2874/The Nightmare Nexus: The Unfinished Girl

The Nightmare Nexus: The Unfinished Girl
Date of Scene:	14 December 2025
Location:	Plot Room 1
Synopsis:	The latest in the string of Nightmares coming to life across Tokyo has disappeared a girl entirely. No one can remember who she is. Can the Mahou help her before its too late?
Cast of Characters:	Emi Hoshino, Kureha Senkenzan, Mamoru Chiba, Usagi Tsukino, Amanda Faust, Catra

---

Emi Hoshino has posed:
THEN --

Tokyo Metropolitan Kogei High School --

When the custodian had questioned her, Aoi had smiled and explained she was just working to finish up her art project. That was true, of course -- the evidence was right there on her easel with the charcoal dragon swirling around the globe in a graceful arc that bent towards Japan, like it was poised to dive directly towards Tokyo. (Where else would a dragon dive, if we're honest?)

The truth, however, was that it was quieter here than at home.

The distant squeak of shoes on the hallway floors, the quiet fading laughter of the adults departing into the evening, and the ever-present hum of Tokyo life were all that was left to her. Well, that and her thoughts.

"Hmm," said Aoi. She frowned in thought, and brushed away a line. No, not like that.

That's when something squeaked.

She looked up, around. Nothing. Just the empty room in all its faded glory, the whiteboard of accumulated drawings from the day that hadn't been erased in everyone's rush to get home. She'd take care of it before she went.

Back to work and then --- squeak? Again? Like a sharpie pressed too hard on the whiteboard. Her eyes settled there. She didn't remember that drawing. A girl, roughly sketched in fading black, like the pen had run out of ink with each stroke. Crooked shoulders, one eye unfinished. Lines smudged where they should have been clean.

"Did.. is someone here?" she asked, after a moment. Her heart was hammering in her chest all of a sudden for some reason. She looked down.

SQKRKRRRRK.

Back up. Quickly.

Had she moved...? Nope. Not gonna do this.

Aoi got to her feet and swiftly began gathering her things, heading for the door -- but the footprints stopped her. Like someone had stepped in chalk dust or a puddle of ink, one after another leading towards the door. The way out. She stopped. Slowly, Aoi turned with dread towards the space on the whiteboard -- but her vision filled with something else entirely.

The custodian heard her scream -- but then forgot.

And so did everyone else.

NOW --

Emi Hoshino looked like someone still struggling to find peace. The dark circles under her eyes and the fact that she called them to meet with her in the shed, where it was very dark in the corner she'd picked, are all the proof anyone needs to know that she's still struggling with welding her dreams abck together. The offers to help, from Mamoru, from Coco, from everyone have surely helped her make whatever progress might look like here, but right now... right now she's got a killer migraine.

She said she needed help, though, and that's why she invited them. Said a girl was missing. Not just one girl, actually, but potentially several. Only one she knew about.

Aoi Mizuno, a student at Tokyo Metropolitan Kogei High School. By now, everyone is familiar with how Emi sometimes plays Detective Emi to locate people who need her help. Aoi was one such case that she looked into.

Turned out she didn't need her help, and so she'd set it aside. But now?

Now something is wrong. Now, Aoi seems to have ceased to exist.

Like every bit of her that was ever present is just ... gone. Her high school photo, their emails, her 2chan posts, the art show where she'd won her award for best in show a few years ago had something else in her place.

Just ... gone.

And no one else seemed to remember her. Not even her parents.

Now that, says Emi, falls under the purview of 'shits fucked, go find out what happened to my friend'. She suspects a Nightmare for the same reason she did back then: Aoi's something else. Vividly creative and with a tough home life. The kind of girl who might generated a Nightmare all on her own if things were tough enough and she was in a bad enough spot. And right now? Everyone's in a bad spot thanks to the All Subsuming One.

There's a party tonight, see, held by people who were in Aoi's social circle. Nobody remembers her. Not a one of them -- but there's a party they're holding, an Emi has gotten all of you invited.

Emi Hoshino has posed:
"I met some of them," she explains, "back when I was looking into Aoi. They remember me -- but not -her-. Fucked, right?"

Sure is, Emi, sure is.

Of course, the party is clear across Tokyo so you better get going.

Kureha Senkenzan has posed:
    It's not obvious just by looking at her that Kureha Senkenzan is nervous. But that's just because she has a well-practiced poker face. She is incredibly nervous.

    It's not because she worries even now for her grandmother all the way in Kyoto. It's not because she's concerned she'll somehow be caught back in Tokyo when she's not supposed to be just yet. No, it's pretty much entirely because Kureha Senkenzan has never been to any kind of party like this before. Upper class gatherings? Sure. Grand opening galas? Oh, plenty of those. But mingling with a large group of normal people within roughly her own age range, in a non-formal social setting where everyone can be normal? Nope. Not once.

    Kureha has zero idea how she's going to handle this, and if anything, the actual goal of the night is giving her a distraction to focus on. "If I never knew this girl," the heiress begins, "And none of them remember... Are there any hints or clues I should be fishing for?" She fidgets a little, adjusting her skirt. She's not used to casualwear.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Well, that's far," Mamoru had said when Emi gave the address, and then held up his pocketwatch. ""

Now there he is, in henshin instead of his halfassed scenester look, and he glances in the direction they're gonna head in. "Roofs are faster than the train. And the last time there was a nightmare thing and the train, the train was a mimic."

He doesn't just go, though, he waits to go with the group.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Usagi Tsukino has been to plenty of parties - not that anyone would be surprised by that. She's the sort of girl who knows just about everyone, either directly or through a friend of a friend, and so even though she doesn't know this girl or these people who will be at a party...

She still has a good idea of how to dress nicely for a high school party, and under her henshin, that's exactly what she's done. Under her henshin, because for now, she's Sailor Moon, because of course it's across town.

"Emi-chan... when does the party start? And Kureha-chan's right, how are we supposed to figure things out if no one remembers her? Is any of her stuff at home?"

She glances at Mamoru, flushes a little in embarrassment remembering their not-fight, and quickly fixes her attention back on Emi.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "Wait, but how come you can remember her?" Amy asks. "Is it a veil thing? Wait, the veil doesn't erase people... usually." She pulls out her phone and checks that old posts are still there. Well, that's good, but... "How many other people has it erased that you didn't know?" She rambles about a False Hydra scenario, works herself up worrying what if its getting people all over the city, but at least determines that there isn't evidence that Tokyo's population used to be way larger like huge areas of unused infrastructure or the like, and calms down, reassured that things haven't gotten that bad yet.

    BUT ALSO she was told to dress for a party -- What do you... wear... to a party? It's not an after-work party or a birthday party, it's like, a party party, and in retrospect she should've tried to go to one at Radiant Heart before now for like, social practice. And now she's suddenly going to a party for students of a high school she doesn't even go to, but at least she won't be alone!

    She did eventually go back to the mall to finish the shopping trip Wicked Lady wickedly interrupted and pick up some clothes like what she spotted then, and she's wearing some now: A white cardigan over a red tank and tiered green skirt -- "Does, does this work? See, it's Christmas colors!" -- and black boots with a half-inch heel. Her hair is up in a ponytail.

    Seems she didn't feel like trying a goth look this time and oh wait her eyes widen, "Oh in retrospect I should have asked you for advice..." she notes, to Emi. "Uhh... does this just make me look like a librarian? ...Maybe it's better with the hair down." She's frantically fiddling with her look, undoing the ponytail, redoing it but leaving forelocks, conjuring a santa hat on her head...

Emi Hoshino has posed:
"In a few hours, hence the semi-urgency," says Emi of the party.

"I'm in no shape to go, but I'll be close by in case we -- you -- need KenKen. It's at the Star River Diner," They're going to a restaurant no doubt -much- to SOMEONE's delight, "they rented out the party room. If I had to guess there'll be a couple dozen students there. Some of them were Aoi's friends. I tried to press on how they remembered me given that I was hanging with Aoi when we met but that sort of ... went nowhere. A blank stare sorta thing. Like, I didn't wanna push too hard, you know? I didn't know what I'd break."

Emi pinches the bridge of her nose.

"That's a good question, Amy, and I don't have any answer for it. It's possible Aoi is just the first victim we know, but if I remember Aoi, then anyone magic is likely 'immune' to the immediate impact of whatever is happening."

She lets out a breath to address Usagi's very good, very valid questions.

"I wish I knew. I'm hoping you guys might pick up on something, some kind of trial or weirdness, hanging out with her friends. It might be a big bust, too. I couldn't look at her stuff, but her own -parents- don't remember her, so ... hard to say without looking around in their house which I couldn't do. I can give you her address, though." She'll ping their phones with it after a moment, wincing at the light from her own phone when she does so.

They do have some time to get themselves ready and to ask questions of Emi, of course, before everyone is going to need to start heading clear across Tokyo the star river diner.

Which is a lovely, mid-range restaraunt with a whole lot of people inside right now. Teenagers have rented the space, no doubt one of them using Dad's Credit Card for it. There's even live music.

... the live music of a band full of teenagers. It's ... it's music.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"I can break into her house and have a look," offers Tuxedo Mask before they go, glancing at Sailor Moon and she's blushing?? but not looking at him?? but Adora isn't here--?

--and then finally they're there, after leaving Emi far behind, and Mamoru drops his henshin. He's in his black leather jacket, black button-up shirt under that, tucked into skinny black jeans, absurdly expensive dress shoes, has his thin-black-frame hipster glasses, his fluffy hair spilling forward rakishly and earring and ring and pocket watch glinting, black eyeliner subtle and perfect, red rose earplugs in place.

