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# Puella Magi Adfligo Systema

- Thread starter Firnagzen
- Start date May 19, 2014
- Tags
    bad decisions dating mami tomoe diabolical laughter friendship is the best ship handholding identity crises microwaving tea gets you put in the bad place names are important puella magi adfligo systema puella magi madoka magica the body is the fursona of the soul this is not the baked goods thread we don't talk about rionna what could possibly go wrong? who in the world is azure sanfrancisco?

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Threadmarks "We've Got Hostiles" pt. 30
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#### Firnagzen

Operator

- Dec 25, 2014

- #20,559

You look around the table. No one seems to want to make the first move, so you look back at the elderly lady, and shake your head. "No, but thank you. We'll be leaving shortly," you say.
"Oh, sorry to bother you," she says, surprise crossing her face -probably at the foreigner speaking fluent Japanese- and bowing creakily. "Would you like the bill?"
"Yes, please," you say politely, glancing around the table at the others again. The University girls seem a little worried, gazes darting up to the sky and back down again.
The waiter returns, instead of the old lady, and each of you pay individually for your purchases. Quietly, you shuffle the marbles you'd scattered over the floor back into your bag.
"We'll move to a rooftop, or somewhere deserted...?" you say leadingly, standing and looking around at the University girls. "Somewhere within sight of Miss Tachibana's current perch?" You indicate the building where Sakura's still watching from.
"Miss Sabrina, we... if negotiations have broken down, then it would be better if we could get somewhere dry," Chouko says, throwing a cautious look at Rin, and then you. "We... I don't doubt your ability, but the rain is advantageous for Hamasaki."
"Sakura, we're moving, thanks to the rain," you call. Fair warning, you figure. You respond to Chouko. "That's fair... but they haven't. Not quite yet."
Another simultaneous message to Akiko, as you leave the cafe. "Redress for what, Miss Hamasaki?" Mami walks close by your side, and Kirika follows a step behind with her customary grin on her face and hands slung in the pockets of her skirt, her plush toy bouncing as it always is at her side. Rin sticks behind you, and the University girls a step behind her as you all thread through the evening, umbrella-toting crowds.
"Yeah, I see," Sakura replies to your warning.
"They killed my- they murdered Setsuko," Her voice is suddenly a venomous, bubbling snarl, any traces of her usual pleasant demeanour gone even as she hastily substitutes a word.
You blink, taken aback.
Such a violent reaction now, but nary a hint of emotion when Rin mentioned the name earlier, you muse as the rain patters down. Perhaps because it's an issue closer to the surface now, perhaps because she was prepared for it back then, perhaps because... well, you don't really know. Akiko's mind is very much an impenetrable mystery to you.
Feh.
It seems... familiar, but you can't quite place it.
You let it drop for now, as you turn away from the crowds and walk into a dimly lit alleyway, preparing to bound up to the roof.
"Rin," you say telepathically to the healer. "Are you willing to patch me through to the rest of your group? Miss Minami and Miss Tanaka? And Sakura, of course?"
Rin gulps. "I shouldn't."
"Please, Rin. I'm not seeing many more options here," you say quietly, coiling your legs under you and springing upwards in a violent surge of motion. You wince as a sharp cracking of concrete sounds behind you. "I don't think I can convince Akiko to back down. And if I can't at least persuade your teammates..."
You land on the rooftop, Mami touching down far more gracefully beside you, and the others a hair behind in rustles of cloth and the shattering noise of concrete underfoot from Kirika.
"Rin?" you prompt, turning to the healer as you all spread out across the roof, seeking shelter against the rain. You briefly debate using the mass of Grief you still have waiting two roofs over to make an awning of sorts, but you're not entirely sure if it's a good idea.
Rin looks agonized, torn by the decision.
A thumb against your Soul Gem makes wiping away the patina of Grief built up from your frustration and annoyance a little more literal than it usually is, and an object reminder of what you can do.
Rustling motion at your side is Mami poking through your sling bag, before she produces the foldable umbrella and puts it up, smiling at you and taking the opportunity to cuddle into your side while holding the umbrella up to shield the two of your rain. The University girls are huddled under a few of their own umbrellas, while Krika's ambled off to lounge under a little awning housing what looks like a pump. Rin... Rin stands out in the rain, hands twisting against each other as she tries to decide.
"I... I shouldn't," Rin says, finally. "B-but. Sakura? Yumi, Tamiko?" The... flavour of the communication shifts.
"Yeah, Rin?" That's Sakura.
"Mmm?" "Rin? You OK? We're working on getting you out."
"N- I mean yes," Rin says. "I... told you about Miss Sabrina? She wants to talk to you."
"Hrrm," Yumi says, voice suddenly guarded. "Miss Sabrina, I assume you're listening?"
"Yes, I am," you admit, ignoring a muttered 'fuck' from Sakura. Sun sets, rain starts, Sakura swears. Sounds about right.
"Rin, you do remember what we told you about being professional, right? But that's for later," Yumi says. "Miss Sabrina, why are you talking to us as opposed to our leader, or indeed, our designated negotiator?"
"I'd like to know something," you say. "About what, exactly, is up with you girls and Ishinomaki. Miss Tsubaki and her friends, I can understand, if not condone - you are fighting over the same Witches, after all. But why Ishinomaki? Miss Mori doesn't know, and Akiko... is a little odd about it." That's putting it mildly.
"She has her issues," Yumi says mildly. "And I don't think they're relevant to a stranger. Especially not one ostensibly on an opposing side."
You grind your teeth. "I am not your enemy," you say, as Mami slips her arm around your waist and gives you a one armed hug. "I am trying to negotiate peace, god damnit."
"True, and that's admirable, and I wish you all the best," Yumi says slowly. "But Akiko is our leader. She does well, and we follow her. You should talk to her about it."
"And you're willing to go to war time after time over whatever Akiko's... hangup is?" you snap back. "Do you not have the slightest modicum of regret over that? That you wouldn't at least entertain the idea of trying to persuade Akiko to try peace?"
The girl -the gravity controller, if you recall correctly- sighs back at you. "She's saved my life more than once. She keeps us... well supplied with Grief Seeds. I owe it to her to not go behind her back."
"Then let me appeal to that loyalty!" You feel like tearing your hair out, at this point. "If something doesn't change, I'm going to have to do something about it, and I doubt Akiko will be on the winning side."
"So be it," Yumi says. "Sakura, don't."
"Fuc- fine," Sakura cuts herself off.
And that's that, then. Rin gives you a dismayed look as the connection ends. The rain has long since plastered her hair flat in black streaks across her scalp, and she directs you a bedraggled, terrified gaze at you.
"Akiko. Last chance. Peace is going to happen whether you like it or not. Whatever it is you're doing? Give it up," you state.
No response.
You sigh, and press your cheek agaisnt the top of Mami's head, closing your eyes for a moment and drawing comfort from her warm presence. "I'm going to go and find Akiko," you say out loud.
The University girls... suddenly look rather uneasy, if their stiffened posture is anything to go by. Chouko steps forward, biting her lip. "What... do you plan, Miss Sabrina? Should we... help? What do we do with..." she gestures at Rin, who shrinks on herself, eyes darting around nervously.
[] What to do with Rin?
[] How do you find Akiko?
[] Write-in
=====​
I live.
Last edited: Dec 25, 2014
Threadmarks "We've Got Hostiles" pt. 31
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#### Firnagzen

