699/Face your Fears

Face your Fears
Date of Scene:	03 November 2023
Location:	Juuban Ward
Synopsis:	Molly and Rashmi encounter that which the two of them fear the most; Sunbreaker. Rashmi stands courageously in front of her friend while talking Sunbreaker into letting them go.
Cast of Characters:	Molly Skyline, Hinoiri Kirara, Rashmi Terios

---

Molly Skyline has posed:
It's late at night. Definitely much later than Molly is supposed to be out -- but in true rebellious teenager fashion, she's snuck out. In fairness, she's got a magical device and feels like she has a responsibility to protect the people of Tokyo, from... Well, from all manner of scary evil things.

The fact that she's an artillery mage with a device that's lacking most of its memory cores, and she's desperately inexperienced, doesn't change anything. Did Spiderman wait until he was an expert in all things before he started taking on the threats to New York City? No!

Is Molly analogous to Spiderman? Maybe but she feels like it's a lot less of a parallel than she'd like it to be.

Still, she's out here, walking along the street, wearing a dark grey hoodie and jeans (just in case it starts raining), with her hands shoved in her pockets as she keeps an eye on what's going on.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker had no idea where that girl was. Usagi. Stupid, silly girl. It wasn't that she cared. Nope. She definitely did. Not. But...

But Usagi was her... video game buddy. Also, one of the few people in the school who understood how amazing she was. Besides, what if SHE wanted to use her in some scheme or something? Frankly, it was rude that whoever decided to do this hadn't checked with her first! Not that she ever checked with anyone, but still. She had her phone out and was tapping on it, trying to see if she could determine anything from prior messages...

A shame her tracking spells didn't always function right here. Obnoxious, even.

There was enough dark energy coming off her, though, that a device could possibly track it. For once, she wasn't attacking anyone. And was just sitting on a roof in her henshin, her dusk eel phasing in and out through different objects.

Molly Skyline has posed:
Tonight, Molly's device does something it really hasn't done before. Maybe it's repaired a bit of memory bank, or maybe it's just that the talking to it received from Chrono was effective. Either way, it's an improvement.

<< DARK ENERGY SIGNATURE DETECTED >>

"Oh? Where exactly?"

<< ROOFTOP TO THE SOUTH-EAST >>

"...Well we'd better go check it out then."

<< ADVISE CALLING FOR ASSISTANCE >>

Molly shakes her head, "Let's see what we need assistance *with*, first, I shouldn't just go calling the cavalry out every time there's a sensor blip."

Molly ducks into a back alley to Henshin herself, and emerges a moment later wearing her armored getup, and carrying her staff with the blue jewel on the end of it. She luanches out of the alley and into the air, taking instructions from Starcrash to find the correct rooftop, upon which she lands with an audible impact.

"Alright!" she calls out, "Whoever's up here, come out *now* or there's--"

That's Sunbreaker.

"...going... uhm..." Molly trails off, her face draining of all color as she backs off a step. And then another one.

Should've called that backup.

"uhm, crap."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker glanced up at her. "Seriously? I haven't even *done* anything yet. I think at this point it's just profiling." It, was not in fact, profiling to talk to a criminal about their crimes if they had yet to have actually paid or even apologized for their crimes. At that point it was just attempting to catch a wanted criminal.

Well, if like. That applied to magic. She got to her feet and started towards her. "Lets get this over with, then. Shall--" Then she stopped. And... the realization set in. Slowly a grin formed on her lips and she let out a light laugh, a hand over her mouth. "Oh, it's you. Are you coming to beg forgiveness?" she asked, walking towards her. "Whimper and whine?" And if she didn't run away... "Or thank me for teaching you the lesson about just how weak a mage you actually are?" she asked, leaning down just a hint to look her in the eyes. "You're not here for a rematch, are you? Because it might not be a prank this time~"

And it was then her familiar came out of the ground from behind Molly... and would sliiiiiide along her back. Not aggressively. Just to scare her.

