1836/Building Mischief

Building Mischief
Date of Scene:	04 August 2024
Location:	Juuban Ward
Synopsis:	A Layabout causes itchy problems, but Hope Blossom, Puella Red and Wind Dancer are there to help Laura take back the motivation power, and with the three of them, the Layabout stands no chances. Rens also passes by, and she takes both information and a Layabout sphere from doctor Numeri.
Cast of Characters:	Laura La Mer, Madoka Kaname, Zephyr Windstar, Amanda Faust
Tinyplot:	The Meaniedokas

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Laura La Mer has posed:
"Hey, Kinoshita-san, can you go fill the bucket with water?", a shouts down to his colleague, who had just brought a few packages of sand to be added into the concrete mixer. Kinoshita moves to grab the bucket and nods. "Will be back soon", he confirms, walking away and leaving the other guy alone, who in the meantime has placed the putty knife down to wipe the sweat off his brow. 'Only two more hours and we are done for the day', he thinks, looking at the wall that is slowly but surely stretching taller, feeling proud at the rate of progress they have had today. Not to say they still don't have a long way to go before the apartment building gets finalised, but they certainly haven't been dallying.

Picking back up the putty knife, he spreads a bit more cement on it. It is starting to scrape the bottom of the bucket, but that will be quick to fix once Kinoshita comes back to pour water in the concrete mixer. Before he can go back to dab the cement on the wall, movement in the corner of his eyes make him stop. Something that looked too big to be a bird. He turns around to be met with a woman in a doctor's coat, a stethoscope around her neck, and... lavender skin and four green horns? "Working hard?", the woman asks, standing on a flying purple boat with a sarcastic sneer.

Before the man can so much as emit a single sound, doctor Numeri brings a glowing purple spheres, tossing it towards the concrete mixer. "Come out, Layabout!" There is a feeling of dark energy spiking and the concrete mixer comes to life, steel cables extending from its sides to form arms, the stairs splitting in half to form the Layabout's "hands". "Layabout!", it calls out as it comes to life. "Go on then, absorb their motivation power!", doctor Numeri orders, the Layabout's eyes opening wide and briefly turning red as rainbow energy gets sucked out of the workers, who collapse to the ground hit by a sudden wave of listlessness.

At the same time, a giant purple dome forms over the the construction site, its form visible from far away. Laura, who was taking a walk, immediately catches onto the sign and dives into the Aqua Pot. "A Layabout, Kururun", Laura explains as the fairy looks at her questioning the air of urgency. Once on the place, both her and the seal pops out of there. "Kururun! Kururun!" the pink sea animal explains. "Oh, the mermaid and her pet. You and your other friends really don't want to stop being a hassle", Numeri smirks. "And you can count on me continuing to be one! You won't ever get humans' motivation power!"

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Hope Blossom was already out on patrol, looking for a specific trio of X-Chara. She wasn't looking to fight a youma, but the forces of evil don't take a day off just because it's inconvenient for her. At the same time, the whole reason she was in this area in the first place was to track one particular X-Chara.

    Medo clings to Madoka's shoulder tightly, holding on tight as her Bearer jumps as fast as she can. Normally she would simply fly alongside Madoka if she wanted to, but her natural flight speed can't match up to the urgency of Hope Blossom's desperation. The tiny nurse fairy squeaks, "She's around here! I can feel her!"

    The X-Chara named Rens, being on her own for the moment, has hidden herself amongst the branches of a nearby tree, and is observing the fight from a distance. Her eyes dart towards Doctor Numeri for a moment. "Curious."

    When Hope finally arrives at the construction site, she halts on top of a lamp post and studies the newly formed Layabout. "I'm... pretty sure that's not one of hers," she comments, forming a branch bow in her left hand. "Even so, I can't just leave it."

    Medo takes a moment to recover, then looks around for any sign of the fallen minidoka. "She's nearby, though. I can still feel her."

    Rens notices both Madoka and Medo and peers from behind a leaf. "Persistent," she mutters.

Zephyr Windstar has posed:
    The proprietor of the Jan Ken Pop mobile cart is just walking back toward the shop location, having been peddling her wares in the local area, when a giant purple bubble appears over a construction site nearby. She stares at it for a moment, before her Device pings an alert.

