I mean, there might be? But there's a lot more magical girls running around than there used to be. It's a whole... thing, in our history. The Association can tell you more." She pauses. "That might be a good idea."

Shiori might know something, too; Yumi nods along. And then--

"Ahah. Nothing, it's just cute. You seem to think pretty highly of her."

"That does make sense," Yumi says. "But I think it's more important to do that when you don't have allies. In that case... Yeah, for sure."

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

"What if the procedure involves asking what the procedure is, because the only reason someone would be interested is if they were a magical girl...? Well, I guess they could be a friend or an ally of a magical girl, but still..."

"But I'll talk to them and see what they think."

Raiko glances away. "O-of course! She was brave and cool and was really supportive and kind a-a-and th-that's all it is!"

But she does look back to Yumi and nods, after that. "I'm glad I have you to help me through learning how to be a magical girl, Yumi-chan. And, well, through everything, really. And I wanna make sure I can help you, too!"
[[Category: Logs]]