He offers Usagi his arm with a crooked little smile. "I'll be your handsome arm candy. You can tell them I'm American and my Japanese is terrible, and I'll only speak English. No they're probably your friends-of-friends who'll recognise you..."

Kureha Senkenzan has posed:
    Kureha listens to Emi's explanation with a nod. "My, that's quite something." Inwardly, she is even more concerned. She's looking for unknown evidence about the disappearance of a person she never met from people who don't remember she even existed, and pressing too hard might cause psychological trauma, in a social situation she has no clue how to navigate.

    Halp.

    But as the kimono-clad form of Onihime is racing with the others along the rooftop, she's thinking. '...maybe I can work this in my favor? Lean into my accent, paint myself as a confused out-of-towner, and see where the conversation goes... okay. Okay, maybe this will work.' By the time they arrive, Kureha's confidence is a lot less feigned. "I shall... mm. I shall be near the counter."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Oh it is at a restaurant! Not a house party like the movies. That is probably better.

    Amy drops out of henshin at the destination, and glances at the group of teenagers from another school. Okay Amy, it's a bunch of strangers, but... you're ready for this, right? You are you. People like you, and you hope Radiant Heart isn't a complete anomaly, and all of them are probably more concerned about not seeming too weird themselves than looking for weird people to pick on--

    Amy shakes her head.

    No, if they're worried about that it's not a good place, is it. But maybe... Maybe they just want to make friends?

    And she's going to be asking weird questions about a girl no one remembers, so that'll go swimmingly. At least she's not alone...

    She stares, open-mouthed, and Mamoru instant-makeover-ing himself to look like he's from a boy band or, at least, a cool guy from a movie. "Wow. Have you practiced this or did you come up with that on the spot?"

Emi Hoshino has posed:
Now, Emi did say just introduce yourself as Emi's friends before you leave, and that you'll get in. That she swang the invitation. She didn't fill in much details about the party becasue she doesn't really have that many, if we're honest.

But it does work, actually, 'Oh yeah, Emi's friends'. They know Emi -- but only because they knew her through someone they can't remember.

And one gets the immediate sense that they're still struggling to remember *why* theyt invited her, and her friends in turn. Weird, right? There's this sort of blank stare, and it seems sort of like they're gonna object but then...

"Usagi?! Usagi is that you?!"

One of the girls has met Usagi before, and well, she's going to go talk to them and that smooths *everything* over.

Usagi knows everyone. Somehow.

That does give the rest of you free time to blend and start talking to people. It's a bit hard to break the ice -- really hard actually -- but you're gonna have to try if you want to try to figure out what's going on, and whether or not there are any other victims. All of them are from the same high school as Aoi is, it seems, and they're having a blast. There's free food from the diner -- lots of it -- and sodas and juices and even more food. There's board games set up and video game consoles. People are having a good time.

But there's a ... little bit of tension in the air that has nothing to do with the strangers in their midst.

Kureha Senkenzan has posed:
    Emi's name gets them in - and then Kureha is, more or less, on her own. She smoothes her skirt a little, then gives Mamoru, Usagi and Amy a nod in turn, before finally making a beeline to an empty seat at the counter. And, with more emphasis on her Kyoto accent than usual, puts in for a simple order of food. "A plate of karaage to start with, if you'd be so kind." Then, while she waits, she turns to glance at whoever's on either side of her, before selecting an older girl to her right. "Say, indulge the new girl if you would? A friend sent me here to get more comfortable with Tokyo, but there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of 'comfortable' here, does there...?"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru grins at Amy and says over his shoulder, "It's Maybelline except for what I was born with," then heads over with Usagi to the girl who called her over. He smiles through the introductions, then puts his hand at the small of Usagi's back for a second and bends to murmur something to her. Then he smiles and nods to the other girl and takes his leave.

'His leave' in this case means 'to get a soda'. While he's over there, he strikes up a conversation with a boy wearing a t-shirt for a local punk band, and he knows his stuff, and he has Opinions. He gets two other people weighing in and one who comes up because he remembers Darien from the local punk scene around Radiant Heart a couple years ago-- awks--

"--yeah haha it was a whole thing, missing heir found. Still don't remember what happened. But you know what I do remember? This one girl I used to know, but nobody else remembers her. Does the Mandela effect work on like, people existing?" he asks, animated, engaged.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy, who's looked back at the party and started to look a little deer-in-headlights, laughs and wheezes at Mamoru's joke, grinning. She follows him in, and sees his strategy: Find someone Into Thing and use that as an in. There has got to be someone around with, like, a shirt about an anime or movie she's heard of; "You liked that series? I loved they way they used the leitmotifs in the soundtrack..."

    Nailing it. She's nailing it!

Emi Hoshino has posed:
While Usagi was instrumental in getting everyone through the door and into the mix -- breaking the ice such as it is -- that still leaves the rest of the mahou to their own devices and the worst part of it all is that all the eyes are on them. The strangers. People they don't know, yeah, and all with an undercurrent of tension that seems like its more than it should be even for the most socially inexperienced of them.

But the hard work is being put in. Mamoru leaning into things. It helps that he's tall, leaning like that. There's a ... little less openness at first than he'd like, even for his Prince-ness -- but its starting to work. The pair he's talking to, Kason and Kairo, are actually siblings. They too seem tense.

Amy is ... nailing it. Yes. Let's go with that.

Kuerha's question got a sharp laugh in response from a girl named Arisa with bright red streaks in her hair. "Who's comfortable these days?" she asks, holding a soda can out to Kuerha. Because one should always be polite.

No one is actually being hostile. There's just walls and uncertainty the way it is when a social situation suddenly shifts on its axis with new arrivals. It takes a little time for everyone to find their jam and start getting into things. Usagi gets peppered with questions by the girl who recognized her, the queen-bee of the party, it seems, in big beautiful stroke. Usagi will remember that's just kind of how Kiki is.

But as the conversations wear on, it all starts to feel just slightly off. Like they're all aware of it too, even if they don't know what it is. Can't place it. Like something is missing.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Usagi does know just about everyone, thanks to having gone to a pretty big public middle school, and maintaining ties, and having an active social life, even outside of her magical life. Especially now, outside of her magical life. She had smiled at Mamoru, when he came beside her, and then giggled and teased and answered the flurry of questions from Kiki about who that tall, handsome boy is -

"You remember, I told you about my fiancé, didn't I?"

And she flashes the engagement ring she wears, which is actually her first wedding ring, and she doesn't think of any of those complications now, because she's being normal, even if it is about something abnormal. ...Even if the conversation isn't normal, and she can tell. There's something not quite right going on, something about the way reactions are had, words sliding about, undercurrents of tension, and she laughs a little, and sighs, and says,

"Kiki-chan, what's going on? I mean, really going on. Throwing a party this close to exams is totally just like you, but forgetting your friends isn't. Why didn't you invite Aoi-chan? Did you have a fight? You can tell me, I don't even go to your school - I won't get in the rumor mill."

Kureha Senkenzan has posed:
    "That's true of just about anywhere, these days," Kureha replies, giving just a bit of extra Kyoto lilt for emphasis. "But Hoshino gave me the impression I'd be at least a little better able to relax, hereabouts. Much obliged," she adds, taking the can of soda gratefully. "This is supposed to be a party, but it feels like the most popular dance here is 'dancing on a knife's edge'. A classmate didn't pass away, did they?" She's banking on the fact that she's one of the youngest people here to lend weight to her words - 'if the young new girl notices it, something MUST be wonky'.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
After a brief natural pause in the conversation that involves cola, Mamoru says with an uncertain smile at the siblings, "Ha, feels like you could cut the tension in here with a knife. Did something happen right before we got here? Or is it like-- there's someone missing? It feels like there's someone missing, doesn't it?" To give him credit, he puzzles his way through that as if it were only just occuring to him. Man can act. "Wait, it's Aoi-san!" He makes a show of looking around. "Is she sick?"

Catra has posed:
The conversation feels abnormal. But, one participant in it is definitely behaving in a very normal, very usual fashion -- at least for her.

Catra.

The feline is staying entirely silent. She's just kind ahanging around with her hands in her pockets, letting everyone else do the talking while she just listens, mostly listens, thinks firey thoughts about her runestone, and chews over things in her own brain. And, something does definitely feel off, which she can't place. So, since she hasn't really got anything to add at the moment, she just kinda hangs around.

And keeps her ears on a swivel in case of ambush or... something. Really on this planet who knows.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy feels a bit 'how do you do fellow normal people' at first, but once she finds someone willing to talk geeky she loosens up and is herself. Hopefully not accidentally sending any wrong signals in doing so.

    But then well after she's no longer worrying... there's a feeling of something... off.

    Is it her? Did she do something wrong but stupid politeness rules prevent people from telling her? She doesn't think she could tell people being angry at her but not saying anything, from people angry in general...

    No, it's not like people are grumpy or mad. Something's missing. Aoi is missing, obviously, but... there's no way Amy could feel that, could she?

    She starts trying to analyze what she hears, look for hidden meanings, inferences, things between the lines, what's left unsaid... and it just drains her batteries. A hundred things could be wrong, a guess can't tell what it is.

    So what's the sensible thing to do? What's the direct thing to do? What's the Amy thing to do?"

    After she returns from getting sodas for herself and the people-with-some-geeky-interest she's talking to, she just asks.

    "Hey, uh... is it me or does it feel like something's... off? Or missing? I can't quite put my finger on it... can you guys?"

Emi Hoshino has posed:
Usagi knowing everyone is a boon! Surely, also a curse sometimes.

When she calls out Aoi's name, everyone's eyes just sort of snap to the memorable her, compared to the clearly unmemorable Aoi -- because the answer she receives is everyone looking at her with a hint of bafflement, even if the way they looked at her clearly suggests that they SHOULD remember. The tension increases for a moment, like they're aware they should know something, or maybe shouldn't, and they can't figure out how to respond.