    "Right... can never just be a normal day can it?" the young woman locks her cart to a pole nearby, ensures the compartments are locked also, then jukes down an alleyway as she tugs her Device free of its mounting. "Tenraikaze."

    < Standby Ready. Set Up! > it replies in an even tone.

    Zephyr's clothes shift into the yellow and beige armour of her Barrier Jacket, and her Device expands out from the coin-like Standby mode to its large Battleax-like Gale Mode. < Barrier Jacket set. Device shift to Gale Mode complete. Ready. >

    With a hop, Zephyr lifts into the air mid-stride, and erupts from between the buildings in an arc, tracing a purple contrail behind her. "Any other Mages in the area? Any magic signals at all aside from our unwelcome guests?" asks the Wind Dancer, as she flies in closer. "Get them on Telepathy so we can coordinate."

    < Scanning. Standby. >

Amanda Faust has posed:
    After being stressed about one dire thing or another, then helping defeat Beryl and relaxing, enjoying some restful vacation in Paris and then at home, Amy finally decides to go out on patrol again today. What awful luck for Numeria!

    And a giant purple dome going up in the distance certainly gets her attention!

    Puella Magical Rocket Girl Red arrives at the same time as Laura. She opens her mouth to ask Dr Numeri's deal is, but the words 'motivation power' answer that.

    Amy, standing on top of some piece of construction equipment, looks around at the workers, and the Layabout, and Dr Numeri, shoulders slumping a bit. "Lady. Do you think anyone does hard labor because of 'motivation power'? All you'll find here is 'paycheck power'."

Laura La Mer has posed:
"Let's see if luck is still on your side today", Numeri says with scorn, knowing fully well from Chongire that Laura has never transformed once. So useless without her friends to back her up. "All these poor workers are there is nothing you can do to help them, the prospects doesn't look good to me."

The mermaid grits her teeth in response. "Don't act too confident just yet. They will come, they always do." The seal fairy is equally confident and shouts in support "Kururun!" Unaware of those two mahou on their way to the site, Numeri's smirk nonetheless falters slightly when Puella Red arrives before going back to being just as wide as before.

"Just one, seems like your luck really doesn't amount to much today. And red girl, you come too late. These people's motivation power is already mine. But their paycheck is yours if you want it", she mocks the Puella Magi.

Gesturing at her youma, she orders "Go, Laybout! Show these two our welcome!" The concrete mixer smiles, and it starts whirring, not long after sand erupting out of the hole on its head, doing a perfect arc as it falls at speed towards Laura, Kururun and Amy. The first two aren't fast enough to get out of the way, the sand impacting them harmlessly before its real effects start to be shown.

An expression of confusion appears on Laura's face for that brief moment before she starts feeling herself itching all over. "What is this!? This feels so irritating", the pinkette cries out as she starts scratching at her skin. "Kururun", her fairy friend laments as she imitates her. What a dreadful Layabout.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Hope Blossom isn't a Device Mage, but she does pick up on a telepathic signal. "That kinda feels like Rashmi's device... but not really?" She transmits a mental signal back, something along the lines of, 'I'm here'.

    This part of the process is so much more difficult without Gretchen.

    Blossom takes a deep breath and decides to focus on the mission at hand, and enters the zone just in time to hear Amy's comment about motivational power.

    "You're going to take away their motivation by stealing their paychecks?" asks Medo, jumping to conclusions after only hearing parts of the conversation. "Wage theft is wrong!"

    Hope Blossom responds, "I'm pretty sure she's just stealing their energy. Hang back and stay safe, okay?"

    Rens adjusts her tiny glasses, and cautiously hovers over to Doctor Numeri. "Ah, sand," comments the little lab coat wearing fairy, loud enough to be heard. "Course, irritating, and it gets everywhere."

    Watching the Layabout use Sand Attack, Hope Blossom shouts, "That's enough! Stop right there!" before nocking and releasing a spread of pink homing arrows at the monster.

