199/The Dangers Of Falling In Love
From Radiant Heart MUSH
| The Dangers Of Falling In Love | |
|---|---|
| Date of Scene: | 03 August 2023 |
| Location: | Adachi, Tokyo |
| Synopsis: | When you fall for water, the only way forward is down. |
| Cast of Characters: | Adalinda Blumenkrantz, Miho Aiuchi, Madoka Kaname, Coco Kiumi, Amanda Faust, Teresia Kuefer |
- Adalinda Blumenkrantz has posed:
Adachi, is a special ward, north of the heart of Tokyo. The Sumida River and Arakawa River both run through it. It will probably take a bus or train to get there from Juuban or Mitakihara. The lead is a rather tenuous one for those looking for signs of paranormal trouble. Suicides by drowning in the Sumida River have been increasing in frequency, and others have simply disappeared in the general neighborhood. The explanation could be anything.
Including a Witch.
A girl with shoulder-length straight black hair and golden-brown amber eyes stands in a bomber jacket and schoolgirl uniform on a hill overlooking the Sumida River. Her hands are in her pockets, except for when she occasionally checks a wrist watch. She may be waiting for someone. It's late afternoon or early evening, the Sun continues to make its way across the blue sky, there are some fluffy white clouds scattered here and there, and there's even a breeze that provides some cool relief from the heat.
Nothing suspicious here.
Even if a Witch's trail leads directly to this spot.
- Miho Aiuchi has posed:
Miho Aiuchi is not a Puella Magi. She's not even a magical girl! She and her sister Kurumi have a latent talent for magic -- perhaps they're even on Kyubey's radar -- but they are both blissfully unaware of it, and have no way of actually using it.
... Not yet, anyway.
But Miho has been hearing rumors lately. All the stuff about Sailor V and others, that explosion at Four Clover, and now, this new business in Adachi. Of course, this isn't actually what she's here for; she decided to go for a walk, and took the bus and picked Adachi at random, because she sometimes does that sort of thing. Just going off and doing whatever, even in the evening. She walks down the sidewalk, a fairly tall and androgynous-looking girl wearing a green T-shirt and a black skirt, one hand grasping the purse slung over her shoulder, wearing earbuds with wires trailing into the purse.
That said, she does look like she's making a beeline for the river, and she doesn't seem entirely aware that she's doing so ...
- Madoka Kaname has posed:
Madoka can't feel or sense Witches, despite being able to see magical things. That really has nothing to do with why she's here. A Radiant Heart student who lives around here got hurt during school, and Madoka being the nurse's aide volunteered to help them get home. Now she's making her way back to the bus stop, on her way home. Without a Soul Gem, she couldn't possibly know that there was a Witch in the area.
Still, she's not completely unaware of what Witches are, or what they do. When she hears about strings of suicides or mysterious deaths happening in an area, she can't help but wonder. Madoka's walk home takes her by the Sumida River. She doesn't know the girl in the bomber jacket, but she thinks she recognizes the uniform.
Is it normal for someone to wait around by the river? Probably. It's innocent enough to not be terribly suspicious by itself. It's not as if Madoka would be able to verify the presence of a Witch's Kiss without getting a lot closer, but...
She starts walking towards Adalinda, thinking to strike up a conversation. It would ease her nerves a bit if she could just verify that the unknown girl was in her right mind. She isn't sure what she'd do if she verified the presence of a Witch here. Calling Homura might be a problem since it would take her time to arrive.
"H-hey! So... you go to Radiant Heart, huh?" says Madoka as she gets close enough to be heard, with a slight amount of tension in her voice. It's then that she looks off to the side and sees Miho, someone else she doesn't know. That looks weird.
Madoka starts getting a bit pale. No, that can't be happening. Not right in front of her, right? It's too far fetched. She's just imagining things. There's nothing weird going on.
Right?
Yet, despite what she tells herself, her eyes don't leave Miho. She's forgotten about Adalinda for the moment.
- Coco Kiumi has posed:
Coco is coming back from a walk to the park, wearing a yellow tank top accompanied by an orange miniskirt. Out of nowhere one of the otters she had stationed around the city rushes to her, bumping into her leg to get her attention. 'Huh, what's going on?' communicates telepatically the mermaid princess to the panting animal.
'There have been a huge convergence of people drowning themselves in a river nearby, and they don't like themselves!' Coco glances horrified at the otter. 'Drowning themselves? Is this like the incident at the hotel?'
The otter shakes its head. 'Doesn't look like it, the other thing didn't leave a mark.' Coco nods, a bit repulsed this thing is marking its victims. 'Right, guide the way', she replies. Passersby would after that be talking about a girl in a full sprint chasing after a otter.
At Sumida river, Coco thanks the otter for the help and says it can go back now. 'I will pass by with some food later.' As the otter makes itself scarce, Coco heads to the river, hoping to pick up on something. Her magical senses aren't the best, but she should pick up on something if she gets close enough.
'Huh, what's she doing?' she thinks, noticing the girl she met at the festival. 'That's Miho, isn't she?' She gets pale in the face as the does the math. "Yellow Pearl Voice!" she yells, quickly transforming in an emergency, not caring if she is being watched or not.
Her hair gets longer and becomes blonde, while her clothes quickly get replaced by a shining kaleidoscope of light, which soon morphs into her idol clothes, a sleeveless blouse, boots coming just under the knee and gloves with flowy extension to them, all in various yellow shades.
"Wait, Miho!" she tells the girl, running after her and taking a hold of her before she can do anything drastic. "What's going on, are you ok?"
- Amanda Faust has posed:
(For full effect, play songs as you reach them! Kthx!)
Hopping from rooftop to rooftop with Kyubey on her shoulder, Amanda stops every several hops to feel her soul gem and concentrate on that sensation of darkness to the north. Eventually she stops, and gets out her phone and some mapping software, and travels east-west for awhile so she can triangulate.
Damn, that's pretty far, that's clear in Adachi ward. As fun as the whole rooftop thing is, she should probably find a faster option. She rooftop-hops over towards the train station, intending to detransform and buy a ticket, when she sees the train pulling in below her and SHE KNOWS WHAT SHE MUST DO.
https://puu.sh/JMToY/2d4f828cea.mp3
AD 202X
IT guy Mallory Faust
came to Japan and was
living a peaceful life.
Then one day, people all
over Tokyo were
threatened by monsters,
rampaging and throwing
their lives into chaos.
Kyubey quickly realized
that Witches and other
dark beings were
behind these nefarious
deeds but he didn't know
what to do. Mal, having
a strong sense of
justice,volunteered to
be converted into a
magical girl.
Thus the magical girl
Amanda was born.
https://puu.sh/JMTwW/f9081b40a9.mp3
Amanda shattered the
nefarious Scorn's plans
three times and
peace has been
maintained so far....but
history repeats itself.
In Adachi,a mysterious
Witch,has caused
disappearances
and suicides Amanda must
stop. Amanda starts for
the battle again,
this time equipped with
the powerful
new Mega Buster!!
The red Puella rides atop the train to Adachi, unable to stop herself from grinning wide under the visor added to her outfit, hair and cloak dramatically billowing in the wind. THIS IS SO COOL. If this were an anime she would *absolutely* look SO COOL right now. It's kind of a shame no one looks up when trains go by to see if someone is riding on top of them!
Of course, she doesn't actually *have* a mega buster, but... actually, hold on. Can she charge her rocket launcher? She's never actually... tried, like, just holding down the button and willing it to charge.
And as she looks at her soul gem, currently on the back of her glove's wrist like a watch, she's reminded that now isn't the time to experiment. Unlike the mega buster, her rocket launcher (rocket... buster? Hmm, workshop that) needs weapon energy to fire and she only has about a fifth left and no idea what a 'charged shot' would even cost. You'd think Terribads could at least drop some of those little blue pellets when they're defeated...
