1928/Surprise Exchange

Surprise Exchange
Date of Scene:	05 September 2024
Location:	Abandoned Theme Park
Synopsis:	Starcrash gets a location fix on an upgrade module in the middle of the night, so Rashmi comes all the way out to help Molly try and retrieve it... only for it to disappear before they can find it! Meanwhile a strange new Mahou named Equivalance has appeared, who can really kick. Coincidence?! ...Nah, couldn't be, that's silly.
Cast of Characters:	Molly Skyline, Rashmi Terios, Hinoiri Kirara

---

Molly Skyline has posed:
It's late evening; very late, as it turns out, but Molly is still awake because she's been playing a game online with some of her orphanage-mates from back home in England. Just because she moved to Japan doesn't mean she forgot about them of course, and naturally they want to hear all about Tokyo. After spending a good twenty minutes convincing them that sushi is good actually (But isn't it raw fish?!) and they should try it, it is, eventually, time to log off.

And that turns out to be entirely convenient, as within thirty seconds of Molly turning off her computer and changing into her giraffe-onesie for bed, Starcrash is pinging that something... is afoot.

<< MODULE DETECTED >>

Molly is halfway into bed, when "...Oh!!" She picks up the blue-jeweled earing she just took off, and takes a moment to re-awaken her brain. It's hard, at this hour. "Sorry. Uhm. Module detected. What sort of module, and where?"

<< DEFENSE MODULE >> Starcrash reports, before displaying coordinates on a little holographic map.

"...I didn't know you could do that. Maybe you should tell me about the things you can do," she observes, dryly, as she looks at the little map. And it's... out in the ocean. How does that make sense?

<< INCORRECT. NATURAL UNDERGROUND CAVERN. ACCESSIBLE HERE. >> A little blip appears on her map, not far from the docks.

"Oh that'll be safe," Molly observes, rubbing her chin. And a moment later she's texting Rashmi. << Hey, you still awake? Starcrash detected a module. >>

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Reading in bed is a cherished activity that Rashmi will never get old. Tucked under the covers in her bedclothes, Rashmi is cheerfully reading the book Molly had given her, when the ping came through Nicomachea.

<< ... Okay yes I'm awake and of course I'm coming to help but *now?* Gimme a second, and if Starcrash could give me a location? >>

Even as she sends the message, she's opening the window next to her bed, not even bothering to put shoes on before leaping out and henshining 'on the wing.'

As she soars toward the location given, she cannot help but ask, even if nobody involved is likely to know the answer.

<< So, seriously, why *now?* >>

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara was not having the best day. She hadn't had much success, if any, in henshining since the first time. She'd tried calling it out, singing to it, bonking all of the pieces of stuff she'd found together.

Nothing.

A part of her was tempted to take the pieces to Takashi and explain it... but that was a headache in and of its own. Was it possible that Gretchen was a part of it? Could she have... given her the aid, so she could help?

Maybe.

But then there was the question of where that henshin had even come from. Black and gray hair, the outfit, the kicks... it was... weird.

And she was frustrated. Angry. She'd been walking through the city at the time, hands in her pockets, she didn't know what she'd expected. Maybe she was even looking for trouble, she didn't know. She'd been so frustrated...

But then she thought she'd felt... something. Magic. Maybe something calling her. And she'd left the more busy parts of the city...

And now?

Now she was running for her life. While she didn't know it, her negative attitude had attracted... Grim. The strange, black and white monsters that were reminiscient of large animals with bones grafted on them, like some kind of edgy teen's monster of the week. Amusing to see when you had powers.

When you were a mundane? Not so much. This was the second time she'd encountered them and there were a whole pack of them now, leaping on buildings through the abandoned theme park, one in close pursuit as she ran into a long abandoned 'employees only' building, kicking the door open and run inside, slamming it shut behind her.

Panting and pushing against it. "I-I hate this world," she whispered.

Hitting one of the youma with a metal pipe had been... ineffective, to say the least. But a girl had to try.

