[IC] Tears of a Magical Girl: True Children

[Thanqol]

From his brimstone bed, at break of day,
A-walking the Devil is gone,
To look at his little snug farm of the world,
And see how his stock went on.

- Robert Southey



True Children
A game of Tears of the Machine


Starring:
PhoeKun as Ashley Evans (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21110547&postcount=34)
Anarion as Michiko Ishigawa (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21102029&postcount=21)
Deadly as Lilian Jenkins (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21100395&postcount=16)

Disclaimer: This thread contains spoilers for Madoka Magica; make sure you have watched that show in its entirety before reading on.





She comes down the Thames in splendor, adorned in all the jewels of India. The night sky crumples like paper and criss-crosses with shooting stars in pink and violet.

Four tall galleons with flags alight herald her passage with cannonfire. The ropes tie to every surface, pulling wheels and planks and dredging cages crammed full of black writhing limbs. Atop each ship, through the sails, is a great Trafalgar pillar from which a man of flashing lights dances as though guiding down an airplane. The decks are adorned with heated pools and shining deck chairs. They drop anchors of spice and cinnamon outside the Houses of Parliament and in the next beat the cannons roar. Explosions rip through ancient stonework.

4x Archers
Vigor 10
Focus 12
Range CQ N/A, FA, HB+1
They have Endangered the Houses of Parliament.

Alongside the banks of the River, side by side, move the silhouettes of deadly men. Their suits are black and their shirts are white and they carry pistols in their hands and the Empire in their hearts. They step out from behind lamp posts and fire square-shaped bullets. They pause in their sinuous march outside a great building of green glass and steel and within seconds they are outside, inside, in the windows, killing as they go. Sharp blue eyes fill every surface.

4x Soldiers
Vigor 10
Focus 10
Range CQ, FA+1, HB N/A.
They have Endangered the MI6 building.

But they all march under a single crown, studded with rubies that drip ruby ink on the land they pass over. The crown is riveted into the skull of a great and deadly lion that strides across the city. Around its head buzz biplanes in yellow and blue, strafing long and bloody lines down the lions' sides. It opens its mouth and roars with three snakelike tongues as it looms over Buckingham Palace and the street is illuminated by great spotlights of ten thousand simultaneous camera flashes.

Britannia
Vigor 16
Focus 16
5 Action Dice
Structure 16
CQ+2, FA+1, HB
Special: Anyone attacking from High Ballistics must pass an Intellect check or suffer Setback. Anyone attacking from CQ must pass a Tone check or suffer setback.
It has Endangered Buckingham Palace.


The scene is cluttered with close streets, tunnels, fortifications and old buildings; the paper sky is filled with zepplins and sweeping spotlights. Cover is +2. This is as great and deadly a Witch as London has ever seen. Through the sky flashes a road of silver - Sparrowhawk is already here, astride a gryphon made of fierce light and motor oil, holding a long knightly lance ready to charge. Dauntlessly she soars directly towards the vast Witch.

But she is not the only hero here.

[Anarion]

[ Through the sky flashes a road of silver - Sparrowhawk is already here, astride a gryphon made of fierce light and motor oil, holding a long knightly lance ready to charge. Dauntlessly she soars directly towards the vast Witch.

But she is not the only hero here.

"Sparrowhawk!" What is that idiot doing?! She may always be first to the scene, but rushing against a beast of that size alone would get any magical girl killed, no matter how prepared. I let out a long breath and my soul gem gleams azure in the platinum casing around my neck. Banners of blue energy rise from it and wrap around me like great birds wings, and from it I emerge, my body armored far stronger than steel in my dress, blue like the sea with white skirts and crimson leggings beneath it. My energy shield forms over my right arm, a beautiful, gleaming round shield in the same fairest blue as my dress, and as my sword lowers from the sky, I take its leather grip in my left hand and hold it aloft, the shining metal in my hand.

Beneath my feet, a circle of cerulean magic appears, spinning in layers of runes and I launch myself into the air, a streak of light chasing after Sparrowhawk. I can't let her face this thing alone, no matter how much of a fool she. is. Nor can I let it destroy the palace. I can see the lion's jaws roaring. A more practical combatant than I might have drawn a wand, a gun, or a bow that fired magical arrows and taken aim a safe distance away from those jaws. But that was not my strength and I could tell that great Britannia savored the combat and would not stop me from closing.

I don't look behind me. I don't care if the other girls followed. I think I even hope that they don't, that while I keep the witch busy, they can protect the people of parliament and the MI6 building from assault.

I hover like a glowing blue firefly before the massive witch of Britannia, and I begin to channel. The runes spread beneath my feet, my sword glows with my energy, and as Sparrowhawk closes for her strike, I release all the energy I've built up and make my move. We will strike as one, and I will aim for the eye, my blade holding strong and true. I won't let Sparrowhawk best me. I won't. I can't.

[tone check of 4 is passed. Dice roll in CQ is only 2, 3, 3, 4. A paltry 8, 9 if Sparrowhawk is working together with me.]

But my hopes are not fulfilled this day. Britannia is beyond me, even with all the effort I have. So far beyond me that it is pathetic. [Britannia action dice, one roll of 6.] I bounce off the shields of the great lion like nothing so much as an angry blue gnat, and as she raises a paw to destroy me, I raise my shield, hide my face and pray.

[PhoeKun]

Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap.

Down on the streets, there's a blur of motion. White lace and purple ribbons flutter atop a pair of toned, slender legs. A long trail of pale lavender hair whips from side to side and shimmers in the harsh, swirling lights of the battlefield above. The steady clomp, clomp, clomp of her boots landing heavily on the pavement echoes inside her ears and somehow manages to drown the rest of the noises around her. Pale pink lips draw tight and sapphire eyes narrow with the effort. Ashley Evans is a vaguely purple blur dashing into an alley. Is she too late to matter?

Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap!

In her right hand, a bastard sword glitters with a pearly sheen. It's beautiful, wavy pattern on its blade gives the impression of an ornamental weapon, with no real edge to speak of. In her left hand, a white lacy glove and a choice. She is not smart girl, not a clever sneak who could use these alleys to slip inside the guard of the monsters that came here today. She's not a tactical genius who can pull a battle plan from behind her rounded little ears or determine what parts of London are the most tactically important things to save. The whole city's in danger, and she isn't ready!

Her heels click off the side of a building - one steps, two steps, three, four. She jumps and catches the windowsill of the adjacent building, gathers herself and springs back to the first. Her jumps get quicker, and soon she's on the roof. Finally, she knows a couple of things. One, she's standing on top of the MI6 building. Two, hard, terrifying Men of the Empire are about to burn it to the ground. She can see the bizarre squares of their shots flying through the air. Fortunately, three: She can do something about this. In fact, she has to.

Ashley leaps from the roof down into the path of the soldiers, reaching back with her left hand to grip the handle of her pearl sword with both and crossing the blade in front of her. She lands. Crouches. Tenses... leaps! Her form is graceful, and the arch of her back would be beautiful if there were anyone there to see it. As she rises into the air, she turns end over end, pulling one leg in front of the other to steady her balance from her backflip. Her sword slashes in the air in front of her, and the tip carves a crescent wave of silvery energy that rips through the air and cleaves into the soldiers.

She lands unsteadily on the ball of her left foot. Exhales deeply. She can't stop to think about if she... they... anyone can do this. Can't bring herself to look at that horrible lion. She's a magical girl, and there's a witch out tonight. She has a promise to keep. Up above her, the ruby-crowned lion roars.

"...Crap."

[FA - 5, 2, 2, 2, 5, +2 equipment boost, +3 Proficiency. Spending 1 Ego to boost Effort to 12. Matching dice boost the success by 1]

[Deadly]

Hopeless. It certainly looked hopeless. But ultimately so was everything, anyway. Didn't give anyone any reason to give up.

Lilian Jenkins skirted through the warzone, running and skating on streams of colorful ink. Moving in and out of alleys, over roof-tops and through traffic, her trail forming intricate and complex patterns trying to keep up with her mind as it flashed through everything around her, connecting facts and testing possibilities.

The only thing that mattered - the only thing that ever mattered - was the present moment and the choice right before you. Future choices were all contingent upon the present choice, so worrying about them served no purpose but to distract from the first, the only choice.

"Que sera, sera."

The lion ... no way. Two fools with a heroic death wish was more than enough for one battle.

At least Ashley had the MI6 covered, for now. Lilian flashed her a thumbs up in passing, which she probably didn't see in all the fighting, but the thought was there.

That gave her the chance to take out the ships. Without the artillery raining down death from the sky and soldiers marching on the ground maybe, just maybe, they could all focus their fire against the lion and have some kind of infinitesimal chance at not totally sucking.

That is, if the hero twins hadn't managed to kill themselves by then.

[Engage the ships: 1,1,3,4,1 = 4 + 3 = 7

Taking 2 harm]

"Come on, come on," she hissed as she tried and failed to spot an opening to take advantage of. The blast of a cannon exploded in front of her, throwing her back as she tried to get close and failed to notice the shot in time. Stumbling back up, she rolled and ducked for the nearest cover.

Darn it. This wasn't going well at all. But a moving target was harder to hit at least, was a greater distraction to the enemy, and had a better chance of catching opportunities as they presented themselves ...

[Take cover: 2,5,6,5,2 = 6 + 3 + 2 = 11

Converting 2 harm to 2 Id]

Only the present choice mattered. The past, the future, they were all irrelevant. Her soul gem gleamed, and threads of ink seeped into her wounds, cleaning and knitting them together like touching up a painting. It was a strange feeling, but Lilian had always been fascinated with the strange.

[Thanqol]

"Sparrowhawk!" What is that idiot doing?! She may always be first to the scene, but rushing against a beast of that size alone would get any magical girl killed, no matter how prepared. I let out a long breath and my soul gem gleams azure in the platinum casing around my neck. Banners of blue energy rise from it and wrap around me like great birds wings, and from it I emerge, my body armored far stronger than steel in my dress, blue like the sea with white skirts and crimson leggings beneath it. My energy shield forms over my right arm, a beautiful, gleaming round shield in the same fairest blue as my dress, and as my sword lowers from the sky, I take its leather grip in my left hand and hold it aloft, the shining metal in my hand.

Beneath my feet, a circle of cerulean magic appears, spinning in layers of runes and I launch myself into the air, a streak of light chasing after Sparrowhawk. I can't let her face this thing alone, no matter how much of a fool she. is. Nor can I let it destroy the palace. I can see the lion's jaws roaring. A more practical combatant than I might have drawn a wand, a gun, or a bow that fired magical arrows and taken aim a safe distance away from those jaws. But that was not my strength and I could tell that great Britannia savored the combat and would not stop me from closing.

I don't look behind me. I don't care if the other girls followed. I think I even hope that they don't, that while I keep the witch busy, they can protect the people of parliament and the MI6 building from assault.

I hover like a glowing blue firefly before the massive witch of Britannia, and I begin to channel. The runes spread beneath my feet, my sword glows with my energy, and as Sparrowhawk closes for her strike, I release all the energy I've built up and make my move. We will strike as one, and I will aim for the eye, my blade holding strong and true. I won't let Sparrowhawk best me. I won't. I can't.

[tone check of 4 is passed. Dice roll in CQ is only 2, 3, 3, 4. A paltry 8, 9 if Sparrowhawk is working together with me.]

But my hopes are not fulfilled this day. Britannia is beyond me, even with all the effort I have. So far beyond me that it is pathetic. [Britannia action dice, one roll of 6.] I bounce off the shields of the great lion like nothing so much as an angry blue gnat, and as she raises a paw to destroy me, I raise my shield, hide my face and pray.

A cackling biplane tears across the lion's throat and lands in its heart. From the ruptured wound pours a rainforest, thick and black and tangled, stinking with disease. It falls from above in a tangle and rips apart the ancient stonework, rips apart the earth, rips apart your flesh. A toxic rainforest squats like a heart of darkness at the heart of London, and a million nightmarish eyes fill it. The palace is gone.

You take 1 damage, boosted twice to 3 for it's CQC+2, boosted again to 4 by the action dice.

Sparrowhawk tumbles from the sky, pursued by biplanes. She aces the landing and takes cover behind a tall tree. She doesn't look at you, her attention is focused directly on the Witch.


Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap.

Down on the streets, there's a blur of motion. White lace and purple ribbons flutter atop a pair of toned, slender legs. A long trail of pale lavender hair whips from side to side and shimmers in the harsh, swirling lights of the battlefield above. The steady clomp, clomp, clomp of her boots landing heavily on the pavement echoes inside her ears and somehow manages to drown the rest of the noises around her. Pale pink lips draw tight and sapphire eyes narrow with the effort. Ashley Evans is a vaguely purple blur dashing into an alley. Is she too late to matter?

Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap!

In her right hand, a bastard sword glitters with a pearly sheen. It's beautiful, wavy pattern on its blade gives the impression of an ornamental weapon, with no real edge to speak of. In her left hand, a white lacy glove and a choice. She is not smart girl, not a clever sneak who could use these alleys to slip inside the guard of the monsters that came here today. She's not a tactical genius who can pull a battle plan from behind her rounded little ears or determine what parts of London are the most tactically important things to save. The whole city's in danger, and she isn't ready!

Her heels click off the side of a building - one steps, two steps, three, four. She jumps and catches the windowsill of the adjacent building, gathers herself and springs back to the first. Her jumps get quicker, and soon she's on the roof. Finally, she knows a couple of things. One, she's standing on top of the MI6 building. Two, hard, terrifying Men of the Empire are about to burn it to the ground. She can see the bizarre squares of their shots flying through the air. Fortunately, three: She can do something about this. In fact, she has to.

Ashley leaps from the roof down into the path of the soldiers, reaching back with her left hand to grip the handle of her pearl sword with both and crossing the blade in front of her. She lands. Crouches. Tenses... leaps! Her form is graceful, and the arch of her back would be beautiful if there were anyone there to see it. As she rises into the air, she turns end over end, pulling one leg in front of the other to steady her balance from her backflip. Her sword slashes in the air in front of her, and the tip carves a crescent wave of silvery energy that rips through the air and cleaves into the soldiers.

She lands unsteadily on the ball of her left foot. Exhales deeply. She can't stop to think about if she... they... anyone can do this. Can't bring herself to look at that horrible lion. She's a magical girl, and there's a witch out tonight. She has a promise to keep. Up above her, the ruby-crowned lion roars.

"...Crap."

[FA - 5, 2, 2, 2, 5, +2 equipment boost, +3 Proficiency. Spending 1 Ego to boost Effort to 12. Matching dice boost the success by 1]

The glass shatters and shatters the familiars with it; they twist and shudder in the ruined fragments of glass. The formation falls back, staggered, recombining. For a moment the silhouettes gather cohesion in the windows of a shopfront and then they emerge at incredible speed.

Racing across the open they come, three paper target silhouettes in the shape of men in suits. Cracks run through them like the mirrored glass. They all have knives embedded in their hearts. They jerkily raise silenced pistols as they circle.

3x Soldiers
Vigor 9
Focus 9
Range CQ, FA+1, HB N/A.


Hopeless. It certainly looked hopeless. But ultimately so was everything, anyway. Didn't give anyone any reason to give up.

Lilian Jenkins skirted through the warzone, running and skating on streams of colorful ink. Moving in and out of alleys, over roof-tops and through traffic, her trail forming intricate and complex patterns trying to keep up with her mind as it flashed through everything around her, connecting facts and testing possibilities.

The only thing that mattered - the only thing that ever mattered - was the present moment and the choice right before you. Future choices were all contingent upon the present choice, so worrying about them served no purpose but to distract from the first, the only choice.

"Que sera, sera."

The lion ... no way. Two fools with a heroic death wish was more than enough for one battle.

At least Ashley had the MI6 covered, for now. Lilian flashed her a thumbs up in passing, which she probably didn't see in all the fighting, but the thought was there.

That gave her the chance to take out the ships. Without the artillery raining down death from the sky and soldiers marching on the ground maybe, just maybe, they could all focus their fire against the lion and have some kind of infinitesimal chance at not totally sucking.

That is, if the hero twins hadn't managed to kill themselves by then.

[Engage the ships: 1,1,3,4,1 = 4 + 3 = 7

Taking 2 harm]

"Come on, come on," she hissed as she tried and failed to spot an opening to take advantage of. The blast of a cannon exploded in front of her, throwing her back as she tried to get close and failed to notice the shot in time. Stumbling back up, she rolled and ducked for the nearest cover.

Darn it. This wasn't going well at all. But a moving target was harder to hit at least, was a greater distraction to the enemy, and had a better chance of catching opportunities as they presented themselves ...

[Take cover: 2,5,6,5,2 = 6 + 3 + 2 = 11

Converting 2 harm to 2 Id]

Only the present choice mattered. The past, the future, they were all irrelevant. Her soul gem gleamed, and threads of ink seeped into her wounds, cleaning and knitting them together like touching up a painting. It was a strange feeling, but Lilian had always been fascinated with the strange.

Parliament burns. Big Ben wails out its death-toll as it crumbles to the ground.

The ships dock and a man steps ashore - black coat, black hat, Guy Fawkes mask. Dozens more like him step into the open. They hold bombs and muskets and respond to any attempt to approach with layered fire.

Strange energy glows around your soul gem; a thick, treacle-like darkness. When you move ink drips from your hands and carves Rorschach blots into the ground below you. You feel unstable, all-to-real and all too vivid; a terrible pressure in the back of your mind that threatens to overwhelm you.

"Oh, hey Lilian," said a familiar voice in your mind as a snow-white catlike creature emerged from behind a pile of debris. "Pretty wild, huh?"

[Anarion]

A cackling biplane tears across the lion's throat and lands in its heart. From the ruptured wound pours a rainforest, thick and black and tangled, stinking with disease. It falls from above in a tangle and rips apart the ancient stonework, rips apart the earth, rips apart your flesh. A toxic rainforest squats like a heart of darkness at the heart of London, and a million nightmarish eyes fill it. The palace is gone.

You take 1 damage, boosted twice to 3 for it's CQC+2, boosted again to 4 by the action dice.

Sparrowhawk tumbles from the sky, pursued by biplanes. She aces the landing and takes cover behind a tall tree. She doesn't look at you, her attention is focused directly on the Witch.


The dark stench of the trees is overwhelming. I can't, can't withstand that, can't keep myself in the air, can't hold out against the vast power of this beast. Diseased spores buffet me, though my energy shield holds firm and expands to catch the worst of it [reduce damage taken from 4 to 3]. Darkness fills my soul gem, and the faint sound of manacles can be heard in the distance as the impact takes it's full force.

This is no good, no good at all. I let the weight of that dark forest push me away, roll with the spores and spin away, streak towards the ground. My form seems to sway and melt, my dress and my energy changing like a chameleon to blend with the buildings and the Thames. I have to find cover, try again from a different route.

I look to take cover from the great lion. [2, 3, 4. +2 from London cover, +1 from my shield, +1 from my spectrum veil, +3 from skill=11. Too low to pass even with ego.]

Even the great witch won't have an easy time finding me now, I think, smugly, too smugly. It's not enough. She's coming, I can't hide, can't find safety or a place to heal.
[Witch has a single 6 for a boost as well.]

[PhoeKun]

She can hear it all, the fires spreading, stone cracking on the pavement as buildings crumble. Screams of panic and anguish alike as everyone and everything she sets her eyes on seems to be in mortal peril. There's a hail of something that passes for gunfire mixed with glass, and on pure instinct she crouches low and leaps into the air just in time to avoid it. She dashes to the left, to Lilian, but there is the paper-soldier leering at her, in the way. She pivots and dashes back the other direction. To Jaime? To Michiko? No and no and no again, she's surrounded, surrounded, surrounded. Nice going, dummy.

She screams and throws her body into another attack. From right shoulder to left toe, she brings the pearly sword down in a crushing arc. Another blast of moonlight and starfire rips through the night air. Ashley pants and tries to ready herself for another attack. Already it's getting harder to see the city for all of the smoke and the distortions swallowing up everything she's ever known. What's it all for? Why did she ever even make that contract, if she was just going to die forgotten anyway?

Glittering blue eyes flutter reluctantly. Above her left breast, the deep purple soul gem grows darker...

[FA - 5, 4, 6, 1, 6 - +2 Weapon Effort, +3 Proficiency. Result 11, success. Gaining 1 Id from lack of Ego involvement]

[Deadly]

Spirit check: 4 vs 4

Well, there went parliament. Its collapse was a gutting sight, like a steel punch to the midsection and a hammer to the back of the head. She couldn't stop now, however. Not now. As much as her body told her to just keel over and lie down, if she gave up at the first failure, she'd have never solved any real problems. This was a problem, and a problem needed probing, testing of ideas and gathering of data to find what worked and what didn't.

She spared Kyubey only a brief glance; it certainly didn't need her help, and her eyes were needed elsewhere, continuing the search for a way past the artillery.

"You don't care, do you? Not even the slightest." she said over her shoulder as she jumped, leaping from inky pool to inky pool in midair to get high. If she could descend upon them from above, she could strike with all she'd got. "I almost envy you, but I'm curious, why are you here? Do you enjoy watching the world burn? That's not it, is it? Have you ever actually enjoyed anything? I don't know if I envy you after all. Must be a sad existence."

She needed data, and that meant throwing everything she had at the problem. Everything. With Parliament already reduced to ruins, collateral damage was acceptable.

Spinning mid-air, streaks of ink flying around her in fractal patterns, she pulled the inkwell off the end of her spear, baring the gleaming point like a single bright star in the sea of black ink, and descended with a blood-curdling scream right for the heart of the ships.

*

Engage Ships: 5,6,6,5,4 = 6 + 1 + 3 = 10 Spending Ego to make it an 11

Attack at CQ: 4,5,5 = 5 + 1 (dice) + 1 (proficiency) + 1 (weapon) = 8 and spending all my 3 ID to make it an 11. Going all out Armageddon.

[Thanqol]

The dark stench of the trees is overwhelming. I can't, can't withstand that, can't keep myself in the air, can't hold out against the vast power of this beast. Diseased spores buffet me, though my energy shield holds firm and expands to catch the worst of it [reduce damage taken from 4 to 3]. Darkness fills my soul gem, and the faint sound of manacles can be heard in the distance as the impact takes it's full force.

This is no good, no good at all. I let the weight of that dark forest push me away, roll with the spores and spin away, streak towards the ground. My form seems to sway and melt, my dress and my energy changing like a chameleon to blend with the buildings and the Thames. I have to find cover, try again from a different route.

I look to take cover from the great lion. [2, 3, 4. +2 from London cover, +1 from my shield, +1 from my spectrum veil, +3 from skill=11. Too low to pass even with ego.]

Even the great witch won't have an easy time finding me now, I think, smugly, too smugly. It's not enough. She's coming, I can't hide, can't find safety or a place to heal.
[Witch has a single 6 for a boost as well.]

The forest crashes down on you. Every step cuts your feet on wild rubies and gemstones that lie on the riverbanks like pebbles. And then come the biplanes. Again and again you are strafed with machine-gun fire from every angle. The ground underneath your feet shifts and raises up as a skyscraper emerges from under your feet. You are raised up to an elevated platform as the planes swarm around you from every angle.

That's another 4 harm; enough to take you out unless you expend your shield.

The Lion roars and weeps diamond tears, and the riverbanks overflow with precious gems. Razor sharp they grow, tearing apart rock and mortar, and the river gleams and floods. It is Endangering the city along the banks of the Thames; the river will flood and the bridges of London will fall.


She can hear it all, the fires spreading, stone cracking on the pavement as buildings crumble. Screams of panic and anguish alike as everyone and everything she sets her eyes on seems to be in mortal peril. There's a hail of something that passes for gunfire mixed with glass, and on pure instinct she crouches low and leaps into the air just in time to avoid it. She dashes to the left, to Lilian, but there is the paper-soldier leering at her, in the way. She pivots and dashes back the other direction. To Jaime? To Michiko? No and no and no again, she's surrounded, surrounded, surrounded. Nice going, dummy.

She screams and throws her body into another attack. From right shoulder to left toe, she brings the pearly sword down in a crushing arc. Another blast of moonlight and starfire rips through the night air. Ashley pants and tries to ready herself for another attack. Already it's getting harder to see the city for all of the smoke and the distortions swallowing up everything she's ever known. What's it all for? Why did she ever even make that contract, if she was just going to die forgotten anyway?

Glittering blue eyes flutter reluctantly. Above her left breast, the deep purple soul gem grows darker...

[FA - 5, 4, 6, 1, 6 - +2 Weapon Effort, +3 Proficiency. Result 11, success. Gaining 1 Id from lack of Ego involvement]

The battlefield is under your control, the overlay of nightmarish espionage is becoming frayed and incoherent. Now the figures are black and white, not handsome. Distant, sociopathic and cruel. Brutal, blunt and stupid. They come at you one at a time and when they are torn down they crumple like empty suits.

