Skyside 8: Base Violence and Unnecessary Change

[Earl of Purple]

Witch Hunt

"So... just through the door, right?" Unless the catfox says anything to deny this, Ystovelle will walk straight through the door, ramping up her glow so she's nearly painful to look at, ensuring that nothing can hide in the darkness and surprise her- although it also means that, for now, anything hiding in the factory will see her coming. Immil'ryth follows the elf-girl, spear gripped with both hands and currently anchored to the floor rather than floating around or drifting through the air.

[Rebonack]

[Witch Hunt]

It is never just anything with a Witch's Labyrinth. The three girls step inside and the world melts away around them.

I stand and look and behold beyond the edge of sight;
To broken chains and inky stains and a knife in the heart of night.

I watch them walk and pace and peer into the widening gyer;
To strike me and shake me and deliver me to my long awaited pyre.

But lo, says I, you each doomed to die search here to see me torn;
You carry your might and your colors bright yet each a beast to be born.

Some come to me my heroes three and witness your hopeless fate!
Cast yourself down before my crown and let your deaths no longer wait!

Ocette is immediately and almost overwhelmingly disoriented. It's hard to even... to even focus on what this place is. A void full of flashing metal and churning darkness, monoliths of... syringes? Like those bird heads? Rising out of the-

Wait.

Is that the ground or the ceiling? There's something burning.

A chemical smell.

A sound of rustling hospital waiting room magazines fills the air as avien shapes flock toward our heroes.

[Earl of Purple]

Witch Hunt

This is... really disorientating. The two Magical Girls look around, unsure of what's around them or what's going on. Nothing makes sense, here, and they're a little worried. Still quite confident; beating the Nightshade's boosted their confidence, possibly dangerously so.

Ystovelle strides in followed by Immil'ryth, who is first to notice the flock of needle-birds headed towards them. "Look out! Familiar things!" She points with her spear and leaps into the air, mostly seeking to avoid them. Kyubey said killing Familiars won't hinder the Witch at the centre all that much, so she'd prefer to avoid them and deal with the actual threat.
Ystovelle isn't so disciplined, pointing her sword at the birds and sweeping it across, a wave of light following the sword and striking out towards the birds as a shockwave of magic and light, resembling an afterimage left by the glowing sword that then extends out into a laser to hit and kill or disperse the disturbing things.

Immil'ryth might not be visible any more, if there's other obstacles she could have leapt over. She didn't think that perhaps the other two girls couldn't follow or might choose to fight rather than escape, though she's not too hindered by the disorientation, at least not yet.

[Murkus]

[In Search of Truth]

Tina is shoved! There's an oof, a sound of impact... but she tries to trick the construct. Despite being a little more battered for the trouble, she hangs onto the construct's limb, trying to ride it back when its arm retracts again. With a scowl and using flutters of her wings, she tries to clamber up the machine's arm towards its 'head'. Which she will quickly try to batter repeatedly with her fists, which have about the same force and density as the swings of a maul.

[Rebonack]

[Witch Hunt]

That goes without saying, right? It's difficult to tell what even exists here. Khannie's description of a Labyrinth is still one of the most poetic and apt. Like someone ate a scrap-book and then barfed it into a kaleidoscope. Nothing makes any sense and physical relationships between objects are difficult to nail down. It doesn't help that they're being attacked by more of those magazine syringe birds.

Ocette, meanwhile, throws out her hand it tossing motions, causing lengths of taunt metal wire to go whizzing away from her. Some just carve through the paper wings of the birds. Others strike their bodies and bind around them. Crippling either way. The laser chews through them in large numbers, causing them to ignite and vanish into nothing, because they were already nothing.

Come deeper, come deeper I call out to my killers three;
Through pages dark and shattered park to set my sundered soul free.

Why do you struggle so, I ask, the words swallowed up by screams;
To ever fight and blindly bite while we crawl through freezing streams.

I watch them now their footsteps soft as they draw deeper in the gloom;
Through the broken fence past the tower whence my waiting egg found its doom.

