2688/A Mischosen Takoyaki

A Mischosen Takoyaki
Date of Scene:	12 July 2025
Location:	Yumegahama Ward
Synopsis:	Madoka, Hinoiri, Rashmi and Amy meet up with a girl calling herself Seira, and have a chat with her. Out of nowhere, they however have to face what turn out to be spectral imitations of the Dark Lovers.
Cast of Characters:	Coco Kiumi, Madoka Kaname, Amanda Faust, Hinoiri Kirara, Rashmi Terios

---

Coco Kiumi has posed:
That night, Coco dreamt of a Green Summer Festival, a North Atlantic celebration, to which she too had been invited, her and anybody of renown. Not just any Green Summer Festival, but the first one after the birth of the new North Atlantic Princess.

During that ceremony the excitement among the green mermaids was particularly vigorous, even if some had protested the presence of the heir of the Panthalassa, but the complaint were quickly laid to rest. Hardly anything else could be done when Aqua Regina had demanded it.

"So you finally came, Coco", a purple mermaid calls to her from behind, a voice as shrill as it is haughty. "Hi, Caren, were you thinking I left you alone.for Noel?", the yellow mermaid quips back. "She is not to blame for being as warm as the Pacific", she grins, and swims forward in a hug, that the other mermaid follows up with one of her one.

"Try not to forget she is '"my twin", Caren replies in a friendlier tone. "It is good to see you, all the same." The purple mermaid is first to let go of the hug, and she is about to pick up on the conversation again when a cold voice interrupts them. "What have you done?", he asks imperiously.

"What do you want? Shouldn't you ask that to yourself?", Coco frowns, her gaze meeting that of the Panthalassa heir. "I can tell you what, he broke up a reunion because he is envious he can't do the same", Caren intevenes brusquely.

Gaito makes no sign of having heard Caren and his gaze doesn't turn away from Coco. "No, foolish princess. What have you done? Wake up, now.", he demands with a blurry voice."

"Wake up, girls!", Nikora's voice resounds loudly in the room, followed in tow by Hippo, both of them with a worried expression on their faces. "Nikora?", Coco groans sitting up. "What's going on here?"

The dark pink mermaid shakes her head. "Please dress yourselves first, and meet me in the kitchen when you are done. We will discuss things there."

When everyone arrives in the kitchen, the last of the staff moves to the service zone of the Pearl Pier, and the room is only occupied by Nikora, Hippo and Rihito. "Good morning, Coco", the raven-haired boy moves closer and reaches down with a quick kiss the mermaid gives back right after. "I wasn't expecting you here", Coco smiles at him.

"He came in just about a hour before it started. Sorry to wake you up in such a rush", Nikora intervenes, nodding at a window. "Have you taken a look outside?" For anyone checking out the sight through the glass, Tokyo looks completely normal, if not for a pink dome covering the hotel.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Homura is a light sleeper, unlike Madoka and the two Chara they brought over. It doesn't take her very long to heed Nikora's warning, and she's (seemingly) wide awake shortly after opening her eyes. Madoka is a different story, yawning and wiping the sleep from her eyes. Kamiko and Lydian are sleeping within their Chara eggs, which are in turn resting on a pillow. They yawn and stretch, much like their Bearer.

    After getting dressed for the day, the couple and company make their way to the kitchen. Homura's eyes glance towards Rihito. She nods to him and says, "Good morning."

    Madoka is a bit less awake, but still cheerful. She's hitting a point where she can at least pay attention to what's going on. The pinkette walks up to each person in the kitchen and offers them a hug. "Good morning! Hi! Good morning!"

    As the window is indicated, Lydian and Kamiko float towards it, flying high to stay out of the way of others. Lydian says, "Wow. It sure is pink out there."

    Kamiko shakes her head. "No, it's a dome covering the hotel. How did that happen?"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amanda dreamed of... a party? Or something? There were a lot of people. And she was worried about being found out... but some folks were reasonable...

    She fades into half-wakefulness. Bed is warm and she doesn't want to get up. Can she go back and finish... what was she doing? There were friends there. The sheets are so soft. Her legs brushing together are so soft. Ahahahaha, two years and feeling that never gets old. She's so glad she gets to

Wake up, girls!

    Bwuh?! Where is she? Who said that?! Red eyes open and take in her friends -- oh right she was at a sleepover and a smile creeps on to her face before she processes the tone of Nikora's voice. Amy rubs sleep from her eyes, hair up in a messy high ponytail for sleeping, and asks, "What's wrong?" But it seems answers aren't forthcoming immediately.

    So soon she's changed into her school uniform, teeth brushed, etc, and makes her way to the kitchen, hair still unbrushed because it sounded like there was some kind of important announcement and maybe she can like, do that while they talk or something.

    She looks outside.

    "...Why is there some kind of pink dome covering the hotel?" Are they going to have to go out and fight the dome or something? She brushes a bit more hurriedly, grabbing handfuls of locks and then brushing out tangles below her hand.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara was... a bit of a heavy sleeper, her eyes opening groggily and she rolled over, covering her head with a pillow. "Grrrrr... ten more minutes..." she whined.

But after a few, she got up, scratching her flank, she crawled to her feet groggily and made her way down the stairs... and almost fell down them, catching herself on them with a yawn.

As she headed outside, she saw the shield and... "Mmmmm? Ahhhh dang it... is that a... temporal barrier?" she asked, eyes narrowing and peering outside. It didn't... look like there was some disjoined hellscape beyond it... so if it was keeping something OUT, it likely meant that either they were hiding from something, or there was something going on big enough, and subtle enough that...

... She blinked. And she remembered the cabin, oddly. "Were we kidnapped... or is that protecting us from something out there? Or is someone looking for us?" she asked. "Guys, its been *one night*. What can happen in *one night*? And I know a lot can happen in one night but... I haven't even brushed my teeth yet," Hinoiri said. "I'm going to go do that," she said before heading back up there stairs to go do that.

"Bet Riventon's behind it!" she yelled down the stairs.

Either way, she'd be down after a few more seconds, a toothbrush in her mouth and the sounds of bristle on teeth filling he air as she groggily listened.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Hippo does his best to hug Madoka back when she comes up to him, but his flippers are really too short to give her an actual hug. It looks more like he is holding onto her arms instead. Rihito instead has a moment of hesitation at being offered one. The brief indecision warring in his mind is however by a smile and a hug in return. "Good morning, Kaname-san", he greets, the same way Nikora does to the pinkette (without any stalling).

"We don't know, it's really big trouble!", Hippo replies emphatically at Kamiko's question, flapping his arms, one of which is holding a radar. "My readings have failed to understand what that dome is doing, but in exchange they have shown that magical energy is at unusually high levels throughout the nearby Wards at least. None of it shows dark readings", he raises his voice worried.

"Let's wait for Kirara-san to come back", Nikora admonishes the penguin with a more composed voice. When the unicorn makes her return, she continues. "There is nothing suggesting doubt Riventon is involved", she replies to Hinoiri, clearing her throat to keep the attention of the group. "Hippo and I were doing some work on the matter with Seriss and Michel's generals, to find out anything we could about their current position and movements, but the Tower is not there, and there is no trace of an Obsidian Corporation online", she explains with a sigh.

"I have also tried to contact a few friends, but it doesn't seem like they have ever heard of it", Rihito comments briefly. "They don't even seem to recall a Radiant Heart Academy, or anything about a Juuban Flu", he crosses his arms. "I have tried to cross the dome, and have had no trouble."

"We had determined that was safe enough to do before asking Rihito to cross it. The dome seems completely harmless", Nikora clears her throat to keep the attention of the group. "But there is a lot we don't know still, and that's why I think you should go into the city to find out what's going on." Coco perks up at Nikora's proposal. "Of course! Don't worry about it. We will handle it right away", but that makes Nikora shake her head.

"Not you, Coco. We need you here while we contact the other Kingdoms. I would like to ask your friends if they are up for it", she remarks, turning to watch the rest of the group.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka is too sleepy-headed to question hugs, though she's a bit understanding when a boy shows hesitation. Her hair is still down because she doesn't sleep with her pigtails on, which gives Homura a chance to sneak up behind her and start brushing it. The pinkette seems to be taking this in stride.

    "So... crossing the dome isn't harmful, but it seems like the world has forgotten Obsidian's existence," says Madoka, tapping her chin thoughtfully.

    "It might be an alternate timeline," suggests Homrua. "We may have gone through a portal, or maybe someone did something that retroactively changed the world. Though, it's odd that... we weren't affected." Was that a bit of hesitation in her voice? Maybe she's still just waking up.

    Kamiko crosses her arms as she addresses the group and says, "Well, I can't complain about Obsidian being gone, but we still gotta figure out why."

    Lydian is still looking out the window. "We probably should figure out what's going on. It could also be a trick. Don't forget that at least one of our enemies is fond of messing with dreams, and we were asleep."

    Kamiko notes, "A false world or pocket dimension like a Labyrinth isn't out of the question, either."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    (Also a hug from sleepydoka. Amy smiles and hugs back warmly.)

    When Hippo talks about readings Amy looks at trhe device he's waving around. "What is that?" Then she looks outside again. "Wait... you're saying magic is everywhere... but it's not dark magic? Is the dome a defense of the hotel's trying to protect us from it, or something from outside?"

    No trace of Obsidian.

    No one has heard of Radiant Heart Academy or the Juuban Flu.

    Amy's eyes go wide as what was just said works its way through her brain. "Put some tea or coffee on. Uh..." She pulls her phone out of her pocket. Phones are a bit heavy for skirt pockets, but it's fine for keeping her phone on her around the house/hotel/dorm. "Huh." She is surprised to have service and a connection. Woogling -- if there even is a Woogle -- Obsidian Corporation and Radiant Heart Academy turns up nothing.

    She tries searching for any news about like, visitors from other dimensions or the like, in case whatever just happened is normal here, but... "I'm not actually sure what to even search for..."

    Lydian has some comments. "I'm using my phone way too easily for us to be asleep. Probably." She looks at her communicator-watch, then away, then back at it, walks over to the light switch and flicks it off and on, and pinches her nose and tries to breathe through it anyway. "All reality checks passed so far."

    Amy looks to Kamiko. "But... it could be that. I'm not sure how we'd check... seems like you'd be better at detecting that than any of us. And maybe Hinoiri, with her knowledge of magic."

    ...Alternate timeline? Alternate reality?

    ...There's one thing she has to try.

    She starts checking her own social media accounts and which services she can still log into.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara blinked a few times when she heard that there was... all the things. No sign of Obsidian? No juuban flu? No Radiant heart? No dark energy?

Everything slowly came together. Bit by bit her toothbrush moved as she slowly processed this.

And then Homura hit it on the head. And she grabbed her butt, frowned, walked away, the sound of splashing, then spitting, swishing... followed by...

"GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! DID I SERIOUSLY GET ISEKAI'D AGAIN?!!!" could be heard from the bathroom.

She then came walking back down the stairs, whistling as she walked. "Sooooo. Alternate timelines? No dark energy? Sounds like fun! Yup! Sooooo, if it is, *I* don't exist here, so that'll be interesting. Have either of you two called your parents?" she asked Madoka and Homura. "Cause... that might be a great way to find out what's going on. Also, yeah, false world, pocket dimensions, entirely valid. What tools do we have available to us righ now?"

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Oh, yeah, of course she would want to try that, Coco nods right after Nikora holds her back. They should probably be aware if anything is going on over there, and if they have any news about the land. If something changes the situation immensely, they are probably looking into it as well, and Aqua Regina might have also warned them already.

A blur passes through Coco's mind at Lydian's bringing up dreams. She feels like something was really important there, but she wasn't sure what exactly. Let's see, there were many of green mermaids, there was Caren, Noel and Gaito too. Was it something any of them had said?

"You are not wrong", Coco's brow furrows. "Imagining a world where Obsidian has never been created is probably very happy, but I am not sure if Alala has such specific control over her dreams. Last time, I saw things that were important to me, and I have no idea why she would take out Radiant Heart Academy." She looks at the city out of the dome. "I think looking for anything that stands out is our best bet right now. If we find anything unusual we can make that our priority", she brings out her phone, and starts writing on her notes a quick summary of everything.

Amy will find she is able to log in on all her accounts, though their actual contents look nothing like she would expect from a teenager.

"Any of our magic detectors, our communicators with the mermaid oceans should still work, the cell phones are all working, and we still have access to all the hotel infrastructure. You can also use the room here to sleep at if something stops you from sleeping elsewhere", Nikora replies to Hinoiri's inquiry.

I really think we should work out what's going on in the oceans sooner rather than later, and anything that Tokyo has to tell us will also probably matter a lot", Coco muses. "I agree that this might be a matter of alternate timelines, but it makes no sense that whatever did it left a trace as big as that barrier. It's not keeping us in, and there is no dark energy, so nothing to keep out either. Do you want to go find out what's happening out there? I agree with Nikora."

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Homura is not convinced that they aren't in a timeline that's been affected by world altering magic, because she's seen that kind of thing before, but she's not ready to have the conversation that comment would lead to. So she keeps that to herself.

    Lydian watches Amy do her reality checks, and then pinches herself just to make sure Kamiko crosses her arms and frowns. "It... doesn't feel like a Labyrinth specifically? Space isn't being distorted in the right way."

    Hinoiri asks if either of them have called their parents. Madoka and Homura glance at each other for a moment. Homura crosses her arms. Madoka pulls out her own smartphone but Homura says, "Wait. What if there's another you here, having breakfast with your family right now?"

    Madoka gives her girlfriend a mortified look, and then a nervous chuckle. "Maybe I should call the school instead... but... where would I be going if Radiant Heart didn't exist?"

    Homura shrugs. "Mitakihara middle? Admittedly I don't trust that course of action right now. We should go out and see what's going on for ourselves. A walk around town probably wont ruin anything."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "We're ALL isekaied!" Amy shouts back to Hinoiri.

    She's's able to log into some things. And she gives a small gasp as searching her own Chirper handle doesn't return missing, or some completely unrelated person, but...

Pinned post:
@Malloween · May 6, 2025
Welp, I haven't exactly been subtle about commenting on/RTing trans stuff, so may as well update the ol' profile

Call me Amy, She/Her :handwave emoji:

    There are 17 likes and a 'Hi, Amy!' comment left by someone she knew in high school.

    On the one hand, apparently she is saved from having to worry about how to tell herself something very important.

    On the other hand, an endless scroll of reposted trans memes and ladies excitedly discussing their transitions isn't very helpful for figuring out why she and her friends are now stuck in an alternate timeline. Amy mutters softly, "I'm happy for you."

    But, she's brought out of this reverie by the others talking. She looks up, and over at the mermaids. "Well I mean... you're the only ones who can really check the oceans, unless humans can breathe water in this timeline. And swim super fast."

    Parents? Her parents won't recognize this voice. "I guess I can call me, but I need to figure out what to say... are there any of our friends, besides me, who'd believe a story about being from an alternate dimension and at least consider helping us? D'you think Usagi would?"

    A thought occurs to Amanda.

    "...If our friends, and any of the other us, are still magical girls here, I guess it wouldn't necessarily be the craziest thing that's happened to them, or at least not unbelievable."

    As she talks, she goes to check if HopHopBunnyChan's streaming channel is still there, and turns to Hinoiri, "I guess if you're here somewhere, you'd at least know other dimensions are a thing already, right?" Amy blinks. "Wait, are there... would there be a whole alternate KiraKiraFantastica, or... Hmm..." Amy furrows her brow as she considers how alternate timelines of multiple dimensions could work, given their experience with Crystal Tokyo.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara blinked a few times and... admittedly... hadn't considered that. If they were in another world with the same people, then if there WAS another Madoka and she WAS with her parents... Ahhhhh. Parents made everything confusing. "Right... I guess that's... true." She sighed and rubbed her forehead.

She glanced towards Coco before sighing and then glancing towards nikora. Wait. She knew about... magic? Wasn't she... A bit old to... Oh... right. Mermaid. Huh.

"Unfortunately, this means most of my stuff isn't working. I'm with her. A walk around town can't cause much trouble. We can probably swipe a newspaper or something if we have to. If this is another dimension then the languages likely aren't... that different, if they're that adjacent. And things don't look that different. There is internet, right?" Hinoiri asked. "So like... Maybe it's just some kind of adjacent dream realm or something. There's been a lot of those lately. Keep an eye out for things that are normal, but just a teensy bit off from normal."

"And oh, yeah, Kirakirafantastica knew about other dimensions long before I came to your world. It was why I wasn't supposed to come to your world to begin with, apparently your world was dangerous. Frankly, I thought he danger was blown out of proportion a lil bit, but... you know. Dimension hopping is something we rarely due cause like.... the dangers. So only a handful of other places have actually been visited."

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Coco hums at the notion that there may be doubles of all of them. That's certainly a possibility they can't ignore, and it might make getting into contact with her Kingdom way harder, and she has no idea how to get around that. Maybe make sure Hippo is in another kingdom, and then send in to check?

The fact Madoka might be barred from going home by herself isn't also very pleasant. "If that is true, that means our sleepover continues just a little more. We can get you your own room this time if you want", Coco suggests to Madoka with a smile. "We can also do that for you, Homura-san", Coco immediately turns towards the raven-haired person. Though, Nikora had already offered, so she probably doesn't need to go over with everyone. "We both have rooms at the ground floor and the first floor", she informs the group.

"Does this work like any of the dimension hopping KiraKiraFantastica is familiar with?", Coco turns towards Hinoiri curiously. That might be really handy with how peculiar the barrier is. That would make it absurdly clear if Hinoiri's home already had something that fit the description.

For those that decide to go outside, the initial impression isn't very different, as long as one accounts for the incredibly clean state the streets are in. They look like like somebody had cleaned them just moments prior, but the people dallying around and chatting make it pretty clear that can't have been an option. A lot of them are pretty much the usual celebrity talk that they already are familiar with, though the speeches are also sometimes interspersed with comments about the Seven Seas, the Ancients and the Panthalassa, a lot of them political, about how their mediation had lowered international tensions among certain nations.

Sometimes comments about youmas do show up, although they are talked about with the same worry one might reserve for spraining their ankles. This kind of talk is more common among teenagers, rather than the comparatively 'lame' political talk. Some even say they regret not having been attacked, and that they didn't study for the test at all. A 10 year old boy is boasting pretty loudly about having met an Ancient to a girl his age with orange hair and eyes in a uniform that points to one of the local schools. The girl has an entirely unamused expression.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka and Homura glance at each other at the mention of rooms. They both smile at Nikora as Madoka says, "I appreciate that, but let's do some scouting before making a choice like that."

    Homura follows after, and the two fairies follow suit.

    Once they're outside, Madoka grabs Homura's hand and says, "Hey... Homu-chan, aren't people talking a bit loudly about magical stuff, all out in the open?"

    Homura shakes her head, saying, "It's an alternate world. The Veil might not exist here. Think about how important the Silver Millennium was in its era. Our existence would be impossible to ignore."

    Madoka blinks, before looking around. "So... how would Kyubey be treated in such a place?"

    Crossing her arms, Homura responds, "He might choose not to show his face around a magic-aware society. Which means..." she glances towards Amy. "... We'll have to be careful how we spend our magic."

    Madoka shakes her head at Homura. "Hom-chan, if we need to fight, leave it to me. Don't spend your magic on youma." Homura nods. She's not going to argue with that.

    Kamiko and Lydian are on their tiny phones, trying to look up news sources to figure out what magic politics looks like right now.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Coco suggests rooms. "Wouldn't it make more sense to give them the same room?" Amy comments, looking at her phone. In at least some ways in her brain they're categorized as 'basically a married couple' like Usagi-chan and Mamoru.

    "Right, I guess we should go outside... Gimme a moment to get ready." She goes back up to the room and changes to yesterday's outfit, which is less likely to draw attention than a uniform for a school that doesn't exist, reorganizes her backpack to leave some things here, and shuffles things into henshin inventory.

    Once they set out... Are people talking about magic? "Doesn't that mean they'll be able to see your chara? Or, maybe they're still invisible."

    The subject of Kyubey. "I don't know. That's a bit... I don't want to think about what happens if governments are aware of magical girls, and of a creature that can recruit them."

    The question of magic gets an awkward grin and Amy showing her ring, one-fourth corrupted already. The wedding took a lot out of her!

    "...On the other hand... if they know about stuff, we might be able to be magic openly." Amy considers. "What if we walk up to someone and say 'I'm writing a book about people who come from another dimension and don't know about magical girls or magic. If they walked up to you and asked about it how would you explain it to them? My head's too far in thinking about the story, and exactly what they need to know, and it's making me hard to think in terms of what someone on the street would just randomly say.' Do you think they'd buy it?"

    Hinoiri has heard something like this plan before.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara went a little red and then shook her head. "Admittedly... no. The only actual dimensional portal I knew of was the mirror.I've heard of others, like, teleporting into them and stuff, but never actually gone into any. Portals in painting s and the like, but they were all just rumors, or talks of spells. Legends. I've never actually seen them myself," Hinoiri admitted grudgingly.

And as the plan was made... well... she did need to go change, quickly running upstairs, before racing back down a few minutes later in fresh clothes, ready to face the world and wishing she'd brought more changes of clothes. It was ONE! NIGHT! She had a pair of pants, a pleather jacket and a sunny t-shirt!

She then did a double check and... "Whew. Henshin device is still here. Neat."