2x Soldiers
Vigor 8
Focus 8
Range CQ, FA+1, HB N/A.



Spirit check: 4 vs 4

Well, there went parliament. Its collapse was a gutting sight, like a steel punch to the midsection and a hammer to the back of the head. She couldn't stop now, however. Not now. As much as her body told her to just keel over and lie down, if she gave up at the first failure, she'd have never solved any real problems. This was a problem, and a problem needed probing, testing of ideas and gathering of data to find what worked and what didn't.

She spared Kyubey only a brief glance; it certainly didn't need her help, and her eyes were needed elsewhere, continuing the search for a way past the artillery.

"You don't care, do you? Not even the slightest." she said over her shoulder as she jumped, leaping from inky pool to inky pool in midair to get high. If she could descend upon them from above, she could strike with all she'd got. "I almost envy you, but I'm curious, why are you here? Do you enjoy watching the world burn? That's not it, is it? Have you ever actually enjoyed anything? I don't know if I envy you after all. Must be a sad existence."

She needed data, and that meant throwing everything she had at the problem. Everything. With Parliament already reduced to ruins, collateral damage was acceptable.

Spinning mid-air, streaks of ink flying around her in fractal patterns, she pulled the inkwell off the end of her spear, baring the gleaming point like a single bright star in the sea of black ink, and descended with a blood-curdling scream right for the heart of the ships.

*

Engage Ships: 5,6,6,5,4 = 6 + 1 + 3 = 10 Spending Ego to make it an 11

Attack at CQ: 4,5,5 = 5 + 1 (dice) + 1 (proficiency) + 1 (weapon) = 8 and spending all my 3 ID to make it an 11. Going all out Armageddon.

[Note that Engage is opposed by Focus, not Vigor - meaning you'll need to hit 13. You'll need to spend a total of 3 Ego to make this happen. I shall assume that you did because it's a Good Idea.]

When you near the ships you almost slam into a wall of invisible glass - the ships are floating inside giant glass bottles. But your spear smashes right through and toxic ink and rushing water surges in to fill the bottle. The ship keels and its spine shatters as it descends to the bottom.

The shockwave carries through into the ruins of Westminster. The ground heaves, windows shatter and jets of black smoke emerge into the air. The blast hits the crumbling clock tower so hard and suddenly that it actually rips the foundations out of the ground, like an uprooted tree rather than a falling building. The rubble and debris smashes into the Thames and across the roads, totaling cars that burst like little firecrackers.

"Among our people emotions are a sign of mental illness," said Kyubey, illuminated by the devastation. "I honestly don't understand the evolutionary advantage of having them. I don't think there's any way your species would have survived without our interference, so honestly you should be thankful we found you before you wiped yourselves out!"


3x Archers
Vigor 9
Focus 11
Range CQ N/A, FA, HB+1

[Anarion]

Alone atop the skyscraper, I raise my shield in defiance. The biplanes hammer upon it. They encircle me. I let the shield grow, upwards, outwards, encircling me as a barrier field on all sides. But as the biplanes hammer upon it, it begins to crack. Tiny pinholes, spreading like lines of silk through the field, small, slow, but growing larger until the entire shield looks like an intricate spiderweb. And then with the sound of a thousand windowpanes all bursting at once, the shield breaks into a million pieces and they all scatter on the winds.

The Thames will flood. And I can't stop it. I thought, perhaps, perhaps I could have done something, perhaps Sparrowhawk and I could have, could have...it doesn't matter. I couldn't, I can't. Not now, not like this, not with just the two of us. "Sparrowhawk, follow me!" I dive off the building, an azure comet plummeting to the ground. And as I fall, I look. There's Ashley, in command of the battlefield where she belongs. A smile at the twinge of my lips: a hero knows how to fight properly and not throw herself away for nothing. And there's Lil, embattled against the ships. I can help with that, I can bring allies. Sometimes, that's what it means to be the best: to fight smart, to cut your losses, to work together. That's what I'm going to do.

I strike the Thames, breathe in the cool air before I go under, and blaze my aura once again. The ships won't see me coming, not like this. [Engage ships: 5, 6, 2=6+3 and I'll spend the 3 ego to pass that. If Sparrowhawk followed and helped, then it's only 2 ego. I'm also rolling spirit in service of my hope for this change of tactics. 1, pass, +1 ego.]

I'm underneath them, under the water, and I can see the glass bottles shimmering as the river sloshes against them. I smile. Oh yes, this I can do. I channel my magic, accelerate through swirling gates of energy, and rocket sword first into the nearest ship, piercing directly through it and bursting out above the river to meet Lily. [2, 3, 4, 5=5+3+1. If Sparrowhawk is here, that's a success, and if not, I'll spend an Id to make that a success and also gain an Id because this action didn't involve ego either way.]

[PhoeKun]

London Bridge is falling down...

And there's nothing Ashley can do to stop it. Her white lace is lit up in pink by the gleaming of the rubies that pour out into the Thames. Her fingers tighten on the hilt of her sword, as if holding it hard enough will make everything better, make her not a failure with no imagination or talent. Her entire body is shaking, heaving with sobs she can't control; it's as if she's breaking down in concert with the paper-men she's cutting down.

Protect. Protect. Protect. But the Lion is so huge and all alone, and the thought of facing it by herself fills her with gut-wrenching terror. Protect, protect, protect! There's still an opponent in front of her, and it still has a friend. It shouldn't. It should be alone, too! Before she's thought about it, before she's had time to plan or regroup with anyone else, she's raised her sword level with her shoulders, tip pointed straight at one of the soldiers. She stabs forward at the air, once, twice, a dozen times in rapid succession, and the air fills with motes of silvery light that rip another of these stupid chess-men to shreds. Her gem taints further. Wrong decision...

Her blade lowers, and she stands up straight in brazen defiance of the last cruel figure on the battlefield, turning her head to the sky to watch the horror of the witch properly.

"I have to... do something about that. Right?"

Her face splits into a predatory grin.

[one more soldier attack, 6, 2, 5, 1, 5. +3 Proficiency, +2 Weapon, easily exceeds the success threshold. Id raises to 2, now tied with Ego]

[Deadly]

"Uhuh," Lilian uttered as she landed and quickly rolled back on her feet inside a semi-translucent bubble of ink, lines, angles and numbers floating to its surface before sinking again like floating objects in the sea. "You do not lack emotion, Cubey. Perhaps you cannot see it - or don't want to - but I do. I believe what you lack is called imagination."

Why was she even talking to it? She should be focusing.

On Michiko, for one.

[Spirit check: 1 vs 4]

Despite the overflowing of the rivers and the fall of the bridges, the sight of Michiko coming to her aid was honestly a relief, but she couldn't linger on it. She swung and spun her sword, drawing lines and arcs in the air to guide Michiko closer, past the defenses of the ships.

[Intellect: 1,3,1,4,6 : +1 for Michiko. No Ego spent, so I gain +1 Id]

Once Michiko was in, Lilian turned her attention back on the ships. Together, they should be able to finish them off.

Focus.

One thing, one choice at a time.

Just one thing at a time.

[Attack at CQ: 1,3,3 = 4 + 1 + 1 = 6 Not enough Ego or Id to make that a success, but I gain another +1 Id]

[Thanqol]

Alone atop the skyscraper, I raise my shield in defiance. The biplanes hammer upon it. They encircle me. I let the shield grow, upwards, outwards, encircling me as a barrier field on all sides. But as the biplanes hammer upon it, it begins to crack. Tiny pinholes, spreading like lines of silk through the field, small, slow, but growing larger until the entire shield looks like an intricate spiderweb. And then with the sound of a thousand windowpanes all bursting at once, the shield breaks into a million pieces and they all scatter on the winds.

The Thames will flood. And I can't stop it. I thought, perhaps, perhaps I could have done something, perhaps Sparrowhawk and I could have, could have...it doesn't matter. I couldn't, I can't. Not now, not like this, not with just the two of us. "Sparrowhawk, follow me!" I dive off the building, an azure comet plummeting to the ground. And as I fall, I look. There's Ashley, in command of the battlefield where she belongs. A smile at the twinge of my lips: a hero knows how to fight properly and not throw herself away for nothing. And there's Lil, embattled against the ships. I can help with that, I can bring allies. Sometimes, that's what it means to be the best: to fight smart, to cut your losses, to work together. That's what I'm going to do.

I strike the Thames, breathe in the cool air before I go under, and blaze my aura once again. The ships won't see me coming, not like this. [Engage ships: 5, 6, 2=6+3 and I'll spend the 3 ego to pass that. If Sparrowhawk followed and helped, then it's only 2 ego. I'm also rolling spirit in service of my hope for this change of tactics. 1, pass, +1 ego.]

I'm underneath them, under the water, and I can see the glass bottles shimmering as the river sloshes against them. I smile. Oh yes, this I can do. I channel my magic, accelerate through swirling gates of energy, and rocket sword first into the nearest ship, piercing directly through it and bursting out above the river to meet Lily. [2, 3, 4, 5=5+3+1. If Sparrowhawk is here, that's a success, and if not, I'll spend an Id to make that a success and also gain an Id because this action didn't involve ego either way.]

You've misjudged Sparrowhawk. She keeps her focus on the Witch, dogfighting with the biplanes in the sky and sending plane after plane crashing to the ground. Even as the Thames floods and the bridges crumble and fall she keeps up the fight, oblivious to everything around her.

The Thames is alight with falling bridges, burning buildings and sinking ships. It breaks its banks so it can spread this disaster to the landward world. The great hymn of Britannia Rules The Waves blares from air-raid sirens as tears pour from the empty eye sockets of the great lion, and flesh sloughs from its bones.

2x Archers
Vigor 7
Focus 9
Range CQ N/A, FA, HB+1


"Uhuh," Lilian uttered as she landed and quickly rolled back on her feet inside a semi-translucent bubble of ink, lines, angles and numbers floating to its surface before sinking again like floating objects in the sea. "You do not lack emotion, Cubey. Perhaps you cannot see it - or don't want to - but I do. I believe what you lack is called imagination."

Why was she even talking to it? She should be focusing.

On Michiko, for one.

[Spirit check: 1 vs 4]

Despite the overflowing of the rivers and the fall of the bridges, the sight of Michiko coming to her aid was honestly a relief, but she couldn't linger on it. She swung and spun her sword, drawing lines and arcs in the air to guide Michiko closer, past the defenses of the ships.



Once Michiko was in, Lilian turned her attention back on the ships. Together, they should be able to finish them off.

Focus.

One thing, one choice at a time.

Just one thing at a time.

[Attack at CQ: 1,3,3 = 4 + 1 + 1 = 6 Not enough Ego or Id to make that a success, but I gain another +1 Id]

With Michiko's destruction of one of the ships there's actually just enough of an opportunity for you to get through. A thousand black-robed Guy Fawkes stand on the deck and salute as their ship capsizes and sinks to the bottom of the river.

"What you humans call 'imagination' is just theory without practice," said Kyubey. "In other words, delusion. And you're right that this is a trait that is unique to humans and we do not envy you for it."

1x Archer
Vigor 6
Focus 8
Range CQ N/A, FA, HB+1




[i]London Bridge is falling down...

And there's nothing Ashley can do to stop it. Her white lace is lit up in pink by the gleaming of the rubies that pour out into the Thames. Her fingers tighten on the hilt of her sword, as if holding it hard enough will make everything better, make her not a failure with no imagination or talent. Her entire body is shaking, heaving with sobs she can't control; it's as if she's breaking down in concert with the paper-men she's cutting down.

Protect. Protect. Protect. But the Lion is so huge and all alone, and the thought of facing it by herself fills her with gut-wrenching terror. Protect, protect, protect! There's still an opponent in front of her, and it still has a friend. It shouldn't. It should be alone, too! Before she's thought about it, before she's had time to plan or regroup with anyone else, she's raised her sword level with her shoulders, tip pointed straight at one of the soldiers. She stabs forward at the air, once, twice, a dozen times in rapid succession, and the air fills with motes of silvery light that rip another of these stupid chess-men to shreds. Her gem taints further. Wrong decision...

Her blade lowers, and she stands up straight in brazen defiance of the last cruel figure on the battlefield, turning her head to the sky to watch the horror of the witch properly.

"I have to... do something about that. Right?"

Her face splits into a predatory grin.

[one more soldier attack, 6, 2, 5, 1, 5. +3 Proficiency, +2 Weapon, easily exceeds the success threshold. Id raises to 2, now tied with Ego]

The last surviving silhouette advances haphazardly towards you but guns roar out and tear it apart. Multiple guns of different calibers. Storming down the street, weapons raised, comes what looks... kind of like someone's Shadowrun adventuring group. There's an old guy in a bright white biohazard suit carrying a weapon that looks like a ghostbusters prop. There's a gentleman who looks a bit like the Doom marine, armed with a shotgun. There's a conventionally attractive woman in a suit and tie with a handgun. There's a young wide eyed man in a military uniform with an assault rifle. And all of them have weird glowing runes painted on their clothing.

"FREEZE! ON THE GROUND! NOW!" they are yelling, fanning out to cover you with their weapons. They don't move like familiars. They're talking like people. "DROP THE SOUL GEM, NOW, NOW, NOW!"

Your soul gem crackles through with darkness.

They are all in terrible danger.

???
Vigor 9
Focus 9
Action Dice: 2
Resolve/Injury 2

[Anarion]

You've misjudged Sparrowhawk. She keeps her focus on the Witch, dogfighting with the biplanes in the sky and sending plane after plane crashing to the ground. Even as the Thames floods and the bridges crumble and fall she keeps up the fight, oblivious to everything around her.

The Thames is alight with falling bridges, burning buildings and sinking ships. It breaks its banks so it can spread this disaster to the landward world. The great hymn of Britannia Rules The Waves blares from air-raid sirens as tears pour from the empty eye sockets of the great lion, and flesh sloughs from its bones.


Then she fights alone for now. When I have gathered allies, we will offer her succor. Godspeed, Jamie.



"What you humans call 'imagination' is just theory without practice," said Kyubey. "In other words, delusion. And you're right that this is a trait that is unique to humans and we do not envy you for it."


"Urusai!" I shout at Kyubey, as I streak by Lil and the fool cat. There's no time for stupid conversation, and my anger is only growing fiercer as I am roused to combat. We are wasting time, and I cannot abide fools when a witch of such monumental power is laying waste to the city. Even if we defeat her now, what will be left? No...no time, no time for thinking, only action. I am a bolt of lightning in a clear sky, and the last ship bears my wrath. The night splits in two as my blade cleaves the hull in a single blow. [Attack: 4, 4, 2, 2=5+3+1=9. I crush the final ship. Ego 5/5, Id 3/5]

The soul gem around my neck darkens and black smoke hisses at the cracks as I land near Lil. My gaze is steel. "Come, Lil, we have to finish this business and fight together, it's our only hope of stopping the witch. We need to get Ashely and get back there before Sparrowhawk runs out of stamina."

I have not a glance to spare for Kyubey, he doesn't fight and so he's worthless right now. Unless Lil objects, we are making our way to Ashley with all haste.

[Deadly]

Lilian spun around and tried to grab Kyubey by its ears and dangle it in front of her face. "Go. I'll be with you in a minute," she said over her shoulder and waved a hand to Michiko, all interest in the battle seemingly lost for a moment.

She scrutinized the creature for a few seconds. "You're cute ... but you can't fool me," she said, low and menacing. "There's no invention possible without imagination, no progress without emotions like yearning, yet here you are with this amazing technology - some would call it sufficiently advanced to be magic, yet by your own account your kind should be wallowing in a pool of mud, too uncaring to even crawl your way out. You say your kind invented this magic. You say you lifted humans out of muck and ignorance. One or both of these are bold-faced lies, and I'm starting to believe you incapable of even a single truth, so I'm going with both.

"You wanna hear my hypothesis? I think you stole our fire, then sabotaged us so you could take credit for its invention later. I think you have stolen and taken credit from more than just us, too. You're nothing but a thief and a parasite, kitty, living off the spoils and hard work of other, much better creatures than you.

"And I'll learn the truth. I'll know what you know. You can bet on that. I'll dig it out of your little kitty skull somehow."

*

Ego 0 / Id 0

Do I gain Id for not doing anything, or is it only when I take an action and don't spend Ego on it?

[PhoeKun]

Ashley does freeze, at least for a moment. Her lanky arms and legs are so tense that this strange group can see her muscles twitching with the beating of her heart. She still has her sword held out in a posture that half looks like self defense, half looks like she's her own little lion gearing up to pounce. She grits her teeth and glares at the sudden intruders. More threats, more enemies, more... people?

"I can't!" she chokes out, "You don't understand, I can't!"

It doesn't occur to her to wonder why there are people on the streets, seeing familiars, talking about soul gems like any of it was information they were privy to. It doesn't occur to her to wonder what they're really after or what they want with her, or what they'd do if she did let go of the best part of herself. Her sword tip scrapes on the ground in front of her. She's not going to attack. She knows that.

What would a hero do?

A hero would show she's in control. A hero would leave these people and fight the witch Ashley's been so steadfastedly trying to pretend doesn't exist this whole time. A hero would sacrifice herself if that's what it came to, but a hero would not stand around and risk the lives of innocent people, least of all from her own actions. She could be a hero. She could show them all a hero. Her mind's eye traces a zigzagging route through the crowd, up a wall and through the air. If she can clear the gun line, it's a straight shot to the ruby-tainted Thames and up, up, up to the cause of all this madness.

But that isn't what happens, not at all. Her heel slips on loose gravel. Her skirt catches on half a sign post leftover from her fight a moment ago, and it snags hard, costing her all of her momentum before it tears and sends her spiraling to the ground. She's prostrate in front of everyone, her clothes are ruined, and it doesn't matter that she's pulled off a handspring and vaulted back onto her feet because they can see, they all know she's a fraud and a failure and...

There's hardly any color left in her gem, and what's left isn't even a flicker. The inky black crackles with power. Then she laughs; what else can she do?

[attempting an Tone/Athletics roll to heroically enter the fray with Britannia and keep the Shadowrunners safe, chummer. 3, 1, 2, 1 + 3 Proficiency is a 6, which is not salvagable through any remaining resources.
Having failed a roll relating to my Hope, a Spirit check to save Ego: 4. Ego 1, Id 2, all turns from now out require a Spirit check to remain in control]

[Anarion]

"Go. I'll be with you in a minute," she said over her shoulder and waved a hand to Michiko, all interest in the battle seemingly lost for a moment.


And I was. I'm not waiting, not when Lil has no interest in fighting and has expended all that she's got. I'm streaking off to Ashley, who I spot easily enough by her purple aura and the strange people with her.




But that isn't what happens, not at all. Her heel slips on loose gravel. Her skirt catches on half a sign post leftover from her fight a moment ago, and it snags hard, costing her all of her momentum before it tears and sends her spiraling to the ground. She's prostrate in front of everyone, her clothes are ruined, and it doesn't matter that she's pulled off a handspring and vaulted back onto her feet because they can see, they all know she's a fraud and a failure and...

There's hardly any color left in her gem, and what's left isn't even a flicker. The inky black crackles with power. Then she laughs; what else can she do?

[attempting an Tone/Athletics roll to heroically enter the fray with Britannia and keep the Shadowrunners safe, chummer. 3, 1, 2, 1 + 3 Proficiency is a 6, which is not salvagable through any remaining resources.
Having failed a roll relating to my Hope, a Spirit check to save Ego: 4. Ego 1, Id 2, all turns from now out require a Spirit check to remain in control]

Michiko tries to fly in and join the scene. She'd be helping Ashley, who seems to be looking very uncomfortable with these people, but [Tone roll: 1, 1, 5, 6] it looks like they're just not in sync together. Instead, Michiko narrowly misses Ashley in a flyby and skids to a halt in front of all these people. This is embarrassing and whatever the group may have thought, they're not coming across as the great defenders of London at all. This is not fitting behavior for the best of the best magical girls either. [spirit check for failing a hope, 4, pass]. Michiko tries to give these people her best smile and hopes that they won't all be shot in the back while the innocents are evacuated.

"So, uh, what's going on here?" she tries to whisper to Ashley from behind her smile.

[Ego: 5/5. Id...uh, I dunno, is this a combat action? I don't understand quite how these people fit in. If it's combat, I'm 4/5 Id, otherwise 3/5.]

[Thanqol]

Lilian spun around and tried to grab Kyubey by its ears and dangle it in front of her face. "Go. I'll be with you in a minute," she said over her shoulder and waved a hand to Michiko, all interest in the battle seemingly lost for a moment.

She scrutinized the creature for a few seconds. "You're cute ... but you can't fool me," she said, low and menacing. "There's no invention possible without imagination, no progress without emotions like yearning, yet here you are with this amazing technology - some would call it sufficiently advanced to be magic, yet by your own account your kind should be wallowing in a pool of mud, too uncaring to even crawl your way out. You say your kind invented this magic. You say you lifted humans out of muck and ignorance. One or both of these are bold-faced lies, and I'm starting to believe you incapable of even a single truth, so I'm going with both.

"You wanna hear my hypothesis? I think you stole our fire, then sabotaged us so you could take credit for its invention later. I think you have stolen and taken credit from more than just us, too. You're nothing but a thief and a parasite, kitty, living off the spoils and hard work of other, much better creatures than you.

"And I'll learn the truth. I'll know what you know. You can bet on that. I'll dig it out of your little kitty skull somehow."

*

Ego 0 / Id 0

Do I gain Id for not doing anything, or is it only when I take an action and don't spend Ego on it?

You don't gain Id from just talking. Only actions which involve a dice roll are sufficiently taxing. You can also avoid gaining Id by successfully gaining Ego through your hope/despair; it's only when your Ego remains static that it increases.

"That is a very rational hypothesis!" said Kyubey. "You remind me of me when I was a kit. That's why I like you, Lilian Jenkins!"


Ashley does freeze, at least for a moment. Her lanky arms and legs are so tense that this strange group can see her muscles twitching with the beating of her heart. She still has her sword held out in a posture that half looks like self defense, half looks like she's her own little lion gearing up to pounce. She grits her teeth and glares at the sudden intruders. More threats, more enemies, more... people?

"I can't!" she chokes out, "You don't understand, I can't!"

It doesn't occur to her to wonder why there are people on the streets, seeing familiars, talking about soul gems like any of it was information they were privy to. It doesn't occur to her to wonder what they're really after or what they want with her, or what they'd do if she did let go of the best part of herself. Her sword tip scrapes on the ground in front of her. She's not going to attack. She knows that.

What would a hero do?

A hero would show she's in control. A hero would leave these people and fight the witch Ashley's been so steadfastedly trying to pretend doesn't exist this whole time. A hero would sacrifice herself if that's what it came to, but a hero would not stand around and risk the lives of innocent people, least of all from her own actions. She could be a hero. She could show them all a hero. Her mind's eye traces a zigzagging route through the crowd, up a wall and through the air. If she can clear the gun line, it's a straight shot to the ruby-tainted Thames and up, up, up to the cause of all this madness.

But that isn't what happens, not at all. Her heel slips on loose gravel. Her skirt catches on half a sign post leftover from her fight a moment ago, and it snags hard, costing her all of her momentum before it tears and sends her spiraling to the ground. She's prostrate in front of everyone, her clothes are ruined, and it doesn't matter that she's pulled off a handspring and vaulted back onto her feet because they can see, they all know she's a fraud and a failure and...

There's hardly any color left in her gem, and what's left isn't even a flicker. The inky black crackles with power. Then she laughs; what else can she do?

[attempting an Tone/Athletics roll to heroically enter the fray with Britannia and keep the Shadowrunners safe, chummer. 3, 1, 2, 1 + 3 Proficiency is a 6, which is not salvagable through any remaining resources.
Having failed a roll relating to my Hope, a Spirit check to save Ego: 4. Ego 1, Id 2, all turns from now out require a Spirit check to remain in control]

The soul gem cracks.

The laughter rises in pitch and becomes indistinguishable from sobs.

"X-Ray is transforming!" yells the soldier, "moving to capture!"

He runs forward and fires some kind of taser into the swirling darkness surrounding Ashley.

It's comical how little it hurts.

"Run! For Pete's sake -" yells the scientist.

Stop signs surround everyone on all sides. The bloody corpse of a girl falls from the sky and lifts itself up like a marionette, face painted on. Its chest is open to reveal a beating glass heart run through with cracks. Its broken ribs open and crunch like jaws. It picks up the screaming soldier who ran towards it and sighs wistfully as it holds him above her head.

