2871/Let It Out

Let It Out
Date of Scene:	12 December 2025
Location:	Plot Room 1
Synopsis:	Rashmi gets an evening call for assistance, originating from Starcrash. Molly's not in danger; she just has feelings, and needs some help to get them out. Help that Rashmi is well equipped to provide.
Cast of Characters:	Molly Skyline, Rashmi Terios

---

Molly Skyline has posed:
Tokyo, mid evening, with crisp winter weather and a generally high level of peace -- both in the mundane world and the mahou one, for once. And for most people, that's about as far as it goes -- unless you're in one of the malls that's absolutely packed. Then getting around might be a struggle, but at least the overwhelming majority of people are polite about it. For most people, it's been a good day.

For Molly, it has not been a good day.

The purplentte has again had to endure the aggressions of a certain bully and his buddies, their aggressions applied judiciously now when her friends aren't around, but meted out all the same; from three twits that Molly could, were she the sort to do it, put in their place quite rapidly with Starcrash.

But she would never do that.

So she spent the latter half of the day listless, instead, until her Moms picked her up to take straight home from school -- insisted on, since they'll be at a function this evening and wanted to know that their daughter was home and safe. To which Molly only objected perfunctorily.

And then a couple of hours later, Nicomachea receives a message sent straight form Starcrash:

<< ALERT. ATTENDANCE REQUESTED: MOLLY SKYLINE ASSISTANCE REQUIRED >>

Rashmi Terios has posed:
For all that end-of-term exams are rearing their ugly head again, when *Starcrash* relays an alert for assistance...

Rashmi can't teleport -- not without some help and a lengthy aria, at least -- but the empty space she leaves in her wake as she pelts out of her dorm room and toward the balcony might speak differently. With only a perfunctory check to see if anyone's looking, she slips out the balcony door, then is in henshin and over the railing in a heartbeat, winging her way toward Pikarigaoka.

<< I'm on my way, >> she answers. << What's the situation? >>

Look, she can be forgiven for assuming it's 'assistance' of the youma variety, given who did the calling.

Molly Skyline has posed:
<< ALERT: NON-COMBAT ASSISTANCE REQUIRED >>

Maybe Starcrash just doesn't really know how to describe the problem.

Luckily, with Mahou travel Molly's apartment really isn't that far, and as luck would have it the window is already open enough to let some air in, so getting into Molly's room isn't terribly difficult, but the problem is quite visible from outside.

The purplenette's bedroom is in a minor shambles. A prized Lego X-Wing set is on the floor; luckily Lego pieces are pretty tough but it is no longer fully constructed and there is at least a relatively clear space around it. However, the rest of the room looks like things have been hurled at the walls in all directions from all directions, though at least restricted to things that aren't breakable -- clothes, stuffies, slippers, empty knapsack, lunchbag, and so forth.

Standing in the center of it all is a practically incandescent Molly, hand balled into a fist with tears streaming down her face and chest heaving as she glares balefully at the mess surrounding her through bangs that have fallen in front of her face.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Ah. Non-combat assistance. That... makes things less urgent, if only by degrees. And when she gets to the open window, and sees into Molly's room... things become a bit more clear.

*tap tap tap tap*

"Hey, Molly-chan?" She asks, not having opened the window any more due to the outside chill. "Mind if I come in?"

Molly Skyline has posed:
It takes a moment for the realization to fully form as to where the tapping and the voice is coming from; and once that realization hits, Molly deflates a degree, and her shoulders sag. She breathes out, and approaches the window -- and of course, opening it requires that there's a safety catch that has to be undone. She fumbles with it through three attempts, and before the fourth the simmering frustrationg ahd hostility towards all things that are designed for people with two hands overflows and she punches the window -- an act that will surely result in bruised knuckles -- and finally succeeds in sliding the window open enough for Rashmi to get in.

"Hey," she mumbles, backing away so Rashmi can get in until she backs into her bed, and sits down on it, dropping her elbow to her knee and her face into her hand. "I..." she sighs.

"Things went wrong."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Looks like it," Rashmi says as she flits in, finding a bare spot on the floor and gingerly touching down. "...D'you wanna talk about it? Or d'you wanna get your mad out in a little more of a... cathartic way?"

Her voice carries many emotions; worry for her friend, some sadness at the hurdles she has to clear, *absolute* care for Molly... But what it doesn't have at all, is pity or judgment.

Molly is Rashmi's dearest friend, and if she can help, she will.

Molly Skyline has posed:
"I dunno... both maybe," Molly replies, lifting both arms up, such as she can manage with the condition they're in. "I just... It's just..." She sputters, fumbling for the right means to express herself and looking like she's fit to jump up and start pacing. Which, a moment later, she does.

