2181/As Cute As a Button

As Cute As a Button
Date of Scene:	22 December 2024
Location:	Juuban Ward - Tokyo
Synopsis:	CW: Body horror, NPC death. A Witch really likes making dolls and doll clothes, and she even makes the cloth for the dolls themselves, and she spins the thread, and she makes their button eyes and measures twice and cuts once...
Cast of Characters:	Mamoru Chiba, Laisa Samuiko, Melona Mizu, Amanda Faust, Sugata Shindo, Taro Yamada

---

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Last year, there was a porcelain doll shop on the outskirts of Juuban, far from the school. It closed with no sale, no forwarding address, and no word from the owner of the business. Rumors began circulating that the building was haunted, despite the formerly decrepit neighborhood having cleaned up and grown more cheerful over the past twelve months.

Unfortunately, the landlord hasn't been able to dispel those rumors, so the shop has been sitting empty... except every month or so, there's evidence of a break-in and, unrelated obviously, an urbexer or so, or kids with poor risk-to-reward ratios, vanish. But people disappear for many, many reasons; these are lost in the noise of those.

This month, the landlord and his daughter have gone missing, and there's a story about it on the news and social media. It talks about the rumors, and there are a few mahou that know the significance of the location-- it's so close to the forgotten district, and as beautifully bright and quietly alive as it is these days, it hadn't been, before.

There are fewer still that know it was haunted, briefly, and there was something wrong with it even then, something awful in the cellar--

--but even without that knowledge, there's the unmistakeable whiff of something darkly magical in the story of the year between the closing and the disappearance of the owner and his daughter. There's something wrong worth keeping an eye on.

Tonight, there's a pulsing, twisted, familiar-to-some feeling of a Witch's particular brand of wrongness. The first mahou to arrive will see not only the door of the shop partway open, but also a flashlight beam moving, and half of a pale face visible in that crack. The eye widens and the face vanishes into the darkness as running footsteps clatter down what sounds like some stairs inside.

Laisa Samuiko has posed:
    "Y'know... If I had ten yen for every time I came across a creepy doll store..." says Laisa, crossing her arms and looking through the shop windows. "... I'd have twenty yen, which isn't much, but it's strange that it's happened twice."

    She squints at it a bit closer, then scratches her chin. "Wait... this is the same one! Ugh, I'm in the weird part of Juuban again, aren't I?"

    She thinks back. Was there even landlord back then? Honestly that whole thing was quite a trip and even now she's not completely sure she understands what exactly happened.

    Whatever. There's something weird here. Something else that feels different than the weird thing that was here before. She sees the person(?) inside suddenly panic and flee further in, where the Horror was, and so Laisa takes one look to the left, another to the right, and one behind her, and then decides to henshin on the spot.

    One aesthetically pleasing storm of snow and wind later, and Snow Angel Mou Fubuki is standing in front of the storefront. She hesitates, takes a deep breath in, and lets it out slowly as frost forms around her nostrils. She crosses the threshold, going inside, calling out, "Hey, whoever is in here? This isn't the kind of place you want to play. Come on out. I'm not here to get you in trouble."

Melona Mizu has posed:
Rumors and social media were things that Melona Mizu did not have much time or care for, though she'd been vaguely aware of the gossip between the girls at school, she hadn't thought much about it as she had simply been working on her usual tasks of ... tinkering with various different things. That and her attendance had started to drop off and become more intermittent.

What she /did/ care about was that it was about time to go hunt a Witch again, as her soul gem was sitting at about a 1/3 pure soul gem. So it was time to hunt down a Witch and purify it.

Which is why Misery Melon was now here at this store that had dark rumors about it being haunted or something. Looking up and down the building and shrugging. It seemed like a reasonably respectable business. People were likely bullying it.

She will have to correct that later.

For now, the doorway appeared to be the entrance to the Witch's Labyrinth most likely... from that brief appearance of the face in the doorway. "Calling out to them ist likely not effektive. That was likely a Familiar. There is a Witch here." She states blandly as she walks through the door after Laisa.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy thought that this was done. The ghost / monster that created the identity of Galatea in Hell was defeated, right? (On the news of a strange killing, Amy /does/ check to see if the manga got updated.)

    Of course, she's got to tell Taro, right? He knows about dolls, and horrors. Amy sends a copy of the manga to his phone, and summarizes the meta-story: That it was influenced by a piece of some mighty ghost monster trying to create a place for itself. (A description of the story itself is in https://radiantheartmush.com/848/Inner_Conflict:_Glass_Eye ctrl+f "knowledge is obtained" and "Galatea met") -- "I didn't think to reccomend it to you because, uh, I guess I mentally filed it under 'crazy mahou stuff that happened' rather than the 'manga I've read' part of my brain, you know?" Amy explains, apologetically)

    So she's asked him to come out; Her cosplay powers have her dressed a bit like a doll, the gothic lolita outfit she wore at last years Cultural Festival and ended up comforting the toy people in Sailor Eclipse's wake in; it maybe sticks out slightly less than her normal henshin outfit.

    It isn't until they get close enough to sense the Witch that Amy, who wasn't looking for a Witch, realizes what they're dealing with. As they come in sight of the building, she warns: "Wait! It's a Witch... get ready..."

    The bit of a flashlight and a face... "The entrance has got to be somewhere in there. If not the door to the shop, the basement." Amy shivers at the memory as they approach. "Be ready..."

Sugata Shindo has posed:
Sugata had not heard the rumors, and he did not know the significance of the Forgotten District. If he had - and if he did - he would have called for back up, rather than follow the sense of pulsing wrongness through the dark streets, towards an empty shop.

"This place needs Wako," he mutters darkly, in the same tone that someone else might have said 'this needs Jesus', and notices the pair of girls disappearing through the entryway. There's a flash of light that they'll both notice, as he utters a quiet, "Apprivoiser!"

A moment later, Ginga Kingu is at the door grimacing at the mention of Witches. Alright, he's definitely not going to call Takuto and Wako now. There are enough people here to handle this situation, and Takuto's still recovering his pep from the last time he'd met a Witch....

"You said something about a Witch?" He asks Amy as he recognizes her. "It's Labyrinth is somewhere in here, then?"

Taro Yamada has posed:
Taro: tbh if this wasn't an active mahou thing jack would spend all day critiquing this devil guy
Taro: he has high standards for doll horror
Taro: i feel bad for galatea. im glad you helped her rest. i can see why u would feel extra bad 4 her

And so here he is witha n outline of the plot and in henshin, his kimono white with highlighter sunflowers and neon pink oleander, his horns already up defensively. A tiny wooden coffin hangs from his golden obi while a tiny wooden doll in a black suit and top hat perches on his shoulder.

"My kimono ought to be see in the dark, so you can use me as a lantern? As long as you don't shoot me," he advises Amy and the group. THe ambient fear in the air allows him to grow to over seven feet tall, making him walk hunched over in the little shop. "Should I assume I'm chopping up Familiars until one of you purifies the mian threat?"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy looks over at Sugata -- she's in henshin, just with the different outfit. "Ginga King?? Good to see you... Yeah... I don't know for sure if the Witch has anything to do with the haunted doll store, but... are we ever gonna be lucky enough for it not to be?"

    She looks at the distant building and mutters under her breath. 'Who made the Wish, though...?'

    Then she realizes she didn't answer the second question and looks back at him "Uh, y-yeah, probably. If it's..." Amy shakes her head as they approach. "I'd expect the entrance to be in the cellar, if it isn't on the door or just inside or something."

    She looks at Taro and blinks. "It's a Witch. There's no purifying it. Just kill it."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
There's no answer to Snow Angel Mou Fubiki's call or Misery Melon's advice, but there's some hurried whispering back and forth down in the darkness, and then more running away down more stairs.

The shop is much as Amy and Laisa remember it, with every one of the dolls still on the shelves, despite the break-ins, and the velvet rope strung across the top of the staircase going down. There's a back room, but the door is locked, it hasn't been jimmied open or anything. The stairs unfortunately do seem to be the best option, the basement ultimately where to find it. Of course. Of course.