Zephyr Windstar has posed:
    < Looks like at least two. Opening comm lines. TELEPATHY. > Puella Red and Hope Blossom would get a magical 'request' signal, something akin to a 'telephone call' tone as the communication spell attempts to establish connections. Should they accept Wind Dancer's voice would echo in their minds. <Hi hi~, Looks like a tough one. I'll provide air support.>

    She's high enough to avoid the sand attack, thankfully, but has to drop down lower to begin slinging some supporting spells, like an immobilizing: "CHAIN BIND!" She holds her right hand toward the Layabout, a purple spell seal forming in front of it before erupting in a multitude of magic-formed chains that aim to wrap around the monsters limbs to slow or stop its movements.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Nothing you can do to help them. "Is that what you think?" Amy retorts, and leaps over to Laura's side. "Here." She conjures a pair of rocket launchers and sets one of them down by Laura -- before reflexively diving away from the arc of sand, rolling to her knees and firing an explosive charge at the layabout before hearing Laura and Kururun's distress. "What is it? What's happening?!"

Laura La Mer has posed:
"Oh, yes, I totally will", the doctor says to Madoka, of course not having the intention to do anything of the sort. Though her aplomb is just a surface layer with both Hope Blossom and Wind Dancer having come in too and aiming their attacks at the youma. The rain of arrows pierce the Layabout all over as it laments the pain.

With the chains coming towards it, it also gets knocked back and further hurt as it crashes into the ground. And Amy's explosive doesn't really help any as it blows it open in its side, causing a whole lot of water, concrete and sand to start leaking out, somehow all separated.

"You are as annoying as thorn in my side. Let me pluck you out. Layabout, go ahead." The youma starts whirring again, dark energy surging as it breaks the chains and this time what comes out of it is liquid cement moving rapidly towards the Wind Dancer first and a high-pressure water stream towards Puella Red second, though they are definitely not as effective thanks to Amy's intervention. When that is done, the youma rushes towards Hope Blossom ready to punch her with its half-stairs hands.

"It's just so itchy!", Laura tells Amy, neither her not Kururun having stopped scratching themselves. "Hmm, yes, I suppose so", Numeri replies to Rens when the meaniedoka approaches her waving towards the two still affected by the sand. She stares curiously at the small creature, not really having seen one like her. Some sort of reverse-fairy? But she kind of looks like the pinkette that had just fired that spread arrow towards her Layabout if she decided to put on goth makeup. "What kind of fairy are you, little one?" she asks with a much less scathing tone.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    "Really? You will?" responds Hope Blossom cheerfully.

    Medo comments, "I think she was being sarcastic."

    Hope frowns and looks disappointed, then furrows her brow. She and Medo are both a bit too distracted by the fight to really notice Rens. Especially since the Layabout is charging right at them! Medo flies high and away from Madoka, and Hope Blossom leaps the opposite way with a yelp. The lamp post she was standing on gets crunched, and Hope winces at the property damage.

    "Geeze... for a Layabout, you sure are quick," comments Madoka, releasing another arrow at the Layabout before taking a couple more backward hops.

    Rens adjusts her tiny glasses before clicking her pen and writing things on her fairy-sized clip board. "Rens. I am an X-Chara. I'm something akin to a dream that was abandoned because it can't come true. I'm taking notes on how to gather energy by observing others in my field." Glancing over to Doctor Numeri, she asks, "Who might you be? You said you were after their motivation?"

Zephyr Windstar has posed:
    < Chief! > alerts Tenraikaze as the youma fires a stream of cement at them. "I see it, Blitz Move!"
    Wind Dancer's ankle turbines spin up faster, and the Devicer surges to the side... but not quite quick enough as her off-hand(The right) gets hit by the stream fo cement... and is quickly immobilized by a shell of hardened cement. "What the..." She winces as she tries to grip her hand closed, the cement having set enough that she can't move that arm at all. "Okay, fine then. Dee, lets give it some return fire."

    < Right. IMPULSE BARRET, CONCUSSIVE SHIFT! > announces the Device, as Wind Dancer sweeps it around. Motes of purple light form in the gem's passing, then expand out into large, grapefruit-sized spheres. She lifts the Device up, then hacks down toward the Layabout, intoning "FIRE!"

    The spheres distend, and then launch toward the Layabout with reports like gunshots, causing little 'ripples' of distorted air as they fly.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy blinks at Medo as she stands up. "What? No, I was making a joke about... I'm pretty sure the magic doesn't work that wAUGH" She's bowled over. "Euuugh, why do wet clothes feel so bad..."

