2060/Walpurgisnacht: RHA Front Gate Defense

Walpurgisnacht: RHA Front Gate Defense
Date of Scene:	31 October 2024
Location:	Radiant Heart Academy
Synopsis:	Bow and She-Ra defend one of the gates at the school - and discuss their seperate and shared histories and thoughts and feelings and emotions and Glimmer and it's just easier to punch familiars.
Cast of Characters:	Bow, Adora Rainbowfist
Tinyplot:	Walpurgisnacht

---

Bow has posed:
With others heading off into the storm to deal with Walpurgischnat's main attack in the city of Tokyo, Bow was one of the few that volunteered to stay behind to defend key areas. He ended up drawing the front gates of Radiant Heart. And much like the strategist that he is, he spent the coming storm setting up an elaborate defense, complete with the high ground on one of the walls of the school, and making sure that all of the fields of fire were open and clear to him.

Off in the distance, over the howling wind and rain, the faint laughter of madness can be heard in the air as the first bright flashes that are not lightning light up the darkening skies as the main force launches their attack.

With a heavy parka over his archer gear, his goggles glow faint blue as he scans the sky, watching. Waiting. And then his stomach gurgles loudly and he groans. "Really?"

Because he forgot that his plain brown bag lunch was going to soaked in this weather and he spent so much time preparing that he totally forgot to take care on himself. As far as Bows go, that is very much par for the course. "If they're hitting the main force now... we should see something in a few minutes?" he asks in an estimate of time as he does the math in his head.

Adora Rainbowfist has posed:
Walpurgisnacht. The night of Wall purging... or something like that! ... ... Yeah Adora doesn't know much about it really, but she /had/ been warned about it at least a little bit. She-Ra was ready to dash into the front line, but there were people who needed to defend the innocents and honestly...

... ... ... Bow volunteered. That was really what had her offering to stay back. A faint laughter of madness, and Adora, or rather, She-Ra was towards the front of the academy, having kind of ... looked around a bit until she finally saw Bow.

Aaaand kind of. Walked up to him. Doot doot play it cool Adora it's fine you just haven't seen each other much for a month there's nothing wrong at all nope. "I'm sure we will soon!" Wait no you shouldn't be excited for that She-Ra that's a bad thing. She coughs a bit, rubbing her cheek. "I, uh. I'm sure you have time to fit in a quick snack, that's for sure!" And if they don't, she'll defend Bow's snack time with her life!

After all, he's part of the best friend club! "Ssssoooo... uh... ... ... Where's your lunch at?"

Bow has posed:
Surprise. Bow blinks a few times as he hears a a familiar - not familiar - voice. It's been a while since he's heard She-Ra speak, so there's a little jump as he hears her voice behind him, having been so focused on what was ahead of him that he paid no attention to what was going on from the rear. Bad Bow. Bad. No strategy biscuit for you!

Pushing up the goggles, that flicker off when he does so, Bow nods his head. "I have a flare arrow set at five kilometers out. When that triggers, we'll know they're close. For now, all we can do is wait." he admits to her, "Rusty?" he asks, noticing her excitement for going into battle. "I practice with the bow a lot - but I doubt you get much chance to use your sword against others? There's the kendo club. I'm sure they'll love to have you aboard!" he suggests as he frowns. "Don't get too drenched. Can you even catch a cold?" he asks. "I don't think I've ever seen you get ill." Drugged, yes. That was hilarious.

He glances at the soggy bag on the ground at his feet. "It was the first casualty of this battle." he comments with a small smirk. "You missed me mourning it earlier. But no reason for me to go after it. They may arrive before I get back after all. And you're gonna need long range support."

He can feel the awkwardness of it all, and he scrubs a hand over his face. "This shouldn't feel so strange." he mutters. "You're Adora. One of my best friends. Catalyst of freedom, yadda yadda, all of that." But yet it does feel strange. And he doesn't know how to fix it - because he's already Adora's friend.

"I hope Glimmer's okay."

