14/Stuck With A Bad Rap

Stuck With A Bad Rap
Date of Scene:	02 July 2023
Location:	Mitakihara Ward
Synopsis:	A witch awakens in Mitakihara ward... and a lot of people have made it THEIR problem.
Cast of Characters:	Madoka Kaname, Homura Akemi, Hotaru Tomoe, Takashi Agera, Nanoha Takamachi, Fate Testarossa, Koji Silvia, Kyouko Sakura, Mami Tomoe

---

Takashi Agera has posed:
Takashi, Fate, and Hotaru are spending an only-somewhat-mildly awkward day out, ever since Precia apparently picked Takashi's name out of a hat when it came to 'who she was going to dump Fate on Today' so the girl would stop standing so close and just... hovering near her.

Takashi really didn't want to become known as Obsidian's babysitter... but he also already had plans to go on a normal day out with Hotaru anyways since he'd picked up that it seemed like she spent most of her time being bored and ignored by whoever was supposed to be with her. So, adding Fate to that was probably going to be fine... and looking at her, she needed the day as much if not more than Hotaru did. Both of these kids... he couldn't help but see something of himself in them. Both of them had parents that treated them like tools at best and usually just inconvinent annoyances, something he was keenly familiar with. And both of them were truly dangerous combatants in different ways - so he also couldn't help but think that if he spent time getting on their good side, it would benefit him, too. Nothing like having allied artillery you could call on when you got into it. So he had both personal and professional reasons to be nice to the girls.

So that's how Takashi ended up walking through Mitakihara with the two girls; everyone with a cold smoothie in their hands to offset the day. In his school uniform he just looked like the big brother out with two little sisters. Which, in some ways, was close to the energy. If the two little sisters were *disturbingly* well behaved.

But as they were walking to the movie theatre, something rippled through... not the air, but the magical energy. Takashi could feel it and he wondered if the others could to. Like a sickness in the magic. Like a wrongness in reality. Takashi had only felt it once before, but he had the experience to know what it was. His hair stood on end."

He stopped and tried to sense the direction it was coming from. It was close. There was a deep thudding, not one he could hear or feel but could magically sense.

"Girls, I think we're going to have to do some work today." he said. "I'll get us new smoothies after."

He lead them carefully in the direction of the feeling. "We can't let this thing stay around. It'll hurt people, maybe our people. It's just mindless destruction made manifest. But... you can also think of it as a test, Hotaru." Takashi said as he walked them towards it. "A test of your device, of Firefly. And one where you can let loose, because these things... they're not people. Just be careful, and stay near me. The danger isn't a joke, even if the world starts to look like a joke."

Before they reached what Axion told him was the limit of the barrier he pulled them out of sight down a side alley. "You two get ready too."

    <Standby, Ready!> announces the device that sits on his wrist, in a soft, female mid-childian voice.

"Axion, EXECUTE." Takashi says, sternly.

    <Barrier Jacket,> the device begins, before becoming garbeled, and its voice switching to a harsh Belkan female voice, where it continues where it left off;<SCHATTEN UMHANG, AUSFUHREN BESTATIGT!>.

The device bursts a blast of dark blue negative energy in front of it, which Takashi punches first one arm through, then the other. That energy continues to coat his arms and body, before he pushes himself through it completly - arriving on the other side in what appears to be a heavy white lab coat, but underneath that is a blue-and-silver armored-looking undershirt, with long pants to match and dark black shoes. The most visible change, however, is to his face - it is covered by a swirling mass of negative energy, with two bright green eyes and a red mouth to show his expressions.

    <BARRIEREMANTEL UND><Shadow Guise ready!> the device reports, in its confused twin voices.

Takashi Agera has posed:
A few more steps and the world changes to a strange world of graffiti, pulsing incomprehensible garbled lyrics, floating boomboxes and microphones. It's like a fever dream mixed with MTV. What looks like a pipecleaner-stickman with a golden pistol in one hand scuttles between two brick walls in the distance. "Stay close." Takashi, now Riventon, repeats, his voice somewhat muffled from being behind the dark energy mask.

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
The ice cream incident on Saturday evening was bad enough in Kyouko's book. Frankly, it was borderline traumatic--she'd never seen food wasted like that before. (Granted, Dippin' Dots ice cream is barely food, but it still counts!) But more important than that: her Soul Gem has been dim since all the hits she took to her energy that night. And that needs to be dealt with.

Which is why Kyouko has been tracking this witch. Yesterday she found a familiar and had every plan of using it to find the witch and get the grief seed--but that annoying goody-two-shoes magical nerd with her stupid monkey mascot ruined *everything*, and since then she hasn't been able to lock onto the witch again.

Until now. Minutes ago, Kyouko managed to find the witch's signal and start making her way across the rooftops towards its source, already transformed into the appropriate state to deal with it. But--she gets there just in time to hear a strange mechanical-sounding voice and see a trio of kids disappearing into the labyrinth.

"Ugh," she mutters as she lands in the alleyway on the edge of the labyrinth. "When did this city get so full of *stupid idiots*? It's such a pain." But she needs that grief seed, so she's going to have to deal with those *stupid idiots*. Into the labyrinth she goes, spear gripped in both hands and at the ready to start with.

Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
c+ink< Signature Detected, Master! c+ink> says Raising Heart. Nanoha Takamachi, who was out with friends, again, to make up for the disappearance yesterday, is having to ditch them, again because there's another signature to check out...

She can't keep doing this, she thinks. Her friends are gonna catch on, then what!? Still, she transforms into her barrier jacket into another alleyway along the way, as she grasps Raising Heart and eyes the edge of.. something. Is this.. a barrier? She doesn't know. But she's entering it. Walking slowly along the edges and into it.

She's arriving from a different direction so doesn't see the others yet, but that'll change once she enters the Witch's domain.

"This doesn't.. feel like a Jewel Seed." she says.

Koji Silvia has posed:
The strange readings that came from Mitakihara had more than just the trio down on the street. Up on top of one of the taller buildings in the district is a form dressed in midnight blue, long black hair waving like a flag in the inevitable breeze, mouth covered to disguise himself from casual identification...

Or at least that's what people would see if Koji had not already engaged optical camoflague to see any local cameras from seeing him. Over and above the district, small blurs of nothing whiz by, four of his Blades in full flight.

<< SENSOR MODE. >> Says the gravelled male asian voice of his Device Hanzo, << Tracking Anomaly. Energy Signature Unknown. >>

Images begin coming to life in floating screens around him, fingers flicking between them to enhance and shift images, changing visual types until he manages to get to the location of where Takashi and company are.

<< Warning, Young Master. Anomalous Device detected. Unknown Device Detected. Proceed with Caution. >>

"Got it. Recall all other Blades."

<< Acknowledged. TELEPORT. BLADE 4. >>

The form vanishes from the roof, and reppears on top of a billboard, gripping the kunai-shaped part of his Device that was on the scene, letting him watch for now from afar. Drawing another one from his hip, he throws it across the way to embed in the side of a retail center so he has an emergency teleport point.

Mami Tomoe has posed:
Another day...another Witch's Labyrinth. A movie theater... not the first choice, but this was Mitakihara, a place known for being a source of labyrinths.

Mami Tomoe had company. A certain small white creature had brought two girls together earlier, and now she was leading one of Kyubey's candidates into the movie theater. She had to protect both of them, as she spoke without looking back, right as the theatre warped into a Labyrinth.