Molly Skyline has posed:
And there's that slow grin from Sunbreaker. Could that manage to be any more menacing? Given what happened last time, no not really, it feels very much like it couldn't. Molly backs up until she's standing on the edge of the roof, and uhms, ulping aubibly as Sunbreaker approaches.

Really should have called for that backup before going up there.

"I, uhm, I, n-no," she stammers out, feeling at once terrified, immobilized, and utterly ashamed of herself for her reaction to this. Did Spiderman ever freeze up? No. No he did not, not even after getting beaten to a pulp. Which she didn't, she just got messed with and got the pants scared off her, which has proven to be lasting.

"Message Rashmi," she whispers to Starcrash, "Tell her I'm in trouble with Sunbreaker."

<< AFFIRMATIVE >>

"Not so loud!" she squeaks (she didn't mean it to be like that).

The purple-haired girl shrieks as the familiar moves up along her back, and she almost falls off the roof.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry for interrupting, I'll just, I'll, I'll just be going now!"

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker snickered as the girl backed away. Oh, this was so easy. The thing was terrified. Good, it seemed they COULD learn. "Awwww. See? You CAN learn. And here I thought you were as clueless as you were stupid."

Of course, her eyes narrowed as the girl mumbled to her device.

"What are you mumbling about?"

Of course, then... the girl started to fall! Or at least looked like she might. Sunbreaker's eyes widened and she dashed forward. Grabbing the girl by the front of her jacket... Wait, what? She was... magic. Even if she fell, she probably could fly, anyway. Why did she... Meh. Quick, cover it up before anyone notices.

She whipped around and tossed her across the roof. Albeit, not too hard. But just enough.

"You did interrupt. But before you go, I want to ask you something," she said. QUICK THINK OF AN EXCUSE! SHIT SHIT SHIT! Uhhhhh...

"So, my prank last time. Where exactly did you go running to? Because after that, I actually almost got jumped by a few of you sparkle skirts. I had it well in hand, of course. But I'm curious if I should be expecting any more."

There. Nailed it.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
When you're a mahou...

You can *try* to get some early sleep, but it's never a guarantee. There's always the likelihood that something Really Bad will happen, and you're the closest one to handle it. It could be a random youma. Or the apocalypse is kicking off without warning. Or it could be that the villain that hospitalized you, is currently menacing the friend of yours that said villain almost literally scared the life out of.

    << Rashmi help me I'm in trouble with Sunbreaker. >>

...Which is a call that *will* wake one up at night. Especially when that call comes in the form of a telepathic cry for help that invades one's dreams.

And Rashmi is now *quite* annoyed that Sunbreaker problems interrupted an interesting dream involving herself dressed as Arwen, making elf eyes at a particularly short Aragorn.

    << Hgrrrrmbgblgbl *are you okay* Molly, >> comes Rashmi's not-yet-awake mental voice, as she climbs out her bedroom window, henshins, and streaks off into the night on ankle-wings of golden light. Completely forgetting that it's getting colder, and her room will be an icebox by the time she gets back. Clutching Nicomachea to her chest, she flies as fast as she can. Which is never truly *fast,* and tonight is just *not fast enough.*

Should Sunbreaker be expecting any more sparkle skirts? *This is a very good question,* because one is swooping onto the scene as we speak! As if on cue, Rashmi drops from the sky, to land in front of Molly.

"Okay," she says, and it's *not* an authoritative 'okay'. It's the voice of someone who is, in fact, also scared of the person she's facing, but resolved to do it anyway.

Because Molly needed her help.

"Okay. I don't know what's going on, but... I'm not here to fight, Sunbreaker. I just want to make sure my friend is safe, okay?"

Molly Skyline has posed:
Rashmi's return text doesn't get an answer, mainly because Molly is far too busy facing off with Sunbreaker, the person who told her she was cursed with death which turned out to be a prank, but also the person who burned her best friend to a crisp (and almost to a dead crisp), right before her eyes while she was utterly powerless to stop it.

