944/Perfectly Balanced as all things should be

Perfectly Balanced as all things should be
Date of Scene:	31 December 2023
Location:	Plot Room 1
Synopsis:	Sunbreaker and Loyalty run into a small hitch, each summoning their backup dancers... who quickly become the main event. It turns out, magic is pretty important for the whole magical girl thing. Starring Stellar and Lacuma as overworked, grouchy workers!
Cast of Characters:	Hinoiri Kirara, Niji Dasshu, Kyouka Inai, Fuyuko Yuuhi

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Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Earlier:

Sunbreaker had been running tests near one of the leylines in Tokyo, high up on one of the hills. It had been pretty close to the paths, but honestly? It was a quiet day. Not many people out, the weather looked like it might rain, even if it hadn't yet. So who was going to come out here?

The basketball club. Of course. She hadn't expected them, but she'd certainly heard them lightly jogging up the hill. In formation, working on stamina training and just... whyyyyyy? But well, why let the horse out of the stable when it opened its mouth to give you a gift?

... Okay, she still didn't get all the earth sayings. That one made no sense to her, but she thought it might maybe apply to this situation? Either way, the moment the kids came jogging up, they'd begun to feel... lethargic. Exausted. And when a girl in fire had appeared, well...

Most had started to run. Unfortunately for them, now that they'd come to bring all their energy to her, why not? Besides, she could always trade the energy to others...

ONLY FOR A SPARKLE SKIRT TO APPEAR! AND IT WAS THE OBNOXIOUS RAINBOW ONE! GUH! How did she even GET here so fast?! Oh. Right. Super speed. Sunbreaker had tried to snag her, but any attempts to grab the speedster had met with utter FAILURE! It was like trying to catch the rain with a string!

By the time she realized what had happened, the rest of the team had escaped and it was just the two of them...

Now:

Sunbreaker was getting more and more frustrated. But then... an opening. Her eyes narrowed when Loyalty seemed to... slow down a bit? Or maybe Sunbreaker was just getting better at predicting her movements. She flicked her hand out, sending a few tufts of flame at her...

Right before her familiar sprung into action at her behest. Diving into a tree, the roots came alive and sprung up under Loyalty's feet, taking the form of a wolf, and tried to tackle and then coil around her legs!

Niji Dasshu has posed:
Niji had been running around with her team for the morning. Well, one of her teams. She couldn't make it to every exercise because she was double-booked too many times, but she tried. Not that most people would argue she was slacking... but that was all of the mundane stuff that happened before a flaming girl jumped in, and so it wasn't like she wasn't gonna -not- kick her butt.

    She'd first focused on distracting Sunbreaker until the rest of her team had gotten away. It was easy - this girl was SO SLOW. And Loyalty told her this. Repeatedly. In a very annoying voice while running up and pulling her hair. All she needed to do was protect her team and everything would be fine.

    But once she was sure her team was free, that's when everything went to heck in a handbasket pretty quickly. The fire came, and Loyalty was able to dodge those fire tufts; before a distinctly wolf-like ball of angry roots tackled her. "What?!" she cried out as she was slammed into. Oh. That's bad.

    Why hadn't anyone come yet, anyways. Normally by now there'd be 3-4 people with her. And things would not be going so badly.

    Now she was actually starting to panic - partly because she wasn't having much luck kicking the rootwolf off her, and partly cause for a wooden construct it had developed some extrordinarily sharp teeth that she was only barely dodging. Oh, it'd be -really nice- if someone showed up to help. Anybody. Right about now. She thought about the card in her pocket. How did it work? How the heck was she going to reach for it to read it with a wood monster pinning her down?!

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker managed to finally snag the girl! HA! "Finally!" Sunbreaker said, before walking towards her. Of course, as she was a villain, 'Kidnapped by Dragons 101' said ALWAYS gloat a bit. Well, dragons gloated. It came with being prideful. And she was NEVER going to NOT follow the class structure... okay, sometimes she would but not here. Having had her hair yanked on by the other girl, she was going to enjoy this.

"You're slipping, what was it? 'Loyalty'? Heh. I can see that. You know..." Walking by the girl... She knelt down, the roots coiling around her, but at least the biting had stopped. The mouth of the wolf was open, but it wasn't biting down. The girl was captured and she didn't want to maim the little sparkle skirt.

"That was pretty impressive, I have to say. Being 'Loyalty' and all. You loyally got everyone out of here... but... now? Nobody is here to help you. I guess that just means to show... loyalty really is worthless when nobody is loyal to you. Don't worry, though. I won't do too much harm to you. I'm just going to make sure you *never* get in my way again. Now, lets see, what... trinket lets you transform..." She lifted a hand, a bolt of fire forming in her right hand, searching for... "That." Her eyes locking onto the necklace. "This time, not even going to leave ashes from it..." she grumbled in annoyance.