"Be careful, okay? I'll make sure you're not harmed."

A small golden seed-shaped gem is pulled forth from basically nowhere, and with a flourished dance, is lifted upwards.

Holding her Soul Gem in front of her face, Mami takes a step, as its powers activate. She steps forward with one foot, boots and leggings crashing on, as her clothes shift from 'uniform' to 'magical'. Her hat appears on her head, white feather protruding out from it, as she claps her hands totgether. With a flourish from her sleeve, she hands a small ribbon to her follower, to protect her in case Mami cannot. "Don't lose this, it'll help you out." Kyubey just stares with those red eyes, looking up as the ribbon is transferred without a change of expression, a white cat-rabbit of a creature with an appearance more like a stuffed animal than a living breathing creature.

Soon, people will probably converge, but Mami's in no rush. She's looking for the Witch - the one with the golden gun, right? So as long as they make good time, they can save everyone here.

Fate Testarossa has posed:
    Smoothies are... Nice. Not exactly a way Fate Testarossa had expected to be spending her day though. Having wanted to be at her mother's side, the girl was a little disappointed to once again be met with Precia's aloof and too-busy responses, before she was sent away entirely and told to aid Takashi Agera in whatever endeavors he had planned for the day.
    When those endeavors turned out to be a frozen fruity drink, Fate couldn't help but feel as though her time and energy could be put to ... Better uses.
    Still, she sips quietly from her straw, scarlet eyes paying more attention to the ground in front of her than anything else.
    Fate, too, is in her school uniform, and held loosely in her free hand is a leash.
    And on the end of that leash is an absolutely MASSIVE red dog. ... Dog? No, no, Arf looks more like a monstrous breed of wolf sitting on her haunches, jaw slack and tongue lolled out.
    <Hey hey, Fate. Can I have some of your smoothie?>
    <No.>
    <Awwwwww come on, I've been good!>
    <You should have come in your human form, but you decided you were more comfortable this way.>
    <But that's not fair! I didn't know we were going for smoothies! Lemme just have a sip pleeeeeeaaaase->
    <No.>
    Fate does not want to share with dog slobber.
    IT is the sensation of something disrbing in the air that makes the telepathic conversation drop entirely as Arf's hackles rise and Fate quietly grips at the golden jewelled triangle at the collar of her blouse.
    [SIR.]
    "Right... Bardi<span class=" bold_fg_y bg_n ++ he..."
    chy">[STANDBY READY.]
    With a flare of golden light, her school uniform is instantly replaces with a black bodysuit and skirt, as she throws a black and red-trimmed cloak over her shoulders, Bardiche held in her right hand gently in the form of a black axe.
    <--Hey if you're going to->
    Fate sets her smoothie down in front of Arf.
    "Make sure bystanders don't follow us in and you can have it."
    Fate is just as business oriented as Takashi... But she also doesn't want to see non-magical innocents wander into this and get hurt.
    That is now Arf's duty to make sure that doesn't happen.
    "I'll follow your lead." She says softly to Takashi.
    [GET SET.]

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka walks into the Labyrinth after Puella Magi veteran sempai Mami Tomoe, keeping her purse close to her side and nervously looking around. Her hand pats the bag, just to make sure that the magic RoundUp is still there. She had seen magical things before, but nothing quite like this, and she still didn't really know what was going on. Things were scary and did not make sense, but Mami seemed to know what she was doing.

    In the back of her mind, she recalls Homura telling her not to get involved, but... could she really do that?

    "Oh!" says Madoka as the ribbon is offered. She takes it in hand, and nods. "Thank you. I'll hold onto it.

    Her large pink eyes dart towards Kyubey, meeting his gaze. She offers the small creature a meek smile before following Mami further in.

Homura Akemi has posed:
    Another day in Mitakihara Ward, another Witch. Worse still it was in one of the busier areas of the city. Homura had noticed the presence of the Witch long before its barrier had appeared and started drawing the attention of other magical types when she noticed several civilians with dull expressions walking in a solemn, silent march towards a bus stop. This might not normally be cause for concern, but discerning, veteran eyes quickly noticed the distinctive mark of a Witch's Kiss on one of them.

    With that her plans for the day had changed and she joined the crowd, following the group rather than the magical signature. Eventually a bus pulled up, entirely off schedule, and the procession quietly boarded, a man offering a quiet note of relief while a woman commented that her problems would soon be over.

    Getting on the bus herself, Homura quickly confirmed that the driver, too, had a Witch's Kiss. From there she took several precautions. She stole the keys. She cut the battery cable. She cut the fuel lines.

    That's one horrific bus accident that Mitakihara Ward and Tokyo would never see on the news that night.

    After exiting the bus and barring its doors shut with a sign that read 'Halt! Maintenance In Progress' she proceeded towards the Barrier that had now finally established itself, recognizable enough to any Puella Magi and any Magical Hero with the ability to detect magical disturbances.

    Homura arrives just in time to see Madoka following Mami into the Labyrinth. Her eyelids droop just a fraction, but she doesn't sigh. She holds her hand up to the barrier. "Kyouko Sakura..." And others she doesn't recognize. But Mami Tomoe and Kyouko Sakura are present. This Witch... likely doesn't stand a chance.

    More importantly, Madoka should be safe. Mami will clear out any active Familiars that get close. Kyouko will B-line it for the Witch and its Grief Seed. She turns her hand over and her ring sparkles with purple light, transforming into an egg-shaped gem in her hand, which she then squeezes. Rather unceremoniously this time she transforms, hopping through the barrier.

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Hotaru Tomoe took a slow, deep treath. She could do this. She took one last sip of her smoothie before, very gently, laying it down as well. Arf could have what was left of hers too, because waste was bad. She'd only done this in testing before, so she was a little nervous.

But this was also her VERY FIRST time as a sempai! She had her little kohai, Fate, with her. So she had to be responsible and determined! Strong! It wasn't often SHE got to be the sempai! And she would NOT let this fail. She held out her devi<span style="color:e.

c#7D2374"><Standby, ready!> it called out in a... well. It was a masculine voice. But it was dark, ominous, the kind of voice you'd expect from a horror movie. The kind of voice that sent chills down your spine. The voice you'd expect to hear right before you died.

"Luminous Titan, execute," Hotaru said. If she noticed the voice being... bad... she didn't mention it. Instead following Takashi's lead. AND OH MY GOSH SHE GOT A HENSHIN SEQUENCE!

The amethyst necklace around her throat glowed with an ominous, dark energy before eruting in a flash. A strange, crescent glaive formed over her and she reached u, grabbing it in both hands. Purle light washed over her, covering her wrists, torso and feet in urle, tainted light. A moment later the light on her wrists turned into metal wristguards, the iece over her torse turned into a dark urle and gray half-caed suit, akin to a one iece bathing suit, with a butt-cae, a belt and a V neck scarf. Then her feet were covered in metalic boots. Desite the ominous voice, her outfit was more akin to a suer hero suit than the foreboding, ominous device she wore. c#7D2374<Firefly, engaged!> And then it said that. Yet it sounded, once more, like some kind of almost mocking horror movie voice...

Transformed, she rested her glaive over her shoulder and looked to Takashi. She was about to say to follow Takashi's lead... but Fate beat her to it. Darn it. She'd need to be faster! She couldn't fail in her FIRST EVER attempt as a sempai!