    She conjures her gyrojet pistol and fires a few wild shots at the layabout as she stands up, more to keep the pressure up and annoy it. When Madoka comments on the layabout, she opines, "That's how a lot of these Dark Generals are, right? Scorn was always talking about how great despair is but just got annoyed when she lost and experienced it herself... Frustratingly, they never have to be consistent with their espoused..."

    Amy lines up and fires another rocket launcher shot. "...values!"

    Also, a tiny scientist is here now?! "Rens?! Hey, you can see the rational sense in letting me help with the project, right? I'm a beneficiary I've got a vested interest in solving the problems she wants to solve, and..."

    She looks at the labcoat and glasses of the intellectual meaniedoka.

    "I have a Bachelor's Degree! Of Science! How many people do you know with academic credentials?"

    She doesn't sound fully confident that this last part is actually all that persuasive.

Laura La Mer has posed:
"I am the Witch of Delays' doctor", Numeri responds truthfully. "I look after her health, intervene if she is feeling ill, that sort of thing. "And every once in a while I get roped in this kind of activity", she sighs, waving at the situation around them. "I really don't want to, but Butler keeps tormenting me until I give up. Well, any of us, really. Chongire and Elda-chan don't have it any easier."

From an internal pocket, she extracts a dark sphere of energy. This is what we use to create Layabouts. The Witch produces them and gives them to us, though it's not a painless process. Aren't her nightmares enough? I am having a hard enough of a time managing those", she mutters in displeasure.

"You don't have it easy, either, right? It's really so cruel you were abandoned. Maybe you can come in with me. It's a nice place if you can ignore Butler, and Elda-chan would love meeting a X-Chara, especially if you could play with her sometimes", she offers. Aside from Butler, who couldn't care less, they take care of Elda, and Rens would be a welcome addition to the shrimp-girl.

Numeri gives a smirk when she sees the cement settle on Wind Dancer's arm. It's about time she did some progress here. "Good job, Layabout. Let's be done here." Contrary to her expectations however, Zephyr's sphere bombardment crashes against the Layabout.

It tries to spin to send them away, but all that accomplishes is cause it to bounce around all the various spheres like a giant pinball after the impact of the first, sending it crashing hard into the ground when each has had a turn. It looks around dazed, trying to understand where its opponents are at, but Amy's missiles stop it right there, all the damage it incurred making it momentarily inert.

Which also causes the itching effect on Laura and Kururun to finally stop, causing both of them the cry out in relief. "About time!"/"Kururun!" The mermaid doesn't stop a second in intervening. "Mermaid Aqua Pot, search!", she calls out, the magic bottle identifying the motivation power's location on the Layabout and sucking it out. "Did you have any idea of how being itchy for so long felt!?", she screams at Numeri furious.

"Not really, but I don't mind making you taste it again", she smirks before addressing the youma imperiously. "Layabout, get up and fire your sand!" The concrete mixer obeys and sands erupts all over, headed towards Amy, Madoka, Zephyr and Laura. With Numeri's accidental warning, the latter barely has the time to grab Kururun and hide in the Aqua Pot before the sand hits where she stood.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Rens twitches as she is spotted and addressed by the Red Puella. Madoka perks up immediately. "Rens? She's here?" Then the Chara Bearer looks over to find the Meaniedoka and shouts over the distance, "Rens-chan! Don't leave! I want to talk to you!"

    The science Meaniedoka clears her throat and responds to Amy, "While I acknowledge and respect your credentials, I'm afraid I cannot involve just anyone. Nor can I accept an energy contribution from you in particular. Our territory is not yet safe for outsiders. However, you can be certain that Gretchen meant exactly what she was implying."

    Madoka overhears this exchange and pieces together a vague idea of what they're talking about. Hope wants to say more, but she's torn between focusing on the fight and not wanting to get stonewalled by Rens.

    The science Meaniedoka takes a closer look at the sphere, grabbing it in her tiny hands to get a closer look. "So your... 'Layabouts' come from these? Fascinating." To Numeri's invitation, she says, "I'm afraid my focus must be upon my elder sister's mission, and I cannot leave her side for long. I would not be opposed to a short visit, however."

    Madoka wants to say so many things, and she has so many objections about one of her fairies being over there talking to the enemy, but at the same time she's grateful that Rens isn't getting hurt. Being distracted over that is exactly what gets her blasted by the itchy sand however, and suddenly she is on her knees scratching all over. "Why does this itch so much?!"