Amanda resumes rooftop-hopping when the train pulls into the station, but eventually has to come down and walk where people can see her. But, there could be a monster here, couldn't there? Witches sound dangerous, and she can't afford to fall to a surprise attack... She settles for dismissing the visor, pulling her hood up, and wrapping her cloak around her as she makes her way up the hill. Weird, but not as eye-catching as being clearly a Magical Girl.
"Hey. What brings you here?" the red Puella Magi calls out to Adalinda... And then sees Yellow Pearl Voice down by the river, already transformed. Adalinda forgotten, she takes off running down the hill towards the group, her cloak billowing behind her once more.
- Adalinda Blumenkrantz has posed:
Adalinda turns to look at Madoka as soon as she hears the other girl approach. She speaks in near-flawless Japanese with only the barest hints of a German accent. "I do. However--" She pauses when Madoka seems to be distracted by something else. Adalinda turns as well, spotting Miho approaching, and another girl in fancier dress. "I strongly recommend not staying around here. It isn't safe," she says very seriously. Behind Miho at a great distance, Adalinda can just barely make out the silhouettes of other people approaching. Another stranger, this one in a cloak and hood, is coming up the hill towards her, and just addresses her as though they know each other.
But Adalinda doesn't have the time to respond. She just continues turning, seeing more and more people walking towards the river bank, from off the street or attempting to enter the river from the other side by just walking into the water. Maybe along the way they seemed fine and just going about their business but by now they are all clearly disoriented, and with their strange, uncoordinated movements, shuffling steps, and occasional groans, they truly could be mistaken for zombies in a horror movie.
"Though," Adalinda continues as she sees thirty or forty people overall converging on her location, and another dozen on the opposite bank. Maybe more beyond them. "It might be too late for that."
With a sigh, and a final look at her wristwatch, she picks up a carrying case that was leaning against her leg and grabs a red jeweled ornament hanging from it. She holds it up to eye level, and a pulse of crimson light flares outwards, exploding each item of clothing she is wearing into a spray of multi-colored fireworks. Black cloth flows out of nowhere, wrapping itself around Adalinda's body, and blocking out the prismatic hues of her skin as magic flows across her body. The cloth bursts into black and purple butterflies as it solidifies into parts of a completely different outfit. The teenager half-turns as cloth wraps around her waist to create an additional layer before also erupting with black and purple butterflies as it becomes a skirt.
Finally, she fastens her Soul Gem on her chest, where purple ribbons spread out from it and become a bodice of a reddish-violet. Black ribbons tie off her sleeves at her biceps, and red and pink ribbons spiral around her legs until they become tights and black buckled shoes. The cloud of butterflies disperses, leaving Puella Adalinda where a normal girl once stood.
"Stay close to me." she says as she holds out one arm in front of Madoka to bar her from going anywhere. "It looks like we interrupted feeding time."
Some of those with a Witch's Kiss turn with hostility towards Yellow Pearl Voice for intruding, yelling at her that she is an 'enemy of love' as they stumble forwards with outstretched hands. And four vertical black bars with mini-spirals at the top and bottom marked visibly on their bodies.
There's some coming towards the gathering of Madoka, Amy, and Adalinda too. "Do you think you can disable them without hurting them?" she asks of Amy. She looks to Madoka, making sure she isn't so scared that she does something... Unwise.
- Miho Aiuchi has posed:
When Coco grabs Miho, she does a double-take, jumping back from the water and letting out a squawk of surprise! Her earbuds fall out, and the sound of Sonic Frontiers buttrock becomes audible. -- and don't look down! You won't fade out, cuz the fire in you never dies! It comes around ...
She stares at her rescuer. "What? I (boku) -- or -- I (atashi) -- wait, was I headed right for the water ...?" Her voice is scratchy, and currently on the wrong side of 'androgynous.' She furrows her brow, looking Yellow Pearl Voice up and down. "Who ... s-sorry, uh, who ... are you?" Left unspoken: 'and how do you know my name?'
She looks over Yellow Pearl Voice's shoulder at the whole crowd of people approaching like a horde of like zombies. Her attention is caught by the column of light that denotes Adalinda's transformation, and she looks over in time to see Mega I MEAN Amy's hurried approach. If a picture is worth a thousand words, Miho's face is worth two hundred each of 'confusion', 'incredulity', 'surprise', and 'indiscriminate anxiety'. "Uhhhhh, wwwwwwwwwhat."
And then some of them start to attack Yellow Pearl Voice. "WHOA, WHAT!?"
- Madoka Kaname has posed:
Madoka finds Yellow Pearl Voice's presence reassuring, if only because it means that the pinkette isn't the only one worried about this whole affair.
Wait, that's actually still bad.
Adalinda, also, isn't crazy. Yet now there's a zombie hoard.
Yep. It's bad. In fact, Madoka can somewhat barely make out the Witch's Kiss even if she only sees it from a distance. Her pink eyes go wide. Adalinda henshins right in front of her. There's another Puella Magi here, too. Madoka hides behind Adalinda, glancing around from side to side. One hand moves up to cover her mouth while the other arm wraps around her stomach. The mention of 'feeding time' makes her shudder.
"I don't... I can't..."
Why does she have to be so useless. If only she was a magical girl, at least she'd still be able to do something. Is all she can do just sit here and watch?
She can't bring herself to run, yet there isn't much she can do about the zombie crowd either. "Is it really a Witch? Here? Then... all those people..."
Madoka takes a step back, away from the magical girls and the zombies. She's been in danger enough times that she's pretty sure she'd just get in the way. Maybe if some more of them recover like Miho did...
- Amanda Faust has posed:
Amy has seen scores of people lying unconscious, the color drained from them, pricked by Scorn's feathers.
She has NOT seen a horde of people wandering, zombie-like, to deaths by drowning in the river. How is.... how is she even supposed to stop that, with a rocket launcher?
Another magical girl is shouting at her. Amy looks back. She manifests her rocket launcher, resting it on her right shoulder, since a visual aid is worth a thousand words. She shakes her head, looking rather worried. "I'm new at this. Where's the... I thought we stopped this by fighting a Witch?"
And then she realizes she heard someone besides Yellow talking behind her, turns back around, blinks and looks over Miho as she jogs up to the two of them. "...Fudge, you're *conscious*? That's never happened before. Wait, are you a magical--" She starts to ask, but then Witch-kissed are pushing her and, afraid to use her full strength, the magical girl flails against them, small size and lack of reach doing her no favors here. "Hey! I'm trying to save you, stupid! Gaah! What is this-- hey, quit it! --anyway? Dammit, throwing people at us like this is actually pretty smart... and evil..."
- Coco Kiumi has posed:
Yellow Pearl Voice looks at the advancing people muttering she is an enemy of love. "I'm just an acquaintance for now", she replies to Miho, more focused on the advancing thralls than the girl's confusion. "Please, stay with me, ok?" She takes hold of Miho's hand with hers, willing the Live Stage to form around the two of them. No, the three of them, because a red figure jumps into the sphere's radius at the same time.
"Nice to have you here, Red!" Yellow Pearl Voice smiles at friendly, happy to have a trustworthy ally alongside her. "Couldn't resist grabbing a front row seat to the concert?" she jokes at her, her eyes showing how glad she is to have the Puella Magi at her side.
Just about then, she notices a scared pinkette outside of the group of people."Don't worry about it, I got everything under control here", she tries to reassure her, before going back to addressing the crowd.
"Me, an enemy of love? Love is what gives us the strength to keep going: we sing of it, it flows within ourselves, and we cherish every moment of it: even if it should one day hurt, we enjoy the fond memories we gained alongside it", she starts speaking, her eyes closed and her face turned towards her E-Pitch microphone, a burning aura around her, as if the accusation gave her strength.