Koji Silvia has posed:
Just before Nanoha enters the barrier, the dark figure of Koji lands next to her. The form of his device has a familiar gleam at his belt as he says to the young and powerful Mage, "It's dangerous to go in alone. But if you're committed... let me help you."

And with her... he enters into a Witch's Realm.

<< Warning Young Master. ANOMALY. Blade 2 Lost. Reconstituting. >>

The girl can hear him mutter, "Well... so much for getting out that way.", and Koji draws one Blade into each hand, their light blue energy blades glowing against his Barrier Jacket

Takashi Agera has posed:
Within the labrynth, the music is not really deafening, but it's also all around and unceasing. There's no steady beat, no rhythm to the words. That's the fault of this being a labrynth and corrupted more than anything else. It doesn't come out of the boomboxes or speakers floating by the people inside. It just... is. Sometimes the terrain or creatures move to the dissonant beat. The labrynth is... as usual, bigger on the inside than on the outside, because it is an a affront to reality.

Another one of the pipe-cleaner gangsters suddenly leans out from behind a boombox - despite the fact that it's floating in the air - and points a gun towards the trio, and Riventon unceremoniously dispatches it with a blast of dark energy from his right hand, a bolt of sticky-ink-like energy that seems to hang in the air for a moment dripping dark bubbles before fading away, a trace back to its owner.

"The real threat is further in. These little ones aren't relevant - but considering I've read they have a diet of people, there's no need to be subtle with them." he explains to the two girls with him, like they're not in a living horror movie. Well, Fate can probably handle it fine. The girl with the actual horror-movie sounding device... maybe.

Walking a little further, at a crossroads, all of the magical heroes (and villians) make it there at about the same time. Riventon doesn't recognize any of them. Fate, though, will recognize Nanoha. And Homura... she'll recognize Riventon, and even know the person behind the shifting mask of shadows.

But for now, Riventon is business, cordial. "Ah, I see there's a good group of us." he says. "My name is Riventon, and these are my charges, Firefly and..." he pauses. Fate doesn't have a code name. "And Deathscythe." That'll do, yeah. Then he sweeps his arms out "Perhaps we save detailed introductions and greetings for when the non-euclidean reality-breaking monster at the center of this place is removed. Better to talk without fear of being ambushed." he adds, before nonchalantly blating another familiar. But importantly to those there, it's possible they can feel the dark energy that he casually fires into that inky tendrilous blast. If they're familiar with such things, in any case. Otherwise, they'll just get the distinct feeling something is off and unwelcome about that blast. Probably goes with the fact its weidler is wearing a 'face' made of shadows.

Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
Nanoha Takamachi looks up at Koji and blinks. "---Hello! Uhm, sure. I could use some help!" she says. She makes it inside the (noisy?) barrier and blinks at the inside, woa-woah. This isn't a barrier like she knows it. This is something else.

c+ink< Signatures Detected c+ink> says Raising Heart. "I know, Raising Heart!" she says as she groups together with the others and listen. Huh. Isn't that...

The girl from yesterday that the girl that looked like her try to attack? She catches her name when Riventon says it. But that's a silly code name. She frowns a little at this.

"I am..."

"Nanoha Takamachi." she says. "R-right this eats people!?" she suddenly says with an amazed look. "Then we should stay together and fight together then. Right!?" she says to the whole group..

Looking over to the boy she doesn't know that came in with her and over to Fate-slash-'Deathscythe'.

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
The first sign of Kyouko is when an enormous spear stabs through a familiar and the bizarre thing scrambles itself out of existence in response. Then Kyouko's standing there in its place, holding the sphere and scowling at the trio she followed into the place. "Who said it was a *good* group? It's pretty bad, you know!" Not only are those three here, but *another* little girl she doesn't know has shown up. "You all need to get out of here and go *home*. I'll take care of the witch. It's *mine*, got it?"

She has not yet noticed the other Puella in the labyrinth, but she's definitely making enough noise for them to notice *her*.

Koji Silvia has posed:
"You mean like the Gundam? You could pick a better show than Wing." Koji quips, and then looks back and forth over the motley crew, and instead of giving his name, he instead holds up his hand and a blade of energy trailing a string behind it. It wraps around one of the pipe-cleaner minions and with a tug he slams it to the ground, causing it to burst into colored light and nothingness. As the entangling power dissipates, he continues, "You can call me Astray... for now..."

Looking back down Nanoha again, he instinctively moves to a more protective position between her and Riventon's company, at the same time deploying 2 more Blades that float around him like small turrets, occasionally twitching towards incoming opponents.

Mami Tomoe has posed:
Mami tries to avoid the music, focusing instead on her mission. One screw-up and not only may she get hurt, but Madoka may get killed.

And Mami won't let that happen.

As they enter the crossroads, Puella Magi Mami turns to the others - Riventon, Firefly...Death...scythe? "My name is Mami. The Witch should be deeper inside - with our numbers, we may have an excellent chance at getting rid of it. Right...?" A glance towards someone she recognizes - Kyouko Sakura. She doesn't speak further because it's too dangerous to linger. Instead, as a shot from a familiar goes flying for her head, as if she wasn't paying attention...

A gesture of a hand 'pulls' a ribbon into existence, blocking the 'bullet' before lassoing out to slice the familiar in half. It's the most minor expenditure of power - save the big guns for Witches.

Kyubey stays back near Madoka, not drawing attention to himself, even as his eyes track over. Telepathically, he communicates with Madoka and Mami. <"It would seem they don't know what they're even fighting...?"> He poses as a question towards Madoka and Mami, surely knowing the answer himself.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka glances behind her as Homura enters the Labyrinth and mutters, "Homura-chan..."

    Nervously, she looks at the others who have shown up. She somewhat recognizes the twintailed blonde girl from the other day, and based upon that she makes a few guesses about her company. A part of her feels silly for being worried about a couple of little girls, but Madoka is new not stupid.

    When Riventon introduces himself, she politely says, "Madoka Kaname. Um... don't mind me," as if dude isn't giving off massive villain vibes. The codename Deathscythe isn't helping, either. Firefly doesn't sound bad, though. She doesn't want to assume the worst about people she doesn't know, but all the same she thinks she'll stay out of their way. Maybe she'll puzzle out how she feels about them when she knows them better.

    Familiars start showing up, and Madoka takes a step back, trying to keep Mami or someone equally magical between her and the monsters. She stretches her ribbon out in front of her and tries holding it at different angles, not really sure what to do with it. A familiar gets too close, menacing her with vague tryhard thug energy, and she tries swinging the ribbon at it like a whip.

    The key word is 'tries'.

Fate Testarossa has posed:
    Oh man Arf gets TWO smooties, this is a red letter day!
    But on to more serious matters. Inside the noise and headache inducing imagery of the witch labyrinth though, Fate curls her fingers tightly around the haft of her device when Riventon handles the sudden attacking Familiar. She needs to be on her guard here.
    But regardless of the danger it should be okay...
    "I'll be fine... Because I'm strong." Fate murmurs more to herself than anyone else. She has that. And her stalwart and trusty senpai is here too.
    But of course the Obsidian trio wouldn't be the only ones to respond to this situation would then.
    Fate's brow does quirk upward gently as her sudden new moniker, but she doesn't... Correct it.
    [SIR.] It is her Device that calls her attention to one member in particular of the assembled though.
    Those sad, vivid, scarlet eyes fall upon Nanoha, and they fall half-lidded.
    "Stay out of our way. You're only likely going to get hurt." She says, tone soft and tired. Cold sounding as that may seem, she doesn't actually *want* to see anyone else hurt.
    "Please." Added in the quietest whisper.
    She only pauses to telepathically ask Firefly and Riventon as prompted by Koji: <What is a Gundam?>

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Firefly followed behind him, squeaking indignantly a little despite herself when suddenly there was a gangster! WITH A GUN! It wasn't her fault, she wasn't used to fighting... things! AND GUNS WERE SCARY! She didn't know they couldn't hurt her much now!