Awake awake and let tears fly upon my savoir foes!
For death is sweet and children meet oblivion wrapped in glittering bows.

Oh great here comes something else. Fewer familiars, this time, but larger. Cloth mannequins each with a great red X slashes into their faces and weeping tears of joysadnessconfusion. The drops of (water?) whizz like bullets through the air.

[Earl of Purple]

Witch Hunt

The hissing water-bullets cause brief panic after they make contact with the girls; they weren't expecting them to actually be bullets. Between their magic healing their bodies and deadening pain they don't prove very effective, though Immil'ryth flies towards them with her spear raised. Once close, she'll lash out with her spear, wielding it almost like a quarterstaff except one that happens to have a point on one end she can stab and slash with. Ystovelle disappears to avoid being a target, though she's not intangible- just invisible; and she's also advancing, aiming to catch the scarecrow familiars by surprise when she slashes them with her sword.

[Rebonack]

[Witch Hunt]

Several water bullets thump into Ocette with enough force to spin her around, but she hardly feels them and quickly moves back into the battle. Gripping the wire spooled at her back, she makes a quick flicking motion with her hand, spearing several of the mannequins through the face with strands of wire that quickly bind around them and constrict. Between spear slashes and sword strokes the second wave of foes is easily dispatched.

"I think these things are easier than that spider monster was," Ocette says as she presses forward, ever closer to the heart of the Labyrinth.

Because it should be remembered that a Labyrinth is NOT a maze.

All paths lead inexorably to the center.

Here at last oh here at last upon me doth my foes break;
Come near and do not fear and take my life for your own sake.

You seek death, mine your own, alas I can not say;
I reach arms wide and with ruined tide do I crush their winding way.

See me now and despair does your heart not rend?
Needles let fly still doomed to die will yet one of us end?

Lay down your head, friends, and except this your fate;
To pass beyond mind and at last to find that final silver gate.

The Witch is...

It... is. Even describing it is difficult.

A mess of cloth stretched tight over a frame of iron, needles piercing it like some crude porcupine. It hangs limp from a rope suspended on nothing, waves lapping against drooping paper feathers. Needles are hurled from it in storms, leaving the body numb and unresponsive where they strike.

[Earl of Purple]

Witch Hunt

"Sh! You say that, they'll get up again. Don't jinx it, OK?" Ystovelle looks around nervously after, but probably nothing else occurs until they confront the Witch at the Labyrinth's Heart.

Ystovelle disappears, moving away from the other girls to use them... not quite as bait, but to attract the Witch's attention so she can strike unobserved, from an angle. Immil'ryth doesn't do that, just leaping into the air and jabbing out with her spear, which extends as she stabs with it to make dodging harder and letting the gith Girl stay out of needle range, though she's caught a few needles with her body and it's most unpleasant.

Ystovelle, when she reappears, slashes out with her sword, an arc of light cutting out at the Witch from her position off to one side.

[Ironsmith]

[A Tankless Job]

"Uh-huh... uh-huh..." Rose murmurs into her phone as she steps out of the elevator, making her way toward the back entrance to Raven's most recent conquest. "Look, Greg, I get where you're coming from, and I agree, but what you're asking just isn't in the cards right now. I could barely squeek by health insurance without her noticing. ...That's not how this works, Greg. You know the response I got last time I suggested not using living employees for target practice? A maniacal laugh, that's what. Granted, an adorable, lovable kind of maniacal laugh, but a maniacal laugh all the same. She doesn't see the benefits of happy workers yet, and until she does, we'll have to move slowly, all right? We can't risk toppling the whole thing over dental. ...Good. Glad you get it."

Rose tucks her phone into the inner pocket of her military-style jacket, leaving it unbuttoned and flapping open in the wind. Apart from that, she's dressed a little warm for Skyside; under the jacket, she's wearing a short-cut top that leaves both her midriff and everything above her bustline exposed, paired with a set of shorts that barely touch her thighs. About the only parts of this ensemble that do more than is necessary to avoid running afoul of indecent exposure laws are the heavy leather boots that lace all the way up to the knees, and the slightly-too-big officer's hat that may or may not be part of an actual uniform.