Laisa Samuiko has posed:
    "A Whatnow?" Mou Fubuki glances back to Misery Melon, eyebrow raised. "Wait, really? One of those things? I've heard rumors, but haven't actually seen one before."

    In all honestly, aside from the occasional brain portals and haunted doll houses, Laisa's magical experience in Tokyo has been pretty much on the goofy side. Yet despite being the fish out of water here, she's far too teenager to admit that she might be out of her depth.

    She glances back to see three more entering the shop, speaking very plainly about Witches and Familiars too. Mou is, apparently, the only one who didn't know. "Oh! I can purify--"

    There's no purifying it. Just kill it.

    She stops mid sentence. Her mouth hangs open for a moment, then closes into a pout. Snow Angel turns around to face the inner parts of the doll shop and pretends she didn't say anything.

    Unfortunately the doll shop looks about as suspicious as it did before. She remembers that going towards the basement was actually a really bad idea, but... Mou Fubuki gets the feeling that things are different now. "Be careful," she warns. "The last time we were here, the basement had some untold horror in it."

    The possible-Familiar runs down the stairs, and Laisa gets a tense feeling in her gut, but her curiosity once again overwhelms her trepidation and she finds herself going towards that velvet rope, lifting it up and ducking underneath. She glances back once more, not at the people behind her, but at the light shining out the window. With a frown, she turns away, and descends into the unknown.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy braces for the transition to a Labyrinth as she opens the front door -- kicking it to break the lock with mahou strength if necessary, and--

    The inside is exactly the same.

    All the dolls on the shelves, and in the display stands, whether large or small, proportioned like a human, or like a little baby, are duplicates of the same girl. Long black hair, hanging over one eye, red eyes, a scar on the left cheek, and the same middle-school uniform.

    "WHY IS THIS STILL HERE?!" Amanda shouts, in wide-eyed alarm, looking around as the sight jogs her memory of her previous visit inside the store.

    "Untold?!" Amy echoes back to Laisa. "It was a bunch of dolls that tried to tear me apart and make me one of them!"

    Amy freezes. "Okay, that sounds really bad when I say it out loud, but like, at the time... reality was weird."

    At seeing Laisa hurry ahead, Amy stretches out her hand, "Wait, don't get too far ahead!" And she runs after Laisa, ignoring the rope just like last time and chasing down the steps...

Sugata Shindo has posed:
One look at Taro and Ginga Kingu decides that, actually, it's great that he didn't call for back up, because he does not need to deal with demon-possessed Takuto again. Surely, the Witch will be the lesser evil. The fact that Taro is wearing an outfit that is eye-smartingly ugly doesn't help, and he grimaces as he sweeps into the house with them.

"Of course it's a haunted doll house. Even if there wasn't a Wish, I'd King's Pillar this place," he mutters darkly. Hauntings deserve to be either put to peace or eradicated, and Wako is the one who puts things to rest peacefully, so there's truly only one option here. Sorry landlord, Ginga Kingu doesn't actually know you're missing.

In the shop, there's dolls everywhere, and Sugata isn't afraid of dolls, but this whole place is certainly eerie. Another doll-sized figure appears in the midst of them, hovering in the center of a transparent blue-white bubble.

"What a pitiful hovel. These soulless inhabitants aren't even worth eating."
Ginga Kingu's eye twitches and he follows Fou Mubuku and Amy down the stairs. Maybe if he's lucky, Samekh will decide to live here in this eerie place, and die with it.

"You're not very good at offering reassurance, are you?" He asks in a dry and stunning example of hypocrisy. "Whatever is moving around here could be these familiars, or a civilian, if we're unlucky. We should keep an eye out and be prepared to pull our punches."

Melona Mizu has posed:
"Most likely. They are not always so obvious as this though." Misery Melon responds simply to Ginga Kingu as she scans the room. To The Back Street Slasher she quirks an eyebrow. "Purify? Nein, fights against Witches are usually simply violence until they die and produce their seed of grief. Purification unnecessary. Puella do not even have that normally." She hefts her three-headed flail over her shoulder, the chains rattling as the three heavy spheres sway with each step.

Hm. Well. There's an open door but it didn't quite feel right. And each of the dolls was of the same character... which was an odd decision. She reaches to absently grab one of those dolls as she walks past it towards that velvet rope, which is grabbed with much the same casual-ness, wherever it's connected to simply disconnecting after a slight stretching, almost like a piece of clay being pulled. The last time they were here the basement had some untold horror in it. "Ja, that sounds about right for a Witch. Do not worry, if you are scared, just beat it with your weapon."

There was an ever so slightly Off grin as Melona says that, just slightly too happy about the concept. Faust runs after the snow angel, and Misery Melon rolls her eyes as she follows. At least tonight won't be boring...

As she starts to absently play with and mold the two objects she'd grabbed.

Taro Yamada has posed:
Well, it is a creepy shop. There are creepy dolls. He'll have to murder a creepy creature, here. It makes him feel a little funny, knowing he's got to kill a cursed doll being when he lives with two of them - but public safety is public safety. Kuiper Belt Cape fights for justice and not being eaten by horrible monsters, and so horrible monsters he will tear apart.

"<This arena has not been prepared carefully. It's all cut and paste,>" Jack critiques in English. "<And luring people down the stairs with a rushing being will only catch impulsive animals.>"

"Isn't that the point? Prepare the trap with bait to summon only what you want to hunt?" Taro asks. Everyone's rushing down the stairs while he was trying to soak in the lines and lines of dolls, to find the fracture where created meets reality, or the proof that nothing in this shop is real.

Amy's too far head to call after, so he says to Sugata: "If you handle long range blasting, I'll guard everyoen's backs. I can babysit civilians, too, I'm great at parkouring up shit and hauling ass."

FAMOUS LAST WORDS.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
As they rattle down the steps, the air becomes cooler than the air outside, then even cooler than that, then almost-- then actually-- refrigerator temperature air. The kids ahead of them have disappeared somewhere along the passage, which is dark wood paneling and a plush red carpet, ambient light keeping everything at a sort of dim museum visibility level. The kids disappeared but the word 'cosplayers??' is definitely spoken by one of them, around a couple of corners probably.

Melona will feel a pinchy pinch on her neck, like the Witch is trying to Kiss her, when she touches the doll. Maybe that's how it chose its victims -- who will dare touch one of these dolls? Maybe. There's no feel of magic to the doll before Melona starts molding it.

The passage opens up wider and taller, and instead of the paneling, it looks like the basement of a doll store and repair shop. Which is what it should be, right? It just goes on too long, and the shelves are too tall with no ladders-- the shelves hold so many porcelain dolls and doll parts, and jars and jars of buttons. As they go, these get larger too: soon the jars are big enough to hold one of them, the dolls as tall or taller than they are, human height without being human proportioned.

A ragdoll crosses the corridor between shelving units ahead of them, also human sized, walking on its own, and it's followed by a floating needle and thread that's about the height of a small dog and proportionally thick.

There are other things on the shelves now, different machinery parts, sewing supplies, stacks of patterned fabric and leathers, spools of strangely shiny thread. There's the sound of endless weeping ahead, along with the crooning of a lullabye, and then there's a very loud and distinct and panic-edged "What the fuck!!"

As the mahous speed up, the floor changes to something springier and more colorful -- a huge quilt, threadbare and tattered, threads sticking up out of the seams. If they don't go carefully, the ripping sounds as they run might turn into more than sounds.

Melona Mizu has posed:
"Ja, that's how Witches do their thing. They lure in their favorite prey and eat. But Puella are inevitably drawn to them for the cycle of Puella and Witches." Melon comments towards Kuiper as she continues that slow and absentminded molding of the doll and rope, one arm hooked around her flail to hold it as she continued that slow molding and playing as she absently considers possibilities for these materials.

A little pinch to the back of her neck, that Kiss that draws in the helpless. And yet she continues molding and playing.

...Though there was now a seething quiet anger bubbling underneath from that Pinch to her neck, that attempt to Kiss and draw her in.

That familiar feeling that draws back memories that she avoided sleeping to not think about.