"...who?" says Kiki, finally, to Usagi. There's a little crinkle in her forehead.

"Hoshi... ohhhh. Right. -Her-.

Those two don't have a favorable impression of Emi, and now they're eyeing Kuerha to find out which side of the 'delinquent' fence she falls on. "Well, there's food! Eat up, you know," one finally says, "the dancing'll come soon enough, right?"

"Yeah!"

Their smiles are not as genuine as they should be.



Mamoru then calls out Aoi's name and, again, people look at him. Like he rang a bell and it went off chord and the reverberations are still settling -- and then people resume what they were doing like he never said it, like they just glided over it. It's not even that they won't talk about her. It's almost like they ...

... -can't- talk about her. One by one, though, they all look to the same spot, an empty chair that's partially pulled out from the table. No one is there, of course, but the sense that someone -should- be hangs heavily over them.

"It's the music," says one to Amy.

"Yeah, it sucks. That was... hey, Arisa! Did we get a DJ?"

"No, why would we need a DJ? That was always... always ..." Her eyes blank out a moment.

Kureha Senkenzan has posed:
    Just looking at Kureha is enough to get a sense that she is pretty much the exact opposite of a delinquent. She's wearing modern casualwear, but it's very obviously rather expensive casualwear, and her haircut practically screams 'ojou-sama'. "Happily," the girl replies, as her plate of karaage finally arrives. She settles into it with gusto... but at the same time, seems to spot an opportunity. Focusing on the 'who' is causing them some obvious difficulty. But maybe if she redirects it from 'who' to 'when', it'll be easier for them to think about without distress. "My, a DJ...? How long have you been in need? Most of my acquaintances are back ho- ah, back in Kyoto," she corrects herself, in a subtle and deliberate touch to add a hint of sympathy, "But I might be able to follow up with a friend or two and see if they can't lead me to someone promising."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Usagi and Mamoru, oddly enough, are the less subtle ones. It's... weird, seeing the room react. Amy doesn't say anything, just observing.

    Ssssip. This soda is... okay. It's sweet and fizzy. Bare minimum requirements for party soda, met.

    After the awkward moment of everyone looking at a suspiciously empty chair -- and Amy briefly wonders if, somehow, Aoi is here but invisible -- one of the people she was talking to starts speaking again.

> It's the music.

    "What's wrong with the music?"

> Yeah, it sucks. That was... hey, Arisa! Did we get a DJ?
No, why would we need a DJ? That was always... always ...

    Interesting.

    With the thought that the music is unsatisfying is throwing people off, a desire to solve problems, and Arisa looking over this way, Amy raises her hand. "Uhh... I helped my friends do a karaoke thing once, maybe I can take a look..."

    She goes over to whatever equipment is running the music and connects it to her phone or MeTube or however it works. Potentially resulting in a very awkward cessation of music and CONNECTED TO AMY'S PHONE broadcast over the speakers. Uhhhhh.

    She does not know how to be a DJ. Quick, Amy's brain, suggest a song!

> This moment needs a soundtrack? How about: Canto De Ossanha

    Okay it's a good song but she can't just use that for everyth-- oh wait we're at a party and someone mentioned dancing it is absolutely appropriate. Go!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dZQgvRMFIA

    Feeling like she just narrowly dodged a social fail -- she hopes -- Amy walks back to the group she was talking to, grimacing awkwardly. "Okay, I just bought us four minutes and twenty seconds, but actually I do not know how to be a DJ at all, you can't leave me on there I'm gonna put on F-Zero GX's incredibly underappreciated soundtrack or something and I can't just put my phone on shuffle, it's all videogame music, anime soundtracks, pop songs from like two decades ago, and the Homestuck soundtrack on there. What do you guys normally do for music? Help me out here..."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
All eyes eventually turn to the empty chair-- which means, so do a pair of ocean-blue ones, behind glasses, but distinctly giving the impression of the glasses being a mask. He smiles to the two local punk scene siblings. "Don't worry, we'll fix this."

He finishes off his cola and makes pleasant muted half-gestures indicating he's taking his leave and going that way. He figures he'll get more information out of an inanimate object.

That object? Mamoru meanders toward the chair everyone's looking at, picking up another soda on the way, then setting it down unopened on the table. Then his hand's on the back of the chair, looking for its vibes, looking for any strong emotional moment or repeated emotional state enough to leave an impression.

He gets his impression all right, with his hand flinching back, eyes going wide. This time he doesn't meander, he beelines for Usagi and gets in her line of sight before moving to stand alongside her, hand seeking hers.

The knowledge is there, presented for Usagi if she should care to look: Aoi has been erased, cut out of the past, present, and future. The shape of her is ragged and it's only things that formerly orbited her that indicate she was there. But-- she's aware somehow. And aware that she's been erased.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Everyone stares at Usagi, eyes on her for a long moment after she says Aoi's name, like a glitch in the system. Usagi does not mind this. Usagi is a girl who shines in the middle of things, after all.

"Aoi-chan," she says again, recognizing when the room stops when Mamoru repeats the name and doubling down. "You know her, she's your friend. Or at least, you used to know her. But something's wrong, and now you don't. You've been tripping over it all night, huh? Trying to figure out what's missing, and it's her."

There's an empty chair. There's an empty space in the room, missing, gone. A part of her wonders against her will if this is just a metaphor for the Fade that also happens to be some poor innocent girl's real life.

"Yeah, you never needed a DJ because Aoi always handled the music," she says lightly, putting emphasis on Aoi's name. "But she's gone, just like a ghost!"

Her words are unfortunately prescient - there's Mamoru, who went for the chair while she and Amy kept everyone distracted - and he's with her, again, and she takes his hand, wondering what he saw, seeking it.

And recoiling from it, that awful severance of existence and life, past, present, future all gone, and aware, and she turns with new eyes to look at everyone, fretting anew over what this means for them, and forces a laugh, making it feel natural.

"Ghost stories for a party before exams feels pretty spot on, don't you think? I mean, who isn't think about scary stuff when tests are around the corner. But sorry, making your party a ghost story wasn't very nice of me, Kiki-chan! Unless you guys think you have ghost stories that can spook us instead?"

They can't remember Aoi. They can't remember anyone who might have been snipped out like this, and who knows how many of them there are?

But the Flickerman was a story, and so was the Lady of the Labyrinth. Maybe they know more than they think they do - this is their part of town, after all.

Emi Hoshino has posed:
"Did we ...ever have a DJ?"

There's confusion reigning. Kuera's words are helping to build a tension between them. They sort of nod at her afterwards, though. "Sure," says another after a moment, blinking their eyes at her.

And then there's Amy, getting the music going. Lots of eyes staring at her, following her, like they think she should be someone else. And why not? There's something missing and she's filling in, so to speak, even if the music isn't ... exactly ... their speed. Still, someone gets up to dancing, and a few others follow suit. It's a good time, right? But the pall is hanging over them. It never stops.



ANd then there's Mamoru. Mamoru just grabbed that chair. It's like someone wanted to tell him to stop, that that spot belonged to someone else but ... they don't. The words die in their throat. Because that spot doesn't belong to anyone, right...? More tension. First Amy, then Mamoru. More and more tension.

And then, finally, there's Usagi doubling down on it. Building it higher, before redirecting it. Channeling it masterfully, in fact. Everyone seems grateful for the change of topic. Ghost stories? Yeah, they can do that.

A few get volunteered. They're the typical things. A suicide in a bathroom, a girl who got murdered by a serial killer on a road alone at night. That sort of thing. They're the kind of dark that plentifully inhabits the tales of children amongst erach other.

And then there's one.

A young girl draws a figure on a the chalkboard 'years ago', but she's interrupted before she can finish it. Every day she passes by it. She resolves to finish the drawing. But she never does.

She leaves her alone.

And then the drawing starts to -whisper- to her when she passes by. Begging to finish her. To be ufinished hurts, says the drawing. The girl, understandably panics, runs home, avoids it from them on.

... and so the drawing follows her. It starts to appear in her sketchbook, on the blackboards of the classrooms, in her computer programs. Everywhere.

She shuts everything down, trying to avoid it, throws out all her art books and more, stops going to school.

Until her parents make her, of course.

And she was so relieved, -so- relieved, that the drawing seemed to have vanished.

... until that night after school. She'd stayed behind to make up for lost time with one of the teachers, and when the teacher left, she turned around and right there, on the blackboard, was the girl.

Still unfinished.

No one ever saw the student again after that, so goes the story. No one could remember her, either. Not her friends, not the teachers, not her home room or even her own parents. The Unfinished Girl is still out there, goes the story, looking for other girls. To help her finish herself. So she can become real.

That's the story, anyway. Weird bit of local legend. Totally unrelated to anything at all. No one just disappears like that, right?

That'd be silly.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Everything continues to feel off'.

    (She tried, she really did! She found a song from a hip-hop band! That's 'cool', right?! Right?!)

    Things build. It's... bizarre, watching, how everyone thinks of Aoi, and yet their minds keep... sliding off. They expect someone else to do the music. To sit in that chair. To be here.

    Things move to ghost stories. Amy helpfully scores things with game/anime soundtrack songs that appropriately fit 'scary story exposition' and mutters commentary, like "I wonder where that story about the man with a hook for a hand on the road came from... I swear I've heard it before somewhere..."

    As the tale of the Unfinished Girl begins, she's landed on stupefaction (from umineko, which she still hasn't played) and the low buzzing tone just adds to the feel of offness, even as appropriatly haunting, sparse piano notes comes in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X76lu7TCvOg

    "Why didn't she finish it?" Amy asks, partway through the story. Then looks apologetic, and lets the story finish. But when it does...