Molly Skyline has posed:
<< Don't ask me, I have no idea how these things work. But I don't want to lose it again... so... thank you for coming! >>

Molly sends the location, and then mirrors Rashmi's action, leaping out the window in her onesie and henshining on the way down. She skims across the top of a bus -- not that anyone notices, thanks to the veil -- and is on her way to the abandoned amusement park. Because, that's totally a safe place for a teenage girl to go in the middle of the night, approaching the very wee hours of the morning. She flies at a fast pace, but not her top speed; she's still not quite at full mana since her most recent encounter with Aloisia (though she is pretty close) and doesn't want to waste anything. Still, she gets there in a reasonable amount of time, and sticks a landing on top of a decaying building that once housed bumper cars.

Once Rashmi arrives, she gives her friend a quick hug, before pointing towards a storm drain.

"So... apparently though there?" she guesses, showing Rashmi the map. "How weird is that?"

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Touching down next to Molly, Rashmi follows the pointing finger, to the storm drain. For a moment she stares at it, then checks the map in silence... Then looses Teenage Sigh #47, Vaguely Annoyed But Not At Anyone Or Anything In Particular So Let's Just Set It Aside.

"All I'm gonna say is, if we go down there and there's an underground dinosaur jungle? We retreat and don't do anything until I've called Setsuchan and her family. Because I know *at least* one person, if not two, who would never forgive me."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
It wasn't, well... the best thing ever, to be honest. Old, abandoned theme park...

And huh, weird. Some of the white paint seemed new? In the dark, it was hard to make out.

At least, until one of the grim lunged from the ground UP at them and they'd likely realize that the little weird white splotches in the night weren't, actually, paint or displays. They were youma. On the upside, they were jobber youma! The kind of youma they could punch, kick and destroy with ease! Yay!

Molly Skyline has posed:
"Believe me," Molly grumbles, giving Starcrash a serious dose of side-eye, "Showing up in my night-onesie at an hour approaching one am just so we could crawl into the sewers of all places, was really not... what I had in mind when I signed up for this Mahou-stuff. Grand battles, thrilling danger, high stakes worth fighting for, maybe a little fame and glory... yes."

"Crawling into a cramped stinky place, no."

She rests Starcrash on her shoulder, letting one of the handles hold it in place. "If there's a dinosaur jungle though, we're definitely calling Setsuchan, but not until after I've gotten to ride a triceratops. That's a four-year old Molly's dream that I would *have* to fulfill." She grins, and is right about to hop down off the roof of the building, when... wait a minute.

"Hold up, that's not right. See that?" She points at some of the paint. "That--"

And then a Youma is jumping up at them; Molly shrieks in surprise and first, almost drops Starcrash, and second, manages to swing the staff in a wide arc and hit the Youma in the abdomen, knocking it back down. "What the blazes?! Starcrash, charge Stellar Pulse, thirty barrets!"

<< ARMED >>

"Rashmi-chan, what are these?! Nico got anything? ...oh also, fire!"

Molly directs Starcrash downwards, and lets loose a barrage of glowing barrets, none of them homing, just aimed into the general mass of what's coming.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"No *seriously* Molly-chan no riding triceratopses until... Okay well you'd have to meet her. But she's the kind of adorable little munchkin I wouldn't *ever* disappoint, even on accident. I couldn't handle those eyes," Rashmi protests. "Beside--"

<< *BONG!* >> << ALERT. MASTER. ALERT. ANOMALOUS LIFEFORMS PROXIMATE. >>

This, said *as* Molly shrieks at the Grim jumping to probably bite her face.

"YES THANK YOU NICOMACHEA," Rashmi shouts as she scrabbles backward, a foot lashing out and shoving a second Grim over the edge of the booth.

    << *BONG!* >> << SOLAR BARRET -- GLACE SHIFT >>

Eight glowing balls of energy blink into existence around Rashmi, then *SNAP* into chunks of golden ice before flying out toward their assigned targets. What isn't destroyed outright by the kinetic force of impact will be rooted to the spot, limbs frozen to the ground.

"Nicomachea, d'you have an analysis?!"

    << WORKING. STANDBY. >>

"...Okay well *that's* good..."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Now that there was fresh prey, the monsters were *reveling* in this. More of them coming in, leaping up and trying to snack on the pair. Like giant, dangerous cats with massive white bones and teeth on their bodies. Circling and waiting for them to come down within range. They reaked of dark energy, too...