    Medo flies in close and starts yelling, "WEEEOOO WEEEOOO," noise while hovering around Madoka to apply anti-itch cream.

Zephyr Windstar has posed:
    "The only thing finished here is you." states Wind Dancer, running a charge through her Barrier Jacket to dislodge the hardened cement. She shakes the arm to free it of remaining flakes of cement and grasps her Device in both hands. "Blitz Move! Cyclone Driver!" she calls, juking around the sand attack a bit faster this time, as her axe's blades tilt, then begin to rapidly spin. < CYCLONE DRIVER. SPIN ON! > announces the Device as she shifts movement and dives down with the spinning Device head held forward like a spear.

    As it spins, a sheath of mana appears around it, forming a drill-like tip to her diving spear attack.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Laura is furious that she was so utterly itchy for 'so long'. Amy stares at her a moment, "Do you not have, like... a mermaid equivalent of chicken pox or running into poison ivy as a little kid?"

    And then the youma blasts sand. Amy hates the feeling of sand everywhere after going to the beach. "NOPE." She objects, aiming her launcher up at the oncoming sand and... there's the explosion of it firing, but it's kind of hard to see what happened until a split-second later, sand and salt water rain down over the layabout.

    Amy's block wasn't perfect though, and some of the sand gets on her legs. She grits her teeth. "Arrrggh..." her fingers twitch and she blusters, "This is nothing... hhhrg... Sometimes you have to deal with dry skin when you get older..." But this is worse.

    She fires, but the shot goes wide and explodes some of the building. Oops.

    "Forget it! Not like I NEED to aim!" She waves imperiously like a mecha ship captain giving the order to fire, and several homing mini-missiles sparkle into existence and launch, homing in on the Layabout!

    Then she dismisses the part of her bodysuit on her legs, kneepads, and boots, and gets to scratching. "Rrrgh! Dammit, no, I need like..." She poofs sharp mechanical-looking claw-gauntlets onto her hands, then thinks better of it and replaces them with like... big cutesy pink catgirl pawgloves, but with the beans covered in thick plastic or rubber bristles like some sort of bath scrubber glove things for exfoliating with.

    It might work better than scratching with her fingernails, but it does make it hard for her to focus on the fight...

Laura La Mer has posed:
"I see, if you elder sister has a mission, then that's ok. Best of luck to you with that", Numeri tells Rens, distracted by the pleas Madoka is reserving to the X-Chara. "Is that the girl you originated from? I was passing off the fact you look like a goth and scientific version of her as a coincidence, but with her desperation to talk to you and the fact she has a fairy not too dissimilar..." she ponders, looking over at the itchy Hope Blossom and laughing slightly at Medo's ambulance noises. "Is she for real?", the general asks Rens.

"We don't have something like chicken pox, but some types of algae like lyngbya majuscula are like poison ivy, but I studied about them early on enough that I could avoid them", Laura tells Amy from the relative safety of the Aqua Pot, the bottle floating closer to the redhead when she addresses the mermaid. "And besides, she is responsible for it this time, so it's still a different matter", she grumbles.

"Do you think their paycheck will motivate the workers now?", Numeri doesn't miss the occasion to quip at Amy when the Puella makes part of the building explode.

With both Red and Wind Dancer's attacks sending the sand back to the Layabout, the youma is forced to taste its own medicine, as it too start scratching itself in the futile hope of relieving the itchiness. Which has the consequence of leaving it open to the real part of their attacks, the drill attack and the mini-missiles completely sending it out of commission and with no defenses whatsoever. As a consequence, Numeri sighs displeased at the Layabout. "This really is a bother..." She will have to go back with nothing, won't she?

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Rens gives Numeri a sideways glance and waits for her attention to be elsewhere, and sneakily summons her X-Egg for a moment to toss the sphere into. She will have to study how to use it later. A little underhanded, perhaps, but this is all in service to Gretchen's Paradise. With a shrug, Rens says, "Indeed. I'm her dream." Regarding Medo, she adjusts her glasses and says, "I'm sure she feels such displays serve some purpose. In any case, I must be off before someone tries to purify me."

    Madoka, hearing this, suddenly stands up. She still feels itchy all over, but her concern for the meaniedoka is outweighing her physical discomfort. "Wait! I haven't even had a chance to really talk to you!"