As they continue to walk down those stairs, she would continue her casual theft of doll parts, grabbing a leg here, an arm there, added to that mess of parts and pieces that she was molding in her hands. "This witch gives good materials, very helpful. We should ensure her end is quick." And violent.

The moment she sees movement, that molded clay briefly takes on the shape of a quickly-formed Dollhand-slingshot using one of the hands and a piece of the rope that stretches far more than one would expect, and a spiked ball of gears as the rest of the junk she'd gathered was stuffed in her apron.

But it just moves past. "Hm." ... "Fabric? Different. Also i think we spooked some civilians with our appearance."

Laisa Samuiko has posed:
    The cold doesn't bother Mou Fubuki at first. She is, after all, a yuki-onna thanks to her curse and there's usually an aura of chill around her anyways, though one wouldn't know it unless they tried to touch her. It's only when she gets a bit further down the stairs does she realize out loud, "Wait... that cold air isn't from me."

    She hears the voices of the kids up ahead. Are they real, or are they bait? Mou is curious but cautious, and doesn't run after them. After all, if she chases, they will simply flee faster.

    It's still a bit weird though. How far ahead they always seem to be, just out of sight, yet close enough to be heard. The jars and dolls getting larger and larger are a bit less than reassuring, too. Or... is the party getting smaller?

    She's giving the walking ragdoll and pet? needle a suspicious stink eye when she starts to hear the lullabye, and then the sudden outburst. Suddenly concerned for the health of civillians-who-may-not-be-civillians, Mou Fubuki starts to sprint forward across the basement floor, forming an icey tower shield that she holds in front of her and uses to block anything that tries to get in her way.

    This, of course, lands her right in the middle of quiltland, and as she notices the sudden change in venue she's stepping carefully across the fabric floor. "Hey, wait!" she calls out to the unseen kids-or-possibly-Familiars, assuming that they might still be further ahead. "Don't go any further in!"

    Looking back to Amy, Mou Fubuki says, "You know, I actually don't much remember what happened in the basement, aside from being unable to breath, but I'm pretty sure there wasn't a giant quilt here the last time I saw this place."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy chases Laisa down the stairs, but at the bottom she stops and looks around. "Was this... here before? Did I even see the real basement...? I don't feel like I'm in a labyrinth yet. but..." Amy gives Fubuki a curious look. "You couldn't breathe? I didn't notice... I don't think I had to breathe..."

    On the edge of the Forgotten District... "Reality might be weird here..." Amy warns, as she looks up, up, up, the shelves are so high, bigger than should be in a basement... Or maybe she's smaller than she should be?

    Amy freezes, and looks down, checking her hands for doll joints. Still flesh. She's still breathing.

    She takes a deep breath and continues looking around.

    As she walks ahead and the scale of everything keeps getting bigger, she's reminded more and more of how big everything was when she was a doll for a few days, and she keeps nervously stopping and checking to confirm she isn't.

    She'd really like to wait for Taro to catch up... And she chuckles to herself as she remembers being so scared of going with the Slasher, back then. If she'd had any idea...

    But whoever just shouted ahead might be dying any secdond. Amy's a Puella Magi; She'll survive.

    She grabs a giant spool of thread and rolls it ahead of her to mark her path for the others as she charges on.

Sugata Shindo has posed:
"<It's a mindless beast that lives in endless misery,>" Sugata responds to Jack in clear and perfect English. "<You'll have to reserve your professional critiques for something that can comprehend them.> And that will work depending on how many civilians there are, but it's a rough plan."

And then they're descending into the basement, and it's a normal doll store and repair shop. Until it's not, because the floor is going on and on, spreading far into the distance, the shelves tall and covered with so many dolls, that are all the same doll, just in different outfits. And the dolls that are getting taller and taller, the way the shelves are stretching on, reaching up higher, and higher.

"Star Swordo - Diamante!"

A fist is slammed to Ginga Kingu's chest, and a cross-shaped sword of shining white light is withdrawn from there. As they stalk across the swiftly softening floor, see a ragdoll walking itself across the floor, and he starts running towards the startled outburst, grimacing.

"It must be the Labyrinth. There's no way a shop in this part of town could afford to have a basement this size, and more importantly, the floor is made of quilting and a ragdoll just walked by."

Is this really in question?

Taro Yamada has posed:
Taro looks up and up and up. Even with as large as he is, the shelves tower over him. The hair on the back of his neck prickles: if it were him designing this area, the dolls in those jars would wake up sooner or later. Hungry. Hateful.

(After all: what did a doll want more than to become human?)

"The thread following the doll - does that look like a dog and it's master?" Taro asks, considering. He has, perhaps, thought more about dolls than the normal person given that he is host to two seperate cursed dolls. He's glad his doll Dory has chosen to stay in her coffin, letting her take the brunt of any injuries he takes in this fight - as long as she's safe in there, he can survive anything thrown at him, and SHE won't have to look at any of this weird stuff.

He's just gonna - try and hoof it to catch up to Amy.

"yeah, it's gotta be all metaphorical and stuff," he says to Ginga Kingu. And:

"Gravity seems normal. I haven't sensed any familiars yet. I'm just waiting for those guys in the jars to hop out," he reports to Amy. "

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
The marquee says in Witch runes, sparkling gold written in the air with curling thready unreadable shapes, << ATROPOS STEIFF >>.

It's an afterthought.

The shelves in here, in the Witch's claustrophobically packed (so many crafting supplies! so many wonderful things-- and a spinning wheel, a floor loom, roving--) and oh so cold den, the shelves are filled with button-eyed dolls. They're wearing very beautiful dresses and formal attire from all over the world, their hair done splendidly, their stuffed bodies sat cutely with their hands in their laps.
    Some of them are very cute! Some of them lovely, and others handsome or pretty, and some of them younger, some of them older... they're a strangely off-grey color, though, and looking away past the Witch will net the information that some of the dolls further away look kind of hard, or smaller, or something. Too small for their gorgeous clothing, shriveled.

There's something metal and shining around another corner on the other side of the Witch, but... the WITCH.

She, for she is a she, is proportional to the ragdolls, the porcelain dolls-- they would be large dolls, but not huge, in her hands. She's got a sewing machine next to her, but she's doing handwork with leather right now, stuffing a doll full of cotton and straw and carefully stitching up its back as she goes.

Ragdolls sort buttons and shiny things, going about their business; the floating needles-- ahh, there are so many of them, with-- that's not thread, that's sinew. That is sinew. And some of the needles are stuck haphazardly into fabric that's hanging down from each side. They're everywhere. So are the ragdolls with their soft yarny hair and stuffed--- no but the Witch looks like an old woman with a huge bent foot, an overlarge thumb, and a lopsidedly fat lower lip. Apart from those features, she's unfinished-looking. Her dress is leather patchwork and it has small round white buttons all the way down the front, from neck to low, low hem.

By the time Amy and her thread and Sugata who will put a foot through the floor and tear it and show the absolute nothingness underneath-- by the time they get there, one of two tween boys is being dragged across the floor by the other, coming back in the direction from whence they originally came. And then the Witch says-- something-- and reaches down, down, down for the boy dragging his clearly unconscious friend back, and oh the buttons on her dress are glistening; they're spilling over with tears down the center of her front.

The endless sobbing is coming from up on the sewing table somewhere, but at least the lullabye has stopped.

The-- the dolls on these shelves-- start to move.

They start to move, and they're all around the same size as our ragtag little mahous, which means pretty much Sugata and Kuiper tower over them too. They begin to climb off the shelves.

The sobbing stops and someone up on top of the sewing table screams in a ragged little voice, "RUN!! RUN! RUN! RUUUUUN!"

Melona Mizu has posed:
"Hm. This Witch brings to mind Coraline." Melon says as she looks at the shelves filled with button-eyed dolls. "It ist likely that all of those were people once." She glances towards the sorting ragdolls. The harmless and distracted kind of Familiar it seems. Well, not 'harmless'...

An assumption proved wrong as sobbing continues up on the sewing table and the shelved dolls start to move and crawl off of the shelves. Misery Melon ... smiles. Oh, she somewhat wanted to see what would happen if she made something with one of them... but they were familiars, and she likely would become the target should she do something like that.