On the upside, they couldn't fly. So yay?

Meanwhile, Hinoiri was racing down stairs and kicking open doors, going deeper into the employee only area, where they had built it down into the caverns. So that was... useful. Except, behind her, she could hear the sound of the cat in pursuit, struggling to get through the abandoned equipment and knocking things over as it went, growling angrily.

"Gonna die gonna die don't wanna diiiiiiie," Hinoiri whined. WHY DID SHE COME HERE ANYWAY?!

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly unloads the last of her barrets into anything close enough to be hit by them, and takes a step back, moving to stand back to back with Rashmi; close enough that her best friend doesn't have to look around to figure out where she's gone. "Maybe it doesn't matter what they are?! They're trying to eat us, I think that's the important part! Why is nothing ever simple anymore?"

The purplenette casts her glance left and right, and a holographic display springs up in front of her face, marking and tracking targets (in red) as well as Rashmi (in blue). "Starcrash, accept updates from Nicomachea as available," she instructs.

<< AFFIRMATIVE >>

"Charge Solar Beam, ten second duration."

<< ARMED >>

"Let's see if fire works?! Fire!"

Molly levels the shooty-end of Starcrash at the beasts and lets fly with a searing hot blast, walking it from one target to another and using her holo-display to keep herself on target.

Hinoiri is here somewhere, dealing with much the same, with considerably less. But as Molly has absolutely no idea about that, there's really nothing she can do about it. As the purplenette's attack runs its course, the vents on Starcrash and her barrier jacket open up with a hiss, glowing a soft purple.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Molly-chan wai--!"

In an abandoned amusement park, there are lots of things that can be set on fire. In an abandoned amusement park, there's not actually a whole lot that can *keep* a fire from spreading. Thus Rashmi's next move is one she'll be kicking herself for not doing... and very carefully *not* kicking Molly for not doing.

    << *BONG!* >> << TIME-SPACE BARRIER >>

A bubble of staticky green-black magic coalesces over Nicomachea's pages, then *explodes* outwards, shifting the combatants -- and with all likelihood, Hinoiri -- and most of the amusement park half a dimension over, where they can fight without worry of damage.

And now that they're *here,* she can be a little less... discerning... about her choice of targets.

    << *BONG!* >> << SOLAR BARRAGE -- BLAZE SHIFT >>

As Molly sweeps a mean to one side, Rashmi walks a rapid-fire stream of blazing energy balls in the direction opposite, setting down the kind of weight of fire that any thinking creature would hesitate to move through.

The problem is... these don't seem to be thinking creatures.

"Uh.... Molly-chan? I think we should be somewhere other than in the middle of a swarm..."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
The monsters in question were DEFINITELY affected by fire. In fact, when one of them ate the solar beam full on, it was sent flying back, disolving to dust and dark energy.

However, the scary thing about them was that there were a lot of them. And so when one was killed, more flowed in to take its place. Then... they scattered.

Oh, that was good, that was totally fine...

Well, okay, some kept trying to nip and bite at them. But a few were dashing off to look for easier prey...

Hinoiri, meanwhile, felt the barrier wash over them and... oh, good. Magic. That meant sparkles were--

Except, the barrier also made the magic more noticable. And she realized, part of the building had collapsed this far back, opening into an old tunnel... and at the end of the tunnel, she could see it. Glowing like it was a key item in an old adventure game, some kind of weird jewel... Was that what she'd felt? It was glowing now.

She heard another case get knocked over and then dashed forward, skidding to a stop by the device. Snagging it up...

On Molly's side, however, it was weird. Starcrash lost the signal a few moments after the barrier went up, as if the piece hadn't come with them. Odd, that.

Molly Skyline has posed:
"Charge Solar Barrets," Molly instructs, while using her holo-display to designate targets. She selects several, using eye-movements to control the display; one, two, three... okay that'll be enough of them.

<< ARMED >>

"Fire!" A dozen searing hot barrets launch one after another from her staff, homing in on their targets and setting fire to them all. As they burn, Molly scans the battlefield, and returns Starcrash to her shoulder.