Operator

- Dec 31, 2014

- #21,107

Well then.
You close your eyes again, plans crystallizing and cascading through your mind in spinning drifts of thought. Mami's comforting warmth at your side, steel in her spine, and the pulsing sensation of the other, uneasy puella magi on the roof.
It feels like an age passes before you next open your eyes, gaze steely and steady even as your thoughts continue to churn uneasily. You straighten, and an effort of will pulls the masses of Grief idling on the far roof to you. It flows across in a cascade of deep purple spheres of varying sizes, and they settle into a wide, drifting orbit on the rooftop.
The casual display of power draws cautious, discomfited looks from the University girls.
You gently take the umbrella from Mami, holding it to the side, and you smoothly spin a disc of Grief into existence to take its place. The umbrella you hold out to Rin, who's soaking wet by now, hair and clothes alike plastered flat against her skin by the rain cascading down.
Her hand shakes as she accepts the umbrella.
Your gaze rakes across the University Group. "Transform, please," you say quietly.
Light strobes out across the roof, the familiar weight of your mantled coat settling on your shoulders, and another blaze is Mami transforming before she steps back to your side, arm winding around your waist again.
More novas of light flicker out across the darkness of the night as the University girls transform.
Rin doesn't.
Stark worry is etched on her face. Her gaze darts, fever-quick, across the University girls.
"Miss Sabrina?" Chouko asks, taking a step forward and tilting her umbrella back slightly.
"I'm going... we're going to need to go after Akiko herself, if this is to end," you say meditatively, mindful of Mami at your side. "This all hinges on her. So I will." Your gaze focuses on Chouko. "Miss Tsubaki, will you come with us? To confront Akiko? Will you all?" Your eyes sweep across Haru and Rei, and Yuko.
Chouko opens her mouth, and then closes it slowly, pressing her lips together. "May we discuss this? This is... not an easy decision."
"Of course," you say, with a small wave of your hands, and Chouko turns back to her comrades, the small cluster of umbrellas shifting. You eye them for a moment before turning to Rin instead.
"Rin," you say, voice still pitched barely loud enough to be heard over the pattering of rain off concrete. "I'm not going to lie. Things have gotten pretty serious. You're... at a crossroads, and you may need to make an important choice very soon."
The healer rocks back on her heels, looking like she's just been slapped. A spark of defiance flickers to life, and she glares half heartedly at you. "I know. I know. Y-you... don't have to dress it up in... dramatics, Miss Sabrina."
You twitch your head in a minute shake. "Perhaps. Things cannot continue like this. If your group is unwilling to listen to reason... then they need to be stopped. I cannot promise that this won't come to a fight. I'd like to say I could, but I can't. I promise I won't hurt them anymore then I absolutely have to."
That garners reactions from the University girls - a handful of dubious frowns, the Suzuki sisters swaying backwards and away from you.
Your gaze shifts back to them. "Would you be willing to-"
Mami sucks in a sharp breath, and with her cuddled against your side, you can feel her muscles tauten. "Something's wrong."
Tension suddenly skyrockets. Eight sets of eyes snap to scan the surrounding rooftops.
You can't sense anything, and you don't see anything.
But...
A low bubbling snarl that is Kirika, the girl peeling out of the awning and dropping into half crouch. Her claws, suddenly present, gleam at her sides.
Rustles, and a dull crack. The Suzuki sisters, a thick vine with its roots sunk into solid creak and slips of paper fluttering restlessly.
Chouko, delicate butterfly wings beating gently at the air.
Rin, looking terrified and miserable. Not even transformed. And Yuko, standing unseen behind her.
"Mami?" you ask.
"I'm sure," she says, golden eyes scanning across the roofs. Her arm around your waist squeezes once, and she steps slightly to the side, holding herself lightly, on the balls of her feet.
"Miss Sabrina, we're moving," Chouko's voice sounds in your head. "Are you coming?"
[] Go with them
[] Prepare to fight here
[] Write-in
=====​
Time's up.
Last edited: Dec 31, 2014
Threadmarks "We've Got Hostiles" pt. 32
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#### Firnagzen

Operator

- Jan 1, 2015

- #21,311

Time and then again to adjust another relative ass-to-ears ratio.
"Yes," you reply to Chouko. "Mami, Kirika, you heard?"
"I did," Mami says, and out of the corner of your eye, you can see Kirika nod sharply.
A sharp cracking on your right - Haru's vine uprooting itself as it snakes around her torso and arms, forming thorny, whiplike extensions.
You raise a clenched hand, and an accompanying effort of will forces the enormous quantities of Grief into solid, torso sized plates. Each one glows in your awareness, settling into drifting, unpredictable orbits around the blazing storms that are the University girls. And a handful more for yourself, and Mami, and Kirika. None for Yuko - highly visible markers of her position seem contraindicated by invisibility.
None for Rin.
"What are you-" Rei, looking nervous.
"Defenses," you answer tersely. You can see how she edges towards her sister - that's fine. You shuffle their shields together to form a single larger cloud of plates with the two of them standing at the center. "I can sense and block with... reasonable reliability."
"I... we mean no offense, Miss Sabrina, but I don't think that's a good idea," Chouko frowns, throwing you a glance as she moves towards the edge of the roof. "You don't know how we fight."
You grimace. "If you're-"
"We're sure," Chouko says. "We need to move. This isn't a good position to fight."
Chagrined, you pull the shields away from them, turning instead to look at Mami. "Mam-"
A magnesium white flare of light explodes behind you.
Stark, black shadows race out from your feet. Sharp relief against the rooftop.
Screams. Flash-blindness.
An enormous impact. A girl, standing where Mami was. Shadowy wisps lick over a black dress.
There and gone in a heartbeat.
Grief crashes against the rain-slick concrete a moment too late.
Mami, tumbling across the rooftop, limbs flailing in the slowly fading light.
The University girls, just beginning to orient themselves.
Haru slams her vine down. Living wood explodes into the air around her and her sister.
A whump. Shadow-girl slamming into Mami again, from the opposite direction.
An explosion of golden ribbons, Mami twisting impossibly. Shadow-girl -Nishimura Moe- is slammed face first into the rooftop, Mami's knee in the small of her back.