"Love is the wonderful emotion that we seven princesses spread, and whoever is controlling these people, I will make you regret carelessly debasing it with this death cult", she looks straight at the crowd, hoping whoever is behind this can see through them.
"Without further ado, Super Love Songs! Pichi Pichi Voice, Live Start!" A soundtrack start spreading from the Live Stage, as Yellow Pearl Voice begins singing, the musical notes starting to affect the Witch's Kiss, speaking to the sorrow inside it, chanting to reassure it, calm it down, saying it's ok to let go, embracing it like a balm against its fatigue and sorrow.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6aNH_BJtgM
- Adalinda Blumenkrantz has posed:
"It's fine." Adalinda says softly towards Madoka. "I won't let anyone hurt you." She turns and gives a smile over her shoulder at the pink-haired girl. "I'm Adalinda. You can call me Ada or Linda if you wish. Less of a mouthful in a crisis." Well, at least she has some good humor about this. She isn't about to have the girl she's protecting become a victim of this Witch. So she is going to be as positive and encouraging as she can be. She is going to protect all of these people, and she is going to Kill All The Witches.
It seems the other Puella Magi is very new, so it will be up to Adalinda to handle this. Unfortunate, especially lacking the support she called for, but doable. "The Witch must have gotten powered up by the individual deaths recently, so now it can claim dozens of people at once. A Build-Up Type Witch is always trouble. You need to get them early or they just become worse and worse." Adalinda lunges forwards at the first citizen to enter range, skimming the ground while in a combat stance such is her speed, and performs some sort of palm strike to the salaryman's chest. She also lets out a, 'Hup!' noise as a pulse of magic ripples through the man's body. A moment later he falls backwards onto the ground, unconscious.
"Okay. You protect her," she orders Amy, only to find the cloaked and hooded girl has just... Run off towards the other two girls off in the distance, to help them. By beating up the mind controlled people with a rocket launcher. Adalinda can only stare before reacting to another civilian entering her striking range with another magical pulse delivered through a palm strike. At least Teresia taught her this much. "Alright. Change of plans." she says as she retreats a couple steps to get close to Madoka again. If permitted, she slips an arm around the pinkette and pulls her close. "Hang on tight." is the only warning she gives before she starts racing through the crowd that has become a wall of men, women, and children about to wash over them with their sheer weight of numbers and maddened strength. She leaps over grasping hands, spending magic in small pulses to knock out individuals who get too close, while gradually making her way over to the gathering of girls who are also under attack. Sometimes she has to resort to just kicking or punching someone or knife-handing the back of their neck to put them on the ground. Fighting with a girl on your arm is a little bit of a handicap.
Eventually, everyone should be in the same place, with the Witch-kissed thinned by about a dozen or so. She's still looking across the river behind her at the people who are presently now >in the water<. If Amy can't even handle disabling unarmed civilians in a dazed state, then this is going to get very ugly very quickly.
The Familiars haven't even appeared yet.
Why is her back-up so late to get here!?
Thankfully, Yellow Pearl Voice starts using her voice as a weapon, music slowing and then stalling the movements of the mind controlled, until they are just standing uncertainly in place. Some of them seem to be coming to their senses or at least passing out. The people about to drown in the water are the next priority--
- Teresia Kuefer has posed:
A black and gold streak appears on the opposite bank of the river, disappears, reappears again with several people who were in the water now laid out on the grassy slopes, seemingly unconscious. The streak has already vanished and reappeared several more times by then, with more and more people just vanishing from where they were standing and reappearing on the ground, peacefully resting. The black and gold blur resolves into a very tall blonde woman in a long black gown, once the last of the still-active Witch-kissed are disabled. The ones swaying on their feet come around, and in their confusion and sudden panic, begin questioning why they would do what they were about to do, sobbing hysterically as they fall to their knees, or just holding onto the person nearest to them.
The blonde woman approaches the gathering of girls, one booted foot in front of the other, then offers a small smile with gentle eyes as she says, "You did well holding out until I got here. Sorry I'm late." A white creature with two sets of ears and glistening red eyes hops down from her shoulder and approaches Madoka to switch platforms with a swish of his tail. "I told you that your help was not needed, Teresia Kuefer. Your insistence on rushing despite there being two Puella Magi already on the scene was an inefficient use of your energy." he lectures before settling on the pinkette. "The Witch's barrier has not even been breached yet."
- Miho Aiuchi has posed:
Miho is ducking, hands crossed over her head. "A magical what!?" she exclaims back at Amy, panic in her voice. -- Yellow Pearl Voice is holding onto her. And summoning a stage. Okay. Okay. She's ... in a region of safety? With a singing ... hero ... girl?? (Miho doesn't know anything about magical girls.)
... The melody begins. Miho quickly grabs her phone out of her purse and shuts off the tonally-discordant boss music, even though it's largely drowned out by the Pichi Pichi Voice. "... huhhhh." She glances between Coco and Amy. She has so many questions, but they can all wait, APPARENTLY. "Uh ... hi," she says weakly, as Adalinda arrives with Madoka.
... Someone is moving fast.
Someone is moving very fast.
As Miho gets a clear view of Teresia -- which admittedly isn't that clear -- a faint incredulous smile crosses her face. "Okay, now we have Sonic here as well," she mumbles, with a tone of voice which says 'this might as well happen.'
- Madoka Kaname has posed:
Madoka doesn't really feel reassured of anything. She is exactly the kind of person who would interfere with a zombie death cult, but the means to actually help aren't... actually obvious. If only Homura were here...
"Madoka Kaname," is the name she gives. "Wish we could've met under better circumstances..."
Adalinda scoops her up, and a lot of things happen. She pulls close to the Puella Magi in an attempt to lower her profile and make herself easier to carry. There's fighting and hands and grabbing and running. Yellow Pearl Voice's song rings out. A blur of a magical girl who turns out to be a familiar face shows up. Things are starting to look better, but it's far from over.
"Teresia?!" she exclaims. "You're here, too. I guess I just stumbled into this. Are you also hunting the Witch?" Something about Teresia seems heroic, even for a magical girl. Showing up at the last minute like this. "Wait, are these some of your friends?"
Kyubey might have some trouble finding a foothold on Madoka with all of the chaos happening, but this critter has been doing this sort of shoulder riding for... quite a while. Far Longer than Madoka realizes. Eventually she holds out her arms to let the cabbit mascot jump into them.
"Sorry... it looks like I'm just in the way again..."
- Amanda Faust has posed:
>A build-up type witch is always trouble.
"There are TYPES?! Kyubey didn't mention anything about that! Seriously, is there a pamphlet I should read or something?!"
Hey, it's not that she knows NOTHING about fighting, more that she's afraid to use what little she does when a puella magi's strength could seriously hurt people! Especially when she can swing that rocket launcher around like it's a tenth of its actual weight...
And then, there's another magical girl -- soon revealed to be a Puella Magi -- and Yellow's voice is freeing the witch-kissed, and Kyubey's here too! "Woah, uh, should we really be using real names like that?" She blinks, and puts her hands on her hips, frowning slightly. "You didn't tell me there were *types* of witches. Build-Up Type? Are you gonna give me like, a proper briefing later?"
Amy dismisses her rocket launcher and looks between the two civilians. "Uhh... I've been going by 'Red' until I come up with a name, I guess. Sorry I wasn't more help, this is my first time dealing with a Witch, and I don't have much magic left."
She turns to her senior Puella Magi, and bows. "Thank you for helping me. I'm eager to learn what I can so I can help better..."
- Coco Kiumi has posed:
As Yellow Pearl Voice keeps singing, she is briefly distracted by a twin-coloured ray of light flashing intermittently before going back to focus on the song. Soon enough, the thralls are all safe and she can lower the E-Pitch, letting go of Miho and letting the Live Stage disappear, the white sphere flickering out of existence.