"I just, I can't..." she throws her hand up in the air, "I wanted to punch that areshole hard enough to send his teeth flying, but I can't, because if I did I'd either just be picking a fight I can't win or I'd be using my barrier jacket to get the job done and I will never do that because that's not alright, but then I thought when I got home I'd..."

The purplenette fumbles again, "Like, I can't do the things I think are fun. My Switch is sitting right there and I can't figure out how to play with it and I like, everything I want to do needs TWO HANDS and I can only watch so much TV, so I thought okay fine, my Moms gave me the Lego Y-Wing set for my last birthday and I never got around to building it so surely I can do that, but I needed to move the X-Wing to make room for it and I dropped it because I tried to use my left hand and it's GONE."

Molly has to stop for a moment, because she reached the wall and has to turn around.

"And then I lost my marbles and it's just... just... It's over! The whole thing with Seriss is over, she's dead and I'm back and it's over except it's NOT OVER. I mean it is, for everyone else. Literally everyone else is done with it, except It's not over for ME and it will never be over because I'll NEVER get my arm back and, and," she pauses, gasping for breath as fresh tears splash both her cheeks and her glasses,

"WHY ISN'T IT OVER FOR ME?!"

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Rashmi starts forward as the rant begins, but holds back. Just long enough to let Molly get the whole scope of the problem out. Yeah, bullies are frustrating. Forgetting you don't have two hands has to be *infuriating.*

But the moment Molly cries out why it isn't over for her, Rashmi *lunges* across the space, de-henshining in a shower of golden shards to wrap Molly in a crushing hug.

For a long time, she doesn't say anything, just holds her friend and lets the tears fall.

When the storm of Molly's emotions subsides enough that words might happen again, she pulls her head back. "It's over, Molly-chan," she says softly. "It *is* over... but that doesn't mean there isn't damage. It's like... remember all the rebuilding Tokyo had to do, after Walpurgisnacht? That *incredibly* huge storm that happened at the same time? It's... I think it's a little like that, for you. It's over, but it also turned everything into a huge mess and you just... don't know where to begin, picking up the pieces, y'know?"

Molly Skyline has posed:
There are a lot of tears that need to come out. Molly stands there, enveloped in Rashmi's arms, shuddering as she's wracked with emotions and the tears flow. By the time she's finished she's a mess, hair somehow even more dishevelled and she looks like she should be collapsing into bed. Instead, she just stands there, sniffling and blinking rapidly.

She reaches up to pluck her glasses off her face, and then just... stands there holding them. Awkwardly. Oh, right; left arm can't do the thing anymore, so she just puts her glasses back on her face without cleaning them on the hem of her shirt like she used to.

"It's not, it's not fair," she gasps at last.

"Every time, I look in the mirror, I... I... she stole my face and I see my face in the mirror but it's also her face and I can't... I can't see myself without being immediately reminded of her and I can't... sleep because I'm afraid she'll be in my dreams, and I can't... do anything, anything, without being reminded that... I'm like this because she did it to me."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
There is just... nothing Rashmi can say, that can even *begin* to address this sack of razors that Molly is holding onto. Because when she saw Seriss in the arcade, the utterly *consuming* loathing she felt was a faint shadow of that feeling, and Rashmi had no idea where to even *begin* to handle it for herself.

But she's here, and her friend is here, and she has to do *something.* So she tries to find the kindest, most helpful things to say.

It takes a bit.

"Molly-chan... I... don't know if it'll help, but... Y'know how Nicomachea does sensory recordings, for review? Well... You just let me know and if it'll help... We can show you what happened to Seriss after she hurt you. Amy-chan in particular was *furious,* and had a lot to work out..."

Closing her eyes, she takes a deep breath. "Other than that I don't... really know how I can help. I was gonna suggest we go to the Park, set up a Barrier, and you can just... *destroy* everything within a couple blocks? It's not much, but like... it helped me, a couple times."

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly bobs her head slowly. "Yeah," she whispers. "I... yeah. Not... yet. I don't think I'm ready to... to see that. Not yet. But I'll... when I'm ready I'll ask you for it, okay?" She sucks in a deep breath, and lets it out slowly. "I can imagine Amy when she's furious. I'm glad she was furious. I mean... yeah, actually. I don't wish that on anyone, just... y'know."

Her shoulders sag, and she slips her fingers up under her glasses to rub at her eyes.