Chouko throws herself into the air, butterfly wings pumping. Clawing for height.
"Move! Move move move!" Chouko roars.
The roar of rushing water. A presence, dopplering in at high speed. Four presences.
Vwwp. Sakura, teleporting in next to Rin. A girl you don't recognize at her side - lanky, white and orange armour in sliding sections.
Yuko, moving unseen.
And an ugly crunch, answered by a clear, bell-like tone. A shimmering iridescent field, cracked down the center, appears before the new girl. Yuko's presence goes flying backwards.
A fast moving black blur -Kirika- hammers into the barrier with a feral scream.
Rin staring wide-eyed at the chaos. Sakura grabs her, and drags the healer's head down to her chest.
It clicks for you a heartbeat too late. You throw your arm over your eyes. "Cover yo-"
That magnesium-bright strobe of light again, bright enough that your vision flashes red even through your arm.
Another thundercrack of impact. Kirika's scream. Her presence going over the edge of the roof.
Dam- MOVE!
Instinct screams at you, and you obey without even looking. A bound straight up into the air is supplemented by your wings of Grief, billowing out from your back as Grief whips around you in a torrent.
Light, pure and focused, slashes across the rooftop where you were a split second ago. The beam lances across the roof, rain hissing into steam in its wake. Across the rooftop, a pair of screams - Rei and Haru. The light slices effortlessly through their growing fortress of paper and wood, charring and burning.
You slam a Grief shield in place of the beam, and whip another dozen into whirling, slicing buzzsaws. Angry sputtering as the beam fails to burn through your shield.
You spin, just in time to see Sakura appear on a distant rooftop beside another two figures, one almost shimmering with pulsing waves of light and the other with a hand to her head and the other outstretched. Sakura spills another girl onto that distant roof. A glance backwards-
Sakura took Rin.
Damn.
Masses of Grief roar towards them - you need to do something about light-girl. Sasami.
The booming of Mami's muskets on your left, the sound familiar and welcome. Shots ring out staccato, answered by the bell-like chimes of Tamiko's forcefields. You look over, a fragment of your attention directing the Grief on the attack.
Mami dives smoothly out of the way of a force field hammering forward, and tugs with one hand. Ribbons whip upwards and lean forward to slam their mass down on Tamiko. Mami continues her roll, musket forming in one hand, rising just in time for-
Vwwp.
-Sakura's katana to smash into it. Mami leaps, releasing the musket and kicking it in a single motion that cracks the butt of the musket against Sakura's chin. The teleporter's forced to take a step backwards.
Mami whirls, snatching the rifle out of the air. And a shot booms out at Tamiko.
A warhammer crystallizes in your hand. Your wings fold, and you slam a massive, overhead blow down towards Tamiko.
An iridescent, fractured crystalline force field shields her from the blow.
You throw yourself backwards.
Your eyes meet Mami's golden ones as you clear her lane of fire. Steely determination and terrified worry and firm assurance passes in that one glance.
One presence burning in your senses, entirely too close. A frission of understanding between the two of you - you spin past each other in a motion that couldn't be smoother if you'd planned it.
A fraction of your attention on the Grief you sent after Sasami - the Grief is pounded off course by gravity strikes, but you snarl and force it forward.
More present threats - Akiko, riding high on a wave of water, flowing through the air in defiance of gravity. She crashes to a halt on the roof and drags the water around her in a spinning barrier.
You snarl, and hammer a spinning disc of Grief at her, and it punches clear through the barrier on sheer brute force. You have a split second to enjoy her shocked expression as she folds nearly in half around it.
You clench your hand tightly.
Grief deforms, and enfolds Akiko's legs.
You flip your hand and flatten it parallel to the roof.
Akiko whipcracks through the air. Concrete breaks under her back as you slam her into the roof.
Tamiko's body crashes past you, bound securely in a cocoon of ribbons.
You flip your hand again.
The bluenette swings the opposite direction, smashing face first into concrete.
You flip your hand agai-
Instinct, some sixth sense, has you turning. Shields of Grief snap up, just in time for another burning beam of light to splash. The backscatter is bright enough to glare off the brooding clouds above.
Vwwp.
You whirl on the water controller, just in time to see a flash of steel - a katana hurled at you. You sidestep sharply, a disc of Grief whirling up to block.
Vwwp.
Akiko's gone.
Vwwp. Sakura, new katana already swinging. You meet her with a warhammer, flash formed out of the air. You match strength against her - she's stronger, and your wrist bends inwards.
A mass of Grief hammers her legs out from under her - and she's gone before she hits the roof with another vwwp.
Her reappearance, meters away - and an immediate leap backwards. Chouko slams down feet first a breath later, and whirls to block a katana strike with her butterfly wings.
The sharp report of Mami's muskets, shots hammering towards Sakura, who darts backwards from Chouko and meets the barrage katana first. Sparks flash across the night as she parries the musket balls.
Every ball parried is Mami twirling and spinning and dancing a step closer, ribbons wrapping into a neverending stream of muskets.
An explosion of ribbons, slithering and tangling around Sakura's wrists and sword.
Vwwp.
Rei and Haru leap away from the rooftop. A glance lets you see ragged burns on them. Haru's arm hangs limp, and her sister supports her as they bound away.
An effort of will send shields of Grief whipping around them.
Actinic light blazes again.
This time, you're unlucky.
You scream, feeling like someone's jabbing ice picks into your eyes.
A thundercrack of a blow tears Haru from her sister's grip, sending her spinning into the alley below.
Kirika re-enters the battle, throwing herself bodily at Moe in the moment she's still.
The pair of claws flash under the light. Bright crimson blood flies.
Moe disappears again, speeding off.
Kirika lands on the rooftop in a low crouch, lips peeled off her teeth.
Chouko dives across the roof, coming to a halt beside a recumbent figure. Yuko - unconscious. When did tha-
"Go! Go, go, go!" Chouko roars, suiting action to words. She scoops Yuko up, and takes wing.
[] Follow
[] Fight
- [] Focus
[] FWrite-in
=====​
I swear I didn't design Tamiko to be an Eva. Or maybe I did; past me is an idiot sometimes.
Last edited: Jan 1, 2015
Threadmarks "We've Got Hostiles" pt. 33
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#### Firnagzen