All part of the job, of course. Anything that helps keep her in Raven's good books is fair game, even scandalous attire hinting at stolen valor.

"Hey, Raven!" Rose will greet her "girlfriend"/"boss" as she approaches, with an enthusiastic little wave. "How's my favorite aspiring Empress of Everything?"

[Reinholdt]

[A Tankless Job]

Raven's girlfriend wanted a tank. So, among other things, Raven just bought up an entire used car dealership and all its subsidiaries and parent companies. Her economic conquest of Skyside has slowed considerably, having snatched up everything loose. Most of the rest is held in tighter grips unwilling to part with their power for a payday. But at least Raven didn't have to conquer this particular lot the bloody way.

The used cars weren't even being put to use! Sure, her growing mecha-zombie army of former workers that couldn't keep up with the demands of a mad scientist salvaged some parts that may be of use later. But most of the used cars here are still intact and operable. Which made them the perfect targets for complete and utter smashing. Who hasn't dreamed of just wrecking nice, expensive things? And these cars were by and large, the wrong color! Practically asking to get smashed.

Speaking of asking to get smashed, Raven looks over at Rose as she approaches and visibly swallows, her tail twitching with express interest. Her eye never leaves Rose as she approaches and almost forgets to answer the question. Raven always knew Rose was hot, that was a given and Raven could always handle it. But in Rose's villainous right-hand-woman outfit, she's outright distracting. "Y-y-yes, we are ready." That wasn't the question.

Raven clears her throat and sweeps over to the large blanketed object in the most open area of the lot, her personal mecha-zombie guard off to one side for once instead of carrying her. And honestly, where in the world does Raven keep finding these humongous sheets from? She seems to have recovered her composure now that she's doing something dramatic. "Prepare to be amazed, bedazzled, impressed, and awed to your knees. I gift to you the... Omega Briar 5000!" Raven rips off the sheet. She's actually very good at that, though the sheet does end up falling over her in the process and she has to clamber her way out of her own net.

Meanwhile, Rose can gaze upon her new tank! It's got a lot of weaponry and is bordering on futuristic. That might just be all the black used in the paintjob, but there's definitely some tech in there too. Side mounted mortars, rear turrets, missile bays?, a rail gun? This thing seemed bristling with evil potential. And also a steep learning curve. That's several different things to aim in several different arcs! At least the name hasn't been painted on, so if Rose comes up with a better one, she can still use that. Raven wanted to leave the option to personalize it in there for Rose, seeing as how it'll be her tank and everything.

Spoiler

Show

[Ironsmith]

[A Tankless Job]

Rose is, indeed, awed.

And amazed.

Arguably bedazzled.

Most certainly impressed.

She finds herself slowly walking along the side of the tank, hesitantly reaching out to run her hand along the curved exterior plating, casually reminding Raven what sort of reward might be waiting on the far side of this sort of treatment. "My god, it's beautiful." The consort-to-be whispers, in a mix of awe and unadulterated admiration.

Of course, as with many things in their ongoing relationship, Rose finds herself thinking something else altogether. When Raven promised her a tank, Rose expected she'd be commandeering an old piece of military hardware from elsewhere in Skyside, refurbishing it, and possibly adding some new features. She wasn't expecting a state-of-the-art death machine that would give Terahn tanks a run for their money. And if Raven could build something like this once, the odds favored that she could not only do it again, she could mass produce them if she were so inclined. Rose is staring directly at evidence that she's underestimated Raven's capabilities.

...But on the other hand, there was a good reason why she was expecting that. Raven's other tech didn't always seem especially... polished, for want of a better word. Her mecha-zombies, while effective, were also somewhat inelegant and unsightly. The Hotbox replica she created, likewise, was made from a horribly mutilated corpse and didn't quite have the same functionality as her own (though the overlap was disturbing in its own right). And she had a tendency to invoke classic villainous design flaws in her work, as Rose herself pointed out on multiple occasions. Which would in turn imply that Raven pulled out all of the stops in building Rose's tank.