And here she is again, facing off against the same person, once again alone, and oh god she's grabbing the front of her jacket.

Can she fly? Well, yes, as it turns out. Is that helping right in this moment? Not in the slightest. Molly shrieks as she's hurled across the roof, and skids on her back across the asphalt surface, almost losing her grip on Starcrash in the process.

<< YOU NEED TO FIGHT BACK >>

Molly shuffles backwards away from Sunbreaker. "I, I uhm, I don't, don't, I don't know," she stammers out; just as Rashmi is arriving. She looks up just in time to see her friend land in front of her, and for that moment her fear is banished by the swell of admiration and pride she feels, to be friends with so courageous a person.

"Ohmigod you came," she gasps, the relief palpable in her voice. "Just... Just one more of us tonight." She immediately turns beet red; way to give away tactical information. "Uhm, for now, that is."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker sighed, watching the girl scamper and fearfully crawl around. Her eyes narrowed on her. She was about to say something... when suddenly there was ANOTHER one of them.

'You came!'

Of course she came. Someone ALWAYS comes for them, don't they?! There was a light crackling and a *pop*, the fires on her rising for a moment before she got them to calm down. "Well, maybe *I* want a fight. You lot came to *me*. I wasn't even *doing* anything yet." The fires cracked in her right hand. "But no. You still come *looking* for a fight, don't you? Don't you have anything better to do? Isn't there *someone else* you kids should be trying to find? Instead you're bothering *me*. But that's how it always has to be, doesn't it? I--"

Then she stopped. And she STARED at Rashmi. "Wait. I remember you. I *beat* you. I *broke* your toy. I even broke your spares! What the HELL? Do you lot really just pop up out of nowhere once you're broken? Just more and more and more of you out of nowhere until we're driven mad or something?" she asked, the bitterness and annoyance raging in her voice.

"I've already beaten both of you, so I have nothing left to prove with you. But I want to know how. I destroyed your trinket. How many spares do you lot have?"

Rashmi Terios has posed:
The more Sunbreaker talks, the closer Rashmi gets to understanding. She's not quite there yet, but there's enough for her to work with, at least. Because she *isn't* here to pick a fight. She's here to get between Molly and Sunbreaker, and hopefully just leave. But that still requires withstanding a lot more gut-churning dread.

"Sunbreaker," Rashmi says quietly, hands up. "You *did* beat me. You almost killed me, you almost destroyed Nicomachea. But *almost* means I have to say 'thank you' for not following through. So... thank you."

Rashmi's eyes flick over the jittering fires in the villain's hand, then back up. "...Also I guess I gotta say I'm sorry, too. I'm sorry for not taking you seriously. Well... now I am. I'm *asking* you to let us walk. Because it's up to you, whether or not there's a fight. Just remember, if there is one?"

And here Rashmi has to pause to scrub the sleepies out of one eye, and hopefully also cover up the yawn that comes with being woken up an hour after being asleep. "If there *is* a fight, I have to take you very, very seriously. Like you've shown you *need* to be."

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly stays where she is, sprawled out on the rooftop, watching Rashmi stand in front of her and basically take on Sunbreaker on her behalf -- even if only verbally, so far. At least, that is, she stays there until she starts to feel so ridiculous at doing so, that it just edges into overcoming her fears.

The purple-haired mage plants her staff and uses it like a pole to haul herself up (and Starcrash no doubt withholds a complaint about it), and upon rising to her feet she takes a moment to readjust her spectacles. And, while she's at it, she keeps her mouth shut about the fact that what Sunbreaker *actually* burned was not a spare device or any such thing, but in fact her personal copy of The Lord of the Rings, on loan to Rashmi. And she liked that book.

Molly doesn't respond to Starcrash's exhortation to violence, and she certainly doesn't follow through on it. She doesn't interrupt Rashmi and Sunbreaker's conversation for the moment, either; afterall, Rashmi has this well in hand.