Operator

- Jan 3, 2015

- #21,865

"Mami, Kirika on me!" you bark. You face Sasami and Yumi on their distant roof unflinchingly - if Sasami does her lightbulb flash again, you'll deal with it. To the University girls: "We'll cover you!"
More distant figures, over there - Rin and Sakura and Akiko. Shrouded by rain and night.
Slabs of Grief, between you and them - a floating, shifting wall, table sized cards splayed in a defensive array.
You begin backing up until you're nearly shoulder to shoulder with Mami.
A distant, remote fight against Yumi. Whirling, slamming strikes with masses of Grief, pounded away by gravity fuelled strikes or sent gently curving away by the inexorable tug of gravity.
Chouko's voice. "Miss Sabrina - Tanaka!"
Who - Miss Unit 00.
An effort of will, a fraction of your attention. A sarcophagus of Grief slams over the cocoon of ribbons. And just in tim-
Vwwp.
Sakura appears, crouched next to Tamiko.
Mami's musket is already rising, and it booms out another shot, before she spins, legs kicking another musket into the air even as the first one clatters to a side, spent.
Sakura whirls, katana flashing into a parry.
"Kir-"
A black haired form cannonballs into the teleporter's side like a missile. Bloodied claws crash against a katana.
"Kirika, antimagi-"
An iridescent hexagon hurls her away.
Angry eyes glare from beneath a messy mop of orange hair. Tamiko - awake and still active despite her bindings.
Ribbons and Grief reach for her eyes at the same time to form a heavy blindfold.
As Mami piourettes through a dance-like step bracketed with musket shots, you and Mami share a grin over your shoulder.
Kirika comes to a halt, claws dragging furrows in the roof.
You yank.
Tamiko's Soul Gem smacks into your hand, a simple orange disc edged with white.
Every shot parried by Sakura throws blazing sparks into the night, forcing her back step by step as Mami advances. Kirika announces her return to the fight with a feral scream and a bounding leap into the air, descending claws first.
Vwwp.
"Let's go!" you bark at Mami and Kirika. You spare a glance for the University girls, already two rooftops over - Rei's supporting her sister, Chouko's butterfly wings pumping and Yuko in her arms.
The grief harassing Sasami and Yumi you pull back to you, one hand slipping Tamiko's Soul Gem into your pocket.
A twist of will, and Aurora's Grief Seed flies into the air before you as you bound for the next roof, Grief already billowing out of it in great, rippling torrents.
You grab Mami by the wrist, pulling her close to you, and a disc of Grief spins out beneath your feet, expanding rapidly.
A glance backwards.
Lambent, corsucating waves of light cascade over that distant figure.
You have a moment to realize. Grief snaps up between you to form a single, massive shield - and Sasami's searing beam of light splashes off its far side a heartbeat later as you and Mami speed away.
"Kirika!" you bark, swooping down beside her. The berserker looks up at you, and hops sideways, dropping to a kneel on the platform as you pour on the speed, blitzing after the University girls. Heavy pants are snatched away by the rushing wind, and both sets of her claws rest against the carpet.
The billowing clouds of Grief pouring out of Aurora's Grief Seed harden into a swarm of Grief blades, hundreds of thousands of viciously serrated diamond shapes surging out around you as they spread out, hunting over the rooftops in a massive, defensive swarm.
You feel Sasami's beam end, and you break your shield back into smaller discs. A glance back.
Sasami's alone on the roof.
Damn.
Catching up to Chouko. You call out. "Chouko!"
"Wha-" she looks back at you, powder blue wings still beating furiously, and almost slips.
"Come on!" you yell at her.
She winces, and shifts back, matching speeds gently depositing Yuko on the platform.
"Rei, Haru!" you yell mentally. "Stay calm, I'm picking you up!"
You can see their Soul Gems, in your Grief senses, clouded with a not inconsiderable amount of Grief. You drag it free, and let it congeal into a band that you gently wrap around their waist. Both of them promptly begin struggling.
"It's fine, I've got you!" you reassure them, bodily lifting them to the platform.
You release them as soon as you can, and they spills onto the platform with a cry. Mami moves to their side. "It's fine. You're safe now," she says reassuringly.
Walls, you need walls-
Grief folds up from the edges of the platform at your direction, guarding walls to block opportunistic shots or people from falling off.
You dip beneath the rooftop level, and pour on the speed as much as you can. No point giving them clear lines of fire.
"Kirika, you OK?" you ask, crouching beside her.
"Yeah," she says, giving you a weak thumbs up, her chest still heaving.
"Good," you say. "Pull out your antimagic when you can. Especially if you can get Sakura."
Kirika answers with a fanged grin.
"Miss Suzuki- uh, Miss Haru, are you OK?" you ask, looking at the plant controller. Angry, blackened burns cover much of her torso, tracking down to her legs. Blood weeps from the burn wounds, cauterization torn open by Moe's attacks. She's lucid, though, angry green fire burning in her eyes as she sits up.
Her sister seems better off, her burns lesser, spread across her arm and half her torso.
"Yeah," Haru says. "Yeah, I'm fine."
Rei pushes her back down. "No, you're n-"
"I'm fine," Haru says, eyes determinedly not looking down at herself. Both of them are almost certainly suppressing their pain.
"And Miss Umeko?" you ask, gaze shifting to Chouko.
The butterfly winged girl shakes her head. "Unconscious. I do-"
Gravity slams you to your knees.
Slams you all down, to a chorus of startled screams and cries.
Your platform falters, as gravity tries to drag you down to the ground.
Two presences, further away. One vanishes. Yumi and Sakura.
A rushing noise, above you-
-water. Water, in a torrential deluge-
-Akiko. There and gone again-
-fucking Sakura-
Blades, blades, she's in range-
-and gone-
-water, pounding down with piledriver force to drive you flat-
-cold cold you can't breathe you don't need to breathe-
-you punch gratings into the bottom of the platform-
-the water drains away but the gravity remains, dragging you downwards.
Grief. She's in range, and that means-
You yank. Grief comes free of her Gem and enfolds her Soul Gem, tearing it from her-
-the gravity on you ends. Gravity. Irresistible, inexorable - her Soul Gem stalls in the air, and she snatches for it.
"Sabrina!" Mami, tugging urgently at your sleeve, and pointing ahead, on the right.
Sasami, indentifiable by her ever-present glow, waiting on a building, half crouched.
The University girls -those not already down- throw themselves down. Mami's already raising her arm up to cover her eyes.
Your blades surge forward, weaving a massive shield of Grief befo-
The glow explodes into a supernova.
It's like staring into an eclipse of the sun. The deep, black penumbra in the lee of your shield, seemingly all the darker for the eye-searing corona of light blazing against the night sk-
Wham.
"Sabrina!"
Wham.
Up. She knocked you up-
Wham.
White hot pain in your side-
Wham.
Your back-
Wham.
Moe, blurring in the shado-
Wham.
The world blurs.
Black and gold, an explosion of ribbons.
Mami, her face completely pale, whites showing all round her terrified eyes as you tumble helplessly.
Wings.
Your wings flare wide.
A mass of ribbons snagged around Moe's arm.
Mami, snarling as she hauls on the ribbons in her fist.
The greasy sensation of antimagic, rolling out in a tidal wave- and Moe falls, almost dragging Mami off the platform before she plants her feet.
Under the direction of some cold, analytical part of your mind, the blades sweep in, deep purple almost unnoticeable in the night.
"Tiro-"
The first one takes her arm off at the shoulder, ripping through cloth and flesh and bone with disdainful impunity. The second one tears through her flailing leg just above the knee. The third on-
"-Finale!"
Thunder.
The massive impact slams the girl through the brick and glass of some building. She tumbles to a halt, a broken, bleeding heap, nearly torn in half at the waist.
Mami doesn't look. "Sabrina!" She frantically searches for you, head jerking as she spins on the platform. When she sees you limping through the air on your wings, slowly approaching, she sags in relief.
You wing over, and drop ungracefully onto the platform.
Her hand rises to rest gently on your arm. You smile at her. I'm here. You raise your hand to cover hers, and promptly scream in pain, an unexpected, white hot flash of pain shooting up your arm.
"She broke my arm-" you grit through your teeth, clenched tightly against the pain which you force back with will. You wall the pain away, shutting it away with magic as Mami looks on in helpless worry.
You grab her hand, with your working one. "Mami, I'm..." Not fine. "I'm OK."
Her fingers, slim and strong and warm, close around yours. They're shaking slightly, and you grip them, firmly. Slowly, the horrified look on Mami's face fades, and she gently closes her other hand on yours. You give another little smile. I'll be fine.
A small cough.
Both your heads jerk up, Mami colouring slightly. Chouko gives you an apologetic look, and says, "Um... Miss Sabrina, where are we going?"
You shake your head. "Away," you say. "It's your city."
Chouko grimaces. "They know where we live. N-no. Not really."
[] Where are you going?
[] What now?
[] Write-in
=====​
That was fun to write.
Last edited: Jan 3, 2015
Threadmarks "We've Got Hostiles" pt. 34
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#### Firnagzen

