530/Poor Decisions

Poor Decisions
Date of Scene:	30 September 2023
Location:	Mitakihara Ward
Synopsis:	Molly runs into Sunbreaker and decides to annoy her against the advice of both Sunbreaker and her device. But surely there won't be any consequences, right? Like a big, terrible death curse or something?
Cast of Characters:	Hinoiri Kirara, Molly Skyline

---

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker was... eating an apple. Menacingly. Actually, she was just... eating an apple. Walking through the city, looking.... normal. Ish. She was in a tuxedo, munching an apple and... Sunbreaker.

The big, obsidian gauntlet on her right hand gave her away.

She was lost in thought and, in a strange turn of events... NOT energy draining anyone. She looked like just another business girl. Well. Mostly. Occasionally the dark energy might flicker on her, and t he flaming dark unicorn horn would appear. But only for a second. Juuuuust short enough for people to miss it... Munch munch. Apple good.

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly has just left the hospital, after visiting Rashmi, who is liely to be in the hospital for a non-short period of time. And, as it happens, in said hospital entirely thanks to Sunbreaker. Molly thoughts are a whirlwind of emotions; she's afraid for her friend, concerned for her recovery, and underneath it all she's... angry. Deeply, deeply angry, about what has been done to her friend -- and angry at the person who did it.

but then, there it is. An obsidian gauntlet.

Molly walks right past Sunbreaker, so deep in her thoughts that she doesn't immediately piece it together. But she *does* piece it together. And then she turns around.

<< THIS COURSE OF ACTION IS UNADVISABLE >> warns Starcrash. Molly ignores it.

"HEY!" she shouts from behind Sunbreaker, no more than ten feet away.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker just kept walking, ignoring Molly utterly. She was lost in her own thoughts and she didn't know why someone would be calling her like that. What thoughts? Well... related to those wolves. A new deal she'd made. Red riding hood. The whole.... Grimm business.

Munch munch.

Her mind was also on a few other things. But, in the end? It seemed like she was just... ignoring the other girl. A small flicker of flames from her suit showing that, well... it was just magic. A disguise. A glamour, as it were.

Molly Skyline has posed:
Sunreaker is just... walking away?

Molly stands there, ignored. Of the possible responses that Sunbreaker could've had to her challenge, simply ignoring her seems to be the absolute worst. Molly stands there with a shocked, offended, hurt, and angry look, all at once.

"Starcrash," she whispers. "That thing Rashmi does, where she seperates a part of the world from the timeline, so there can be a fight without innocent people getting hurt. Can you do that?"

<< YES BUT I DO NOT ADVISE-- >>

"Do it. Do it *now*."

<< ARMED >>

"Execute."

Starcrash obliges; and then the throngs of people disappear, and it's just Molly and Sunbreaker, standing in the middle of the street.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker stopped in mid step. That? That was hard to ignore. One foot hovering over the air. She slowly lowered it before glancing around.... and then back.

She cocked an eye, looking at her for a moment, then sighing. "Who, exactly, are you supposed to be?" she asked.

She then took a bite of her apple before turning around. She took a step towards her...

And the glamour disappeared. Horn revealed. Black flames coating her body. Her jacket flapping lightly in the wind... Within a few moments, she was standing directly in front of Molly. Looking down at her. And taking another bite of her apple. Just... looking down at her. She didn't look like she was about to attak her. She looked... annoyed. "I haven't even done anything, yet. Or are you looking for payback too?"

Molly Skyline has posed:
"Starcrash, set up," Molly replies, with a cold edge in her voice.

<< I REPEAT THIS COURSE OF ACTION IS-- >>

"Do it."

Her form shifts; clothing mostly, becoming more armored and looking a bit like a Dungeons and Dragons magic user who's opted for a few pieces of plate. She takes the jewel from her lone earing and it enlarges to become the centerpiece on a staff.

"My name is Molly Skyline," she answers, "And you hurt my friend. Prepare to *pay*."

Channeling her inner Inigo Montoya, just a little bit? Maybe. Is it at all menacing to Sunbreaker? Probably not. But she still looks like she's ready to fight world war three all the way from launching nukes to throwing rocks.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker sighed and then... tossed the core. Into the the trash. She snapped her fingers and the fire appeared on her hand for a moment, burning off the juices, then she flicked it, the hand once more bland.