Adora Rainbowfist has posed:
"Me? Rusty, pssh, no, I'm totally in top shape!" Adora responds, swinging her sword around a couple of times with her usual energy. "It's just, well, you know. A thing I can kind of smash and beat up and whatever without having to worry about hurting anyone." It's probably a bit weird, when she was She-Ra she tended to be a lot quieter, more stoic, but because she'd been She-Ra for a bit, the glowy period of being all She-Ra-ified had already passed and she was her goofy self. "...I uh. I've been doing cooking more than fighting clubs though honestly. Though the equestrian and outdoors clubs are fun too! And uh... I do... boxing..?" Pause. "Why /am/ I not in the Kendo club the swordfighting club would make /so/ much sense." Adora gives a soft eh-heh at that. Look she might have just not thought about it and just stayed enrolled with the clubs past her was in and was like 'yeah sure this is fine'.

She looks down at the soggy bag when it's pointed out. "Oh! Oh. Uh." She crouches down to poke at the bag, starting to open it up a bit. "I'm sure it's salvagable!" ... Maybe. Assuming it was in a plastic baggy or something on the inside.

The comment about how it shouldn't feel so strange gets her getting serious again, her gaze staying down on the ground. "I..." She pauses.

"I know. I'm sorry. I've just been so focused on trying to adjust to this world I've been kind of a bad friend. Just holing up and focusing on homework and stuff..." She stands up, looking out over the skyline for any signs of battle. "It's been... weird... for me. This planet it's so... so... like... it's not peaceful but like... it's so weird, not having the ever-looming threat of a horde invasion at any moment." She fiddles with her sword.

"...I'm sure Glimmer's okay. She's good at taking care of herself."

...

"..Right?"

"..."

"...Maybe we should go raid Obsidian after we're done defending the school to make sure she's okay."

Yep. That's a great idea, Adora.

Bow has posed:
"Totally in shape, huh." Bow says, reaching over with one end of the bow and pokes lightly at her. "Is donut a shape?" he asks teasingly, before sobering up a little. "I know things are really upside down for you. I mean. An Adora before you, and now you're here, and trying to fit into those shoes. Oh. If you're still rooming with Makoto, Masato confessed to her a few days ago! So be on the lookout for her to be over the moon about that."

"Anyway... I mean, you're your own Adora. You should be able to forge your own path, right? You don't have to be beholden to everything the... alternate? Adora did. Just like this Glimmer... she's from the future. And she knows all this stuff. But she's refused to talk about what happened with us. Are we still friends?" he asks, lips pulling into a thin line as he considers his thoughts. "She talks about you and Catra and everything, but me..."

An arrow flies into the air and blows open in a pretty orange color, crackling and whistling as they familiars hit the first check point.

"What if she hasn't told me because I'm no longer around?" he asks quietly.

And as quickly as he says it, it's dismissed just as easily, a wave of his hand as he tugs on his bow string. "What timeline are you from where Glimmer is able to take care of herself?" he asks with a laugh, trying to lighten the mood again. "And you know she would totally yell at us both if we were to do something so... so... us." His smile broadens a bit. "She's happy. I think. At least, she seems to be. I don't want to interfere with that. I mean. It's sort of my fault. I started dating Sayaka, but that was when it was just you... other you, me and Catra here. Now that there are more here. And I can sense Etherian energy -- somewhere. But I haven't had the chance to check it out."

"I have the feeling it's not a coincidence we're showing up and how we're showing up. I don't know the answer yet. But I plan to figure it out." He doesn't mention his lunch. He's set on the situation now.

Adora Rainbowfist has posed:
Poke poke. Still rock hard, mostly because She-Ra is made of muscle. "...Can She-Ra even gain weight? I mean, beyond, well. The whole... 8 foot tall gladiator lady thing." Pause. "... I /have/ been eating a lot better recently, though. Because, I mean. Yeah, Makoto exactly!" Pause. "I uh... I've kind of ... mostly gotten over that. Like it's still weird when people see me and know me and I don't know them but it's ..." She pauses again. Emotions. Ugh.

She falls quiet to let Bow talk about the beholden-ness. "I mean... either way I'm tied to my destiny as She-Ra. Past me, present me, or future me." Adora says with an awkward smile. "That part never changes, I'm always going to be that." The way she says that is /meant/ to be reassuring, because of certain misunderstandings. And then... the question... as the orange flare shoots up into the air.