"...Sorry," she adds, looking over her shoulder. "I... forgot about the barrier. Monster trying to eat my soft, girly face had something to do with it. So... Hey, cut that out! Stellar Pulse, ten barrets!"

<< ARNED >>

Molly unlaods into a pack of the things that had come close again, and as thy dissolve she holds Starcrash up in the air like a triumphant Sand Person from Star Wars. "Alright," she breathes, lowering her staff back to her shoulder. "Do we just like, blow open the storm drain? There's gotta be a better way down." She looks around, making sure there aren't any monsters within at least the immediate ten feet, and jumps down to look at the drain. "I mean it does't look like--"

<< ALERT: MODULE SIGNAL LOST. ATTEMPTING TO RE-AQUIRE >>

"Wait... what?! Don't tell me I dragged Rashmi-chan out of bed for nothing, come on!"

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Just... remember if you use fire, and miss, something's probably gonna burn," Rashmi says with a slightly crooked smile. "Otherwise-- oop."

    << SOLAR SHIELD -- GLACE SHIFT >>

A conical, spiky shield made of golden ice snaps into being, holding back three snapping, slavering, skull-faced monsters, the sheer weight and force causing Rashmi to have to brace herself, pushing back against them.

    << RED SHIFT >>

The shield then glows, and shatters in a bright, explosive flash, hurling the monsters away, each followed by a trio of Barrets, summoned and cast in quick succession that speed after the flying Grim, then slam-slam-slam into the monsters once they hit.

"--otherside good work!" the redhead finishes.

Then Starcrash announces the module's been lost, and her eyes widen. "...Lost? Bu-- wh-- I--" Siiiiiiiiiiigh. "It's okay, Molly-chan," she says, somewhat tired but still quite cheerful. "This is a *lot* of scary creatures, better us finding them, than someone who can't defend themselves, right?"

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
The grim were being torn apart, disappearing into a flurry of particles and dark energy... The barrets managing to destroy them and scattering them. The red shift shield shattering sent the monsters flying as well, scattering them in all directions with angry growls and yipes, only to smash across buildings into disolving masses of dark magic.

And then, behind them? There was an explosion from one of the employee only sections...

And a strange figure in black and gray burst out, her boots kicking one of the grim hard against the wall. "Now take THAT! HOW DO YOU LIKE IT?!" she yelled, her anger... well... probably warranted considering the girl had some scrapes and scratches on her.

But she'd done it. It hadn't been easy, but having grabbed the magic jewel had managed to bridge the divide between her magical tools. And, now?

Hinoiri was Equivalence. Sure, having the strange, short, gray hair was weird. And she wasn't much of a kicker, but she had MAGIC. And it was STABLE! She was panting as another one of the grim descended on her, but she turned and punched it in the nose (it actually felt it this time!) mid leap, before turning and spin kicking!

SHE HAD MAGIC WOO!

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly turns and looks back up at Molly, spreading her arms out to either side of her. "I mean, seriously, we get all the way out here and fight some things, and the loot is gone? This is like a bad video game," she complains, and immediately sighs. "But yeah, better we found the monsters than some poor sap who just wants to come out here and like, I dunno, think or something."

The purplenette turns to look around; she glances down at the storm drain and kicks a rock into it. Yeah, that'll teach it. "I mean I guess we don't need to go down into the stinky place now," she sighs. "But we'll never know if there was a rideable triceratops down there."

<< INCOMING >>

Starcrash gives the warning just as there's an explosion, and then Equivalence appears. Molly throws her hand up to protect her face; her holo-display marks the newcomer with a little yellow tag, marking her as having an unknown disposition with regards to friendliness or hostility.

Molly pushes off, her translucent wings beating quickly to get her back up onto the rooftop, beside Rashmi. "Uhm," she ahems. "Someone you know, maybe? ...I've never seen her before."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Don't worry," Rashmi says, patting Molly's shoulder. "It'll turn up again, and maybe then we'll find out ifWHOA!"

The roar of the explosion bringing Equivalence into the stage has Rashmi stumbling back, but the moment she recovers she lifts herself up on her tiptoes, a couple centimeters off the roof's surface, and gives the newcomer a cheerful wave. "Hiiii~! Just getting started?"

"...Molly-chan let's make sure those were *actually the last ones,*" she mutters aside to her friend.