Then Takashi dispatched it so easily, making her cheeks burn a little redder. She glanced towards Fate. Noooo. Her kohai was going to think she was useless. She was already being the WORST sempai ever! She had to redeem herself!

Then they were there. The monster. She stared at it for a few moments, her mouth falling open... and only noticing the others when Riventon mentioned them. "Huh?" she asked, glancing around. Wow. She was... astute. And was about to say something before stopping.

DEATHSCYTHE?! Oh my gosh, Fate had the most AWESOME name ever! Now she felt kind of silly for going by the name of Firefly! GAH!

At least Nanoha Takamachi didn't have some awesome codename. She nodded along with him. "Y-yes," Firefly said. Ohhhh, if only she'd chosen like. Deathglaive or something. Or... Tinyglaive. Bladeglaive. GAH! Now she felt so silly just using her normal, default 'codename' from in Obsidian.

She held up the tip of her glaive towards one of the familiars and unleashed a few rapid fire blasts!

... They were very, very weak. Like... tiny, itty bitty blasts. She wasn't holding back, she just... wasn't... very powerful...

At least, like this. Homura would likely know the truth. Firefly was pathetic at a distance, but that was usually how she fought. It was when you got close to her and made her use her glaive in melee combat that she could become dangerous. On the upsides, she rarely tried to close the distance unless her friends were in danger. On the downsides, it meant her healing abilities could be used more frequently on those around her.

Homura Akemi has posed:
    Seeing her surroundings upon entering the barrier Homura retrieves a 9mm Glock from her shield, holding it securely in hand with her index finger pressed against the slide above the trigger guard. She briefly considers earplugs, but decides against it. Audio Witches really were some of the most oppressive. She'd long since gotten used to the bizarre visual surroundings and strange way that Witche's and Familiars seemed to shift and move, but having a discordant anti-rhythm blasting into her head was harder to block out.

    Her gaze briefly falls to Madoka, but seeing her with Mami means she doesn't have to overly fear for her safety. She's going to get strange ideas about the lives of Magical Girls no doubt, but that's something that Homura has realized has to be taken as given.

    So she turns and walks a different direction, walking slowly through the Labyrinth. Every now and again the report of a gun that isn't the result of one of the familiars can be heard, a single shot being taken that dispatches a familiar.

    Homura almost feels like sighing when the multiple paths converge. A faint, subtle frown creases her lips when she recognizes Riventon. She looks at him. Looks at Firefly, and then 'Deathscythe'. She suppresses a slight shudder at the production of his particularly offensive form of Dark Energy, instead reaching back and flipping her hair. "Homura Akemi."

    Her eyes go to Kyoko as she stakes her claim, turning her eyes towards the red gem prominently displayed on her outfit. Cloudy. "...fine. I recognize your claim, K-" She stops herself, and clears her throat. Kyouko didn't introduce herself. Best not to draw too much attention to herself, for now.

    She turns her purple eyes cooly towards Mami, trying to make eye contact. Resolving disputes over Grief Seeds before they drop is not normal. But if she knows Mami Tomoe, the blonde Puella Magi will care more about protecting Madoka and showing off for her new kouhai than obtaining a magical reward.

Takashi Agera has posed:
Okay, maybe that wasn't the best codename on the spot. Fate was going to need a better name. Or maybe just Fate. Maybe the girl didn't need a henshin name. Seemed like not everybody chose that. Then again, most people had regular homes or dorms. Anybody who tried to mess with Fate's home would regret it, and not because of Fate. But it was out there, right. Oh well.

<TV Show. I did the best I could. We should have given you a name like Firefly has. ... do you want a name? Or should we just use Fate next time?> Axion conveys telepathically to Fate.

"Well, now that we've all traded names and barbs and threats, those of you who are going to help me kill whatever's making this insufferable racket feel free to join along." he says, dismissing a lot of the negative discussion. Very Riventon - just assuming despite what other people say, his way is the right way. And that he's already correct.

"Besides, we're almost there anyways. If you want you can sit it out." he says, pointing behind them.

And in truth, it's just a little walk (and a few more annoying familiars) to get to the center of this labrynth. Where the Witch... a strange creature that looks like a microphone with eyes and heavy gold chains around its 'neck' that warp into multiple hands - with the hands armed with various incredibly practical guns, all very practically held sideways - made of chains and pipecleaners. The moment they walk into the room those hands unleash a barrage of fire and Riventon raises a hand quickly to put up a spiraling mage's runic ward to soak... most of it. Though some people may have to dodge or duck back into the coverage zone.

"Anytime you guys want to give instead of get, would be good though!" he adds as the shield starts to break under the projectile assault. "Can't hold forever!"

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
Until ten seconds ago, everything was going just fine for Kyouko. She'd found the labyrinth, she was on her way to the witch at its center, she was going to get that grief seed with no problems. Sure, there's some annoying kids she doesn't recognize here, but she's confident those won't pose a problem. She'll just bully them till they go away like sensible people and then deal with the witch and get the grief seed. Plan: success!

Until she notices the other Puella in the labyrinth. Homura is the first to catch her attention, and she draws herself up with a typical sneer to respond to the acceptance of her claim on the grief seed. "You're just letting me have it? What kind of magical girl are--" And then she catches sight of one of Mami's ribbons out of the corner of her eye and whirls around to face her. "Oh crap! It's you!" Subtle she is not.

Now when Riventon talks, Kyouko is just glaring at him. "Are you not *listening*? I said you could go home 'cause I'm gonna take care of it. So get lost and take your stupid little sisters too--" But he's just going deeper into the labyrinth, and Kyouko chases angrily after him. "Stupid, stupid!"

Until she's face to (something like a) face with the witch. She races forward as quick as she can, jumping high to avoid the blast of fire (although still getting slightly singed), and then hurtling spear-first at the witch. She's actually pretty fast and focused, despite all her complaining earlier. For real, she just wants to get out of here with the grief seed before she has to actually talk to Mami.

Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
Nanoha Takamachi is taken aback by Fate's statements. "W..wha? I can.. take care of myself, you know.." she says, determination in her voice as she grasps Raising Heart harder. Raising Heart glows soothingly a moment, but Nanoha looks away a moment as a she lifts the device and says. "Raising Heart..."

c+ink< Cannon Mode c+ink> goes Raising Heart, shifting into a more ranged oriented form, before Nanoha shoots a short laser out towards one of the gangster familiars, lancing out towards it as she grips Raising Heart's new grip it formed rather than holding by the staff.

She follows along behind the others as Koji provides a cover for her. She eyes Koji. Does.. she know something she doesn't? Raising Heart hasn't warned her about the dark energy yet. Nor would she understand right now.

Maybe that's a conversation for later thought as they come across the witch.

"Shoot Barret!" calls out Nanoha, as Raising Heart responds by summoning a bunch of orbs that all lance out as lasers towards the microphone witch which is making this bassdrummingbeat, while Riventon provides a cover shield from fire.

She ignores Kyouko whole tells her to go home, too of course. Who the heck are all these people telling her to leave! People could be in danger!