"...I doubt that you're no longer around. It's you. You're way too strong and good at things to be gone! And I mean, you're our best friend. You've always been there for us, even when we've been at our worst."

... ... Nevermind that one of the last times she saw Bow he disappeared in front of her in the portal and that's /definitely/ not still messing her up.

What timeline are you from where Glimmer is able to take care of herself. "...I come from right after the portal. When Glimmer's mom..." She pauses. Shaking her head. No. Dwelling on that isn't good for anyone. "She would, absolutely yell at us... but I mean... she'd be smiling the whole time too. ...And probably join us too." She grins. Pause. She turns towards Bow at the comment of not interfering. And reaches her hand out to poke his shoulder. "Hey. Hey no. She likes you. I like you. We should absolutely interfere with that in the best way! In ... uh... the... like... being happy with her way not making her not happy that would be awful and like her situation is all complicated with the whole gemstone thing and stuff and like her mom is maybe not dead and that's kind of great and ..." She pauses.

"...Things are awkward, but I'll be honest... i'm just... glad you /are/ here." She says, turning towards the oncoming familiars. "...I was ready to not see any of you again, before Glimmer's mom sacrificed herself..."

Bow has posed:
"I dunno. I've seen you and Scorpia at a buffet." Bow points out wryly. But he doesn't push any harder on that as he chuckles. "Makoto does make awesome food. I mean, she was part of the reason the Prom was such a success." he explains. "Maybe we should get you a t-shirt. 'I'm not the Adora you're looking for'." There's a wry grin at Adora at that, but it softens and becomes more sympathetic as he notices her struggling with emotions. "Would have been easier if we were all from the same point huh?" he asks, then pauses.

"...it's like... something is trying to... you know." Bow glances around. He has nothing to write with and with the rain and wind whipping around, it would be impossible anyway. "It's like something's trying to traingulate a point in time or event in Etheria's history for some reason." He's got that gleam in his eyes, as he tries to process it.

"I'll ponder it later." he finally decides, shaking off the thought as he nods. "Well, yeah. You're the one constant in it all, Adora." Bow points out with a mote of amusement. "Save a few more lives here, they'll be erecting statues in your honor too." A wink at her, which is way of avoiding the thought that perhaps, in the time Glimmer's from, he's dead and gone.

Poked in the shoulder. "I mean, of course I like you, you're one of my best friends! And Glimmer likes me... just..." He doesn't push any further on that front, a duck of his head as he tries to find a way not to go into the whole 'Glimmer likes you' thing.

"Yeah. About that!" he says about Glimmer's mom sacrificing herself. "I've been rolling that over in my head about how to get that runestone out of the Tower. Think you can throw it if we blow open a wall?" he asks her. Probably teasing.

Probably.

A chirp in his ear alerts him and he reaches up to pull down his goggles, clicking them back on. "They're still out of my range, but I can see them getting closer." He can see the familiars on his highest setting with the goggles, so he starts to dial it back. "But... Glimmer seems happy there. I mean. She doesn't have a kingdom to run? She doesn't have to worry about as much? She... well...."

"Maybe she's living the life that she wants to lead." He shrugs his shoulders.

Adora Rainbowfist has posed:
"Scorpia not being with the Horde is still weird, but like... honestly probably for the best she was way too nice to be in the horde." Makoto making awesome food just gets one of those quiet agreeing nods from Adora. She doesn't even feel any need to elaborate, that statement stands on its own. Awesome, delicious food. And teaching her to make awesome*, delicious** food.

*It's mostly sandwiches and grilling.
*It's pretty tasty but not Makoto level.

"...It might have been, but I don't know... the fact Glimmer already, well, knew about her mother kind of helped soften, well, telling her about her mother..." ... ... But the rest of it is awkward still. And in a way, it meant that she didn't feel right talking about it. The woman who she admired, who was more or less her own mother and now gone.

It's fine though. Absolutely fine. Yep.

"...I wonder if it's all related to the portal incident, maybe things just got thrown completely out of whack and broken when it happened and that's why we're here instead of back on Etheria like we should have been and maybe Etheria is being destroyed by the horde in our absence and... and..."