Then she reached out and just... covered her mouth with her hand. Gripping the girl by her cheeks. And looked down at her. "Molly. Skyline. Tell me, are you familiar with Hi-ge O Hayashita Sutasuwaru's thirty-five rules on escalation? Well. The relevant one here is number seventeen." Then... she just let her go. "How about number twenty-two? Do you even know who I *am*?"

Molly Skyline has posed:
...She reached out and grabbed her *face*? Molly is so shocked by the audacious indignity that she just... stands there, eyes blazing up at Sunbreaker; she doesn't get around to shaking herself loose until more or less the moment that she lets go of her anyway. And when she does, she takes a step back so it can't happen again; it's a tactical move, not a retreat. (Or at least that's how she figures it.)

"Never heard of any of that," she snaps back. "But I'mma tell you what, Queensbury Rules are about to go out the window." She tilts her head to one side, making the bones in her neck pop audibly. "I know exactly who you are. You're the person who put my best friend in hospital and you're the person who's about to be planted face down in the dirt. Want to check my math?"

<< THIS ADVERSARY IS VASTLY MORE POWERFUL THAN YOU. THIS COURSE OF ACTION IS-- >>

"Are we going to fight? Or are you just going to stand there like a princess with a broomstick up her arse?"

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker sighed and just stared at her. Then, slowly, a rather cruel grin formed on her lips. "Very well. Tell you what..." She flicked out her left hand, a small bit of flame forming in her palm. "You know what? No. Frankly, I just... haven't done anything this time. I guess you're talking about that girl from yesterday? Right? The one who hit my hand? Well, let me teach you rule seventeen. When it comes to escalation..."

"Don't," Sunbreaker said.

"You see the dragon sleeping on the hill, not bothering anybody, doesn't notice you? Don't grab your little... toy... and shoot pretend fireballs at it. Don't bother it. Just... smile. And be grateful it doesn't care. Because, Molly..."

She leaned forward and smirked at her, nose a few inches from hers. "I'm not like you. I don't transform because of some device. This power? This is mine. All mine. Your little friend? I didn't kill her because I didn't *care* about killing her. All I wanted... was to remove her from the board. Which I did. She lost. I broke her little toys. There were four of you there..."

"And you couldn't stop me. So if you push this. If you *make* this a fight... I want you to think really, really hard..."

Then she leaned in and whispered into her ear. "Rule twenty-two, know your enemy... rule thirty five... Just. What. Are. You. Willing. To. Lose?"

Molly Skyline has posed:
"You're forgetting rule number one," Molly replies, "Don't mess with a British girl's friends unless you want some serious Barney, and rule number two, if you ignored rule number one then you should leave town before you end up getting an unscheduled meeting!" Molly slips in some Cockney as she spins her staff and catches it with the big, star-shaped jewel pointing at Sunbreaker. "Starcrash? Eclipse Beam."

<< ARE YOU CERTAIN YOU WISH TO-- >>

"ECLIPSE. BEAM."

<< ARMED >>

Molly grips the staff tightly, "FIRE!" she shouts, and a powerful blast erupts from Starcrash; a beam of pure, freezing entropy, being the best thing Molly can think of to counter someone who's all about fire magic. Feels like good odds in her head, anyway.

She lets off the attack at point blank. Can't miss. And it's a good thing she erected the exclusion zone earlier, or the damage she'd be doing to the world at large qould be... incalculable.

Starcrash is a purely offensive device, afterall.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker blinked as she said that. "Eclipse... Beam?" she asked. Aaaaand there. It. Was. That anger. And then... pain.

The eclipse beam enveloped her... And... there was dust. Smoke. The blast continuing on. Freezing over the street. Wall. Everything behind them until, finally, it hit the edge of the barrier and rebounded off, breaking down.

Sunbreaker stood there, gripping the rod a few inches below the tip. She hadn't... dodged it. She'd moved it aside. Her left hand holding the rod was wreathed in those dark flames, the ice on it melting.