Operator

- Jan 4, 2015

- #22,312

You make a snap decision, and swerve sharply, your little fortress turning on a dime. The turn takes everyone by surprise - Haru's thrown against her sister, by the sudden motion, while Kirika's forced to put a hand to the floor to support her.
Chouko, startled, looks askance at you.
"Nishimura Moe's down. We're taking her Gem," you snap.
"Kirika, antimagic pulse if they hit us with gravity," you order the black haired girl. Your gaze shifts to Mami. "Mami, we'll punch through any barriers if they put u-"
Mami's still holding your hand between both of yours, and she nods sharply, looking determined. One hand reluctantlly pulls back, and a musket spins itself out of ribbons, dropping into her hand. Kirika looks up and grins at you, rocking back on her haunches. She still looks a little tired, but her breathing has slowed, and she looks ready for another fight.
Light, deadly beautiful in its stark radiance, blazes down at you from behind. You slam Grief shields into place a heartbeat later, long enough for the beam to splash on the edge of, and past your platform to burn a trench across the brick building behind you.
You hold, waiting for the beam to blink out.
It doesn't.
It blazes down unceasingly at you, the source moving - Sasami's moving, at a guess, bounding across rooftops from the way the beam bounces and jolts across the surface of the shield, a tremendous plume of steam hissing into the air in its wake.
A second beam ignites, hammering down at you from a slightly different angle.
An effort of will has slabs of Grief slamming up to block it, as you duck behind the defensive walls around the edge of your platform. A fraction of your attention reaches out for Moe's Soul Gem.
There's quite a lot of Grief in there, and five Grief Seeds on her person, one of them already nearly filled. Then again, her powers probably aren't cheap to use.
... she's still moving, dragging herself deeper into the building by her working hand.
You snatch the Grief out from her Gem, winding it around her Soul Gem in a solid band, and as an afterthought, the Grief Seeds, too. Her hand reaches weakly for it, but she can barely move.
Sasami slams another actinic, burning beam of light down at you, the earlier beams unrelenting.
"Kirika, antimagic Moe," you snap, focusing on blocking out the beams.
"Where?" she asks. You jab a hand at the hole in the building.
"Right!" The black haired girl frowns for a moment, and you can feel her powers gathering, before a tidal wave of deadness ripples out from her, bearing down on Moe's body.
The Soul Gem, still enfolded in a manacle of Grief, reaches you, and drops into your hand.
"Right, we're going," you say, platform swerving away from the building, and away from the unrelenting bombardment of light.
The beams wink out.
You throw a careful glance back over your shoulder, wary of another blinding strobe of light. It takes a moment for your eyes to pick out Sasami, obvious by the shimmering glow she casts, even against the rain pelting down on you and encroaching darkness of the night. You can barely make out two other figures at her side, likely trying to reason with her.
The University girls are staring at the Soul Gem in your hand, awe and fear mixing in their faces. Moe's Soul Gem is a crescent, shallower than the one you know Sayaka would have, should she contract, and hued a pleasant carmine red.
You drop it in your pocket, to clink against Miss Unit 00's. Tamiko, you mean.
No attacks. Why are there no attac-
Gravity shifts.
The world turns ninety degrees, yanking you, Mami, Kirika, the University girls, the entire platform, to the side.
A chorus of screams, as you fight for control.
A thunderflash of light, icepicks jabbed into your eyes. You're not the only one to scream again.
But that doesn't matter. You can see, despite tears streaming down your cheeks.
The rolling tidal wave of antimagic. No use. Yumi's too far for that.
Tumbling. Tumbling sideways and downwards. Gathering speed.
Defense.
Grief blades and walls, flocking around all of you in a dense swarm, to meet a growing cloud of golden ribbons and paper.
You're not the only one who thought to defend.
Burning light, licking out. Burning away paper and ribbons. Scattering off Grief.
The tumbling ceases, but you're still falling. Falling sideways. You're tumbling towards Yumi. Closer and closer.
A grip, vise-tight, on your shoulder. You follow it to its owner - Chouko, her butterfly wings flared wide.
"It's Minami," she screams at you. You recognize the name. Gravity girl. "Take her out!"
"Can't!" you reply. "Range!"
"Fuck! Miss Tomoe-" Her hand begins to let you go.
"Wait!" You seize her by the wrist.
Falling sideways. A plate of Grief 'beneath' you.
You slam into it shoulder first, accompanied by thuds and groans from the others.
You remain nailed to the plate, hovering vertically for a moment, and gravity shifts, this time downwards.
She's in range.
You reach out with her powers, yanking with all your might at her Soul Gem with a flash formed manacle of Grief.
She's ready for it, her hand shooting out to grab her Soul Gem with both gravity and enhanced strength.
Gravity stops trying to slam you to the ground. Now you're 'only' falling.
A platform to catch everyone. Another shield, another bulwark against the beams of light that could crisp you in a second. Spikes, growing out from the manacle of Grief around Yumi's Soul Gem to shred her fingers.
Her powers falter, and you tear the Soul Gem out of her grasp.
The small shape zooms across the distance towards you, with the gravity controller sprinting desperately after it.
You crash onto the surface of your new Grief platform, almost landing on top of Kirika. Groans and thuds accompany the rest of the arrivals.
Chouko lands last, her wings fluttering gently behind her.
Without pause, you snatch the platform, dragging it forward through the rain pelting down at you, and away from that ambush.
"Is everyone OK?" you ask grimly. Yumi's fighting desperately for her Gem, gravity tugging and yanking at the small egg zooming towards you.
"I'm fine," Mami says, shuffling over next to you.
"Yeah," Kirika grunts.
"Miss Sabrina," Haru gasps, getting one hand under her and rising slightly. "I can't... I can't fight like this. My plants need to grow on something, and your, your magic..." she holds a hand up, a thorny vine worming into existence in a brief flash of green light, and then lets the vine drop to the ground. Roots sprout and crawl across the Grief platform without finding purchase, and the vine shrivels.
In the corner of your mind, you feel Yumi's body collapse as the gap between her and her Soul Gem opens up.
"Can't," you say. "Minami on our tail, Ramiel sniping us." Your eyes scan the rooftops as you pass at breakneck speeds, wary for another ambush.
"I can't do anything like this," Haru says.
"Miss Suzuki, we cannot in good conscience let you fight alone," Mami says.
"I won't be alone-"
"She won't be alone-"
The Suzuki sisters speak in unison.
"Haru, Rei," Chouko speaks up. "They're right. Ramiel... burned right through your plants."
"If I had time I could grow something sturdier," Haru argues.
You raise your hand, anticipating the incoming Soul Gem. A heartbeat later, Minami Yumi's Soul Gem smacks into your hand.
Haru falls silent, staring uneasily.
Wham.
A tremendous blow knocks your platform sideways, an unbelievable amount of brute force.
"What was tha-" Rei begins, scrambling up and peering over the defensive wall.
Her sister yanks her back down. "Don't!"
Wham. Kirika shrieks as she's nearly thrown out.
A presence, far below on the ground.
And a deep, metallic screech.
Your take a deep breath, and peek over, ready to duc-
Wham.
You see chunks of the whatever it was spalling past your face, and you flinch back.
But you need to see-
Below you, moving with impossible speed, weaving through the streets, is a mountain of metal. It's nearly three lanes wide, comprised of random bits of metal signboards and shreds of cars and other metallic junk, a thundering avalanche cascading and flowing around the cars being driven by people. In its wake it leaves torn up asphalt and cars swerving wildly, barely in control.
What might be a mouth gapes open, and sparks fly as it bellows its brassy warcry again - the shriek of solid metal being torn apart.
What the fuck.
[] Defend and fly on
[] Engage
- [] How?
[] Write-in
=====​
Uh. Yeah. That happened.
Threadmarks "We've Got Hostiles" pt. 35
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#### Firnagzen