Also the ground appears to be fairly... uh. Terrible. "...This witch's crafting skills are suspect when it comes to non-dolls." Misery Melon looks up towards the witch, almost impassive as it reaches to pick up one of the tweens.

And then she grabs some more bits of metal and ball joinsts and porcelain, shoving them into that gear spikeball and lifting the slingshot to aim towards the Witch. She draws her hand back to the extents of the velvet rope with stretch as darkness begins to suffuse the bullet with malice, anger, and lets it loose.

Shortly after the launch, with a prickle of dark energy under the more dark-sensitive's skin, the slingshot bullet grows to the size of a spiked cannonball, launched at high speed towards the Witch's hand that was grabbing for the child. "Bullying is unacceptable." If the spiked cannonball lands, it would explode with a burst of that angry malice, intent to cause maximum damage and pain imparted through that magic.

Another one of those barely-concealed just-slightly-too-happy grins slips onto her face for just a moment.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Taro's words make Amy look around in alarm. "If all of these can animate and attack us, we're in trouble..."

    No one here could afford a basement this big! "We're near the Forgotten District! Reality is weird here!" Amy repeats her warning.

    But then there are Witch runes. "Nevermind."

    Amy is taking in the scene, gobsmacked, a chill running through her as everything continues to be a nightmare that reminds her of her brief time as a doll -- and in all the bad scary ways, not the oh-neat-what-a-wild-experience ways -- but the Witch, initially a hostile, human-size figure towering over doll-size Amy is worrying enough. Reaching for civilians makes her react: her usual 84mm recoilless rifle is in her hands, firing up at the Witch's face to give her pause while the civilians run, and--

    Someone is screaming.

    Amy wonders if whoever's -- or whatever's -- up there can even be saved.

    But even if they can't, someone coming to comfort them in their final moments is surely better than leaving them alone, right?

    So Amy rocket-jumps up there and steels herself for whatever she'll find...

Taro Yamada has posed:
Fuck. This.

Kuiper Belt Cape's palms split as bright red blades curl out, each the length of his arm, and he uses those to charge through the army of dolls, lopping floppy yarn heads from shoulders and ripping porcelain bodies in two as he charges for the table.

He has to get there. He has to get there. HE's going to get there. He cannot explain why -

(Smell is a powerful thing. The smell of the dolls lying dessicated on distant shelves, musty with an edge of sickening sweetness- Jack remembers this smell,. Jack craves it. And as Taro charges for the table, Jack clings to his kimono and begins to laugh.)

His palm blades make climbing the sewing machine table easy enough. He'll crush that awful sewing machine soon enough - but first he's got to see if there's someone here he can get out!

Sugata Shindo has posed:
"The what?"

Names don't always offer context, unfortunately. But there's no time to worry about that, becausse they're rushing onwards.

Rushing doesn't always mean careless, but it does mean there is a certain, necessary, lack of care. Sugata races across the floor, and eventually, puts a foot right through it, leg sinking down to the knee in utter nothingness, and then he is lunging his way forward, leaving a hole into nothingness behind him as the path forward ends in the Witch's crafting den, surrounding by a spinning wheel, a loom, shelves filled to the brim with button-eyed dolls modeling clothing of all sorts, and they are nothing compared to the Witch.

Tall, tremendously so, and large to match, working on the dolls that are as tall as the girls here with the ease that one would handle an actual doll, and the weeping is coming from the table, and there are tears dripping down the Witch's chest from buttons that are clearly not quite buttons and -

Sugata will process it all later. It's time for action, now.

Amy fires a shot off at the hand reaching for the civilians, and Ginga Kingu plants himself between them and the Witch, moving faster than they could hope to, and raises an arm, face implacable.

"King's Pillar."

At the top of the Labyrinth, light builds, blindingly bright, white tinged with blue, and expands, growing to a circumference as large as a field, as a basketball court, and then it drops down in a beam of light that remains fixed for several long seconds, an orbital strike from the heavens that seeks to crush, rend, and destroy all that stands in it's path.

"Stay behind me," he tells the two boys, and inwardly he's rolling his eyes - what is the point of even a loose plan if he's the only one who sticks to it? Wasn't someone supposed to be getting the civilians out?

Laisa Samuiko has posed:
    Mou Fubuki gives Ginga Kingu a wide eyed stare, then looks around at the weird quilt world. "So... this is what a Labyrinth looks like?"

    There are weird runes, and this time there's no cute little witch or goddess fairy to read them or ponder their meaning. Mou Fubuki glances up at the marquee but, aside from not knowing the language and being pretty sure it's not any human script she's seen before, she doesn't really give it a second thought. There are, after all, far more horrifying things happening here.

    It takes her a few seconds to recognize what, exactly the Witch's thread is made of, and when she does she has to cover her mouth and vomit. The rumors did not warn her about this. Wait, if that's sinew, if that's human sinew... then... what is the leather made from?

    A part of her, she realizes, will never leave this place. It will haunt her memories, for the rest of her life, even after she forgets that it was anything other than a weird dream or a movie she saw. It will unsettle her as she remembers the moment, this moment, when she realized what horrible things the Witch has been doing to her victims.

    All of those were people once.

    "As much as I hate my family right now, I'm glad none of them live anywhere near here."

    The two kids are still, in fact, kids, and also alive. Well, one is, the other probably is, and someone further on ahead is warning them to flee. Mou Fubuki does the first thing that comes to her mind, running and jumping across the distance to put herself between the two kids and the Witch's descending hand. The floor beneath her fit rips open, causing her to stumble for a moment before she freezes the hole closed and looking through the ice to see...

    Nothing.

    Yikes. That sucks. Personal note: No more jumping.

    She holds her shield up, and a pair of icey wings sprout from her back as her shield grows and expands into a wall, forming a bubble around her and the two kids. She glances back to them, looks at the unconscious one, and says, "What happened? ... never mind, tell me later." She then glances towards Ginga Kingu, notes his presence, and decides that being the last line of defense is probably the best she can do at this moment.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
The dark-energy-infused spiked cannonball that wings its way through the air at the Witch's reaching hand, exploding and ripping off a chunk of flesh to show-- nothingness, roiling impossibly beneath. She pulls back her hand and waves her other hand, and a hail of needles begins to fly toward Melona in particular and everyone in general, including the civilians. Then-- she-- takes the doll she was making and rips it open, stretching her hand inside and reshaping the human skin to restore her own, like a person glove. The thin high voice on the table screams, "PAPA!!!"

Amy's initial volley hits, pocking the unfinished Witchface with bulletholes which weep black ichor. She jumps up fast enough to beat Taro there, and what she will see upon getting up there is a cage with a little girl and a big ragdoll in it, and the ragdoll's dress is wet from the girl's crying, and the girl's wearing a school uniform but there's a dotted line down the back of her shirt and skirt, the backs of her arms and legs, and she wails when she sees Amy. "I told you to run," she says in a wretched voice, thick and ragged and hoarse.

Every floppy stuffing yarn-hair ragdoll beheaded fishes around sort of haplessly for its head, making them much easier to take out -- from a distance. Melee range will result in the stuffing trying to pull the attacker in and smother them, the doll waving stubby arms to push the attacker inside-- it almost happens to Kuiper Belt Cape as he knifes himself up the table, but he's fast enough and then some to get away from them. He gets up to the top and the little girl, eyes red-rimmed and bloodshot, face puffy, just stares at him. Specifically, what he is wearing. In literally all of this, her question is a shellshocked little, "A-are you colorblind?" but then the needles start flying and she flings herself onto the floor of her cage, trying to be flat and untargetable.

The needles are large, as thick around as a Bic pen and as long as an arm, and the sinew is spun very fine (the spinning wheel the spinning wheel), and the come at people, trying to stab anywhere, flying through the air as thick as the first volley of a food fight--

Mou Fubuki's ice wall goes up behind Sugata, between him and the two boys just as he is between it and the Witch, and the boy who's still conscious has hefted the other boy onto his shoulders in a fireman's carry, even as he's got this look on his face like he's just completely and utterly dissociated right now.