Of course, as they walked through the streets... the lack of veil did surprise her, and make a little more concerned. "Huh... This... is interesting... You know... the book idea might work... could always try it..." she mumbled.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Certainly someone walks up to others, though it's less as a matter of requiring information, and more being really eager, they can assume from the girl's excited expression, and she quick stride she gets close to them with. "Hello! I saw you looking around and decided you might need some help", the girl replies with a wide smile, and then she settles on the Chara Guardians.

"Your phones are so cute!", the girl comments with sparkling eyes, watching the both of them type. Is that a thing you could always do? How well do they work? Could they be used by someone other than you if they found a way around the small size?", she inquires more.

She immediately lines with the group as if it was second nature to her. "Are you trying to write down everything you know? Is that why you mentioned a book?", she brings up casually, leaning towards the ring Amy is showing around. "That's quite dirty, you might want to give it a cleanup. Do you want some help with that?", she offers with a wide smile.

"Hey, what do you think about doing something fun together, if you don't mind? You would still get to know more about the city, so it wouldn't be really a waste of time, right?", she offers out of nowhere with her hands closed into more signifiers of excitement from the young girl.

The boy who was talking to her has given the group a glance before walking away with a sigh. For her matter, she seems to have forgotten all about him as soon as the group appeared.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Homura squints at the small orange-haired child that approaches them. "We've been spotted," she mutters to the others, tugging on Madoka's sleeve to get her attention. Madoka turns to look at her and blinks. Well she's very friendly.

    Lyidan looks up from her phone and pokes Kamiko, who also looks up.

    Madoka speaks up, being better with kids than Homura. "Eheh... U-um. Yeah, we're kind of... new here."

    Lydian floats up to the girl with a big smile. "Our phones work because people expect us to have them. It's complicated, but our magic depends a little bit upon silliness."

    Kamiko nodnods. "That's right! It's cute and silly for us to have phones, so we have phones. I'm not sure if someone else could use them. Their fingers might be too big. Maybe if they used a pen?"

    Madoka, with her bright smile, squats to be at eye level with the child. "Of course, we'd love to do something fun with you. Do you have something in mind?"

    Homura glances to Hinoiri and Amy, before locking her stare back on the little girl. She's being perhaps a bit too paranoid regarding this innocent child.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy jumps, startled, when someone just walks up and reacts to the Chara like they're not at all unusual. Maybe they're not, here.

Our phones work because people expect us to have them.

    "Wait, really???" Amy looks at Lydian, surprised.

The phones would be hard to use. Maybe if they used a pen?

    "I have a stylus in my pack." Amy's brain parses a problem to be solved with a known solution and spits it out automatically. "If its tip is too thick, you could wrap a pencil or pen or chopstick in a foil snack bag or something."

    And the girl heard her talking about the cover story. "Uhhhh..." she tries to think of how to answer that question, and then holds her SOUL close to her chest and covers it with her other hand. "N-no thanks. It's not dirty it just looks like that."

    Doing something fun together? "Um... what kind of fun thing do you do in this dim-- city?" she wonders.

    This young girl approaching so casually also reminds her that this body looks young for its supposed age, especially at a glance... but not so young that this kid would mistake her for the same age. Maybe she's just really friendly? Or a little older than she looks, too.

    "Um... I'm Amanda, Amy for short. Who are you, young miss...?"

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara blinked a few times. When a little kid walked up to you in a weird magical land about doing something fun together... Either you were in Kirakirafantastica, or... Okay, maybe SHE was getting too paranoid. But her eyes met Homura's for a moment and they were of one braincell for a moment.

Which, frankly, was probably not healthy for *anyone*.

However... Madoka and Amy are good at this, at least. And Madoka is friendly and being a good big sister, so Hinoiri smiles. If it comes down to it... Well... If it was nothing, and just a friendly kid? No dark eenrgy here.

... There was no dark energy here. Huh. Maybe... this was just what people were like. In KKF it wouldn't be so weird. She relaxed a bit. "... Yeah, sure, why not? We're kind of new. I'm Hinoiri Kirara. Our chaperone is meeting us at the hotel later while we take in the sights," she said, rubbing the back of her head. "But we just kind of got overwhelmed and aren't sure where anything is, so if you know the area, that'd help..." she said with a friendly smile.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"I could tell", the kid nods sagely when she is told the others are new. She really didn't look surprised at all. "Don't worry about it, you can rely on me for everything you need, ok", she smiles at Madoka. "I know my way around here." That isn't really a surprise when it's the consequence of what you have asked for, though she hadn't expected it to go this way.

"That sounds like really fun", she goes back to peering at the tiny phones. Silliness magic really was something else. She could only imagine it really made their lives a whole lot more interesting. Her attention is given to Amy when the redhead mentions having a stilo she could try it with, then it goes back to the fairies. "Do you think it can work? Can we try that?"

But both Madoka and Amy are asking her what fun she would like to have and the orange-haired girl starts pointing towards a kiosk not too far from her. "They serve takoyaki over there. I have heard eating food together with friends makes it even better. What do you say?"

She gives a serious expression to Amy however. "I know what a Soul Gem is. You really shouldn't leave it like that. My name is Seira, nice to meet you", she smiles enigmatically. Sharing she knows about Soul Gems may be risky, but she really doesn't want it to stay unclean. After all, it's not good for Amy.

She will likely have to deal with the consequences, but for now she goes to address Hinoiri. "I could be your replacement chaperone until you meet again. We are already spending time together, this only makes sense."

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Homura looks up at Kamiko. Kamiko glances back. A pair of Witch Stickers appear on Amy and Hinoiri in discreet locations, and Homura contacts them telepathically. << Before you ask, my telepathy is based off of Kamiko, not Kyubey. Until Rashmi joins us, we'll need to rely on this. Madoka, our friends are on the line now, so try not to be too mushy. >>

    Madoka thinks back, without taking her eyes off the girl. << Eheh... thanks for the warning. >>

    The corner of Homura's mouth almost curls into a smile, but her dire warning takes precedence. << Be very careful about mentioning anything with mermaids and mermaid princesses. Magic is open here, so it might not be an issue, but... if you'll recall, there was a reason why Coco couldn't reveal herself to us at first. We don't want to put our friends in danger. >>

    Oh shoot. She knows what a Soul Gem is. Homura's eyes widen slightly with surprise, and then narrow with a slight amount of anger. Her eyes go to the child's hands for a sign of a ring. << So Kyubey is here. One question answered. >>

    Then Seira gives her name, and it's Madoka's and Lydian's turn to be surprised. Madoka smiles and tries to take it in stride. "Hi, Seira! I'm Madoka. My partner's name is Homura, and my fairies are Kamiko and Lydian. We'd be delighted to try some takoyaki with you." Then, in a lower voice, "If you know what a Soul Gem is, then I'm guessing you also know what a Grief Seed and a Witch is?"

    << Absolutely be careful about mentioning mermaids. Also, let's hope our yen works here. >> mentions Madoka.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    << Roger. >> Amy answers Kamiko mentally. She also tries reaching out to Kyubey just to check, but gets nothing -- He probably doesn't exist, but if he does either he's not nearby, or doesn't always respond in this dimension.

    Takoyaki huh? Well, it's probably not wasted time if they can learn from this girl. Amy nods, and makes conversation lightly probing about this world's differences. "It's amazing the streets are so clean. I know Japan is like, living in the future, but do you have street-sweeper drones or something?"

I know what a soul gem is.

    Amy's face freezes.

    Madoka answers before Amy adds, in lowered voice, "I'm out of grief seeds, I can't help it. Are... you a Puella Magi too?" Spooked, she glances over Seira for anything that might be a soul gem or the little mark on her fingernail.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara blinked a few times. Opened her mouth. Then stopped. Finally... "Okay, do you know what a chaperone is?" she asked. "Because if I'm going to pretend to come up with a fake excuse and you're going to pretend to play along, that's not a good way to go along with it. You're obviously younger than us," she said. "... Or are you?" She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Yeah, the food thing sounds good..." Unless this was a Chibiusa situation. Oh sweet Sora. She swore, if it wasn't a time loop, it was an isekai. However, her saying she knew was a soul gem was set off *so* many alarm bells in her head...

But oh. The 'mushy' comment? That made her snort. And her annoyance faded, and she had to cover her mouth. << Really? Is that really what you two do with your power? ... Cause that's what I would, too. But the mermaid thing only applies if SHE reveals it. If someone else reveals it, then she's safe. I don't... sense anything... No dark energy, nothing... Here. Amy, I want you to wear this, just in case. And only while we're here. Puella don't mix with dark energy and Homura's going to likely be close enough to Madoka to be portaled if anything happens. >>

She reached up and took her geode off, holding it out to Amy.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"Awesome!", Seira smiles widely at the acceptance of her offer. "Come then!", she grabs Madoka's hand, and starts tugging on it on her way to the takoyaki shop. "Yes, I know about Grief Seeds and Witches, even if they have not been seen on this planet ever since the Ancients took a more direct approach in their safeguard and decided to expel Kyubey forever. Neither Witches nor Kyubey have been seen since, so you don't have to worry about him troubling you."

She just gives a smile at the names being shared. Even if she has been trying not to use them to avoiding looking suspicious, she does know what they are.

Being asked if she is a Puella Magi gets a shake of her head in return, though it was probably already clear by what she just shared about Kyubey. "I don't mean it like that, but the Ancients can help you out with keeping it clean. It's not your fault you have that problem, and with no Witches you can't really go on by yourself", she explains candidly to Amy.

"I am here to provide you with guidance, I think it's close enough", Seira smiles at Hinoiri. She isn't really offended by being called out on her age. "I know things that are important, so I think you should skip on some details."

Assuming the others are following her, she goes straight to the takoyaki place. "Takoyaki for... How much do you eat?", she turns to ask the Chara. "Can you handle your own takoyaki?"

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    'Is that what you two do with your power?'

    Madoka and Homura are very still for a moment as Kamiko and Lydian respond in unison, << Yep! All day, every day. >> Kamiko elaborates, << I don't even think Homura-chan pays attention in class sometimes. >>

    Madoka is quick to defend her girlfriend, << Homu-chan doesn't need to. >>

    Madoka is led by a child to a takoyaki stand, and honestly this part isn't even remotely weird to her. She's sure when Tatsuya gets bigger, he'll be dragging his big sister around like this, too. The pinkette just goes along with it.

    Homura speed walks to catch up and holds Madoka's other hand. "The Ancients know how to cleanse a Soul Gem? Without a Grief Seed?" She only has half a Grief Seed left, and she didn't really get a chance to stock up after Crystal Tokyo followed by New Moon. Really, Homura has been relying upon Madoka a bit to pick up on her slack lately.