Niji Dasshu has posed:
Loyalty flailed a little bit, angry. And then paused for a moment. Had she been more effective while trying to get everybody out? Was her dumb name more than just a dumb name? Maybe that made her the dumb one. Oooh, she didn't like that thought.

    And it was kind of a point. Loyalty had friends, but she hadn't really done a spectacular job of making magical girl friends. Besides Adora, who she was reasonably sure she could call if she could get to her cell phone (which she couldn't), who did she know that she could rely on to show her loyalty BACK? To come to her side when she needed it? Where were her teammates, because Mahou Shoujo'ing was clearly at least as much of a team sport as most of the stuff she played.

    Adora'd be there to help if she was called, but that reminded her again of the card. The counselor-lady had said she'd also be there if needed, right? Well she wasn't exactly reaching for the card, but magic worked in mysterious ways right? She managed to fight one of her hands free to push it against her pocket.

    Hey wait her henshin dress has pockets THAT'S AWESOME. Wait no focus.

    If touching it through her clothes counted, she'd take any help she could get right now. Magical guidance counselor hear my cry or whatever!

    And then Sunbreaker saw her necklace. "Don't you dare. That's not for you." She said, and she wasn't entirely sure where it came from - why she'd talk with such angry authority when she was absolutely the one losing. But the way Sunbreaker's eyes locked onto her necklace... stirred some serious emotions.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    As always, there's no warning of her arrival. No explosion of light or sound. No grand pronouncement or justice speech. Just a hand descending on Sunbreaker's shoulder from behind, while the girl kneels beside her cornered adversary. Gripping her, and pulling her up to her feet and away from the restrained Loyalty. There's no magic in the grip or the pull, just a prodigious amount of mundane strength, so Sunbreaker could likely break the hold without much problem, but at the very least doing so would get her away from Loyalty in the process.

    When she inevitably looks to see who has accosted her so, she will find Stellar standing behind her, sunglasses and all, an unamused expression on her face. "You know, I legitimately think you're the first person I've ever been called twice to intervene against." She says, mildly testy. "How about you leave this girl alone and go on your way? I was kinda in the middle of something, and I don't have time to kick your ass right now."

    These are fairly bold words considering last time she had been called in against Sunbreaker, she had actually failed to stop the girl from kidnapping Naru. But Stellar is nothing if not confident in herself.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
"Or what?" Sunbreaker asked. "I won, you lost. You'll keep getting in my way if I don't, so say goodbye to--" She had not expected someone to be there. She let out a startled yelp when suddenly someone had her by the shoulder. "W-what?" she asked. Well, when kneeling like that she didn't have the best leverage to begin with. It was a step back before she finally grounded herself and refused to be moved, slowly turning back... and...

"You? Really?" Sunbreaker asked and, for a moment, her arm lowered. She just sighed. "You sparkle skirts really do just pop out of the ground, like daisies, don't you? And... your welcome, I guess? Maybe if you're lucky you'll get to get summoned for a third time."

And then she just threw that firey spear of hers. Right in Stellar's face, not at Niji.

"Unlikely, though. By the way, I'm a lot stronger than I was back then."

Then she just started POUNDING the magical girl with fiery blast after fiery blast. "Last time I couldn't break that shield of yours! How about we see if we can AMEND that this time?!"

And it was true. She had grown in power, considerably, since then. Bathed in dark energy as it were... A lot. Worse, she was already in a foul mood, been annoyed and she had FINALLY almost dealt with the speedster... just to have this TROUBLEMAKER pop up AGAIN, to try and stop her from getting her prize.

"All you did was delay me last time, what makes you think you'll be ANY closer to success? If you want to kick my ass then you'll have to actually ATTACK!" Sunbreaker yelled, the explosive firepower tearing gouges in the ground and tearing chunks out of the trees and grass, uncaring of the destruction she caused...

But hey, at least Loyalty didn't have her focus anymore. And the wolf wasn't looking at her now, focused almost entirely on its master.

Niji Dasshu has posed:
Loyalty watched... all of that. Stellar popping into existence sans fanfare that you might expect for magical girl magic, but someone had literally popped in to save her -and- looked cool while doing it. And then her nemesis just... going all out. Watching that fire blast after blast...

    No, there was no way Geode Girl Loyalty was going to just watch bad things happen to the person who'd just shown up in her time of need. She wouldn't even need magic powers for that. She brought her legs up under the wolf and KICKED out as hard as she could. Which resulted in a very confused and very aerial wolf.