'Stay behind me.'

King's Pillar comes down like the wrath of a whole bunch of gods at the same time, ripping fully a third of the witch off and dispersing the witchstuff into sparkling nothingness and a spill of black ichor that spreads like ink, and the ink tears into the floor, making an ever-growing sinkhole at the front of the Witch. The dolls are running toward her now, and the needles as well, and the needles are desperately trying to stitch the dolls to the Witch to rebuild her failing structure.

"Can we go?" the awake boy's small voice asks Mou Fubuki.

Melona Mizu has posed:
Really, a hail of needles in response to having a cannonball launched at your wrist is pretty reasonable. Not that Melona was really wanting to just take those at all. Nope. She is attempting to dodge, though it's harder since running potentially results in a foot through the ground, so she ends up being peppered by some of the needles, sticking into her henshin outfit and exposed skin in a few places.

...Needles which she immediately yanks right back out, that bubbling anger and resentment rolling beneath the surface as she watches the witch re-creates her hand. There was no point in feeling sad for that. The man was already dead.

"You should not run on your own. You will die." Melona states simply to the awake boy.

Not that she was the one asked. Energy begins to infuse her flail as she begins to spin the flail, dropping the now-returning-to-doll-arm that was once a slingshot. And then she flings the flail upwards, launching herself with intent to get above the Witch.

...Something she might regret doing, as Drei Spitzen starts to glow intensely with a mix of neutral and dark energy.

"Spitzen Blast."

Misery Melon lifts her flail over her head, before swinging it down towards the Witch. Rapidly as she falls, the three spiked heads of the flail grow bigger... bigger... and bigger, until the unstably-glowing spiked heads are each the size of a spiked boulder.

And upon impact, Misery Melon, Drei Spitzen, and the witch?

...Would be immediately consumed in an explosion of energy, which launches Misery Melon and her three-headed flail back out and away from the Witch, landing unstabily on one of those shelves.

...Hopefully the kids weren't immediately by the Witch still.

Taro Yamada has posed:
The world narrows.

There's a little girl there in the cage, and there's a line pattern on her skin. It's a pattern that he knows from Jack's shared knowledge. Jack knows a lot about what to do with bodies.

He flicks his wrist back and then slices down, neatly bisecting the cage before swiping the sliced off wall and using it to slam half a dozen dolls off the sewing table before throwing it down after them.

"Sunflowers are bioaccumulators and oleander is the city flower of Hiroshima," he says. "It's thematic. Now - this lady is Amy, she's magic and she can fly. She's going to get you out of here, so listen to what she says and stay close. Over there are our friends. That really shiny blue guy is Sugata, he's really strong and he can blow up bad guys with his magic powers. He's working with that ice lady and the bomb girl to save everybody. It's gonna be ok."

Which, maybe isn't the most reassuring thing to hear from a seven foot vampire, but he's lit up like a barbie doll so it's probably fine.

- Well, ok, he's not seven foot any longer. The fear from the girl and the kids down there have been kicking in to powers that he hasn't been able to use for months - the way fear makes him GROW. And grow. And grow.

He's big enough that he's at least half the size of the witch when he jumps off the table. Big enough that his palm-blades are like seam-rippers when he drags them down the seams that could form the witch, that they scythe through the dolls like he's reaping wheat. More and more red blades are growing from his body, spearing dolls -

(He's trying not to drain when he attacks, but it's difficult to turn it off. Difficult to adjust when he's fighting. And he doesn't think he'll regret how sick he's going to be - )

"Dear boss," he howls, and his body curls inward - "YOU'LL HEAR ABOUT MY FUNNY GAMES!"

His body bursts with red blades that spear through witch and familiar alike -

And as soon as Taro's sure that the witch isn't going to be running from the Pillar, he bolts like his life depends on it. Because it does!

Laisa Samuiko has posed:
    Mou Fubuki is just staring at the everything that's happening beyond the clear ice wall. It's a lot, and it's freaky, and it's gross, and the kids behind her are talking... well one of them is. "Y-yeah... Yeah you should... go..."

    How the heck is she going to get the two of them out? Fortunately it seems like Ginga Kingu has an idea before she does. She's busy, creating more ice walls, blocking the incoming needles, freezing them in place so that they can't stab anymore. The more ice she makes, the larger and heavier her frozen wings grow, rooting her in place. The weight of her starts to rip the fabric underneath, and she freezes it again, forming an ever-growing platform of ice beneath her.

    Terrain-shaping magic is a pretty solid choice for a fight against a monster who uses your own footing against you.

    Mou Fubuki is still looking up at the monstrosity of a Witch. From the outside she looks like she's frozen with horror, but internally wondering how she can fight something that can't really be purified. She's going to need a new finisher for things like this, and fortunately it seems like the other magicals are making progress. She glances behind her to make sure that the two kids are safe, then looks ahead again as her mind finally categorizes the brand new emotions she's feeling.

    Disgust? Horror? Rage? Dishorage? Abhorrence? Yes, that's the word. This must be what abhorrence feels like. Good to know.

    She channels those feelings into magic, as the ice wall she lifted for the kids' protection suddenly shatters, splitting into several large chunks of icicles, each the size of an adult human and each of them floating in the air, growing as more magical frost covers them. Her wings grow wider, longer and heavier, and a whirlwind of cold air swirls around her. The frozen area of floor beneath her grows further along the quilt, reinforcing it and holding it still.

    Then with all of her fear, and all of her fury, she calls out her new attack name.

    "WINTER'S CLOSING KISS!"

    Her way-too-large icicles are launched at the Witch in solid wall of sharpened cold magic, and after the first volley is fired more come to take their place, launching wave after wave until the weight of Mou's wings becomes too much to support themselves and they fall off, crashing into the ground.

    "Oh shoot... RUN!"

    She turns to flee towards the quilted ground, as the ice beneath her begins to crack.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    'Papa.' So that doll was...

    Amy comes into view of the cage and is... honestly relieved. She was expecting to find a person partially-disassembled up here and trying to think of how she could possibly repair them. She got as far as considering that she could probably donate skin with ease, given the way her magic works, but she lacks the medical expertise to perform a graft... but she needn't worry about that now.

    Lines down the backs of her arms and legs.



    Needn't worry about that yet.

    "We'll get you out of here! AAAGH!" Amy runs towards the cage, only for needles the size of bic pens to pincushion her. She stumbles and falls, twisting to land on her opposite side as she deactivates pain.

    "Smoke out! Flashbang out!" Amy calls as she shifts position slightly to fire from the ground -- well, the table -- the next shell breaking into a scattered cluster of smoke bombs that cloud the air over the table to interfere with the Witch's sight, and the next shell firing through the smoke and detonating in blinding light and a loud BANG in the proximity of the Witch's face.

    Only after does Amy wonder if that even works on Witches.

    Magical Rocket Girl Red -- currently cosplaying as a certain [Disturbed Magical Girl] who fits in worryingly well with the doll outfits, and also currently half-pincushioned by needles like she just tried to take on all the archers ever in Skyrim or Minecraft -- runs towards the cage at first, "We'll get you out of here!" she repeats, considering the bars.

    She's bleeding less than one would expect from such injuries. Like her skin sealed flush with the needles where it was torn, though it still bleeds some.

    "Can you cut those?" she asks Kuiper Belt Cape while gesturing to the bars, or perhaps he volunteers the information. "Probably best if you rescue her then."

    She looks to the girl, "You can trust Mr. Kuiper Belt Cape, alright? And wear ear protection." Amy conjures two sets of fuzzy pink earmuffs and tosses one through the bars and one to Kuiper Belt Cape before turning to face the Witch and summoning her artillery cannon. And then she realizes what was said. "Uh, is meleeing the Witch really a good--"

    Amy stares as Kuiper Belt Cape grows. "Alright then!" She dismisses the cannon and spins, mini-missiles summoning in the air around her and flying out in wide arcs to pelt the Witch while Amy grabs the girl -- "Hup!" -- in a princess carry and starts running!