    Upon being asked how much they can eat, Kamiko pats her belly and says, "A Chara like me could easily handle a few takoyaki balls. I think our stomachs are actually bigger on the inside." Lydian nods in the affirmative.

    Madoka winces and says, "That's not exactly wrong, but... Don't eat so much you spoil your appetites."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    << Oh um, >> Amy blinks as she takes the geode, << Thanks. I'll be careful with it. >> Doesn't mix? << Technically I guess it does, a little, but... >> She remembers that feeling and mentally shivers a little. << ...Eugh, yeah. >>

    Meanwhile Seira is just spitting lore. "The Ancients?" she echoes, her brain thinking of Final Fantasy VII (original, not remake, she hasn't played it yet) of all things. But whatever these Ancients were or are, they were able to expel Kyubey -- all of him! -- from the planet. << So this is what it's like for newbies when I speak freely about magic stuff. I'm a little glad... This is a lot more helpful than we could've been dealing with. >>

    Speaking of age. Since Seira was so candid, Amy admits a hint of something too. "Uhhh... And just how long ago did this happen...?" For all Amy knows all extant Puella Magi are very old and Seira thinks she's in a Taro / Chibiusa / Sailor Pluto situation. Except then it wouldn't make sense that she doesn't already know this?

    "...And... what do you think is going on here, that we don't already know this?"

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
"... Yeah, well, I expelled Kyubey too when I first met him, but I only got him a good ten, twenty feet since I couldn't get a running kick," Hinoiri mumbled. << Huh... sounds... interesting. So... definitely veering towards that 'alternate world' path. I wonder if it's like that Sayaka who got brought into our world that one time? She was nice. >>

"... So, provide us with guidance. Does that mean that you were sent here? Are you the welcoming party?" she asked. "...You know about kyubey, then? How about me--" And paused. Wait. Her pretty cure powers CAME from a mermaid, too. Dang it. "... How about unicorns?" she asked. WHY DID SHE KNOW SO MANY MERMAIDS?!

<< ... I wonder if this is the carrot and the stick situation. And if this girl's the carrot... we'd best be ready for what the stick is... Be careful about believing too much her nice girl act. They could... actually be this nice. Or it could be a trap. We... can't know yet. >>

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"I don't think it's something they can just teach to others, but they certainly do", Seira asserts to Homura's question. "You can look at it like an extra strong version of a mermaid's song, I think", she adds with a bit of insecurity. She doesn't actually know much about the origins of their powers.

"Really? That's very interesting", Seira takes Kamiko and Lydian at their words. "Is this part of your silliness magic too?", she asks, and then turns again to the vendor. "Takoyaki for seven, please", she stretches up to place the money on the counter. "What else can you do with your silliness powers?"

"Yes, the ones led by Michel. Long flowy white dress, four wings, blue eyes, pale green hair, plays a flute...", she starts describing to Amy as though she doesn't already know that. "This all happened about 10000 years ago, I think", she adds. Being asked what she thinks is happening here makes her change direction though. "What do you mean?"

Hinoiri's question got her to shake her head. "Nobody sent me, but I wanted to meet you, and spend some time together with you. And have fun with you since you are here too", she comments. She isn't sure for how long this will last, but that's not her current problem. "I do know about you", Seira stresses, misunderstanding Hinoiri's interruption. "And about KiraKiraFantastica. I think that sounds like a nice place, everyone singing together like that."

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Homura smiles slightly at Hinoiri's method of 'expulsion' when it comes to Kyubey. "A fair and balanced response," she says.

    Madoka glances back at the angriest unicorn. << Maybe. There's no real telling, but we wont know until we hear her out, right? >>

    Kamiko and Lydian both nod firmly. Lydian speaks, "That's right. At least, that's how we think it works. Other Chara might feel differently. Either way, we eat way more than one would expect."

    Kamiko notices that questions are being asked about their powers, and she considers the suspicion from Homura and Hinoiri, but she decides to answer anyways. "Well really, we're born from childhood dreams. I was born from Madoka's desire to be her best self, and Lydian from her desire to be creative and artistic. I think that's the reason we're just a bit childish, compared to other mascots, but that's just our theory."

    Homura and Madoka's faces both tense up when Michel's name is mentioned. Madoka thinks, << I didn't want to assume but... >>

    Homura transmits, << ... could this be a part of Michel's plot? I don't want to jump to conclusions, but... we can't really rule it out, either. >>

    Madoka says, "So... is Michel still around?"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    << Couldn't things go nicely for once? KiraKiraFantastica was nice. >> Amy thinks back to Hinoiri. << ...I guess I've lost my edge. Or maybe I'm just tired after... everything. I'm glad you're watching out for us. >>

    So Seira knows about mermaids, too.

The ones led by  M I C H E L

    Amy freezes again. But Michel wants to kill all of humanity! she thinks to herself. HINOIRI WAS RIGHT TO BE WORRIED. And she looks at Seira, and the takoyaki seller, and some people walking down the sidewalk across the street. And she thinks of the Simpsons episode where Homer keeps changing the timeline and at one point humans evolved from snakes. Or the Chrono Trigger ending where you defeat Lavos before the reptites go extinct, and then in the present everyone is reptites instead or humans...

    "Is everyone mermaids?" she asks, wide-eyed.

    The lost Puella Magi looks back to Seira, feeling a chill now. As for what she means... "That would mean I'm either very old, or from the past. But I don't know this already, yet, if I were from the past I wouldn't be speaking Japanese."

    She knows about Hinoiri and KiraKiraFantastica. Amy looks more worried and takes a step back from her now. "So... are you with Michel then? Here to recruit us, or gather intel on where we're from? Or are you a human sympathiser looking to help us?"

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara blinks a few times before glancing around.

"Ummmm..." she mumbled softly. Everyone here... seemed nice enough. << ... Maybe it's a different Michel? I mean, it's not exactly a rare name. Or maybe it's Michel without dark energy? It... could just be them being nice. There are... people here. Humans. >>

She smiled to Homura, though. She got it, at least. A very fair and balanced response.

<< Different people in different situations can lead to different results. I... saw people in a lot of different timelines, in my loops. I saw... some people do some good things, some people do some bad things. >> Pause. << I saw Riventon be a dumbass, but also saw him do some really good things. At different times. It's... not outside the realms of possibility, in another time, another world, another... place... where things didn't go a certain way... Michel was right, the good guy? Maybe without dark energy, without the dusk zone? I mean... Who knows, maybe in some alternate worlds, I wasn't such a putz, even without eating the sun. >>

She glanced towards Seira. "So... you know what I am, then?" she asked. "And... yeah. It's pretty cool. Still surprised people here don't sing as much. I kind of miss that. A lot less autotune. The off-key moments are weird."

"... You mentioned you want to spend time with us since we're here. Is... there anything that we should be worried about making it... difficult for us to stay? Or leave?"

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"I like that", Seira smiles to Kamiko. "It's a nice theory, and I appreciate the silliness. You are being very fun", she explains. She gives a smile to Madoka too. "You have nice wishes, I think I understand how Kamiko and Lydian could have come from you."

The pinkette's question gets a nod from Seira. "Yes, he is. A lot of times he is off in his palace, but he does keep himself active. He is genuinely interested in doing good." That change had surprised even here, before she considered the same solution as Hinoiri. The removal of dark energy made a lot of sense.

Amy's worries gets Seira to look at her seriously with a sigh. "No, he doesn't, and they are all human, Amy-san. Michel has been very respectful towards humanity. They all keep their own governments too. The Ancients, the mermaids and the Panthalassa only intervene to keep dark energy away, make sure there are no life problems and keep war away", she tells her. "I am just here to have fun with you. Is that wrong?"

The takoyaki is ready, and Seira stretches to get it off of the vendor's hand, and into everyone else's, and she bites into her own before answering Hinoiri. "I am not sure there is anything that could be a threat to you", she replies. "What do you mean by 'leaving'?", she still feigns ignorance.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka smiles brightly, and then giggles a bit shyly as she's complimented. "Eheh. You're a sweet kid."

    Homura smiles and walks up to Madoka, leaning against her, "Yes, she's such a sweetheart, isn't she?"

    Kamiko floats between the two lesbians. << Hey hey hey. What did you just say about being mushy? >>

    Madoka shakes her head at Seira, saying, "No, there's nothing wrong with just having fun with us. You're being very kind and very helpful. We're just a little confused." The pinkette looks back at the rest of the party, wondering if they should tell her what the issue is. After a moment, Madoka decides to trust. This Seira seems genuine enough. "When we went to sleep last night we were in a different world, and then we woke up in this one. It seems like a very idealistic place compared to our own... not that it's a bad thing."

    Homura frowns, and crosses her arms. She wouldn't have spilled the beans that quickly, but... there are a couple of things that are not adding up here. Yet she has no reason to really mistrust Seira at all.

    The Chara, meanwhile, are a bit less complicated in their thoughts. They each take their takoyaki and say, "Thank you so much! Itadakimasu!" before munching away. After a moment or two, Madoka and Homura follow suit.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    So Michel is (allegedly) good here? Lack of dark energy... is that really all it took?

They all keep their own governments too.

    "I wouldn't have let us keep our own governments," Amy observes dryly, "we're idiots who keep letting the greedy rule. But I guess we get real uppity if anyone else rules us, huh. If there's no wars how do we overthrow kings and dictators?"

    Her brain races ahead with the implication. "Wait, is this still Imperial Japan then? Wait, no, it should be, uh... whatever was before Imperial Japan? The Shogunate or something? Or whatever was before that." She rubs the back of her head. "Iiiii really need to brush up on my history for exams..."

    Madoka explains what happened. Amy nods. "Yeah. I'm a bit confused. How are we here? And of course we have to go back, our friends will miss us."

    Beat. She thinks back to her conversation with King Endymion and Usagi.

    "Well. If this place is really that great, they'll understand if we stayed, but... We're probably going back. ...You still haven't explained what you think is going on here."

    She pulls a couple of takoyaki into her mouth and chews. She wonders if in a world with no dark energy it'll taste as amazing as KiraKiraFantastica food.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara gave a shrug. "Yeah, the wishes are very adorable, the whole chara thing is pretty cute. But that's not really..." She then sighed. "Amy... That's it. It's a human government with *oversight*. That's it. Kirakirafantastica has it too. We have a lot of government too, but there's the sovereign who can step in if things get insane. She doesn't like to, and she tries to be as hooves off as possible, but sometimes she does have to. Not everything has to go down the darkest road," Hinoiri said. "Especially without dark energy for it to fester off."

"... But yeah... Seira... kid... you obviously know a lot more than we thought you did, and are pretty clever. So please don't play dumb. It's a bit late for that. We just want to know if you or something else is planning to keep us trapped here. If you can't say? Then fine. Say you can't say that," Hinoiri said. "We'll find another way." She then picked up one of her Takoyaki and put it in her mouth. Bite bite chew... Blink.