...Which she has to admit, is surprisingly sweet, if terrifying for the implications.

Having spent enough time building up anticipation for her response, Rose turns to Raven and lets out a little squeal of delight. "Raven, you spoil me rotten." She giggles, planting an affectionate kiss on the nekomancer's forehead. "I love it already! How do we get in? I want to fire one of those bad boys!"

For intelligence-gathering purposes, of course.

...Okay, fine. Raven can't just put a cannon in front of her and tell her not to use it. That would be... likely her third biggest crime against humanity today, but it's up there!

[Reinholdt]

[A Tankless Job]

Raven would be so hurt to hear Rose call her mecha-zombies inelegant! Raven dotes on them quite a bit. Maybe even to the point it's a little weird how casually she'll toss them into the line of fire.

She loves them dearly.

Until they're disposable.

"You're already rotten," Raven teases. "And I like it." The catgirl wraps her hands around Rose's waist for just a moment to hold her and kiss her neck in return.

Though Rose asks a very important, very legitimate question. How does one get in? Raven's certain she provided room on the inside for two people to fit at least kinda comfortably, unless claustrophobia was a problem. "Ahh... ummm... I'm pretty sure it's those two yellow circles in the front. I think." Or wait, was there a hatch in the back? No, no, you had to be able to pop up from the front dramatically for a villainous entrance.

"At least seventy percent certain."

[Rebonack]

[Witch Hunt]

Ocette does a pretty good job of dodging the needle storm, leaping from spike to spike with the same ease that she runs along her wires. One of them mashes into her left arm when she holds it up to block her face, though, the limb falling limply to her side.

"Pff, didn't like that arm much anyway," she spits, grabbing her wire spool and hurling a half dozen wires out that pierce through the Witch, wrap around it, and yank it down to the ground. "And I'm getting tired of your bad poetry. So-"

She makes a very ninja-y motion with both her hands.

"HUSH!"

A deep, silent stillness falls over the battlefield. Reality rearranges in some fashion, the Witch's voice drowned out by the overwhelming calm.

This... actually helps quite a bit? The battle field is somehow more concrete without the Witch's incomprehensible babble warping it, the constantly shifting terrain settling into something a bit more stable.

That doesn't make the fight any safer, though. Just a bit less confusing.

The Witch is slashed into and speared and impaled by wires, gushing lime green fluid everywhere. If the girls are splashed by it, the liquid will cause more numbness. Too much and they'll pass out which would be... very bad considering the circumstances.

[Ironsmith]

[A Tankless Job]

Raven would be so hurt to hear Rose call her mecha-zombies inelegant! Raven dotes on them quite a bit. Maybe even to the point it's a little weird how casually she'll toss them into the line of fire.

She loves them dearly.

Until they're disposable.

"You're already rotten," Raven teases. "And I like it." The catgirl wraps her hands around Rose's waist for just a moment to hold her and kiss her neck in return.

Though Rose asks a very important, very legitimate question. How does one get in? Raven's certain she provided room on the inside for two people to fit at least kinda comfortably, unless claustrophobia was a problem. "Ahh... ummm... I'm pretty sure it's those two yellow circles in the front. I think." Or wait, was there a hatch in the back? No, no, you had to be able to pop up from the front dramatically for a villainous entrance.

"At least seventy percent certain."

[A Tankless Job]

"...Seventy percent?" Rose raises an eyebrow. "You built it, you don't know for certain?"

Raven's not that scatterbrained, is she?

...Maybe she is. Geniuses, evil or otherwise, did tend to be a bit disparate in their mental facilities. And Raven's also operating on no sleep, which can't be good for her long-term memory.

Rose internally shrugs the point away as she moves to the indicated circles, fiddling with them until they produced an entrance or she could be reasomably certain they wouldn't. She's not entirely sure why it's on the front of the tank... if she were designing it, she'd put the entrance on the back where a charging enemy couldn't get to it, or maybe on the top of the turret.