Operator

- Jan 5, 2015

- #22,916

The avalanche crashes through the streets, a gargantuan wave of metal flowing and cascading almost like a liquid, sliding around hapless civilians in their cars, keeping pace with you in the platform. The mound in the middle bulges, convulsing with prodigous force.
You pull your head back with alacrity. And in the nick of time, too, as another massive blow slams full force into your platform, rocking it to the side to the accompaniment of more shrieks.
"Fuck!" Chouko screams as she bounces, one hand flailing as she grabs for the tumbling body of the unconscious Yuko. "Yuko!"
Golden ribbons lash out, weaving around the girl. "Sabrin-"
You're moving before Mami finishes. A twist of will, and handles sprout all over your platform, even while you fight for control and speed and height, rocketing up and away from the heaping mass of metal ripping up the streets in pursuit. Mami's ribbons wind around the handle, tying Yuko down securely.
"Agh," Kirika complains, grabbing tightly onto a handle. "The hell is this?"
Grief enough, in the form of blades and the shields you're already using against Miss Ramiel - you divert some into an array of meter-wide discs, overlapping to form a shifting, scaled bulwark to defend against Atsuko... you're going to call her Kuvira.
"Last Fukushima girl," you say tersely. "She's made some huge metal monster or something."
"Below us- on the streets?" Haru asks.
"Yes! But- we need to take down Sasami first," you say as you soar above the buildings, the brassy screams of rage dwindling behind you. "Then we go for Kuvira down there."
An enormous crunch below you, as a projectile shatters and deflects off your defensive plate.
Looks pass amongst the University girls. "Miss Sabrina, can you handle Sasami?" Chouko asks.
"I'm going to," you snap.
Chouko nods, and she shuffles across the platform. She places one hand against Yuko's forehead, and pulses magic into her. The girl's eyes fly open with a gasp, and she tries to sit up, struggling against ribbons which dissolve a moment later.
"Wha-" Yuko gasps, cutting off. Telepathy.
Another hammerblow against your defensive plates. You're faintly impressed - you're well past skyscraper height now, and Kuvira's still targeting you with absolute precision.
Chouko nods sharply, standing. Her butterfly wings beat once, lifting her clear of the platform, and she reaches her hands out.
Without hesitation, Yuko and the Suzuki sisters grab on, and they all rise effortlessly into the air alongside Chouko.
"Inco-!"
The trio, floating in the air, jerk away out of the blur of a projectile that roars past, tumbling with vicious speed.
"It's a distraction!" you yell at them. "Sasami's sti-"
The University girls abruptly rocket away, swinging erratically through the air.
"Sabrina!" Mami, pointing at a distant pinprick of light below.
Grief, already swarming and slamming into a floating wall.
Sasami fires.
And misses.
Chouko weaves through the air with blinding speed, preternaturally agile, the sisters and Yuko floating effortlessly at her side. The beam sizzles past them, steam exploding in its wake as it vaporizes the rain.
Flight. Her power is flight.
"Get back in!" you roar at them.
"Can you handle Sasami?" Chouko repeats, calmly keeping pace with your platform.
"Sakura and Akiko are still out there!" you say.
"We have handled them before," Chouko says drily, swooping out of the path of another massive projectile blurring past - is that an engine block?
"And Kuvira?" you counter.
"Not that different from a Witch," Chouko says.
"There's a magical girl contro-"
Chouko cuts you off. "We're grateful. But we're not helpless- and she's doing a lot of damage down there."
You grind your teeth, but you can see the logic. "OK," you say reluctantly. "Good luck."
Chouko nods, and they zoom away.
"Damn it!" you swear.
"Sabrina?" Mami asks.
"They want to be useful," you say sourly, pulling your platform around to follow the diving trio. They didn't even give you the opportunity to cleanse their Soul Gems. Plates of Grief shift, ready to defend - but they're opening up the gap. You raise your head above the walls, scanning the rooftops below. Sasami, Sasami, where's bloody Ramiel...
"Um... it's a sound idea," Mami says, moving beside you. "Four against one, three at worst. We take out Miss Sasami quickly, and then join them if they still need it."
"Wish I could fly like that," Kirika says brightly.
"Ugh," you mutter, still scanning the skyline. She glows, damnit, she shoul- there. Strobing beams blaze out from a rooftop far below as she takes shots at the erratically weaving Chouko. You're close enough to close on her, before Sakura teleports over, you hope.
"O-oh," Mami says, looking worried and uncertain. "I-I'm sorry, Sabrina."
"No, it's nothing you did, Mami," you soothe, grabbing her hand in yours and smiling gently at her. "I'm just... stressed."
Mami squeezes back lightly, a faint smile answering yours, even if the worry doesn't clear away fully.
"Kirika, same as before," you say. "If you see Sakura, drop her with antimagic."
"Got it," Kirika chirps.
One thing you'll give Chouko - she seems to be defying Sasami with impunity, every shot sizzling past with room to spare. She drops into an alley, and returns to the air alone. The metallic shriek of the Kuvira's construct bounces off the buildings towards you, and you can see it surging towards them.
"Mami, could yo-"
She's already moving, releasing your hand and pulling a musket from her chest with an elegant flourish vaguely reminiscent of a fencer's salute. She leans over the edge of your platform, musket shouldered, before pausing, and looking back at you.
"Take her out if you can, suppress her if not?"
Mami nods, and a thundercrack sounds as she fires, immediately pulling another musket from the air and shouldering it before the first one hits the platform, spent. Without waiting, she fires again, the shot booming out across the rooftops.
That distant, glowing figure jerks, and immediately throws itself to the side, evading Mami's follow up shots.
A continuous thunder of musket balls roar out as you close the distance.
Armour time. You concentrate. Grief flows onto your form, solid pieces locking into place to form a simple, smooth armour plates under your coat. The Grief ripples along your arms and legs, enclosing them in cool, comfortable plating. A small dome covers your Soul Gem.
Finally, a helmet - you briefly debate fully covering your eyes with a transparent plate made out of Grief, but decide against it for now. You glance aside at Mami, and she smiles at you, looking faintly quizzical. You return the smile, and then look back at Chouko, fluttering in the distance.
Weak, flickering beams of light lick out from Sasami's rooftop, intercepting some of Mami's shots.
She's in range.
You reach out and snatch at the Grief in her Soul Gem. It flies free, and wraps itself into a shackle around her Soul Gem.
She shrieks, loud enough that you can hear it.
A supernova of light explodes out from Sasami, and you scream as it sears into your retinas. You force the pain away, slamming slabs of Grief into a barricade hovering between you. You can see the beams strobing madly in your general direction, scoring across buildings and carving burning trenches into them.
Snap decision.
You rocket upwards, dragging the Soul Gem up as fast as you can, fast enough that you stagger under the acceleration.
Sasami collapses, a puppet with its strings cut.
Too literal. Entirely too literal.
You close your eyes and swallow. A slow exhale as the platform slows down, and coasts to a halt.
A moment later, and Sasami's Gem drifts to a halt before you, a light, smokey grey hexagon that you pluck out of the air without looking. You slide into your pocket to clink against the others.
"Sabrina?" Mami asks.
You open your eyes to see Mami looking at you in confusion and trepidation.
"Uh," you say. "Uh. I thought I might need armour." You rap your knuckles against your helmet, making a hollow clacking sound.
"Oh," Mami says. "Umm. OK. We should go help Miss Tsubaki and her frien-" Mami frowns. "We haven't seen Miss Hamasaki or Miss Tachibana." She pauses. "They're not attacking Miss Tsubaki, either."
[] Look for Akiko
[] Help the University girls
[] Try demanding a surrender
[] Write-in
=====​
Hmmm. Not attacking?
Last edited: Jan 5, 2015
Threadmarks "We've Got Hostiles" pt. 36
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#### Firnagzen

Operator

- Jan 6, 2015

- #23,233

"They're doing OK, Mami?" you ask.
Mami nods.
"We'll drop by and give them a quick cleanse," you say. "Hang on!" You swerve sharply towards where you'd last seen the University girls. Even over the distance and the sound of the rain now hammering down, you can hear the sounds of battle, metal crashing and tearing.
Mami shuffles across the platform, and smiles at you, holding her hand out tentatively. Still anxious, still worried after she disagreed with you earlier.
You blink, and Mami's smile immediately falters, slipping fractionally.
Still worried after she disagreed with you earlier.
The bottom drops out of your stomach, a yawning pit opening. Your stomach begins churning uncomfortably, disquieting worry and self doubt settling in like a leaden weight to gnaw at you.
You force yourself to smile naturally, and reach out to take her hand. The Grief rolls back from your hand, letting your fingers rest against Mami's, and after a moment, she hesitantly intertwines her fingers with yours.
If you look carefully, you can see what might be worry in Mami's eyes, carefully hidden in the set of her eyes, and in the anxious smile she beams up at you.
You never intended to.
But you did.
Kirika giving you a thumbs up in the corner of your eye doesn't help much.
Mami cuddles into your side, leaning against you.
You swallow your trepidation for now. Now's not the time.
"Chouko." Your mental voice is stable, thankfully. "Ramiel's down."
"Fighting-" A pause. "-Kuvira."
"Do you need cleanses?" you ask.
"Later," Chouko snaps.
... well.
OK then.
You bring the platform -really, you could call it a fortress- to a slow drift, and Mami glances at you curiously.
"They don't need it yet," you say.
Mami nods, accepting that and smiling at you.
Instead, you draw the minuscule amounts of accumulated Grief away from the Soul Gems in your pocket -the Grief between you snatching away their Gems and full separation, you imagine-, and then turn your attention to Mami and Kirika.
Mami relaxes as you cleanse the golden Gem set in her hair, giving you a smile and leaning her head against your shoulder. Kirika flops over, flat on the platform, and grins aimlessly at you. "Thanks!" she chirps.
"Thank you, Sabrina," Mami says.
You turn your attention to your own Gem, wiping it clean... and there's perhaps rather more Grief than you'd hope there would be in there. You take a shuddering breath, trying to push aside your worries, and focus on the here and now.
Akiko, then. Akiko and Sakura, because they haven't shown their faces, and that's... worrying. To say the least.
"Oriko, are you awake?" you ask, reaching out telepathically. You're not going to go haring across the city, randomly searching for Akiko. Especially not with Sakura helping her.
A long moment. "No," the seer replies, tone annoyed. "What do you want?"
"Sorry. Is Akiko calling for more reinforcements?" you ask.
Another pause.
"Yes. She will be talking to... Miss Ueda." Oriko stops talking for a moment, but just when you're about to probe further, she continues. "One of the Tokyo groups. Sakura brings her in."
"They're still in Sendai?" you ask urgently.
"Yes," Oriko says. "They will be... near the big radio tower."
You look around. You can see two, silhouetted against the night sky. "Which one?"
"It has a bulge near the top?" Oriko offers, after pausing to think.
"Got it," you say, your eyes finding the correct one. It's not terribly far.
[] Go in loud. Now.
[] Go quietly.
[] Help the University girls
[] Write-in
=====​
Shorter than usual, but meh.
Last edited: Jan 6, 2015
Threadmarks "We've Got Hostiles" pt. 37
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#### Firnagzen