    And then she got up and rocketed towards Sunbreaker. And now that she was trying to cover someone, someone who had shown up to help her - she was very fast again, and the colors of the rainbow trail she left were very bright and then she lept onto Sunbreaker from behind, like an unwanted backpack monkey. "You want my pendant? You want to fight? Careful what you ask for!" she says. She's intending, once she's distracted Sunbreaker, to set up for one of those dashing sonicbooms, and see if she could actually call that energy out on command. She was going to help, protect, fight. But that's not what happened.

    Instead what happened is Loyalty's pendant began to glow with blue energy... then energy of multiple colors... and then the whole world around them changed hues, red green blue purple yellow orange, and then nothing - nothing but an explosion of some kind of power that hurls Loyalty back away from Sunbreaker.

    "I don't feel... right..." she mumbles. She intends to go back and get her bat for this - but a few steps and she's partly woozy and leaning on a tree, and partly aware that was just regular Niji speed, not Loyalty speed. "I think something just happened." she says. Very astute.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Stellar glances down at herself. White-and-gold military-style coat, black leggings, big boots. "I really don't like the term sparkle-skirt." She grimaces. "I'm not sure I've ever worn a skirt in my life, you know? It always seemed so impractical for-"

    A firey spear is thrown right at her face. Casually, as if its not even a big deal, her arm snaps up and to the side, a crackling dome of golden energy briefly sparking into existence across her forearm as it impacts the spear mid-flight, the movement so fast it almost seems difficult to notice until the spear is directed off to one side, smashing into the ground harmlessly. (Well, harmlessly to Stellar, not so much to the building.)

    More and more firey blasts get sent her way, and she just stands there sort of batting them out of the way with one hand like Neo blocking punches in that scene at the end of the Matrix, except less cheesy because this isn't 1998 CGI. She is frowning slightly, though. Because Sunbreaker does seem to be more powerful, and if she keeps this up long enough-

    Then Loyalty jumps on the girl from behind, which seems like it might be helpful until her pendant overloads or something and blows her back off again. At least it gave Stellar a brief break from the bombardment, the ground and trees all around her smoking ruins and gouges but her form, so far, unmarred. "The hell is actually going on here?" She asks, sounding mildly annoyed. "I'm just going to get you out of here." This to Loyalty, as she moves to the side, skirting Sunbreaker in an attempt to reach the obviously-struggling girl.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker rolled her eyes. "It's a classification, not an entirely descriptive term! If you have a better term, I'm all ears!" And fire. Lots of fire. Fire fire fire fiiiiire. She was really getting into it--

Only for there to be a startled yelp. A moment later... "Get off my back you prismatic simian!" Sunbreaker yelled, gathering up dark energy and unleashing it on her! Except... When she gathered it, there was suddenly light. And rainbows. And flashes. Sunbreaker stumbled forward, her fires gone. She...

... She felt great? Sure, she felt a little tired, and that was weird. But huh. It hadn't... hurt. You know that feeling when everything hurt for a while, then just... stopped? Magically? It was like that.

"... Huh. Okay... then. HEY! Listen here, you!" she snapped, reaching out to grab Stellar's arm. "You're not... going... ummm..." She gave the arm a little squeeze. Then, her right hand, she snapped her fingers. "Uhhhh..."

The grip on her arm? Wasn't strong. It wasn't... even really mahou levels of strength. It was like. Normal girl levels. And try as she might, Sunbreaker couldn't get her fire to... start. Her hand slipped away from her...

The familiar, meanwhile, let out a hiss and then FLED, abandoning the wood. Not going back to the gem, it just flew AWAY. Sunbreaker's hand fell away from Stellar's and she pointed a finger at Loyalty. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?!" she yelled, the fury evident in her voice.

But not a single flame to speak of.

Niji Dasshu has posed:
Geode Girl Loyalty wasn't sure what was going on, but that didn't stop her from figuring out ENOUGH of what was going on. "Wait. If you can't make fire... then you're in the same boat I am." she says. "I can't run right now either. But if I can't run and you can't make fire... It means I can just kick your butt regular style!" she deduces.

    A few steps towards Sunbreaker, though, and she suddenly turns and leans against the tree. "Or... I could... if the world would stop... wobbling." she says.

    "It's not doing that for either of you, is it?" she asks, and herr eyes look a little bit crossed.