"Uhm, yeah, actually. Going to the park and... destroying everything under a barrier would be pretty.... great. After we fought Viluy and Dr. Tomoe I haven't... gone out again. I don't feel ready so I haven't really done any fighting or pratice."

The purplenette sucks in a breath. "You said it helped you? Did you do that... after I.."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"When Seriss first showed up," Rashmi corrects. "I was... pretty useless myself, up to that point. But when we learned about her..." Rashmi closes her eyes, and shakes her head. "...I went out behind the Shed, tossed up a Barrier, and destroyed most of a forest. And it helped, a little... mostly in getting me so exhausted I could get around the mad, and remember some important advice Setsuchan gave me. 'Feeling rage is normal. But you need to control it. Harness it. Focus it. And when you find a worthy target... *then* you let it out.'"

Patting Molly's back, she shifts, to keep one arm looped around the purplenette. "So when I was done destroying Barrier trees, and good and exhausted... I could start to figure out what we needed to do to *get* to the point where I could let it out on a worthy target. Which was when I started Nicomachea's rebuild."

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly squeezes her eyes shut, and dips her head forwards. "I am so sorry you had to go through all that," she mumbles. "I know... it... wasn't my fault. I couldn't stop Seriss. I was helpless. But I saw everything she did and I felt terrible every time she hurt someone or... or talked about her plans or... anything. Basically I hated her using my body to, to--

"MY BODY!!" she shouts, and then just as quickly deflates again from the sudden outburst. "I don't know if I'd be this offended if she didn't use my body for all of that, and I just..."

The purplenette sighs, and her shoulders slump. "I guess I really want to break stuff. Here, let me pick up my X-Wing first, I'll put it back together tomorrow."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"I have an idea," Rashmi says, crouching down to help Molly pick up the pieces. "If you can stand to leave it till Sunday? I can come over, and we can put it back together, together?"

Rashmi tries to smile at her terrible joke. It almost succeeds.

"Look... I know it's not gonna feel like it for a while, but... You *are* the only one who blames you for what she did, Molly-chan. So maybe... Iunno... maybe if when you look in a mirror and start feeling that sick anger... remember that? And listen to the you that says 'They believe in you.' Because you *deserve* to have people believing in you, Molly-chan..."

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly deflates another notch, and sighs, looking down at her feet. "It's not that I blame myself," she mumbles. "I know what she did is her fault, not mine, but I had ot watch for almost a year while she did every nasty, cruel, and sadistic thing that entered into her head to do, she hurt people because she thought it was fun and I couldn't stop her. And I wanted to stop her, and I tried to stop her but I couldn't get back control of my own body, and I spent long just..."

The purplenette trails off for a moment, and scrubs her face with her hand, pushing her fingers up uner her glasses, "I spent so much time replaying that day on the beach, wondering if... if I made the wrong choice. If maybe I gave up on getting out too quickly. Or if I should have waited longer to give you a chance to save me. If I could've... found way to send a signal, or, or if I could have called Riventon somehow and maybe he'd have been nicer about it than Viluy, or... or I don't know what."

Molly glances back towards the X-Wing, and bobs her head. "Actually, yeah, I'd love to put that back together with you. I know you prefer fantasy over sci fi but... who doesn't like Lego?"

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Riventon and Norie-chan actually looked for you," Rashmi says. "Chrono called him, and Riventon didn't even give him any sass. ...That was a while ago though," she says with a sigh. "Apparently Riventon's a Director at Obsidian now... Anyway. Did I tell you that Nicomachea had *asked* Mamo-san to lock me out of his simulation tools, after... the beach? He knew what I'd want to do, when I was still hurting; I'd've gone over that battle again and again, trying to find a route where you didn't get stuck there."

Rashmi closes her eyes and draws in a deep breath, lets it out in a long sigh. "What I'm trying to say is, I understand the doubt. Wanting to know if you were just blind or incompetent, and it didn't have to happen the way it did. I was *so mad* at Nicomachea, too... but I'm sorry you didn't get the same gift. Because that forced me to come to terms with a really, really awful truth."

Patting Molly's back, she dips her head to meet the Brit's eyes. "Which is it doesn't *matter* what *could've* happened. That's not what *did* happen. And we have to clean up the messes of the here and now, y'know?"

With a weak, slightly damp smile of her own, she follows Molly's gaze to the X-Wing. "I mean falling in love with Chrono *has* put a little bit of space opera on my reading list, so-o-o-o..."

Molly Skyline has posed:
"So we're watching Star Wars." Molly manages an equally damp smile. "Not in some silly order. Original trilogy, you and me and anyone who wants to come, maybe New Years Eve if that works for you or some other night if it doesn't, lots of pop, candy, and popcorn, and absolutely NO heckling the movies while anyone's watching them for the first time." She pauses for a moment. "Also you're gonna love R2-D2."