    "...Why didn't she finish it?" Amy repeats. Art has come to life yearning for completion before. But... "This one wasn't even going around trying to take body parts, or involving a creepy doll shop... It just wanted her to draw some lines. Why didn't she finish it?"

    "...If we finish it, does this stop? If we finish it does Ao--" right, that just pushes their memories away, "Will you have a proper DJ again?" Amy asks, with urgency, although she does not know where this drawing is, but she feels as if, perhaps, talking about it might make it appear...

    And she does not at all feel certain that if it did so, what happens next will be anything so benign as finishing a drawing and getting Aoi back.

    It doesn't really... feel like it could be that simple, anymore... and Amy's voice is tinged with growing doubt.

Kureha Senkenzan has posed:
    Even trying to sidestep alongside the topic of Aoi without asking them to speak about her directly, it looks like Kureha is still nudging into territory that really unsettles them on a subconscious level. She decides not to push it any further, only giving them a faint nod of acknowledgement and then going back to her food. She even waits until none of the staff are looking, and pulls out a little shaker from somewhere - and what she shakes onto her chicken looks suspiciously like dried and ground up peppers.

    But as the tiny spice fiend eats, ghost stories are told, and she starts to listen with growing interest. Her own family line is steeped in myth and legend, so it's a point of interest for her... and the story of the Unfinished Girl starts to sound more and more like it might be very relevant.

    But as the story comes to a close, she can't help but wonder something, and hopes that maybe it'll yield one more clue. So under the guise of 'adding levity', the young Senkenzan scion asks, "My, but that's quite the tale... only, if no one remembers the girl, I wonder how we know the story?"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy actually looks in Kureha's direction and responds, "Oh shit that's a good question." and furrows her brow in thought about that on top of the tale.

    Oh right it's a nightmare it can probably just give people dreams about it.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Why don't you finish a game you lost interest in? Or a project that gets boring?" Usagi's question isn't meant to be accusatory or targeted - just - sad. Understanding. "Things change. You change. You lose the inspiration, or the idea loses the shine, or you have homework due, and the more someone demands you do something, the less you want to do it."

Luna used to lecture her. She doesn't do that, anymore. Why would she? Usagi hasn't made her. Usagi's accepted it, the task, the responsibility, and she learned, the one time she forgot her broach and Jadeite sent his youma after their school, and she couldn't help.

And that might be forever, once they stop the Fade. It might not be, but...

It might be.

Usagi shakes her head, trying to clear the cobwebs. This is the story that they needed, obviously! A girl who disappeared, from her own nightmare creation, all those bad vibes are dark sentiments giving it a life of its own.

"Do you remember... was that school you school?"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Like maybe," suggests Mamoru slowly in the wake of Amy's urgency, "if we go Unfinished Girl, Unfinished Girl, Unfinished Girl! In front of a chalkboard after school? Then turn around, then look back? Maybe the drawing would be there?"

He nods to Usagi's question. "We should go there, check it out with high speed videocameras and those EMF readers or whatever ghost hunters do. Like obviously research it first."

Emi Hoshino has posed:
And now the kids are all -staring- at the rest of them like they're insane. They're talking like this is a real thing! It's just a silly story!

After a moment, Kiki says, "I'm going to kill Hoshino. You guys are streamers, aren't you. I should have known. She's all into that ghost and horror story shit."

"It's just a story. How the heck am I supposed to know?!"

"I don't know. Maybe she goes away if you 'finish' her? I don't know. How do we know? I don't know! It's a dumb story!"

There's a slightly ... intense edge to that. The wray they're talking .The way they're answering.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy cringes guiltily at Usagi's words.

    She can't even recall that many abandoned projects started in this life, let alone her past one, but it's happened enough, over decades of ADHD, that being in a state of not finishing things is familiar in itself, even if the projects are finally, blessedly, forgotten, the ghost of them remains.

    But like, that Puella Magi from her own time encouraged her to finish Secret of Mana's sequel again and see the ending of the character Amanda felt the closest too, and it's just finishing a videogame and she hasn't done it and she said she would, to a spirit in her last moments, and that weighs on her now.

    She's brought out of these thoughts by Mamoru, who's suggesting it works by bloody mary rules. She grimaces awkwardly, not really feeling like laughing.

    And then he suggests ghost hunting with stuff that she's scientifically sure does not work.

    She is familiar with it 1. from an interest in the supernatural, approached by a very scientific young mind long ago in the past, and 2. from much time with Ghost Hunters on the TV in the background, back before you could just stream things, getting into it despite herself and wanting to see what would happen, wondering what was the source of the mysteries they did seem to find...

    ...he's messing with her, right? He's gotta be messing with her. ...He's serious? Or maybe messing with her. She can't tell.

    "We can... we can actually sense dark energy," she notes, quietly. "That stuff... it doesn't actually detect real ghosts..."

    And then her eyes widen in realization: oh wait magic is real and a lot of what science knows does not cover it at all. "...Wait, does it?!"

Amanda Faust has posed:
> I'm gonna kill Hoshino. You guys are streamers, aren't you.
    "What? No! I mean, I was going to start streaming but I uh... never got around to it..." she looks guilty again.

    "We just... we just wanted to help... you can't understand, but we just wanted to help..." she starts to back away from Kiki, feeling the Judgement of so many eyes on her.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Amy-chan, you don't have to feel guilty about it, life is short and we can only do so much! I just meant... it's easy to understand why she didn't finish, yeah? We'll just have to help her out."

And with that said, she turns to the others, who are distressed, frustrated, and reacting to all this by putting the blame on one person: the girl who sent them all to socialize in the first place! Oh well!

"I'm a game streamer," Usagi says cheerfully, "HopHopBunnychan, but I usually play first person shooters. I'm a total coward, so I'm not into horror... but Emi-chan did tell me about this party. I was really hoping to run into Aoi-chan, though - since she's one of your best friends, Kiki!"

There's nothing left to do here; they're just winding the others up.

"Still - I'll tell her this was not the mood she promised, 'kay? We'll get out of your hair!"

And she starts heading towards the door, hoping the others will follow her lead.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Thank GOD they do not go to their school, Mamoru is thinking, truly, as he imagines all the awkward ways this could go if they ever met any of them ever again. Aoi'll come back to such stories.

But Usagi's leaving and Mamoru shrugs his jacket back on and smiles. And doesn't say anything except a murmured goodbye as he heads out the door, tagging Kureha on the shoulder in passing as he goes, and then taking Amy's arm gently and tugging before letting go.

Emi Hoshino has posed:
So, the Mahou have a destination: a high school that teaches crafts, interior design, and manufacturing. Not hard to see why an artistically gifted child might wanna go here if it suits their interests.

The building is pretty big, all glass and steel and concrete, and now four Mahou are standing outside of it, trying to figure out a way in. It's getting on into the evening, now, and night time has claimed the Tokyo street they're on alltogether. The temperature is dropping, so here's to hoping everyone brought warm coats or is an Oni.

Kureha Senkenzan has posed:
    "This certainly is a conundrum," Onihime observes, one eyebrow arched slightly. "I'd offer the oni method of opening an entrance, but modern security systems tend to be a bit touchy about such... old-fashioned techniques." She's nonetheless looking the building over, hoping to spot anywhere her superhuman strength might actually work, if applied intelligently rather than like... well, an ogre.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"So-- I am actually a phantom thief, even if I don't actually steal anything but minutes off Kunzite's life," Tuxedo Mask says, looking up at the building with the others. "It's a lot easier to get in up high, because nobody expects someone to break in on the fifth floor or something, right? It's easiest to get in through roof doors. They probably figure they don't need to worry about roof breakins because it's tall."

He turns around to face everyone and grins, all teeth in the nighttime, "We're taller. Meet me upstairs~"

And then there's the quiet sound of silk unfurling and a rush of wind as Kamen jumps up at a slight angle, rocketing him up in the night darkness.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Mamochan can definitely get us in there," Sailor Moon tells the others proudly, just before Mamoru gives his own explanation. She shakes her head at his dramatics, amused because she's almost always amused at him, and takes a running start to her own leap, high, high in the air, legs powering her much farther aloft than anyone would have any reason to believe they could.

There's no glimmer of light and butterfly like silhouette this time, but Sailor Moon is pleased as she follows her husband to the roof, even as she expects they're finally going to start seeing something scary.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy is searching on her phone while getting in is discussed. "D'you think if we turned on Moon Space, went through the wall, then turned off Moon Space, we'd end up inside?"

    Her eyes glance over her screen. "There's special high schools for that?" Amy wonders.

    "That poor girl... Her future consumed, the thing she was passionate about turned against her..."

    There is a brief glance at Usagi, remembering their conversation, but Amy manages to hold in her snark about the eductional system.

    She shakes her head. "Just like the girl taken by the Flickerman. What she could have been, destroyed. Is this what darkness truly wants to feed on? Kyubey collects his power when we become Witches, too..."

    Amy's mouth keeps running for a bit, musing on as thoughts wander straight out of her mouth.

    "The Bad End Empire likes to throw those words around, but what is a Bad End but when all potential for anything better is lost, forever?"

    Reaching the end of that train of thought, Amy snaps out of it, blinking and shaking her head a little. "We freed her so she could try to pick up some of the pieces. Maybe... maybe we can do the same for this girl, too."

    Getting up to the roof is easy enough when you can superjump. Amy, in henshin, lands atop the roof. "Wouldn't they lock it anyway 'cuz they don't want students coming out here imitating anime? I'm sure I can destroy a lock, but..."