    Without responding, Rens hops into her X-Egg and flies away, taking her new prize with her. Madoka looks sad for a moment before turning towards the Layabout with a frown. "You! If it weren't for you I'd have caught up to her!" She tosses her bow into the air in front of her, then makes a heart shape with her hands over the Humpty Lock hanging from her neck.

    "NEGATIVE HEART: LOCK ON!"

    The X-Egg hears this and speeds up, not realizing that she's not the target. The heart-shape beam instead focuses on the tossed bow. When Madoka thrusts her hands forward, she fills the branch bow with rainbow energy. Snatching the bow out of the air, she nocks back a chromatic colored magic arrow and aims at the Layabout.

    "CHERRY HEART BLAZE!"

    She unleashes the magic projectile, which splits into many smaller sparkly rainbow bolts, each one filled with purifying energy, and each one homing in on the cement mixer Layabout.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    The dark general totally calls Amy on collateral damage while she's desperately scratching herself. "Shut up!" is all she can think of to say.

    However, Amy is surprised to see... "Wait, the sand works on IT?! How does that... rrgh... even..."

    Well, it's open! Amy repeats the gesture from earlier, which looks decidedly more ridiculous with the scratcher-gloves and barefoot. "TAKE THIS!" Another several mini-missiles appear and launch at the Layabout, while Amy gets back to scratching!

Zephyr Windstar has posed:
    Wind Dancer pulls up, riding momentum in a long arc that brings her back up to altitude on the opposite side of the building site. "Crud, I forgot to put up a Barrier... too late now." she chides herself.

    Tenraikaze's blades slow, lock back into place, then a pair of vents open to expell mana-infused steam from the mechanisms within, cooling it from the attack.

    <Looks like its defenses are broken. Lets finish this.> she sends to the others, leveling her Device like one might a squad automatic weapon. The blades ratchet open, giving the 'gem' more line of sight as they slowly start to rotate. A ball of boiling purple mana and compressed air begins to form in front of the gem. "Ragios, Razgriz, Lethim. I call upon the Great Winds." she begins reciting, mismatched eyes locked on the crippled Layabout youma. The ball of mana grows, almost looking like it's clawing its way to escape and consume the youma below. "Parijium, Gralith, Horaph. Deliver unto me a Maelstrom."

    Wind Dancer then locks in and intones, "Fire."

    < MAELSTROM BUSTER! > announces the Device with a chime, the ball of angry wind-aspect mana distending then roaring forth in a cascade of purple, like an unleashed river of magical force.

Laura La Mer has posed:
Had she known earlier the X-Chara was Hope Blossom's failed dream, perhaps Numeri would have focused harder on that one among the mahous, if nothing else because she thinks she could like Rens if she got to know her more. She is so focused on that she doesn't notice the X-Chara storing the Layabout sphere in her egg. "That sounds sensible, go now", Numeri agree with Rens over her departure. "You are welcome to visit at any time."

And she has bigger problems than a sphere being stolen when her Layabout is laying there completely defenseless, as Hope Blossom's rainbow bolts, Wind Dancer's gigantic laser and Puella Red's rounds of mini-missiles laying waste to the youma beyond hope of recovery, reverting to a normal, standard concrete mixer, at the same time dissolving the effect of the itchiness.

With the Layabout's defeat, the recovered motivation power is released from the Aqua Pot, raining down as rainbow sparkles. "So much for that", Numeri says as she disappears. "You did it! Thanks, everyone. You did great", Laura smiles happily as she and Kururun leave the Aqua Pot. "Are you all ok?"

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka finally finds relief as the Layabout is defeated and the itchiness goes away. Medo checks over her Chara Bearer before floating over to Laura La Mer to say, "We're fine. Are you okay? You got blasted first."

    Hope Blossom brushes herself off and glances sadly in the direction that Rens fled in. A part of her wants to chance, but another part of her is worried about what her X-Chara might do if she gets desperate. Before she can bolt off, Medo informs her, "I can't feel her anymore. Gretchen must be letting her hide in her Labyrinth."