    "Okay. Okay. New plan. Hey new magic friend, will you kick her butt while I try to figure out why the planet's on a see-saw? I don't think we should waste the opprotunity. She started it, anyways. Buncha kids just walking around and she drains them like she's That Girl at a buffet who loads up on all the shrimp."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Stellar is frowning, as it seems like both of the other girls are suddenly devoid of.. you know, magic. Which is pretty central to the whole thesis we have going on here. "No, I'm not going to kick her butt," She starts saying to Loyalty. "I don't beat up kids for fun. We're just going to leave, like mature adults-"

    Then Sunbreaker grabs her arm, and reflexively, without even seeming to realize what she's doing, Stellar turns and decks the girl in the jaw. Like, a straight-up streetfight-level haymaker, because when someone grabs your arm in the middle of a fight, even if the grab isn't particularly powerful, you don't just sit around and wait for them to finish whatever attack they have in mind.

    The punch isn't magical. It can't be, she's not allowed. But she's strong. She works out. And she wasn't holding back, because it wasn't even really a conscious decision.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
"I would never! I'm a vegetarian and shrimp have little legs! Ew!"

Alas, the power of vegetarianism only went so far. Because when that fist hit her face? Ow. Oh my gosh. OW! Was her nose broken? It felt broken. She actually flew back and landed on her ass, bouncing once. She then held her nose, staring up at the other girl through teary eyes.

Sure, she SAID she wasn't going 'kick her ass'. But that felt very ass kicking. And her face was bleeding and her nose felt broken. "Y-you... you... you you you!" Sunbreaker yelled through the clutching. Was Stellar going to come after her? ... Maybe? She didn't know. But she'd almost been killed enough times to NOT take that risk. She reached into her jacket and pulled out a pen, gripping it like a knife and stabbing the ground. She didn't have any defenses right now and well... if ever there was a time to call for HR... this was it.

Fuyuko Yuuhi has posed:
There's none thing these two counterparts have in common - there's no fanfare, no warning of her eminent arrival. One moment, there's Loyalty and Stellar on one side and a teary-eyed Sunbreaker on the ground, bleeding from a face already starting to darken with pooling blood into what would be a magnificent bruise.

In the next, a woman stands between them, taller than Stellar - taller than anyone else here, most likely, white star-shaped earrings glinting in the darkness of her hair, clad in a knee-length black dress with cap sleeves. Her skin is milk pale, her legs clad in deep purple-and-white striped stockings. Her hands swim in pools of liquid darkness and her expression is utterly unamused.

That will hardly a surprise to the one person here who truly knows her.

"Stellar," she says shortly, "Are you bullying my... charge?" The hesitation is only because Sunbreaker isn't her student, but also isn't her employee, but is most certainly someone she's taking responsibility for. "Aren't you supposed to be above making children cry?"

Niji Dasshu has posed:
Geode Girl Loyalty is not a mature adult. This was evidenced by the sad "aww man" she gave when Kyouko said she wasn't going to kick her butt.

    This is quickly replaced by an "Awesome!" when the fist lands. "I'm glad you changed your mind. Sunburn kinda deserves at least a little butt-kicking. She just jumps on random kids and ruins nerd exhibits and beach days." she complains.

    "I... don't think I can leave for a little bit anyways." she adds, slumping against a tree. "You probably have time to hit her again. At least once."

    But Loyalty's very grown-up words that amount to 'fite fite fite' are not to be, particularly because another magical girl shows up and... this one doesn't seem to be on Loyalty's side. Especially given she calls Sunbreaker her charge.

    "So what, are you like, the worst guidance counselor ever or something? Could you counsel this girl to not steal energy?" GGLoyalty says, trying to find her footing. Woozy. Tired. Stupid body wake up we got stuff to do!

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Although Lacuna's arrival is without fanfare, it's almost as if Stellar expects her. As if she senses the other woman's arrival moments before it happens. Because she's already looking at her when she arrives, her expression deadpan, the stoicness of it heightened by the sunglasses she always seems to wear. "Lacuna." The greeting sounds almost resigned. She spares a glance for Sunbreaker, on the ground, bleeding and teary-eyed. Is that guilt that briefly crosses her face?

    "She attacked one of my students, then made a grab for me. I hit her, because that's what we do when people attack us. I'm not bullying anyone. And if you're seriously laying claim to her," so much scorn in that word, as she casts another steel-eyed gaze at Sunbreaker, "then I have to say that you're choice in disciples is almost as dour as your choice of wardrobe."

    Wow, feeling petty today Stellar? Maybe she's just not in the mood, she did say she was busy earlier when she got called out here for this.

    She glances to Lacuna's hands, wreathed in darkness, then gives the woman an arched-brow look. "Are you really going to try and step up? You never could beat me in a fight, you know. Even when we were allowed to fight."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker couldn't help it... "I-I'm not crying!" she snapped.

... yes she was. But with the blood from her nose, maybe it could hide well-ish.