MARA
Vigor 7
Focus 7
Structure: 6
Action Dice: 5
Range: CQ, FA N/A, HB N/A.
It has Endangered the human team.
Id: 2


Michiko tries to fly in and join the scene. She'd be helping Ashley, who seems to be looking very uncomfortable with these people, but [Tone roll: 1, 1, 5, 6] it looks like they're just not in sync together. Instead, Michiko narrowly misses Ashley in a flyby and skids to a halt in front of all these people. This is embarrassing and whatever the group may have thought, they're not coming across as the great defenders of London at all. This is not fitting behavior for the best of the best magical girls either. [spirit check for failing a hope, 4, pass]. Michiko tries to give these people her best smile and hopes that they won't all be shot in the back while the innocents are evacuated.

"So, uh, what's going on here?" she tries to whisper to Ashley from behind her smile.

[Ego: 5/5. Id...uh, I dunno, is this a combat action? I don't understand quite how these people fit in. If it's combat, I'm 4/5 Id, otherwise 3/5.]

If you make a roll in magical girl form then it does count as a combat action, so yes 4/5 id is correct.

"Contact! Additional X-Ray sighted!" yells the marine. The team scatters from you with terror comparable to what they're showing to Ashley. You get a light spray of reflexive gunfire as they try to flee but it doesn't meaningfully inconvenience you in any way.


Elsewhere, as the Thames floods and the city fills with burning lights, the great Lion finally turns its attention on Sparrowhawk. Its jaws distend as it tries to snap her out of the sky. The Lion has Endangered Sparrowhawk.

[Anarion]

Cracks everywhere. Black fire blazes from my own soul gem. London is falling, is fallen. Ashley, brave Ashley has lost herself, and Sparrowhawk...I can't let her die. Too many things, too much dangers, aaaah!

I'm airborne before I know it. My aura a mix of azure swirling with dark smoke. I am a blazing fireball in the London sky. I let my soul carry me, and before I am even aware, I am back again in the midst of the great lion witch. Britannia, queen of the waves.

I hover before her gaping maw. I reach out my hand and grasp Sparrowhawk's. No words, I am beyond them, but hand in hand I raise my blade to the sky and wait. There will be only one chance, one moment when those vast jaws come together upon us, one instant to strike. Energy flares beneath my feet, runes within runes, eclipsing the Thames, and my soul gem flares brilliantly. I said before that if you had looked at Michiko from a distance before this vast witch, you'd have seen a firefly. But now, she is no firefly but a miniature blue sun being swallowed by a vast galaxy of darkness.

[close combat check: 6, 1, 6, 6=8+3+1+1 (assist from Jamie)=13. I'll spend all 4 Id, and 2 Ego to successfully attack the witch. 3 boosts from rolls and 1 from weapon for 5 structure damage.]

In the face of that lion's gullet, I raise my sword and Jamie Sparrowhawk her lance. The energy around us coalesces into a maelstrom of power, a hurricane before the lion, and as the mouth closes, we charge. All fear is forgotten in the rush of wind through my hair and the rustling of our skirts and armor. The darkness leaves my soulgem and wraps itself about my sword, a swirling maelstrom of blue starlight and darkest void. We carve straight and down, a blazing fire through the dark rainforest of the beast's innards, a shattering blast through the gems that sustain it. We pass clean through the beast, an explosion of red and blue energy lancing Britannia and sending it tumbling off its feet. And then, with a final cleave of my sword, we gouge our way free from the witch and fly out into the cool evening air above the raging Thames.

[Spirit check to gain ego: 1, pass.]

At this moment, hanging in the air, watching the greatest witch in England collapse below me, I know that I am the greatest magical girl in the world.

[Ego: 5/5, Id 0/5, note ego now 5/5 thanks to assist from Lil.]

[Deadly]

Lilian's eyes narrowed. She didn't like its answer, and she didn't even know if it was sarcasm. It didn't matter; it wasn't one of the answers she had fished for.

And she still had a hopeless fight to fight. Even if it was becoming quite apparent that their strategy was doomed from the start. Maybe there was still time to fall back - the remains of London be damned - and rally other magical girls - oh look, Michiko was in full heroics mode. Maybe one solid strike would give the witch pause and allow them to fall back ... if she could tear the heroes away from it.

"Good, then be of some use," she said and shoved something at the space cat. It was one of the spare pointy charges for her spear, already glowing dangerously without the ink to keep it from exploding. "Try to hold on tight and steer towards the lion," she said as she stood up, then spun around like a hammer thrower at the olympics before letting go of Kyubey. "Bon voyage," she saluted as she watched the cat and glowing spearhead sail through the air towards the great witch ...

[Assist Michiko (Tone): 3,3,3 Nope, not helpful. No Ego, so +1 Id]

... or somewhere. A steel ball a cat is not, alas.

[Spirit roll to keep from Frenzy before my next action: 6 vs 4

Welp, there was that 6 I was looking for ...]

She wasn't sure what she had expected. Throwing a cat at it?! She was losing it, clearly.

No, she'd lost it the moment she entered the fray. She should have fallen back, rallied others to help. Instead she had wasted time, energy and every bloody opportunity to end up here.

She didn't look at her soul gem, black and inky as her mood, her thoughts and attention branching out like tentacles seeking an opportunity, any opportunity to seize and squeeze of all it had.

*

Ego 0, Id 1

[Thanqol]

[Spirit check to gain ego: 1, pass.]

At this moment, hanging in the air, watching the greatest witch in England collapse below me, I know that I am the greatest magical girl in the world.

[Ego: 5/5, Id 0/5, note ego now 5/5 thanks to assist from Lil.]

And for a moment you are.

But then a great fountain of black-red blood pours up from the Lion's severed back. A huge, tall, black limb emerges from the Lion's back, a vast disembodied arm, which begins to flail and smash around wildly. In the palm of the hand is a great eye and every beat of witch-flesh into pavement makes a deep resonating sound like a tribal drum. Boom, boom, boom. Like a mad eel the arm from the lion's back beats sound into London.

Britannia
Vigor 16
Focus 16
5 Action Dice
Structure 11
CQ+2, FA+1, HB


She wasn't sure what she had expected. Throwing a cat at it?! She was losing it, clearly.

No, she'd lost it the moment she entered the fray. She should have fallen back, rallied others to help. Instead she had wasted time, energy and every bloody opportunity to end up here.

She didn't look at her soul gem, black and inky as her mood, her thoughts and attention branching out like tentacles seeking an opportunity, any opportunity to seize and squeeze of all it had.

*

Ego 0, Id 1

The tentacles of broken logic arm themselves with ink-pens, madly scribbling pictures of cats, alive and gruesomely dead. The Soul Gem opens and folds Lillian into it like a box with a million sides. The box rolls across the street to face down the demon that is tearing its way through the human team, and the two pause for a moment, illuminated by fires.

The impossible box opens up like a lotus; the marionette smiles so wide the top of her head falls off. And then they fight and the world bears the consequences.

SCHRODINGER
Vigor 7
Focus 7
Structure: 6
Action Dice: 5
Range: CQ, FA N/A, HB N/A.
It has Endangered Mara
Id: 1

MARA
Vigor 7
Focus 7
Structure: 6
Action Dice: 5
Range: CQ, FA N/A, HB N/A.
It has Endangered Schrodinger
Id: 1

[Anarion]

What am I supposed to do? I've burned all my stored power on the witch and she gets up stronger and more grotesque than before? "Sparrowhawk, we can't keep going like this!" I shout at her, but I can't tell if she even hears me. Does she even appreciate that I saved her life? I just don't understand what's happening here. I don't understand it at all. And the only allies that I could reach are busy putting on a macabre puppet show...I have to get them, I have to. "Sparrowhawk, help me, help me save them before the witch recovers."

I'm not waiting though, I'm going in. Towards Ashley, no Mara, towards first, she has to be stopped. I don't want to hurt her though, not if I can help it. I zoom towards her, my sword held out as if to stab the marionette through its glass heart. But at the last second, I swerve, and slide past the witch, striking the ground behind it and skidding with my momentum into cover. The air warps and shimmers around me as I channel my illusion magic, and I am suddenly darker, a piece of the concrete and a swirl of flooding water slipping around the ruined shoreline, drawing the witch's attention.

With a moment of respite, I take this opportunity, huddled behind a chippy, to restore my soul gem. I cup my necklace in my hands, hiding the light that flows through it and let the cracks stitch shut as the gem clouds with darkness once again.

[I'm going into melee and then taking cover amid the London shops. I don't have my shield anymore, but I do have the spectrum veil for +1, so the roll is at +6. Roll is 1, 3, 6, so that's an easy pass no matter what Sparrowhawk is doing. Ego 5/5, Id 4/5
Edit: in case it matters, Mara's action dice were: 2, 2, 2, 6, 3
I also added in healing, which I nearly forgot about. Going back to full hp and gaining 3 Id in a round.]

[Thanqol]

What am I supposed to do? I've burned all my stored power on the witch and she gets up stronger and more grotesque than before? "Sparrowhawk, we can't keep going like this!" I shout at her, but I can't tell if she even hears me. Does she even appreciate that I saved her life? I just don't understand what's happening here. I don't understand it at all. And the only allies that I could reach are busy putting on a macabre puppet show...I have to get them, I have to. "Sparrowhawk, help me, help me save them before the witch recovers."

Sparrowhawk is nothing if not eerily mono-focused, she ignores you and keeps fighting without pause or hesitation.


I'm not waiting though, I'm going in. Towards Ashley, no Mara, towards first, she has to be stopped. I don't want to hurt her though, not if I can help it. I zoom towards her, my sword held out as if to stab the marionette through its glass heart. But at the last second, I swerve, and slide past the witch, striking the ground behind it and skidding with my momentum into cover. The air warps and shimmers around me as I channel my illusion magic, and I am suddenly darker, a piece of the concrete and a swirl of flooding water slipping around the ruined shoreline, drawing the witch's attention.

With a moment of respite, I take this opportunity, huddled behind a chippy, to restore my soul gem. I cup my necklace in my hands, hiding the light that flows through it and let the cracks stitch shut as the gem clouds with darkness once again.

[I'm going into melee and then taking cover amid the London shops. I don't have my shield anymore, but I do have the spectrum veil for +1, so the roll is at +6. Roll is 1, 3, 6, so that's an easy pass no matter what Sparrowhawk is doing. Ego 5/5, Id 4/5
Edit: in case it matters, Mara's action dice were: 2, 2, 2, 6, 3
I also added in healing, which I nearly forgot about. Going back to full hp and gaining 3 Id in a round.]

So Ashley, when you come to you're fine. You feel sick and shaken like waking up from a bad nightmare and maybe some part of you is distantly aware of what happened when you were under... but it's easy to rationalize things like that. Your subconscious is drained of its potency and you're at 0 Id.

Lilian you are not so lucky. While Michiko was defending Ashley from you she didn't have the time to save you from Ashley. You come back to yourself dazed and agonized, with your power flickering on and off like a warped nightlight. You're on 1 structure and 0 Id.

Meanwhile, Britannia is continuing her rampage. Now her attention has turned to the Victoria Central railway station, tearing a swathe across the city to reach it - it is Endangered. But she has also been active for a long time for a Witch - she might vanish or go into hiding soon to recover.

[Anarion]

Michiko lets out a sigh and detaches herself from the side of the building where she was healing. She's tired, but for all that's happened, unmarred, her azure pendant glowing strongly, swirling blue and black light illuminating a grim face set against the backdrop of the flooding river. Ashley is okay, enough had been done there, and Lil is...well, she's alive and that's enough because Michiko needs her help too. "Ashley, Lil, follow me. There's a chance, if we act quickly enough, that we could bring the witch down. And if not...I swear at the least that we will leave something for her to remember us by."

I grasp my simple blade in both hands and raise it above my hand, poised to strike, then close my eyes. We're not going to go through the witch this time, she's too vast and when the attack takes time, that's time for her to recover. Instead, the strike will be instant, all our gathered energy unleashed in a single strike, faster than the blink of an eye. The circle beneath my feet fills with swirling runes, and widens to encompass Ashley and Lil if they will accept it. Michiko begins to hum to herself and as the energy gathers, the floodwaters recede around them.

[Attacking in melee with Britannia yet again. 2, 4, 6, 6=7+3+1+1=12. The spends will vary based on assists, but I'm spending my entire pool of stored stats one way or another. With +5 to hit from assists, that's 2 Id to hit, and 2 Id and 5 ego to boost damage. Total structure damage of 1+1(boost)+1(weapon)+7 (ego and Id)+2 (assist)= 12 (also, I realized I miscounted earlier, I should have done 4 last time, not 5). That kills her.
Britannia action dice: 1, 3, 2, 1, 5.]

Michiko flies faster than the eye can follow. In one instant, she stands in the center of her circle, and in the next, she is past Britannia on her far side, her sword at her side still held in both hands, blade pointing down towards the river. And between those points, it is like reality itself has been cloven in twain and a line of azure blue slices clean through the center of the witch.

[spirit check for fulfilling my hope with success against Britannia. 3. Ego 1/5, Id 0/5.]

[PhoeKun]

It's a very selfish sort of feeling, but right in that moment, Ashley is honestly glad there's a rampaging witch about, ruining London. If there was no witch right now, if Britannia was gone away, she'd have to turn her head and see the burning buildings, the floodwaters, the bodies. She'd have to stare at Lilian and think deeply about why the other girl is so badly hurting. She'd have to think about what she'd done and what she hadn't done and if she had time to think about that, then maybe Mara wouldn't be so quiet after all.

But there is a witch, and that's calming because it means there's work to do, and work means redemption. Ashley can't fly, but with Michiko's runes under her feet it's close enough. It's so easy when you have a purpose. It's so easy when you're with someone. Both hands grip the handle of her ornate, prismy sword, and she flies. Her muscles are like coiled springs. Her form is rigid, but perfect. She springs lightly, powerfully off the ruby-tainted waves of the Thames and coaxes a little more speed out of her worn out body. It's just enough, and she's there a moment before Jaime can be, or even Michiko. And that's important, because she's the one who can carve the widest arc. She's the one who needs to paint the target.

Her arms are raised above her head, her feet curl up and touch her back, and in that one moment, with her lavender hair shimmering in the night sky and trailing behind her like a wedding dress, Ashley is a goddess. Her sword screams through the air with a sound like a cannon, and the burst of silver light flashes bright enough for anybody awake in London who cares to look to see. There, girls. There's your target. She drops down toward the ground not a moment too soon as strike after strike sinks deeper and deeper into the crescent tear she left in the pattern of Britannia. There's the tiniest hint of a smile creeping onto her lips. It feels so good to be with friends! To not be alone!

Oh, chimes in a tiny little voice inside her head, If it weren't for that witch right there? You would be. Ashley swallows hard around a sudden lump in her throat.

[Helping! Tone check in case I need this too: 3, success.

Tone roll to assist: 4d6 - 3, 3, 6, 2. Ashley provides +1 Effort from joining the attack, and another +1 for matching Michiko's roll, adding a further +2 Effort from her weapon, for a total Benefit of 4. She spends her 1 Ego to boost damage, combining with her die boost to add 2 Boost. The Effort should free 4 Ego/Id from Michiko's original calculations, which puts the total structure damage for the attack, as of this moment, to 11, which I have been informed is sadly 1 short

The combined attack also gives Ashley a chance to overcome her Despair, but she's having none of it. Spirit check: 5 Ego: 0/5, Id: 0/5]

[Deadly]

Lilian dragged herself back up, swaying on her feet as she regained herself. Somewhere, Michiko was practically glowing, and Ashley was there. It must be nice being all heroic like that ... But Lilian was not the hero type. She was an incidental hero at best. She was a solver of mysteries. She wasn't in this to save the day, she was in this to wrestle the truths from the universe and learn the secrets lurking behind the veil of ordinary life. At worst she was a villain, but she was okay with the kind of villain she would be.

What she sought was far greater than the glory of any hero, and more elusive.

Still, it must be nice, in its own fleeting way.

Did they actually stand a chance? Lilian lifted her gaze as Michiko spoke, gazing up at the towering witch. Maybe they did, and wouldn't that be a wonder. Her eyes gleamed. Every scientist knew you sometimes had to smash something real good to see how it worked, like smashing two particles together to see what came out of them. What would come out of a witch like this? Her inquisitive mind was already trying to imagine it, forming hypotheses and working on theories.

She wasn't much help, broken as she was, but she might just be able to hold it together and offer that little extra push that turned a merely good result into perfection, an A to an A+.

Lilian gathered herself up and grabbed her staff, ink pooling at her feet like spilled oil from a broken car. Impossible shapes of the imagination formed around the witch. While the others cut a direct swath, Lilian let her mind unfold, running and flowing along seemingly impossible lines of logic and abstraction to confuse and distract, dancing multi-dimensional circles around the witch and nudging it towards the perfect position.

It didn't matter if her blade failed to touch it, all she had to do was nudge it into place ...

[Tone Check: 2, success

Tone to assist: 3,1,3 Nothing there above 3, but it hardly matters. +1 is +1

Spirit check to gain Ego: 4, success

Ego 1/Id 1/Structure 1]

[Thanqol]

The dawn breaks, knives through clouds.

The labyrinth collapses in on itself. The great black arm shrivels and withers like a rotting oak. The city shakes off the ruins of the jungle. The wan yellow light of morning is turned red and black by the plumes of smoke, turned cold by the flooding water, turned dissonant by air raid sirens decades dormant remembering their role.

A grief seed falls like a teardrop and stabs the ground spitefully. Kyubey picks it up and stores it away.

Four magical girls stand above the city as saviors.

The theme music (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3lBF2h-Pl0)begins to play.

~

"Good morning, England. I am General Locks-Weston. I am here to tell you about last night's attack.

"And it was an attack. London was aggressively, maliciously attacked by hostile extraterrestrial entities who have infiltrated our society. The government has been aware of these creatures for some time but chose to keep this fact hidden from the public. And now they are all dead, along with the Queen, God rest her. I will not make the same mistake.

"I am declaring a state of martial law and a full mobilization towards a wartime economy. We will hunt down these creatures and their puppets and exterminate them as they have tried to exterminate us.

"And to the aliens responsible for this attack, know this: You have chosen your enemy poorly. We know what you are. We know where you hide. And we will defend our island. England will prevail.

"Thank you. No questions."

~

An abandoned subway station. Men and women in red robes. They stand over a restrained British soldier.

"To the shadow and the light, we dedicate this," they say. "To the hope and the despair, we dedicate this. To the change that fuels the stars, we dedicate this. To our unchanging lords, we dedicate this."

The knives whisper. A bloody heart is placed dripping upon the altar. The stone statue of Kyubey smiles placidly.

~

"As citizens of the world we must ask ourselves, what kind of society do we want to be? Do we want to close ourselves off and fortify our borders at the first sign that the galaxy is larger than we give it credit for? Or do we want to step forwards, confidently and as equals, and extend a hand of friendship to those who walked the stars while humankind was young? Will we follow the example of England, declaring war on a species we do not even have a name for? Or will we rise above them, as we did when we founded this nation so many years ago?

"America is a society founded on openness. And now, as we stand on the verge of a vast new galaxy, we will not betray our ideals."

A ring with a shining gemstone glitters on the President's finger.

~

The wider world turns.

But in London, beyond the fires and the work crews and marching soldiers, life sets to go on. Even saviors still have a school to go to. Kyubey hangs from Lilian's shoulders as the magical girls meet next on their way to their first class. Perhaps they notice the soldier stationed outside the front gate, maybe they've seen the blurry out-of-resolution photograph of Kyubey on the news or heard the General's speech.

But equally possibly they haven't and life continues on.

[Deadly]

Lilian was busily sliding through pages of weird old woodcuts and illustrations on the Internet, pausing every now and then to zoom in or rotate an image, squinting slightly at something or other. Completely absorbed in her phone, it seemed she was following a mental map of the school rather than actually look where she was walking. Anyone in her way would just have to get out of her way, because Lilian couldn't be bothered.

http://img03.deviantart.net/5e1f/i/2011/082/6/7/behind_the_veil_of_amorsolo_by_gromyko-d3cbtsc.jpg

[Anarion]

Michiko's alarm started playing (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vt9vl8iAN5Q), and she groaned, slapping at her phone and tangling herself up in her fluffy white duvet. After a few moments of fruitless struggling, she realized that she would need to open her eyes to actually turn the phone off and free herself, and accepted that reality clearly had it out to get her this morning.

A long shower and a bowl of cereal later found her in brighter spirits, and her mind wandered to the previous night's battle and the exact pattern of attacks that she had used. It was hard to remember in all the chaos, and she wanted to be able to pull off that trick again if she needed it. She wandered onto the school's grounds, her eyes barely looking where she was walking as her finger tried to trace out the sword patterns she was using and her short teal dress bounced with the motion of her step. A watcher might have thought that she was on the verge of doing a twirl at any moment, though there were still bags under her eyes from the long night.

At least the school itself, with its imposing old brick buildings that looked ready to appear in a mystery thriller and it's vast oak trees lining the grounds, was undamaged after all the fighting. The entire downtown London had been smashed to pieces and it was frankly a miracle that most of the Tube was still running. But, better to count your blessings, right? School was still running and it was off to her first class.

[PhoeKun]

Ashley's morning starts when her head slips off the hand she's propping it up with while applying makeup and smashes her face against the sink. She's on the floor and dazed for at least a minute before she finally starts moving again. It's not that it hurts that badly, it's only a small cut and after the tiniest trickle of blood, she's fine. It's more that the back of her head was aching before she even dragged herself out of bed, and that muscles she didn't even know she had were sore. The floor was a welcome relief, but it couldn't last. With a groan, she pulls herself back onto her feet and finishes applying eye shadow. She glances at her toothbrush, grumbles and shoves it in her mouth as she shuffles off back to her bedroom, discarding her pyjamas in a line behind her as she goes.

Luckily for her, school has a very strict dress code, so she never had to worry about figuring out what to wear on top of everything else. Heaven help her if she did; it was hard enough on weekends as is. But instead of that struggle, it was the same thing every day, ironed and laid out on her chair before she ever fell asleep: the plain white blouse, tied at the neck with a red ribbon. The dark burgundy cardigan, with the bottom and middle buttons fastened. The checkered, pleated skirt that sat slightly more than halfway down her thighs, and the black thigh high socks that covered the rest of her legs. Plain, dark blue flats over her feet. She pulls her lavender hair back into a ponytail and ties it with a red bow. The same every day, all she really changes are her hair, or occasionally her makeup. There's some allowance for ornamentation, but pretty much all of her money's been going into the school in the first place, so she leaves that to other, richer students.

There's a set of wrought iron gates at the front of the school, that separate the campus from "the real world", as it is popularly known. Today, that's startlingly accurate. Other than the soldier mysteriously posted there, leering at everyone for reasons that are surely mysterious to half the students, a girl who steps through that portal could forget that last night was anything but normal. The grounds are so pristine, the gossip so routine, a girl could even forget she had to walk past floodwaters and ruined buildings just to get here.

For a girl like Ashley Evans, that's a little bit harder. But then again, when you don't watch the news and your locker is building a small crowd trying to squeeze in a bit of morning conversation, it's possible life could find enough distractions to wash the night away, even for her. There's a nervous smile on her face as she goes to pick up her books, same as every other morning.

[Thanqol]

Lilian was busily sliding through pages of weird old woodcuts and illustrations on the Internet, pausing every now and then to zoom in or rotate an image, squinting slightly at something or other. Completely absorbed in her phone, it seemed she was following a mental map of the school rather than actually look where she was walking. Anyone in her way would just have to get out of her way, because Lilian couldn't be bothered.

http://img03.deviantart.net/5e1f/i/2011/082/6/7/behind_the_veil_of_amorsolo_by_gromyko-d3cbtsc.jpg

While you're wrapped up in your research you ran straight into someone, who shoved you hard in return. Paragon of grace and coordination that you are you immediately fall on your butt. "Watch where you're going!" snaps Big Lily, towering over you. Her new temporary tattoo is showing near the collar of her shirt, some sort of yin-yang. "You keep that up and you're going to get hurt!"

She has near her Raquel, who is cool because she smokes inside and doesn't care if she gets busted for it, and Victoria Miner who is wearing enough occult jewelry to fund a trip to Burning Man. Victoria is definitely the odd one out here, though - she is not only not cool but she does not seem to have an accurate grasp on what cool is and is wearing Hello Kitty cufflinks on her school uniform.


Michiko's alarm started playing (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vt9vl8iAN5Q), and she groaned, slapping at her phone and tangling herself up in her fluffy white duvet. After a few moments of fruitless struggling, she realized that she would need to open her eyes to actually turn the phone off and free herself, and accepted that reality clearly had it out to get her this morning.

