A Successful(?) Theft (Veronica Perenna)
| A Successful(?) Theft (Veronica Perenna) | |
|---|---|
| Date of Cutscene: | 31 January 2025 |
| Location: | Juuban Ward |
| Synopsis: | A relic is tracked down, and a thief gets more than she bargained for. |
| Cast of Characters: | Veronica Perenna |
| Tinyplot: | Flameborn Façade |
The sun hangs warmly in the sky, casting a hazy glow over a sleepy square. A light breeze stirs the air, the only movement across the sidewalks, the striking of a clock signaling high noon. A noisy buzz breaks the calm afternoon, the rising voices of two people whose faces are deformed with angry scowls in front of a jewelry shop.
"I don’t know who you’ve become, Mariko" a stout brunette snaps, her eyes narrowing at the red-haired woman in front of her. "You barely leave this place anymore. You have always been outgoing, at now—" she gestures vaguely at the window full of sparkling necklaces and rings, "—this is all you care about."
Mariko, whose face is quickly turning the same colour as her hair, crosses her arms and stares down at her friend. "I’m still the same, Hana" she said quietly. "I’ve just learned how to take care of my shop."
"You are surely done that well", Hana shoots back, her voice rising. "Momo wouldn't have wanted to see you turn out like... this." Mariko's jaw tenses at the brunette's words. "Like this?" she asks venomously. Their expressions look more heated, and Hana is about to reply when a card darts midway through the two women, impaling itself between cobblestones.
"I think we should go", Mariko suggests worried after her and Hana read the card. "Yes, let's", the friend agrees, hightailing it out of there.
A imperceptible shade moves past the two of them, leaving them to their squabble, passing through the walls right into the small shop. Gaining colours, the Princess of Sarek stares around the small shop, her eyes falling on a small and colourful origami sign above the cash register, introducing "Momoka's Jewel Box".
"Quick on the uptake", the origami sign shifts into a mouth, and then into a magpie creature, its plumage folding against the ceiling. "Sadly for you, you come late. I have taken deep root in that woman's heart", it grins ferociously.
A wide smile is given back to the youma. "I noticed. Those two are awfully loud. But you won't torment them any longer", she acknowledges. Tossing the cane into the air, the girl with the hair of moonlight grasps the lower end and puts it in front of herself diagonally. "I can still eat you for breakfast, you know?" Twisting its beak into a smile, the youma quips back triumphantly. "Yes, so we have heard."
In the next few minutes, the sound of the sound of magic and sharp screeches fills the air, and by the time the youma falters, some of the shop's display cases have been cracked open, their glass shards cracking under the feet of the combatants. Seeing the opening, the Princess of Sarek jumps and snaps her fingers, making her hat vanish.
"When colour's absence gives escape
To the deeper spirit of the shape,", she starts reciting her poem.
An illusionary full moon appears right below the youma, its light immaculate.
"Then do the clouds like silver flags
Stream out above the tattered crags"
The moon on the ground starts shining even brighter, a light that is soft on the eyes and not blinding.
"And darkened land, and brightening wave,
The moonlight slants through Merlin's cave."
As soon as the word "cave" escapes the lips of the Princess of Sarek, a low rumble is heard, and the hat of the Phantom Thief reappears from below, a giant evanescent shape that passes right through the youma, taking it into itself, and making it vanish without a trace, the last sight of it that beak deformed into a smile.%R%RThe enormous illusion floats up and reappears solid in front of Veronica's waiting hand, who grabs its brim and places it back on her head with a smirk and a wink.
The magical ring held hostage falls to the ground with a clink. "Well, that is that, I guess", she looks around guiltily. The youma really enjoyed getting the last laugh, she sighs. The shop really doesn't look that good now. Better scamper away now. Her card should not keep them away that much longer.
The Phantom Thief reaches down to pick up the ring in the stillness of the shop's air, thinking it's time to run. Her fingers close around the cold metal, a cold that seeps away in contact with her body's warmth. And then it gets hotter.
Twin flames burst out of the Princess of Sarek's body, and her figure is cloaked in flames, shimmering, fading and diminishing with no heat burning either her or the floor where the twin flames fell and grew.
Veronica's morphed figure glances upwards, where the flames have now assumed human form, and her body turns rigid with apprehension. Time to run.