"T-the rainbow haired i-idiot somehow turned off my powers. I can't use dark energy and none of my defenses are working. Just... just hold them off for a minute and I'll figure this out... I won, by the way!" she said, glaring at Loyalty. "You had to call for help!" Call... for help *first*. There was an important step there that Sunbreaker was missing. "And she's not my guidance counselor! Guidance counselors are stupid and useless brown nosers who only care about getting you out of their office so they can go back to playing solitaire! She's HR."

... Because HR was much better.

... Then...

"Wait, your name is Lacuna? Ugh, right, focusing...." She held out her hand, trying to will fire or magic to return. Come on, magic. "If I could just tap into the leyline again, I could fix whatever she did to me..."

Fuyuko Yuuhi has posed:
"Of course she did," Lacuna says, as if it fully doesn't matter that Sunbreaker attacked a group of innocent people and stole their energy and then attacked one of Stellar's students. (Newsflash, it doesn't.) "That's her job. Your students are supposed to show up in groups and shrill about the power of friendship before they manage to save the day."

Her expression, already set in stone, hardens further at the insult of her look. Petty, much? Sunbreaker's passioned defense of Lacuna being decidedly not a guidance counselor earns a thoroughly amused look (still without a smile) shot in Stellar's direction before she glances at Loyalty for a moment, raising a brow. "I'm not a guidance counselor - I enjoy gainful employment, brat."

Shots fired! But Stellar went down in the dirt first, and Lacuna's never cared about wading into the mud after her (or diving deeper into the muck than Stellar would ever follow).

Her amusement fades when Sunbreaker says that her powers have been turned off. That is not good. That is not a thing the other side should be able to do willy-nilly.

"These two aren't going to trouble you anymore. For all her big talk, Stellar's too chickenshit to actually pick a fight."

That's not true at all, but she also doesn't expect Stellar to actually come at her.

Over her shoulder, to Sunbreaker,"I am Lacuna, yes. Yuuhi-san will do in a professional setting."

Niji Dasshu has posed:
Geode Girl Loyalty somehow manages to avoid being the peanut gallery in the insult war by just going 'ooooh' to every traded barb. But she wants to. She really wants to.

    Loyalty has got more of her footing and awareness back. "Hey, if those are the rules then maybe she lost her powers for breaking' em. I sure didn't take them on purpose." she says. "But if you want to keep fighting now that you don't have firepowers, I'm good for it, sunbaked." she says. She's still a little but off, but she also feels like she can beat this girl no problem when she's not throwing flame around and gaining strength from Dark Energy.

    "Even when you had powers you needed that wood-wolf to help you." she points out. "Obviously, whatever cosmic force keeps fair play going took your powers away for it." Loyalty does not, at this time, know or believe in such a force. She's just being kind of a little jerk. "So if you want to send both of the 'adults' away I will totally settle this with you like a kid on the playground." she says, punching her closed fist into her palm..

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "Hey!" Stellar snaps at Sunbreaker, "I don't play solitaire! It's Minesweeper. Get it right."

    She gives Loyalty a bit of a look, because admitting she didn't depower Sunbreaker on purpose is giving away an advantage- if the enemy thought that was something you could do they would tread a lot more carefully. She doesn't actually call her on it though, she just says "If you want to punch her again, feel free. Looks like just one was enough to take her out of the fight though." She's just really feeling petty today, it seems.

    Most of her attention is on Lacuna. When she speaks, her words have a waspish snap that would be somewhat unfamiliar to most of her students. "Yeah, gainful employment working for a soul-stealing corporation that cares more about its bottom line than its employees." And in this case 'soul-stealing' isn't even a euphemism.

    When Lacuna says she's too chickenshit to pick a fight, she scowls, and clenches her fists. Golden energy hisses and crackles up her forearms in little snapping arcs of lightning, and simultaneously the sky overhead rumbles with faint thunder, the clouds suddenly seeming lower and ominous- a heaviness in the air that was absent a few moments ago, like a sudden pressure that makes your ears want to pop. "Don't test me right now, Lacuna." She says, quietly. "I'm not feeling patient."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker gave a nod. "Shrill, obnoxi-- wait, friendship? I thought all they yelled about was 'love' or 'murder'." ... She'd run into a particular subset of magical girls. "Also, how they're desperate to get back with their ex." Yes, she'd run into Adora.

She pulled her hand away, whimpering at all the blood that fell. "I-I don't think my nose is broken, though. Hurts when I breath a bit, but I have a spell for that later. Once I can use my powers..." she muttered.