A long shower and a bowl of cereal later found her in brighter spirits, and her mind wandered to the previous night's battle and the exact pattern of attacks that she had used. It was hard to remember in all the chaos, and she wanted to be able to pull off that trick again if she needed it. She wandered onto the school's grounds, her eyes barely looking where she was walking as her finger tried to trace out the sword patterns she was using and her short teal dress bounced with the motion of her step. A watcher might have thought that she was on the verge of doing a twirl at any moment, though there were still bags under her eyes from the long night.

At least the school itself, with its imposing old brick buildings that looked ready to appear in a mystery thriller and it's vast oak trees lining the grounds, was undamaged after all the fighting. The entire downtown London had been smashed to pieces and it was frankly a miracle that most of the Tube was still running. But, better to count your blessings, right? School was still running and it was off to her first class.

"Oh, love the skirt, very chic," said Eliza d'Auvergne as she sat down next to you.

"MICHIKO. FRONT OF THE CLASS," yelled Mr. Haggis.

"It's a shame you're going to die for it," said Eliza, "but it's a good skirt to die for." She gave you a thumbs up as everyone giggled and turned to look at you.

Mr. Haggis had been to a war. It was not really clear which one, but he had a couple of medals from it he wore on his crisp black coat. He was an iron disciplinarian and an entirely unpleasant person. "Would you like to explain to the class why you are out of uniform?" he snapped.


Ashley's morning starts when her head slips off the hand she's propping it up with while applying makeup and smashes her face against the sink. She's on the floor and dazed for at least a minute before she finally starts moving again. It's not that it hurts that badly, it's only a small cut and after the tiniest trickle of blood, she's fine. It's more that the back of her head was aching before she even dragged herself out of bed, and that muscles she didn't even know she had were sore. The floor was a welcome relief, but it couldn't last. With a groan, she pulls herself back onto her feet and finishes applying eye shadow. She glances at her toothbrush, grumbles and shoves it in her mouth as she shuffles off back to her bedroom, discarding her pyjamas in a line behind her as she goes.

Luckily for her, school has a very strict dress code, so she never had to worry about figuring out what to wear on top of everything else. Heaven help her if she did; it was hard enough on weekends as is. But instead of that struggle, it was the same thing every day, ironed and laid out on her chair before she ever fell asleep: the plain white blouse, tied at the neck with a red ribbon. The dark burgundy cardigan, with the bottom and middle buttons fastened. The checkered, pleated skirt that sat slightly more than halfway down her thighs, and the black thigh high socks that covered the rest of her legs. Plain, dark blue flats over her feet. She pulls her lavender hair back into a ponytail and ties it with a red bow. The same every day, all she really changes are her hair, or occasionally her makeup. There's some allowance for ornamentation, but pretty much all of her money's been going into the school in the first place, so she leaves that to other, richer students.

There's a set of wrought iron gates at the front of the school, that separate the campus from "the real world", as it is popularly known. Today, that's startlingly accurate. Other than the soldier mysteriously posted there, leering at everyone for reasons that are surely mysterious to half the students, a girl who steps through that portal could forget that last night was anything but normal. The grounds are so pristine, the gossip so routine, a girl could even forget she had to walk past floodwaters and ruined buildings just to get here.

For a girl like Ashley Evans, that's a little bit harder. But then again, when you don't watch the news and your locker is building a small crowd trying to squeeze in a bit of morning conversation, it's possible life could find enough distractions to wash the night away, even for her. There's a nervous smile on her face as she goes to pick up her books, same as every other morning.

As usual there's a cluster of people around your locker, waiting with flowers in their hands and hearts in their mouths. Unusually they're all keeping a slightly awed distance, forming a big semi-circle. The reason for this becomes obvious after a moment - Sparrowhawk is leaning next to your locker. Motorcycle jacket, helmet held under her arm. Black leather gloves. Red ribbons in silver hair.

"Hey," she says.

The tension in the crowd is unbearable. The coolest girl in the school is making a move on the most attractive girl in the school. Hearts hang in the balance.

[PhoeKun]

"Oh, um... h-hey."

Supernatural compulsions aside, Ashley really is quite pretty when she blushes. The subtle red that rises in her cheeks contrasts her eyes and hair, and she seems to glow a little under the light of the implied compliment. If she knew what she had, if she didn't spoil it by pulling her shoulders in and awkwardly slumping forward with one hand nervously stroking her arm, she could knock this whole lot off their feet. But that's always the way of things, isn't it? It's easy to be cool if you can just be someone else. Instead, "Cool" is looking her straight in the eyes and running a leather gloved hand through her perfect hair right up to those gorgeous little ribbons just like, 'yeah that's right, I'm here. What d'you want to do about it?' and aaaaahhhhhhhh.

She should say something. Be funny, charming, polite. Maybe compliment her on last night, but no, not in front of everyone like this. Come on, Ashley, you can do this. You're a magical girl. You're an athlete. You can be cool.

"H-how are you?"

... Close enough.

[Anarion]

"Oh, love the skirt, very chic," said Eliza d'Auvergne as she sat down next to you.

"MICHIKO. FRONT OF THE CLASS," yelled Mr. Haggis.

"It's a shame you're going to die for it," said Eliza, "but it's a good skirt to die for." She gave you a thumbs up as everyone giggled and turned to look at you.

Mr. Haggis had been to a war. It was not really clear which one, but he had a couple of medals from it he wore on his crisp black coat. He was an iron disciplinarian and an entirely unpleasant person. "Would you like to explain to the class why you are out of uniform?" he snapped.



Michiko gave Eliza a smile as she walked the death march to the front of the class, her teal skirt barely managing, despite trying it's very best, to reach all the way to the knee high socks. She had felt like wearing something colorful this morning instead of the dark skirt that normally went with the red cardigan and white blouse. She still had on the proper ribbon, that was cute, and the teal skirt along with it gave her almost a sea-side Christmas feel.

She marched to the front of the class, determined not to let Mr. Haggis and his stodgy ways get her down, and after putting a finger to her chin and thinking for a long moment, she decided that there was no answer that would actually please him, so she might as well go with the truth. "I thought it would look better today, sir."

[Deadly]

While you're wrapped up in your research you ran straight into someone, who shoved you hard in return. Paragon of grace and coordination that you are you immediately fall on your butt. "Watch where you're going!" snaps Big Lily, towering over you. Her new temporary tattoo is showing near the collar of her shirt, some sort of yin-yang. "You keep that up and you're going to get hurt!"

She has near her Raquel, who is cool because she smokes inside and doesn't care if she gets busted for it, and Victoria Miner who is wearing enough occult jewelry to fund a trip to Burning Man. Victoria is definitely the odd one out here, though - she is not only not cool but she does not seem to have an accurate grasp on what cool is and is wearing Hello Kitty cufflinks on her school uniform.

Lilian landed in a very undignified pile of limbs. Her uniform had until that moment had the sort of neatness that only comes from an absolute and utterly robotic adherence to a system so ingrained it could be - and today it probably was - done in her sleep, combined with a nearly superhuman attention to detail. It now had a somewhat crumbly and hastily-put-on look about it.

"Uhuh," Li'l Lilian muttered as she picked her phone and herself back up, doing only the bare minimum to make herself look presentable again. Her eyes quickly picked up on every little detail of each of them and filed them away in her mind. "My condolences."

Victoria was ever the mystery, of course, as was her presence here. Sometimes you had to look past the obvious mystery to the mysteriousness it hid behind its back. Or something.

Lilian's eyes lingered on Victoria for a split-second longer than the rest, her brow furrowing for the briefest of moments nearly imperceptible to anyone not paying very close attention, then turned to her big namesake. "What's your new tattoo?" she asked quickly and pointed, her tone light and inquisitive. An innocent question to distract and derail the situation.

[Thanqol]

"Oh, um... h-hey."

Supernatural compulsions aside, Ashley really is quite pretty when she blushes. The subtle red that rises in her cheeks contrasts her eyes and hair, and she seems to glow a little under the light of the implied compliment. If she knew what she had, if she didn't spoil it by pulling her shoulders in and awkwardly slumping forward with one hand nervously stroking her arm, she could knock this whole lot off their feet. But that's always the way of things, isn't it? It's easy to be cool if you can just be someone else. Instead, "Cool" is looking her straight in the eyes and running a leather gloved hand through her perfect hair right up to those gorgeous little ribbons just like, 'yeah that's right, I'm here. What d'you want to do about it?' and aaaaahhhhhhhh.

She should say something. Be funny, charming, polite. Maybe compliment her on last night, but no, not in front of everyone like this. Come on, Ashley, you can do this. You're a magical girl. You're an athlete. You can be cool.

"H-how are you?"

... Close enough.

"I'm all right," said Sparrowhawk. "I just wanted to say you did pretty well last night."

The crowd makes a sound like a baby elephant learning it has cancer.

"Hey, you want to skip class and go out?" said Sparrowhawk, holding up a set of motorbike keys.


Michiko gave Eliza a smile as she walked the death march to the front of the class, her teal skirt barely managing, despite trying it's very best, to reach all the way to the knee high socks. She had felt like wearing something colorful this morning instead of the dark skirt that normally went with the red cardigan and white blouse. She still had on the proper ribbon, that was cute, and the teal skirt along with it gave her almost a sea-side Christmas feel.

She marched to the front of the class, determined not to let Mr. Haggis and his stodgy ways get her down, and after putting a finger to her chin and thinking for a long moment, she decided that there was no answer that would actually please him, so she might as well go with the truth. "I thought it would look better today, sir."

The class giggled nervously and Haggis' eyes narrowed.

"You think this is funny, do you? You think the school uniform is optional? Do you know why the school requires a standardized uniform?" he slams his hands down on the table and roared at the class, "BECAUSE THE ALTERNATIVE IS CHAOS! A breakdown in the social order! The overthrow of tradition! Cats and dogs gay marrying each other! Anarchy!"

He took a deep breath.

"You're doing this for the looks, hmm? Well how about a lesson in the practical advantages of a well designed uniform? Twenty laps around the school oval. Make it quick, this lesson will be on the test."


Lilian landed in a very undignified pile of limbs. Her uniform had until that moment had the sort of neatness that only comes from an absolute and utterly robotic adherence to a system so ingrained it could be - and today it probably was - done in her sleep, combined with a nearly superhuman attention to detail. It now had a somewhat crumbly and hastily-put-on look about it.

"Uhuh," Li'l Lilian muttered as she picked her phone and herself back up, doing only the bare minimum to make herself look presentable again. Her eyes quickly picked up on every little detail of each of them and filed them away in her mind. "My condolences."

Victoria was ever the mystery, of course, as was her presence here. Sometimes you had to look past the obvious mystery to the mysteriousness it hid behind its back. Or something.

Lilian's eyes lingered on Victoria for a split-second longer than the rest, her brow furrowing for the briefest of moments nearly imperceptible to anyone not paying very close attention, then turned to her big namesake. "What's your new tattoo?" she asked quickly and pointed, her tone light and inquisitive. An innocent question to distract and derail the situation.

"None of your business!" said Big Lily, popping her collar to hide the edge of the tattoo.

"Oh, I know this one, it's a Yin-Ya -" starts Victoria perkily, but is cut off when she is grabbed by the arm and slammed into a locker. There's a metallic sound from all the necklaces she's wearing. Her arm is being twisted behind her back and her eyes have surprised tears of pain in them.

"Did anyone ask you what you thought?" said Lily.

"N-no," said Victoria.

"Then shut up," said Lily.

[Anarion]

Michiko sighed. She didn't want to appear like she didn't care, that was what jerks did. She hadn't thought he'd get so angry, and she did think this was stupid, but she could handle 20 laps no problem. She just didn't want everyone else to think that she thought she was better than them. Ugh, this had been a dumb idea.

She tried to play it cool as she headed for the door to go do her twenty laps, but she wasn't really clear on what "playing it cool" entailed here, and her best guess was something like trying not to look at anybody, and walk like you knew where you were going, only not too fast.

[Deadly]

"None of your business!" said Big Lily, popping her collar to hide the edge of the tattoo.

"Oh, I know this one, it's a Yin-Ya -" starts Victoria perkily, but is cut off when she is grabbed by the arm and slammed into a locker. There's a metallic sound from all the necklaces she's wearing. Her arm is being twisted behind her back and her eyes have surprised tears of pain in them.

"Did anyone ask you what you thought?" said Lily.

"N-no," said Victoria.

"Then shut up," said Lily.

"If you don't want people to notice it, why put it on your neck?" Lilian just couldn't help but wonder. It was a mystery, like so much else about Big Lily. Really, what was going on inside this girl's head? She was so far from the brilliant girl Lilian had once known.

There was only really one explanation, though. It was meant to be seen by someone, the question was who and what message it was meant to communicate. A secret message, the kind Lilian liked best. And knowing the intellect of Lily, it would be devilishly clever. She was trying to say something to someone, and she didn't want Lilian to figure it out, clearly.

She took a few steps in front of Lily, trying to insinuate herself into Victoria's place, like cards in a magician's (or a cheater's) hands changing places without anyone watching being the wiser.

[PhoeKun]

"I'm all right," said Sparrowhawk. "I just wanted to say you did pretty well last night."

The crowd makes a sound like a baby elephant learning it has cancer.

"Hey, you want to skip class and go out?" said Sparrowhawk, holding up a set of motorbike keys.

Before you judge her too harshly, friend, remember that this is the coolest girl in school who just asked her out. For a ride on her motorcycle. A chance to sit behind Jaime Sparrowhawk and wrap her arms around her waist and hold on to her maybe a little tighter than is strictly necessary and lean her head against her shoulder and smell her hair as it tickles her nose and then maybe maybe maybe...

Ashley buries her face in her hands before all the thoughts in her head can show in front of everyone assembled. She'd regret this. Tomorrow morning the mystique that kept everyone inside this awkward semi-circle would fade and there'd be endless arguments about why Ashley belonged with them and probably an awkward proposition for a threesome, not to mention the horrible guilt she'd feel later when all of the sad looks and noises processed fully. She was taking advantage of all of these people. But... but just... just for a little while?

She doesn't lift her head out of her hands when she starts nodding.

[Thanqol]

Michiko sighed. She didn't want to appear like she didn't care, that was what jerks did. She hadn't thought he'd get so angry, and she did think this was stupid, but she could handle 20 laps no problem. She just didn't want everyone else to think that she thought she was better than them. Ugh, this had been a dumb idea.

She tried to play it cool as she headed for the door to go do her twenty laps, but she wasn't really clear on what "playing it cool" entailed here, and her best guess was something like trying not to look at anybody, and walk like you knew where you were going, only not too fast.

When you step outside you catch a glimpse of Sparrowhawk, also out of uniform with a wickedly cool leather jacket, walking confidently towards the main gate alongside Ashley. There's no way that doesn't sting.

So, what you're trying to do is specifically avoid showing off? The teacher has sent you out here specifically to get sweaty and gross but you're saying you can do this without running out of breath. So, are you like, trying to look a lot more tired and worn out by this then you are in reality? That sounds like Persuade, probably aimed against Eliza specifically since she's the person here who you really want to convince.


"If you don't want people to notice it, why put it on your neck?" Lilian just couldn't help but wonder. It was a mystery, like so much else about Big Lily. Really, what was going on inside this girl's head? She was so far from the brilliant girl Lilian had once known.

There was only really one explanation, though. It was meant to be seen by someone, the question was who and what message it was meant to communicate. A secret message, the kind Lilian liked best. And knowing the intellect of Lily, it would be devilishly clever. She was trying to say something to someone, and she didn't want Lilian to figure it out, clearly.

She took a few steps in front of Lily, trying to insinuate herself into Victoria's place, like cards in a magician's (or a cheater's) hands changing places without anyone watching being the wiser.

I believe of all things this is an Empathy roll. If you lean on Lily's emotions in the right way then you'll be tangled up in her arms before you know what's happening. If you do it the wrong way you'll be on your ass again.


Before you judge her too harshly, friend, remember that this is the coolest girl in school who just asked her out. For a ride on her motorcycle. A chance to sit behind Jaime Sparrowhawk and wrap her arms around her waist and hold on to her maybe a little tighter than is strictly necessary and lean her head against her shoulder and smell her hair as it tickles her nose and then maybe maybe maybe...

Ashley buries her face in her hands before all the thoughts in her head can show in front of everyone assembled. She'd regret this. Tomorrow morning the mystique that kept everyone inside this awkward semi-circle would fade and there'd be endless arguments about why Ashley belonged with them and probably an awkward proposition for a threesome, not to mention the horrible guilt she'd feel later when all of the sad looks and noises processed fully. She was taking advantage of all of these people. But... but just... just for a little while?

She doesn't lift her head out of her hands when she starts nodding.

Sparrowhawk gives a brief smile and hands you her gleaming silver helmet, then leads the way.

Just as you reach the main gate you meet Rebecca coming the other way. "Hey, Ashley!" she says brightly, "are you ready for the quiz? Did you do those exercises I told you?" The implication of the scene hasn't sunk in for her, and probably won't without external prompting.

[Anarion]

When you step outside you catch a glimpse of Sparrowhawk, also out of uniform with a wickedly cool leather jacket, walking confidently towards the main gate alongside Ashley. There's no way that doesn't sting.

So, what you're trying to do is specifically avoid showing off? The teacher has sent you out here specifically to get sweaty and gross but you're saying you can do this without running out of breath. So, are you like, trying to look a lot more tired and worn out by this then you are in reality? That sounds like Persuade, probably aimed against Eliza specifically since she's the person here who you really want to convince.


Hmm, no. Michiko isn't trying to intentionally make herself look tired. Like, she thinks what the teacher is doing is dumb, and she's not going to get her clothes all mussed for no reason when she doesn't have to. She's trying to somehow capture the difference between acing a challenge and getting cheered for it vs. acing a challenge and looking like a jerk because you're just making everyone else jealous at how good you are. I'm not even sure what that means exactly, though. It's in a bunch of things, I think, subtle cues in how she carries herself while running, tone of voice in talking to friends afterwards, how she reacts to the teacher when she goes back inside. She's trying to be humble and make everyone else think to themselves "oh man, what a jerk teacher, good for you, Michiko not letting him get to you." Would that be empathize, maybe?

[PhoeKun]

Sparrowhawk gives a brief smile and hands you her gleaming silver helmet, then leads the way.

Just as you reach the main gate you meet Rebecca coming the other way. "Hey, Ashley!" she says brightly, "are you ready for the quiz? Did you do those exercises I told you?" The implication of the scene hasn't sunk in for her, and probably won't without external prompting.

It's like being made to swallow a rock. Ashley freezes in place, awkwardly letting the helmet in her arms fall to one side. Her eyes are wide enough to pop out of her head. What quiz? There was a... oh god, there is! And she almost... but then she'd... and... ok, here's the thing. It's one thing to crave human contact in a moment of weakness, but it is another thing altogether to blow off your friend, your one real actual friend, to do it. Especially when she's worked so hard to keep you in school despite the impossible standards of the place, when she's standing there looking at you so full of belief. And maybe there are a lot of girls out there who would let their hormones take over and just apologize later, but most girls also didn't run around patterning themselves as 'heroes'.

"I... forgot it was today. I-I thought tomorrow, and there was an emergency last night so... n-no, I mean, I had your help so I'm sure I can do it."

Her hand is trembling when she hands the helmet back to Sparrowhawk.

"I'm sorry Jaime, I completely forgot what day it was. If you wanted to, we could... hang out tonight?"

Or any day after today. Because when I fail this test they're gonna kick me out for sure this time...

[Deadly]

I believe of all things this is an Empathy roll. If you lean on Lily's emotions in the right way then you'll be tangled up in her arms before you know what's happening. If you do it the wrong way you'll be on your ass again.

I don't think Lilian is actually trying to understand Lily. She's thinking all logical, not emotional, trying to understand Lily's reasoning not her feelings.

Of course, it's possible she manages to pick up on what she isn't looking for, purely by chance. Everyone would be surprised, but hey, everything is possible when you're a magical girl.

[Empathy: 3, 2 = 3 and a big fat +0. I don't think there's much hope there, but what's the target number?]

[Anarion]

Michiko tries to ignore the sting of Sparrowhawk walking off (out of uniform!) with Ashley like that, and starts doing her laps around the school. She could have them done really quickly, but she doesn't want to make it look like she's showing off to Eliza, who, let's face it, was not the most physically fit girl in the school, even before accounting for magical girl powers. Michiko hated looking arrogant, and she was worried that showing off like this, flouting the rules, and then breezing through Mr. Haggis' punishment would make it seem like she thinks she's just above everyone. So she sets a pace that's a slow loping jog. It's easy, she's not suffering too badly out there, but she's taking her time, baking in the sun a little, and generally making everyone think how dumb Mr. Hagas is for making her stay out there just because she wore a pretty skirt today.

[Empathy: 4, 6=6+2, 8. Beats Eliza's focus of 5. Spirit check to gain ego=4, pass. Ego 2/5]

She finishes the run and jogs back to class, taking a seat next to Eliza, a little bit of sweat gleaming on her forehead. "Man, what a drill sergeant, right?"

[Thanqol]

It's like being made to swallow a rock. Ashley freezes in place, awkwardly letting the helmet in her arms fall to one side. Her eyes are wide enough to pop out of her head. What quiz? There was a... oh god, there is! And she almost... but then she'd... and... ok, here's the thing. It's one thing to crave human contact in a moment of weakness, but it is another thing altogether to blow off your friend, your one real actual friend, to do it. Especially when she's worked so hard to keep you in school despite the impossible standards of the place, when she's standing there looking at you so full of belief. And maybe there are a lot of girls out there who would let their hormones take over and just apologize later, but most girls also didn't run around patterning themselves as 'heroes'.

"I... forgot it was today. I-I thought tomorrow, and there was an emergency last night so... n-no, I mean, I had your help so I'm sure I can do it."

Her hand is trembling when she hands the helmet back to Sparrowhawk.

"I'm sorry Jaime, I completely forgot what day it was. If you wanted to, we could... hang out tonight?"

Or any day after today. Because when I fail this test they're gonna kick me out for sure this time...

"Hey, no problem," said Sparrowhawk. "Now that you mention it I forgot there was a test as well -"

"Oh! This is perfect!" said Rebecca. "If you need help too, we'll all hang out and study together! And we can make surprise flash cards, like this -"

Rebecca pulls out a bright yellow card with 2X-Y = 1-Y on it (she's also drawn a stupidly good stencil of a tulip on the side) and holds it up expectantly, entirely unaware she's just gatecrashed your date.


I don't think Lilian is actually trying to understand Lily. She's thinking all logical, not emotional, trying to understand Lily's reasoning not her feelings.

Of course, it's possible she manages to pick up on what she isn't looking for, purely by chance. Everyone would be surprised, but hey, everything is possible when you're a magical girl.

[Empathy: 3, 2 = 3 and a big fat +0. I don't think there's much hope there, but what's the target number?]

The target number is Big Lily's Focus - which is a fairly ridiculous 9. You'll need to make a Spirit check to avoid losing ego (if you have any).

You do, in fact, get knocked on your butt. Lily then twists Victoria so she falls down on top of you in a big awkward heap. The entire hallway turns to stare and there's a ripple of laughter.

She leans down and says, "I told you to watch where you're f*cking going, bitch," says Lily before storming off. Raquel sticks her tongue out at you and flicks her cigarette butt at your forehead as she follows behind.


Michiko tries to ignore the sting of Sparrowhawk walking off (out of uniform!) with Ashley like that, and starts doing her laps around the school. She could have them done really quickly, but she doesn't want to make it look like she's showing off to Eliza, who, let's face it, was not the most physically fit girl in the school, even before accounting for magical girl powers. Michiko hated looking arrogant, and she was worried that showing off like this, flouting the rules, and then breezing through Mr. Haggis' punishment would make it seem like she thinks she's just above everyone. So she sets a pace that's a slow loping jog. It's easy, she's not suffering too badly out there, but she's taking her time, baking in the sun a little, and generally making everyone think how dumb Mr. Hagas is for making her stay out there just because she wore a pretty skirt today.

[Empathy: 4, 6=6+2, 8. Beats Eliza's focus of 5. Spirit check to gain ego=4, pass. Ego 2/5]

She finishes the run and jogs back to class, taking a seat next to Eliza, a little bit of sweat gleaming on her forehead. "Man, what a drill sergeant, right?"

"You know, I heard a rumour that he actually was a drill sergeant?" says Eliza, sliding across her notebook so you can copy from her answers. You get a lot of sympathetic looks from the class which Haggis ignores as he continues scrawling on the whiteboard. "I don't know why they let him teach. But this school is basically an army compound anyway so he fits right in."