... ... ... How to get the runestone out of the tower. "I absolutely would try! I don't know how successful it would be I mean I think it's a bit heavier than a horde tank and I don't know how much heavier than a horde tank I can throw."

They're out of his range, but he can see them getting closer. "Well, in that case." She-Ra starts to pick up several large rocks. "Let's see if they're in my range." Because she doesn't want to think about Glimmer living a life that she wants to lead that /doesn't/ involve the two of them. Instead? Instead she's throwing a rock as hard as she can in the vague direction of familiars.

...It doesn't make it, but it probably is concerningly close for a /thrown rock/.

Bow has posed:
When She-Ra hefts the rock, Bow turns his attention to it. He watches it arc, reach, and where it falls. A few mental calculations later, and he comments, "Move six inches to the left, increase your angle of attack by seven... no eight inches." he instructs the Maiden of Might, as he nods. "Oh man, she showed up in the middle of Prom, and I was sure we were under attack. But then she hugged me and I got all confused, because clearly, I'm not from her timeline." he explains.

The dorms haven't burned down, so the sandwich making must be going well, right?

"Yeah. But she never got a vacation you know. Ever since we were kids, for as long as I can remember, she always had to be the Princess first, Glimmer second. That's why I always happy to go along with her plans, even when I didn't really go with them. Because... she's my friend. And I'd do anything to make her happy." he shrugs. "Her smile is worth more than all the gold of both these worlds." He pulls around his bow. And draws his first arrow.

"Her mother's in the runestone. That's why she's sticking with it. There's no kingdom to run, but she's still being a protective princess. And I just need to realize that in her new life here... I have a diminished presence. We have to play the part of enemies."

"She's Obsidian. I'm here. I really hoped that Sailor Moon and Tuxedo would take a liking to her." He sighs, not wanting to really approach that hill yet. "But yeah, I think Hordak may be trying to do something to get us all off the planet so that he can conquer it maybe?" he asks, confusion in his voice.

He draws back the arrow. "You know. They have things here that can test that, Adora. We should go to the gym sometime, and run some tests on you and see if we can figure out your upper limits... or... I have an idea. We can discuss it later."

He lets the arrow fly. It rattles as it races through the wind and rain and as it gets close to one of the familiars, it explodes in a cloud of frost, freezing the Familiar and it starts to plummet towards the ground. "Did you ever learn what these witches were?" he asks, a glance over at Adora. "Sayaka told me once."

Adora Rainbowfist has posed:
Six inches to the left, angle of attack by eight inches. That's something that Adora can manage, attack angles and calculations absolutely. Emotions? Social situations? Absolutely not. And immediately she's winding up for another throw, getting into a good stance to maximize power... and throwing it with the might of the Princess of Power. It's very possible there's a small disturbance in the rain from the air pressure of the rock throwing, considering that her title is very accurate.

"Hahaha I would have loved to see your face though, the look of panic and then relief at being hugged. I bet you hugged her back and made friends immediately, right?" She-ra says, one hand above her eyes to watch the Stone's trajectory. It is, of course, a regular rock even if thrown with the might of She-Ra though. ... ... So even though it possibly hits a familiar it's more confusing than necessarily anything for the familiar. "...Oh, right, I forgot to empower the stone. Whoops."

Princess first, Glimmer second. "...I guess I can see that, I honestly didn't know that though, I mean... Glimmer has always just seemed like Glimmer to me. Always that spunky girl who tackled me and fought with me over the sword and then became my friend not even a day later." There's a fondness on She-Ra's face as she says that. "Yeah. ...Yeah, her smile /is/ worth more than any money." ...Not that Adora really ever had to properly learn how to handle money, the Horde didn't do money and well when she was with the Princesses she was living in a palace.

...Yeah that was a bit of a problem when she first got to earth.

Her mother's in the runestone. Something Adora still struggles a bit to understand how that happened, but something she's just decided to accept because it's way better than the alternative of her possibly being sealed inside of some hell portal dimension ... or her sword? ... ... She glances at her sword briefly.

NOPE. Nope that thought is going right away again.

"They seem to really like me, so I'm sure they'll like Glimmer too! And..." She pauses. "Maybe... maybe we should try harder to figure out a portal to get back to Etheria."