Then, of course, Loyalty earned her ire. "HEY! I did NOT break the rules! That WOLF was my familiar! It's an EXTENSION of my magic! Any first year magic kindergarden REJECT can tell you that! Do you not even... right. Right. Backwater planet where MAGIC doesn't WORK RIGHT!" she yelled, glowering at Loyalty.

Only to glare at Stellar next. "Fine! They spend all their time on your sweeping! I guess congratulations, the floors are probably clean? But I thought you'd have janitorial staff for that... Is that what guidance counselors here are?"

"And your punch wasn't that hard! I-it didn't take me down! I'm just not human so it's, I've never been in a fight before when I wasn't a pony, okay?! It's very confusing when I still already struggle with the hands thing! If I'd been prepared for it I would have been fine but you sucker punched me you, you, you dunce-cap wearing dropout!"

Fuyuko Yuuhi has posed:
"Do you think you can lose your power for violating arbitrary rules?" Says the woman who would absolutely lose her powers for violating arbitrary rules if the big wig in the sky found that she'd violated her contract. Shut up. She rolls her eyes at Loyalty, otherwise perfectly content to let the children yap at each other. "What are love and murder but expressions of friendship?"

Think on that absolutely terrible idea, children, as she stalks closer to Stellar, the pools of darkness flowing around her hands swiftly circlcing, like an absence of light opened in the world. There is a cold shadow where she walks, as though light dims, as thought it flees in desperation.

"Who said I wanted your patience? If I'm going to be called from my office, it might as well be worth my time." And then, when she's close enough to Stellar that she can lower her voice, she says, for Stellar alone to hear, "Wouldn't you like to have it out for old time's sake? We should have tested this years ago - may not be able to thrash these brats, but who's to say we can't thrash each other?"

And then, as any reasonable human resources employee would, she decks her - an overly telegraphed blow she fully expects Stellar to dodge, even as she also twists closer to try and hook a foot behind her ankle and bring her down.

Niji Dasshu has posed:
Geode Girl Loyalty remarks on the arbitrary rules thing. "Who knows if that is or isn't how magic works!?" she says, even more ignorant of how her magic works than the average magical girl. No mascot, no teammates, no magical past. Just her, speed, and bad guys. This was just A Thing She Did, as far as she knew.

    And then Stellar and Lacuna trade barbs too and then Lacuna is going after Stellar and Loyalty watches, shrugs, and looks back to Sunbreaker. "Good enough for me." she says, walking towards the other girl. "Just so you know, this isn't a surprise or a sucker punch. I'm comin' to getcha'." she says, and after a few more steps she breaks into a run, intent on chasing down Sunbreaker and beating her in such a way that would totally get her suspended for doing in front of Kyouka, if Kyouka was an... average guidance counselor. And, probably not about to be involved in a fight herself.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "If I was a dropout, would I have a job as a teacher?" Stellar snarks at Sunbreaker, even though a) she's not a teacher and b) she absolutely did drop out of school. But the kid doesn't need to know that.

    Lacuna dominates her attention though, as she approaches closer. Stellar's grey eyes narrow behind her sunglasses, a brow arching in a look which is best described as skeptical. "Are you so tired of paperwork you're actually volunteering to let me kick your ass just to get out of it?" She replies, sounding amused.

    She frowns slightly as Lacuna mutters to her.. opening her mouth to reply. But before she can get a word out, Lacuna swings for her. She doesn't dodge it though- she snaps her hand up and catches Lacuna's fist in her hand. The sudden contact of the swirling darkness around Lacuna's fist with the crackling golden energy around Stellar's causes a hissing feedback that rattles leave from trees with a shockwave-like magical pressure. At the same time, Lacuna tries to trip her, and while she does succeed in hooking Stellar's ankle with her foot, it fails to take her to the ground. Instead she twists, forced to release her grip on the other woman's fist in order to avoid being tripped. Seemingly by reflex, she lashes out again, much like she did to Sunbreaker, though this time with a flare of arcing golden lightning crackling across her knuckles. It's likely too predictable to actually hit Lacuna, but it hits a small tree, which cracks lengthwise and falls into pieces a moment after the impact, bark and branches smoldering as they hit the ground.

    Stellar and Lacuna have fought each other a lot over the years. Dozens of times directly. Hundreds of times watching the other fight. Which means any moves not invented whole-cloth in the recent past are going to be anticipated. It makes it very tricky to land a blow.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker just glared at Stellar. "Wait, so you are a dropout? Is that why you're a guidance counselor slash janitor?" No disrespect to janitors meant, janitors were valuable. But if this girl was doing both jobs, then obviously she was struggling to find her niche. Sunbreaker would have almost felt bad for her, but well. She deserved it.