[PhoeKun]

"Hey, no problem," said Sparrowhawk. "Now that you mention it I forgot there was a test as well -"

"Oh! This is perfect!" said Rebecca. "If you need help too, we'll all hang out and study together! And we can make surprise flash cards, like this -"

Rebecca pulls out a bright yellow card with 2X-Y = 1-Y on it (she's also drawn a stupidly good stencil of a tulip on the side) and holds it up expectantly, entirely unaware she's just gatecrashed your date.

"That's a great idea, Rebecca!" And when she says it with a smile, the whole thing is only a little bit forced.

Maths was a stupid subject. It had never done Rebecca any good to point out to Ashley how it applied to football, or basketball, or tennis, or archery, or billiards and bowling, or swimming and track (the list went on, actually), because every time an applied lesson started to seem like fun or even somehow make sense, it'd come back to algebra and calculus and these stupid rotten x's and y's. X isn't a number, Rebecca!

If there's one thing she was good at, though, it was faking enthusiasm. Hiding frustration? Maybe not so much. But more than doing well on tests and even more than narrowly dodging the cratered version of her life that would come from her expulsion, it was very important that her friend saw that she cared. It was worth the awkward interruptions and the endless hellish drilling and the stress of the quizzes themselves to see the beaming 'I knew you could!' look in Rebecca's eyes whenever she held up a passing grade from across the room.

[Deadly]

The target number is Big Lily's Focus - which is a fairly ridiculous 9. You'll need to make a Spirit check to avoid losing ego (if you have any).

You do, in fact, get knocked on your butt. Lily then twists Victoria so she falls down on top of you in a big awkward heap. The entire hallway turns to stare and there's a ripple of laughter.

She leans down and says, "I told you to watch where you're f*cking going, bitch," says Lily before storming off. Raquel sticks her tongue out at you and flicks her cigarette butt at your forehead as she follows behind.

Spirit check: 4, success

Lilian waited until they had their backs turned, then stuck her own tongue out. She just lay there for a few seconds, pouting, before remembering that someone was lying on her. "Are you okay? Sorry I got you into that. What were you doing with them anyway?" She waited for Victoria to pull herself off of her before getting back on her feet, checking to make sure her phone was unharmed and her research still there.

[Anarion]

"You know, I heard a rumour that he actually was a drill sergeant?" says Eliza, sliding across her notebook so you can copy from her answers. You get a lot of sympathetic looks from the class which Haggis ignores as he continues scrawling on the whiteboard. "I don't know why they let him teach. But this school is basically an army compound anyway so he fits right in."

Michiko smiles and starts copying down the notes, making sure she hasn't missed anything for the test. She's not nearly as bad as Ashley at these things, but she's no egghead either, not like Lil, so she does need to pay attention. What was Haggis even droning on about on the whiteboard. Something about Shakespeare? Michiko wondered if he was important, but Haggis was using all these "thy" and "thees" and a bunch of weird words (what did "lily-livered" even mean) and she was finding it pretty hard to pay attention.

[Thanqol]

"That's a great idea, Rebecca!" And when she says it with a smile, the whole thing is only a little bit forced.

Maths was a stupid subject. It had never done Rebecca any good to point out to Ashley how it applied to football, or basketball, or tennis, or archery, or billiards and bowling, or swimming and track (the list went on, actually), because every time an applied lesson started to seem like fun or even somehow make sense, it'd come back to algebra and calculus and these stupid rotten x's and y's. X isn't a number, Rebecca!

If there's one thing she was good at, though, it was faking enthusiasm. Hiding frustration? Maybe not so much. But more than doing well on tests and even more than narrowly dodging the cratered version of her life that would come from her expulsion, it was very important that her friend saw that she cared. It was worth the awkward interruptions and the endless hellish drilling and the stress of the quizzes themselves to see the beaming 'I knew you could!' look in Rebecca's eyes whenever she held up a passing grade from across the room.

"Excellent! The library it is!" said Rebecca, beaming.


Spirit check: 4, success

Lilian waited until they had their backs turned, then stuck her own tongue out. She just lay there for a few seconds, pouting, before remembering that someone was lying on her. "Are you okay? Sorry I got you into that. What were you doing with them anyway?" She waited for Victoria to pull herself off of her before getting back on her feet, checking to make sure her phone was unharmed and her research still there.

"I was trying to find someone I could talk to about the library..." Victoria sniffed, getting up


Michiko smiles and starts copying down the notes, making sure she hasn't missed anything for the test. She's not nearly as bad as Ashley at these things, but she's no egghead either, not like Lil, so she does need to pay attention. What was Haggis even droning on about on the whiteboard. Something about Shakespeare? Michiko wondered if he was important, but Haggis was using all these "thy" and "thees" and a bunch of weird words (what did "lily-livered even mean") and she was finding it pretty hard to pay attention.

And at this moment the bell rung and everyone was off to their next class - math.


This class you all have together; everyone's here, Victoria, Eliza, Sparrowhawk, Big Lily, Rebecca, the whole gang. Mr. Jellican is the teacher and he's easily the most intriguing teacher in the school. He wears an archaic dark red suit with a cravat and has an almost shockingly gaunt face. Despite the look being very Dracula-y there isn't any hamminess or silliness to him. He has the ability to move around silently, hear even the subtlest of whispers and command a class through sheer intimidation.

He sets difficult tests. He's infamous for them, actually. Enough for some students to consider unconventional ways to try and boost their scores.

He's running a bit late today so you have some time to talk, strategize or simply bemoan your fate. While you're at it, try and think about what kind of trial this test will be for you - who are you trying to impress? What's emotionally on the line for you? What are the stakes? And are you going to try any shenanigans to try and avoid rolling intelligence+academics?

[PhoeKun]

A person looking at Ashley just now could be forgiven for believing that Mr. Jellican really is the second coming of Dracula. It seemed impossible that anybody could look so pale if they had any blood in them at all, and her eyes had a terrified, unfocused look to them. Not ready. Not ready. Oh god, this is it. This is how she ends. Her notes, basically copied line for line from Rebecca, look like they're written in some crazy alien language. She flips through them, sees nothing. Shakes her head and sends waves of soft purple hair cascading back and forth across the aisles across from her. Flips back to the beginning, and holds up a pen, determined to at least underline something and make it stick out.

She settles on her new flash cards, because at least those don't have a dozen explanations to sift through and figure out where the formulas are hiding in them. She starts tracing a couple of them onto the underside of her arm, because it's the safest place she can think of right now. Someone once suggested she use her thighs instead, because it was easier to hide things down there and she could check things with less risk of being caught just by crossing or uncrossing her legs. Which sounded like a really smart plan! But also one that requires you to remember you had a test in the first place, dummy! She whimpers miserably.

She's hardly too proud to cheat, especially when her continued enrollment is balancing on a knife's edge like this. But unfortunately for her, Ashley is not a criminal mastermind, and schemes for answer sheets all seem so far-fetched her brain crushes them before they can even rise to the surface. Besides, if she got caught, it would mean the end. Not to mention how hurt Rebecca would be. Or how horrible Eliza's taunting would get. Another shake of her head. She couldn't afford to get distracted thinking about either of those two, even if proving herself to both of them meant more than maybe it should.

Panic. Indecision. More whimpering. Someone pats her on the back and tells her, 'hang in there, it won't be so bad.', but she doesn't see who. She's too busy staring at the clock on the wall and realizing how little time she has left before the end comes. Probation at a minimum. No way they let her hang around just to win some athletic competitions, as if. Out of options, she falls back on prayer.

And that's when Lilian hears Ashley's voice echoing inside her head, "Hey, um... I don't really know how to ask for this, but if you could maybe possibly, uh, think really hard about the answers or your work or something while the test is going on, I would, um. I don't know. I'll find a way to make it up to you. Please?"

[Anarion]

Michiko sits and chews on the back of a pencil. She's not afraid of being flunked out, but she is by no means good at these tests either, and the problems are way beyond what the curriculum requires. To be honest, she had planned, had last night been less eventful, to manage a sneak in to the teacher's lounge after the school was closed. She thought she was good enough to get in undetected and get the info she needed for the test, and it was good practice for stealth operations against witches. But last night had been otherwise involved, and she'd barely had any time today with Mr. "I'm actually a Scottish drill sergeant" Haggis wasting her whole morning to boot. Still, she'd tried to get a group of students together earlier to stage a distraction (the classic fake vomit moment) earlier and see if any of them caught a free moment to glance at the answer key. She confidently figured that info would make its way back to Eliza, who could then provide some signals to her friends for the tough questions. Nothing too crazy, just using two different pencils, one new for a/b and one old for c/d, and holding it straight for a/c, and at an angle for b/d for a little while on each question.

[Deadly]

"I was trying to find someone I could talk to about the library..." Victoria sniffed, getting up

"The library? What about the library?" she asked, giving up any hope of picking up her lost train of thought from before she bumped into Lily. And then the bell rang ...


And at this moment the bell rung and everyone was off to their next class - math.

This class you all have together; everyone's here, Victoria, Eliza, Sparrowhawk, Big Lily, Rebecca, the whole gang. Mr. Jellican is the teacher and he's easily the most intriguing teacher in the school. He wears an archaic dark red suit with a cravat and has an almost shockingly gaunt face. Despite the look being very Dracula-y there isn't any hamminess or silliness to him. He has the ability to move around silently, hear even the subtlest of whispers and command a class through sheer intimidation.

He sets difficult tests. He's infamous for them, actually. Enough for some students to consider unconventional ways to try and boost their scores.

He's running a bit late today so you have some time to talk, strategize or simply bemoan your fate. While you're at it, try and think about what kind of trial this test will be for you - who are you trying to impress? What's emotionally on the line for you? What are the stakes? And are you going to try any shenanigans to try and avoid rolling intelligence+academics?

Lilian was prepared. She was always prepared for this.

Except when she was really, really sick, of course. Usually she would still be solving problems, even when sick - some people believed in the idea that sickness should be exercised away, flushed out with the sweat so to speak, and to Lilian solving math problems was the best exercise - but everyone can have a day where they simply can't brain because their brain has been replaced by a boiling bag of snot too big for their cranium so that it leaks out of every orifice.

Someone once told a young Lilian that's what happened when you didn't do enough math. Your head would heat up and eventually start to boil from all the excess, unspent energy. It might have been a cruel lie, but it made an effective impression at the time.

That wasn't today. Thank God. She hadn't been really sick in a while.

Lilian liked Mr. Jellican. Not loved, or anything as strong as that. Maybe liked wasn't the best word either, maybe 'respected' was better. Maybe the right word didn't exactly exist in the English language. They got along, you might say without sounding too excited, and Lilian always tried to impress him on her tests. Not because she desired his admiration or love or anything like that, but because it made her feel good to solve his challenges. The harder ones especially.

Some of her other math teachers had given lousy tests; far too easy, or too formulaic, as if they didn't really care. Lilian had been bored to tears in those classes, resorting to bringing in problems like others snuck in cheat sheets, or making up her own in a pinch. Not with Mr. Jellican. With him, class was an arms race. He would not be bested, she would not be bested, and that way both were happy.

The rest of the class might wish they had boiling-snot-head instead, but Lilian didn't care about them. This was her class, here the world revolved around her, and if the force of its spin threw everyone else off that was just too bad for them. It's not like they needed to be able to solve these tests to get through their finals, and most of them just cheated anyway.


And that's when Lilian hears Ashley's voice echoing inside her head, "Hey, um... I don't really know how to ask for this, but if you could maybe possibly, uh, think really hard about the answers or your work or something while the test is going on, I would, um. I don't know. I'll find a way to make it up to you. Please?"

Well ... there might be one she cared about. Strange and inexplicable as it was. Lilian was good at mysteries, great even, but the mystery of her feelings was something else entirely. To say that they confounded and confused her was an understatement. So she had long since decided to try and suppress them ... not like she had any chance anyway, with the sort of attention Ashley got. Lilian knew when she was outmatched at a competition, and the competition for Ashley's heart was certainly one.

Trying to push Ashley out of her mind was much easier when a psychic space cat wasn't showing her right on in through the front door. Stupid cat. You just wait 'til this is over, I'm going to think such thoughts you're going to wish you could bleach your little cat brain. Lilian tried to hide her blush in her papers and force out any unwanted thoughts about how Ashley could make it up to her.

"Uh, yeah, s-sure. But don't dare break my concentration."

Ugh, having someone listening in on your thoughts was so ... actually, it really depended on the context. At least they would be math thoughts ... right? Right! Math thoughts! Think Math Thoughts!

[Thanqol]

At least one person is taking this test for real!

Lilian, you're going to be rolling Intelligence+Academics, easy enough. But the question is, who are you trying to impress here? Who are you measuring yourself against? Big Lily? Miner? The teacher? Someone else?

To our two cheaters, you've actually got a different challenge. You have pretty spotty academic records and if you suddenly A+ one of Mr. Jellican's tests you're going to raise eyebrows. The difficulty here is in having the presence of mind not to just award yourself implausibly perfect scores. You're rolling Charisma+Convince to produce a good but realistic test result.

The same question about who you're trying to impress applies, though. Is Michiko trying to impress Eliza or show up Sparrowhawk? Same question with regards to Rebecca and Eliza to Ashley.

[Anarion]

The same question about who you're trying to impress applies, though. Is Michiko trying to impress Eliza or show up Sparrowhawk? Same question with regards to Rebecca and Eliza to Ashley.

Gotta be Eliza here. One-upping Sparrowhawk for 2nd or 3rd place while Lil crushes it doesn't seem like a competition worth having. This is about not getting embarrassed or looking like a fool.

[PhoeKun]

If you asked Ashley that question yourself, she'd tell you this was about Rebecca. Definitely, definitely, has to be about Rebecca. That's her friend, that's the only person in this whole room who came in believing Ashley wouldn't fail. So yes, one hundred and thirty percent, it's Rebecca.

It's not Rebecca. She's drained, she's sore, she's taking a test instead of snuggled up against Jaime, she's also cheating her skinny butt off for the sake of her own academic survival, none of this feels good. And really, in those sorts of uncomfortable moments, does anything motivate anybody more than rubbing it in the face of the person who walks around all day calling you a peasant? If Michiko and Ashley both succeed, Eliza can't praise one and scorn the other. She's going to have to actually acknowledge that the dunce did something right. She's going to swallow a lot of nasty words and there's going to be a second or two where she forgets how to blink and oh, man, that is going to feel so good.

It's a weird feeling, though, hearing all the answers in your head and having to strategically ignore some of them. Normally it's such a mad scramble to just sort of be right that it's hard not to be greedy. But it'd be a bad, bad day if everyone thought she cheated, and worse if they figured out Lilian helped her. Somewhere in the C+/B- range. Now if she can just manage to be that good at this...

[Charm+Convince: 2d6+0 = 2, 6]

[Deadly]

At least one person is taking this test for real!

Lilian, you're going to be rolling Intelligence+Academics, easy enough. But the question is, who are you trying to impress here? Who are you measuring yourself against? Big Lily? Miner? The teacher? Someone else?

As mentioned, she's trying to impress Mr. Jellican. But it's true, she can't very well do that if someone does better than her. Normally - in the 'good old days' - the obvious one to beat her in math tests would be Big Lily, but these days the only way she beats Lilian is with her fists. She's so angry all the time. Is she even doing the test, or does she simply not care if she fails? Is she failing on purpose? Lilian wouldn't be surprised. There was no point measuring herself against someone who wasn't even trying.

Everyone already knows she's the best here. It's hard to impress anyone anymore when they've seen it a hundred times before. Or perhaps it's more accurate to say that the ones who matter - the ones who already like her, such as Miner - are going to be impressed pretty much anyway. And the truth is, the one person she really desperately wants to impress ... is herself.

Int+Academics : 6, 6, 5, 3, 4 = 7 + 3 = 10

[Anarion]

Michiko does her damndest to pay attention to what she's doing. Not for the test, but to bubble in her answers reasonably. She starts counting off every few to be wrong, trying to vary the pattern and aiming for a solid B- as her goal.
[Charm+Convince=2d6+0=2, 6]

[Thanqol]

Michiko does her damndest to pay attention to what she's doing. Not for the test, but to bubble in her answers reasonably. She starts counting off every few to be wrong, trying to vary the pattern and aiming for a solid B- as her goal.
[Charm+Convince=2d6+0=2, 6]


If you asked Ashley that question yourself, she'd tell you this was about Rebecca. Definitely, definitely, has to be about Rebecca. That's her friend, that's the only person in this whole room who came in believing Ashley wouldn't fail. So yes, one hundred and thirty percent, it's Rebecca.

It's not Rebecca. She's drained, she's sore, she's taking a test instead of snuggled up against Jaime, she's also cheating her skinny butt off for the sake of her own academic survival, none of this feels good. And really, in those sorts of uncomfortable moments, does anything motivate anybody more than rubbing it in the face of the person who walks around all day calling you a peasant? If Michiko and Ashley both succeed, Eliza can't praise one and scorn the other. She's going to have to actually acknowledge that the dunce did something right. She's going to swallow a lot of nasty words and there's going to be a second or two where she forgets how to blink and oh, man, that is going to feel so good.

It's a weird feeling, though, hearing all the answers in your head and having to strategically ignore some of them. Normally it's such a mad scramble to just sort of be right that it's hard not to be greedy. But it'd be a bad, bad day if everyone thought she cheated, and worse if they figured out Lilian helped her. Somewhere in the C+/B- range. Now if she can just manage to be that good at this...

[Charm+Convince: 2d6+0 = 2, 6]

Eliza's Focus is 5, Resolve is 2 and she rolled two 3's on her action dice; her defeat is swift and total. However she's boosting her Focus by 1 as the outcome of this making her 4/6. Both of you can roll Spirit to gain Ego. You both get the B-'s you were shooting for, though; the exact manifestation of what happens next is determined on the success or failure of the Spirit check.


As mentioned, she's trying to impress Mr. Jellican. But it's true, she can't very well do that if someone does better than her. Normally - in the 'good old days' - the obvious one to beat her in math tests would be Big Lily, but these days the only way she beats Lilian is with her fists. She's so angry all the time. Is she even doing the test, or does she simply not care if she fails? Is she failing on purpose? Lilian wouldn't be surprised. There was no point measuring herself against someone who wasn't even trying.

Everyone already knows she's the best here. It's hard to impress anyone anymore when they've seen it a hundred times before. Or perhaps it's more accurate to say that the ones who matter - the ones who already like her, such as Miner - are going to be impressed pretty much anyway. And the truth is, the one person she really desperately wants to impress ... is herself.

Int+Academics : 6, 6, 5, 3, 4 = 7 + 3 = 10

So here's the thing about measuring against yourself - it's very lonely. You have successfully achieved another pointless A+. You have no opportunity to gain Ego because nothing was really on the line for you.

This underlines an important part of the Tears system: If your ego is not directly involved in a scene you get nothing out of it. So if you're in a scene your Ego isn't involved in get your ego involved. Go out of your way, pull the entire scene in a different direction if you have to. Make it about you.

[Anarion]

Michiko sighed. All that effort, and the test hadn't even been that hard. Looking back, she probably could have just taken it, maybe tried to really apply herself to this for once. She wouldn't have beaten Lil, but that wasn't the point, the point was to work hard and do her best, that's what improving is about. But she hadn't, she'd just done a passable job at working around the system, and had nothing to really show for it. She sighed again and waited to catch up with Eliza in the hallway.

[Spirit check of 6, no gain.]

[PhoeKun]

Ashley sighs with relief and slumps back in her chair, letting the tension drain out of her body. In its place is the rush of victory; on her way out of the classroom she parks herself by the door and flashes the winningest smile in her wardrobe. Ostensibly she's waiting for Rebecca, but really...

[It's a christmas miracle: Spirit check = 2. Ego 1/5]

[Thanqol]

Michiko sighed. All that effort, and the test hadn't even been that hard. Looking back, she probably could have just taken it, maybe tried to really apply herself to this for once. She wouldn't have beaten Lil, but that wasn't the point, the point was to work hard and do her best, that's what improving is about. But she hadn't, she'd just done a passable job at working around the system, and had nothing to really show for it. She sighed again and waited to catch up with Eliza in the hallway.

[Spirit check of 6, no gain.]


Ashley sighs with relief and slumps back in her chair, letting the tension drain out of her body. In its place is the rush of victory; on her way out of the classroom she parks herself by the door and flashes the winningest smile in her wardrobe. Ostensibly she's waiting for Rebecca, but really...

[It's a christmas miracle: Spirit check = 2. Ego 1/5]

Eliza's looking smug as she walks across the room, ostentatiously glances over Mr. Jellican's shoulder where he's marking tests like a whirlwind, and then does a double take. She hesitates, goes a bit red, and then storms over to Ashley. "A 'B'?" she says, loud enough that everyone stops and looks around. "You expect me to believe that YOU got a 'B'!? On one of Mr. Jellican's tests!?"

"B minus actually," said Mr. Jellican, not looking up.

Eliza turns even more red as she gets up in Ashley's face. "You cheated. I know you cheated! You've been bouncing off the bottom since you got here and now, suddenly, you're succeeding? You expect me to believe that!?"

"Oh, Ms. d'Auvergne? On that topic I'd like to have a word with you," said Mr. Jellican. Eliza looks like her cheeks might burn off. "Everyone else, please move along,"

[Deadly]

Lilian went to get her A+ - could it be anything less? No, no it couldn't - and did her best to try and see what Big Lily had got. She had been too concentrated on the test, and on not getting distracted by intruding thoughts (or people) to see what Big Lily was doing.

[Anarion]

Michiko wasn't sure what to do. She wanted to go reassure Eliza, but not at the cost of upsetting Ashley (everybody liked Ashley, she couldn't dream of making her mad), and Jellican had told them to leave. She decided to head to the cafeteria, she'd just taken a hard test and a long run around the school, so anything remotely edible sounded like it would be heaven. Bring on the hard tack and gruel!

[PhoeKun]

"Lilian, Lilian, you're amazing!" Ashely's still-unasked-for voice echoes inside the other girl's head, "I... wow! Did you se-- wow! I could kiss you! Thank you sooooooo much, remember: I owe you! If I can help with anything, just say the word. Promise!"

She flashes Eliza the least sincere smile in the world, and giddily hops out of the classroom. Once outside, she slumps dramatically against a locker and lets out a huge, huffy sigh.

"That was the most stressful thing I've ever done in my life. I would seriously rather run into a burning building than sit through another test like that!"

...Ok, fine. Yes. She cheated. If she hadn't, she'd be in that classroom right now waiting for the Dean to throw her out. But what if she hadn't figured out how? What if Lilian had said no? What if she'd actually had to, gulp, take the test herself? No no, this was still super tense, high stakes stuff, and she couldn't be gladder to be out of that and into the easier, lunchier part of the day. And after that was... was... um. What was her schedule, again?

She runs a hand through her hair and takes a deep breath. It could wait; she'd have to hurry if she wanted to actually eat today and not simply get mobbed by her fellow students.

[Thanqol]

Lilian went to get her A+ - could it be anything less? No, no it couldn't - and did her best to try and see what Big Lily had got. She had been too concentrated on the test, and on not getting distracted by intruding thoughts (or people) to see what Big Lily was doing.

Big Lily's paper was a work of art. The formulaes started off perfect and neat, little works of genius that demonstrate total mastery of the subject matter. Then as the equations progress the numbers turn violent. Denominators rise up and guillotine their nominators. Decimals are sent to fortified prison camps and whipped by jeering algebra. A particularly unfortunate 8 has its eyes pinned open and is forced to watch 70s instructional videos.

Mr. Jellican has given it a grade of ??? - see me


Michiko wasn't sure what to do. She wanted to go reassure Eliza, but not at the cost of upsetting Ashley (everybody liked Ashley, she couldn't dream of making her mad), and Jellican had told them to leave. She decided to head to the cafeteria, she'd just taken a hard test and a long run around the school, so anything remotely edible sounded like it would be heaven. Bring on the hard tack and gruel!


"Lilian, Lilian, you're amazing!" Ashely's still-unasked-for voice echoes inside the other girl's head, "I... wow! Did you se-- wow! I could kiss you! Thank you sooooooo much, remember: I owe you! If I can help with anything, just say the word. Promise!"

She flashes Eliza the least sincere smile in the world, and giddily hops out of the classroom. Once outside, she slumps dramatically against a locker and lets out a huge, huffy sigh.

"That was the most stressful thing I've ever done in my life. I would seriously rather run into a burning building than sit through another test like that!"

...Ok, fine. Yes. She cheated. If she hadn't, she'd be in that classroom right now waiting for the Dean to throw her out. But what if she hadn't figured out how? What if Lilian had said no? What if she'd actually had to, gulp, take the test herself? No no, this was still super tense, high stakes stuff, and she couldn't be gladder to be out of that and into the easier, lunchier part of the day. And after that was... was... um. What was her schedule, again?