Freeze.

And a moment later, retching. Gagging. Straight into the trash. "Grrrrrrrgragggggg... Nope... right... meat... still... forgot... Takoyaki... meat... urgh...."

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Seira looks with a smile at the two girls in love. She may be unaware of Kamiko's complaints, but she very clearly has no problems with witnessing profusions of love. Rather, she finds them quite nice. The orange mermaid listens intently to Madoka's explanation and nods. "You are right, things are so calm here, it's a vert nice place."

She has no opinion to share on Amy not letting them keep their governments. The Ancients are keeping the peace, and that's all that matters. She would think it a good thing that they haven't been made captive of the Ancients' idea of freedom.

"What are you saying, Amy-san?", Seira stares seriously at the redhead. "You have asked me that already, and I already asked you what you mean by that?", she raises an eyebrow.

"I don't want you to be trapped here", Seira starts saying, but before she can add 1 more word, there is Hinoiri's coughing fit, and she takes the takoyaki away from her hands with a quick sweep. That's right, she doesn't eat meat! "Sorry, Hinoiri-san", she bows her head to her, and tells the vendor. "One cheese takoyaki", she asks instead, paying him again. When that is ready, she gives it to Hinoiri. "Sorry."

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka blinks at Seira. That's... a lot less surprise and incredulity than she was expecting. The pinkette purses her lips thoughtfully, and leans back against Homura for a bit.

    << I don't think she means us harm. >> Madoka thinks to the group. << ... but this doesn't add up. It all just feels a bit unreal. >>

    Amy's question isn't making sense to Seira, or at least she's pretending she doesn't understand. Yet Seira knows too much, and is taking too much in stride. It doesn't make sense, and kids aren't always the best liars.

    Homura crosses her arms and thinks, << ... If I call her out, it will come off as too mean. >>

    << I know... >> says Madoka. She takes a moment to think about how she wants to deal with this situation, and she eats a takoyaki ball. Her Chara have already finished theirs off. Hinoiri has... trouble with hers, and Madoka feels a little bad because she forgot about her dietary restrictions, but she's also noticing how quickly Seira moves to fix the situation.

    "What Amy-chan means..." starts Madoka. "... Or rather, what she's getting at, is that it seems like you know more than you should, for a natural inhabitant of this world. I don't think you mean us any harm, and I'm not mad or anything. I know you're just trying to have fun, and I appreciate the kindness you've shown us, but... we would like to know what's really happening, if you can tell us that."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy winces at Hinoiri. She supposes eating meat must be deeply uncomfortable to an obligate herbivore. A bit like -- though not quite the same *kind* of discomfort for sure, the example comes to mind from mention at last night's Would You Rather game -- if she went to a world where people didn't wear clothes and she didn't get a body covered in fur at the same time. ...Maybe a better comparison would be if she were visiting an alien species that was used to eating its food live. Yech. Yeah, that feels like a good comparison.

    She'll happily take the rest of Hinoiri's unwanted takoyaki though.

    Red eyes look between Madoka and Seira. "That too, but what I mean is... We don't make sense. I dunno how much you do know, but like, we're not from this world, that's not normal. I checked, I searched the internet for if news of people from other worlds was a regular occurance here and didn't find anything. So if I were in your position, I'd be trying to figure out what's going on. What it is that explains all the little inconsistancies like me being a Puella Magi but not being 10,000 years old but also speaking modern Japanese and having opinions about capitalist governments. Just like I'm wondering how our phones still work and how we have a recognizable modern Japan and America and internet culture and the world developed so similarly if Ancient benefactors have been preventing war how did the last 10,000 years still happen similarly enough that the world is recognizable."

    "It doesn't add up, and you should be wondering why we don't add up."

    << Point in the 'we're in a strange artificial world or barrier or something column, I guess. >> she notes, telepathically.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara shook her head. "It's... it's fine. Honestly? I should have said something. I don't really get them and I got... caught up in the moment... forgot... urgh..." She wiped her mouth. "It's... not like I'm allergic... just... the texture..." she mumbled, shuddering. "Believe it or not? I actually... had a piece of sushi, recently. Wasn't so bad. But... c-comes from being a pony," Hinoiri said with a shudder. "Really... not a good surprise..." she took a bite of the cheese ones and sighed. "Much better. Yeah. Okay. Pretty much that."

"... If we're trapped here, we're going to break some heads because I'm going to be honest, I don't *like* being trapped. If... this is a... weird... dream thing? I... guess we'll... I don't know... have some fun? I could have fun."

"So, I guess for now we can trust you."

<< Worse comes to worse, maybe play with her for a bit. It might be a situation where she CAN'T say what's causing this. But she can drop hints. Just listen close... after a few hours... worse comes to worse... we can hold her down... and tickle her. See how long she can hold out from that. But only as a last resort. >>

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Seira just watches with perplexed calm the group of magical girls while the mental conversation occurs. She didn't really have any intention to hide things from them, but she had a part to play, and she doesn't want to have the burden of who she is still show itself during this week, but that's her current situation.

She winces when Madoka is very clear about the doubts she has caused. "I only brought up I know Soul Gem because I didn't want Amy-san or Homura-san to be tense during the coming days. That's the only thing that really happened here. I don't mean anything Amy-san is thinking", she keeps up her game of not-acknowlegment.

Seira doesn't really look at Amy when she lays out her reasoning. "I am sorry you found yourself here, that is probably very confusing. But the Ancients haven't really been monopolising the world that much, you will find. They are quite peaceful here. And should I really be wondering why we don't add up? You don't even know me."

"I think having fun isn't a bad idea", she replies to Hinoiri with a smile. "There is lots we could be doing to get to know each other. There is a kiosk I like not so far from here, it is run by-"

But any additional word dies down when the air starts crackling like static, accompanied by a starlike glow, and the Dark Lovers pop out of thin air, minus any trace of Yuri and her piano.

The static had already caused alarm in the orange-haired girl's eyes, but the appearance of the figures causes her to turn around in a hurry. "Sorry, I have to go. Maybe we will meet again. Could you please handle them?" And with that, she runs off.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
There is a *lot* that is weird about this place, beyond the dome. Magic being open and common is only the largest and weirdest. Thus, Rashmi has simply been hanging back in henshin, listening and watching. Not because she didn't have any questions of her own, but... There was probably going to be a good bit to be gleaned of Seira and her interactions with her friends. Even if it meant missing out on Takoyaki From Another World -- and she was going to have to remember that for an anime title to pitch somewhere -- uncovering the Big Mystery took priority.

Which is why the sudden appearance of the Dark Lovers trio, and Seira *immediately* tagging out, put an eye-obscuring shine to her glasses, for just a moment. "We've got this, Seira-chan," she says gently. "Go be safe."

With that, she inched closer to the group, head turning up to study the Pretty Obvious Villains. "Ssssssso," she murmurs. "Do we... know these guys?"

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka blinks at Seira, then looks at Homura. The two gal pals just kinda stare at each other for a moment while speaking telepathically via Kamiko.

    Homura mentally shrugs. << Tough nut to crack it seems. >>

    Madoka transmits, << She's about as skilled at playing ignorant as I am, and a lot more dedicated. >>

    Homura covers her mouth and tries very hard not to laugh. Her effort gets a lot easier when the air starts cracking and the Dark Lovers appear. Immediately Homura moves to stand between the Lovers and Madoka, and the two Chara hide behind her shoulder.

    Handle them? "Hey wait," says Madoka, reaching out to Seira only too late.

    Turning their eyes back to the Lovers, Madoka transmits, << Do we henshin here? >>

    Homura narrows her eyes at them. << Not yet. Let's see what they want, first. >> Her eyes turn to Rashmi, and Homura says, "Yeah... in our world, they were with Gaito. In here... who knows?"

    Kamiko comments, "Isn't one of them missing?"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy nods at Hinoiri's warning about busting some heads and not wanting to be trapped.

    The Ancients don't interfere much. "If they have that much power and let the world end up like this," Amy grins as toothily as she can manage, "Then we may need to take it and fix the world with it. Haven't you ever played a JRPG?" She may be feeling a bit annoyed and confrontational.

    Should Seira be concerned about things that don't add up? Amy doesn't say the thought 'you should if you're smart', she's not feeling that annoyed and confrontational yet, and instead just says, "Yes."

    And then... the Dark Lovers appear.

    Amy transforms immediately. Somehow, the one thought she manages to have while transforming is to not immediately give away they're new here, and so her transformation leaves her in a more typical magical girl outfit rather than her Rocket Girl ensemble.

    And then Amy's mouth runs ahead of her anyway. "You're still here?! If Gaito's still causing trouble in this timeline, the Ancients really aren't helping much."

    Well, Gaito was also a pitiable figure, so Amy takes a half-step down from being about to shoot them. She holds out a hand. "He can have friends. You can have friends, you know, if you stop... um..."

    The red-haired Puella Magi glances around. Usually when Dark Generals show up there is everyone falling over drained or a speech or something.

    "...What are you here to do, exactly?"

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara blinked a few times and... << Ahhhh... buck buck buck...>> she said telepathically. <<Yes, I know them... Laaaast time I met them they wanted me deeeeead. Not as tough as the black beauty sisters, but still really tough. They work for Gaito, though, not Michel. I don't know why they'd be working for Michel, they *adore* Gaito. They borderline worship the ground he swims over. If they're here, it means either he's allied with Michel, or works for Michel. Trust me, with them? There's no way they work for Michel INSTEAD of Gaito. But... I have no idea where the fourth is. >>

<< Listen, don't underestimate them. I know they might seem like jokes at time, but they're not quite as bad as they seem. A lot of what made them incompetent was the fact that they were more busy fighting each other than they were fighting you sparkles. If they're here, united? Do *not* treat them lightly. I worked in those towers. You have no idea just how much stuff was going on behind the scenes to make sure that the worst of the worst never made it out where you girls had to fight it. And in another world, there's no telling what these three might be capable of. We don't know if they know who we are yet, they might just know something is up, so if we hide we can sneak off and then just need to-- >>

...

...

... And any hope Hinoiri had of them trying to subtly henshin vanished as Amy just... henshined in front of Kamiko and everyone.

"... Buck." Hinoiri said.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
The first to act is Isuru, snapping her fingers and causing a burst of the kiosk's faucet, from which comes out one of her water dragons, and the rest of the starts spilling all over the floor and making a mess. "We found you, Mermaid Princess!", she exclaims, looking at no one in particular.

"Lovers' Ice Darts!", Maria speaks up next, raising her hands with one big ice crystal between pairs of fingers, for a total of three per hands. "I will get you to Lord Gaito together, with the others in his collection. He will be quite satisfied today."