...Then again, the ability of the pilot to run over anyone who tried to hop into her tank mid-battle could probably be seen as a security feature in of itself. It did seem ruthless enough to fit the Raven Ebondark brand.

[Earl of Purple]

Witch Hunt

Ystovelle is splashed quite badly, especially since she's got a sword, and falls over unconscious. Her invisibility hasn't kicked in, so she can be seen, which is bad because the familiars can find her, but good because it means so can Ocette and Immil'ryth.

The gith keeps her distance, jabbing out with her spear that starts to extend as she uses it. It gives her plenty of reach, letting her stay out of splash radius, and she's still flying. She's trying to cover for Ystovelle, jabbing at the familiars that get too close, and swooping down to defend her better, the spear shrinking down to a more manageable length. At this point, she's using the haft to hit the familiars away and lashing out with her feet as well. She's using some of her dancing lessons to keep her balance as she kicks out, surprised at how useful they're proving.

[Reinholdt]

[A Tankless Job]

"Well it could also be the mine throwers. I'm pretty sure I installed mine throwers. Or planned to..." She may have scrapped that weapon to fit the seats. Or wait, did she replace the ejection feature with mine throwers? Oh. There we go. Rose has discovered they are indeed entrances to the tank! First try!

"See? It was just an expression. You worry too much," Raven says, as if she knew where the hatch was the whole time. She climbs up after Rose and takes the back seat, against her better judgement. Still, if things are too crowded, it does let Rose just sit in Raven's lap.

She may be more distracted by all the levers and buttons and screens. Only about a fifth of them are labeled. But the view outside of the tank is very high definition. Definitely no trouble seeing what's going on outside the metal shell.

[Rebonack]

[Witch Hunt]

Getting mobbed by familiars while trying to defend someone unconscious is definitely a less than ideal situation.

With the Witch in bad shape the fragments of her broken mind are swarming in mass, mannequins and syringe birds alike. They come pouring down upon the girls in great numbers, trying to distract that from being able to land a finishing blow! Will Immil'ryth be able to protect both herself and Ystovelle at the same time?

Ocette definitely isn't even going to try.

She's shifted to full defensive, hurling wires this way and that until she's created a tangled web of metal around herself. The cardassian girl has absolutely no difficult leaping from wire to wire, running along them with blatant disregard for gravity. When the mannequins try to follow they find themselves getting sliced apart.

Offense and defense at the same time is a pretty solid plan!

However...

The Witch is still there, looming, crying out anesthetizing fluid that begins rising in swelling waves.

[Ironsmith]

[A Tankless Job]

Oh thank god. Rose lets out a little sigh of relief as the screens flare up around her, giving a clear view of the world around the tank. Ordinarily, being in a space this small might cause her claustrophobia to flare up, but Raven seems to have thought of that and included a tactical advantage to boot.

"...Okay, so... first thing's first. Safety harness?" Rose prompts, looking back at Raven for quick confirmation or denial. She's not going to linger on it if she didn't include any harnesses, but if she did, she'd like to know now before they go crazy with the guns and the missiles and explosions.

"...Oookay. Okay. Okay okay okay. Here we go." Rose takes a breath and gently presses up on what she thinks is the forward lever.

Oh.

Wait.

She needs to start the silly thing first.

Rose runs her finger over the buttons and looks for something resembling the ignition.

Ah-ha! There it (maybe) is! Boop!

[Earl of Purple]

Witch Hunt

The answer is no, Immil'ryth can't really defend herself and Ystovelle simultaneously, and whilst trying to defend the other Girl, the gith is concentrating on protecting herself, so a few more injuries are picked up on the unconscious glass elf. Immil'ryth will, when she has a moment, bend down to pick Ystovelle up and sling her over a shoulder before jumping up and staying up, flying and stabbing out at familiars and the Witch with her spear, which is getting longer and shorter as she does. She's trying to push magic into Ystovelle to wake her up, aiming to free Ystovelle of her slumber, and it's working a little- the glass elf's glow is getting brighter, at least.