    Madoka glances towards Medo, and then at the ground. It hurts, but getting into an argument is not what she wants right now. She turns to Wind Dancer and Amy and smiles lightly at each of them. "Well... good job, team," she says, with a bit less enthusiasm than usual.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Oh thank goodness! Amy breaths out a sigh of relief and then sits down on the ground. And then regrets sitting on the dirty construction site ground. Oh well...

    She nods to Madoka. "Yeah." smiling slightly, but... yeah. Yeah. Not so enthusiastically.

    Madoka covers asking if Laura is alright, so Amy turns to look at Wind Dancer. "Hey. Have we met? I'm... Magical Rocket Girl Red." She holds out a hand. And then looks at her hand and dismisses the silly gloves.

Zephyr Windstar has posed:
    < Dark Energy signature is fading. Threat level dropping to nil. > announces Tenraikaze, as the laser petters out and its vents open again, expelling a larger cloud of steam this time. Wind Dancer nods, dropping altitude to land near Hope and Red. "I'm not familiar with how your... familiars?" she stumbles over that, speaking to Hope. She's not encountered other CharaBearers very often, nor their Charas and X-Charas. "... Function, but if you need help locking one down sometime, I could help, maybe." she offers, then glances over at Puella Red. "Hey, I... think so? I'm Wind Dancer... I think we helped out at that ship crash a few months ago, right?" she asks, dismissing her Device to Standby mode, but not detransforming just yet. She takes the hand, her leather-like glove groaning faintly at the grip she provides. Firm, but not too hard.

Laura La Mer has posed:
"Oh, I am ok, the itchiness vanished the first time you put the Layabout k.o., before I took back the motivation power", she reassures Madoka, though Laura thinks she may need more than that as she picks up on the sad glance. "You will get her back", she tries to follow some words of comfort from what she had heard of Numeri's conversation with the X-Chara.

"She is still your dream, no? Even if you couldn't manifest her right at this moment, you can still do it in the future. And of course, I know all about being motivated, so you have my help now", she smiles very confidently.

"Hey Red, those were pretty cute", the mermaid says when she makes them disappear. "Not to mention how useful it is making things appear from where. How have you learnt it?"

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka shakes her head at Wind Dancer's offer. "Thanks, but... it's not that easy. I'm sure you could lock them down, but hitting them with purification magic alone wont fix the issue. I'd have to resolve the issues within my own heart first..." Hope glances off to where Rens wandered off. "Which... would probably be easier if they stood still."

    At Laura's kind words, Hope Blossom nods and smiles a little more sincerely. "Thank you. I'm... I'm sure it will all work out. I just wish that they'd stop getting into trouble."

    With a slight bow, Madoka introduces herself to Wind Dancer and Laura La Mer. "I'm Hope Blossom. If you've ever seen a Hope Witch running around, well... that's also me."

    After a moment, her worry manages to overcome her weariness, and Madoka says, "I'm sorry... I have to go find that X-Chara. Take care of yourselves," before turning to super jump away.

    Medo flies after her, calling out, "Hope-chan, wait for me!"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    The ship crash... "OHHH!" Amy makes a fingersnapping gesture. "Right, I remember now. Good to see you again!" She smiles, and stands, brushing the dirt off her butt.

    Madoka has chara-chasing to do. "Oh... good luck! Bye!" She waves, and then turns to Laura.

    "Uh... I just kinda knew I could do explosives and clothes from the start? Like, it was..." Amy looks thoughtful as she thinks back. "Like... like I just... knew that if I wanted reality to change that way, I just had to... like... moving a muscle I never knew I had? Although figuring out the specifics and limits and getting the hang of trickier uses has not been so... instinctive."

    Amy taps her chin. "I suppose it makes sense, to imbue Witch-hunters with an instinctive understanding of their powers' basic uses..."

    And then she smiles and holds out her arms. "So yeah, I've always been able to do clothes!"

    And she cycles through a few, her clothing shanging with a pink sparkly effect each time. First, the skimpier bodysuit with the armored boots and gloves and twintails, and she poses with a hand on her hips and pointing dramatically as if about to speech at a monster. Then the gothic lolita-lite outfit with the red-trimmed black dress, and she does a curtsey. Then the pink dress and beret that actually looks like something a magical girl would wear, standing uncertainly and nervously with a star-tipped pink wand clutched to her chest. And then the fake Sailor Senshi outfit with red skirt and gem and black bows. She imitates Sailor Moon's pose.