Shadow tendrils start forming like seaweed around Eril. "That's my line! I will be the one to help achieve his revenge, and the lot of you can fall in line." Said shadows tendrils immediately try to latch onto Rashmi and constrict her.

And with that, the others also send out their attacks, none of them wanting to be left for last. Three ice darts get immediately thrown at Rashmi, while the other three mark Hinoiri as their targets. The glowing ice magic will spread onto anything they hit, freezing it as well. Meanwhile, the water dragon instead flies roaring towards Homura and Madoka, its jaws wide open to try and bite onto them.

Notably, none of them gives out a sign of having recognised Hinoiri, or of having heard Amy's question. In fact, no Dark Lover is even looking at the group of magical girls. The only sign of acknowledgment they have given is the attacks having specific targets.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka takes a step back as the 'mermaid princess' is mentioned. Homura stays in front of her and immediately henshins in a flash of purple, bringing up her shield as she keeps Madoka and the Chara behind her. Madoka calls out, "My Heart: Unlock!" as Lydian returns to her egg and henshins with her Bearer, forming Hope Blossom. "Kamiko, go hide!" commands Blossom, causing Kamiko to open a Labyrinth portal and hide inside.

    The water dragon comes at them, and Homura holds up her buckler, causing a purple forcefield to appear around her to block the dragon's teeth. Hope Blossom's branch bow appears in her hands and she immediately draws and fires a pink arrow towards the water dragon's mouth.

    "Hey, we aren't your mermaid princess! Leave us alone!" calls out Puella Homura.

    << Do you think they're after Coco-chan? >> asks Madoka. << Or are they after a mermaid princess from their own world? >>

Rashmi Terios has posed:
    << *BONG!* >> << SOLAR SHIELD >>

A bubble of golden light snaps up around Rashmi as the tendrils lash out, and what follows is a... particularly intense form of arm-wrestling, as the Devicer tries to push her magic out against the shadows contstricting inward. << Gah! OKAY I GUESS WE'RE DOING THIS THEN. >>

Her shield begins to crack like glass under the terrific pressure, and she spots a flicker of movement and looks up... just in time to see a trio of ice lances headed her way.

    << *BONG!* >> << RED SHIFT >>

    << SOLAR FLASH >>

The shield shatters outward, as all of its structure is converted into a short-lived, omnidirectional blast, and in the next moment the Devicer flickers straight up, attempting to dodge the restraining attack by simply not being there if any Dark Seaweed remains.

For a moment it looks like her biggest problem is going to be a twenty-meter fall to hard paving, but golden wings flitter out from her ankles, and she stablizes herself, summoning a dozen Barrets to prepare to launch.

<< Probably? >> she answers Madoka's question. << ...This is starting to feel a little sketchy to me, honestly... >>

Tuning the Barrets for maximum maneuverability, she lets them fly... all targeted at Eril.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy's finishes processing the telepathic message from Hinoiri, and then her face matches Hinoiri's words.

                            ISURU:                  
                            We found you, Mermaid  
                            Princess!!_            

    Amy looks where they're looking, and then around.

> MARIA used LVICEDRT!
                            MARIA:                  
                            I will get you to Lord  
                            Gaito together, with the
                            others in his          
                                                    
                            MARIA:                  
                            collection. He will be  
                            quite satisfied today.  
                                                    
                                                    
                            ERIL:                  
                            That's my line! I will  
                            be the one to help      
                            achieve his revenge, and
                                                    
                            ERIL:                  
                            the lot of you can fall
                            in line._              

    "Uhhhhh..." This scenario now feels very off to Amy. Artificial. She still dodges the ice darts, dodging and rolling into a crouch from which she throws an incendiary grenade at the tentacles between Eril and Rashmi (does shadow... burn...?) and then turns and fires an anti-tank shell past the water dragon (oops,) since nothing's attacking her yet.

    "Maybe we can just leave? If there's no princess to capture, there's nothing for them to do, right?"

    "...Or the event will bug out." She looks up into the air. "Uh, RUN? END COMBAT? END SCENARIO? DEBUG MODE?" Is she checking if they're in some kind of magical holodeck?

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara blinked as the girls went immediately on the offensive. More importantly, they went all argumentative. Ah. Well, at least they weren't fully working together. << Scratch that, they're idiots. >>

As the ice darts came flying at her, she ducked back and kicked the chair out, interposing and ducking behind it, using it as a shield as she pulled her henshin device out, before henshining! A few moments later, her callout came!

"Righteous Indignation! Cure La Licorne!"

The inferno rose from her and she grinned at the three of them. "You know what? I'm not the mermaid or the princess you're looking for. But I certain work for *a* mermaid princess now and I'll be *happy* to give you a message from her!" she yelled before she leaped at them. She charged at Maria, leaping at her and attempting to spin and... Rather than kicking her, she tries to kick the next blast of ice out of her hand, continue the spin and then grip her wrist, to twist it around and move it around behind her back, trying to put her in an armlock.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Homura's intimation goes unheeded, but there is a brief reaction at the mass henshin, with a brief shudder from the three of them. "Just surrender, and be given over to Gaito. Easy for yourself, easy for us", Eril keeps speaking at the empty air. The shadow seaweed's fate seems to immediately contradict her, crumbling into nothingness with the burst of light from Rashmi's shield. Meanwhile, Amy's missiles end up landing on Eril, throwing her to the ground with force.

"Keep going. Lord Gaito will be so happy when I give you over to him, exhausted", she gets to her feet panting, but then clasps her hand together with a blissed look. "I am not going to let you sing. Too bad for you." The shadow tendrils reappear again, but this time they have a vaguely triangular look to their tip, as if someone sketched out the idea of an arrow. These attack Amy, and try piercing through her. The short redhead's commands are ignored.

The water dragon meanwhile explodes in a light drizzle of innocuous water over Madoka and Homura, and the rest of it goes to join the water that is rapidly expanding from the broken faucet. The stall owner stares with a look of panic at the group fighting in front of his shop, dropping the mop he is holding like hot lead, and going as far inside as he can. The makeshift plug out of a shirt is tossed aside fairly rapidly when another ice dragon rushes out at Isuru's command.

A shield of ice interrupts Hinoiri's path to Maria, and the strength of Cure Licorne's kick shatters into tiny sharp fragments, that fall to the ground. "You really don't want to be docile, do you?", Isuru smirks, petting the dragon. "Go, wrap them up for me", she order, and the dragon starts rapidly making wide circles around Rashmi and Hinoiri, with each "lap" closing in more and more around them, placing itself between Hinoiri and Maria.

"Lovers' Icy Wind", Maria smiles, sending a chilling air current towards Hope Blossom and Puella Homura.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
<< Okay so... They're talking *as if* Coco-chan was the one they were fighting, >> Rashmi thinks to the others. << ...Starting to get the feeling this isn't a proper isekai. And naturally we don't get to just quit out, thanks for testing Amy-chan-- oh boy. >>

An *entire ice dragon* is circling her and Hinoiri, which is never a portent for anything good. She *knows* what dragon hugs feel like, if virtually, and this will... *probably* not be that. Glancing to Hinoiri, however, she grins. << Hey La Licorne-chan, wanna open this jar of pickles for us? >>

    << *BONG!* >> << STRIKE -- BOOST UP >>

A single Boost wisp forms, streaking out to her friend to empower her already-fantastic kicking power.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka and Homura find this whole situation a bit offputting. Especially the way that Eril keeps talking at the empty air. Or is the spinny one always like this?

    A chilly wind blasts over them, and Madoka leans against Homura from behind for warmth. "C-c-c-c-cold..." mutters the pinkette, shivering. Homura is a bit more stoic, but that chill still goes to the bone.

    The silky black haired Puella reaches into her shield and pulls out an assault rifle. The two of them think a signal at each other, and they each leap in opposite directions. Homura circles around Maria's left side, opening with semi automatic fire. Madoka goes around the right, releasing a volley of explosive pink arrows upon the blonde Dark Lover.

    Homura comments to Rashmi, << It really does seem like they're glitching out, if they aren't just delusional. As if this wasn't weird enough already... >>

    Madoka adds, << Well... they didn't really specify Coco specifically, did they? Though it'd be the logical conclusion. >>

    Homura thinks, << Did any of the political news sources indicate a war between Panthalassia and the Mermaid kingdoms? >>

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy winces as the missed shot happens to hit a Dark General instead. Lucky! "I'm not that tired, I just woke up." She comments, although mid-sentence her tone changes from banter to bland as she remembers the enemy can't process her words.

    She twirls out of the way, the arrows going through her cape, "I'm flattered you think I can sing as well as Coco." When she comes out of the spin she has a grenade launcher in her hands, firing wildly in Eril's direction.

    << I wonder if everyone here but that girl is an NPC... >> she does give a concerned glance towards the stall owner, but he's hiding and not a target so that's good.

    "Are you OK?" Amy calls out to the two blasted by ice. << I still think we could just leave, but otherwise... since they're dumb, do we just concentrate fire and focus them down one at a time? And I didn't search for news about mermaids or panthalassans yet. >>

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Cure La Licorne glowered at Maria as she kicked a shield, falling back. "I wouldn't be able to be docile if it woke up and bit me on the flank," Cure La Licorne snapped back. << Oh, kick harder, definitely. >> she said back to Rashmi.

<<And yeah, they... really always did have a way of not seeming to listen to what you said with them. Everyone at Obsidian did, honestly. But this? Even for them is a bit beyond the pale. I'm getting some weird vibes here. >> Hinoiri said over the telepathic bond. << This might be a trap. Maybe they're not even really here, just meant to distract us and make us waste time fighting them? >>

She'd pull back a bit... watching the dragon... Before suddenly lunging forward when its head was just right, attempting to kick it STRAIGHT at Maria!

<< Hey, Madoka? Don't one of your charas have a magic singing voice? Can you try seeing what happens if one of them sing? I have a theory. >>

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Maria doesn't release her icy wind, though it soon starts hitting nothing when Madoka and Homura both get out of its way. A slight coating of ice instead starts forming where the two of them stood, though when the flooding water reaches that point it starts turning to ice. The flooded water will have similarly invaded everywhere in this small squared area by now, though it barely reaches two cm deep, if even that.

"Get out of my way", Isuru frowns at Eril. "I can't hit her well if you keep making mistakes. At least you have finally given up on your two-bit shtick", she leaves the other Dark Lover to spin around red-eyed. "You don't really any help, but I can always give it to you. Wanna drown?" she threatens.

"Yes, because drowning one of us will sure go well", Maria intervenes, voice dripping with sarcasm. "Maybe I will suggest Gaito briefly to let you sleep alongside the other two, see what's like", she glares. But this battle chat has left her open to the rain of projectiles by the dark-haired Puella and Hope Blossom, that hit the blonde girl mercilessly, and force her to ran away with her arms like an umbrella, though it does nothing to less the hurt she feels.