Edgestreet

So named because it's a commercial area straddling Tempest Row and Thunderhead, literally on the city's edge with viewing gantries and observation platforms to watch the shuttles and skyports, Edgestreet is home to many businesses that attract aeronauts and warehouse managers alike. Currently, one of the shops- a seedy hotel, with a red light above the door- is being attacked. An individual walked in, a short man wearing a pair of dark green waders, an old blue hoody, and a cape made from an old red curtain, with a mask and swimming goggles to conceal his identity, walked in. Then the door slammed open, and the windows started breaking. Gunfire was heard, but it seems to have calmed down a bit now.

[Reinholdt]

[A Tankless Job]

"Oh yeah. You can strap in here. Wasn't going to waste the space, but sometimes this baby vibrates." Violently. So the seat is padded properly and some things resembling seat belts are available crossing over the front in an x. It's possible Raven just wanted to see Rose strapped down, but that's more of a side benefit.

Raven decides she might as well engage the safeties of her seat as well, even if the bindings clash with her dress. Ugh. Safety. Her palanquin has no safety harnesses and she gets along just fine!

That was definitely not the ignition, given the AC just kicked on full blast. It gets hot in there! Well not with the state of the art cooling system Raven has designed called 'maximum fan'. Great circulation.

"It's the black button," Raven suggests from the back, unhelpfully. Sure, there is a black button. As well as a midnight blue button. And a charcoal gray button, a dark chocolate brown button, a greenblack button...

[Zefir]

[Savior from the Dark]

The sun falls over the edge of the city and darkness rises from the other side. Arifical lights kick into existence were it's needed, but also live starts to rise in the dark alleys. A small group of slavers, not directly connected to the big ones, steps out of an alley. In tow they push a group of four people in their 30ties. The slavers seem happy to make a good catch today and prepare to transport their goods to the market. None of them seems to be worried as they pass through the street. They don't have to fear the police as their is non who cares. Still the competition is all around so neither of them drinks andall keep their weapons ready, just in case.

Unfortunate the slavers pass another corner and suddendly face three figures. Each of them looks different and the slavers immediatly know thie don't face an opposing groupe. They draw their weapons, looking around for additional trouble, but nothing is visible. "Gett the *** off our way." the Leader of the slavers says.

One of the three figures int the middel, a slender looking man with an armless labcoat, scales over his arms and also around his face, replies to the slaver. "I'm sorry mister, but we want to free those you captured." he then waves with his hand to one of his comanions. The smaller one walks up to the slavers with a shotgun in hand. The man looks rather normal. So normal you wouldn't notice him in a crowed. The slavers hold their weapons up and aim at him. "Don't be stupid and leave, we outnumber you 1 to 3." the leader says and points at the incoming man. "Get him boys."

And thus the fight beginns. Shooting can be heared around the place, commands were shout but soon changes to paniked cries. A few minutes migth pass befor the scene is clear again. The man in the labcoat and his bigger henchman still stand at the point they were at the start while the smaller henchman steps back from the scene. "All done." he says, pointing at the dead bodys of the slavers behind him. The slaves in their chains have followed him and the man in the labcoat notes his bigger henchman to break the chanis and he does so.

"Here, go to this location. It's my company, their you wil be provided with food and clothes and you can start a job to get off the street." the man in the labcoat says and hands over acard. The slaves thank him and head straight to the location. While they are out of sight he grins a bit, happy to have some new test subjects.

[Rebonack]

[Witch Hunt]

Wounds on Magical Girls are odd things.

Provided they have magic left to spare the wounds heal up almost immediately, cleaning away the blood and grime and leaving them looking just as sparkly and pristine as they had been to begin with.

It's a very powerful ability.

But one that really eats away at the magic supply, so best to be careful about tanking hits you don't have to, girls!

The battle continues in eerie silence which, oddly, seems to disorient all the familiars pretty significantly. Maybe they're unable to 'hear' the Witch's commands and as a result are more disorganized? They're cut down just as easily as they were before, but there are just so MANY of the blasted things!

Ocette has bound the Witch and pried open that bird-cage body of hers, exposing a great big cartoony looking heart with an adhesive bandage on it. She gestures frantically at the gith.