    She jumps off the table just as King's Pillar comes down and she and the kid go flying, Amy holding her tightly and protectively as they're flung towards the group!

Sugata Shindo has posed:
The spiked cannonball rips off a chunk of the Witch's hand, revealing nothing and earning them a volley of needles the size of pens flying like spears and Sugata calls -

"King's Counter!"

A shimmer square of light appears in front of him and deflects the needles - they fly towards the headless rag dolls, and the few who get close are sliced and diced with Diamante, Sugata moving with the kind of endless patience and endurance of someone who has trained their entire life for this and will not falter now.

The way that little girl screamed Papa as the Witch ripped open and then shoved her hand into what had seemed like a doll will haunt him. He's seen many things - but death isn't one of them, not directly, not like this. All of these dolls, they're undoubtedly victims, but that doll, that doll might have been able to be saved, that doll was her parent -

King's Pillar rips open the Witch, tearing her body asunder, and the other dolls and tools begin to stitch her together, tearing apart the others for materials. Her structure is failing, black ichor is spreading, but she is not dead. Not yet.

The pink-haired Puella is doing an admirable job of remediating that, though, and the boy who is carrying his friend, with the most empty and blank of gazes, the smallest voice, and though he could finish this - he could destroy this monster, ensure it never hurts anyone else, ever again -

Ginga Kingu thinks of Takuto, coming home, huddled between himself and Wako, and he thinks of these two, who are asking if they can go, and he turns away from the part of him that would reap bloody justice, leaping over Mou Fubuki's ice wall and landing before the tweens.

"We're leaving now," he promises the boy who is still awake, and offers him Diamante as he lifts his unconscious friend to carry. "This is Star Swordo Diamante. I'm going to carry the two of you away - but if anything gets close to us, and it isn't this Snow Angel with me, feel free to use Diamante to slice it open."

Sugata, there are other allies! Sugata, there are other allies -

(The boy hasn't seen those other allies, and they can heal themselves up, pull themselves back together, if they get hit in the crossfire of a child defending himself. It will be fine.)

Snow Angel Mou Fubuki is building and snow and walls, more and more, in a way that Ginga Kingu can absolutely recognize as stockpiling weapons and defenses. And it's getting heavier and heavier. Well then.

The tween boy is scooped up, sword in his hands, and Sugata doesn't ask Samekh what he needs to do, to fly. Samekh has never given him anything with intent to help. Instead, he thinks about Takuto, and Wako, about the sight of them, graceful and elegant in the air, Takuto with his high-speed acrobatics and enthusiasm, Wako soaring along, spritely and deceptively enduring, ever-willing to tow him along, and he doesn't want what they have.

He knows he already has it.

Sugata Shindo has posed:
And for the first time, Ginga Kingu takes off into the air, just as the oversized wings come crashing down to tear apart the quilt and leave them over the nothing.

Energy pours from his knee-length boots, pale blue-white, and honestly, yeah, it looks like Shadow the Hedgehog's jet-shoes, the energy blazing stronger when he pours on the speed, as he does now. With one boy tucked in one arm and the other held tight over his shoulder, he doesn't have a free hand to direct King's Pillar -

Luckily, he doesn't actually need one. Twisting in mid-air, flying backwards, he directs the boy - "Watch this. You don't have to worry about her again."

And then the light rains down again, over the remnants of the Witch, that shining, awful pillar of light.

"King's Counter!"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
The little boy nods to the pink haired Misery Melon, expression remote. He'll do as he's told. He'll probably also never do something like break into a haunted doll shop again, either. He listens to Mou Fubuki, eyes wide, focusing a little bit more on her for a moment, and he nods again, swallowing-- but only falls back a bit further, unwilling to go anywhere in this place that isn't behind a shield or one of these not-cosplayers.

He silently watches the needles go into Misery Melon and her pull them out again; he watches her swing her magic flail and cave in a great big chunk of Witch, making pieces of leather dress, Witch skin, and 'doll' 'pieces' fall into the inkwell of nothingness inside Atropos.

He watches Mou Fubuki build and build her reinforcements, and watches her launch her new attack -- volley after volley, tearing right through the unsteady and wretchedy wrong being towering over them all except the guy in the highlighter-colored kimono who's way too big now (his eyes sharpen in uncertain readiness to run, but what the fuck?) anyway WHAT IS HE DOING--?? the kid thinks, coming back to reality for a second.

He checks back out when that guy decides to fistfight the monster and explodes in shining red knives, and he is so relieved when Sugata takes his friend and gives him a glowing magic sword and he's about to be Too Cool to be picked up by someone as obviously cool as Sugata when he remembers he is not too cool and he really wants to get away and oh they're flying good choice.

The little girl is doing better-- or worse-- worse in some ways actually, but better in others; she's past the screaming, but she's the one who told them to run instead of yelling for them to save her. She'd probably make a great mahou shoujo.

She watches Amy get pincushioned and cringes, then watches in startled wonder as she just keeps going; she flinches back when Taro takes the roof off her cage, but only then-- she doesn't flinch away from him. Not until she sees what he does to the Witch that makes it look like he himself is exploding in spiky death?? and then she's dubious, but sticking close to Amy until Amy gives her earmuffs, which are cute so she puts them on. But then she's getting princess-carried away, and she starts crying again and turns her face into Amy, curling up a little in her arms.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
The dolls all-- they all start to fall into disarray, or down, and the needles are dropping through the quilted floor, and the Witch starts up this keening sound, eerie and grieving and mournful, after the melee attacks and then the rockets, while she's still not together again yet.

King's Pillar.

The little boy waves Diamante around at anything that looks like it may be attacking them, which at this point isn't that much but it's definitely the thought that counts. He definitely watches the orbital death strike, and stares in absolute awe. "You did that twice," he breathes out.

As Sugata and Amy rocket out with the kids and Taro and Mou Fubuki are running for all they're worth, the floor gets more solid, then everything starts to crash down behind them-- until suddenly they're running up the stairs (or flying) in the haunted doll store, and all the shelves are empty and the building is beginning to collapse in on itself--

Melona Mizu has posed:
Huh. The kid listened and survived. That was a bit of a surprise. As everyone else is running, of course... Misery Melon would do what she came here for. Go to collect the Grief Seed and /then/ start to run out of the collapsing building.

Girl has priorities and it wasn't saving those kids.

That was just a bonus. More or less.

Rather than just run, she starts to swing that flail again... building up momentum to launch herself out of the building, small explosions occurring upon impact with walls.

...She does actually have the presence of mind to, well, aim so that she doesn't hit the others.

Because frankly she doesn't want to get ganged up on right now. At least not until she can /use/ the spoils the others ignored.

Laisa Samuiko has posed:
    Snow Angel Mou Fubuki is having a day. First she goes back to this messed up doll store that she nearly forgot about until she was confronted with it again. Then she walks in on a magical serial killer in the middle of 'processing' her victims. Now it turns out that it was a load bearing monster and the entire building is collapsing around them.

    Mou Fubuki turns her hands towards the ceiling and starts freezing it in place, but only the parts where the party needs to pass under in order to escape with their lives and dignity.

    She really has no concept of how important a Grief Seed is. She's not going to fight over one. It won't even occur to her that there will be such a prize until after she's well and good outside of the building, unless someone else mentions it.

    When she's finally out, and she's also sure that the rest of the party and the rescued normals are out, she allows the ice to melt. She's not putting any effort into preserving this building. Let it fall.

Sugata Shindo has posed:
"I did that twice, and she won't be getting back up," Ginga Kingu confirms, and doesn't set the boy who's still awake down until they're outside of the building, outside of the Labyrinth, back in the safety of Juuban.

He doesn't take Diamante from him; he can withdraw it at any time. For now, this kid needs it more than he does. As the pink-haired puella starts bringing the building down behind them, he shifts the other boy to his arms, pressing his fingers to his pulse.

"I'm going to call for an ambulance," he tells the boy with his sword. "Your friend should get looked at. I can let you call your family after, if you want. Otherwise, I'm sure the hospital will take you both."