And she looked... furious. "What in tartarus is it with you girls?" she asked. "I give you an out, you NEVER take it?" she asked. She then pulled the rod, hard, yanking it from her hands and hurling it away. Before turning and reaching out, gripping Molly by her throat and twisting, pushing her back against the wall. Her left cheek and shoulder were covered in frost from where the blast... hadn't even touched her, it had just come close. It just... flew past her.

"Why is it that no matter where I go, I can't escape her? Sunny? Moon? Star? Eclipses now? You don't even know who I am, do you?" she asked, leaning in a little closer. "Is that... it? That's... it... isn't it? I just need to start killing you all? Is that what it is?" she asked, slowly lifting her up against the wall.

"Is that... how... I teach you to butt out of my business?"

Molly Skyline has posed:
This is not exactly how Molly had planned on this turning out.

That said, it's exactly what Starcrash was trying to warn her about. And she didn't listen; and now here she is, with her throat being slowly crushed by the villain that she and three other people couldn't handle, that she tried to take on alone. Why? Because she's stupid, which is really the only reason her teenage, increasingly oxygen-starved brain can come up with right in this moment.

"You're... bitch... hurt my friend," she gasps, grabbing at Sunbreaker's arm while her heels kick against the wall behind her. "Know who... are. You... hurt people," she gags, "Always... *always*... fight... stop... you!"

Molly's face is starting to turn colors, and she gags loudly. "Recall," she gasps, holding out her right hand, towards where Starcrash is laying.

<< FURTHER COMBAT INADVISABLE, SEEK DIPLOMACY >> warns Starcrash.

"Re--... Recall," gasps Molly a second time; Starcrash comes flying back into her hand, but it seems like that's as far as this is going to go. Molly can't get any further words out, so the device is stuck waiting for instructions taht she can't give, as she just looks up at Sunbreaker, with the blazing anger in her eyes slowly giving way to terror.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker just sighed and looked down at her. "Yeah... well... nobody has ever cared when they hurt me, so why should I care if I hurt you?"

She looked into those eyes, the anger slowly giving way to fear. Then, there was pain. It coiled around her throat, down her shoulder and over her right arm. "You have... mmmm... six hours... maaaaybe seven," Sunbreaker said, loosening her grip just enough to let her breathe. "Then that snake on your arm? It'll finish crawling its way back up your arm... then over your chest... and into your heart."

"The moment its fangs touch it... you die. So use what little time you have left, mmmkay? Spend it maybe letting everyone know how sick and tired I am of you lot constantly bothering me. Maybe it'll make the next one of you think twice." She then turned... And slammed Molly down into one of the cars, the dark energy amplified strike making her crush it. Ow.

She then pulled back... and disappeared in a flurry of black flames.

And Molly could feel it. That snake emblazoned on her arm. Her throat. IT made it hard to breathe. Made the arm hurt (or maybe that was just all of her). And she could feel it... moving... slowly... up her arm. Like a tattoo... crawling up her body.

Making her end... slowly approach.

Except, when it did? When it got to her heart? Instead of killing her... all it would do... is melt off her, like ink from water.

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly will learn that she's not death-cursed later.

Right now, she doesn't know that.

At first she just lays there, in a car, with a deeply... shocked look on her face; not to mention for the second time in as many days, she's ended a fight with Sunbreaker in a horizontal position and in significant pain. She coughs, gagging but finally breathing again, and after a minute she summons the presence of mind to extract herself from the ruin of the car, and ends up kneeling beside it.

"...Oh my god," she gasps, tearing her jacket open at the front, so she can look at snake tattoo that she can... feel, crawling up her.

"Starcrash! Can... can you anylize this?!"

<< NEGATIVE. SUGGEST SEEKING AID >>

Molly rakes her fingernails over the snake; which of course, does absolutely nothing except leave scratch marks on her skin. "Oh crap oh crap what do I do? Do I have to cut off my own arm?!"

<< INADVISABLE >>

"What do I do?!"

<< SEEK AID >>

Molly struggles to her feet, and starts pacing up and down beside the car as she looks at the snake, looks around, looks at Starcrash for help it's already stated it can't provide. "What do I do what do I do what do I do?!"

"...Starcrash, call Chrono," she instructs breathlessly, picking the only person she knows other than Rashmi who has magic. Well, other than Rashmi but who she also has on speed dial and who also isn't evil.