That thing!

Stab that thing!

[Earl of Purple]

Witch Hunt

Ystovelle struggles and wakes up after a moment, slashing at the nearest familiars with her sword- she dropped it, but now she's holding it again and isn't asking questions about how that works- and hangs onto Immil'ryth as they swing around. The glass elf is half-standing on the gith's foot, which isn't actually being supported by anything. Ystovelle spots what Ocette wants before Immil'ryth does, and attracts her ride's attention by waving and pointing, slashing out at the heart and sending a poorly-aimed slash of light at the heart, before Immil'ryth turns and jabs her spear at the bandage and the spear extends into a pike with the point aimed for the bandage on the heart. She's rapidly getting better at fighting in the air, whereas Ystovelle isn't used to it at all and concentrates mostly on vanishing and reappearing and being hard to track.

[Ironsmith]

[A Tankless Job]

"Oh yeah. You can strap in here. Wasn't going to waste the space, but sometimes this baby vibrates." Violently. So the seat is padded properly and some things resembling seat belts are available crossing over the front in an x. It's possible Raven just wanted to see Rose strapped down, but that's more of a side benefit.

Raven decides she might as well engage the safeties of her seat as well, even if the bindings clash with her dress. Ugh. Safety. Her palanquin has no safety harnesses and she gets along just fine!

That was definitely not the ignition, given the AC just kicked on full blast. It gets hot in there! Well not with the state of the art cooling system Raven has designed called 'maximum fan'. Great circulation.

"It's the black button," Raven suggests from the back, unhelpfully. Sure, there is a black button. As well as a midnight blue button. And a charcoal gray button, a dark chocolate brown button, a greenblack button...

[A Tankless Job]

Rose scrunches herself together as the fan turns on, giving Raven a little grimace. She is way underdressed for an environment this chilly, though thankfully what she is wearing hugs her too tightly to be blown away. "...Vibrates, you say?" She giggles, before turning her attention back to the buttons.

All right. Hit the black one.

...As if there weren't a dozen of those. Couldn't Raven have at least told her which side it's on?

"Okay... black ignition button... hm." Rose's hands hover over the controls as she tries to puzzle out where Raven would put it. She's noticed her girlfriend does most of her dramatic gestures with her left hand, so it seems like a fair bet that she built the tank for a leftie (thankfully, that's a trait they have in common). The start button would be within easy reach of the driver's seat, but since she only needs to press it once, not likely to be in the most ready positions... that space would be reserved for various weapons and other items she'd need to carefully manipulate while driving.

So the most likely candidate would be... that one, there. Boop!

[Reinholdt]

[A Tankless Job]

Rose will be thankful for the AC when the body heat starts filling this tiny space, even with her breezy clothes!

"A machine that doesn't shake, rattle, sputter, stutter, and tremble hasn't been upgraded enough times." Which means it's free to be tinkered with.

Speaking of, the tank shudders to life, a lot of other buttons lighting up as the entire thing begins to lightly hum with barely fettered power. That must have been the right button! Might want to remember that one for when Rose wants to shut it off. Unless pressing it again just powers it up more. But separate on and off buttons are some sort of archaic design Raven's unlikely to get behind no matter how mad genius her blueprints became.

"Mmm... hear her purr~"

[Ironsmith]

[A Tankless Job]

"Oh, believe me, I do~" Rose teases, giving Raven that smile in her reflection off the monitor. She hadn't not noticed the suggestive undertones in the empress's voice, nor the choice of features she's highlighted. Part of Rose wonders if building this tank was an excuse to have the two of them curtain inside a multi-ton death machine. That sounded like a very Raven thing to do.

Okay, back to business. Rose reaches forward and presses what she thinks might be the "go forward" button, and...

Nope. That's the radio.

Spoiler: You're listening to SKYJ!

Show

"Skyside's number one radio station for all things music and montages! We have a call-in request today, from a miss... Chartreuse. Ma'am?"

"Hi, yes, I was wondering if you could play "Drunken Smooch" by Caitlyn Cyder?"