Operator

- Jan 7, 2015

- #23,499

You huff out a slow breath, thinking. You can't take too long to think, either. But really, in the end... you're not stealthy. You have no idea how to be stealthy.
"How long?" you ask Oriko.
"Forty... Thirty eight minutes," the seer replies instantly.
"Alright, thanks," you say.
Oriko replies with a grumpy, wordless snarl, and closes the connection.
No, not much time to think at all. But...
You turn to Mami, smiling and squeezing her hand lightly. "Mami, how do we do this?"
"Huh?" Mami says intelligently to you, lifting her head off your shoulder to blink uncertainly up at you. Kirika lifts her head and blinks curiously at you.
"Akiko's having Sakura pull in a negotiator from one of the Tokyo groups," you say. "And they're going to meet somewhere over there, near the big radio tower." A wave at the structure in question, a massive, freestanding structure of steel.
An unpleasant thought strikes you, and you glance back at where the University girls are fighting Kuvira. That fight still seems to be going, though... you don't want to see what she can do with the metal of that structure.
You look back at Mami, and smile. "So what do you think, Mami? You're so much better than I am at this kind of thing. I, ah, I'm not stealthy. At all."
"I, um," Mami says, looking apprehensive. "Me?"
You squeeze her fingers between yours lightly, smiling at her. "Mami, there's no one better."
Mami takes a breath, and her doubtful look fades, a genuine smile blossoming in its place. "I won't let you down, Sabrina!"
You smile back, and pull her into a quick hug. "So, how do we proceed?" you ask.
Mami seperates from you, and stands up on your platform... fortress... really, you wonder if you should name this thing. Then again, maybe not. Or then again, considering Mami's propensity for naming things... Thoughts for later, maybe.
"Sabrina, that radio tower there, right?" Mami asks.
A particularly loud metallic bellow draws your attention away from watching Mami survey the cityscape.
In the distance, you can see an enormous mass of plants, a thousand wooden tendrils crawling over the sidewalk. Papers flutter around, at times drifting and at times roaring in in a flurry white, a wave of white flooding forward to smother and strangle, even metal warping under the strain. Paper and plant work to box in the towering mass of metal junk that's Kuvira's construct, trapping and swamping it under. Above, the powder blue speck that is Chouko, swooping and diving.
They've spilled out into the middle of the street, but at least they've contained the fight.
"OK," Mami says thoughtfully. "Sabrina, can you drop us on that rooftop there? Um, if that's OK?" She points, indicating a rooftop somewhat nearer to the radio tower in question.
"Of course," you say, launching your fortress into motion.
"They'll meet over there, I think," Mami says, indicating another rooftop. "So we're going here-" she points at the rooftop you're headed to "-where they can't see us, then we'll sneak in from the west side." She looks at you, hopeful and apprehensive at the same time.
"Sounds good," you say, smiling. You land your fortress -what's latin for fortress, anyway? Praesidium?- and dissolve it, along with your armour, packing it all away into the spheres of Grief. You look around at the tremendous amount of Grief you have, drifting in a slow constellation - hundreds of basketball sized spheres lazily orbiting you, deep purple nearly invisible in the night.
Mami follows your gaze, making out the spheres. "Umm... Sabrina, there's no way for you to get rid of the Grief, right?" she asks hesitantly.
"Not really," you shake your head. Well, there are - Kyuubey, or letting it disperse, but nothing that's immediately viable.
"OK, then, um," Mami says hesitantly, not meeting her eyes. "You'll need to keep it as far away from them as you can. It's... hard to sense, but I still can."
"Mami," you say, stepping close to her. You pull her into a hug again, ignoring her sodden clothes. "It's OK. I'm not insulted or upset or anything, and it's OK to criticize me."
"O-OK," Mami mumbles, sounding slightly relieved. Her arms rise to return the hug. "T-then... I suppose we're ready to go."
"OK," you say, tightening the hug for a moment before stepping back.
"Let-" Mami's face shifts to alarm. "Miss Kure, wait!"
Kirika freezes, her legs crouched to leap for the next roof, and her arms pinwheel comically as fights to keep her balance. She falls flat on her face on the rain-slick concrete of the roof, before rolling over with a pitiful sounding moan.
"Oh... I'm sorry, Miss Kure," Mami says.
"Nah, it's OK!" Kirika says brightly, bouncing to her feet again, and shakeing herself, sending rainwater flying everywhere.
... you have to bite back the urge to squeal over Kirika's adorableness.
"We're not roofhopping," Mami says. She reaches for the ribbon at her neck, and tugs lightly on it, and it unspools, winding around her hands like a living thing. A quick flick of her hand, and it lashes out, weaving itself across the chasm between buildings to form a bridge out of ribbons.
"Ah, clever," you say appreciatively.
Mami beams delightedly at the compliment. "If we roofhop, the motion catches the eye. This way, we stay below their eye level until the last minute."
You return Mami's sunny smile, and step boldly onto the bridge of ribbons. It yields a little under your weight, but you balance easily. As instructed by Mami, you send the Grief as far away as you can in the opposite direction, and let it stay there. Mami moves up, and squeezes around you. "Let me go first?" she asks.
"Sure," you agree. Kirika steps on behind you, bouncing lightly on the springy ribbons and sending the entire structure swaying.
Mami leads the way at a brisk pace, golden eyes constantly scanning the rooftops. Occasionally, she pauses to extend the bridge, the ribbons behind you fading away as you pass. Traffic and crowds hum in the streets below, the only indication of the chaos a few streets over the occasional emergency siren wailing past. Police, you hope, and not ambulances.
Kirika hums quietly as the three of you speed along silently, broad grin on her face. "Da-da-dum, da-da-dum, da-dum."
Your mind turns to deciding what you could do with Akiko if she doesn't capitulate. You'd throw separate her from her Soul Gem permanently, but some part of you feels faintly sick at the idea. You forcibly set the idea aside - you still have a bit of time to decide.
As you approach, you sense a magical presence on the far edges of your perception. Just one. Akiko? "They're there," you murmur quietly. "Or at least, Akiko is."
Mami nods, her shoulders easing slightly.
Two more magical girls blink into existence. "They're there," you add. "Mami, can we pick up the pace a little?"
"Yes," Mami nods, and shifts into a quick jog. The bridge bounces silently under your boots, and the three of you find yourselves balancing on a short span of ribbons pressed against the side of the building where the three magical girls are. You can just hear quiet voices above, though the constant drumming of the incessant rain renders it unintelligible.
Mami turns her eyes to you, silent question in her eyes.
[] Write-in
=====​
Dum-dum-da-dum, dum-dum-da-dum...
Last edited: Jan 7, 2015
Threadmarks "We've Got Hostiles" pt. 38
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#### Firnagzen