    Amy blinks. "Oh right. Phantom thief, you said. You can pick locks?" Amy wonders, of Tuxedo Mask.

Kureha Senkenzan has posed:
    "Well, I suppose the stylish option has its merits," Onihime quips, before vaulting up after the others.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Once they're on the roof, it's short work for everyone to check if any of the doors are locked while Tuxedo Kamen crouches by one of them with his lockpicks, clicking tumblers carefully into place-- and he's got it, after making sure that they won't set off the fire alarm with the heaviness of the door in question. Then everyone can go in.

Emi Hoshino has posed:
Getting to the roof of such a tall building would be, obviously, difficult and dangerous work for anyone who's not an expert in free solo or a bunch of magical teenagers.

There are certainly doors on the roof, roof access being a whole thing, and once Mamoru has picked one with relative ease, it's down you go into the cavernous hallways. Being in a place like this, after hours, when it's empty of any and all life, certainly brings a liminal quality all its own to the proceedings. Open doors and empty class rooms, all neat, polished and orderly.

You are now confronted with the real difficulty of figuring out 'where' to look inside -- but already your senses are tingling. Yeah, there's something wrong here.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Of course there are?" Sailor Moon says to the surprised question. "Do they not have those in America?"

That seems possible, and she doesn't watch a lot of American things about high school, so it's entirely possible that Amy's never heard of this. Maybe they don't exist in America! Poor America.
R
"This is what Dark Energy does," she says, quiet and sad, missing Amy's glance back at her. "It takes from people, and tries to destroy them. But we're going to get her back."

They got the girl who trapped the Flickerman back, years late, but they did it. They're not late, this time.

"We should definitely check if Moon Space works like that, but I... honestly don't even know if we can go in the buildings there? They might be all toys?" It's conversational, as Tuxedo Kamen picks the locks, and once the door is open, they're all following inside, one after the other, and she looks this way and that. "Something feels off here... but I think we should try checking classrooms. The picture was on a chalkboard first, right?"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"It's how I almost always break in places, yeah," Tuxedo Mask had said cheerfully up on the roof.

That was then. Now, the further in they go, the more unsettled he looks, and the unhappier. And finally he walks with a hand on the wall just to ground himself, and he says ruefully, "Your coalmine canary's feeling kind of sick to his stomach. We're definitely on the right track."

He nods to Sailor Moon, though. "On a chalkboard," he echoes, agreeing. "Can probably bait her by drawing half a picture in whatever room makes my soul want to leave my body."

Kureha Senkenzan has posed:
    As they proceed, Onihime's expression grows just a touch more serious; not quite dour or unsettled, but there's a certain set to her features that wasn't there before. "I haven't the magical senses that some others do, but even my instincts are telling me this place is utterly unpleasant." She glances to Tuxedo Mask, and this time she does frown faintly. "Certainly there must be better ways to find the right place than to make yourself sick. Aren't ghosts supposed to lower the temperature of a room, or somesuch?"

Amanda Faust has posed:
Do they not have schools like that in America?
    Amy shrugs. "They didn't back then. Or maybe were just barely starting to."

But we're going to get her back.
    Amy smiles slightly, and nods.

Something feels off here.
    "That we're in school at night when it's empty? I guess it's like one of those tests of courage they're always doing in high school anime -- is that a real thing? -- except this time, there is a real monster..."

    Ghost hunting is discussed. "I always wanted to try with an infasound detector, since it can make people feel something's off... but that wouldn't detect real ghosts... would it?" Amy considers. "I.... huh. I guess they might do detectable things like that, huh? D'you think going whole hog with ghost hunting gear would lure it out, like, wanting to show up to people foolish enough to look for it?" She shrugs. "We don't have any, anyway."

    "If we can't find a particular room, maybe we just start drawing anywhere." She ducks into a room and starts to draw Sonic the Hedgehog on a board. Head first, and then she starts to draw the oval for the torso and just stops and puts the chalk back down.

    "...Maybe we do it on enough rooms and the... unfinished-ness of it all will draw it out...?"

Emi Hoshino has posed:
The good news: The high school really is empty, you haven't triggered any alarms, there's nothing that seems to be going on in any of the rooms initially.

The bad news: Well, the bad news is that there's definitely that ominous feeling of omnipresent darkness that one gets when something awful is nearby. That's continuing. It's just letting the tension build, as no doubt a nightmare is wont to do. Each classroom the mahou pass by seems just as empty as the last one. Some of them don't even have chalkboards. Whiteboards and arrangements of computers are just as common. It's being -frustratingly-, deliberately elusive.

Or perhaps it just hasn't found its moment yet.

But all around them are the signs of daily life here, left in various states -- if neat and orderly. School pride and all that.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"This is worse than any test of courage," Sailor Moon whispers as they pass through hall after hall, classroom after classroom, "Way worse than before Sailor Eclipse, the ghosts are gonna be really here -"

Not really, but sort of, kind of. She shudders as they make it down to another floor of the school, with nothing to show for it but a half drawn Sonic the Hedgehog, and Usagi sighs, scrunching her eyes.

"Amy-chan... if the ghost of Sonic the Hedgehog chases us forever demanding we finish him, I'm dunking you in the bay." It must be said. It must be said. But clearly, she's lost her mind because she also takes up a white board marker, sucks in a deep breath, and tries not to cry. "I'll help though because I'm a good friend and I want to get this over with but if a big purple butterfly comes, Mamochan you better eat it because Luna didn't come and I don't think we need Sailor Eclipse take three - " she is rambling because she's started drawing a little prince, deliberately leaving the lines a bit messy and not entirely connected.

Kureha Senkenzan has posed:
    "Ah, I see, grate on the Nightmare's nerves," Onihime replies to Amy, her tone slightly dry. It's actually not a bad idea, though; tick it off enough that it comes out to give them a piece of its mind. The oni does arch her eyebrow slightly at the drawing of Sonic the Hedgehog, though - and then watches Sailor Moon with a more thoughtful expression. After a moment or two more, she decides to join in. She's not so good at actual drawing, but maybe...

    The students will doubtless talk about this on the next school day. The morning they came in and someone had drawn unfinished graffiti in a bunch of different classrooms, including a Sonic that appears to have gone entirely TOO fast, a prince who appears to be coming apart at the seams, and... an 'oni' kanji that looks like someone just gave up halfway through and skipped the rest of the strokes?

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"I will eat any purple butterflies for you, my love," says Tuxedo Mask bravely, leaning against the wall by the door and looking remarkably unwell. Then Onihime joins in with Sailor Moon, and Mask drags himself over to stand alongside his terrified wife and doodle in solidarity, too. His attempt at a princess is... considerably less practiced than her unfinished prince. He abandons the attempt and leans his head against the chalkboard while he tries to draw Usagi in profile. While not actually knowing how to construct the general proportions of a face...

Amanda Faust has posed:
Worse than any test of courage.
    "Because the monster's real?"

If the ghost of Sonic the Hedgehog...
    "I bet it'd be that weird Sonic from that one secret screen in Sonic CD, too." Amy mutters: "What the hell was up with that, anyway?"

I'll join in too. Just watch out for butterflies.
    Sailor Eclipse... Amy shakes her head, then nods. "Yeah," she smiles, "We'll stop 'em. ...Are you really having some negative thoughts that strong, though? What, anger at the Nightm--" She blinks. "...At the creepiness of the empty school? I mean, yeah, it's dark," Amy has been using a mini-maglite from her belt pouch, which she sets up in 'lantern mode' as Usagi gets to drawing -- the lens assembly converts to a stand, letting it sit on the teacher's desk shining the bare LED all around -- "but is it really, like, jumpscare level...? ...Okay yeah if something jumped out of this darkness I'd scream..."

    A half-drawn Tails and Knuckles join Sonic on the board.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"I mean yes, I am a known coward Amy-chan, and I don't think he knows I'm Sailor Moon but he knows Usagi got the Ladybug Miraculous before, so-"

And then Amy speculates on what about this could be scary.

"WHY WOULD YOU SAY ANY OF THAT?" There are actual tears now, dramatic ones, as Sailor Moon doodles a little horse next to the prince.

Emi Hoshino has posed:
In room after another, drawings are left in various states of unfinished. It is surely going to be talked about tomorrow as students come in. Gossip all around, no doubt. Weird choices, too, really. Oni?! Sonic?! Princes?! And all undone? WEIRD.

But it's as you're exiting one classroom for another that things do finally change. It would appear that the nightmare has finally been incensed enough to make its entry.

... in the form of an unfinished, Sonic-CD looking thing (because of COURSE it is) standing at the end of the Hallway. You're all sure you see it -- but since it's Sonic, it's only there for a -tiny fragment of a second- before its gone.

But you saw it. You're sure.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"MOON PRINCESS HALATION!"

There was really only ever going to be one response to that. A purifying beam of light - sustained energy, silver in color with spiraling pink sparks of energy and shrapnel of pure cosmic energy in the shape of moon and stars go flying. Thankfully, the attack doesn't harm the environments.

It sure was a big fuck off beam of WE'RE HERE that hopefully hit anything just out of sight, thought.

Kureha Senkenzan has posed:
    There is a moment where Onihime doubts her own sanity.

    That moment ends when Usagi starts blastin'.

    The fact someone else saw it, and opened fire, at the very least tells Kureha she's not seeing things. As a result, her entire posture takes on a certain tension, and she subconsciously holds her right hand slightly out from her side, fingers splayed. "Well, I suppose we've got its attention, at least," the oni-blooded girl observes. "If no one minds, I should step to the front of the group. I can handle a hit or two, if it's foolish enough to attack directly."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy just stares, the 'what?!' reaction delaying her thinking of what action to take for a half-second.