Koji Silvia has posed:
Approaching the bad graffiti art brought to life, and the fact that it's shooting bullets at the group doesn't seem to cause the partly masked form of 'Astray' to panic or pause in any way. Instead he recalls his Blades back to their sheathes, and reaches to the series of bullet-like capsules on his belt. Taking one each in an ocean-azure color, he inserts one into each of his kunai-devices with a *CLICK*. Once the sixth and final one from that set is loaded, he takes stock of Riventon's defensive strategy.

<< SIX BLADE WATER SEAL. BLIZZARD SHIELD >>

All six of his kunai are drawn and thrown, and all of them now have the same color at the Cartridges in their energy signature. As they fly outwards on their own, they suddenly alter their trajectories and each float in front of Riventon's shield. They twitch and move, catching the bullets, and each time one is blocked, it looks like a huge snowflake shimmers in the air. Buying the main defense time for the others, one of his Blades shatters as it's overcome from too many hits... then a second... then a third... but he continues to use a pinpoint strategy over the generalized protection.

"Nanoha. Anyone else with Shooting Mode. Aim for the guns. Disable it's offense, so the melee attackers can take it down!" He calls out, drawing out two of the reformed blades to get ready.

Mami Tomoe has posed:
As Homura turns towards Mami, Mami gets the message. She nods, and then looks to her newfound friend. As Madoka is trying (and failing) to use the ribbon, Mami's pupils narrow briefly, before she slings several ribbons outwards to dissect the familiar threatening Madoka.

"Ah, I'm sorry... just put some focus into one of those, and you can manipulate it like a shield or weapon. Like what I did...!"

Keep it cool, Mami. You don't want her to think anything weird about you. And you don't want her getting hurt

As they move forward, Mami's even more hawkish. Anytime one goes to shoot Madoka, unless Madoka looks like she has it or someone else does, it gets eviscerated.

And then there's the Witch. A barrier is up, and Mami urges Madoka to get towards it, Kyubey calmly moving under.

"Now then. Let's begin."

Ribbons suddenly pull Mami upwards by the hand, as she swings forward through the fire-spraying...rapper Witch. Going straight over the flames, she does a flip, and several ribbons lash out all around her - before transforming into something else.

Single-shot muskets. About eight of them. With a gesture of forefingers, they begin firing a rapid salvo, fading and reforming, moving to buffet the Witch, while avoiding Kyouko as collateral. She risked Madoka enough giving her a chance to see what it's like doing this, so it's time to finish it.

"Madoka. Mami is risking her life to protect the people of this neighborhood..." Kyubey says, with that catlike expression. "After all, this is a magical girl's duty, and she takes it very seriously." Just a little push. Nothing big, yet. There's too many people for anything else to do nicely.

Fate Testarossa has posed:
    <It's fine.> Fate answers in a non-committal reply. If people want to call her Deathscythe for now, she doesn't seem to particularly care one way or another whilst moving along. Every now and then a crackling bullet of golden electric light lances from Fate's side to shoot down a familiar as she keeps stride with Riventon and Firefly.
    Kyouko's continued belligerence up until the party reaches the witch prompts Bardiche to speak up.
    [SIR. SHOOT HER?]
    "No, Bardiche. Focus on the creature." She says softly as Riventon shields against the incoming wall of witch fire.
    "Just try not to get hurt."
    Whoever she says that to is a mystery as she shifts her grip on her faithful devi<span class=" bold_fg_y bg_n ++ e.
    chy">[SCYTHE MODE.]
    With a SNAK the axe's head swivels back, a blazing golden scythe of voltaic energy forming from the device's core.
    Fate is... Fast.
    No, she's *fast*.
    Her speed is on another level entirely as, in one instant, she's at Riventon's side. In the next instant, she's *behind* the microphone witch, silently bringing her scythe down in a single brutal and efficient stroke, intending to cleave the monster as efficiently as possible.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka flees from harassing familiars and keeps finding random pieces of the Labyrinth to hide behind, trying to stay in sight of Mami but not so close that she's in direct danger. When she finds the actual witch, she's mortified. How is someone supposed to fight something like that?

    Well, apparently, she's the only one hesitant about it. Then again, she's the only one without a henshin. Everyone else seems to be focused on the mission.

    When Mami tells her how the ribbon is used, Madoka listens and immediately batters away a familiar. "Oh!" she exclaims, using a magical item in combat for the very first time. Something about it seems right to her. Further support fire from Mami helps keep her safe long enough to get to the witch. She doesn't hesitate to dive behind Riventon when he puts his shield up, giving him some bare minimum support from behind. Honestly, as far as being a combatant, she may as well not even be here, but it's against her nature to do nothing.

    Oh gee, what has she gotten herself into?

    "Is it always like this?" she asks Kyubey after he speaks. "Everything's so loud and weird and scary, but people are acting like it's normal."

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Firefly paused. And felt her heart pound a little harder. She stared at Homura for a moment when she did the hair flip. Oh... Oh wow.

She. Was so. COOL! Firefly BARELY suppressed a squeal of giddy, excited amazement. SO COOL AND TOUGH!

Then, however, she found her eyes drawn to the... girl flailing around with the ribbon. Pathetically. So bad even SHE felt she could do better. Instinctively she felt this... odd... urge to protect the girl. Was... she another kohai? No. Wait. She was... probably older than her. Still didn't stop her from wanting to keep her safe.

Then, however, something else clicked. Fate's little 'please'. She glanced towards the other magical girl. Was... Nanoha a friend of hers? Should she... She added Nanoha to the list of people to help protect in this. Besides, they were doing a GOOD thing here. Takashi told her. And so they'd KEEP doing said good thing.

It takes a few moments for her to realize she's... falling behind. She squeaks and runs after them, catching up in time to see the witch. And once more stand in awe, staring at it.

Only to eventually snap out of it when the shield starts to break. "R-right!" Hotaru says. She veers off from the group, running away to try and circle around so it has to split its fire. She heads away from Madoka and Nanoha, trying to ensure less fires heads towards them. She then holds up her glaive like a rifle, shooting out more blasts. They do little more than ping off the guns and pieces of the witch, barely scratching it.

<Behind!> that horrible, awful voice goes again. One of the familiars spawned behind her and she let out a startled shriek when it fired at her point blank. Instincts took over and she spun the glaive, turning around to avoid the bullet before slashing once with it, cutting the familiar in half. She stood there, panting for a moment. Wow. Fighting was a lot more intense than--

<BEHIND!> the voice YELLED this time. It then formed a barrier, because she was too slow. But the barrier wasn't strong enough... and a blast from the witch caught her in the back, shattering the barrier and making her let out a pained shriek, before toppling forwards to the ground.

Ow. "I-I'm... I'm okay!" she called out...

Nevermind the fact three more familiars were coming at her now while she was down.

Homura Akemi has posed:
    Homura's eyes lid slightly more in response to Kyouko giving her lip for agreeing to let her have the rewards of the hunt. If it were just the two of them Homura would let her fight it alone too, but they're not. More importantly, there's a civilian, and a very important one, involved. If Kyouko doesn't see the benefit of three Puella Magi mutually agreeing on who gets the reward for the fight when five other Magical Heroes are involved, she's not going to spell it out for her and instead simply stares at her until the redhead is distracted by the presence of others.

    Pride won't listen to what Experience will teach.