She runs a hand through her hair and takes a deep breath. It could wait; she'd have to hurry if she wanted to actually eat today and not simply get mobbed by her fellow students.

It is indeed the lunchier part of the day. This is where you can really tell that this is a nice school. Many schools have food service regimes that operate on the same principles as prison kitchens; here the students have selections of fruit, roast meat and potatoes, and generally wholesome real food.

+I wonder someone spent their wish on better cafeteria food?+ Sparrowhawk's thought casually drifted out over the mind-link. +They're the real hero here.+

There are also tables and even booths that are more café-ish than anything else, and a lovely courtyard where students sprawl out a bit over the grass or sit by the willows and river. Ashley has managed to dodge the usual crowd but that was as always a temporary state of affairs.

[Anarion]

Michiko smiles at Jaime through the mindlink and goes straight in for the richest stuff today. Steak and potatoes that far exceed what you'd expect for the size of her stomach in such a little body, and the whole thing slathered with gravy.

She slides into the chair next to Ashley. "So, what did you think of last night, Ash?" She asks, while she carves off a piece of steak still pink and rare. "You totally rocked those familiars with that moon sword thing you've got going." Michiko, in violation of every sort of rule of fine British dining, demonstrates Ashley's sword technique on a stray potato for emphasis. The poor thing is cloven in twain before it ever knew what hit it. "And then that thing where you, like, spotlighted Britannia as I was going in, that was super sweet, it was like I didn't even need to do anything, my sword just knew where it was going on its own. That was so cool!"

Michiko's animated spirit now is a contrast to last night when she was so serious during the fighting, and this isn't the first time that you've seen her bottle up her stress from those sorts of nights and then let it all out when recounting everything. "So, how did you decide what sort of weapon you wanted, Ash? Like, when I did mine, I had this image of stories my dad used to tell me about knights, he was big into Europe instead of everyone else doing the samurai thing, and when I was younger, I'd get annoyed at how all the shows had all these really hard to use weapons, so I just wanted a really nice sword and shield. I guess it got a bit from my favorite color being azure too. So yeah, how did you do yours?"

[Deadly]

"Lilian, Lilian, you're amazing!" Ashely's still-unasked-for voice echoes inside the other girl's head, "I... wow! Did you se-- wow! I could kiss you! Thank you sooooooo much, remember: I owe you! If I can help with anything, just say the word. Promise!"

"Always happy to help," Lilian thought back, holding back a faint blush as she packed up her things. "Just remember, I'm not going to help you on your finals. Those you'll have to do on your own." Or find some other way to cheat, but that wasn't Lilian's concern. "They'll be easier, though." Far too easy for someone like Lilian, but then the finals, unlike Jellican's test, were not designed for the top 1% but for the 80% in the middle.


Big Lily's paper was a work of art. The formulaes started off perfect and neat, little works of genius that demonstrate total mastery of the subject matter. Then as the equations progress the numbers turn violent. Denominators rise up and guillotine their nominators. Decimals are sent to fortified prison camps and whipped by jeering algebra. A particularly unfortunate 8 has its eyes pinned open and is forced to watch 70s instructional videos.

Mr. Jellican has given it a grade of ??? - see me

Gosh darnit, this just made her sad to look at. Lily had always been a creative genius like herself. That's why they had worked so well together ... back then. It really hurt to see her waste every great opportunity she had.

The lot of the artistic genius was famously tormented and lonely, in which case Big Lily was surely on a path towards greatness - Lilian wondered what that said about herself, incidentally - but poets had been wrong before, and this didn't look like the path to greatness.

Maybe she should step in and help her. But how? Big Lily didn't exactly seem to like her, or want her help.


It is indeed the lunchier part of the day. This is where you can really tell that this is a nice school. Many schools have food service regimes that operate on the same principles as prison kitchens; here the students have selections of fruit, roast meat and potatoes, and generally wholesome real food.

+I wonder someone spent their wish on better cafeteria food?+ Sparrowhawk's thought casually drifted out over the mind-link. +They're the real hero here.+

There are also tables and even booths that are more café-ish than anything else, and a lovely courtyard where students sprawl out a bit over the grass or sit by the willows and river. Ashley has managed to dodge the usual crowd but that was as always a temporary state of affairs.

Lilian went to lunch in a brooding mood. She picked a few slices of meat and threw some fresh fruit on top - a selection that was either totally absentminded or the work of a forward-looking culinary genius - before slumping down at the table with Ashley and Michiko.

[PhoeKun]

"Haha... yeah. That sounds like an amazing wish. Whoever thought of it must be a genius."

Ashley's a firm believer in avoiding heavy foods until dinner, so her lunch is a salad artfully sweetened with strawberries that she cuts into quarters before eating. It's nothing special, and a lot of people would consider it a waste of the cafeteria's splendour, but she liked it fine, and it kept her from feeling too sluggish during gym and any of her after-school club activities. She has a very reserved, delicate way of eating that makes her look a lot more delicate than she really is, and she flinches at every wild knife jab and poor, murdered potato sacrificed to Michiko's high-octane antics.

She raises a tray she brought along just to block the errant sprays of gravy.

"I really don't know what you mean. I didn't choose anything, it all just kind of... happened. Could we... talk about, like, anything else? Like... wh-where did you get that dress? And why... Lilian? Are you ok?"

[Deadly]

"Haha... yeah. That sounds like an amazing wish. Whoever thought of it must be a genius."

Ashley's a firm believer in avoiding heavy foods until dinner, so her lunch is a salad artfully sweetened with strawberries that she cuts into quarters before eating. It's nothing special, and a lot of people would consider it a waste of the cafeteria's splendour, but she liked it fine, and it kept her from feeling too sluggish during gym and any of her after-school club activities. She has a very reserved, delicate way of eating that makes her look a lot more delicate than she really is, and she flinches at every wild knife jab and poor, murdered potato sacrificed to Michiko's high-octane antics.

She raises a tray she brought along just to block the errant sprays of gravy.

"I really don't know what you mean. I didn't choose anything, it all just kind of... happened. Could we... talk about, like, anything else? Like... wh-where did you get that dress? And why... Lilian? Are you ok?"

Lilian is chopping up strawberries to go with her beef, arranging it artfully around the plate. She seems more interested in the artistic creation than actually eating for the moment. "Me? Yeah, I'm fine. I just handed in a work of art on the test. I'm just trying to visualize what I'll look like," she said and spread some mashed strawberry around the plate, "with my face smashed in, and whether it's worth it."

[Anarion]

Lilian is chopping up strawberries to go with her beef, arranging it artfully around the plate. She seems more interested in the artistic creation than actually eating for the moment. "Me? Yeah, I'm fine. I just handed in a work of art on the test. I'm just trying to visualize what I'll look like," she said and spread some mashed strawberry around the plate, "with my face smashed in, and whether it's worth it."

Michiko finishes a mouthful and looks over at Lilian. "Your face smashed in? You just helped save the world last night, who on earth would want to smash your face in now?"

[Deadly]

Michiko finishes a mouthful and looks over at Lilian. "Your face smashed in? You just helped save the world last night, who on earth would want to smash your face in now?"

"I don't think everyone got the news," Lilian said and looked up as she took her first bite. "Also, you two kinda stole all the attention. Not that I mind, but I'm no kind of hero and certainly not a famous one that everyone knows and loves. I'm just a girl with a powerful curiosity, which some people seem to think I should keep to myself," she said and stabbed the meat on her plate, "but how can I when they're acting so strange, practically inviting me to take notice?"

[PhoeKun]

"Well, uh... ok? I'm sorry, I don't understand. Is this about someone? Or are there a bunch of people threatening you or...?"

Ashley busies herself in her salad. She's in over her head here, with hero-girl and genius-girl talking in code around her like the whole thing's supposed to be obvious. Of course, she'd been the one to ask, but now that seemed stupid. If Lilian wanted her to know, she'd have said something. But why would she, when Ashley would be too slow to keep up with whatever shadow game she was busy playing?

The fork settles slowly back into the bowl, and Ashley turns her head to hide the faint blush rising in her cheeks. The main lunch crowd is filing in now; it's too late to say anything for real.

"I guess just... I like your face just fine un-smashed."

[Anarion]

" "but how can I when they're acting so strange, practically inviting me to take notice?"

"Well, why don't you check it out, then? Solve the problem and I'm sure whoever is up to smashing your face in will think twice about it, right" Michiko spears a big slice of meat and starts munching down on it for emphasis.



"I guess just... I like your face just fine un-smashed."

"Oh, yeah, like totally that though" she says, swallowing what ought to be enough to choke a regular person. "Face unsmashed is the best for sure, just let me know if you need some backup, okay? And Ash too, right Ash?"

[Deadly]

Lilian smiled at the compliment. "Sorry," she said and gazed down at her plate. "It's Big Lily. I used to understand her, you know? Or I thought I did. I certainly don't understand her now. Anyway, thanks, but I'm not sure a gang is the right response."

[PhoeKun]

Ashley shrugs and quietly smiles to herself. It was moments like this when she, hottest girl in school, felt a bit like a hanger-on, but to be honest it was weirdly kind of... nice? Nobody asking a favor, nobody wanting her time, nobody pushing or shoving or tripping because they were cool enough people not to need her.

'...Wow', she thought suddenly, 'I really hope we're actually friends and not just...co-workers.'

Glancing up at the clock on the far wall, she spots Rebecca and gives the other girl a small wave.

[Deadly]

Lilian speared a strawberry and glanced around her at the other two as she chewed it slowly. Suddenly they were both silent, and Ashley was glancing at the clock and paying attention to other girls across the room. Had she said something wrong? Lilian was perfectly capable of picking up on the silence and the looks, all these little details around her, but she didn't understand any of it, and that made her suddenly anxious.

Her fingers fumbled with the fork as her mind tried to save her from embarrassment. Was she supposed to say something? Do something?

Maybe ... okay, maybe this was wrong, but what other choice did she have? Kyubey, she thought, hesitating, but she had to understand and she couldn't very well ask it out loud. What are the others thinking right now?

[Anarion]

Michiko finished her last bite of steak and put down her previously flailing utensils. She felt weird, like, Ash wasn't even paying attention to them, and Lil was lost in her own world, and was she supposed to do something? She was supposed to do something, right? Not just sit there in silence? She looked back and forth at them, brushed her nice teal skirt down and smoothed it out, tried to look around at who Ash was looking at, looked back at the two again, hesitated. Finally, she worked up the nerve to say something into this abyss of a lunch conversation.

"So, uh, what are you two doing this weekend? There's, like, a new band coming in to tour, I hear, the Star Guardians I think they're called. They're supposed to be cool. I couldn't get tickets in advance, but I was gonna maybe try and hit up the show at the door, or see if there's some way to score tickets from someone. Would you two wanna join?"

[PhoeKun]

Oh! Well that didn't sound like a "just coworkers" question at all! Ashley smiles and turns her attention back to the table, perhaps just slightly guilty that she started slipping away in the first place.

"Well, tonight I'm going out with Jaime but other than that I don't have anything going on. Yeah, a concert sounds like fun! What time is it?"

She smiles brightly, happy to finally be having a nice, normal moment with friends. Hooray!

[Anarion]

"Well, tonight I'm going out with Jaime


That stung. Michiko had halfway hoped when she saw them earlier that it had just been a casual conversation. Just happened to run into each other on the way out of the building. Of course, she'd known it wasn't, it was obvious that they'd been really together, but up to this point, there had been plausible deniability. She did her best not to flinch visibly, probably failed, tried to pretend none of it had happened. Getting upset at Ash would just push her further away, nobody likes a sore loser.



but other than that I don't have anything going on. Yeah, a concert sounds like fun! What time is it?"

She smiles brightly, happy to finally be having a nice, normal moment with friends. Hooray!

What had she been saying? Oh, right, concert time. "It's uh, sorry, I was just, just, nevermind, it's on Saturday night, I think they're playing in a big theater somewhere near King's Cross."

[Deadly]

Oh, they were talking again. Good thing too, or Lilian might have started screaming into the void or something, and wouldn't that look silly.

What were they talking about? A concert, Star Guardians ... right. "Sounds fun." And if they didn't find any tickets they could always just have a random night on the town. That was always fun. Spontaneous, random, possibly even better than a concert. "Count me in. Do we meet up somewhere before?" Who knew, maybe by the end of the night, it would just be her and Ashley. A coincidental date, the best kind. Yeah it sucked that she was going out with Jaime, but you never knew ...

"Do you know where you and Jaime will be going tonight?" she asked Ashley as causally as she could.

... it could be the worst date ever, and maybe Lilian would just happen to be walking by if it didn't work out. The best things in life were the unexpected ones, like running into a good friend when you felt like you needed one and going out for a drink, just two good friends.

A girl could dream. It's not like she honestly thought she had a chance, but so what? Dreams were nice too.

[Thanqol]

Lilian speared a strawberry and glanced around her at the other two as she chewed it slowly. Suddenly they were both silent, and Ashley was glancing at the clock and paying attention to other girls across the room. Had she said something wrong? Lilian was perfectly capable of picking up on the silence and the looks, all these little details around her, but she didn't understand any of it, and that made her suddenly anxious.

Her fingers fumbled with the fork as her mind tried to save her from embarrassment. Was she supposed to say something? Do something?

Maybe ... okay, maybe this was wrong, but what other choice did she have? Kyubey, she thought, hesitating, but she had to understand and she couldn't very well ask it out loud. What are the others thinking right now?

Here you go! says Kyubey. There's a moment's delay and then a strange lurch and the telepathy bond suddenly goes a layer deeper. You're suddenly exposed to thoughts and feelings that go below the surface level, a deep and invasive kind of mental bond. It's not a selective thing either, it's a constant flow of thoughts and feelings. Is this how Kyubey lives all the time? Maybe.

Everyone, tell Lilian what she hears.


Glancing up at the clock on the far wall, she spots Rebecca and gives the other girl a small wave.

Rebecca gives you a big grin and thumbs up as she passes.

[Anarion]

Everyone, tell Lilian what she hears.


I can't believe Ash picked Jaime over me, ugh, why does she always get all the credit and the girl? What's she got that I don't?

Michiko is seething right now. She's hasn't forgotten the concert and she still plans to go, you can sense that, but Ash+Jaime is absolutely dominating her thoughts.

[PhoeKun]

"Well, I'm uh, not really sure. Like, earlier we were gonna... y'know, cut class" and then I was gonna peel that jacket right off of her and-- "And go do... stuff, but Rebecca reminded me there was that maths test today and suddenly that didn't seem like such a great idea" because it wasn't it wasn't that was dumb dumb dumb dumb don't ever take advantage of somebody like that you scummy little whore what is wrong with you

Underneath the surface thoughts (which run on for quite a while in a seemingly endless tirade against herself), there's pulses of all sorts of things, some hopeful, some dark. For a second she's imagining the weekend, the three of them together at the concert in a rare moment of tranquility, laughing like the best of friends sharing a joke only they could understand. For another second the same scene shows her kissing Michiko, and then it's Lilian instead. Kyubey suddenly looms like a shadow above everything. The color blue, a deep sense of guilt and regret. The shortest glimpse of a sigh and satin bed sheets. Kyubey again. The color black, then something that looks like a courtroom scene with Ashley on trial, everyone in the school glaring down on her from impossibly high seats. The color red. Passion, hope, longing. Friendship. Kyubey a third time. A contract. That contract. Ashley as a magical girl. Ashley as something that looks a lot like Mara. The night sky, a shooting star streaking past it, and Ashley below with her arms around a shadowy silhouette. On and on it goes, sometimes hopeful, often nervous, and choked by a dozen conflicting thoughts about Kyubey and the wish he gave to her.

"...S-so I thought maybe we'd just get dinner and maybe... I guess I don't know. What would you do? I kind of like Namco Station because they've got those American-sized pool tables over there, but maybe that's a dumb thing to do."

She doesn't think it is. Or at least she doesn't think it should be. A round of pool. A game of bowling. Laughter and smiles. Broken expectations. Is Jaime a sore loser?

[Deadly]

Okay, that's enough, Kyubey, she thought. Also kinda creepy. Creepy, but holy crap this could be useful. Can you do that with anyone, or only us magical girls? Think of the possibilities! Muahahahah!

No wait, think of Ashley. Right, back to Ashley. Yes ... no, ugh, what is Michiko doing there? And Jaime ... oh god, what are they doing? Creepy and disturbing. It's not fair ... Lilian is not blind to the small details, like the fact that Ashley thought of Michiko before she thought of Lilian. That really stings, and now she's really wishing she had been the one to suggest going out this weekend, instead Michiko gets to look good for taking that initiative and Lilian is just a big drooling sloth. Ugh.

But at least she's thinking of her at all, right? Being third is better than being nothing at all.

And Lilian is an artist, she can paint her own picture. Yes ... that brief image of her and Ashley kissing, the perfect evening, focus on that, forget everything else. Focus, embellish ... yes, that's what she wants to keep in her mental eye.

Lilian is also good at being patient and clever. All that has to happen is for Jaime and Michiko to screw up somehow, and it sounds like she's already uncertain about Jaime. Is it wrong to sabotage a friend? Maybe, but if it's just a little sabotage it's only a little wrong, and it's only fair ... Michiko has all the advantages, it's only right that Lilian take some for herself to level the playing field.

Oh ... she asked a question. Something something a good idea? Quick, rewind that, think, think, don't be a drooling sloth! "I think you should totally go where you want to go. If she doesn't like it, maybe she doesn't really like you." Yes, that sounded good. Pat on the back, Lil.

[Thanqol]

Okay, that's enough, Kyubey, she thought. Also kinda creepy. Creepy, but holy crap this could be useful. Can you do that with anyone, or only us magical girls? Think of the possibilities! Muahahahah!

Anyone, of course, said Kyubey. Humans are very bad at defending their minds.

[Anarion]

"...S-so I thought maybe we'd just get dinner and maybe... I guess I don't know. What would you do? I kind of like Namco Station because they've got those American-sized pool tables over there, but maybe that's a dumb thing to do."




Oh ... she asked a question. Something something a good idea? Quick, rewind that, think, think, don't be a drooling sloth! "I think you should totally go where you want to go. If she doesn't like it, maybe she doesn't really like you." Yes, that sounded good. Pat on the back, Lil.

Michiko looks sideways at Lil, but tries to just shoulder through it. "Yeah, let's uh, what was it, Namco Station, right? I like pool, I mean, I'm not that great, but it's fun, and I bet you're really good, Ash."

Yeah that was something, there. She felt like Lil was trying to egg her on, and if that was how things were going to be here, then fine, that's how they'd be. She wasn't half the problem that Jaime was anyone, and an easy win might make Michiko look good, so there was that.

Lil, let me ask you a question though. You've been kind of distracted in combat, competitive here in school, but Michiko trusted you to come through last night, and she's hanging with you now even though maybe on the surface there's not a good reason to invite you along. There's gotta be some history there, I think. Was there a time when you really put yourself out on a limb for Michiko?

[PhoeKun]

Ashley smiles the relieved smile of a person who has just had a Great Truth dropped upon them.

"Wow, Lilian, you really are smart! You're right, I'll just ask her, and-- erm, sure Michiko, if you're into it I can just go twice. They've also got bowling and table tennis and arcade shooters and stuff, so there's a lot to do. I don't mind."

Her smile suddenly changes to the much more nervous smile of a person who has just noticed they are surrounded by at least a dozen angry snakes and can't acknowledge outwardly that anything has gone wrong or else they will lose the composure necessary to get to safety without getting bitten and probably poisoned to death.

It's a pretty vivid picture, if anybody's still lurking around in that extended mind-link. One of the snakes is wearing Michiko's dress and everything.

[Deadly]

Anyone, of course, said Kyubey. Humans are very bad at defending their minds.

Yes well, I'll be thinking about a big bundle of Kyubey's being very naughty and emotional with each other now, just so you know.


Lil, let me ask you a question though. You've been kind of distracted in combat, competitive here in school, but Michiko trusted you to come through last night, and she's hanging with you now even though maybe on the surface there's not a good reason to invite you along. There's gotta be some history there, I think. Was there a time when you really put yourself out on a limb for Michiko?

Distracted? Well, okay, maybe, but I couldn't say if that's normal or not.

Anyway, you're right, we've never been like BFFs or anything like that, I think. We've been in each other's hair plenty of times, but here's the thing: we've been at it for a long time, and whatever happens between us, it soon seems insignificant. Maybe it's mostly inertia keeping us together sometimes, or convenience perhaps, but sometimes there's genuine friendship and great memories too, and I think that's what really binds two people together: shared experiences.

Point is, we're neighbors. Grew up on the same street right next to each other, our parents knew each other and we went to the same school and everything, and even though we have our differences it seems we've just always been friends ... or at least always been there, even if not exactly BFFs.

In the end, it may not be something we can explain, but you know Lilian has always been there ... and something tells you she always will be. She may be proud and competitive in her own way, but she's also the kind who tries to prop others up, and a lifetime around her has shown you that much.

Normally she wouldn't be like this - competing for Ashley's love against you. She knows that you and Jaime are much more popular, and would likely have conceded defeat already. In fact she mostly did up until now, but knowing that Ashley thought of her, actually thought of her like that, has given her an unusual hope and determination. You don't know that, of course, so this behavior probably seems unexpected to you.


Michiko looks sideways at Lil, but tries to just shoulder through it. "Yeah, let's uh, what was it, Namco Station, right? I like pool, I mean, I'm not that great, but it's fun, and I bet you're really good, Ash."

Yeah that was something, there. She felt like Lil was trying to egg her on, and if that was how things were going to be here, then fine, that's how they'd be. She wasn't half the problem that Jaime was anyone, and an easy win might make Michiko look good, so there was that.


Ashley smiles the relieved smile of a person who has just had a Great Truth dropped upon them.

"Wow, Lilian, you really are smart! You're right, I'll just ask her, and-- erm, sure Michiko, if you're into it I can just go twice. They've also got bowling and table tennis and arcade shooters and stuff, so there's a lot to do. I don't mind."

Her smile suddenly changes to the much more nervous smile of a person who has just noticed they are surrounded by at least a dozen angry snakes and can't acknowledge outwardly that anything has gone wrong or else they will lose the composure necessary to get to safety without getting bitten and probably poisoned to death.

It's a pretty vivid picture, if anybody's still lurking around in that extended mind-link. One of the snakes is wearing Michiko's dress and everything.

Lilian smiled at Ashley and the compliment. If only the warm feeling could last, but what in the hell was Michiko on about now? Well, whatever her game, Lilian would figure it out. "Great," she said with a little more cheer than was strictly called for, and threw a glance at Michiko with a little too much frown. "This weekend."

[Thanqol]

The date, then! Namco Station - an old subway station converted into a bar and arcade. Just the sort of place where anyone might run into anyone else.

Ashley arrives first. Sparrowhawk will be a little late - if she arrives at all. It remains to be seen if she is able to make it to the pub in time with two potentially hostile Magical Girls out to get her. After all, a stood-up Ashley is an available Ashley.

Where are each of you and what's the play?

[PhoeKun]

Ashley is, to say the least, not very used to being stood up. N-not that we've entered into that territory yet or anything. It's just a statement of fact, ok? Yeah. Even just being first was a little on the weird side, a lot of dates liked to pick her up, and... well come to think of it they also tend to plan out most aspects of the evening, too. It's rare for her to suggest something, so maybe that explains the circumstances.

But whatever gives, Ashley is presently standing in a downtown arcade/bar trying her best not to look too awkward doing it. Her eyes constantly flutter over the main entrance, looking, waiting, hoping... no, not yet. She fidgets with her purse, a tiny brown leather number on a spaghetti strap. Her whole ensemble, which she spent basically every minute post-school fretting over, was a delicate balancing act between "comfortable and casual", and "Hey look at me I have taken extra time to look nice for you." Dark blue microfiber ankle boots with a wide, mid-sized heel worn over black knee-high socks. Tight, slightly frayed jean shorts. A plain white high necked, keyhole tank top. Her hair is worn loose, with just a simple red hairband holding it away from her ears so that it doesn't hide the aquamarine studs she's wearing in her ears. She's redone her makeup in that extremely careful 'I'm not wearing makeup, I swear' look, with only a soft purple eye shadow and glossy pink lipstick really appearing noticeable. It's all low fashion to be sure; Eliza's probably got shoes that cost more than this entire outfit. Ashley's cheeks flush at the thought. Well, at least the little princess wouldn't be caught dead in a place like this, so she'd never need to worry about that for one night.

