1552/Sunsetting

Sunsetting
Date of Scene:	17 May 2024
Location:	Dorms #1
Synopsis:	Following the events of a surprise party that Hinoiri could have never imagined receiving, she finally feels brave enough to face whatever message her mentor left for her. Unfortunately, what she finds is so much less than she'd ever imagined... and more painful than she would have believed possible.
Cast of Characters:	Hinoiri Kirara, Double Trouble
Tinyplot:	Sunset of Sora

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Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara was... shaken, to say the least. To say the most, she was quaking to her core. A birthday party. She'd...

Of... of course she'd had them before. Right? Everyone did.

...

But this was the first one that really felt both for her... and an actual party. Okay, so it was her first. And a surprise, no less. So she may have actually cried a bit. Just... just a little bit. And maybe she'd tried to hide it.... and maybe there were memories that she would never, ever forget.

Let's just say she was touched. Heavily. And she was also, just a bit... lost. She was finding herself.... with something she hadn't expected.

She didn't want to leave. She had friends here. And she was, admittedly, scared to go home. She would someday. But she was also scared. And so now? Now she was sitting on her bed. A familiar book on her lap, the lock undone. But unopened. Looking down at it. She was... scared. But... she was scared. But she wasn't alone. It was time for her to face whatever her mentor said...

"Hey... Dee? I... I think I'm ready. Can you come back?" She'd asked her roommate to give her a few minutes to collect herself... but for her to have the book out now? Well... that was likely not the expected thing to see. "Could you... read it with me?"

Double Trouble has posed:
    The birthday party had been a lot, which Dianora had known it would be. She were a little busybody making sure their Onee-chan had the best day. She hadn't done it alone because, as it turned out, despite being so punchable, Hinoiri had friends.

    Dianora left with Hinoiri, and was every bit the bubbly and annoyingly cute pink girl that she always was all the way home. But they got to their dorm and Hinoiri asked for some time. Knowing that the last thing that unicorn needed was to be alone right then, she said she'd wait right outside the door.

    Just as soon as the door shut, the necklace was off and Double Trouble was crossing the room to sit down next to their girlfriend. They knew what that book was. They knew what it meant that it was unlocked. It was finally time to find out if they'd been right or not about that alicorn they'd never met but felt they knew.

    They put an arm around her shoulders and their tail around her waist, giving her a gentle hug. "I wouldn't miss this for anything, darling," she says. "Now let's see what she's had to say."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara leaned against Double Trouble and slowly, she opened to the first page. "It's, obviously, not all of the books we shared. Just, you know... the last one I had. Heh, I forgot about that."

But oh, it showed a picture to Double Trouble. It started off with well... Double Troulbe was used to, and experienced, in reading between the lines. And this book was literally just that, a book that told a story. A student who wrote, bragging about their accomplishments... or, as Dee llikely knew, desperate for a mentor's approval. She came off as cocky and arrogant. Talented. Putting others down....

But Sora... Sora definitely read like an exasperated, busy teacher. Often going multiple messages before giving a response. Often short. Concise. Still, they were all written in the same handwriting (hoofwriting?), so perhaps she did write them herself. Occasionally there would be a longer message, often one pertaining to a lesson, gentle guidance... but nothing approaching the clue-by-four that Hinoiri so desperately needed. And while there were hints of caring in those words, they were... distant.

Worse, there was definitely anger in Sora's writing. In how she wrote. The chosen words. It seemed the mentor's anger may have nearly matched the protege's.

Hinoiri, however, seemed so fond as she flipped through it, mentioning little exams she'd done... "And this was after I'd perfected the color changing potion, only three people in my whole class got it right and mine was the only one that could do violet. Of course, as Sora's protege she knew I could do it."

But, finally the moment came... she stopped on one page, covered in scribbled out messages. It looked like both of them had been trying to say something, but neither could get it out. "This was... the last thing before I left..." Hinoiri whispered.

... Funny. The page itself weighed as much as a feather. But... as she stroked her thumb over the page? It felt heavier than a car. "Ready?" she asked, nervous, a little fearful.

Double Trouble has posed:
    Reading all of those personal conversations helped Double Trouble understand their girlfriend a little better, but it was mostly in the details. Mostly it just served to validate the understanding they already had. It's not as if they could escape knowing all about Sora. They lived with Hinoiri, and they loved Hinoiri, so they even paid attention when she monologued.

    Their tail stayed snugly wrapped around their unicorn's waist, their arm around her shoulders, and their other hand resting on her arm between them. Looking down at the page that was clearly full of an argument, they took a deep breath and let it out with an awkward laugh. "I'm not the one that matters here, darling. Are you ready? Then turn the page."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara took a small lingering breath. "I... I think I am. No matter... what she says. I'm not coming back. I'm not.... I won't give in again. I'm ready to face it." And then she flipped the page. and this page? Told a story too. It had tear stains on it. Scrunched up, as if someone had ground a hoof into it, but never wrote...