The ray has turned into a person in the meantime, a tall woman accompanied by the ever-cheery Kyubey, so Coco takes this opportunity to wave at the new arrivals.
The creature wastes no time in moving to Madoka's shoulder, to whom Yellow Pearl Voice asks "Uhm, are you one of the magical heroines working for that cat?", she asks, seeing that the pinkette doesn't react negatively to the cat perching himself upon her shoulder.
When Adalinda talks about the witch's characteristics, Red isn't the only one to express confusion, as the only contact she has ever had with these types of demons was a familiar.
"A build-up type witch?" she looks at Adalinda curious and nervous about the unknown term. "I never heard anything about that type of demon. Do we have some sort of time limit before it gets too strong?"
- Adalinda Blumenkrantz has posed:
"Ah, so you've already met." Adalinda says with a smile. She looks Madoka over from head to toe. "I suppose that makes sense." Hmmmm? Mysterious much? She isn't like Teresia. She can't just tell Potential on-sight. But she at least senses that Madoka qualifies for making a contract. She also looks over Miho, but has a harder time discerning anything about her. Just a civilian? She was lured by the Witch, but doesn't appear to have a Kiss on her. Meaning she was a target of convenience who just happened to be wandering too close to the Barrier. "Being caught up in the malice of a Witch, or anyone else, isn't your fault. Getting hurt because of someone else's spite isn't your fault." she says towards Madoka when she looks back. "Madoka-san, you already have shown you have a stronger will than those who were brought here by mind control. You didn't succumb to the Witch's whispers. And besides which, you appear to have been chosen by Kyubey. That means you can make a difference in many lives. You matter to many lives." She smiles a bit, and then focuses on Amy: more specifically, her Soul Gem. "You, on the other hand... Need help. Desperately. Follow me for now, please. Your magic won't last much longer at this rate."
As she turns to walk away, she calls out to Kyubey, "Please keep those two safe out here. And if you can't... Well, you know what to do." Contract them or call for help with telepathy if that doesn't work. The thought that Madoka and/or Miho might come with her never crosses her mind.
Adalinda lets Teresia answer the other questions, being the most experienced here, but does stop when directly addressed by multiple people. "There were types back home in Germany at least. It might be a local system of classification based off of our experiences though. Our team has been at this for a few years now, so we've encountered many different Witches, some of whom share traits, hunting tactics, or broadly similar abilities." She speaks while focusing on making sure no one is suffering a concussion or other serious injury that needs to be addressed. If there are injuries... Well, Magda would have been the ideal person to treat it, but she's not here, so it may come down to a less experienced healer spending magic. Thankfully, it doesn't appear anyone has more than a few scrapes or bruises, so she leaves them for now, and focuses on the people who the idol singer brought back from the brink.
"Thank you for your help. I haven't seen song as a weapon before. It definitely saved lives here today. Good job. However, they may relapse if we don't finish off the Witch responsible. In general, a Witch whose range and number of victims increases with each victim she consumes is a Build-Up Type. Some have multiple possessions immediately, and others never progress beyond one or two at a time." she informs matter-of-factly before walking back to where she was standing when this all started.
The Puella Magi stands on the hill, raises a hand, and magic ripples outwards visibly from her hand. The air over the river in front of her distorts slightly, like there's a film over it. "I'm going ahead. Catch up when you can." Then in a flutter of black and purple skirts and flowing black ribbons, she disappears as the boundary swallows her whole.
The civilians will need help, but emergency services can take care of them for now. Hopefully, they'll also take them far enough way that if they do relapse into the Witch's control... It will take them some time to make it back here.
- Teresia Kuefer has posed:
Teresia smiles and waves. "Yes, Adalinda is my junior, and one of the girls who came with me from Germany. I'm glad you two could meet." She glances over at the very busy girl as she hurries through what, for the veteran magical girls, is standard operating procedure. Make sure no one is hurt severely or dying, call for emergency services to get the people out of here, notify allies where you're going, and don't advance through a Witch's Barrier alone. Ever. To Amy, she says, "Teresia Kuefer, as you may have overhead. Usually sharing names isn't an issue, since civilians either don't remember or don't associate us with our Magical Girl identities. Sometimes, however, it becomes necessary to henshin in front of others." She doesn't mention that, if it's truly needed, she knows how to mess with memories using her magic. A non-magical civilian won't remember anything she doesn't want them to.
"As for teaching you, that is my role after all. I'll gladly instruct you to the best of my ability. I also support what Adalinda-chan said. You aren't in the way. If none of us had been here, you could have called emergency services to at least save as many as they could. That's better than saving no one. And sometimes... That's the best you can hope for." It's a heavy truth she has laid out.
Finally, she focuses on Yellow Pearl Voice and Miho. "Magic and miracles are real. It may seem impossible or like a dream. It might be better if you believe that and wake up with only the vaguest recollections of these events. But no matter what, it's the same world you woke up in every other day of your life. Nothing has changed except your awareness. So don't be afraid. There are heroes whose job it is to protect you." Teresia reaches out a hand, attempting to pat Miho's head. A look is thrown towards the idol singer with curiousity. Not a Magical Girl she has seen before... And not a Puella Magi. She can tell that much at least. "Thank you. You have fascinating magic. And we do work with Kyubey-san, yes. I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name." Telepathically, she speaks to Amy. <<Your Soul Gem needs to be cleansed, Red-san. I recommend catching up with Adalinda. We'll make sure everything is okay out here.>>
- Miho Aiuchi has posed:
"Aiuchi ... ...... ......... Miho," says Miho. Almost like she's not entirely used to saying her own given name. Madoka wishes they'd met in better circumstances, and Miho snorts. "Uh. Yeah, likewise," she says, almost dryly. Sort of. Buried under all her anxieties. Her gaze fixes on Kyubey. "Uh. Who's your ... friend?"
Yellow Pearl Voice dismisses her stage, and Miho sighs, feeling considerably less protected now, and looking fairly lost. She has so many questions. Witches? Which have different types? Red has limited magic, and has a gem thing that does not look good?? The not-cat is named 'Kyubey' and knows things?? Some of these people are from Germany??? Miho keeps opening her mouth to ask questions, and people keep saying things that raise more questions. She eventually ... stops talking.
Until Adalinda and Teresia start talking. She listens attentively, stealing glances towards Madoka since she's the only other person here who doesn't seem to have powers, and who is currently carrying Kyubey. Still, though, she has a frown, as if something doesn't quite sit right with her. At least now she feels as though she knows enough to piece tbe rest together.
... Although, she currently has completely the wrong idea about what a Witch actually is.
- Madoka Kaname has posed:
"There many types of Witches. It would be difficult to list them all," is Kyubey's helpfully unhelpful response to Amy. "Though some Puella Magi have noticed common trends and come up with classifications of their own."
Madoka frowns at the small white magic creature as she objects, "Would you ever consider having a pamphlet?"
"How would I carry it around?" is his response. Madoka doesn't refute the point.
When Yellow Pearl Voice talks to her, Madoka shakes her head. "He says I have potential, but I'm not a magical girl. I was just passing by when things started getting bad."
Adalinda says she has a strong will? Madoka considers whether or not those words apply to her. She never even heard the Witch's whispers. She's told that she matters, to a lot of people.
Somehow, she feels like she's heard those words before...
"It's true," adds Kyubey, jumping up to her shoulder. "You could do a lot with potential like yours, Madoka Kaname."
For once, instead of being pouty or angry, Madoka silently considers.
Then, she shakes her head, reaches into her purse and pulls out a small first aid kit. It wasn't very useful in magical training battles, but in a situation like this a bandage or some disinfectant might be useful. "I'm sorry. I need to focus." Madoka's getting a lot of hands-on first aid training lately. For once, she feels comfortable. This part is routine. Check for wounds. If necessary, check for vitals. Go through the concussions checklist. All of this she is beginning to learn by rote. Someone else called for the medical team, so she leaves that to them and focuses on what she can do.