    Heaven forbid. Mami Tomoe agrees with her on something. It turns out not threatening her chance at having a friend works better than attacking Kyubey in front of her on day 1. Who would have guessed?

    Of course, there are certain stylistic differences between them. As Mami explains the ribbon to Madoka, Homura's jaw sets. There's no time for dispute now, though. As the fight is engaged she goes from cool quiet to a sudden burst of speed, leaning forward and rushing. She runs a zig-zag pattern, drawing fire from a few of the Witch's guns and avoiding the shots that ring out.

    Against this Witch she does her best to keep from staying in any one spot, aiming at its large body and firing her gun on the move. Rather than firing at any particularly vulnerable spot she's just trying to put lead anywhere vaguely on target. She dives behind cover, ejects the magazine from her Glock, pulls out a new one and slaps it into place before racking the slide while crouched before charging off again.

    Seeing Madoka she risks getting within earshot before shouting, "Focus on staying safe yourself! Everyone else can survive being hit, but one stray bullet for you and it's all over!" Mami can be such a fool. Telling Madoka the ribbon can be used as a weapon, what was she thinking? Feeling old ire and bile rise in her she adds before thinking better of it, "If you endanger yourself, you'll just get someone else hurt having to protect you!"

    Really, she didn't like having civilians in a Witch Barrier at all, period. But she knew why Madoka was here, and what Mami's motivations were for bringing her. At least she wasn't the kind of Sempai who told girls to make the first foolish wish that came to mind without even warning them of the danger.

    Homura hears a shriek. She's already looking at Madoka so her blood doesn't immediately turn cold. Her head swivels over towards the source of the sound and she sees Firefly. On the ground. Surrounded by familiars. Oddly her choice of words is, "Madoka...

    She's not going to watch a girl get murdered in front of her. That's not happening.

    Homura's shield turns. Time stops. She walks over, jaw tight. She surveys the situation. The guns are already aimed. She should have paid more attention to Firefly in the past. How much could the girl take? She didn't know the answer to that question. She wasn't invincible though, that was obvious.

    A deep breath. A sigh. She lifts her gun, walks to within 10 feet of one of the familiars. She fires, the bullet shoots out, slows and freezes in the air in front of it. She repeats this procedure two more times, then crouches, grits her teeth, aims at a fourth and resumes time.

    A frantic burst of action as Homura seems to appear out of nowhere next to Firefly, shield raised and sparking in a burst of purple energy as she intercepts one of the bullets intended for the girl. Unlike the calm shooting in frozen time she quickly aims and fires at three more before whipping her head around and glaring at the injured girl, angry at her for getting herself killed in front of the one person that Must Not Happen To. "Get yourself together. Fight with the protection of someone who can protect you, or close in and use the power you do have!"

    She knows Firefly can fight better than this, but she's reluctant to give away too much.

Takashi Agera has posed:
There's a reason Riventon's strategy was primarily to shield. For one, he didn't know what anyone here could do, but everybody - except the pink haired girl who for all intents and purposes seemed to be just a normal girl - had demonstrated some sort of offense. Defense was an unknown, though. For another thing, he did have two small girls - dangerous though they both were - to protect. For the last thing, it allowed him to watch. Not just with his eyes, but with his device, pick up on who was strong. A lot of people here had strong energy signatures, strong artifacts. It was like window shopping for Riventon. The girl and young girl and her staff held some degree of interest, as did the boy with the blades. The yellow, purple black, and red girls seemed like they had a strange form of magic that he had no familiarity with. But that was a curiositiy and not currently a critical concern.

Riventon also learns something new about Labrynths though - he can't step into the Dusk Zone in here. He intended to just casually slip through and appear somewhere else when the shield was breaking, but his step to the left doesn't take him into the familiar wierdness of the Dusk Zone - instead he's still here in *this* wierdness instead. "Oh. Well. That's bad." He says to nobody but himself as the shield starts to crack. Deprived of a usual plan he has to think much quicker.

And then Firefly is being hurt and his attention is in way too many places and... And he can't let Firefly take critical damage. That's more dangerous than the witch. A low curse under his breath and he jumps - and he is not an acrobatic jumper - from behind the shield before it shatters, puts a few blasts into the air to cover Firefly- and unceremoniously eats dirt as he slides behind some cover. Only to see Homura appear - way too fast what was that - and fell the familiars that he was just trying to clumsily suppress. Her teleport worked? Bull! "Okay. Do not like this place." he says to himself, barely scooting a leg behind cover before it eats one of the witches strange excuses for bullets. "Do not like one bit."

The Witch itself is doing actually worse than Riventon or Firefly is. It's not a particularly dangerous witch - a single Puella with their head on their shoulders and a way to avoid projectiles could probably fell it - the group can handle it almost casually. Kyouko is stabbing it, Fate was behind it cleaving it, Mami is shooting it, Koji is disabling its guns, Homura but fire on it... it is already crying out, dying from the combined attacks - the music is fading, the world is going back to normal, to the group of people standing in what seems to just be the back room of an abandoned shop in deep Mitakihara.

But there's one other thing that's here, slowly falling to the ground. A grief seed.

Riventon doesn't really know what a grief seed is. But he can sense something from it and it's power.

He's on his feet way faster than his previous display of acrobatic non-skill might imply, and he's already yelling. "Secure that thing, whatever it is, Fa- Deathscythe, and Firefly!" he says, as he scrambles to get over to it too, and there are small pools of dark energy cropping up around where the Grief Seed will fall as Riventon gets ready to secure it, maybe with help. Before he even knows what it is or who here might want or need it. Magical kleptomania indeed. His eyes might even be sparkling with a mad glee.

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Firefly was in owville. Owie. Blasts to the back HURT. Of course... when she looked up again.

The really cool girl was over her. Telling her to do better. "S-sorry," she said softly. "I don't... I haven't..." This was her first time. Her first excursion. Her first--

The Takashi was yelling. Everything was going off. The zone was collapsing. She'd never done this before. Fight? Was she supposed to get up and run towards it? She rose to her feet. She had to do this, she had to do SOMETHING! But... she didn't want to... hurt anyone...

She held the glaive out... then lifted it up. And then... she dropped it. "Silence!" she yelled.

The glaive struck the ground. Her device glowed and then, well... purple energy rose up around *everyone*. Well. Around their feet, binding them in place. It wasn't... the most effective method of binding, considering they could still move. On top of that, it would likely only take a moment to break the bindings on their feet. On top of that, she hit EVERYONE... including herself. And Fate. And Riventon. She uhhhh... she was still learning.

"O-oops," she said softly. Well. Um.

She... tried.

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
Well, stabbing the witch in the face worked. Kyouko's very proud of herself. That was definitely all on her--nobody else helped at all.

That's not true and she knows it, but she's annoyed enough at the presence of others that she *wishes* it were true. She's on edge, cranky, waiting for either her next chance to stab or the appearance of the grief seed--and in the face of all that magical girl overkill, the latter comes first.

Kyouko kicks off the ground in a swift jump and lands directly next to the grief seed...only for one booted foot to land directly in a pool of Dark Energy. It feels--gross. Super gross. She kind of wants to puke from sheer bitter sadness and approaching despair. What was she even doing? Why does she even want the grief seed? Everything sucks.

And that's when Firefly's binding spell hits, and she's *stuck* there for TEN WHOLE SECONDS. Indignant flailing and yelling ensues. "Hey! Hey, stop that! What the hell! What's wrong with you! What's--"

Before her anger can break down into tears, though, she manages to break the binding, yank her foot out of the puddle of Darkness, and start to regain her senses, such as they are. "Ugh..." And by then, Riventon is at the grief seed. "Dammit! Hey, you! Give me that!"

Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
Nanoha Takamachi watches the witch fall to all the firepower in the barrier. She watches the barrier fade, well, what she understands as a barrier, and they're--in an abandoned shop!? And there's a strange object she doesn't recognize.

It isn't a Jewel Seed, Raising Heart telepathically tells her, but it's something at least, and she's about to go get a closer look while everyone makes greedy grabs for it when she finds herself suddenly stuck.

"H--hey!" she says. "Why!?" she suddenly asks. "What is that thing and why are you all after it!?" she spouts as she struggles even with the weak bind.

Raising Heart isn't helping with a bind break right now for some reason. Maybe it's a teaching moment.

Fate Testarossa has posed:
    One moment, Fate is cleaving the witch...
    The next, after everyone has handily focused their assault on the eldritch abomination, she finds herself no longer in the labyrinth but in the back of an abandoned shop.
    Something falls from where the witch once was, but something ELSE catches Fate's attention entirely.
    Firefly's scream.
    hough Fate is too slow to come to her senpai's aid; Homura being mysteriously so much... Faster than her, in doing so.
    Once again the twintailed blonde puts that insane speed of hers to use, and in a blink she's standing at the older girl's side--
    Just as Firefly hits everyone with a bind.
    "..."
    While the bind holds Fate's legs, she sort of... Awkwardly looms over Firefly's back, daring not touch her or anything, while trying to at least ascertain the extent of her wounds.
    [BIND BREAK.] Bardiche announces helpfully, shattering the spell at her ankles while Fate stares silently at Homura.
    One day...
    One day, she vows... She will be faster than that girl.

Koji Silvia has posed:
<< WARNING. >>

Hanzo's alert to it's Master comes a bit too late for him to not be caught in the molasses of Firefly's binding spell. Instead, he looks down and is stuck where he was standing to defend Nanoha from some incoming attacks. Koji looks up towards where Riventon is, and his eyes narrow a moment as he then flicks his eyes to the remaining two floating but heavily damaged Blades.

<< BINDING CANCELLATION. >>

Both blades then fly down and strike into the power keeping himself and the young Nanoha in check. Both of them begin to glow and shiver, the cracks becoming more obvious and leaking manage outwards in light blue rays before they burst... but in doing so they also shatter the seals holding the pair of Device Mages in place. But the concentration to break that, combined with what he was doing to defend others in a shrinking defense leaves him kneeling and panting as he says to Nanoha, "It's not... a Jewel Seed. For some reason my sensors tell me it's there but it's not..."

Turning his head to look at the girl, he says, "Form a shield. Put it between Riventon and... whatever it is. Just picture it... like the wall outside a school, between you and him. Visualize. Focus. Then your Device will make it."

Mami Tomoe has posed:
As the Witch gets tag-teamed, Mami can hear Homura scolding Madoka-because-of-her. She grimaces. Homura's not *wrong*, but Mami doesn't like admitting it.

And then Riventon and duo go to steal the Grief Seed, complete with...

Binds around their feet?!

"Madoka, stay still once you're free. I'm sorry if I've caused you distress!" Mami calls to her, as Kyubey stares at the Grief Seed. He speaks aloud, not caring if he's heard. "A peculiar situation... do they even know what it is? Yes, Madoka. They're used to it because they're experienced. But they all have different motives tonight."

Mami does not rush to the Grief Seed as the Labyrinth fades, as instead she breaks her bindings after about eleven seconds). The Puella Magi moves to distract Riventon by calling out to him. "Do you even know what that is? If you don't, you can't have it."

It's likely, after her recklessness, that Kyouko needs it more, so... they can't let it slip into a stranger's hands.

As she's breaking her bind, Mami moves to throw out a ribbon to slap the Grief Seed up and into Kyouko's direction, if no one beats her to it! Hopefully the redhead can catch it.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka hears Homura warning her to stay out of trouble, and she says, "O-okay but..." She tries to say something, before realizing that chatter right now is probably just making things worse. Homura is probably right. She always seems to know these things. Maybe she shouldn't be here, but... she wanted to know! After what she saw yesterday, even after what Homura told her, she isn't sure she can just ignore this magical world she's being introduced to.

    As Riventon leaps away from his shattering shield, Madoka yelps and ducks down, just barely dodging some bullets that fly right over her head. She goes from crouch to sprint, arms tucked to her sides as she tries to find the nearest cover. The ribbon in her hand starts to wrap around her like a defensive barrier, protecting her just long enough to duck behind a random piece of terrain. As she squats in relative safety, trying to catch her breath and figure out what to do, the Labyrinth fades away and everything becomes normal.

    She looks behind her, at Riventon going after the strange bit of jewelry that fell on the ground, and using some pretty gross looking magic in order to do so. She decides that maybe her first read on him might have been correct. Villain vibes. Maybe not a mindless monster like they thing they just slew, but certainly someone to be careful around.

    "Different motives?" she asks Kyubey. So now they're fighting over the thing, whatever it is. It must be pretty important if it's instantly breaking their previous alliance.

    Something about the word 'Silence' gives her an odd feeling. Moreso than usual. It passes quickly, because now she's bound by purple energy! The color drains from her cheeks. Maybe everyone else here could escape that, but not her! She tries brushing the energy away with the ribbon that Mami gave her, but it will take considerably longer for her than it would for anyone else here.

    Well, she wanted to know what it was like, and this is what it's like: Chaotic.

Homura Akemi has posed:
    Homura's anger disappears and is replaced with sudden surprise as the Labyrinth starts to shift and fade. She mentally chides herself for overreacting. Firefly would have been fine; the Familiars wouldn't have had a chance to shoot her. Still, she might not always have someone as powerful as Kyouko and Fate around to cleave the Witch into pieces.

    As Firefly apologizes Homura does something strange. She backs down. "It's... alright. We had powerful allies to rely on." In the end, maybe it'd be a good thing. Even she, Homura Akemi, has had to relearn to rely on those around her. No one can escape from making mistakes. Not even her.

    She's about to say more when she sees the glaive raise. And fall. Her pupils constrict down to little points. She holds her breath. She might start scrambling, if not for a piece of her subconscious that reminds her she can hear people arguing over the Grief Seed while Kyubey explains the complexities of Magical Hero Diplomacy or something to Madoka.

    There's no giant wall of destruction, but there is one of Homura's other least favorite things. Bindings. She looks down at her feet, head tilting. She lifts her head and looks at Firefly. She simply stares. Cooly. Accusingly. Without words she simply emotes the accusation with her stony faced mask. 'I save you and this is the gratitude I get?'

    Kouhai.

Takashi Agera has posed:
Riventon would have made it. He would have. If not for a few things. The bind FROM FIREFLY (he's going to have a polite talk with her about that later, after he yells at her first) stuffs him and he nearly topples forward and eats ground again, only this time with the harshness of concrete. But he manages to get balance and points his finger at it, another one of those tiny ink-lines hits the binds, and he breaks out of that. But then before he can reach it, Mami's ribbon hits the Grief Seed and it goes scattering on the floor, making soft metallic noises as it does so.