    She was joking. But that totally looked like the creepy Sonic from that one secret screen, right?

(OOC Note for people reading the log: see https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/fun-is-infinite-majin-sonic )

    And that's not the Sonic she drew, which means it read her mind or searched the internet or got it from some sort of collective unconscious...

    Sailor Moon has already started her attack, and the thing has already fled, by the time Amy can act. She just stares.

    "Umm... did we all see Sonic with a creepy face, or does it look different to everyone...?"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Happy to let you tank, Onihime," Tuxedo Mask says wryly, the walls doing the lion's share of holding him up as they go. Then he stares at the end of the hall, and then he slowly looks to Amy. "You did that. That's something you did. It was a nightmare and you chose that shape," he says doggedly. "It looked like Sonic to me?? But who cares it's a nightmare! Sonic isn't really real any more than Santa Claus is!"

Emi Hoshino has posed:
It's not like it stood around to be blasted, rthough it's surely a close thing given the speed of Sailor Mon's proper reaction. Unfortunately, the form of Sonic came with Sonic's abilities: that is to say its very fast, and that's why it was gone so fast. One might even say in the blink of an eye. A flicker, even.

And it's not alone. There's a sound from one of the classrooms behind you as the half-drawn Oni storms out of one, almost smashing a door off its hinges. It lingers there a moment, nostrils flaring and exhaling smoke that looks as half-finished as it does. It's expression is ... pained somehow? Perhaps being 'undone' is hurting it. Either way, it's going straight for Onihime, aiming to charge through the lot of the mahou like a bowling ball.

...and, of course, there's another door opening a way back in one of the other classrooms left behind. A single hand curling around a doorframe as a half-sketched face emerges from a room, staring down the way.

Yep. That's a 'Prince'.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
It's not just the one unfinished drawing - it's the oni, too, and that means the prince and the horse will be coming, and Sailor Moon is really regretting that they drew so much to bait this Nightmare out, but she's also regretting that this school is in the crosshairs -

"Absolutely not! You cannot smash this school up after we made it so obvious we were interested in ghosts! They'll totally blame us!!!!"

And she throws her rod up, and drops to one knee as it arcs, arcs, arcs in the air, the silver crystal glowing at her broach as she cups her hands over it - "Moon Space Crystalize!"

- and catches the rod as it makes its way down. The school has become a dreamy, colorful version of itself, all the windows made of sugar-glass and the doors made of wrapped present boxes, the ground soft like a playground's giving flooring. The enemies can still hide, but they have been drawn into her world - and through a window space, they can see the earth shining in the sky.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "But Santa Claus is real, I met him! Twice!" Amy replies, a little desperately, to Mamoru.

    Why does this always come up when there's no one else around who also met Santa???

    "And... I didn't think it was gonna be looking up thirty-year-old game references, did it read my mind or something?!"

    "And is it fast because it's a messed-up Sonic? How does that work? Could we have made it an easy-to-beat form?!"

    There's a sound and Amy turns, and this time, she draws (well, conjures) her pistol and quintuple-taps the Oni. Do gyrojets even hit drawings though?!

    And then there's another. "How many of these are there? Isn't this everyone's fault? Wait, where's Us--Moon's drawing?"


    "Thanks," she quickly asides as the barrierinth goes up.

Kureha Senkenzan has posed:
    The sound of the door behind them immediately yanks Kureha's attention back. Her eyes widen at the partially-completed oni, and then narrow. "I see. So even just the kanji will call up the real thing. Well, then. If it's to be the traditional greeting..."

    As the half-finished oni barrels towards them, a tiny tank of black and orange hurtles straight at it. Kureha might be around Usagi's size, and she might be one of the slowest magical girls on two legs, but the tradeoff is that she hits hard enough to impress even a Precure. That oni is most certainly not going to bowl right through the group; it's going to meet a tiny wall of pure might, with a cacophonous slam that shatters sugar glass and knocks a nearby present off its hinges.

    She's doing her best not to think about the very specific ways in which Usagi's sealed space differs from a Device Mage's.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Aw, man," Tuxedo Mask complains when he hears-- then sees-- other monsters; he huffs out a breath and rights himself from where he'd leaned on a wall (in order to conserve his will to continue walking the surface of this earth). "Ah, let me off the bus, Usako, I'm going to try to finish them. Scream inside your heart if you need me~" he says, then steps sideways as he's let out of Moon Space for the moment.

Even though he'd love to stop and throw up somewhere, and since all attempts to ground himself here end up making things worse, Mamoru grimly moves through the halls and goes back to the sketches of the others that he remembers seeing in there. The first unfinished Sonic and the Oni. He didn't see the 'Prince' and now it's in Moon Space... well. Amy said Sonic was fast.

WELL HE WON'T BE FAST if his bottom half is a TUB OF CEMENT will he!

Emi Hoshino has posed:
And, of course, there's Sonic blitzing in at the drop of a hat, too. Well, in between when the hat is released and it STARTS to drop. It's that fast, and its ire is focused on Amy -- because of course it is. There's some nice lightning shocks in there too.

Meanwhile, Onihime and her opponent are now slamming each other into the walls, like the terminator and the t1000 going right at it, if the badly drawn onihime has anything to say about it. Thankfully, the walls give and stretch. Without Moonspace, this would've done some serious property damage like the aforementioned movie reference. Meanwhile, looking in the distance, Usagi's Prince (not the actual opne) has arrived. Behind him is dragged a screaming carriage by an unfinished pony -- and its on its way.

"Priiiiinceeeeeesssssss..."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Of course Santa's real, just like Jesus-san," Sailor Moon consoles Amy, but soon, there's not time to talk about it, there's monsters and enemies and thankfully, Moon Space is preventing a lot of property damage. Just. So much property damage is being prevented right now.

Mamoru is let out and Sailor Moon is absolutely not sulking and concerned, no, she's a strong independent princess who is not terrified without her husban-

"YOUR PRINCESS IS IN ANOTHER CASTLE, MOON PRINCESS HALATION!"!"

It's not even an attempt to be snarky. She's just that scared.

Once again, a blaze of light pours out, as does shrapnel of cosmic energy, tearing through some of the wall behind the prince and his horrifyingly incomplete carriage and prince.

"Where are you Unfinished Girl?! Come out already! Let's handle this!!"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Back in that first classroom, finally staggered in through the door, Mamoru grabs for the same writing implement Amy used and sets to work. A quick line across the midsection of that oval, finishing the oval, making the line into an upside down trapezoi-- oh that's an extremely rudimentary bucket. A big one. Yes. He is drawing a sonic-headed potato in a bucket he writes 'cement' on.

Quick, quick, what in the hell-- oh she said the kanji alone-- Tuxedo Mask starts looking for where Onihime wrote part of her word.

Kureha Senkenzan has posed:
    And Onihime remains remarkably calm for someone who's engaged in a knock-down drag-out superstrength fight. There's more than one moment where she lets her toughness do the work for her, and willingly takes a punch just so it gives her a chance to swipe with her right-hand claws. It's back and forth, and yet there is a curious lack of any burning... at least until Usagi decides to lead the way on cutting loose.

    "My, I do suppose time is getting away from me a little. You'll forgive me if I get a bit heated?" she asks of her half-finished ogre opponent.

    Then she hurls him halfway down the hall to give herself room.

    Flames begin to flood into the Youkai Musume's right hand, her fingers curling into a fist. Heat ripples through the hallway, the air around the tiny oni visibly shimmering.

        "Rekka Kaihou...!"

    The fire around her right hand blossoms and ripples, growing brighter and brighter-

        "KANABO STRAIGHT!"

    It's like watching a meteor streak through the hall, except it's Kureha's fist, hurtling in to slam the oni with all her might - and the instant her fist makes contact, all that fire erupts, turning it into a fiery, explosive impact.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy is just :O shock at 'of course Santa's real, like Jesus' but then the nightmare attacks and Amy's not dodging supersonic speed. "Oof!" She stumbles back, teeth gritted, electricity shocking her.

    The pistol vanishes from her hand, and she points at Majin-Sonic,

    BBANGG!

    Two explosions at once, one launching a jet of orange-hot hypersonic metal where she's pointing, and another where she's looking a tiny fraction of a second later as the Nightmare starts to dodge. Her reaction time isn't fast enough, though. She's going to need more tricks, or for the ghost to mess up.

    "[You can't do anything.]" Amy intones to the nightmare, in stilted English like she's quoting something,"[So don't even try.]"

    BANG! "[Get some help.]"

    Fired at the nightmare in near-peripheral vision with a thought, by an explosion just happening next to her with no gesture or words. Still not quite fast enough but getting better. How did they get Flickerman?

    "[Don't do what Sonic does.]"

    BANG!

    THIS time it's on-target as the monster comes close, and the speed of sound alone can't dodge twenty or thirty times that, but who knows what magic can do.

    "[Sonic never liked this vibe.]"

    The Sonic CD soundtrack sure was a thing.

Emi Hoshino has posed:
The Sonic suddenly stops running -- because its lower half has become a tub of cement. It seems confused and then ... stops. Like a puppet with its strings cut.

The Oni is -smashed- into a wall by the force of that impact from Onihimi, to be sure. Were it not for the moon space bending the laws of physics for their benefit, there'd be a crater, more than likely. It's not done yet, though, even if it's ... pretty hurt. Can these things be hurt? They don't even have proper anatomy. It's weird.

The blast strikes the Pricne and the carriage, but they manage to weather it to some extent, left a shadow of their former selves, wispy and empty and skeletal as they -crawl- towards Usagi...