The thought of entering the barrier crosses her mind, but she decides against it. After what almost happened last time, she's lucky to be alive. She'll just have to have faith in the magical girls who are currently going in.
Miho gets at least one response from Kyubey while Madoka is busy. "I'm Kyubey. I work with Puella Magi who fight Witches like the one that tried to lure all these people to an early grave."
- Amanda Faust has posed:
"Oh, and thank you too, Yellow! I don't know how we'd have freed the civilians without you." Red smiles.
> You... need help. Desperately.
Amy hangs her head. "I was just afraid of hurting them, it's not like I've sparred as a magical girl to know how hard I can hit someone safely!"
> We had Witches back in Germany
"They're in Germany, too?! ...Wait, is this a worldwide thing? ...Are magical girls and monsters *everywhere*, all the time, and I just couldn't see-- err, couldn't remember it?!" But then why was he ignored when he was originally a teenager? Was he not... good enough, to be a hero? Why now? "Uhh, can we meet up later so I can write some of this down? It sounds like it'd be *really* useful."
Teresia... offers to teach her? OH THANK GODS FINALLY SOMEONE DID. Amy tries to hug her, then awkwardly steps back. "Uhh, sorry. Just... gods, I... I felt kinda lost with no real guide here, ya know?" She glances between Terezia and the civilians, shrugs a little, and introduces herself to Teresia, holding out a hand to shake. "I'm Amy Faust. Sorry about this-- I mean uh, thank you so much! I could really use a guide."
Amanda quirks an eyebrow at Teresia citing a form of the Litany of Gendlin. It feels so out of place to hear that stuff mentioned here -- but then, perhaps when one is fighting for survival in a world of magic, 'beisutsukai' is actually useful. (Ed: UGGGGGH.) Still, Amanda feels uneasy. *Years* of trying to think cleverer never did anything to improve her life. ACTUAL MAGIC improved her life.
Teresia's voice IN HER HEAD makes her jump, startling her out of her reverie. <<Ah... yeah.>> She looks for Adalinda...
...Who's at the top of the hill? Why? "Uh..." Amy starts to inquire, taking a step towards her, and then Adalinda touches... *something*, and steps through. As if there's an *illusion* of normal terrain here and she stepped into it. What. She looks back at the others. "Did you see that?!" She runs up to where Adalinda disappeared, reaching her hand forward, watching it... disappear, air rippling around it slightly. She pulls her hand back. Glances back at the others. Gives Teresia and Yellow hopeful looks. "I... I guess I'm going after her then..." And whether they join her or not, she steps through.
And then the world gets trippy.
- Coco Kiumi has posed:
Coco smiles back at Amy as the Puella Magi thanks her for the intervention. "I'm glad we could save these people before things escalated", she replies, before Adalinda says this is only a temporary measure. She listens intently to Adalinda's explanation about the witch they are going to have to fight. "Thank you. My songs are actually common among my kind. There are seven of us princesses, each with her own pearl", she explains to her and Teresia at the same time, pointing to the yellow pearl now resting nestled in her E-Pitch microphone.
'What do I do? Do I share my real name?' Coco thinks, kind of confused about the new girls' behaviour. She kind of adopted the moniker of her pearl since everyone else has been using a nickname, but the two girls' straightforward nature is kind of similar to what she had been doing once, in a time now impossible, or did she?
"Oh, wow you come from far away too", she says, stalling for time while she nervously tries to make a decision. "I... think you can call me Yellow Pearl Voice, or any variation of it as you like", she tells the duo, deciding it's best to keep things under wraps for now, not wanting her real name to reach the wrong ears. "I have come to Tokyo to help with the demon problem here, as well as try to find some news about a dear friend of mine."
Coco looks at Madoka as she mentions she is not a magical girl. "You must be a magnet for trouble", she says in a worried tone. "Are you all right?" Madoka however seems to know her way around basic medical procedures, so that relaxes the mermaid princess a bit before the girl can answer.
When Adalinda gets at the top of the hill and starts doing something to the air, Coco gets really interested, and a surprised wow escapes her lips as the portal appear.
'Guess that's the demon's lair', she thinks, watching everyone else getting in. "I'm going in too", Coco tells Miho and Madoka. "Please stay safe, let's meet again here later", she adds, waving at them as she goes through the portal.
- Adalinda Blumenkrantz has posed:
The world that Adalinda, Amanda, and Yellow Pearl enter into is not one that fits into conventional reality as they know it. Before they even become aware of their surroundings, there are frames like those used for paintings popping in and out of the foreground of perception, rusted pipes pouring water that looks like it was drawn with crayons into other picture frames, creating paintings that shift and move and make sounds of rivers and streams. Saw horses with dragonfly wings fly by in a swarm, passing over this bizarre tableau, exposing the three girls making their way through a distorted art gallery, with more rusted pipes sticking out of the walls, ceiling, and floor at random intervals. The paintings on the walls are of construction equipment, but only parts of each, and in extreme close-up.
Adalinda is walking along placidly through this corridor of mad perceptions, in which they can sometimes actually see themselves as if they were observers to their own actions. Turning to see if there is any observer does nothing, only causing them to see themselves conducting the search.
Around a corner, more sawhorses flutter around a pool of water, drinking from it as more water pours from a picture frame on the ceiling. The saw horse flies turn towards the procession of magical girls, their wings fluttering and making the sound of angry wasps buzzing as they lift into the air and charge at the trio. Adalinda raises a hand and fires off a blast of condensed magical energy that explodes against one of the creatures. She hasn't summoned her weapon yet.
"This is a Witch's Labyrinth. Never enter one alone if you can at all avoid it. Overconfidence kills." she explains as she starts engaging in dynamic martial arts, kicking, punching, knee-slamming, and pirouetting through the air like a ballerina while deflecting thr charging attacks of the enemies.
They do not spare Red or Yellow Pearl Voice either, zooming towards the both of them at alarming speed!
- Amanda Faust has posed:
What... what is she seeing? Amanda eventually thinks to look down at her hands to verify that her eyes and the visual parts of her brain are functioning correctly.
Once her mind has resolved that they're in some sort of gallery, which Adalinda is walking through ahead, Amy runs to catch up with her. "Are you SEEING this? I... I'm not sure my brain is working right..." She opens one of her belt pouches to take out her phone and take pictures and a short video, just to confirm. "The, like, paintings, and the water... it's like it's not..." she scrambles for words. "It's not physical objects that light is reflecting off of into our eyes. LIGHT isn't working... I guess... or it's working weird... Okay I guess this is... something where I worry about HOW it works later, right...?" She has to stop and stare for a moment at the surreal spectacle of winged sawhorses drinking from a pool of crayon-water.
> This is a Witch's Labyrinth.
Amy summons her rocket launcher, a longer version not as ready to use in confined space, and swings it like a club at a charging sawhorsefly, only to misjudge the distance/timing and get barreled into. "AGH!" No, no, NO!
Maybe she'll need to use a little magic after all. The big rocket launcher is replaced by something small a character might use in a sci-fi FPS to fire mini-missiles, which she aims as close to center of mass as she can for the horse presently hitting her and fires, a shaped charge exploding in the barrel to release a lance of metal plasma at point-blank range at the sawhorse's midsection, hopefully cracking it.
- Miho Aiuchi has posed:
Miho peers at Kyubey. "... A collar," she says. "With, like, a bag, kind of thing." Beat. "... That would be too big and awkward and stuff, wouldn't it."
She regards Red -- or, Amy Faust apparently -- as she and the other magical girls start to depart, and shows no sign of surprise that this girl has the same name as the girl at the festival. (QED.) "At least someone is confused besides me," she mumbles, returning Yellow Pearl Voice's wave and showing no inclination to join the magic heroes.