But her path is stopped by Hinoiri, whose assault leaves her face crashing to the ground, and the impact powered by Rashmi's boost wisp is such that the Dark Lover creates a small crater and starts shimmering slightly, and she lies there unmoving to fade away completely ast Amy's strike. "Maria is down", Isuru speaks unusually calmly. "Get her out", she tells Eril, but the girl with the bandana is soon occupied, rushed tendrils making for a flimsy but persisting barrier against Amy's attack.

"Don't think is over, Mermaid Princess! Water Dragons!", she shouts and two of them burst out of the water, ranging around without a target and destroying everything they reach.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka blinks at La Licorne. << Well, Lydian likes to sing, and she can make me sing, but it's not magical in the same way that Coco's is. >> Of course, Lydian was also the most interested in coming, so she's the Chara that Madoka is henshined with right now. After a moment, she realizes, << ... but Chara can occasionally make you good at something. I guess it wont hurt to try. >>

    Homura gives her girlfriend a confused look, because she's not used to hearing Madoka sing but she also can't even begin pretend that this is the weirdest thing that's ever happened.

    Madoka lands on top of a lamp post, clears her throat, and clasps her hands over her heart.

o/` Hearts and love and cutesy things
o/` I forgot what Coco sings
o/` Something something, pretty colors
o/` You can't stop my song, Dark Lovers!

    << Did that do anything? I feel like that's not going to do anything. >> says Madoka, suddenly self conscious, gripping her bow nervously. Karaoke is hard without a teleprompt! << La Licorne, if this is your idea of a joke... >>

    << Your singing was lovely, Madoka-chan. >> insists Homura and her entirely unbiased opinion. << Focus on your own defense for now, though. >>

    The water dragons are rampaging now, and the two girls wince as they each leap away from the mess that's being made. Madoka hides behind a bench, looking between the slats to keep an eye on the chaos. Homura lands behind a corner, presses her back against the wall, and peeks around.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
<< *Nice* kick, La Licorne-chan! >> Rashmi cheers, still deeply, deeply puzzled at how the Dark Lovers seem to be reading from a completely different script from their own. But, watery dragons are watery dragons, no matter what the script might say.

    << *BONG!* >> << SOLAR BARRET -- GLACE SHIFT >>

Another dozen Barrets materialize, then *SCREE-CRACK* into chunks of golden ice. A half-dozen each are launched out, locked onto the dragons' heads.

After all, freeze off the head of the magic snake, the rest will be harmless, right?

<< I think if they weren't already taking off, it *might* have gotten a reaction, >> she says soothingly to Madoka. << And it was good singing, too! >>

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Did one of the dark lovers threaten the other with drowning? "YOU ARE FISH!" the red Puella Magi shouts at the nonsensicalness of it all!

    She wonders what they mean about 'sleeping with the other two' though. Is this some panthalassan sleep-with-the-fishes idiom?

    Indeed, on Maria's falling she goes to finish the job on whatever these things are, grenades making her start to... fade away? before the shield pops up and stops her. She fires a few more times before it's clear that Eril will keep reforming the barrier as fast as Amy can blast it away.

    << It's not a prank! They could be weak to music, or maybe it's 'close enough' to Coco's for the purposes of whatever this is. Your voice was lovely, you might want to consider chorus if next semester's teacher isn't one that helped Gaito. >>

    The dragons are raging. "Hup!" Amy rocket-jumps over them, and tosses a couple of thermites down as she leaps over to try and melt holes in them and weaken them.

    << Pressed, all I could think of was 'I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves', so, you coulda done worse! Last time we had a music fight I did an anime opening, so... >> She gives a brief shrug towards the pinkette after landing before looking back over at the dark generals.

    << They are running now, right? >>

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Cure La Licorne cringed when the kick utterly just... demolished poor Maria. Well, that was actually... harder than she intended. She honestly felt a bit bad for her old coworker. Not TOO bad, the girls had tried to kill her once, but still. You know? Hard not to feel a little.

<< Of course not, Madoka. If I was going to screw with you, I'd be *much* more original about it. And not do it in the middle of a fight. >> Not that she wouldn't, she'd just be more original about it. << I want to see if they react to your singing as if it *is* magical singing. If they're following a script, the fact there *is* singing at all, even if not purifying, might make them see you as a mermaid. Or run off because they hear it as purifying mermaid. Besides, there's some magic in your song, it's just not like... the same kind of magic. >>

Pause. Pause. Pause.

<< Besides, your singing voice is lovely, Madoka. And even if it wasn't, who cares? Singing is all about expressing yourself and sharing a part of your feelings with other people. So long as you're doing that, who cares if it's not perfect? You're too sparkle sparkle to be anything but genuine. >>

She then leaped into the air. "Stellar aspirational EXPLOSION!" Spiking a ball of flame at one of the snakes, causing it to explode in a horizon-melting style of purifying light on the dragon...

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Amy's outburst is once again ignored, though considering that they have gone back to bickering withing themselves, this time it's a little hard to say whether it's more of that oddity that has marked them ever since they appeared, or they are so distracted by bickering they don't have time to reply to anything else. Of course, it's the former, though.

Hinoiri's hunch is right on the money, though, and Madoka's lovely singing, as bereft as it is of any magical purification, induces the first actual reaction from the Dark Lovers, the two still present, who start holding their heads and writhing in pain as if Madoka's voice actually had purification. It doesn't stop the two rampaging dragons, but there won't be more joining them, and they won't have the worry of dealing with more shadow tendrils.

The two of them currently wrecking stuff give confused looks to each other when they accidentally swallow the thermites Amy tossed out, but their thrashing increases substantially when the incendiary mixtures start making them evaporate, and it would be a danger to the Whole city if Rashmi's six Barrets didn't hit them hard and force them into a path that kept them away from everything else, roaring in pain each time they met with one of the six. But that wasn't going to continue much longer: La Licorne's Stellar aspirational Explosion puts the word end on them, hastening the evaporation and leaving nothing of them behind if not warm, slightly humid air.

In the middle of all this, Isuru and Eril are both still hurting from the script following Hope Blossom's singing, leaving them completely open.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
<< ...Okay that's... ...Yeah, >> Rashmi says over the comms, staring up at the writhing Dark Lovers. << *Definitely* starting to think we weren't planned for here. >>

Glancing about her friends, the Devicer shrugs, then raises a hand skyward.

    << *BONG!* >> << QUADRA BARRET -- BOOST UP >>

Ranged power-enhancing wisps resolve into being, then streak out to all her allies. << Well whatever, let's write 'Fin' on this script anyway. >>

This is *so strange.* If this had just been Coco, would the fight have been nearly so simple? Would it have even happened? Perhaps they ought to return to the hotel and check on her, just in case...

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka listens to everyone's encouragement, and La Licorne's response in particular... makes her feel a bit better about it, actually. Why be embarrassed, really? They're already jumping around in frilly magical outfits shouting attack names. The time to be shy about it passed a while ago.

    << Thanks, everyone, >> she says.

    ... but then she starts realizing that it's actually mattering and she just has a moment where she just processes this. << They're on a script. You're right. It's a script! Um... uh... >>

    Madoka just starts singing the first words that come to her mind because clearly this is working and why should she stop?

o/` I will not forget the promise I made with you
o/` I swear that I'll always keep it with me
o/` I close my eyes, and the memory clears the darkness
o/` Clouding my way

o/` The future blinked away so fast before our eyes
o/` Will we ever get the chance to redeem
o/` That too early good-bye?

o/` Within this world of fear we find ourselves
o/` Breaking through the dark of night
o/` Every time it tries to break our spell?

    Homura, meanwhile, sees Isuru and Eril getting stunned by the singing and decides that right now is a pretty good time to drop a bunch of rocket launchers on the ground and pick up each one to fire it at the pair. After each rocket is fired, she turns away, flips her hair and says, "How about an encore?"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Did the dragons just... eat her thermite grenades? "[Ooh, that's a spicy meatball...]" she quips in English, sighting her launcher at them before the others' attacks finish them off. Well then.

    She turns towards the Dark Lovers(?) and holds out a hand. They're harmless. "Uhh. I don't suppose Mercy or Spare is an option? Convince? I kinda feel bad shooting them helpless like this..."

    Homura gets out the rocket launchers and Amy wonders, again, about the similarity of their powers. And, so as not to let Rashmi's boost go to waste, she approaches -- just far enough away so as not to be close in Homura's explosions -- and points, and bang, once to each of them, like she did to Koan's corpse. She doesn't put a significant amount of magic into it, though, they seem to have things in hand.

    Also, with Madoka singing, she decides to join in as a backup singer as best she can, although she loses track of the song for half the lines and keeps having to find a spot to jump back in without messing it up:

o/` Clou, ding my wa-ay

o/`
o/`                                (so fast)                (our eyes)

o/`                        (good-bye)

o/`                      (wo-orld of fe-ar) find. our. se-elves

o/`                         bre-eak our spell!

    Actually trying to keep up is a bit stressful, and at that point she's watching Madoka carefully to try and tell if the song is continuing or not -- if it finishes, she claps! "Wooo! Nicely sung!"

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Cure La Licorne cocked an eye at the effect of the singing. That did it. There we go. All it took was some singing, and the girls were running with their tails between their legs. Well... With their fins... as their legs. It was hard to describe, but hey were swimming away. She held out her hand and her rouge wand appeared and she didn't use it to apply lipstick, or launch an attack.

"Live start!" She sang *backup* into it, as if it was a microphone. What? It was a script. And if there wasa script, she knew what to do. Follow the script. And since Madoka had agreed to do the singing, she'd get the main act, and that meant Cure La Licorne would just sing into her rod as a backup singer, following behind Hope Blossom's lyrics. Fortunately, unlike Amy, spending a life of singing in songs all her life made her prepared for this and keeping up had been oddly incredibly easy for her. However...

Only once. She only did it once. She was NOT joining into any encore. You got ONE TIME, Hope.

... also, wait. <<... Are high grade explosives just a puella thing? >> she asked. << Between Amy, Mami and now Homura, I'm wondering why Sharpsong never got a few exploding swords. >>

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Suddenly it's a whole concert there, led fully by Madoka's voice, and this would be the point where they would give up and teleport out if they could make such a choice, but it's hardly something that they can choose. For whatever reason, they are stuck and no matter how much it would be likely, or it would make sense, they keep lamenting the effects of the sound like a torture.

Isuru does try to lessen the "effect" of the song on her, but she has nothing around for it, and any plan to deter her is swiftly put to an end by the addition of back. And then Homura's rocket launcer hits them both, making them fade away much like Maria, and returning quiet to the city, though the city infrastructure woud have definitely resented having so much of itself destroyed.