A way to go test that. "...Sure! We can discuss it later. After, you know, we do our part to stop the looming apocawitch." Did you ever learn what these Witches were? "...No, not really."

Now that the familiars were nearby, Adora turns the Sword of Power into a sling, starting to swing it over her head to build up magical power and also speed... before releasing.

Launched from the sword of power and empowered with her magic, rocks are MUCH more effective at shattering now-frozen familiars.

Yay, teamwork!

Bow has posed:
"Remind me to tell you about Witches later." Bow responds. Because now is not the time to tell Adora that Witches are formerly Magical Girls with a bad manager, and who knows what these familiars are, except the shadows of Magical Girls past and present. "I've been working on the portal thing. But since I gave up Crystal Hope - she's with Obsidian now, too, by the way... I'm not an engineer on the level of... those over there. She found someone that is way better at the sceience stuff than I am."

It's a hard admission to make, but one that he has to accept. He's a backwater planet engineer that isn't even really on par with Entrapta, much less Takashi and all of his modern tech.

A bit of a blink when Adora makes that confession about Glimmer. Wait, does Adora like like Glimmer? Don't think about that right now. Focus on the curreny issue. He reaches up to take off the goggles at this point - because the gleaming eyes of the wave of familiars is seen approaching the gates. "I'll take air, you take land. I'd suggest the other way around, but..."

He reaches back to grab another arrow. "Electric Arrow!" he calls out. Pulling it back, he aims towards a cluster of flying familiars, and letting it fly, it arches upwards towards them.

When it snaps open, there's a sharp crackle of electricity, the smell of ozone, and a bright flash as multiple familiars are hit that start to crash towards the ground. "Yell if you need me to give you breathing room!"

Adora Rainbowfist has posed:
"...Right! I'll try to remember that." Responds Adora to that reminder request! She may or may not remember that at all. Since he gave up Crystal Hope... who is now with obsidian. "Wait who the heck is Crystal Hope is that like Light Hope only a crystal???" You know that is probably another thing that probably shouldn't be explained right now. Wait she was given up to Obsidian??? What the heck why are half of the things from their world with Obsidian???

Adora is fond of glimmer as a friend, but she doesn't really go into that right now as the familiars are approaching and neither one of them is psychic. "Alright!" She-Ra leaps from the wall at that call, her sword lifted as she dashes towards the oncoming familiars.

Why the heck do they kind of look like corrupted magical girls??? Oh well whatever they're swordable anyway! And punchable. Really, as usual, She-Ra is doing that thing where she sometimes forgets that she has a big honkin sword and just punching familiars every so often which is likely VERY confusing as they fight a glowing princess of power. Any that are crashing to the ground and survive get pretty swiftly finished off before they can get up by quick stab of the now-Spear of Power.

"Let me know if any get too close to /you/, too!" Yeah, she's in her element now, fighting, instead of talking about emotions!

Bow has posed:
Wait.

Wait.

"You turned your sword into a spear?!" Bow is just now realizing that this has happened. "By Brightmoon, that is sooooo cool! Can you do other polearms? Have you tried copying Earth weapons?" Because Adora with a chainsaw sword powered by the runestone.

Okay, Bow's played too much Doom.

Volleys of arrows are fired, the Etherian archer cycling through different types as he tries to find ones that work.

A familiar manages to make it to the gates and starts to climb up, only to get a heart-shaped imprint in it's face from Bow slamming his foot down before firing an arrow into it at close range.

"So, Scorpia's settled in at the school. I haven't met her roommate yet, but she seems happy, and that's all that really... Fire Arrow! ... matters at the moment, right? What are you doing in your free time? How are your studies going? Anything I can help with?" he asks her.

They can at least continue some light conversation in the fight.

Adora Rainbowfist has posed:
"Oh, yeah, Light Hope was teaching me how to do that pretty close to the whole my sword being used as a method of opening an interdimensional portal thing." She-Ra responds, "I can turn it into pretty much anything actually, a sword, a spear, a mug, a spatula... the bracer I'm almost always wearing on my wrist because it's much less stealable..."

Adora goes through a few lists of things, listing them off on one finger while she continues to fight.