"We don't have that one, but here's a close match! Enjoy!"

And then the song starts.

Then how about...

Oh, wait a moment. That lever she pulled earlier is still in the forward position. She thought it might have been the acceleration at the time, but the fact that they weren't moving suggested otherwise. Maybe it's the handbrake? Or a gear change? Whatever it is, Rose had probably better put it back in neutral before she touches anything else.

kt-thnk

[Rebonack]

[Witch Hunt]

There's a shudder.

A sound like a deflating bellows.

A steady monotone beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.

The Labyrinth and all its horrors dissolve away.

Our heroes are standing in the empty warehouse again, several unconscious addicts laying nearby.

In front of them, stabbed into a concrete wall, is a sphere of onyx surrounded by silver filigree with long needle on one side and a little stylized band-aid on the other.

That's it.

They're done.

Ocette lets out a long sigh and leans against one of the concrete pillars spread around the warehouse.

"That was... not too bad! Strange, but we were triumphant none the less," Ocette say as she strides forward and yanks the grief seed out of the wall. "So this is how we recharge our magic? How do we use it."

~You need only touch it to your magical girl gem. It can be used safely three times.~

Oh! That weird catfox is back again! He's sitting on one of the unconscious addicts, watching the girls impassively.

[Reinholdt]

[A Tankless Job]

What sort of radio station doesn't have Drunken Smooch?

Ah well. At least the replacement is decent.

Rose returns the lever to its original position and a very British female voice cuts through the music, the beats temporarily fading into a soft background melody. "Parachute Deploying."

Which is exactly what happens the next moment. A chamber near the top of the tank rips open and a parachute flutters upwards and expands, revealing a dark black chute embroidered with a large red rose. It... quickly crumples and floats down until landing on the tank, covering one half of it and making a nuisance of itself.

"We... aren't falling yet," Raven informs Rose. There was no need to deploy the parachute! Well, some mechazombies will have to get that parachute off the tank, but it shouldn't take more than a minute or two. Unless Rose wants to pull the lever again to see if it will automatically retract and doesn't need to be manually reloaded.

... Who makes their parachute require you pull and then push a lever anyways?

[Ironsmith]

[A Tankless Job]

"...Why do we even have a... oh."

They're in Skyside. At some point in this tank's lifetime, it's going to take a nasty fall. Apparently Raven would rather make sure Rose survives it.

That's... maybe not surprising, but unexpected enough to be reassuring. Not too long ago, Rose would have guessed Raven would address the problem by having a surgical table on standby for Rose's corpse should anything happen to her. After all, not long before that, she did try to make sure something happened to her.

Maybe this is a sign that Raven's softening up?

...

She probably shouldn't just assume that. The nekomancer's considerations may well be exclusive to her; she does have a bit of an advantage over the average peon in Raven's employ. Most of them haven't seen her without the dress, for example, and Rose can't imagine that those who somehow have lived to tell about it.

If she's going to act on this, she'll have to probe indirectly and see where Raven is, psychologically.

"...Well, that's embarrassing!" Rose giggles, pulling her hand off the lever and giving an exaggerated shrug. "Not touching that one again!" She laughs and throws her head over the side of the chair, looking back at Raven in an upside-down kind of way.

"Well, while we're, ah, waiting for the boys to pack the chute back in, there's something I've been meaning to ask you about." She continues, still wearing a big, toothy grin. "Supposing that, tomorrow, a certain someone who won't be named wanted to surprise her Empress with a sugary connection of some kind, what would she like it to be? You know, hypothetically."

[Earl of Purple]

Witch Hunt

"I'm really getting the hang of fighting in the air, I think." Immil'ryth grins, displaying her rather sharp teeth. She'll hold her hand out ready to take the grief seed after Ocette has finished with it.
Ystovelle is breathing quite heavily, and heads over to the nearest addict, patting him down to see if he's got any money. She saved his life; she should get a reward, right? Besides, she'd spend the money on food or something, not wasting it on whatever this guy's sleeping off. Food would also be appreciated, or water; anything, really, that she could use herself.