The water is still flowing, though the owner shops up again, trying again to at least stop the flow while he calls actual professionals. He certainly has never had to deal with this many explosives, and he mutters under his breath the whole time. But at least the water flow stops somehow.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Homura looks at the rubble, scorch marks, and other results of her explosions and... kind of frowns. Usually stuff like this gets handled in one of three ways:

1) It's in a Labyrinth or Barrier, so it doesn't affect anything.
2) It gets covered by the Veil and remembered as a 'gas explosion'.
3) It's Walpurgisnacht and the city is too devastated for it to matter.

    << I... think I kinda messed up.>> she admits. << ... I mean, this might be a fake world, but we don't know that. >>

    Madoka gives her girlfriend a mortified smile. << If the cops come you can hide in Kamiko's Labyrinth? >> Then she glances over at the shop owner and thinks. << Is he on a script, too? >>

    Madoka glances at the shop owner and grimaces. "Um... sorry about your shop!" She also glances at Hinoiri and thinks, << You know... this might end up being the second time you and I have had to run from the police. >>

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Well, *that* was a thing. Madoka's singing seems to have distracted the 'Dark Lovers'... and then Amy jumps in to join the chorus as well, and... Hinoiri *does backup?* Rashmi blinks owlishly at this spectacle, and their enemies writhing and moaning as if they were being purified, and throws a disbelieving look to Homura...

...Who takes the opportunity to just SUMMON ROCKET LAUNCHER and finish the issue for them.

Oh. Well that works and *what exactly are Homura's powers?!* ...Questions for later.

<< Aaaaaand they're self-cleaning, >> she remarks as the Dark Lovers fade into nothingness. << ...Cool. ...Also we *really should get back you guys,* I've got suspicions and none of them are good. C'mon back to the hotel. >>

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Cure La Licorne blinked a few times, and opened her mouth. And... "Uhhhh... S-sorry... about this. Errrr, for... for any damage... feel free to expense any damages to Gaito of the Panthalassa, That's Gaito with an O," she said, bowing her head apologetically, then looked to Madoka.

<< Yuuuuuup. Let's book it before they get here. >> She then turned and quickly... picked up her takoyaki, then ran away! What, it was good. Don't judge.

<< Okay, so, looks like we'll be dependent on your barri-- wait. Maybe? Oh... If your barriers even work right here, Rashmi. For all we know, another barrier when we're already kind of in another dimension might have who knows what effects... I don't think the other people were in on it, though. I think... just they were. Like... Ghosts? Kind of? Or echoes? Of... Oh gosh. >>

<< They might have followed us. We need to get to Coco, now. Because those were Coco's enemies. We came through Coco's hotel, but there might be other echoes and they might be attacking her. Or worse, echoes of *our* past enemies might end up attacking her or us! WE might have accidentally dragged that in here WITH us. >>

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy shrugs to Licorne. She has, in fact, wondered why she got rocket launcher powers. And she's had years to think about it. << If I had to guess, perhaps it has to do with how we're inclined to solve problems. I... used to think that if I were a hero with magic powers, I'd have to, reluctantly, annihilate uncomprimising obstacles with overwhelming force. Railguns or energy weapons would apply as well, but... we've never seen a Puella Magi with futuristic weapons, have we. So I guess explosives was the logical result. >>

    << And when you picture that in man-portable form, you get rocket launchers. And recoilless rifles, but I didn't even know the difference between those until I tried to understand how to use my powers more. >> Amy looks at the destruction and shrugs. << We're magical girls and youma attacks are a known thing here. Unless all their attacks are non-destructive... wait, if there's no veil, does recognition inhibition still work? >>

    IS the food stall guy an NPC too? << I don't know. >>

    They should get back to Coco.

    They should really get back to Coco.

    Amy looks concerned and hurried. << Yeah. Let's g-- wait, just a few seconds. >>

    There's a simple way to answer a few of their questions! Amy walks over to the takoyaki seller. Her weapons are dismissed, but she summons her cosplay prop wand to help complete the look. "Evil has been defeated!" she calls out to him. "Um. Sorry about your water. We don't have a plumber magical girl with us, uh... does this kind of thing happen often? Do you have like, youma insurance?"

Coco Kiumi has posed:
The Takoyaki seller looks down at Amy with surprise at being approached, and clears his throat then, drying his hands before first replying Amy. "We don't have youma insurance, no, but in a way also yes. There is no formal agreement, but whenever one shows up, an ancient, a mermaid princess or a panthalassa usually intervenes within minutes and then usually repays any damage that might have been caused. They are loaded, really. I don't know where every single one of them gets that much money, but at least they use it well."

He looks back at the road. "I wish the mermaid princess had stayed. It would have probably been problematic that using guns for a fight. But I guess you are with them, since you also have magic. Are you going to help me out with the damage too?", he looks at Amy inquisitively, and with a bit of distrust in his eyes.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    A panthalassa? Madoka glances at where the Dark Lovers were. Those four (three?) aren't actually panthalassa themselves, but they work for Gaito.

    ... or do they?

    Homura and Madoka glance at each other, and then at the kiosk owner. They still aren't entirely sure how to handle this. << He's acting like a mermaid princess was here, but none actually showed up. That was just us singing. >> transmits Madoka. << This is either a person who is seeing some illusory version of events, or an NPC. >>

    Madoka clears her throat before saying, "Um... we'll talk to her! In fact, we need to go find her anyways." Then she turns around and starts briskly walking away. Homura watches and then follows her.

    Kamiko's little Labyrinth portal opens up and drops a brand new kiosk right next to the old one. It absolutely looks like it came out of a Labyrinth, complete with all the wrongness, but the tiny goddess herself remains hidden.

    ... It honestly will probably fade from existence the moment they leave, sadly. Maybe by then the NPC will reset?

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Well. That says several things about this weird, Ancient-guarded world.

    * The mermaid princesses tend to do all the fighting.
    * Other forms of magic are rare enough to be known *about* but obsolete, like Puella, or not talked about entirely, like herself, Madoka, and La Licorne.
* The Princesses *immediately reimburse* damages done to properly, though seemingly bottomless funds.

...This kind of feels like the ideal version of this world, as long as one is a Mermaid Princess who doesn't believe in personal violence.

<< I think, >> she says slowly, << It might be both. Things are... *weird* here, but they're not... *normal* weird? >>

"We'll tell the princess what happened here sir, and she'll get you fixed up, okay?" she says, subtly tugging on Amy's sleeve. "We'll be back as *soon as we can!*"

And, I mean, they *will,* but, 'can' is doing a lot of heavy lifting, there. Who knows *what* will happen when they leave this neighborhood?

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "They've been around since ancient times. There'd probably a fund or a treasure horde set aside for it," Amy answers matter-of-factly. "Wait, did you say a panthalasssan? Like, there's a lot of them?"

    She looks apologetic. "Sorry, I'm a high school girl and my magic is more about destruction than fixing things. But uh..."

    There's one last key piece of information. Whether this guy is an NPC, or seeing illusions...

    "Which mermaid princess was that?" It probably sounds idiculous to not be able to tell them apart, so she lies, "I have that thing where you can't tell faces apart. And I'm colorblind."

    She won't stay around much longer, but she waits a few more seconds to see if she's getting an answer before saying "Thanks! And sorry about this!" Before running off with the others.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Cure La Licorne gave a small shrug. << Well, they were yelling about a mermaid princess when they got here. Maybe he thinks whoever they were yelling about he missed? >> Hinoiri offered. << He at least seems to know we're NOT mermaids and that we're magic. >>

She grabbed Amy's other sleeve and while Rashmi was subtle... If that gentle tug didn't work, she was not opposed to dragging the girl off with her. "But yes, we'll let them know as soon as we can! And, yes, we're definitely on the side of the mermaid princesses. I can say that the mermaid princesses are some of my best friends in the world. In fact, my magic does come from that. Now *let's go* explody-chan," she said through grit teeth," giving them just enough time to hear the guy out before she was this close to picking Amy up and *hauling her off*. Because she swore if Coco was in trouble *she was not letting them get delayed any longer*.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"I would say, yes. All of them either gingers, brunettes or with black hair and eyes." It is then he notices Homura. "Are you a Panthalassa, miss?", he asks with a bit of surprise, rationalising that the mermaid princess from earlier was with here. "Are these your friends?", he asks right after.

Amy's colourblind excuse doesn't quite land with the shopkeeper, assuming that since you were all together you know everything about each other, but he doesn't actually comments on it. But he does think better of that fact, and maybe you aren't together at all. "The one that paid for the takoyaki and asked for a new one for the vegetarian girl", he replies.

He nods at Hinoiri's replies, more convinced by Homura's presence than her statements. "Well, have a safe trip. And I hope you offer my stand your patronage once I am back in business", he bows his head.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Yes thank you sir and again we are *so sorry--*"

Bow step back bow step back bow step back turn power-walk.

<< Amy-chan I know this is a treasure trove of incidental info but *we gotta git,* okay? >>

Rashmi's Osaka is starting to slip in; she *must* be agitated. << Those guys came outta nowhere thinkin' they were attackin' a *mermaid princess,* right? Well *who's the one we know by name* who's all alone at the hotel, right now? If she was wise and stayed put she oughta be fine, but if she was *brave* and went pokin' around... That other one dipped out to let us handle this, probably for a good reason. >>

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Homura glances back when she's addressed. "Me? It's... complicated." Even if this person is fake, there's no reason to lie about it, but she's not sure what truth he'll accept?

    Madoka actually pauses in her stride a moment and thinks to the others. << So... that Seira is a mermaid princess? >> Then she hears Rashmi's words and starts walking away again. "Thank you so much, and we're sorry you got dragged into this!"

    Then Homura and Madoka start walking hand in hand and start powerwalking away. Homura says, <<Rashmi's right. We need to check on Coco now. ... though if we see that Seira again, we should probably talk to her. >>

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy is hauled off! "Hey! I can walk on my own! And see, now we know he doesn't mean Coco, he means the orange girl! Although maybe he saw Coco in her place?"

    Well, since she's being carried anyway... she gets out her phone and... the heck with typing while being carried. She calls Coco.

    Hopefully their phones can still talk to eahother.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Cure La Licorne did not know that other girl was a mermaid princess. Well... << That kind of sucks. That means she's the orange one. Sara isn't the mermaid princess of orange here, then. That's... going to hurt for Coco, that was her best friend. And right, he doesn't mean Coco. He means Seira, that girl who bought us Takoyaki. Probably Sara's replacement or something. Either way, if you can run, book it. >>

She'd let her go, then, before finally booking it herself, taking off full pelt.

... And hoping getting back wasn't too hard. << Rashmi, don't be afraid to fly if you have to, if they're going after Mermaids, we'll catch up if we have to, better we don't fight alone here. >>

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Coco is presently in the North Atlantic, way out of range for any phone call (if she still could have her phone underwater), and Amy will get told she is unreachable.