She sort of trails behind Madoka, and just lets her work, since she doesn't know anything about treating injuries or checking for concussions and the like. Kyubey introduces herself, and gives a definition of what a Witch is. "... yeah," Miho mumbles. "All these people ... and me. I have a mind to, like, sit down on a park bench and have this turn out to be a dream, and stuff." She sighs softly, and gets out her phone again, putting on a gentle but faintly melody on a piano and strings. (... It's the second movement of the Kronos Island theme from Sonic Frontiers.)
She hesitates, as if she's not sure she wants the answer. "... Do I have ... ...... potential?"
- Teresia Kuefer has posed:
Teresia is on the phone with emergency services, reporting several people nearly drowning in the river, and others passed out in the area, and requesting help be sent immediately. She even uses magic to make her voice and number unrecognizable as her own. Just a little bit. She's very good at abstract, edge-case applications like that. "I think, more important than if you have potential," Teresia says as her phone just kind of isn't there anymore. "Is whether you have the desire to fight as a Puella Magi. It is not a duty without danger, as you can see. It is also not a duty without compensation. I recommend weighing those two before making a decision, but if you can see Kyubey, then I would say that, yes, you most likely have the potential to be a Puella Magi."
Then she looks towards Kyubey and Madoka. "Or he is just slipping up and showing himself to random people now. Perhaps he is getting careless in his old age." she teases. She checks in with Adalinda and Amanda telepathically while holding her conversation verbally. <<How does it look? Will you need assistance?>> She also begins distributing water bottles and reassuring words to the scared and distraught civilians who have just found themselves in this chaotic situation.
Where she got the water bottles is anyone's guess.
It might remind Madoka, at least, of a friend of hers.
- Madoka Kaname has posed:
When called a magnet for trouble, Madoka sheepishly laughs and looks a little embarrassed. "I have a habit of ending up where I don't belong. I'll be alright. I'm not the one you need to worry over right now, but thanks for checking on me."
She watches as the magicals step through the barrier, with a little bit of worry. She wishes for a moment that she could be more pragmatic about this, but right now the only thing distracting her from worrying about the magical girls going into battle is worrying over the people who nearly drowned.
Madoka is helping with the first aid and initial checks, but of course that's not going to be the end of it. With this many people, there will be questions, and investigations, and even a news story. She might have to make a statement. If she comes home too late, her mom and dad might worry. Even if every single magical girl who went into that barrier came out alive and unscathed, tonight will still be An Issue.
Kyubey responds to Miho with a tilted head. "Well... it's a little complicated You can see and talk to me, so clearly you have some potential. Would you be interested in that? Accepting a destiny of fighting Witches, in exchange for a Wish?" The white critter starts scratching himself behind the ear. "Of course, there are other paths to magic. If you accept one of them, you won't be able to make a Contract with me later. Think carefully before you decide."
Madoka eventually turns to Miho after checking on a few others. "How are you doing? Are you hurt anywhere? How many fingers am I holding up?" Madoka holds up two fingers in a V sign. She's pretty sure that Miho's fine, but since she's giving roughly everyone the same treatment she may as well be thorough.
- Coco Kiumi has posed:
A gasp of shock escapes Coco's mouth as she sees the other side of the portal. At first she can't quite make sense of what she is looking at, then gets used to this weird crayon world. A tiny bit at least. 'I am going to surround myself with the prettiest fishes after this', she resolves, not bearing to look at the sawhorses' heads.
"A Witch's Labyrinth? You mean the demon created this freaky thing?" She looks quite distraught at the weirdness of it all. "Are they all this... abstract?" she asks Adalinda as she walks through this weird world as if nothing weird were going on.
"This place sure as lot of surprises", she says not sure of what to make of the fact she is looking at herself there. "How is possible these demons are messing with the world like it's clay?" Yellow Pearl Voice doesn't really expect an answer, but she says it aloud anyway, not sure what to expect from these youma.
Things get a turn for the worse as the horses decide to stop ignoring the trio of magical girls and start flying at them with high speed.
Adalinda fires a blast at the horses, throwing one of them off course, letting Coco just barely dodge the others with a jump to the side. Right after that, she summons her Live Stage, the white sphere lifting her high up. 'That was really close', she thinks, her heart beating faster from the close call.
- Adalinda Blumenkrantz has posed:
Adalinda is not the Veteran that Teresia is (frankly, nobody else is as Veteran as her, as far as the Puella Meisters know), but she is especially proficient at killing these Labyrinth-creatures, it seems. Because she is able to fight while answering questions and engaging in dialogue. As she axe-kicks a saw horsefly into the gallery floor, itself a collection of tiles decorated with paintings of paintings of paintings ad infinitum, she answers, "A Labyrinth is a Witch's self-defense mechanism. They create one of these and hide inside their Barrier, so that they can hunt without being noticed. Sometimes they may stick their head out, so to speak, when someone wanders near on their own, but most of the people they eat die on the outside of the Barrier. Normal people who enter a Labyrinth are just corpses waiting to stop moving." Her tone is dead, and emotionless, as she describes innocent people just minding their own business being dead bodies that haven't realized they're dead yet... And just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
As if remembering whom she's speaking to, she adds on as she observes Red destroy a saw horsefly with a well-aimed rocket, "Of course, that's why we Magical Girls fight. We are the protectors of those just living a normal life, as well as fellow Magical Girls. We can't afford to fail. So we work together, we make sure civilians are as safe as they can be, and we never try to advance through a Witch's Labyrinth alone." She emphasizes that, even though it's like the third time she has said it, because it's important.
"Even Teresia tries to go in with at least one other person, and she could probably take our three Witches back to back by herself." Or so is Adalinda's high estimation. Her rather professional, rules-is-rules expression turns to a lopsided smile of admiration as she speaks of the Hero of Magical Girls. "She's amazing like that."
- Adalinda Blumenkrantz has posed:
The saw horseflies don't appear to be especially pleased with Yellow Pearl Voice's Live Stage. In fact, they seem even angrier than before, if anything, even though Adalinda is the one finishing them off with magic-infused punches and kicks. It's like waving a red flag in front of a bull. They buzz around just outside the Stage's lights, as if unsure whether they can enter or not. In the end, however, it doesn't matter. The last of them is destroyed.
Then there is a shrieking noise from somewhere distant that shakes the entire Labyrinth. Adalinda is back to Serious Business mode as she turns quickly to look over her shoulder. "The Witch noticed us." Possibly because of Yellow Pearl Voice's magic, maybe just the general expenditure of magic and combat in general.
Picture frames start flying out of nowhere. Linda doesn't even bother trying to explain this bubble of madness that is a Witch's home, fortress, and prison. She just stands ready, her skirts and ribbons blown back as though in a great wind, or as though the hallway they are in is flying forwards, as they pass through giant paintaing after giant painting of the same corridor they're already in, until they arrive in a final version of the painting where they aren't already standing. Perspective snaps back to normality (relatively speaking), no longer in third-person.
This is the Witch's Lair.
It looks like an aqueduct of some kind, or a hydroelectric dam. High, concrete walls, construction machines littering the shore around a huge river of crayon-water, and... In the middle of the river, the arches commonly used in a wedding, complete with two-step platform, white roses all around the edges, and a faceless bride waiting for her groom, bouquet in hand.