"Kick her ass, Lacuna! Give her the one-two hooves!" Sunbreaker said. Egging her on herself, like this was some kind of weird pet robot fight. And it was actually kind of--

"Wait, what?" She was finally focusing on Loyalty... who was running right at her. She ran some quick mental calculations. Whatever drained the jock hadn't drained her of anything but her magic. So, physically, she was definitely starting on the foot up.

On the other hand she didn't know HOW TO FIGHT PHYSICALLY IN THIS BODY NO HELP SORA!

Sunbreaker squeaked and rolled onto all fours, trying to climb away... And as Niji charged at her she just... "Oh, wait!" And then just put both palms on the ground and bucked both feet out! Trying to catch the other girl in the stomach! GAHHH! SHE WASN'T MADE FOR THIS KIND OF FIGHTING!

Fuyuko Yuuhi has posed:
"More like more interested in testing the limits of our leash, but the paperwork does play a role," Lacuna says dryly, in that instant before blows begin to be exchanged.

Her blows don't connect. She didn't expect them to. Stellar's don't either - their magics sizzle and clash, opposites meeting and repelling each other, and they know each other's every move. Without a twist or a surprise, there's no ability to get the upper hand over each other - there's just the endless clash clash clash of their magics against each other, shielding, bursting, defending and striking.

It's not the strength they had as youths, but just as Stellar destroys a small tree, Lacuna takes a gap out of the ground in a pivot that sees her striking towards the ground, the space merely gone in the instant her darkness washes over it.

It's only a momentary exchange but in that moment, they exchange blow after blow, and make no headway - and in the background, the fight between two hapless girls goes unnoticed. Sorry, children, but there's something more important at play.

Niji Dasshu has posed:
Loyalty - who really only has henshin magic going - is barreling down on Sunbreaker, when she rolls over onto all fours - well, the other girl has said she's a horse. Maybe Loyalty learned something from hanging around with Adora and the Equestrian club. Maybe she's just that nimble and reactive from all of the sports. Maybe she's just lucky. She has just a momentary flash of insight for some reason and slows down - it prevents her from running stomach first into those feet, though she still takes it to her wrists. It's a good thing neither of them are powered. But it hurts more than she'd expect. Guess you get used to henshin defenses, too.

    "What? What was that. Did you just try to... kick me? Like a horse?!" she asks. Yes, she knows SB has said she was from some kind of horse place, but that doesn't stop Loyalty from being incredulous at it.

    "Fine, we're kicking now. Okay!" She says, moving to the side (albeit slower than she'd like, no powers) and trying to kick Sunbreaker's stomach by coming up underneath her oddly position body with a rising kick. "Fight me on two legs, damnit!"

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    There was a time when an outright clash between Stellar and Lacuna would have shaken the entire vicinity with the discharges of opposite annihilating magic- these days, it's more like tremors, the echoes of power now leashed by an agreement neither quite understands. But that's part of what this is about, or so Lacuna would have her believe- testing the limits of the leash.

    It's clear that the two are so familiar with each other's fighting style that the only way either is going to gain a serious advantage is if the other makes a mistake. Blows are exchanged, but rather than attacks meant to land and cause injury, they have the feel of feints, goadings, testing blows trying to lure the opposite party into overstepping or getting careless. Neither young woman seems inclined to give that advantage to the other.

    It's only for a few moments, a minute at most, but Stellar is batting away one last thrust of Lacuna's darkness-wreathed hand and then stepping back, half-leaping out of range. "No, stop it!" She snaps, her tone annoyed.

    "Fuyuko, I'm not going to fight you right now just because you're bored. I've got shit to do that doesn't include making me regret giving you a New Year's gift." She seems to have completely forgotten the two girls rolling around on the ground fighting each other a few yards away as well. "Besides it.." It doesn't feel right, is what she wants to say. Knowing what this fight should feel like, but only getting a lesser, attenuated version of it? It's the epitome of unsatisfying. "It's pointless." She finishes instead, unable to find the proper words.

    She scowls. "It seems like our employer doesn't mind a little collegiate violence, though. So how about you watch your mouth with the bullying kids accusations, huh, or we'll revisit this 'discussion'."

    She turns away. "Pfah. I'm done. Enjoy the rest of your work day." And she's gone. She literally just left. Sorry Loyalty. You got this, right?

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker might have been impressed by the powers on display by HR and guidance counselors of this world.

Might.

HAD SHE NOT ABOUT TO GET HER BUTT KICKED!

"Well I'm a pony what do you expect?! You try learning how to fight with an entirely new body in a few weeks!"