Once he has an answer, he turns to Snow Angel Mou Fubuki, and nods in sharp approval, before glancing and catching Melona's eye as well, if she wants to look. "Sugata Shindo, also known as Ginga Kingu. You both did well; thanks for the assistance."

Taro Yamada has posed:
One five-foot-ten neon vampire mahou is bailing for his life up the stairs and out the door. He is not trying to keep that place intact. He running until he hits pavement so that when his head starts spinning from draining a witch, he's not barfing in the labrinth.

He staggers into the light; it's only then that blood drips off his face. Somehow, it's not his. When did -

(SPLAT!! "Papa!" )

.....oh.

He eloquently walks into a nearby alley and empties out the contents of his stomach. Only then does he break his henshin.

Taro returning is - ah - he's looking remarkably green, all things considered, but it goes well with the red Hello Kitty sweater and pink Hello Kitty hair clips he's wearing. (His hair's up in a loose ponytail to keep it out of his face.) He swings his backpack around and unzips it, sets it on the ground, revealing bottles of water and flavored milk and soda, mochi and buns and jerky in plastic wrap, and offers it to the kids.

"Sugata-san's really smart, he's got this covered," he adds. "Here, are you thirsty? HUngry? I brought plenty."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "What are we running for?" Amy asks, once the risk of being caught in King's Pillar is over. "When we kill the Witch, her Labyrinth will disappear."

    But then they're back in the store -- "This doesn't make sense, we can't leave a Labyrinth until-- the store is empty now?!This freaking place!" Amy slows down and stops running, walking at a normal pace across the empty room and outside. "Why does everything have to be weird here?!"

    If she gets a chance to notice the grief seed, she'll ask Melona if she has any; Amy is fine with Melona taking it.

    But uh, right now, she has a crying girl in her arms. Amy looks at her sympathetically and gives her a brief squeeze, possibly a little too tightly. She doesn't know what she can possibly say to someone who just saw their father... used for parts in front of her. "Cry all you need to. It's alright."

    Once out of the store, Amy stops, and sets the girl down, though if she wants the Puella Magi will keep the pinned arm around her as she starts reaching around and pulling the pins out of herself, holes immediately sealing up. <<"Does anyone here have healing?">> Amy asks. <<"I have more than enough magic to fix the damage under the skin, but I don't want to waste it if I don't need to.">>

    Amy takes a breath, and lets it out. <<"Watch these kids closely. If my telepathy is working, he's somewhere nearby. They might be inclined to make wishes right now.">>

    When supplies are brought up, Amy volunteers, "I have a first-aid kit if any of them need it."

    She looks down at the little girl sympathetically. "Are you, um." Of course she's not alright. That's a dumb question. "...What will you do now?" Wait, no, this is a little kid. "I mean um... is there anyone we can take you to...?"

Melona Mizu has posed:
Kingu gets a slight nod towards him in response by Misery Melon. "I have gotten used to hunting efficiently. Better to minimize energy use and take care of things quickly. And then they usually fix themselves." She glances towards the kids. "...People who survive a Witch's Labyrinth usually make good magical people." She says, her tone... somewhat vacant at that.

She doesn't specify what she was thinking of further, instead opting to lift that grief seed and press it against her Soul Gem, which very briefly is cleansed to full, before almost immediately partially refilling with about 1/4 darkness.

"I do not have healing. The hospital is likely the best option."

Unless someone tries to stop her, she'd start to walk off again, back towards where she'd come from.

She lifts her hand up towards her shoulder to support the familiar figure that hops up onto there to accept the spent Grief Seed.

Who then turns to look towards the group.

:3

He doesn't stay on Melona's shoulder, who simply continues on her way away.

Laisa Samuiko has posed:
    Mou is just kinda staring at the rubble with a blank look of horror. She feels... almost privileged in a way. Well, she always was, and she knew that. She was born into money, but this is something else. This is a horror that, frankly, she could have walked away from if she wanted to. Then again, safety is overrated, and if she can still tell herself that after something like this, then she probably actually means that.

    Kingu's voice snaps her out of her reverie, and she looks towards him. "Snow Angel Mou Fubuki. It was.. uh..."

    What does she say here? Because it absolutely was not nice to experience anything about this. Instead, she shifts gears to a different compliment.

    "... You did good work. I'm impressed."

    Then she looks over to the rescued kids and winces on their behalf. The Veil is, in many ways, a mercy. Amy and Sugata seem to be doing the needful, and there's very little she can offer on top of that. "Hospital is probably best, yeah. Y'know..."

    She narrows her eyes at the two tween boys and opens her mouth to unleash a lecture, but... decides against it. No, nevermind, if that whole affair didn't teach them their lesson then nothing will. Instead, she just says, "I'm not really a healer. If you hurt I can apply an ice pack, but that's about it."

    She looks at the weird mascot, with its unchanging smile and red beady eyes, and says, "Huh. Cute. I think?"

    It's probably a good thing that Laisa already has powers and can't be taken in by Kyubey's schemes.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
The little girl just sits on the cold ground when Amy puts her down, looking across the street-- then looking up at Kuiper. Likewise the little boy looks from Sugata -- who looks /so cool/ -- to Taro, who is wearing the Himalayas in high-vis yellow and also oleander from Hiroshima. "Ah, no thank you," says the little boy, holding the glowing sword with the point down and trying not to let it touch the ground.

"Yes please," says the little girl as the last of the house crashes in on itself and leaves a hole in the ground, and she reaches for protein and she reaches for carbs and she reaches for a sweet drink and she's immediately nomf nomf nomf.

The unconscious tween's pulse is all right, he may just have gotten hit on the head or fainted or something.

They aren't processing a lot right now.

Sugata Shindo has posed:
"I was impressed as well. You're versatile in a fight, and capable. If and when we fight together again, I'll know you're a good ally."

The telepathy is a start that Sugata really doesn't need, but he doesn't show it, turning his head to look at Amy instead, quirking an eyebrow. "Saying he doesn't help much if no one knows what you're talking about."

Without even thinking about it, he reaches out to adjust the tween's grip, and then sliding around to adjust him into a stance properly. "Kendo is a great way to practice fitness and avoid getting into trouble," he says, never missing a moment to propagandize about the sport. "I'll show you some stances until the ambulance arrives, give me a moment."

Melona is given a brief nod, and then he pulls out his phone, calling in the emergency -

"Yes, a building collapsed at X Address in Juuban Ward, about three minutes ago. There were three children at the edge; some friends and I were in the area and saw the whole thing. Two of the children seem to be physically fine, but the third is unconscious and has been for at least ten minutes. I believe there was at least one adult in the building when it collapsed, but we didn't see him. Given the number of children, I would recommend at least two ambulances."

The delivery is calm and matter of fact, the words quiet. After answering some more questions, he hangs up.

"They'll be here in a few moments. If any of you plan to be out of here when they arrive, you'll want to go now."

Taro Yamada has posed:
Taro smiles as the girl starts grabbing food and chowing down. He tugs a plastic bag out of his backpack and quickly fills it with more of the snacks she took. Then he opens his wallet and counts out most of the cash he has on him, quickly folding it and offering it to the girl.

"Here. The ambulance will be here soon. They give you free food at the hospital, but sometimes it's not very tasty so here's extra," he says. "And - here. Go to the hospital store and get a plushie and a book when they say you can walk around."

It has been - a VERY long time since he was at the hospital proper. But it had been frightening, and he hadn't known what to do, and he'd been so relieved when his ma came to visit with his favorite toy and his favorite bento.

(IT made sense to bring snacks to a witch fight, didn't it? You couldn't fight well if you were hungry. And you might need to eat after. And It was good to hydrate, and if you had all that down, then you didn't have to worry about the other stuff. Like the smell of all those bodies.)

The little girl has her mouth full, but she accepts the food and cash with a firm nod. "Thank you," she says in a small voice once she's swallowed - to both him and Amy and Sugata and Mou.

And with that, Taro's head lolls back to look up at Amy. "Heyyy. If you have to bail for this. I kind of will need help getting back to the dorms. On account of. The witch goo. Can you take me with you?"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy looks... well, what can she say? What can she do? The boys will be scarred, but they'll go back to their lives. The girl... Amy looks at her sadly.