With that said, Molly sighs softly, and nods her head. "Yeah. What happened happened. And, I'd... I'd... like to not have to do it again," she admits. "And we should probably get everyone together sometime, at least those of us who are devicers, and talk about strategy and stuff, but I don't want to think about that now." She sighs, and shrugs her shoulders.

"I kinda just want to take your advice and go blow some stuff up."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Yeah okay," she says to the declaration about Star Wars, nodding decisively. "And that's not a bad idea... but yeah, first lets get you too tired and hungry. C'mon..."

Making sure Molly has Starcrash with her, she henshins again, leading Molly out the window and toward the nearby Park. Once they've gotten to the middle of the green, she sets up a Barrier that covers... pretty much the whole thing in an otherworldly, muted-gold staticky dome of light.

"Okay," she says, lifting up off the ground. "Pick a target, and weapons free."

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly follows Rashmi once she henshins, her new Barrier Jacket just as much of an upgrade as what Rashmi was able to do with Starcrash. And she looks glorious, if... rather self-conscious about her left arm -- obviously so. But there's no changing it. So she follows after Rashmi, content to let her friend lead the way until they've landed in the middle of the Park and the barrier is up, she takes a moment to look around herself.

Well, there's... quite a lot of targets," she muses; and visible in front of her face, her Battle Visor helpfully lights up by marking trees, playground equipment, park benches, shrubs, and the public washrooms all as hostile targets.

Oh well that's nice, isn't it? Actually only one friendly taget gets handed out, and that goes to Rashmi.

It doesn't take Molly long to get started, and thermally-charged barrets cook off in torrents, followed by chain-fired beams, all aimed into the trees and blasting away at the shrugs. As she opens fire, she lets her Flier Fin wings pull her up into the air so she can get a better shot, firing a sustained beam in a semi-circle into the ground and basically everything on it inside of that sweep.

Eventually the playground equipment gets targeted, with twin beams that explode at the point of impact, subjecting the playground to a catastrophic explosion that sends molten metal and globules of glass flying in all directions.

<< MANA LEVELS AT FIFTY PERCENT >>

After Starcrash gives the helpful update, Molly pauses for a moment; the heat circuitry on her Barrier Jacket is glowing and steam is hissing from the various vents on her and Starcrash. "She tried to take... my body, my friends, my Moms, my future, my dreams, everything from me," she gasps. "And she took my arm. And it's NOT FAIR."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Usually, this is the point in an anime where the hero's friends would be very, very worried about her launching what can only be called a nuclear temper tantrum, and maybe try to stop it.

But with Time-Space Barrier, *anywhere* can be a rage room if you try hard enough.

Floating higher than Molly, Rashmi simply watches her fellow Devicer blast away at foliage, structures, and even the ground itself to get out some of the sick, helpless fury that she'd been locking away *all year.*

Setsuna would call this more like lancing a boil, really. Gotta get the crud out.

"She did," Rashmi agrees, when Molly pauses. "And it *isn't.* It's not fair and it's awful but you *made her pay for that,* don't ever forget that part."

But Molly doesn't look done, so Rashmi doesn't come down from her observer point.

Molly Skyline has posed:
"No I didn't," Molly mumbles -- though Rashmi can hear her loud and clear anyway, even though she's not using the psychic link, Starcrash is transmitting. "I passed on a few tips, I did my best to upset her plans... I wasn't the hero of that story, Rashmi-chan. I was the damsel locked in the tower. You made her pay. You and everyone else who fought her, even once. But I just watched... and maybe that's the part that hurts the most." Her voice breaks before the last couple of words, and fresh tears roll down her cheeks, before the thermal blasting resumes; three more buster spells are fired off, and just as Starcrash starts to issue a warning about waning mana reserves, Molly gives the command "Charge Coronal Overload, all remaining mana."

And moments later Molly is firing the biggest blast of energy, absolutely radiant with heat; her mouth opens and she belts out her wordless frustrations as the beam fires, pushing her backwards as she annihlates the public washrooms, a row of parks cars on the street, a decorative bridge over a koi pond (the koi will be fine, they're not in the barrier, Starcrash checked) and a small play-pavillion.

As the beam fades and Starcrash is glowing, Molly floats back down towards the ground, touching down maybe a touch less softly than she might have liked.