Meanwhile --

The sound of chalk on chalkboard fills the empty classroom that Mamoru is in. Perhaps he sees it out of the corner of his eye. Perhaps not. A panel in the ceiling dislodges and a shape silently descends. An unfinished girl, a sketch made live, the lines of its form all scribbling and wiggly, its hair a wave of black wavy lines. It reaches over and grabs him by the shoulder and when he turns to face her ---

....who's Mamoru, exactly?

None of you know.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
As her friends fight their chosen opponents, Sailor Moon pours on the purifying light, determined to keep that creepy awful not prince of her own creation far away from her, to buy time for Tuxedo Kamen to finish up whatever brainblast of an idea has come to him -

And then they start to see the fruit of that labor: cement for Sonic, who fades away, and she realizes he must be finishing the drawings.

Wonderful! Exciting! Next he'll finish the prince -

The prince, the crashed carriage, and the horse begin crawling towards Sailor Moon, skeletal shadows, ragged copies of themselves, and she shudders in horror-terror and backs away, thinking frantically, next he'll finish the pri-

And the thought cuts off. She doesn't quite know what she was thinking. Who will finish the prince? Why would anyone be here, to finish the prince? It's just the three of them, and they're all engaged in the fight. It's just the three of them who came into this school to find the ghost of an unfinished drawing and free a forgotten girl.

It's just the three of them, and they can make it if they try.
R
"Get away!" She yells at the creations, heartsick and uncertain why, except that it's obviously the terror, the fear, the awful ghost of a pRiNcE -

A tear slides down her cheek and she backs away. The earthshine from an iced planet in the sky gleams green and blue.

Even in her past life, she'd always loved the Earth. It's her home. That's the only reason it's there...

A second tear drops, as she slashes her wand towards the skeletal crew, a curving lash of purifying energy trying to drive them back. A third tear, a fourth, why is she crying, they're not that scary, they're regular scary!

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Quarantinewhile--

Mamoru finds himself in a rotoscoped chalkboard world, the same place but not, like Moon Space is the same place but not; he's on the other side of the mirror, if the mirror were a chalkboard. He SIGHS. DEEPLY.

"The monster got me. Literally everyone I know is going to kill me after this," he says to the air, one hand coming up and running through his fluffy hair, making it a little wilder. "I literally ran up the damn stairs in the slasher movie."

His hands are shaking. Why are his hands shaking? Because he can't feel any of his beacons? He can't feel any of them because he doesn't exist right now--

Emi Hoshino has posed:
"Oh my god, she got you too," says a girl with long dark hair and big eyes. She'd been watching the fight -- a chalkboard rotoscoped version of it that does justice to Ah-Ha's Greatest (and the only one anyone remembers) music video.

"Weren't you like just out there?!" There's a bit of a delay, one must suppose, in the rendering. She's looking at Mamoru, though.

"So, ghosts are real." she has clearly assumed is some kind of yurei, "and so are .... Oni?" She squints at the rotoscoped version of Onihime scrambling with its opponent.

"Cool," she says. "Hi. I'm Aoi. I think. Name is a bit fuzzy. Can you remember your's?"

Kureha Senkenzan has posed:
    Confusion. Kureha is watching her oni opponent struggle to stand after one of her most powerful hits - but that's not what confuses her. It's sudden, out of nowhere, her oni instincts telling her that something has gone wrong. But she can't think of what. All three of them are here, none of them are hurt, although if they don't deal with these half-finished creatures, someone might be. But Sailor Moon is suddenly getting more and more distraught, and even if Kureha can't figure out why, her instincts are practically screaming at her. So Onihime decides to trust her instincts and end the fight as quickly as possible.

    "Well, I can at least praise your toughness. I can't say I've ever had to use my strongest hits twice in a row." In truth, she's worried about that. She suspects it's going to leave her exhausted, even with her stamina. But it's necessary. "Rekka Kaihou...!"

    Once again the hallway fills with heat, but this time the Youkai Musume doesn't close her fingers into a fist. No, she spreads them, curled just slightly, and as the fire floods her right hand, her claws start to glow red-hot. This time, when she lunges in, the attack is not a punch but a gouge. An attempt to drive the oni's talons into her opponent, to pierce, to latch on - and then channel the raging inferno of her right hand into the half-drawn foe, rather than just unleashing it as an explosion.

        "DOUJI CLAW!"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy blasts Creepy Sonic and then it's finished and still, somehow. How? One of them must have finished the drawing, but all three of them are here... does Onihime have a familiar, perhaps?

    She turns to the horse-and-prince-and-carriage (Onihime seems to have the oni... handled, even if it turns out to be invincible or something), gyrojet rifle in her hands making a pleasantly chonky firing sound as she tries to slow it up with holes.

    "Get back!" she urges Sailor Moon, "Can we finish the drawings, in here?" Amy points at where the now-still Sonic ghost is.

    "And once we stop these things, we should... write 'there are three of you' on our hands or something, in case the ghost tries to erase one of us."

    Seeing how distraught Usagi is, she says, "I'm sorry, I didn't realize how scary hunting a nightmare in an empty school at night would be wow now that I say that out loud I'm an idiot. We should've gathered a bigger team instead of coming straight here from the party..."

    She falters a bit in her movements as she tries to think through... "Why did we come straight here without rallying more people..."

    And then she has a realization. "Wait. Catra was at the party. And she's not here IT GOT CATRA! Wait no, then we couldn't remember her... oh right she had to go..."

Emi Hoshino has posed:
Creepy Sonic is, indeed, in a very finishable state.

The Scribble-Oni and Onihimi are engaged in one last violent brawl, with Onihime getting the upper hand with Douji Claw, it seems, though she does take a fair bit of battering in the process. It's just not as powerful as the Mahou, even in a place buoyed by nightmare energy in the ambient.

The Prince is blasted with purifying light, further stripping it away into nothingness until only the skeleton of the carriage remains. Her prince is not coming in, it seems. The last of the scribbled monsters are being destroyed, bit by bit, leaving only the girl itself -- which has shown its hand in a certain way, but a less discernable one.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
The tall masked high school senior in formalwear gives Aoi a small smile after startling at her presence. "Yeah, ghosts are real. So are yokai, oni, yeah... I share an apartment with a bakeneko. But it's fine-- that's Sailor Moon, there, ~my phenomenal wife~? And she... she'll remember me..."

He's hugging his arms to himself. "I believe in her. I believe in our friends. That's Onihime, and there, that's Rocket Girl Red, and we came here to rescue you, and they'll save us all."

Please remember me...

Emi Hoshino has posed:
"Well," says Aoi, leaning over and laying a kind hand on Mamoru's arm unknowingly -- or at least intending to.

"I'm not alone anymore, so I guess I'm gonna have to believe you."

What else is she going to do? Who else is she going to believe? She's down with that for now. "We're here with all the other forgotten things she took. Whatever she is. Ghost, demon, I don't know." She doesn't know, of course, that it's a Nightmare, no doubt empowered by another Nightmare.

"I'm gonna draw one HECK of a manga about this someday."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Oh good, do, please! And at the end remember: Sailor Moon, the Pretty Soldier who fights for Love and Justice, and Tuxedo Mask-- that's me, easy name to remember, right? Haha--"

It is a kind hand, grounding the boy who can't even reach the Earth with his soul right now, bottled up in a sketchy jar with this stranger they came to rescue. The small smile grows a little further, and Mamoru tilts his head and moves his hand to pat her hand over his arm before letting his own arms drop. "And Onihime the Yokai Princess, and the Rocket Girl who made a Faustian bargain for the power to do good. But we won't get to hang out with you for long, and I don't know how much of this you'll be able to remember later-- so one of us can check in with you after to give you the story."

A more faint smile now. "Were you watching your friends forget you? Were you at the party?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Sailor Moon is backing away from the crumbling prince and horse and chariot and there's something about him that's just so terribly wrong, a horse, a prince, a chariot that's broken, there was never a chariot, though, they never liked chariots -

Who was it that didn't like chariots with her? Endymion. It was Endymion, it was her love from a past life, it was Endymion who she had loved and lost and died for, Endymion who she had never let go of -

But he died. Endymion died.

But he was here. On the Moon. In her arms. As she cried, as she cried now, and the light glimmered, and the Silver Crystal came, but, (and she was not paying attention to the world anymore, she was not paying attention to the creeping horrors falling back under her onslaught, to her friends defeating their foes, all of her focus was internal, her tears falling unnoticed) but if Endymion is here in this time then where is he?!

She didn't summon the Silver Crystal for a past life.

She didn't dance on the moon for a ghost.

She didn't... she... Chibiusa wasn't just hers, she was her daughter, hers and his, but who was -

And abruptly, she remembers what this Nightmare does. That this Nightmare steals. That this Nightmare takes and disappears people and she cuts them away from past, present, future, and they still know that they're forgotten, that don't exist, and she knows this because he told her -

And abruptly, Sailor Moon burns with light, the broach at her chest, above her heart, fixed in her bow doesn't just glow but radiates light and power, and the tiara on her head flickers away, replaced by the Moon's sigil, and she is not Princess Serenity and she is no longer Sailor Moon, but something a little bit more.

Her fuku shimmers between its usual blue and an ombre of white that passes through yellow and blue. Her shoulders gain sharp little pauldron edges. Her collar gains that same ombre, the bow longer, flaring like butterfly wings, and her bright blue eyes shine with all the depths of space, of the sky at sunset when the moon's glow is all that brightens that deep blue sky -

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"We got off on the wrong foot. We made all those unfinished drawings, just to draw you out, and that must have hit a sore spot. We really do want you to get finished, actually! And maybe we should have said that. Maybe we could have come to an understanding."

Her voice is sweet, and soft as velvet over an steel glove.

"But I don't care what we did, because none of it excuses you from erasing my husband!"