    << *BONG!* >> << WIDE-AREA INVESTIGATION >>

A quartet of glowing sensor balls rise from Nicomachea's pages, swirling and spiralling outward in a clear search pattern; sweep a radius, widen to the next layer, sweep, repeat. Four holographic screens pop up above the book, the take from the sensors also feeding to Starcrash, to allow him to make use of the data.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Equivalence glanced up at the other two girls and...

Oh shit oh shit ohhhhh shit. She knew those girls! She'd hospitalized both of them! Ohhhh, they had to... not... recognize her. Thank you veil!

Right. Quick, think of a name. What was a good name? This kind of... uhhhh... Cart? No. Ride? No. Saber? NO AND STOP THINKING OF NAMES THAT FIT THE THEME PARK!

"Honestly, hoping I'm just about finished," she said. "Nice to, uhhhh, meet you. I'm..." Think think thiiiiiink. Gretchen helped her get this, and she was all.... uhhhh...

"I'm Equivalence."

The grim, no longer sensing the despair and desperation that had lured them in to begin with, were scattering and fading away, back home...

"And... you two are?"

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly is doing her own scan for monsters, but with her battle visor; the holo-display is still tracking a couple of targets, and a couple of solar barrets get loosed in their direction to vaporize them with the unrelenting heat of the sun (or at least a reasonable fraction of it).

And then, there's... Equivalance. Molly's eyebrows rise, and she hunhs softly. "Uhm, I'm... not... someone who has a secret superhero-ish name yet 'cause I haven't thought of... anything..." she trails off, realizing she sounds like a colossal dork. Well, that's fine, because she *is* a colossal dork. "Anyway, uhm."

She shrugs her shoulders lightly. "I'm Molly Skyline." She glances in Rashmi's direction, letting her friend introduce herself whichever way she'd prefer. Since her friend actually does have a superhero name.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"You too!" Rashmi says, then glances at Molly as her friend gives her real name. "It's good to meet you, Equivalence-san! I'm..."

Rashmi pauses, takes in a deep breath, and lets it out, as if bracing herself.

"...Pagemage. And I meant, getting started with the whole magic thing?"

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Equivalence gave a small nod. "A... bit," Equivalence said. "I have a bit of experience back home. But... new to town, you could say. Ran into a bit of trouble with these monsters. Hope you don't mind me not sharing my secret identity. It'd... cause me a lot of trouble if people from Obsidian found out who I was."

Then she gave a light hiss, closing her eyes for a moment. "Don't... tell anyone I said that. But nice to meet you... Molly. Pagemage. So... do you know what made these monsters show up to begin with? They really came out in a pack tonight and last time I saw this many of them, well... a lot of people almost got hurt. Luckily they attacked this abandoned theme park this time."

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly bites her bottom lip, and shrugs her shoulders. "Uhm..." She glances at Rashmi, entirely uncertain if she should answer that question or not. Sure, it'd be great to have another person looking for her module. Well, Starcrash's module. But on the other hand, she has no idea who this person is, other than she apparently doesn't like Obsidian, and this is real life so the enemy of your enemy might not be your friend, they might just be a greedy person looking to steal pieces of your device.

So Molly just keeps her mouth shut on that one. "Honestly, I'm just glad we were able to deal with them all," she says at last. "Like my friend said, better they find us, 'cause we can fight them, than they go after some other person who's got no idea what they are and just ends up getting eaten, right?"

Rashmi Terios has posed:
As Equivalence remarks on the desity of the monsters, Rashmi nods. "I know, right? I've never seen youma like that before, either, I have *no* idea how they operate." Unlike Molly, Rashmi seems perfectly content to be friendly. After all, if it's gonna be a fight, aerial advantage means they can get away before it gets bad. And if it's not, more friends is better.

"Don't worry about your identity, that's your secret, not mine." That Obsidian would cause trouble, though, only cements that it's necessary to let her keep it. "But yeah, better it was us, than someone who can't handle them. That was an *amazing* kick, by the way!"