She nervously runs a hand through her hair, and it falls down her back in lavender waves. Another glance at the door, but now it just feels quietly desperate. No more of that, she needs a distraction. It feels like bad form to start playing without her date, but there's a couple of buff looking dudes who just started up a game of billiards. She perches herself on a nearby stool to watch and kill a bit of time. While she's at it, she's also sizing them up to see where they fit on the jerk-o-meter, and if she can/should hustle them later.

[Anarion]

Michiko likes Ashley. Wants to spend time with her. But that's not her overriding interest here. No, that's taking a backseat to her anger at Sparrowhawk. Yes, sure, they had pulled off a coup last night, and yet it was always Sparrowhawk getting the credit for everything. Showing up to school in her awesome jacket and getting a date with Ash while Michiko had been sent out to run laps had been the last straw, and she was dead sure that Sparrowhawk wasn't going to get what she wanted tonight.

London is a pretty safe city. It has its muggings of course, and the occasional armed robbery, but this wasn't a night for Michiko to don her ninja outfit and aim for a stickup in a back alley (I mean, really, the hair would never have fit under one of those hoods anyway). And she didn't exactly want to go full Magical Girl with her sparkling getup and leave flying blue contrails as she did her thing either. Just way too obvious. So she settled for a jogging outfit for an evening run. Charcoal sweat pants and a royal blue hoodie with one of those reflector strips on the back so passing cars could see you crossing the street. It was a casual outfit, bordering on street hoodlum, and that was exactly what she was going for tonight. Because a mugging wouldn't do anything, but magical girls are tough and a sequence of accidents and incidents just might.

Fortunately, Namco station had no shortage of things around. Big power lines, the London Eye, the Jubilee gardens. There were opportunities for mayhem. And Michiko was looking to get ahead of Sparrowhawk's path and make it happen. So, she went out on her run, and she started throwing rocks at streetlights (with just a little bit of extra sparkles added to the throw), and lopping off tree branches hanging over paths. And when Jaime wasn't looking, Michiko started throwing out bigger things into darkened streets, so that it would not be entirely wrong to imagine a young girl pushing a boulder (well, a parked car really) down a hill with the aim of it slamming into Jaime.

[Deadly]

Lilian was smart, which was good, because her competitors were so much better than her at the brawn. But brains beat brawn any day, is what Lilian chose to believe.

This was Sparrowhawk she was dealing with, the magical girl super hero who faced down a mega witch and won. Some urban chaos and random vandalism wasn't going to slow her down. No, taking her out of the equation would require a different tactic.

Which is why Lilian had been busy buys busy, writing secret love notes in Jaime's name and making sure every eligible girl at school mysteriously received one, inviting each of them on a date tonight far, far away from Namco Station. There should be a small army of love-stricken girls out tonight, looking to drag Jaime every which way except towards Ashley.

It was a genius plan. And best of all, it left Lilian entirely free this evening. Free from the stress of having to run around all night trying to hold back an unstoppable force. Instead, the unstoppable force was gently redirected in a harmless path by others, and Lilian could focus on looking cool and attractive.

So tonight she had added a hint of rosy pink color to her short, pale blond hair and wore a breezy white shirt and ivory camisole. She had picked out a very simple necklace and earrings to go with it, and put on a hint of vanilla perfume. A light, loose and carefree look of elegance, like the perfect expression of an equation.

When Lilian was free to wear what she liked, she often spent a great deal of thought to get it just right, though the effort was rarely visible. Sometimes it was random and fun, like something thrown on seemingly without thought at all. Other times, like tonight, it was so simple it became Serious Science.

Lilian, smug and relaxed, was casually strolling towards her destination.

[Thanqol]

Ashley is, to say the least, not very used to being stood up. N-not that we've entered into that territory yet or anything. It's just a statement of fact, ok? Yeah. Even just being first was a little on the weird side, a lot of dates liked to pick her up, and... well come to think of it they also tend to plan out most aspects of the evening, too. It's rare for her to suggest something, so maybe that explains the circumstances.

But whatever gives, Ashley is presently standing in a downtown arcade/bar trying her best not to look too awkward doing it. Her eyes constantly flutter over the main entrance, looking, waiting, hoping... no, not yet. She fidgets with her purse, a tiny brown leather number on a spaghetti strap. Her whole ensemble, which she spent basically every minute post-school fretting over, was a delicate balancing act between "comfortable and casual", and "Hey look at me I have taken extra time to look nice for you." Dark blue microfiber ankle boots with a wide, mid-sized heel worn over black knee-high socks. Tight, slightly frayed jean shorts. A plain white high necked, keyhole tank top. Her hair is worn loose, with just a simple red hairband holding it away from her ears so that it doesn't hide the aquamarine studs she's wearing in her ears. She's redone her makeup in that extremely careful 'I'm not wearing makeup, I swear' look, with only a soft purple eye shadow and glossy pink lipstick really appearing noticeable. It's all low fashion to be sure; Eliza's probably got shoes that cost more than this entire outfit. Ashley's cheeks flush at the thought. Well, at least the little princess wouldn't be caught dead in a place like this, so she'd never need to worry about that for one night.

She nervously runs a hand through her hair, and it falls down her back in lavender waves. Another glance at the door, but now it just feels quietly desperate. No more of that, she needs a distraction. It feels like bad form to start playing without her date, but there's a couple of buff looking dudes who just started up a game of billiards. She perches herself on a nearby stool to watch and kill a bit of time. While she's at it, she's also sizing them up to see where they fit on the jerk-o-meter, and if she can/should hustle them later.

"Hey, so, do you think Quentin Tarantino is a genius or an idiot?"
"Oh Jesus, I can see both sides of that argument really well. I think idiot though."
"Are you kidding? Literally no one can do what he does. He's transformed cinema."
"Uh, no he hasn't? He's transformed low-budget student art films - and he did that because he's a high budget student art film."
"Tell me Reservoir Dogs didn't have you on the edge of your seat."
"Okay, Reservoir Dogs was unbelievably fantastic but it's also the least Tarantino movie he's made, and this is kind of my problem with him. Dogs had simplicity and subtlety. His other films are just stupid blends of references."
"Dude, you're into remix culture. You're all about stealing. You thought Julie Taymor's Titus Andronicus was the greatest thing."
"I did! And I do! But I'm thinking, like, the scene in Kill Bill 2 at the trailer where the musical cues were all over the place. Like that weird siren thing? And that inappropriate Ennio Morricone track started playing? That was so bad it almost ruined The Good, Bad and Ugly for me."
"That siren thing is awesome. It's such a random sound."
"It is. But that wasn't the place for it."
"What is the place?"
"A Garysmod Youtube video viewed at three AM."
"It's only used on the Internet because Tarantino made it great. This is what I mean when I said he's influential. I mean, take Pulp Fiction - some of the greatest acting ever done."
"Pulp Fiction was awesome speeches padded out by a boring movie. The bits of it I liked were the bits that were like Reservoir Dogs, the tense and crazy bits where everyone has guns out and who knows what is about to happen."
"Now I'm not sure if you're a genius or an idiot, dude."
"Hey, f*ck you Rigel. Get back to work."

The dude named Rigel produces a weird looking boxy gadget, like a speed camera that ate a Ghostbusters prop. He aims it at a chick at the other end of the bar and holds it for a few seconds; the screen glows and blurs and a weird outline generates around her. "Clear," he grunts, then aims it at the next girl.


Michiko likes Ashley. Wants to spend time with her. But that's not her overriding interest here. No, that's taking a backseat to her anger at Sparrowhawk. Yes, sure, they had pulled off a coup last night, and yet it was always Sparrowhawk getting the credit for everything. Showing up to school in her awesome jacket and getting a date with Ash while Michiko had been sent out to run laps had been the last straw, and she was dead sure that Sparrowhawk wasn't going to get what she wanted tonight.

London is a pretty safe city. It has its muggings of course, and the occasional armed robbery, but this wasn't a night for Michiko to don her ninja outfit and aim for a stickup in a back alley (I mean, really, the hair would never have fit under one of those hoods anyway). And she didn't exactly want to go full Magical Girl with her sparkling getup and leave flying blue contrails as she did her thing either. Just way too obvious. So she settled for a jogging outfit for an evening run. Charcoal sweat pants and a royal blue hoodie with one of those reflector strips on the back so passing cars could see you crossing the street. It was a casual outfit, bordering on street hoodlum, and that was exactly what she was going for tonight. Because a mugging wouldn't do anything, but magical girls are tough and a sequence of accidents and incidents just might.

Fortunately, Namco station had no shortage of things around. Big power lines, the London Eye, the Jubilee gardens. There were opportunities for mayhem. And Michiko was looking to get ahead of Sparrowhawk's path and make it happen. So, she went out on her run, and she started throwing rocks at streetlights (with just a little bit of extra sparkles added to the throw), and lopping off tree branches hanging over paths. And when Jaime wasn't looking, Michiko started throwing out bigger things into darkened streets, so that it would not be entirely wrong to imagine a young girl pushing a boulder (well, a parked car really) down a hill with the aim of it slamming into Jaime.

Time to see how well Jaime can handle that bike of hers; you're rolling it sounds like Athletics against her Vigor of 8.


Lilian was smart, which was good, because her competitors were so much better than her at the brawn. But brains beat brawn any day, is what Lilian chose to believe.

This was Sparrowhawk she was dealing with, the magical girl super hero who faced down a mega witch and won. Some urban chaos and random vandalism wasn't going to slow her down. No, taking her out of the equation would require a different tactic.

Which is why Lilian had been busy buys busy, writing secret love notes in Jaime's name and making sure every eligible girl at school mysteriously received one, inviting each of them on a date tonight far, far away from Namco Station. There should be a small army of love-stricken girls out tonight, looking to drag Jaime every which way except towards Ashley.


Diabolical. Motivating large groups of people to action is the Rally skill and you're rolling against Sparrowhawk's Focus of 5.


If either of you pass this test you arrive before Sparrowhawk does, otherwise you'll have complications of your own. If both of you pass then she's delayed by an hour or more.

[Anarion]

Time to see how well Jaime can handle that bike of hers; you're rolling it sounds like Athletics against her Vigor of 8.


[1, 2, 4, 5]+3=8. I suppose I'm spending an ego to try and one-up her, that's a 9. And since this is Jaime "I care only about showing you up" Sparrowhawk, spirit roll of 1 to gain ego after the success.

[Deadly]

Rally: [6,3,4,3]+2 = 8

Lilian paused outside Namco station, checking her story once more in her head and taking a few deep breaths. She had to make it seem like she was just there for herself, totally random, not at all because she knew Ashley was here too. Deep breaths, just open the door and walk in all natural like as if you're looking for someone else, someone who just so happens to not be here either ... because they're totally made up and don't exist.

Perfect alibi, check.

[PhoeKun]

The dude named Rigel produces a weird looking boxy gadget, like a speed camera that ate a Ghostbusters prop. He aims it at a chick at the other end of the bar and holds it for a few seconds; the screen glows and blurs and a weird outline generates around her. "Clear," he grunts, then aims it at the next girl.

Something about these two made the hair on the back of Ashley's neck stand up, and it wasn't just that they had opinions on Tarantino movies (although that was bad enough). There was something... dangerous about them, something that would probably ruin somebody's life tonight. She swallows nervously and takes a deep breath to give herself a second to find the courage that normally comes with her battle attire.

She hops off her stool and smooths out her tank top, and walks over to their table as casually as she can manage.

"Hey there!" she says brightly, "Sorry to bother you guys, but my date is super late and I was wondering if maybe I could shoot a round or two with you while I wait for her? I don't really like playing by myself..."

[Thanqol]

[1, 2, 4, 5]+3=8. I suppose I'm spending an ego to try and one-up her, that's a 9. And since this is Jaime "I care only about showing you up" Sparrowhawk, spirit roll of 1 to gain ego after the success.


Rally: [6,3,4,3]+2 = 8

Lilian paused outside Namco station, checking her story once more in her head and taking a few deep breaths. She had to make it seem like she was just there for herself, totally random, not at all because she knew Ashley was here too. Deep breaths, just open the door and walk in all natural like as if you're looking for someone else, someone who just so happens to not be here either ... because they're totally made up and don't exist.

Perfect alibi, check.

Sparrowhawk staggers towards the bar. Her face is cut and bruised from running into low hanging branches, he clothing is ruffled and torn from having to dive off her bike to avoid a flying car and her hair was on end from that dangerously positioned power cable. But she made it. And she's fine. She can handle anything. She takes a moment to try and smooth her hair down a bit with her fingernails.

"Oh my god, there she is!"

Sparrowhawk looks around. She sees the crowd of boys and girls bearing down on her. She takes a step backwards. The crowd starts to accelerate, calling out declarations of love and catfighting with other members of the group. Sparrowhawk takes another step back. It's not fear on her face, just the totally rational consideration that no good can ever come from this.

She turns and runs. The crowd follows behind. A trail of red paper and flowers scatters in their wake.

So she's out of the scene and you're free to arrive at the bar.


Something about these two made the hair on the back of Ashley's neck stand up, and it wasn't just that they had opinions on Tarantino movies (although that was bad enough). There was something... dangerous about them, something that would probably ruin somebody's life tonight. She swallows nervously and takes a deep breath to give herself a second to find the courage that normally comes with her battle attire.

She hops off her stool and smooths out her tank top, and walks over to their table as casually as she can manage.

"Hey there!" she says brightly, "Sorry to bother you guys, but my date is super late and I was wondering if maybe I could shoot a round or two with you while I wait for her? I don't really like playing by myself..."

"Clear," grunts Rigel, having scanned another girl. "Oh, what?" he makes eye contact and you get to see that little moment when he realizes you're the greatest thing ever. "Oh, of course. Yeah. Be my guest," he hands you his cue, "you want a drink too or what?"

"Hey there," said his boss, muscling in on the moment, "I'm Special Agent Miller. Hope you're not here by yourself, the city's dangerous these days."

[Anarion]

Mission accomplished, and all it took was some minor urban vandalism. Easy stuff. Michiko wasn't exactly dressed for a hot date, but maybe that made the whole thing seem coincidental. She hadn't even been sure if she was planning on coming in, but since Jaime had been swept away entirely, she figured why not, could be a fun night. So she went into the hall, pulled down her hood and let her long turquoise hair flow out and hang loose. She went in and ordered a root beer, and then figured she'd wander over near Ash and just see what happened. She gave a little wave too whenever Ash was looking, but wasn't planning on coming over for a chat unless invited.

[PhoeKun]

"Clear," grunts Rigel, having scanned another girl. "Oh, what?" he makes eye contact and you get to see that little moment when he realizes you're the greatest thing ever. "Oh, of course. Yeah. Be my guest," he hands you his cue, "you want a drink too or what?"

"Hey there," said his boss, muscling in on the moment, "I'm Special Agent Miller. Hope you're not here by yourself, the city's dangerous these days."

The problem with playing pool when guys are already checking you out is that there's almost no position you can shoot from that isn't at least a little bit provocative. Which is sort of the opposite of what Ashley really wanted to be going for right this moment. She awkwardly half-leans against the table and then breaks without really aiming just to make something happen that doesn't involve her butt in the air.

"What? Oh, um... yeah, I came with..." Lie, lie, lie, come on, think of someone... her eyes scan the room, then widen in surprise when they spot Michiko. She waves in the jerky manner of somebody caught in a trap, where you need another person to come help maybe, you're not sure, but also you don't want to admit you're stuck? Look, just... use your imagination, ok?

"Wait, so like," and now she motions at the weird little box and leans in all conspiratorial like, "Are you guys cops? Is there something dangerous happening here tonight?"

[Thanqol]

The problem with playing pool when guys are already checking you out is that there's almost no position you can shoot from that isn't at least a little bit provocative. Which is sort of the opposite of what Ashley really wanted to be going for right this moment. She awkwardly half-leans against the table and then breaks without really aiming just to make something happen that doesn't involve her butt in the air.

"What? Oh, um... yeah, I came with..." Lie, lie, lie, come on, think of someone... her eyes scan the room, then widen in surprise when they spot Michiko. She waves in the jerky manner of somebody caught in a trap, where you need another person to come help maybe, you're not sure, but also you don't want to admit you're stuck? Look, just... use your imagination, ok?

"Wait, so like," and now she motions at the weird little box and leans in all conspiratorial like, "Are you guys cops? Is there something dangerous happening here tonight?"

"Special Agents, actually," said Rigel.

"I'm a Special Agent. Rigel is a trainee," said Miller, earning himself a dirty look. "Anyway, keep this on the q-t because the General hasn't decided to release it yet, but apparently the aliens look like people."

"Still can't believe this is happening," said Rigel. "Am I having a mental breakdown? Is everyone else?"

"They like appearing as girls in particular for some reason, so Rigel's scanning any suspicious looking characters with that doohicky to see if we get a hit," said Miller. "I mean, shiiiiiit, Rigel's got a point. Turns out there are aliens and they're hot chicks? Are we that lucky?"

"Did you see that lion video? 'Hot' is the last word I'd use to describe it," said Rigel.

"It was a little hot," said Miller.

"It ate Westminster," said Rigel.

"I'm not condoning its political positions, I'm just saying that I like a little danger in my relationships," said Miller. "Now get back to work, you missed one."

Lilian, as you enter, some weird suit guy is aiming a high tech scanner at you. Kyubey is on top of your shoulder as he generally is. What do folks do?

[Anarion]

"What? Oh, um... yeah, I came with..." Lie, lie, lie, come on, think of someone... her eyes scan the room, then widen in surprise when they spot Michiko. She waves in the jerky manner of somebody caught in a trap, where you need another person to come help maybe, you're not sure, but also you don't want to admit you're stuck? Look, just... use your imagination, ok?

"Wait, so like," and now she motions at the weird little box and leans in all conspiratorial like, "Are you guys cops? Is there something dangerous happening here tonight?"

Social cunning and easily keying into people are practically the first things that come to mind when you think of Michiko. Practically. Like, definitely above 8th, maybe? That's practically first, right? Well, look, Michiko got some acknowledgment, so she comes on over, takes a sip of her root beer and starts to say "what's up, Ash?" but then



"Did you see that lion video? 'Hot' is the last word I'd use to describe it," said Rigel.

"It was a little hot," said Miller.

"It ate Westminster," said Rigel.

"I'm not condoning its political positions, I'm just saying that I like a little danger in my relationships," said Miller. "Now get back to work, you missed one."

They're talking about last night when she comes over, she missed what they were saying before this, but who cares, last night was cool, okay, and Michiko was kinda the rockstar. "Man, the lion sure was something, yeah, like, crazy huge and scary, but did you see those girls that took it down? Like, the blue one and the purple one were totally rocking it out there, and there some siiick sword moves. So, who are you guys, anyway, and how do you know Ash?"

Okay, so that was less social cunning and more bull meet china shop, china shop, bull, I'm sure you'll get along fine.

[Deadly]

Lilian, as you enter, some weird suit guy is aiming a high tech scanner at you. Kyubey is on top of your shoulder as he generally is. What do folks do?

Dammit! Lilian restrained herself from stomping at the fact that Michiko had beat her here and made the first move already, but her face could not hide a jealous scowl.

And who were the two suits with them? Lilian did not recognize them, nor had any idea what that one was pointing at her or why - though she carefully stepped to the side and gave him a meaningful glare, just because pointing at people is generally rude and especially when it's done with weird hi-tech doohickeys (the least he could do, if he was going to do anything, was come over and try to woo her by explaining the awesomeness of his little machine to her, like normal nerds) - but she was already having ideas as she looked at them.

What are those two guys thinking? she thought, directing the question at the permanent fixture on her shoulder. Somehow she had become designated cat carrier, not that she minded, not when she was going to be making use of it. What are they feeling? she added, more to herself, as she imagined ways she might get them interested in Michiko instead.

[PhoeKun]

"Did you see that lion video? 'Hot' is the last word I'd use to describe it," said Rigel.

"It was a little hot," said Miller.

"It ate Westminster," said Rigel.

"I'm not condoning its political positions, I'm just saying that I like a little danger in my relationships," said Miller. "Now get back to work, you missed one."

"Well, I uh, oh hey Michiko..." Ashley lines up another shot on the table with a nervous glance down toward Lilian (what are they both doing here?????), this time making no effort to be anything other than provocative and distracting before pocketing the 1-ball, "I guess, um... gosh this sounds so crazy. Doesn't it sound crazy? Aliens? I know there was, I dunno. I guess just... do you think maybe, some of them aren't, y'know, giant lion monsters? I mean, something stopped it, right? What if something out there wants to help?"

She smiles nervously, but can't help looking in Kyubey's direction. 'Is that right? Am I really an alien? 'Cause it really sounds like they're talking about us, and not the witches. I don't understand...'

[Thanqol]

Dammit! Lilian restrained herself from stomping at the fact that Michiko had beat her here and made the first move already, but her face could not hide a jealous scowl.

And who were the two suits with them? Lilian did not recognize them, nor had any idea what that one was pointing at her or why - though she carefully stepped to the side and gave him a meaningful glare, just because pointing at people is generally rude and especially when it's done with weird hi-tech doohickeys (the least he could do, if he was going to do anything, was come over and try to woo her by explaining the awesomeness of his little machine to her, like normal nerds) - but she was already having ideas as she looked at them.

What are those two guys thinking? she thought, directing the question at the permanent fixture on her shoulder. Somehow she had become designated cat carrier, not that she minded, not when she was going to be making use of it. What are they feeling? she added, more to herself, as she imagined ways she might get them interested in Michiko instead.

They're romantically interested in Ashley. The one with the scanner's name is Rigel and he hates his superior, Miller. Miller thinks putting down Rigel is amusing. Kyubey supplied helpfully. They're human investigators trying to hunt down Magical Girls, like you! Their scanner might even be able to see me - it'd be interesting if it could.

The guy with the scanner frowns and tries to fix it on you again. Ducking him is an Observe test against difficulty 5 (though other skills are possible with the right justification). He'll stop trying if you close to conversation range.


They're talking about last night when she comes over, she missed what they were saying before this, but who cares, last night was cool, okay, and Michiko was kinda the rockstar. "Man, the lion sure was something, yeah, like, crazy huge and scary, but did you see those girls that took it down? Like, the blue one and the purple one were totally rocking it out there, and there some siiick sword moves. So, who are you guys, anyway, and how do you know Ash?"

Okay, so that was less social cunning and more bull meet china shop, china shop, bull, I'm sure you'll get along fine.

"Yeah, those "girls" also butchered a science team while they were at it so I wouldn't be too impressed with them," grunted Rigel.

"What was that flying silver one? I thought that was pretty cool," said Miller.

"God damn it, Miller, we are here to capture these things."

"Hey, I'm not saying that, I'm just saying... imagine me with those kinds of powers."

"I refuse to do that."

"I could totally rock the Tuxedo Mask look."

"God damn it sir."


"Well, I uh, oh hey Michiko..." Ashley lines up another shot on the table with a nervous glance down toward Lilian (what are they both doing here?????), this time making no effort to be anything other than provocative and distracting before pocketing the 1-ball, "I guess, um... gosh this sounds so crazy. Doesn't it sound crazy? Aliens? I know there was, I dunno. I guess just... do you think maybe, some of them aren't, y'know, giant lion monsters? I mean, something stopped it, right? What if something out there wants to help?"

She smiles nervously, but can't help looking in Kyubey's direction. 'Is that right? Am I really an alien? 'Cause it really sounds like they're talking about us, and not the witches. I don't understand...'

They think that all Magical Girls are aliens, and in a certain sense you are! Kyubey sent. You are no longer members of the homo sapiens species; in fact, the majority of your physical matter has been replaced with an energy projection from your Soul Stone. Even continuing to look like a human is nothing more than an habit.

"Ha! If they want to help then they should report for dissection," said Rigel.

"Getting pretty dark there, dude," said Miller, totally missing his shot.

[Anarion]

Michiko watches the game intently, drinks a bit more rootbeer, which leaves a bit of froth on it. Ash is wrecking these guys quietly, lining up shots Michiko hadn't even seen. She made a mental note not to ever wager anything valuable against Ash in pool if she wanted to keep it.

So, these guys were being idiots, that was easy enough. "Yeah, I mean, I'm not sure wanting to help and reporting for dissection go together exactly. You never saw, like, Spider-Man drop in on a lab and go 'hey guys, did you want to check out my blood to study and maybe cut me up into pieces so you can figure out what happened faster?' You know what I mean?"

[Deadly]

They're romantically interested in Ashley. The one with the scanner's name is Rigel and he hates his superior, Miller. Miller thinks putting down Rigel is amusing. Kyubey supplied helpfully. They're human investigators trying to hunt down Magical Girls, like you! Their scanner might even be able to see me - it'd be interesting if it could.

The guy with the scanner frowns and tries to fix it on you again. Ducking him is an Observe test against difficulty 5 (though other skills are possible with the right justification). He'll stop trying if you close to conversation range.