The power radiating from her jumps up a notch. The effect of butterfly wings, shimmering and bright, is not quite an impression anymore, the motion of an overlarge bow. The ceiling above them disappears, replaced by the watercolor sky, a brilliant omnbre gradiant of yellow to pink to blue. Sailor Moon (?) is no longer crying as she raises her scepter and silver light blooms and grows into a trail as she slashes it forward.

"Enough! I'm taking him back. I'm putting an end to you! You, who dared to think you could take away my Mamochan, could take away everyone's special people, make them rot in the cold and dark and alone, deserve nothing less than total destruction! "Moon Bow Yoink!"

And the school which is Moon Space, which is Usagi Tsukino's own world, which was born from her denial of a world where people must be hurt while she is powerless to stop them, cracks open, the walls shunting themselves aside as through gripped by two hands and torn open, revealing a rotoscoped chalkboard world, and in that world there are people and a shimmering barrier of nightmare dreamstuff that keeps them trapped and through that nightmare dreamstuff comes -

A ribbon. A bow. Light, silver and soft as mist and shining with light that purifies and soothes, and it is whipped from Sailor Moon's hand and breaks through that barrier, wrapping around Mamoru (and leaving him time to grasp with that kind hand) and yoinking him hrough.

Sailor Moon (?) flickers, and then there is no longer anything to question, about it. The impression of butterfly wings and the glow of a blazing power dim to the ordinary glow of Sailor Moon, and she throws her arms around Tuxedo Kamen (and guest).

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy tosses a thermite grenade on Sonic-ghost's cement tub, just in case, and tosses an incendiary to burn the carriage. "There should be--" Amy shakes her head. "No, wait, that's one for each of us. Majin Sonic, an oni, and the prince with his horse and carriage." She frowns. Something feels off, but...

    "Did we really only come here with three people? But if we didn't... there'd be more of them, right? 'Cuz there's one for each of us."

    Everything feels off. They're in a dark, empty school at night fighting ghost stories come to life.

    If the oni is still going, she casually fires some homing, non-explosive shots around Onihime to eat at its defenses more, careful to avoid friendly fire.

    "Unless... some of us couldn't draw... but there'd be stick figures or something, even..." She shakes her head again.

    Everything feels kind of off, but it isn't the good kind of strangeness that she feels at home with, that Taro and ###### kinda get.

    That Taro and... no, if there were someone else she'd have to remember.

    Can she check that? How? It's worth a shot. (Unless she's imagining things, and then she's wasting time from figuring out who actually disappeared, or how to stop the ghost...) She stands there, furrowing her brow in thought.

    She can't just try to think of all her friends. When they mentioned Aoi, it didn't mean anything to her friends. They had to find holes, like how she had always been their DJ. So Amy has to take this possible edge of a memory and poke around it (gods she hopes this isn't crazy.)

    ...There isn't another former-adult, or someone she'd discussed certain secrets with. (Or she's completely forgotten them and this exercise is in vain.) Keep thinking.

    Was there someone else, with them, most of the time she was helping Veronicat? Those memories seem clear, with no weird holes. (But can she even notice?)

    Disguise pen shenanigans. If there was someone like that they were probably at the Karaoke too, right? They'd have understood, when she explained about the shirts-- she remembers the anxiety, almost not bringing it up at all and then plowing ahead with the full explanation--

    It'll be perfect if any of us have to Hulk Out, too Taro said, and

    It hurts. There is a hole, a feeling that she should remember someone, holding up a hand and asking cheerfully for one of the MTF-type shirts, but the voice and the face and the actual words are gone.

    Can she keep pulling this thread? It feels like the stupidest way to do this, they surely had more connection than this but-- so was Aoi more than just a DJ to her friends. For the sake of that deeper connection, she's got to pull the thread she's found.

    How'd she even find out about the Disguise Pen in the first place? Hinoiri, unicorn kigurumi, boysagi, boysagi excited to go home and show-- who? Usagi's only ever dated Ami, but that feels off. If Usagi had someone else...

    The memory of Chanteur has been pulling at Amy. Particularly that time she dressed up like a princess and went out into the hall and... and then got together with everyone else. Who was there? Amy thinks of everyone who was there and comes up empty on remembering anyone she can't remember, although for some reason thinking of Chibiusa feels like there's something connected there but put a pin in that for now and keep pulling the thread.

    Ami wasn't there, but Amy wanted to watch Chibiusa and Hotaru for a bit to give Usagi some time alone with--

Amanda Faust has posed:
    --It hurts, and Usagi's glowing, and it's getting harder to focus. But press on, this is important! If it was a girl... she can't think of anything. If it was a guy, then--

    She made a dumb joke she had to make, as they were in the hall and and it feels like it's about to all come rushing back, they were talking and sharing thoughts and he got things, and there's that sense of connection felt many times over the past couple of years but then the relief is covered in pain, it hurts, she can't remember Usagi's--

none of it excuses you from erasing my husband!

Mamochan

    that's short for IT HURTS, Amy reels, holding a hand to her head, who are they even fighting--

    And she watches in Amazement as Sailor Moon tears through reality and YOINKS her husband and Aoi free.

    Her husband, "Mmmamoru... I can say it! I can remember you!" Amy smiles at him, eyes wet, taking a few steps forward, and then well Aoi's being hugged too so Amy joing in the group hug, embracing the three of them. And Onihime too if she wants.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Moon Bow what???

One second, Mamoru's full attention's riveted to Usagi and she's remembering him she REMEMBERS him ahh-- stars in his eyes, Aoi is in the presence of the quintessential Wife Guy-- and the next second she's like that, she's a vision of power and beauty and righteous wrath and strength, and he falls in love with her all over again. It's a miracle he remembers to shoot that hand back up to grab Aoi when the Moon Bow wraps around him.

Then they're there, bursting out into the watercolor world of Moon Space, being hugged by a goddess who broke reality to get him back, and Tuxedo Kamen is folded over Sailor Moon, then tugging Aoi into the foldover-hug, why is he so tall, then flailing to get the other two closer too, come in for the hug, and

his skin's crawling because the story isn't over yet

all his connections to people, to reality, to his planet, to this life, to this world, they all slam back in and he's drunk off the energy of it all, of the sensations flooding his nervous system again and his eyes are crying without his knowledge or permission. He presses the side of his face against the side of her head.

Please, reality, let them have just this couple of seconds, please. This once.

Emi Hoshino has posed:
Aoi emerges with Mamoru, confused and staggering and, for a moment before she renders into reality, looking awfully scribbly herself. She is then being hugged.

She is very confused.

"Wha... I'm ... back?"

She's -so- confused right now.

Meanwhile, the feeling of ominpresent 'awful' eases up considerably. There's just ... less of it, now, and that's not all: there's something on the floor -- in it the floor? A drawing, trying to scramble away, drawgging itself further down the hallway bit by bit, singed and, well... a messy, half-finished drawing of a girl indeed. The backlash of power that shattered its grasp on Aoi and Mamoru has absolutely fried it when combined with the damage done to the things it created in the first place to face you. And so it's trying to ... flee, apparently.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "It tried to make us forget..." Amy rambles, "It tried, but the hole had a shape, I had a friend, Usagi had a husband, it can't take that away from us, it can only make us hurt when we notice, I felt what was happening to Aoi's friends at the party..."

    "Also uh hi, Aoi-san I presume, or did someone else get forgotten while we were looking for her?" Amy smiles awkwardly to the rescuee she doesn't recognize.

    There's movement in the corner of her vision and she looks--

    It's a drawing, and she steps aside from the hug, turning and suddenly pistol in hand, a very Homura-like motion, but then she realizes what she's looking at, and that's not the most surefire way to end it.

    An explosion launches her down the hall as she tackles the stick figure, trying to grab and hold onto it,

    "FINISH IT!"

    She shouts, ambiguously.

    "Get some chalk or some charcoal or something! Finish it so it's over!"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Sailor Moon hugs her husband. She hugs Aoi, too, confused though the other girl may be, and as Tuxedo Kamen folds himself over her in relief and love and reconnection, as his feelings flood her, she holds him so gently.

"That's right. You left impressions in the world, Kamen-kun, it's too bad for her she didn't understand we'd never let you go."

They get a few seconds. That little, necessary moment.

And then Amy spots something and goes flying with an explosive lunge forward, and shouts for them to FINISH IT and Sailor Moon does not go for chalk or a marker or anything. Why would she?

Sailor Moon has the Moon Scepter, and it's end glows with light.

"Moon Princess Halation!"

No more words than that. The shining beam of silver purifying light finishes the drawing with a sweeping laser, tracing over halfdrawn lines and finishing them. The Unfinished Girl is no more.

The Finished Girl fades into a shower of nightmare dust, swiftly purified.

Emi Hoshino has posed:
Aoi pauses a long moment.

"... okay so ... -what-."

At least the feeling of darkness is gone -- a good indication that 'mission accomplished' is in effect.

"-What-," says Aoi.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"To put it simply... you got erased by the Nightmare of an Unfinished Drawing that your school has an urban legend about. We got you out, but... when you got erased, a lot of people forgot about you. But I bet if you go home, your family will be really, really glad to see you, so... let's go ahead and get you home, okay?"

Surely, everything will be fine, now.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    WOW Sailor Moon finished the drawing with a LASER that was EPIC

    Amy stands up and brushes purified nightmare dust off herself. "Yeah, magic and stuff is real, and we're magical girls and boy." She gestures to the others.

    And then looks awkward, with a bit of apologetic pity at Aoi, "Unfortunately, you probably won't remember this... your mind will make up something else to explain it."

    But then she smiles, "But hey, at last, the nightmare is over!"