At least she hopes she does.

Because she is way too scared to take the lead.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker grinned wider when the other girl talked. She acknowledged the fact she'd lost, been beaten and... she walked forward. The fires around her had dimmed. She reached out, a knuckle under Rashmi's chin to make her look into her eyes. Not that she wasn't already, but...

"You weren't taking me seriously? I mean, that just seems stupid, on your part. You should always take a mage seriously. But, then again, I can't be surprised. You oversized monkeys have only just begun to study magic, haven't you? Well, here's the thing."

"If you get in my way again, I won't stop. I'll destroy your toy. I loathe that about your kind. You don't even understand magic. You need your toys to use it. I'm a REAL magic user. I've studied it, built my life around it. At least Riventon made his toy, you lot don't even do that, do you?" she asked, giving her a disdained sneer.

"But... I won't kill you. And you were *not* nearly 'killed' by me." She turned and walked away from her. "I'm not a murderer. I'm not some parlor trick stage magician, either. These flames? Are mine. I am in complete control. If I *wanted* you dead, you'd be dead. The fact either of you are still alive is a rather clear sign that I don't."

"I have no qualms about putting both of you back in the hospital, though. so why don't you two go and bother someone else. In fact... there's a girl out there. Usagi. I hear she's causing quite the stir. Maybe you two should get to rescuing her instead of harassing me when I haven't even done anything today. Otherwise, I might decide to make you two the next subjects in my experiment. I think I've juuuuuust about made a breakthrough in the studies I learned from my time with Osaka." She held out her right hand and her familiar flew up, nuzzling against her hand.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
There is a special kind of terror, in being approached and manhandled-- wait, if Sunbreaker referred to her as an 'oversized monkey,' what even is she...? --manhandled, by the person who personally put you in the burn ward. And Rashmi doesn't even try to hide it, she *is* terrified of Sunbreaker, and what she can do. Do to Molly, to *her* specifically. Tears are standing out in her eyes, but she doesn't break eye contact. The goal is to be allowed to leave, and whatever forwards that goal is the right call.

"Y-you're right," Rashmi says, then swallows, clearing her throat. "We *are* new to all this. And we wouldn't even be talking, if we hadn't been chosen by something we never even knew existed. And you *have* studied it all your life, so... yeah. You're a better mage than us." It doesn't even hurt, stating that simple fact. Literally a third of Rashmi's entire time *being magic* has been overlaid with flailing arms and 'I don't know what I'm doing!'

And then Sunbreaker releases her, and turns away. And the lizard-hindbrain part of her is tempted to take a shot, for a handful of heartbeats. "I appreciate that," she says truthfully, of Sunbreaker saying she won't kill her. "And if it helps... I don't *have* a backup. That was just a storybook, that a really, really good friend loaned me." Letting out a long, shaky breath, Rashmi nods, stepping back far enough to put her even with Molly.

"...So okay. We'll let you be, then."

Molly Skyline has posed:
<< WE HAVE A DANGEROUS TARGET IN SIGHT AND SHOULD-- >>

"HUSH," hisses Molly at her warmongering device. "Not. *NOW*." Starcrash is correct about having a dangerous target in sight, but seems to have entirely forgotten (or is at least overlooking) the results of the last two engagements with Sunbreaker. Eitehr that, or vastly overestimating Molly's ability to not get her backside handed to her in a fight.

She resists the urge to keep backing up herself, when Rashmi steps back level with her. Instead she sticks her hand out, bumping her knuckles against Rashmi's, to see if the other girl is up for an emotional-support holding of hands.

"Starcrash is broken, all he knows how to do right now is fight," she offers, by way of explaination for her staff's repeated demands for violence. "Don't mind him, I'm trying to fix him." And she is, and she has no idea how to go about that, since the problem is damaged and missing databanks. "So, uhm, yeah, we'll just... go, now, if tha'ts okay," she adds, her voice rising an octave towards the end.