Ooooooooh Stars lit up in Lilian's eyes, and the distance between her and Rigel went from meters to centimeters in the blink of an eye. "Hi!" she said, smiling with brightly burning curiosity. "That's an interesting piece of technology you have there. How does it work?"

[PhoeKun]

You know there is such a thing as sugar coating, you... you...

6-ball, left corner. The cue has a lot of backspin on it, and it curves around the 7 and lines up the next shot on the side pocket of the other side of the table. Ashley shakes her head and dramatically saunters over to the other side of the table, where she leans on her stick and stares at the two agents.

Why do I even ask you questions when I know I'm going to hate every answer? You know, I know you don't think I'm very smart but there's this thing called employee morale and did it ever occur to you mighty space wizard cats that you might get more benefit out of us through your little deals if you took the chance to soften the blow every once in a while? Like gee, thanks for telling me I was signing away my body! How many nights were you going to let me burn at the gym before you told me I was completely wasting my time? I probably don't even need to be on this stupid diet, do I? Or... Or...

The rest dips below surface thoughts. Fears about becoming something unrecognizable. A creeping doubt about what Rigel and Miller said about a science team. Irritation, because literally everbody but Jaime seems to be converging on her tonight. She shoots a look at the door, half expecting Eliza to come traipsing through it just to finish off what was left of her good time.

"...I'm going to be honest, this is not how I pictured my evening."

[Thanqol]

Michiko watches the game intently, drinks a bit more rootbeer, which leaves a bit of froth on it. Ash is wrecking these guys quietly, lining up shots Michiko hadn't even seen. She made a mental note not to ever wager anything valuable against Ash in pool if she wanted to keep it.

So, these guys were being idiots, that was easy enough. "Yeah, I mean, I'm not sure wanting to help and reporting for dissection go together exactly. You never saw, like, Spider-Man drop in on a lab and go 'hey guys, did you want to check out my blood to study and maybe cut me up into pieces so you can figure out what happened faster?' You know what I mean?"

"Oh, sure, if you see any aliens then tell them that we need their help at the puppy ranch," said Miller. "Don't tell them about the dissection, they'd probably flip out. Oh man that'd be awkward!"

"I'm a cop, not a liar," grunted Rigel.


Ooooooooh Stars lit up in Lilian's eyes, and the distance between her and Rigel went from meters to centimeters in the blink of an eye. "Hi!" she said, smiling with brightly burning curiosity. "That's an interesting piece of technology you have there. How does it work?"

Rigel blinked and hesitated; unused to the sudden and complete attention. "Uh... hi. It's actually an, um, speed camera that I'm trying to fix."

"A speed camera that sees aliens," said Miller.

"God damn it sir!"

"You just said that you were a cop and not a liar," said Miller. "The way I figure it is that these things are going to be everywhere before long so why bother hiding it?"

Lilian, you're not unconvinced that the thing is a speed camera. It's a big boxy 1980s style radar gun with some sciency looking things stuck on the outside to make it look impressive. If it actually works there must be something really weird happening on the inside.


You know there is such a thing as sugar coating, you... you...

6-ball, left corner. The cue has a lot of backspin on it, and it curves around the 7 and lines up the next shot on the side pocket of the other side of the table. Ashley shakes her head and dramatically saunters over to the other side of the table, where she leans on her stick and stares at the two agents.

Why do I even ask you questions when I know I'm going to hate every answer? You know, I know you don't think I'm very smart but there's this thing called employee morale and did it ever occur to you mighty space wizard cats that you might get more benefit out of us through your little deals if you took the chance to soften the blow every once in a while? Like gee, thanks for telling me I was signing away my body! How many nights were you going to let me burn at the gym before you told me I was completely wasting my time? I probably don't even need to be on this stupid diet, do I? Or... Or...

This is why we don't tell you. You humans react so irrationally when we do! said Kyubey. As to the diet I do not understand human food rituals. I once lost a contract because I informed a human that there was no rational reason she couldn't eat certain subcategories of meat, and the very next human was prepared to contract in exchange for a sufficient supply of it. The biggest lesson we have learned about interacting with humans is not to volunteer information.

[PhoeKun]

With entirely too much force, Ashley drives the 9-ball into the left corner pocket, watching intently add the cue ball bounces around the table, rolling slowly to a stop as it just... barely... hits the lip of the side pocket and falls in, helpless victim of the forces of victory. Scratch: game over, she's lost.

She stands there for a second just leaning on her stick and pouting, trying to process everything that's happening around her.

"I think it matters that those girls fought that lion," she says after a very long pause, "I think it matters a lot. At least they were trying to help. Doesn't that count for anything? I'm not trying to question the government or anything, but has anybody at least considered trying to be friendly?"

She looks away toward Lillian's shoulder, and her eyes stare into the deep red pools that Kyubey looks through the world at. Same to you, you know.

[Anarion]

Michiko frowns as Ash scratches. She looked at Kyubey, over on Lilian's shoulder. Michiko hated that stupid cat and usually tried assiduously to avoid him. He was a reminder that no matter how strong she got, she was subject to somebody else's rules. But with these two guys here talking about magical girls (and getting it wildly wrong), she needed Kyubey now. Can you open up a 3-way link, you stupid cat?

Then she thinks at Ash and Lil Was that scratch intentional? she thought through the link? You trying to play these guys? We should, like, find out where their HQ is and if they're gonna be messing up stuff in the future. The mental link gets sad, and Michiko quickly tries to suppress her memories of the team that Ash butchered last night, replacing it with annoyance at these idiotic government guys throwing themselves into danger. Maybe we can go smash up their computers so they won't be able to coordinate anything for a while, what do you think?

Outwardly, Michiko is just watching intently from the side of the table and finishing up her rootbeer, licking off a little bit of foam that's left on the edge of her lip as she puts the glass down.

[Deadly]

Rigel blinked and hesitated; unused to the sudden and complete attention. "Uh... hi. It's actually an, um, speed camera that I'm trying to fix."

"A speed camera that sees aliens," said Miller.

"God damn it sir!"

"You just said that you were a cop and not a liar," said Miller. "The way I figure it is that these things are going to be everywhere before long so why bother hiding it?"

Lilian, you're not unconvinced that the thing is a speed camera. It's a big boxy 1980s style radar gun with some sciency looking things stuck on the outside to make it look impressive. If it actually works there must be something really weird happening on the inside.

"Cool, can I try it?" Lilian doesn't wait to take it from his hands and, if she gets the chance, point it at a seemingly empty spot on the bar. Get your ass off my shoulder and up on that bar now Cubey. I want to test this thing. She wanted to know if it worked, also mess with the minds of these two doofuses just because she could. Oh, if it actually worked! The thought alone ...


Michiko frowns as Ash scratches. She looked at Kyubey, over on Lilian's shoulder. Michiko hated that stupid cat and usually tried assiduously to avoid him. He was a reminder that no matter how strong she got, she was subject to somebody else's rules. But with these two guys here talking about magical girls (and getting it wildly wrong), she needed Kyubey now. Can you open up a 3-way link, you stupid cat?

Then she thinks at Ash and Lil Was that scratch intentional? she thought through the link? You trying to play these guys? We should, like, find out where their HQ is and if they're gonna be messing up stuff in the future. The mental link gets sad, and Michiko quickly tries to suppress her memories of the team that Ash butchered last night, replacing it with annoyance at these idiotic government guys throwing themselves into danger. Maybe we can go smash up their computers so they won't be able to coordinate anything for a while, what do you think?

Outwardly, Michiko is just watching intently from the side of the table and finishing up her rootbeer, licking off a little bit of foam that's left on the edge of her lip as she puts the glass down.

Hmm? What? Clearly Lilian is not paying attention. Oh ... right. No, wait, what? Why would you smash anything? I say we hack in and steal everything to figure out what they know. Maybe they know something we can use.

[Thanqol]

With entirely too much force, Ashley drives the 9-ball into the left corner pocket, watching intently add the cue ball bounces around the table, rolling slowly to a stop as it just... barely... hits the lip of the side pocket and falls in, helpless victim of the forces of victory. Scratch: game over, she's lost.

She stands there for a second just leaning on her stick and pouting, trying to process everything that's happening around her.

"I think it matters that those girls fought that lion," she says after a very long pause, "I think it matters a lot. At least they were trying to help. Doesn't that count for anything? I'm not trying to question the government or anything, but has anybody at least considered trying to be friendly?"

She looks away toward Lillian's shoulder, and her eyes stare into the deep red pools that Kyubey looks through the world at. Same to you, you know.

"If they were friendly they'd talk to the authorities rather than doing interdimensional cosmic vigilante bullsh*t," said Rigel.
"Maybe they got the idea from superhero comics?" suggested Miller.
"If we are dealing with aliens who based their first contact strategy around superhero comics rather than government protocols then that's a really great reason for launching the Sentinel program."


Michiko frowns as Ash scratches. She looked at Kyubey, over on Lilian's shoulder. Michiko hated that stupid cat and usually tried assiduously to avoid him. He was a reminder that no matter how strong she got, she was subject to somebody else's rules. But with these two guys here talking about magical girls (and getting it wildly wrong), she needed Kyubey now. Can you open up a 3-way link, you stupid cat?

No problem! Kyubey said helpfully. Kyubey was always helpful!


"Cool, can I try it?" Lilian doesn't wait to take it from his hands and, if she gets the chance, point it at a seemingly empty spot on the bar. Get your ass off my shoulder and up on that bar now Cubey. I want to test this thing. She wanted to know if it worked, also mess with the minds of these two doofuses just because she could. Oh, if it actually worked! The thought alone ...

"Uh," said Rigel.
"Sure!" said Miller.

Kyubey hopped up on the bar and, true enough, he appeared in the screen of the device as a swirling red silhouette. As it lingered there the camera started to get uncomfortably hot in your hand - and a trickle of bright red blood ran from the device and down along your knuckles.

"What the hell?" said Rigel starting to freeze up. You've got a moment if you want to try and control this situation.

[Anarion]

What the hell are you doing? Why would you point their detector at an actual alien? They'll think you're associated, Lil!

"Woah, what the heck did you do to that thing? Did you cut yourself on it?" Michiko asks out loud.

[Deadly]

What the hell are you doing? Why would you point their detector at an actual alien? They'll think you're associated, Lil!

"Woah, what the heck did you do to that thing? Did you cut yourself on it?" Michiko asks out loud.

Why? I'm clearly pointing it at an empty bar, not an alien.

"Ouch! Sorry, yeah, must have cut myself. Don't worry, I'll wipe it off." Lilian quickly pointed the detector away, but did her best to look non-fazed by the pain or the blood - which she would wipe off just as soon as she located a napkin. She wasn't sure where the blood came from or whose it was, but no way was she going to let these guys analyze it. She'd pocket the napkin and have a look at it herself later. For now ... "This thing is clearly broken," she said and made a show of shaking it. "It says there's something there, but I was just pointing it at the bar, and now it's overheating or something. You didn't put one of those infernal phone batteries in it, did you?" She started enthusiastically trying to open it up.

All according to plan. Sort of. The pain and blood not so much, but maybe the blood would tell her something later. That had to be a bonus.

[Thanqol]

What the hell are you doing? Why would you point their detector at an actual alien? They'll think you're associated, Lil!

"Woah, what the heck did you do to that thing? Did you cut yourself on it?" Michiko asks out loud.


Why? I'm clearly pointing it at an empty bar, not an alien.

"Ouch! Sorry, yeah, must have cut myself. Don't worry, I'll wipe it off." Lilian quickly pointed the detector away, but did her best to look non-fazed by the pain or the blood - which she would wipe off just as soon as she located a napkin. She wasn't sure where the blood came from or whose it was, but no way was she going to let these guys analyze it. She'd pocket the napkin and have a look at it herself later. For now ... "This thing is clearly broken," she said and made a show of shaking it. "It says there's something there, but I was just pointing it at the bar, and now it's overheating or something. You didn't put one of those infernal phone batteries in it, did you?" She started enthusiastically trying to open it up.

All according to plan. Sort of. The pain and blood not so much, but maybe the blood would tell her something later. That had to be a bonus.

Well, the good(?) news is that it seems to be definitively not your blood.

"Hey, woah, Jesus, you should not be messing around with that thing while you're spraying blood everywhere," said Rigel, trying to grab your hand. "I know first aid. Jesus, what the hell happened here? Hey Miller, grab the first aid kit would you?"

Blowing these guys off is some sort of check, they're at difficulty 5 for whatever that is.

[Anarion]

"Yeah, uh, maybe you'll appreciate if maybe I don't let my friend get hustled off somewhere by two guys we just met."

Michiko steps over to Lil, takes the camera. Next time, try not to, y'know, literally point the thing at the only alien around just to experiment. We could have stolen it later. "Here's your weird camera" she says, handing it back to the guys and putting herself between them and Lil. "Come on Lil, we'll get that looked at." She starts taking her towards the bathroom, which is at least plausible since they have a first aid kit in most of these places. Kyubey, you come too, and stay out of the way of that thing. Ash, uh, you wanna volunteer to come help so you can ditch these creeps?

[Deadly]

You're totally overreacting, and now you're ruining everything. Just chillax, alright? I've got this. Also, it's not my blood. It came from the machine.

If she couldn't convince Michiko to take a breath and start acting calm and rational, she didn't see any other choice but to follow, even if that totally spoiled everything.

But that was only one half of it. The other half was getting the two agents to calm down. She needed to show them it was just a scratch, nothing to get all worked up over. If she could just cut her hand without anyone seeing, just a small, insignificant cut, big enough to be convincing but not big enough to cause any concern. That should calm it all down, and then she might get back to taking a look at that machine. "Calm down everyone. See, it's just a scratch," she tried to reassure them. "Nothing to get worked up over."

So I guess the challenge is to cut her hand without being seen (by the agents at least), and without making it too little or too much?

[Thanqol]

You're totally overreacting, and now you're ruining everything. Just chillax, alright? I've got this. Also, it's not my blood. It came from the machine.

If she couldn't convince Michiko to take a breath and start acting calm and rational, she didn't see any other choice but to follow, even if that totally spoiled everything.

But that was only one half of it. The other half was getting the two agents to calm down. She needed to show them it was just a scratch, nothing to get all worked up over. If she could just cut her hand without anyone seeing, just a small, insignificant cut, big enough to be convincing but not big enough to cause any concern. That should calm it all down, and then she might get back to taking a look at that machine. "Calm down everyone. See, it's just a scratch," she tried to reassure them. "Nothing to get worked up over."

So I guess the challenge is to cut her hand without being seen (by the agents at least), and without making it too little or too much?

Well, essentially the challenge is blowing off Rigel who's trying to go all first-aid superhero on you, so it sounds like Persuade against difficulty 5.

[Deadly]

Well, essentially the challenge is blowing off Rigel who's trying to go all first-aid superhero on you, so it sounds like Persuade against difficulty 5.

Convince it is: [3, 6] = 6

[Thanqol]

Convince it is: [3, 6] = 6

"C'mon dude, she got this," said Miller, grabbing Rigel by the shoulder.

"Yeah, alright," said Rigel. "What the hell, though?" he said, grabbing the camera and starting to look it over. "Is there a nail or something?"

They're both distracted by their device thing, you're clear to make your exit.

[PhoeKun]

"It was... nice meeting you. I'll uh, just go home now. Think of me the next time you scratch, yeah?"

With a sigh and a smile, Ashley wanders out of the arcade and back onto the streets. There's too much of the night left to actually go home, but Jaime's clearly stood her up and like hell was she going to sit around dealing with whatever Michiko and/or Lilian were playing at, or continue trying to secretly justify herself to government spies WHO WOULD NOT EVEN BE ALIVE TODAY if it wasn't for her. As if they'd believe her if she told them. Pfeh.

So now it was time to... to... uh... well... hm. She kicks an empty soda bottle across the parking lot and stares into the empty sky, stars more than blotted out by the light pollution of London's still highly active skyline.

"Tonight sucks."

[Anarion]

You're totally overreacting, and now you're ruining everything. Just chillax, alright? I've got this. Also, it's not my blood. It came from the machine.

If she couldn't convince Michiko to take a breath and start acting calm and rational, she didn't see any other choice but to follow, even if that totally spoiled everything.

But that was only one half of it. The other half was getting the two agents to calm down. She needed to show them it was just a scratch, nothing to get all worked up over. If she could just cut her hand without anyone seeing, just a small, insignificant cut, big enough to be convincing but not big enough to cause any concern. That should calm it all down, and then she might get back to taking a look at that machine. "Calm down everyone. See, it's just a scratch," she tried to reassure them. "Nothing to get worked up over."

So I guess the challenge is to cut her hand without being seen (by the agents at least), and without making it too little or too much?

Michiko's mental voice is exasperated at best, though she's trying to stay calm.

Never, in the history of the universe, has somebody saying "just chillax" actually led to anyone chillaxing. Not one time. Ask the cat, never happened.


"C'mon dude, she got this," said Miller, grabbing Rigel by the shoulder.

"Yeah, alright," said Rigel. "What the hell, though?" he said, grabbing the camera and starting to look it over. "Is there a nail or something?"

They're both distracted by their device thing, you're clear to make your exit.

Ash was out the door, which maybe made this night a success or...something? And Lil didn't want to leave for some reason, so you know what, whatever, fine. Michiko shrugged since Lil seemed okay and just walked off. She went to the bar, ordered another soda, and settled herself at one of the old Area 51 arcade cabinets to murder some aliens with a light gun.

[Deadly]

Lilian rolled her eyes, then realized that Ashley had up and left. Did they say something wrong? Oh, right, paying more attention to a gadget than her friend, and then getting in an argument was probably not the most considerate she'd ever been ... curse her tendency to lose focus whenever a hot mystery walked by. Well, if Michiko wasn't going to go after Ashley, that just left Lilian the chance. Maybe she could say sorry or something, if nothing else ...

Right after she stole the scanner, that is.

[Thanqol]

"It was... nice meeting you. I'll uh, just go home now. Think of me the next time you scratch, yeah?"

"Will do!" said Rigel.
"Aw c'mon dude, really?" said Miller.
"What'd I say?"
"Do I really have to explain it?"

And they were left as they began, arguing over bullsh*t.


Michiko's mental voice is exasperated at best, though she's trying to stay calm.

Never, in the history of the universe, has somebody saying "just chillax" actually led to anyone chillaxing. Not one time. Ask the cat, never happened.

I'm coming up blank, said Kyubey


Lilian rolled her eyes, then realized that Ashley had up and left. Did they say something wrong? Oh, right, paying more attention to a gadget than her friend, and then getting in an argument was probably not the most considerate she'd ever been ... curse her tendency to lose focus whenever a hot mystery walked by. Well, if Michiko wasn't going to go after Ashley, that just left Lilian the chance. Maybe she could say sorry or something, if nothing else ...

Right after she stole the scanner, that is.

Make an Observe roll against difficulty 5 to get it and get out without being seen.



But in general this scene seems to be over so rather than draw it out it seems time to jump ahead a bit. Take a bit of time to narrate your evening or the next morning and we'll catch up with the three of you on the road to school - don't go ahead and arrive just yet, though.

[Deadly]

Make an Observe roll against difficulty 5 to get it and get out without being seen.

Observe: [6,5,1,4,3] + 3 = 9

Spirit check: 2 vs 4. Gain 1 Ego from the theft.

Like stealing candy from babies! These two were possibly the worst agents ever, because Lilian had no trouble finding the right moment when they were distracted to grab the scanner and slip out without anyone seeing.

Then it was off to see if she could catch up with Ashley to apologize.


But in general this scene seems to be over so rather than draw it out it seems time to jump ahead a bit. Take a bit of time to narrate your evening or the next morning and we'll catch up with the three of you on the road to school - don't go ahead and arrive just yet, though.

Since I'm running after Ashley, I'll let her take the lead on how this goes. Whether I catch up, or if she gives me the slip or something.

[PhoeKun]

Outside, Ashley was sitting on the hood of... somebody's car, still staring up at the flat, monotone black of the city's night sky. She startled when Lilian came out; obviously sitting on random people's cars was not the done thing in polite society, and there was a moment of panic where she tried to figure out how to avoid a confrontation before she realized who it was that saw her. With a huff, she leaps lightly off of the vehicle and lands on the balls of her feet, turning to look at the other girl with a halfhearted smile.

"Oh, hey Lilian. Sorry, I, uh, jeez, what a night. I've never been stood up before, so I just... and then those *******s were so... rrrgh." She clenches a fist and punches the air, "You know? So I just... I don't know. Everything feels wrong tonight. Maybe I'm just taking advantage of people. Maybe I deserved to have it blow up in my face like this. And then there's, sorry, no, nevermind. You don't need to hear this crap. What brought you out this way, anyway? I've never seen you here before, and we weren't supposed to meet until tomorrow."

[Anarion]

You ever just kinda drive hard at something? Like totally ram yourself into what you were doing? Only, it's not because you actually cared about it, but because you just had no idea what to do? That's how Michiko was feeling. She wasn't that good at Area 51, guns and twitch reflexes were not her thing: she didn't do aiming so much as she did "entire target was wiped out and surrounding collateral damage." Her only good run was when she got the machine gun and just sprayed the hell out of the screen, and then she ended up shooting two cops in that game and losing her bonus. So, that was like £5 in coins thrown away just so she could keep on spamming the trigger into more aliens.

She finished the game, went to use the bathroom, tried to splash some water on her face and calm down, but just wound up with long blue hair dripping lukewarm water into her eyes. Michiko was tense, angry without knowing what she was angry about. This had been what she'd wanted, right, Jaime hadn't shown up and now she had a shot with Ash, and that was good? So why did she feel like the night had been a total waste? She wanted nothing more than to grab one of those government jerks and slug them in the face. Were they still here?

[Deadly]

Outside, Ashley was sitting on the hood of... somebody's car, still staring up at the flat, monotone black of the city's night sky. She startled when Lilian came out; obviously sitting on random people's cars was not the done thing in polite society, and there was a moment of panic where she tried to figure out how to avoid a confrontation before she realized who it was that saw her. With a huff, she leaps lightly off of the vehicle and lands on the balls of her feet, turning to look at the other girl with a halfhearted smile.

"Oh, hey Lilian. Sorry, I, uh, jeez, what a night. I've never been stood up before, so I just... and then those *******s were so... rrrgh." She clenches a fist and punches the air, "You know? So I just... I don't know. Everything feels wrong tonight. Maybe I'm just taking advantage of people. Maybe I deserved to have it blow up in my face like this. And then there's, sorry, no, nevermind. You don't need to hear this crap. What brought you out this way, anyway? I've never seen you here before, and we weren't supposed to meet until tomorrow."

"It's alright. I'm sorry your night didn't go like you hoped." Lilian sat down on the hood of the car. "I feel like I'm the one who should be sorry here. I didn't come here to ruin your evening, or start a scene with Michiko and a couple of idiot agents. I was sort of hoping to find someone else here," she said, skipping lightly over any details of her carefully rehearsed lie, "but then I saw that scannery thing, and I might have gotten a little too carried away."

She smiled faintly, then looked at her shoes to hide her nervousness and possibly a little blush. "So um, if you don't have anything else planned, would you like to go somewhere else? Or we could just walk around for a bit. Sit on random cars and look at the lights of the city, maybe."

[Thanqol]

She wanted nothing more than to grab one of those government jerks and slug them in the face. Were they still here?

Yes, currently passionately arguing about the relative merits of Abridged youtube series in comparison to their source material. They'd cleared away the blood their machine had been bleeding and occasionally looking around for where it went.

[Anarion]

Yes, currently passionately arguing about the relative merits of Abridged youtube series in comparison to their source material. They'd cleared away the blood their machine had been bleeding and were periodically using it to scan randoms.

Well, that would do. "Why the hell'd you harass my friends, you jerks!?" she said, stomping up to them.

[Thanqol]

Well, that would do. "Why the hell'd you harass my friends, you jerks!?" she said, stomping up to them.

"Are you drunk, kid?" said Miller, not even showing your anger a flicker of respect. He's talking at you in the Cop Voice now. "Rigel, call this young woman a cab, it's time for her to go home."

[Anarion]

"Are you drunk, kid?" said Miller, not even showing your anger a flicker of respect. He's talking at you in the Cop Voice now. "Rigel, call this young woman a cab, it's time for her to go home."

"On root beer, give me a flippin break! I'd be surprised if you're even real cops, with your weird blood camera and all that talk of aliens. I bet you're just here to harass pretty girls."

Internally, Michiko wasn't really sure if she believed them or not, there had been that weird team the other night that she hadn't been able to save. But at the same time, these guys gave off a major creepazoid vibe, and she still really wanted enough social justification to hit one of them without getting in trouble.