Operator

- Jan 8, 2015

- #23,700

You give Mami a quick smile.
Mami's hair is completely sodden, her golden drills hanging limp by the sides of her face. The incessant rain streaks down her face in runnels, washing off her costume - at least her costume seems to be as waterproof as yours. Despite it all, her answering smile is radiant, and seems to light up her entire face, her golden eyes crinkling in delight.
"OK," you say to Mami and Kirika. "I think we can finish this here and now. Sakura's teleport can be disrupted with pain. Mami, could you get your ribbons as close to them as you can?"
Mami nods, raising her hand, palm out, and then she folds it into a fist, ribbons snaking out from her hand and creeping across the sides of the building, headed upwards.
"Kirika, when I say go, you hit them with your antimagic, and keep going, and Mami, you get them with your ribbons. I'll grab their Soul Gems, Sakura's especially," you continue, shifting your gaze to Kirika.
The black haired magical girl nods cheerfully, her fang poking out from her megawatt grin undiminished by the rain plastering her hair flat against her scalp.
"Ready," Mami murmurs, eyes focused through the brick walls to the roof as though she can see through solid brick and concrete. Tension hums in her posture, her hand clenched around a handful of golden ribbons and body half crouched to move in a hurry.
"Ready!" Kirika chirps, crouching in a ready position, too, wiry arms taut and claws flexingly slightly.
Three Soul Gems on the roof. Sakura just finishing cleansing her Soul Gem. The Grief Seed joins a handful of used ones in her pocket.
"On my mark. Three..."
You crouch.
"Two..."
Mami's clenched fist tightens.
"One..."
Kirika draws in a sharp breath.
"Go!"
Antimagic, that nauseating sense of deadness, ripples out from Kirika in a pulse that screams in your senses. It flows past you without effect, and you can feel the three girls on the roof already beginning to react, to move-
You make a jerking motion with your hands. From their Soul Gems, from their Grief Seeds flow their Grief, and you snatch at Sakura's and Akiko's Soul Gems. Manacles flash into existence around their Soul Gems and your tear them away from their owners, excess Grief flowing into a wall standing behind the third girl there.
Mami cracks the ribbons like a whip, the ribbons dancing to life. With the same flowing motion, Mami spins and leaps for the roof above.
Kirika bounds after Mami, her body uncoiling like a spring.
You leap after Mami and Kirika, just a hair slower.
Shrieks and wild flailing echo from the rooftop, three bodies suddenly cocooned in golden ribbons. Mami's shoulders surge, and she pulls, twisting hard and hauling on the ribbons in her hand, violently snatching the girls off their feet to dangle upside down.
Kirika explodes into motion the moment she lands, pushing off again and bounding across the roof in a single inhumanly long leap to crash into Sakura. The teleporter, already disoriented, is torn off the ribbons to slam backwards onto the roof. Kirika lands on top of her, claws poised in threat and lips peeled off her teeth in a vicious snarl.
Mami has a musket held lightly across her chest in one hand, the other holding a fistful of golden ribbons like leashes.
... well.
That was anticlimatic.
You walk forward to stand beside Mami, boots ringing on the concrete. Akiko and Sakura's Soul Gems drift to a halt in front of you, both trapped in solid shells of Grief. You stop pulling Grief from the Grief Seeds, instead settling what you've acquired into a loose orbit.
A twinge of discomfort - you're all but laying in the groundwork for yourself as a tyrant, you can't help but feel.
Still.
It's necessary.
You eye the Tokyo girl and Akiko, both of them hung upside down by Mami's ribbons. The Tokyo girl's slate grey eyes are wide in an expression of upside-down shock, but as you walk forward, shock slowly turns to appraisal, tinged with a healthy dose of fear. Her faded green hair, done up in twintails, dangle downwards towards the rooftop.
Akiko... shock turns to fury when her eyes settle on you. "No, no no!" she screams, thrashing and struggling in the cocoon of ribbons. Her face purples, and you don't think it's just from being hung upside down, either. Mami's ribbons hold firm, fortunately. "No! Not you!"
[] Write-in
=====​
Textbook.
Threadmarks "We've Got Hostiles" pt. 39
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#### Firnagzen

Operator

- Jan 9, 2015

- #24,091

You fight the urge to shout, to gloat, at Akiko. But that would only paint you as the bad guy, wouldn't it? Even so, you can't help the wolfish smile that spreads across your face, a quick, satisfied flash of teeth. "Why 'not me'?" you ask, voice steady and calm.
An effort of will has her Soul Gem speeding away, as far away as you can send it. Idly, you bring the masses of Grief you've pulled over the course of the fight to a nearby rooftop, keeping it close by but out of sight.
Just in case.
Akiko shrieks, eyes wild and crazed. You're not even sure if she's actually reacting to you sending her Soul Gem away or continuing her apparent insanity. "No! I must- No, no, no!" She squirms wildly, thrashing like a maddened animal in her binding of ribbons.
"Sabrina... d-do you know what's wrong her?" Mami asks, mental voice wavering.
"I have no idea," you respond. "I- I'm going to knock her out by removing her Soul Gem."
"H-her Sou- yes," Mami says, watching the bluenette's crazed struggles, looking faintly ill. "Yes... That's p-probably for the best."
You move the Soul Gem to the very edges of your control radius.
Akiko slumps, going limp in her bindings. You frown - your way works, but it's a little inelegant. Something at the back of the mind suggests that perhaps a trip to Asunaro might be merited... But then again, no. You quash that thought for now.
You round on Sakura, still frozen under Kirika's weight. Her eyes, hard as flint, glare up at you. Kirika leans back slightly to let her talk.
"And you," you snap. "Your metal girl's throwing around a few hundred tonnes of metal in the middle of rush hour. Would you kindly call her off before she kills someone?"
"Fuck," Sakura grunts. "Fucking hell."
"And look," you say. "The sooner she stops making a mess, the sooner we can sort this out, and the sooner we can get your friends back on their feet."
Sakura's eyes go distant, and she grimaces. "Fuck. I'll try."
"Mami, could you turn Miss Ueda upright?" you ask.
"Of course," Mami says, flexing her wrist. The ribbons bunch and twist, gently flipping the girl upright. Her twintails, completely soaked from the rain pooling on the rooftop, slap wetly against her sides.
You walk over to the Tokyo girl. "And who are you?" you ask her.
Slate grey eyes glance evaluatingly... apprehensively at you. "I am Ueda Noa from North Tokyo. Ma'am," she replies, tone cautious, almost diffident.
You wave that aside. "No need for that. I assume Miss Hamasaki requested your presence to aid in the fight?"
The girl, Noa, nods slowly. "Yes," she says, still in the same worried tone.
"Well, that fight's just about over," you say. "I'm Sabrina, just Sabrina, and this is Tomoe Mami and Kure Kirika."
"I'm... pleased to meet you," the girl says. "And I recognize the name Tomoe Mami."
Mami inclines her head slightly, regal smile on her face. Without showing a flicker of doubt on her face, she sends you a quick message. "Do you think we should let her down, Sabrina?"
"Do you think she's hostile?" you reply.
"I... don't think so," Mami responds.
"Hmm, OK," you say.
"Miss Ueda, I-" You're interrupted by Sakura speaking up again, still pinned by Kirika's knee.
"She's not fucking responding," Sakura grunts. "I can't fucking imagine why. Maybe because someone fucking took out her friends. Maybe," she adds, voice laced with sarcasm.
"Well. Thank you for trying," you say to Sakura. Simultaneously, you send Chouko a message. "Are you OK?"
When you look back at Noa, she glances back from Akiko's body to you with barely concealed worry.
Chouko replies promptly, voice strained. "We've got this. Chasing her real body."
Real body? It takes you a moment to figure it out - she must have been controlling the metal construct from outside the thing, hiding nearby instead. Well, you'll trust the University girls, you figure. "Got it."
"I think we can let her down, Mami," you say.
Mami nods, and twists her wrist. The ribbons squirm, and gently set the girl the rooftop, the bindings drawing back from her.
Noa lands lightly on the concrete flagstones, the rain washing off her predominantly grey and green costume, an ornate set of scaled samurai armour, fitted to her slender form and covered with silvery filigree. Looking cautiously at you and moving slowly, she tries to wring the worst of the rain from her waterlogged twintails.
"Anyway. Miss Ueda, I apologize for the restraints. They're... a precaution. We couldn't be sure you weren't going to side with Akiko and Sakura," you say out loud.
She nods again. "I understand."
"Miss Ueda," you say. "Could you tell us what, exactly, happened?"
Her entire body screams worry, carefully holding her hands still, palms open in front of her to show that she's no threat. "Miss Hamasaki has previously suggested that she would like to request our help. Earlier, she... said that the need for help was... more urgent than expected, and she requested that we send someone to discuss terms."
She pauses, and then adds, "I... don't think we'll be taking her up on it."
"What did she offer, anyway?" you ask.
Noa presses her lips together. "We owe her a favour, and she was offering Grief Seeds, too. Not enough," she adds hastily.
"Got her," Chouko's voice speaks inside your head. "Kuvira's down. Hamasaki and Tachibana?"
[] Write-in
=====​
This was an interesting vote. A bandwagon was overturned! That hardly happens.
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