Wait a minute, oversized monkey? Yeah, what even *is* Sunbreaker?

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker gave a light snort. "Yeah, isn't that funny? I was chosen by something none of you even know exist," she muttered, holding her hand up again. "And of course I'm a better mage than you. You're all just pretenders. But don't worry, one day... hopefully soon... I'll never have to deal with any of you again. I--"

Then she just stopped. And then turned to Molly. And just... stared at her.

"Wait, WHAT? You have a BROKEN magical weapon and you're USING it? What is wrong with you people?" she asked, before glancing to Rashmi. "And you're LETTING her? Even you monkeys should be able to know how dangerous and STUPID that is!" she snapped, gesturing towards her. Then cringed. "Ugh. Whatever. Get yourself killed or possessed or whatever it is you lot think is smart. Idiots," she muttered. She obviously had no idea what kind of 'magic' the staff was. "But frankly, if something broken is telling you to 'kill' all the time, maybe you should toss it in a volcano or something before you get in over your head." Oh, she DEFINITELY had no idea. "And... I guess if it wasn't a backup, and was just a book... sorry I broke it. Not that sorry, you deserved it after all of that. But books are important." She turned and walked to the edge of the roof.

"Now get lost, I'm busy doing research." Before... pulling out her phone and... tapping on it.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
When Sunbreaker rounds on her, Rashmi leans back away, eyes wide. Helplessly, she just shrugs, then takes half a step back. When Sunbreaker tells them to get lost, Rashmi nods, putting a hand on Molly's shoulder. "...Books *are* important," she agrees... not least because Nicomachea is, in fact, a book.

And with one backward glance over the roof, Rashmi pulls Molly back, then jumps off, wings sprouting from her ankles before she even reaches the top of her jump. In her Barrier Jacket, she has more than enough strength to hold Molly aloft, until her friend's own flight spell can activate...

But for now, the only thing that matters is the distance they can put between them and Sunbreaker.

Molly Skyline has posed:
...Yeah well I don't have a whole lot of extra devices, I have Starcrash and that's it, goes through Molly's mind. But she doesn't say that because Sunbreaker is letting them go, and she doesn't want to provoke her to violence instead. She's already tried that route once and things most definitely did not pan out.

Instead, she's pulled aloft by Rashmi, which is fine for a moment, before a sulking Starcrash (who did not get to thrash the baddie) finally activates Molly's flight, and she's able to keep up alongside Rashmi on her own.

"Th-thanks," she gasps out, face flushed and eyes damp. "I... Starcrash detected dark energy and warned me I should call for backup, but I decided to check it out first and oh by was that a mistake."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"If it wasn't you it probably would have been me," Rashmi admits, digging tears out from under her glasses. "I'm just glad she wasn't *actually* spoiling for a fight..."

Looking over at Molly, Rashmi banks in close for a one-armed hug. "We're okay, Molly-chan. We're flying away and we're not hurt and we lerned a *lot* tonight. I'm probably gonna wanna be up for a bit longer and take notes. Also... we need to talk to Chrono, soon. ...Well *I* do like tomorrow morning but I also want all of us to talk together, soon. Maybe at the nurse's office, cos Setsuna-chan needs to hear about tonight too."

Molly Skyline has posed:
"Right. Okay." Molly returns the one-armed hug. "She wasn't looking for a fight, but I totally provoked her. I landed on that rooftop demanding that she come out or I was gonna open fire, just 'cause I detected Dark Energy. I was *so stupid* and I'm so lucky you woke up and came to help me out. Which is the bravest thing anyone's ever done for me, by the way. So, thank you, Rashmi-chan."

Molly uhms. "Want some ramen while you take notes? My Mom's got her restaurant open and it's staying open super late tonight to celebrate, I can easily say you were over for a study-sleepover and we can go up and get food? It's in the same building."