And that was it. No marks. No letters. Nothing. Not even a mark from a pen. Hinoiri looked confused, then snickered. "Oh, right. One second." She ran a finger along it and... nothing happened.

Then the smile flickered. "I don't... understand. It's... connected. Why isn't it refreshing?"

And it likely clicked for Double Trouble a moment before it did for Hinoiri.

There wasn't any messages.

Because Sora had never said anything after Hinoiri left. Not so much as a single message. Not even asking how she was. And then...

Hinoiri stared. And she could see it. Again.

"I never cared about you Hinoiri Kirara," Sora said. "Nothing you can ever do will change that."

Though it had been Double Trouble at the time, the words... now rang so, so true.

"I... I guess you were right, Dee... she never... did... care... about me..." The book fell from her hands and fresh, new tears formed in her eyes. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt so much and she--

And then Double Trouble could hear Hinoiri's soul shatter and she followed suit, crumbling to her knees, a hand over her mouth as she coughed. Fresh tears slid down her cheeks, dripping out of her eyes as the defenses she had leaned on unwittingly for so long... crumbled.

Double Trouble has posed:
    Double Trouble did figure it out a moment before Hinoiri did. They sharply exhaled the breath they didn't even know they'd been holding. Their tail started to wrap more tightly around her and her arms too, just hugging her. But souls shatter and girls melt, and Double Trouble couldn't hold on to their unicorn. She slid down right to her knees on the floor right out of the chameleon's grip.

    "Fuck," they said. This was not good. This was not good at all. She exploded their last dorm room when Double Trouble had just shapeshifted to look like Sora, but she knew it was them. This kind of confirmation? Double Trouble was worried.

    They slid down off the bed to kneel on the floor next to Hinoiri, their arms wrapping around her shoulders. "Fuck her. You don't need her. You never did. You're amazing all by yourself." They knew she couldn't hear those words. They knew it was pointless. They had to try anyway.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara reached out and grabbed Double Trouble's hand. "I-it hurts... it hurts.... i-it hurts so much..." she whispered, looking up at her. "I-I can't... I can't..."

Her hand held Double Trouble's so tightly it could almost break it. Finally, though... she screamed, before her other hand covered her mouth and she coughed up what looked like.... sludge. Except it evaporated a moment later, sizzling on the ground for a few moments before leaving nothing but burn marks. She looked up at Double Trouble, the tears going down her face...

And then she was enveloped in light. The tears burned away, the look of pain and agony on Hinoiri's face the last thing she'd see before therw was light.

And then.... then she was there. Hinoiri. It was just... Hinoiri. Except... not at all the same. Her eyes were black, with slitted pupils like a cat. Her hands ended in claws. Her skin was covered in dark green scales and she even had a tail, so much like Double Trouble's. Her clothing had shifted into a lab coat, over a black and red sailor fuku... and on her right hand was a ring. One just like Sayaka's... And on her back? Burned, charred wings. The feathers on them missing or singed for the most part.

And each breath was thin and raspy, like her lungs were filled with sludge. She then lunged on Dee, giving a wild, vicious laugh. "I understand! It all makes sense now! None of it matters! My rules, my work! None of it! All that matters... is POWER!" And her hands grabbed Double Trouble's head... and she could feel it. As if their very essence was being dragged out by the broken monster before them.

"Power is all that matters... so I will feast on all of this world's power! EVERYTHING WILL BE MINE! MINE TO DESTROY!"

Double Trouble has posed:
    Double Trouble knew Hinoiri always took the wrong lesson from everything they said. And yet they still tried. Every time. And every time it blew up in their face. Would they ever stop trying? No. They were in love with that uni--uh whatever she was now. That was her absolutely terrifying girlfriend.

    "Fuck," they said again. This was really not good. When your girlfriend explodes in light and turns into some strange amalgamation of every freaking mahou in Tokyo including them? This was not good. They were beyond worried. They were scared.

    And then she proved that fear right. Before they'd even had the thought to duskport away, Hinoiri had their head grasped between her hands and they couldn't. They couldn't tear away, and they could feel their magic being sucked away. It felt like their very soul was being ripped right out of them. Their mouth opened in a silent scream as their eyes just stared into those inky black orbs.

    Deep down they'd always known it was going to go this way. They knew Hinoiri's personality archetype. They knew she'd be good for so much drama and then eventually explode. It was true of Catra, and it had proven true of Hinoiri. It's just this time, Double Trouble was at ground zero.

    Staring up into those inky, black eyes, they started to blink back tears. This was the inevitable betrayal they both always knew was coming. And as they writhed in pain, Double Trouble couldn't feel anything other than pride.

    "That's my girl," they whispered.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunset of Sora only laughed as she drained every single last drop of power from Double Trouble, before finally letting them go. Then they just... disappeared in a puff of flame.

The apartment didn't look so bad, honestly. A bit of singes on the wall, some on the floor... The worst, though, would be Double Trouble. All of their magic was gone... and they couldn't feel it coming back. No way to regather it...

They were trapped, a prisoner in their own body. This, of all things... would likely be a brand new role for them. Unlike any other.