<<Seems fine so far.>> Adalinda sends back. <<Red is low on magic still, so she should be conserving hers, but I'm still fresh, and Yellow Pearl Voice doesn't need to recharge. I think we can do this with just the three of us, but I'll let you know if anything changes.>>
Oddly, in addition to Amy and Teresia, Madoka may be hearing the telepathy as well despite it not being aimed at her. Also oddly, there are paintings appearing on the walls of the dam, emerging from the concrete like blossoms from the earth, with images depicting things that have already happened since entering the Labyrinth, and others yet to come. Adalinda sending her message is one of them. She narrows her eyes. <<Hold that thought. The Witch is doing something weird.>>
- Miho Aiuchi has posed:
Miho glances between Teresia and Kyubey, listening carefully to the former's description and the latter's offer. Especially when Kyubey mentions that there are other paths to magic. "Uhhhh. I ... mmmmmmmaybe?" A wish? She tries to think of what kind of wish she'd want, and ... sort of freezes up for a few seconds with indecision.
.o("I wish I was a girl!" "You a perfectly acceptable girl already, Miho Aiuchi. :3" "Awww, thanks~ ... Okay but seriously." ... Yeah no.)
Madoka's distraction is almost a welcome one. "Oh uh. Not hurting ... at all. Aside from, uh ..." She tries to figure how to end that sentence gracefully without just over-sharing. "... my pride. Two! Two fingers. That's, uh, that's a V."
She's awkwardly stumbling over her words, but, well ... she was talking like that before the fighting began. (At the festival, too, if Amy were still here.) She certainly looks rattled, but that's presumably a normal reaction to being in this entire situation.
- Coco Kiumi has posed:
"Why do you sound so apathetic?" Coco wants to ask at Adalinda's fairly neutral explanation, as if she were just narrating the weather forecast.
"We are inside here, right? We can save the people inside too", she would like to say as well, but she is too busy singing Legend of Mermaid at the demons, the song hurting them and working to deprive them of their focus.
https://youtu.be/JZ5oJI72bCA
Yellow Pearl Voice isn't really mellowed by Adalinda's additional explanation, since it still does nothing to address those that get lost inside, but she isn't really sure what she would say in response, since Adalinda in the one experienced in dealing with this bizzarre place.
Which is how she can probably tell what comes next, as she suddenly shouts a warning about the witch having noticed them. Suddenly, they all get sucked into an ever more eerie place.
"Ok, since we are about to face the big demon, the surprises are over, right?" She asks hopeful to Adalinda.
- Amanda Faust has posed:
Damn, this Terezia must be a badass! Amy looks forward to being lucky enough to learn from her.
Amy rallies. The more time she spends here, the better she gets at judging distance and timing to whack the sawhorses -- although, firing a mini-missile at one of the ones buzzing around the Live Stage and shouting 'HEY, leave her alone!' leads to her deciding to leap up and smash them instead.
And then everywhere shakes.
Amanda has formed a sort of... vague understanding of what a Witch's Labyrinth is, which may be entirely wrong, based on the nearest concepts she can think of:
They are beings that cannot properly manifest in reality. Primordials, true fey, things of the wyld and of Outside, and so even when... 'next to', for lack of a better word, Reality, they surround themselves in a bubble of unreality in which some of the laws of physics are suspended. (And yet, her rockets work, and she can still move and fight -- is there some greater principle than those of reality at work, or, perhaps, do magical girls, or perhaps even mortal beings of reality, similarly impose some of their own rules on the unworld around them?
It would be utterly *fascinating* to experiment with how this works if the Labyrinth wasn't so inimical. There are so many questions! Does the Live Stage further impose reality on its lack? Is Coco accidentally using Wyld-Shaping Technique? But then, such animosity no doubt comes with the territory (literally) -- They are beings of reality, and so this world and she are mutually anathema to eachother.
YOU STARTLED THE WIT--err, the world shrieks. "Uhhhh." At Adalinda's explanation, Amy fumbles for words to ask what she's wondering. What is a witch, really? How will she recognize it if she sees it? Do they even look like anything?
In Witch Barrier, Boss Room comes to YOU! In the back of Amy's mind, she notes that this tracks. Movement in here may well be more narrative than physical -- 'and then they confronted the boss' *happens*, and maybe this weird transport-by-series-of-picture-frames is how that manifests physically. The emphasis, the importance, is that it's *happening*, and maybe that's why for a moment she can see herself. In this dreamlike place it seems less disorienting than it should be, feeling more like she switched to the 3rd person camera for a moment in a videogame...
The boss door doesn't need to shut behind them because there isn't one. This, too, makes sense. Doors are for going through, and you can't leave the boss room until the boss is defeated. There IS no egress right now, the concept simply doesn't apply. So there are no doors.
Okay, maybe all of this is just Amanda's weird way of coping and maintaining some semblance of sanity in this place of madness, but it kinda feels like it's working. Things make sense again. And if she can understand it, she can interact with it. She has agency, a semblance of control, or at least she FEELS like she does.
...But... where's the boss? "Is the--" Amanda starts to speak, then remembers telepathy. <<Is the bride the Witch?>> This is a thing of unreality. It may attack in ways that don't make sense in any paradigm she's familiar with! And yet... Adalinda and Teresia have apparently fought loads of Witches and survived, so they must not be able to just attack out of nowhere, or invisibly.
<<Isn't *everything* a witch does weird?>> Wait, some of those paintings look like things that MIGHT happen. Or haven't happened yet. SHIT, the normal rules of time and causality themselves might not apply in here! Or maybe it will attack by showing them their doom, to convince them it's going to happen...
<<Should... should we just be standing here? Do we... shoot the bride? Do we attack the *paintings?* Like, what do we do here?>>
One way or another, Amy has been drawn to the bride, at least, within speaking distance. 'What are you...' she whispers. The urge to try and communicate is so strong. It... it's already noticed them anyway, right? Doesn't... Doesn't she have to try?
"What do
- Amanda Faust has posed:
"What do you want?" Amanda calls out to the bride. "Why are you here?"
- Teresia Kuefer has posed:
Teresia pauses as she seems to hear something, even though there was no sound. None that most people can detect anyway. The stilted manner in which the telepathic message is delivered is immediately worthy of concern. The sound of ambulance and police sirens can be heard coming closer and closer. If Madoka and Miho don't want to be caught up in the media frenzy that follows, or the law enforcement questioning... "It might be necessary for me to join the others inside. Would you two like to come with? I assure you, you will be quite safe with me. And there won't be anyone asking questions of you for being here."
<<Adalinda, you're breaking up. I know there is no static on a telepathic link, but there is interference of some kind. Consolidate and withdraw to a safe distance if you can, and I'll join you.>> she sends back, undertain if it will come through unscrambled. One way or another, she is heading towards the entrance as a steady but rapid pace thanks to her long legs. And also she's magic. "You may wish to decide sooner rather than later. And there is no harm in just leaving now. Help for these people is on the way." She still lingers outside, waiting for an answer. She isn't leaving any civilians undefended. Not in a Labyrinth or outside of one.
<<Kyubey, any thoughts on what could be causing a time discrepency with telepathy? Suggestions on how to fix it other than going inside?>> she asks, verfying before entering a possible trap herself. The barrier IS the Witch's territory. Traps as part of the defenses is very likely.
- Madoka Kaname has posed:
Madoka eventually catches enough of a break to take stock of everything happening. Teresia stayed out here to help. Did she need to conserve her magic? Or is this simply a part of what magical girls do, too? She's seen Homura do likewise, making sure the non-combatants were safe from whatever was going on.
She smiles at Teresia, saying, "Thank you for the water," once they have a free moment.
Madoka frowns as she thinks about her parents again, and pulls out her cell phone. She starts texting her dad. 'Something happened near the Sumida River. Yes, I'm okay. No, I'm not hurt.' When her dad offers to pick her up, she hesitates. Madoka glances towards the barrier again. There's a good chance that this whole thing will be over before her dad can even show up, but if the worst case scenario happens she might be bringing her dad within range of the Witch.
'No, it's fine. I'll take the bus,' she texts. 'I'll be home soon.'