    Cute?

    Amy lifts her head and looks at her 'mascot.' Who Melona is giving-- "Wait, no! Let Madoka free the soul first--!" Amy shouts, but it's too late. She winces and cringes back.

    "...I suppose, objectively. But it's hard to think of him as cute now."

    She de-henshins back to normal clothes -- her sweatshirt, school skirt over yoga pants, and sneakers -- and replies to Sugata, "I'd better keep watch." But then Taro is. Out of it. She pats his shoulder. "Then we'll leave after the ambulance does. I don't think we should leave them right now."

    Her red eyes meet the red eyes set in that plushy-like face. Kyubey stares back wordlessly.

Sugata Shindo has posed:
With the ambulance called, Ginga Kingu does do what he said he would - while still holding the unconscious boy, he demonstrates several stances for the boy who's still awake, then begins correcting his stances, as he practices them. It seems that having a sword is helpful for the spirit, something that doesn't surprise Ginga Kingu at all.

The fact that Taro has an entire bag of snacks ready to go and is stuffing a small child's hands with money is surprising, but who is he to judge. They all have hobbies, he supposes.

But then there's a shout - let Madoka free the soul - and he frowns, lifting his head. "Free what soul? Keep watch for what? Who is this he, that you're so concerned about?"

And Snow Angel Mou Fubuki mentions the cute thing and he looks up, and sees something... well it's less cute than Vice President, so he doesn't care.

"Oh. A pet."

Taro Yamada has posed:
Taro follows Sugata and Amy's gaze to the. Hm. To the. (ah, yes. He's suffering the Quencies of sucking all that witch energy. He's mostly gotten the nausea taken care of, but his head is starting to feel like it's full of fluff.)

"Amy, that evil cat is back," he says, and he hefts a soda in his hand. "Amy, explain to the gang why the cat is evil and has to go. If I tell everyone I only see that thing after disasters happen, I"m going to sound like a crazy person and Sugata is already disapointed in me. I! Am going to go problem solve."

He pauses, and then adds to the little girl, "You should be very good to animals normally. Do not emulate this behavior."

With that, he throws the soda at Kyubey with shocking accuracy.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy nods to Taro. "Honestly, a cat-fox-thing that appears near children after disasters would be far from the weirdest yokai."

    Kyubey dodges the can, barely -- it just grazes him. He turns and looks at Sugata, but doesn't speak yet.

    "That's Kyubey. The one who recruits Puella Magi." Amy glances back down at the girl. "In other words, people who take his deal will have to fight monsters like that for the rest of their lives. Until we run out of magic and... die. The grief seeds Witches leave behind are the only way to recharge our magic."

    Amy looks at the others. "...There's more to it than that, but that girl is scarred enough for one day."

    Kyubey looks at Taro, his voice suddenly in their heads. << 'Taro Yamada', you see me at such terrible times because I can offer some people another chance at life. Without a wish, they will die anyway. >>

    Kyubey shakes his head like a dog, and leaves it cocked to one side. << The life of a Puella Magi is challenging, but all of you here fight monsters to help others. Is it such a bad thing that you wouldn't allow others that chance? >>

Sugata Shindo has posed:
"Evil cat?" Ah, it seems like Taro is on... drugs now? Did he find time to do drugs? Is this some trauma response, from the fight? Well, he seems coordinated enough to manage himself, so it probably isn't Sugata's place to question it. Even if it is going to be marked down on his non-existent grade report later.

And then.

"It's true, I am disappointed in him," Sugata says with a sigh, and looks to the little girl. "Do you want to learn to hold a sword? Why don't you come join this lesson - he'll show you what I've just taught him. Teaching is the fastest way to check learning, after all."

This is mostly to prevent whining from a tween who now has to share a magic sword with an eight year old, but also, he doesn't think... they should let the child see violence against animals. Even he sees a problem with that, and he's easily the most morally flexible of the Star Drivers.

And then there's an explanation, and Sugata is admittedly... surprised. Sure, he knew that other people gained their magic later in life, weren't born into a role destined for them... but he didn't think a telepathic cat just wandered around, offering them power, either.

Stepping away from the children, he tries the telepathy - <<These children won't die today. I don't see a problem with letting them step into this life, but not tonight.>>

Taro Yamada has posed:
Taro eloquently shows Kyubey how he feels about him with a rude gesture and telepathies right back, letting Sugata and Amy listen in.

<<People who show up when someone's at rock bottom to offer that person everything they ever wanted at a seemingly small price are always up to something. I think that kids should be allowed to do magic and save people and choose to risk their lives. I just don't think it should be through YOU, who only targets people having bad days and conveniently doesn't mention that if puellas don't fight enough monsters, they shrivel up and die. Even I got a better deal for magic than that, and I got the homicide puppet who gnaws on people.>>

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Kyubey relays the messages through his telepathy. None of it is information they couldn't learn; allowing them to think it's automatic may serve him one day.

    Kyubey drops the mascot act at Taro's words, and looks at him expressionlessly. << You know this. That a deal 'too good to be true' is suspicious. Even children know such stories. Why do you blame me for their choices? >>

    He turns and starts to walk away, then stops and glances back long enough to add, << It is 'too good to be true', though. For a few lives, the life of the universe is extended. Isn't it wonderful? Even by your values... >>

    And he walks off into the distance.

    "...He has other bodies." Amy notes. "It doesn't matter what happens to that one anyway."

    And she'll go back to holding the little girl, if she wants, until the ambulances arrive.

Taro Yamada has posed:
<<I blame you for it because only an asshole offers a shit deal and then blames people for being tricked by your purposeful trickery. Oooh, little kids should know better than to assist a gift from me, a shifty million billion year old alien who looks like a toy. Next you're gonna be telling kids that cigarettes taste good and make them healthy and then say it's their fault when they get lung cancer, you asbestos marshmallow. If you're so concerned about the fate of the universe, sacrifice yourself to stave off the end.>>

The girl is asking the boy questions about the sword behind him. They're both distracted from this, from Kyubey and from the ordeal, distracted enough to be playing around a little. Taro's going to be spending the next few days miserable, but it was worth it for this.

(Not another miserable child changed forever by magic, as he had been.)

"Jerk. This is what it's all about. Not just the blowing stuff up, but sitting around after til the red and blue lights show up," he says, gesturing as if to mimic an ambulance siren. "Worth all the stupid shit for this."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Kyubey stops briefly to look back at Taro. << I do not 'blame' anyone. I am not human. >>

    << "It simply is what 'happened', right?" >> Amy supplies, hollowly, a human way to put it. He looks at her. << Exactly. >> << "You're not evolution." >>

    Kyubey looks back to Taro and flicks his tail. << I would sacrifice myself if I could. But my species do not have emotions, and so cannot become Puella Magi. Nor, for that matter, can you, 'Taro Yamada'. Just what will you change, by involving yourself in this? >>

    And the little white creature bounds off. Kyubey telepathy continues to function for a short time after, but does eventually stop before the ambulances arrive.

    It seems he really has vacated the area. Or wants them to think so...

Sugata Shindo has posed:
Sugata shakes his head; he has nothing further to say to Kyubey. He has said his piece - not tonight.

Not longer after Kyubey departs, the ambulances arrives. Sugata, in his Ginga Kingu outfit, spins a quick story of being out with friends for a cosplay photoshoot when they heard the building begin to collapse.

The fact that two of the children seem less emotionally devastated than they could be, even with the evidence of a very collapsed building sells the story easily. The children are bundled off - the boy with Diamante being very disappointed to have to turn the sword over. Sugata gives him a card with the kendo club's information, and a promise that he'll let him keep training if he intends to keep it up.

The girl is very quiet, and there will undoubtedly be tears, later, when it's time to try and answer questions - but for now, the three children are bundled together into two ambulances and carried off.

The night is quiet. Kyubey does seem to be gone.

And then a car pulls up, and when the backseat is opened, it's a young woman who goes to Radiant Heart and is often seen following Sugata.

"That's my car," he tells Amy and Taro. "I'll give you a ride to campus before I head home."