It's a good thing these are just familiars or this level of nonchalance probably would be dangerous to just swing the now-shortsword-of-power with one arm instead of fighting more properly. She DOES take the time to dodge and deflect incoming attacks though, she's not completely not paying attention to the battle!

Scorpia's getting settled in at school. "Oh that's good! I'm glad she's settling in well, girl always seemed... I don't know, like she really needed friends in the Horde but we were in different platoons so we didn't get to interact much until we were trying to stab each other with various implements of stabbiness." Mostly Scorpia with her tail.

"Uhh... I've... mostly been... studying... because oh my gosh I am not a scholaire and have SO MUCH catching up to do seriously I didn't even know math had more than multiplication and division." Because more than that wasn't really necessary for being a horde soldier, just the bare minimum for properly calculating any paperwork they needed to do, after all!

Bow has posed:
"Oh. Right. You don't know. When I came over. Long story short..." Bow fires off another arrow, and considers his words. "I kinda totally brought a copy of Light Hope with me in a crystal into this world. And stole my dads' runestone fragment, which was well... this world's magic activated it and that's why I have a henshin now. That I barely use. Anyway, Takashi and Glimmer have Light Hope." A breath, and...

"Alsoahordecontrolchip. Look, you and Glimmer were both gone, I was in a bad state!" he quickly adds, drawing back another arrow and firing in rhythm, "We should have had Swiftwind to establish air superiority." he grumbles after a moment.

"Oh, she totally still needs friends. Well, craves friends. She's probably doing better than I am, and I should probably suggest to her that she create some kind of social event so she can get even more popularity if she wanted."

"One of Makoto's friends, Ami, usually has a study group and helps out with struggling students. I can put in a word for you if you want me to." He chuckles. "I'm terrible at this planet's geography, but I can help you with the math part. It's not much different than what I did back home."

Adora Rainbowfist has posed:
"Oh. Huh. That's." Pause. She-Ra turns to actually fully look at Bow. "Obsidian have Light Hope what??? Isn't she really important and also probably something we don't want in the enemy's hands???? I mean glimmer is one thing but I don't even know who this Takashi guy is, is he also secretly a good guy with the bad guys????"

Also a horde control chip. "A horde what????" What the heck she doesn't even know what that is the horde doesn't have those otherwise she probably wouldn't have been /able/ to leave. Right? RIGHT???? Oh god is there a chip in her and she doesn't know about it? She quickly swings her sword back at a familiar that got too close to her while she's patting down herself checking for chips.

Look she just has to be sure. Nevermind that she was also getting attacked and swarmed by familiars now.

Luckily, she's also She-Ra and quickly bursts out of the swarm of familiars with a quick circular swing of her sword, only moderately worse for ware.

"I know Ami but also horde what????"

She-ra quickly lifts her blade, channeling her aura into it and then swinging it, unleashing a wave of energy out to clear out the worst of the familiars in the immediate area so that she can return to Bow's side.

Bow has posed:
"Oh man... do you know the whoile plot for Light Hope activating the Heart of Etheria and how the Horde was using control chips to control their slaves?" Bow asks, eyes wide in confusion. "Okay, we're gonna have a crash course -- AFTER THIS -- about what I know of my notes of Etheria. And what you know. If you want to know more than that... Glimmer seems to come from further more down the line."

"Maybe that's what it is. Maybe I'm too young or immature for her." Bow realizes. Wait, he's talking about friendship, right? Totally has to be. But She-Ra is being swarmed and he was about to aim into it when she comes rushing out of it.

"Good, you know Ami. Let's finish this up, and afterwards - and after a good sleep, I'll take you to the Kourma, and buy you a meal and we can catch up on histories." A pause, and he adds, "My treat, I get an employee discount there." Yes, he's working a real job.

"Deal?"

Adora Rainbowfist has posed:
"The heart of what? No??? I just got out of a portal and ended up here." Adora says, shaking her head. A crash course. Alright. Adora gives a nod to that. "Alright, crash course it is." Glimmer seems to come from further down the line. "...Right, a crash course and a glimmer hunt then..." Pause.

"I doubt that you're too young or immature, you seem like you, Bow." What the heck does that even mean, Adora. Finish this up, after a good sleep, go to Kourma, and an employee discount. "...Right, sounds good to me. Deal."