It lands about equidistantly from the three of them - Mami, Riventon, and Kyouko. A sort of 3-way-standoff, only it's not a standoff because Riventon immediately starts throwing a couple of those ink-line Dark Energy blasts at the two girls. But Homura would pick up on something - and maybe Mami, too - he's not aiming for them. He's aiming near them, between them, around them, and the sticky ink-tentacles stay in the air after the 'missed' shots and provide brief, half-second long obstacles before they fade out. It's like he's just trying to keep them back as he rushes to get the seed again - maybe *before* something like a Nanoha wall prevents that. But probably not. He occasionally manages to glare at Hotaru just a little bit.

Lots of threats here though. Homura can move fast but at least he can teleport now too. Koji and Nanoha, though he doesn't fully know their names, have power to spare too. If he doesn't get it soon he might have to pull away. "Come on Firefly, I need you to help not harm."

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
Well, Kyouko *was* going to regain her balance, dash in, and grab the grief seed. It would've been *fine*. But then...Mami had to try to help her. The moment she sees that ribbon, she does two things:

1. She lunges forward, hand out, to try to catch the skittering grief seed.

2. She yells out as she moves, "I don't need your *help*, you stupid...stupid Mami!"

But even as she moves, Riventon's weird inky Darkness blobs seem to be coming at her. She dodges around them, and as she approaches the grief seed, a barrier of interlinked crimson spears shoots up around her and it, temporarily blocking off the competition. "It's mine!"

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Firefly gulped, looking up at Homura. "I-I... I'm sorry," she said softly. "I-I've never... done that before... I'm still... learning. I--"

And then, once more, Riventon was talking to her. Help. Not harm. "R-right." Ironically, the only people STILL bound... were people she didn't want to bind to begin with. She tapped the glaive again and the spell disippated. She had to...

She looked over at the girls, then Homura. Then Madoka. Then Riventon. Then Fate. Then--

Her eyes went wide and she stumbled forward a half-step, driving her glaive into the ground, the blunt end down. Struggling to support herself. Struggling to keep it in. No. No no. Not now. NOT NOW!

She had to help, had to help. HAD TO HELP!

Riventon was close, she had to help, not hinder, not--

But she finally crumbled to her knees... Just hold it in. Don't... interfere...

If Riventon was expecting support, he wouldn't be getting it... And a moment later he'd hear why. That pained cry. That clatter of her weapon falling to the ground. He might expect to turn and see she was attacked. But instead, he'd see her there, panting, covered in sweat and clutching her chest while her body shuddered through its tremors. She was having one of her seizures. And trying desperately to not cry out, despite it, so as to not interfere with him... but she could only do so much.

Mami Tomoe has posed:
Mami doesn't realize, sadly, that the blasts aren't meant for her. She's TOO focused on Madoka, Kyouka, and Riventon to be paying close enough attention to her safety in that way. So as she suddenly leaps backwards - losing the distance war for sure - she frowns once she realizes the plan.

Kyubey takes this chance to elaborate. "That is a very valuable object for a magical girl. One worth fighting over, even if some are more selfless."

Mami grimaces as Kyouko lashes out at her. "Kyouko!" She calls out, but the redhead's made a wall. So, instead, there's only one thing Mami can do.

She doesn't want to weaken herself any further, so with the fact she took distance back, she dashes straight for...

Riventon, hoping to sweep his leg with a manifested gun (she does not fire it whether it hits or not) and hold him off long enough to scare his posse off. "What happened to cooperation?"

Hearing the crying from his ally, she actually got mad.

"Go help your friend! Don't be a jerk!!"

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    A lot of things are happening right now and Madoka is having none of it. Being this directly close to PvP was not exactly what she had on her day planner. She takes a moment to make sure that Kyubey is either on her shoulders or in her arms and, the moment the binding fades, she turns around and runs. "Tell me later, Kyubey! We have to get out of here!"

    It will likely be a long time before Madoka realizes that Kyubey wasn't in any real danger.

    She hears the cry, sees Firefly dropping to the ground, and stops. Oh, that is not a good sign. Again, Madoka hesitates, but for a much different reason. This is the kind of thing that requires Immediate Medical Help. "U-um... just wait here! I'll go get help!"

    Madoka doesn't yet know that they can teleport. So she runs away for a very different reason. With the intent to, after finding help, come back.

Homura Akemi has posed:
    When Homura first sees Riventon's blasts of dark energy -after- the Witch was defeated her first thought is incredulity, but then she realizes the beams were meant to delay and hinder rather than harm. Okay. He gets a point for being a jerk, but not for being straight up evil this time.

    She relents from her look at Firefly when the girl releases the binding spell. She's trying to think of something to say, deciding whether to try and warn her against interfering with Kyouko and Mami retrieving the Grief Seed or consoling her on her mistakes, when the younger girl starts acting like she's in pain.

    Homura starts and watches her, looking to see if a Familiar had somehow escaped the Barrier when they weren't looking and had attacked her. But no. She didn't notice anything. There was no attack. Which means...

    She looks over towards Riventon. He's normally the one who deals with this, right? "Bringing her into a Witch's Labyrinth in this condition." She doesn't elaborate. Instead she puts her weight onto her heel, turns, and begins to walk away, pushing her hair over her shoulder and flipping it one more time.

    For how many people were here and how relatively weak the Witch was this fight has worn more on her nerves than she'd like to admit.

Koji Silvia has posed:
As Koji/Astray moves to stand up, Nanoha moves past him and brings Raising Heart to bear to interpose between Riventon and his prize, but it does not seem to be necessary. Kyouko has pounced the 'Grief Seed' like a cat with a treat. He almost sighs in relief, but at the same time flicks his eyes towards the groups that look to be getting into a stand-off... which to him seems to be no place for a little girl.

Madoka aside... as she seems to have her own guardian.

Pulling one of his knives, he flicks it behind his back and it streaks outside and quickly up along the side of a building. Stepping in next to Nanoha, he whispers, 'Hold on.'

<< THREE BLADE SEAL. OBSCURE. >>

Pulling three kunai from his right him, they land in the ground in a tri-gram and suddenly the area around Nanoha and 'Astray' is filled with mana-formed smoke...

<< TELEPORT. BLADE 1. >>

...Which when it clears, the pair are gone.

A couple blocks away, Nanoha is let go of by the boy in dark clothes, and before she can say anything, he vanishes again, just blending into the scenery of Tokyo's great skyline.

Takashi Agera has posed:
Firefly. She's... not doing well. He thought the hits weren't that bad, but. Maybe it was the stress. They'd have to train, a witch was too much, too soon, and then a fight with actual sparkl-OW as his thoughts were interrupted by his finger getting speared by Kyouko's sudden wall. Okay, fine, stupid thing. Firefly. Not having a huge chunk of Mitakihara explode. That'd be a pain to explain.

Mami's gun comes out as he's turning already, and he gets caught it and it sounds actually like it hit pretty good and he takes a step or two forward, and the shadow face's eyes glimmer red. "I KNOW, THANKS!!!" he yells almost supernaturally loud, the anger at the situation - at himself, at them, at her, at the universe - let out in those three words.

There would be another whatever the hell this is. Right, not in a labrynth anymore. His next step is *out* of existence and then his next step after that is him coming back into existence behind Firefly. "Alright, firefly-chan. Looks like we're leaving." And he says this in a different tone now, caring, not self-aggrandizing and overconfident like normal, and not even angry. He doesn't even give the puellas or Koji an insulting or threatening villain monologue, he just prioritizes another step out and he's gone, little streks of black energy marking the jump. He can be mad later. Now he just needs to be alive.