She didn't land a glancing blow. So instead she was about to get--

BAM! The kick was coming and she... she dropped to the ground. On her stomach. The blow grazed her back, leaving a bit of a dirt mark on her back, but she was okay! She lived.

And then she just rolled over to her, to try and knock her feet out from under her!

... And likely get landed on...

...... If her terrible plan succeeded, she'd proceed to just... try... slap fighting the other girl. It was ridiculous. And obvious that Sunbreaker had no idea how to use a human body in an actual fight.

"How about you fight me like a pony, primate?!"

Fuyuko Yuuhi has posed:
The fight is dissatsifying in many ways - it's not the power they once wielded, not the strength they had, and she can feel it, that power, leashed inside of her, shoved deep down, and it's frustrating. But in other ways, this is the most power she's been free to use in years. The ability to destroy something, to fight instead of defend - yes, she enjoys it.

At least until Stellar pulls back. Then, she's rolling her eyes, "You're so sensitive lately. I'm satisfied, for the moment. We've a better idea of the limit. Go on, you're clearly itching to get back to your work."

And then she turns back to the fight between students, grimacing at the two of them. Sunbreaker has got to learn to fight hand to hand.

Niji Dasshu has posed:
Geode Girl Loyalty is not expecting Sunbreaker to roll sideways INTO her. The two of them topple on top of each other in a confused pile, with Loyalty above the other girl and... the other girl...

    Flailing at her. Trying to smack her. Loyalty bats a few of the hands aside, the much greater force in her movements apparent to both of them, before curling up her fist and drawing it back...

    ...only to just stand up. "Man, it's not even any fun to beat you up. It's like fighting a child." Okay, so both of them were children. "A ... much smaller and bad at fighting child." she says. "Ugh. It'd make me a bully like you." she says, and looks over to Lacuna. "Hey if she's your charge would you teach her how to fight so I can kick her butt without feeling bad?" she calls to her. "It's like racing somebody who's on one foot over here."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker wasn't made for fighting like this... and... and the other girl got up. Sunbreaker stared up at her, covered in dirt and blood and just... She fumed. "A bully? I'm not a... HEY! I fight fine! I'd like to see YOU know how to fist fight in a new body when you've only had a few months to even learn how it works! And learn all the magic! And all your history and chemistry and stupid other things this world uses like cell phones and cars and the fact your SUN is all wrong and your moon orbits and all the other STUPID THINGS your world has!"

"I'm going to find out how you disabled my magic there and I'm going to kick your FLANK next time we fight! Back home I used to be an amazing hoof fighter!" Pause. "Okay, fine, I was passable! But I'd KICK YOUR FLANK if we were there! You'd probably be a, a, a squirrel or something else stupid!"

And THAT DID IT! There was this almost... pin drop feeling. And fire erupted from her hand! And she grinned, flicking her hand forward and--

... the fire just stopped before it touched Loyalty. Dispersing around them, though the heat was intense. Sunbreaker just stared up at her. A strange, conflicted look on her face. Finally, she sighed. "I'm done here anyway." Slowly, she got to her feet, body ablaze again. "Let's just... go. My nose hurts..." Sunbreaker muttered, making her way towards the dark tower she'd been here with... and turning it back to a gemstone. Right as her familiar decided to show its face. She glared at it. "Fat lot of good you were. Useless damn eel... should have left you to wallow in the mud."

Fuyuko Yuuhi has posed:
Lacuna rolls her eyes a little, but well, it's a fair point, honestly. Sunbreaker does need fighting skill. "She's less a bully and more a harvester. She sees the resources she needs, and she takes them. It's your business if you decide that offends you."

There was hardly any point in interfering with the matter, but she was well aware that the other side didn't tend to agree.

"If your powers are returning, hers may be as well," she nods towards Loyalty, and walks over to Sunbreaker, resting a hand on her shoulder. "You made the smart choice in calling me. I'll drop you off in the infirmary, and you can review what happened here today."

What happened to inhibit your powers? Why did you struggle to fight? Time for a few analyses! The joy of human resources.

In the space of an instant, the two are gone, Lacuna teleporting Sunbreaker away, just as promised.

Niji Dasshu has posed:
Geode Girl Loyalty feels her powers return too. "Still, I wonder what that was. And if I can do it again." she says, to nobody in particular. "Oh, crap, I bet everybody is wondering where I went and is panicking!" At least she can run real fast and find them before she dehenshins.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker would, well... arrive in the infirmary. However, before Lacuna could leave... she'd reach out, to grab her wrist. "Wait. Before you go," Sunbreaker said. She looked up at the other girl...

"... Thanks. For coming. You didn't have to. So... thanks." And then she'd let her go to get tended to.

At least her nose wasn't broken.