    ...And then she keeps going. Schoolgirl sailor fuku, standing demurely with her hands behind her back, then she nods and holds her arms at her sides, palms down as it changes to a red tabard and gloves/boots and golden sash over a loose white shirt and pants -- She dramatically snaps her fingers and the red part becomes a proper dress, the pants disappearing from under it, and she puts her hands on her hips. Then Amy takes a sort of exagerated fighting stance as the outfit changes to a skirt and vest over the loose shirt and a pair of dark red tights. "Asamiya Athena..." She spins around as the outfit changes one last time, tights gone, a red sleeveless dress short enough to fight in, with fasteners offset to the left side, over the shirt and modesty shorts. "Ikimaaaaaaaasu!" Amy cheerfully raises one hand up and the other down by her side, hands splayed horizontally as she smiles, showing off.

    Amy puts her left hand on her hip and gives a V-sign with her right. "Let's see a normal cosplayer do that!" She can't help grinning. No one has actually directly asked about her cosplay power before!

Zephyr Windstar has posed:
    Hope runs off.

    Zephyr watches her leave for a few moments, brow furrowing over mismatched eyes. She sighs softly. "I guess I'll give her my number next time." she remarks dryly, then turns back to see Amy doing her Quick-Change thing. "Huh, impressive ability... does that use a lot of power? If I wanted to do that with my Barrier Jacket, it'd probably drain my Linker Core in like, three changes from all the restructuring needed." she remarks, folding her arms over her chest.

Laura La Mer has posed:
"Laura La Mer", the mermaid introduces herself. "Here from Grand Ocean to fight the Witch of Delays, but I have also enrolled at Radiant Heart Academy's Grade 7", she offers to Madoka. She raises an eyebrow when Madoka claims to be a Witch too. That's interesting, if probably not worth asking about beyond a bit of trivia. Probably.

"Nice, Red, you have your own wardrobe, but much more advanced", Laura comments impressed. "Not having to change in and out of your clothes earns it bonus points. My Aqua Pot may still have more mundane utilities overall, I think", she comments.

When Madoka and Medo go, Laura nods, thinking it a good idea, as she takes Kururun in her embrace, petting her with one arm while the other holds the Aqua Pot. "I am sure you will have your chance", she tells Zephyr before adding. "I better be going too, anyone wants a lift to school?", she says, hopping into the Aqua Pot and waiting for a reply. She just waits for the reply from the two remaining magical girls, then flies off, either with them or just Kururun.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "Yeah, the Aqua Pot is pretty damn cool!" Amy reassures Laura. "This is nice because I can use this magic out of henshin, but like... people would notice if I used it in front of them, and I think the outfits drain my magic slightly faster, and sometimes it won't make something, so... I do need actual clothes."

     Amy blinks at Wind Dancer. "Hmm... not really? Maybe if I kept rapid-changing at that rate for minutes I'd be in trouble. I mean... They're just clothes. Even the stuff that looks like armor isn't, really... although I guess like... hmm. Does it cost significantly more when I make them tough like my normal outfit?" She taps her chin. "I'm not sure. I'm not actually sure that's a property of the clothes so much as..." She stares off into space for several seconds, feeling and flexing the magical 'muscles' alluded to earlier. At least in this case, she can kind of sense whether she can do that. She focuses on Wind Dancer again. "Yeah no I can't make them tough, that's a property of me being transformed, bestowed on any magically-summoned clothes I'm wearing." She conjures a copy of her normal henshin's vest and tosses it away from herself, then summons the gyrojet pistol and shoots a few holes in it. "Hm. See? It's just costume. The armor adds rigidity but if I'm not wearing it it's just clothes."

    A free trip? "Uh, sure!" Amy is fine with taking what's offered, unless Wind Dancer especially wants to talk *here* for some reason.

Zephyr Windstar has posed:
    "I need to head back to the shop, I was just finishing up for the day when..." she gestures around. "... this happened. Josuke-san must be worried sick." she remarks. "You have my number, so if anything like this happens again, shoot me a text or something, I'll try to make it over." she asides to Laura before the mermaid leaves. She then offers a card to Puella Red, "My cell number. In case you need it, too." she says, then turns to head back toward where she left her cart chained up, detransforming once she's out of sight of the road, and walking the distance back.