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Equivalence felt a bit of relief, crossing her arms and giving a light chuckle. "Thanks. Kicking is... kind of my... thing. I think. And, uhhhh. Grateful nobody got hurt and all. Not really sure what they were, either. Have only seen things like that a few times and that was when Ember was attacking. She's usually hard to miss. I ummmm... since... I think it's all done, though, I should probably go. Thanks for the help, and happy I could help you two. Errr..."

Then, with a slightly nervous chuckle, she reached up and rubbed the back of her head. "I ummm... hopewecanpartnerupagainsometime," she said quickly, before turning to walk away. Face burning.

Oh my gosh she was *sparkling*. She was a SPARKLE! Sure, it was kind of... cobbled together, but she was SPARKLING!

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly watches as Equivalnce makes her exit, and lifts a hand to wave at her back, "OKay goodbye! Take care! WE WON'T TELL OBSIDIAN YOU WERE HERE!!"

Which, of course, they won't. Why would they? They don't work for Obsidian. They generally don't tell Obsidian anything, except stuff like 'get lost' and 'stop hurting those people' or whatever. ...Usually. Unless it's Mami. Then it's different.

"So uhm... that was not how I expected this evening to go," Molly sighs. "I mean, we just maybe might've met a new friend, which is altogether better than a module, but it was my *defense* module and I feel like I really need that, sooner rather than later, 'cause right now my best defense is standing behind you or someone with really good shields." She drops her Henshin, forgetting that she came out in her giraffe onesie that she was going to be wearing for bed. "Sorry I dragged you out at this hour for nothing, but... well we got rid of some monsters and met a person, so I guess it wasn't *entirely* nothing."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Pleasure to meet you, Equivalence-san!" Rashmi calls after the strange new mahou. "I'll drop the Barrier in a minute, when I do can you make sure nothing's on fire?"

With that, she turns back to Molly, bobbing her head. "I mean, I'm worried about that too," she says. "But c'mon, with our luck it *actually* washed out to sea and the next monster you fight with a module in is gonna be, like, some weird Dark Energy cross between a patrol boat and manta ray, or something."

A thought strikes her, and she looks back in the direction Quivalence likely disappeared, thoughtful. "...Y'know... when Nicomachea woke up, *I* was being attacked by a monster. ... ...D'you think we accdentally stole her first real fight?"

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Equivalence gave a grateful smile to them before turning back once more and dashing off, leaping up and over a building, leaping from building to building...

She had magic. She had REAL, honest to goodness, magic.

And she felt alive in a way she hadn't in ages. And, believe it or not? She was TOTALLY going to look for another youma to beat the flank of. She'd EARNED it.

EQUIVALENCE WAS COMING FOR YOU, VENDING MACHINES!

Molly Skyline has posed:
"I was also being attacked by a monster," Molly confirms, suddently looking mortified in her giraffe-onesie, which is an entirely hilarious combinatoin that she herself hasn't noticed yet. "I... I don't know! I hope we didn't mess up her debut. But... I mean on the plus side, she's alive, and she's got a really good kick."

As she stands there, watching Equivalence make her exit, her face goes white with a thought. "Actually, Rashmi-chan, you ever wonder... we both had to fight for our *lives* the first time our devices woke up. You think... maybe sometimes, when a Mahou first gets her powers, the monster wins? How many Mahou have we never met 'cause they got eaten or something on their first fight?! It's not like we'd know to be there to help them or anything!"

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"She does kick pretty awesomely," Rashmi agrees, bobbing her head. "And... I don't usually like to think about that for very long, because that's exactly the kind of question that isn't good for anything but losing more sleep than we already are. All we can do is the very best we can do, and hope that it'll be enough, Molly-chan."

Pausing, she blinks at Molly, glancing up and down. "But um... better question. Were you planning to *walk* home? Or would you like a sec before I drop the Barrier?"

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly blinks, "Hunh? Why would I--" she looks down, and jumps, "Oh!! I... I oh. Oops." She lifts one hand to cover the lower half of her face as she blushes deeply, "I... was in such a hurry to show up, I forgot... Oh well, it's a onesie, it could've been worse."

Molly takes a second to restore her henshin.

"...Okay yeah, *now* drop the barrier. ...Cripes what an evening. Literally nothing went like I thought it would." She ulps softly, and ahems. "Well, we got combat practice, so there's that."