<< TWO PERCENT OF MANA RESERVED FOR RETURN FLIGHT >>

"...Thanks, Starcrash. That's a good idea. Actually, let's just assume that 'use all available mana' implies that from now on, unless I say otherwise."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Yes," Rashmi insists, "you did. We literally *could not have won* without what you gave us, Molly-chan. Just because you were Frodo instead of Aragorn doesn't make you any less critical. But I understand *feeling* like you didn't do enough, and it probably *feels* like a small thing over an entire year, just... Please remember you came in clutch when we needed it. And be *proud* of that."

It's only then, that she touches down in front of Molly, reaching out to offer support. "And yeah, that's something Chrono beat into me... literally. Always keep enough behind to get home, *and* for me, drop a heal to make the walk easier."

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly's henshin disperses in a cloud of puprle particles -- not the dark energy purple but Molly's favorite color purple, of course -- and she just kind of plops down in the middle of all the destruction she's wrought over the last several minutes. Fires are still burnig. She burries her face in her hand, and sucks in a breath.

"I didn't... think anything I did mattered that much." She sucks in another breath, "I knew... I knew I had to warn you. About things. I sacrificed everything I had to sacrifice to warn you about the attack on Hotaru and I just... hoped it would be enough warning. And you all fought so hard against Seriss, and you never gave up on saving me even when I said you shouldn't make it a priority, because she wanted to end the world and I couldn't... be selfish enough to be important in the face of that, but I... I... you..."

Molly is crying with her face at the wrong angle, and now there are tears on her glasses, and she pulls them off her face and then just sits there, trying to figure out how exactly to go about dealing with the problem. As she's trying to work it out, she looks up again, to see Rashmi offering her support; she puts her uncleaned glasses back on her nose and accepts the help to stand back up again.

"Well, you're still my hero."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Maybe *you* didn't," Rashmi says gently, pulling the other girl up and into a *fierce* hug, "but we *did.* And it *was* enough, to save the world *and* you. Because I promise you there wasn't *anyone* who was giving any kind of thought to *not* saving you, Molly-chan. That's just... not what we *do,* y'know? Also... It's gonna feel weird, but put one of the arms of your glasses in your mouth. That way you can get them clean."

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly allows herself to be hugged, and rather than bothering with her glasses she just throws her arm around Rashmi's back, and squeezes her eyes shut. She holds that position, until eventually her breathing levels off and her emotions creep back towards a less volatile, less perturbed baseline. She sniffles -- bawling is hard on the nose -- and finally looks around herself once more, settling for basically just staring at the space behind Rashmi.

"I want my arm back," she whispers.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"I want your arm back too," Rashmi whispers. "I just... don't think that kind of magic *exists* if it's not already in you. So... Best we can do is what your moms get made up."

And from the sound of her voice, and the look on her face, she purely *hates* saying that. Magic has made the world better and brighter and weirder and wonderful but it *can't do that.*

And that's terrible.

Molly Skyline has posed:
"I know," Molly replies, with the weight of resignation. "I just... doesn't mean I can't wish it. Even if I know I can't have it."

As she steps back, she plucks her glasses off her face again, and fumbles to furls them up in the hem of her shirt so she can more or less scrub the lenses clean. "Your idea was good, it's just, I don't have a hankerchief in my pocket," she explains, "And uhm, lifting my shirt up to my teeth would... probably look weird."

She dons her glasses once again, for the however many-eth time so far today, and brushes her fingers through her hair.

"Okay so... like... I know you all rescued me from a looping dream, and it involved my future pretty heavily, and I don't really remember it and I'm sure I asked you not to tell me. Because I hate spoilers. But." She looks down at her arm, and sighs.

"Does... any good come of it? Like... do I ever get to make someone's life better, somehow, out of... this?"

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"I mean first thing there's no real way to know if your dreams were actually prophetic, or just, like... prescient. But even if they weren't magical, they just showed us the kind of person you *wanted to be anyway* so..."

Rashmi grips Molly's shoulders, leaning back to meet her friend's eyes. "You do *so much good,* even if it takes a bit of a toll on you. Even if you *didn't* have magic you'd *always* make a difference to a *lot* of people. If you don't want spoilers... I can say that much with *certainty.*"

Molly Skyline has posed:
Rashmi gripping Molly's shoulders turns out to be fortunate, as she sways unsteadily as Rashmi tells her what she can safely say. She reaches up to rest her hand on Rashmi's shoulder likewise, to just to keep herself on her feet for that brief moment, as she takes in what her best friend has to say about her dreams. And she's right, it doesn't matter really if they predicted the future, or just... showed a possibility, if the point really was that it's about who Molly wants to be.

She does so much good. That was the part Rashmi emphasized.

"That's good enough for me," she whispers.