She puts her phone away, just in time to overhear some of the telepathy. Kyubey wouldn't keep her out of the loop. He needs to keep her interested, keep her invested, and let her know that this world of madness is her world as well. Madoka doesn't talk, but she does listen. She also notices that it... seems a little weird. Madoka can't put her finger on it.
Miho seems rattled, but that's normal. No sign of a concussion so far, though the EMTs might do a bit more of a thorough examination later. "It might help if you sat down for a little bit," suggests Madoka. "You've been through a lot. It's normal to be in shock after that."
No, Madoka didn't choose the V sign out of any sort of mahou-related fangirly reason. She would never. Why do you ask?
Teresia makes her suggestion, and Madoka gives her a confused look. Is it really safer in there than out here? She doesn't feel a need to hide, but... she wouldn't be able to answer any of their questions honestly.
Kyubey speaks verbally, from atop Madoka's shoulder, "It's probably safer to enter now than it was a few moments ago. It would be best if we stayed near the entrance."
Telepathically, he adds, <<If I were to guess, I'd say it was likely some form of time dilation. They might be experiencing time at a slower rate in there than we are out here. I can't really compensate for something like that with my powers alone. If Amy Faust and Adalinda Blumenkrantz can hear each other just fine, then going inside might be the only way.>>
Madoka speaks out loud, "But... should we really go inside? I mean..." She looks around. She's done all she can out here. She decides to stay close to Teresia for now, and if the Puella Magi goes into the Labyrinth, Madoka will follow.
- Adalinda Blumenkrantz has posed:
There isn't much Adalinda can do before disaster strikes. She still hasn't heard back from Teresia outside, so she just assumes the more veteran Puella Magi is waiting for an update. But she should at least signal that she got the message, right? But then Amy calls out to the bride-to-be. Trying to communicate with it. The German teenager turns with her jaw dropped for a moment, just utterly unable to imagine why anyone would do that.
There is a response, of a sort. The world begins to shake again. Blue and white crayon-water bursts forth from rusty pipes that stick out of the concrete suddenly, creating a waterfall of enormous scale and force as it crashes down on the opposite river bank. The bride turns her faceless, mannequin-like head towards the trio of Magical Girls. Adalinda cusses a bunch in German as she says, "Stay clear. Yellow Pearl Voice, your songs seem to weaken them. Keep it up. Amy, avoid magic expenditure if you can. In fact," she reaches out to try to grab the rocket launcher. A ripple of magic comes from Adalinda's hand and the rocket launcher may seem to morph somewhat into a kind of... Hammer-launcher. A giant hammer with a rocket port on it. "It's temporary, and you can override it, but it will give you a weapon more suited to melee combat." Finally, she hears back from Teresia. Adalinda and Amy both do. But it's... Distorted. Stretched. Like Teresia is taking the time to enunciate verrrrry slooooowlly. "Aw, damn." Linda says as the water begins to overflow the bank and pour into the river. The construction equipment, the bulldozers, and cranes, and dump trucks, and other things that were scattered like decorations come to life in creepy stop-motion fashion, doing their tasks they were meant for while at the same time... 'Sliding' towards the three of them.
Adalinda isn't badass enough to solo a Witch barehanded. So it's time to show what she was saving her magic for. She henshins a second time. Or finishes her first one, perhaps.
This one is quick, a flash of crimson and magenta that turns what was previously purple or pink into solid black. The colors all leech out into the air, where a burst of fireworks transforms them into... A chainsaw.
Look, Amy has a rocket launcher, and Coco sings, this is not the strangest weapon out there.
As Teresia slowly communicates that she may be coming in to help, Adalinda just mutters, "No need." under her breath as she revs the chainsaw and it roars to life, magic flowing around the edges like flames of shifting hues. Adalinda stops being just a Puella Magi. She becomes the thing that she Wished to become. The Bane of All Witches.
Witch Hunter.
She leaps up into the air and begins slicing through the builders and demolishers and everything else in her way like a chainsaw through pretty much anything a chainsaw can be used on. They just fall apart like they're made of paper. But the tide is still rising. And Adalinda's own dramatic leap is captured in one of the paintings. Right after it is the waves crashing down on Yellow Pearl Voice and Red.
- Teresia Kuefer has posed:
The lack of response from inside seals the deal. "Going home is also a valid option," Teresia says. She is absolutely good enough to protect Miho and Madoka. That's how her magic works, after all. "Those who stumble inside without magic are often lost. But you are with me. There is no way," she says as she turns and flashes a Cool Smile at the other two girls (and Kyubey), "That I would ever let anyone hurt any of you." Then, she enters the Labyrinth. With Kyubey there, either of the civilians should be able to as well.
Teresia doesn't go far. She just stays near the entrance. She trusts her allies, but she also know Witches can be tricky. They are alien creatures who build their own worlds from their spite and madness. They frequently have many surprises waiting. Traps among them. Thankfully, Teresia has an advantage against time dialation.
Namely, it doesn't affect her.
Once she knows whether the girls are coming in or not, that is when Teresia chooses to act. Before then, she just tries to restore contact as she stands among pipes sticking out everywhere, and picture frames askew, and paintings of herself standing in place. <<I'm inside. Situation report?>> she sends to Adalinda and Amy. Hopefully now that they're in the same 'dimension' the interference is gone.
- Miho Aiuchi has posed:
Miho sees Madoka texting, and decides to follow her lead. Though the tone of her message to her mother is more along the lines of 'Stuff is happening, it might take me a little longer to get to the station.' This, at the very least, invites fewer questions and concerns. Miho feels weird about giving her mom a lie of omission like that, but ... well, what's the alternative?
When Madoka expresses direct concern, Miho shakes her head. "I'll, I'll be fine," she mumbles. She laughs nervously. "I'm, I'm just sort of ... like that." Not that that's a good thing in and of itself, but she clearly thinks she has things handled.
She notices when Teresia seems to be listening to something, and becomes concerned. She notices the sound of sirens in the distance, which she really doesn't want to get involved in. She notices that they seem to be having a conversation that she's not completely privy to, and her frown deepens.
She's not bad at distinguishing her irrational anxieties from rational concerns. (Yes she is.) But there's just something she doesn't like about this whole ... situation.
Teresia raises the possibility of going inside. Miho glances nervously between her, Kyubey, and Madoka. "I (boku) ... uh ..." Well ... Madoka is 1. not a magical girl, Kyubey made that much clear, and 2. she's more experienced regardless. Also, 3. Teresia is incredibly confident! Plus, Kyubey wouldn't put them all in undue danger, would he? At the very least, he's still on Madoka's shoulder, and he wouldn't put himself in undue danger.
Bottom line: Miho steps closer to Madoka, just following her lead -- a lead which takes her closer to Teresia, and then in turn inside.
- Amanda Faust has posed:
Hey, Adalinda said the Witch already knew they were there!
ROCKET HAMMER. Amy smiles, "Thanks!"
Amy's turn to stare in open-mouthed shock: "We get MULTIPLE TRANSFORMATIONS?!" Oh Amy you have no idea.
Adalinda is going after the adds. But... is the Bride really the Witch? Can she bring herself to attack something just standing there?
The part of her mind that knows words like "Litany of Gendlin" knows it must be done.
Another part of her brain is warning that listening to that part will hurt her. Will hurt her SO MUCH.
She sees the painting of her and Coco getting flooded. Water is already rushing towards her. Well, this worked for Amy Rose, right? She raises the hammer and then brings it down on the ground HARD. Mahou super-strength, plus the fact that it has less mass for her than when it interacts with everything else. As she pushes off with the hammer, she leaps just above it and fires, throwing a rocket jump into the mix!
Amanda Faust hurtles through the air, riding her hammer towards the Live Stage. Not tackling Yellow out of it this time, just making sure she'll be at her friend's side if something somehow interrupts the Live Stage, should the picture start to come true despite presently being high in the air.
> Situation report?
<<We're in the Boss Arena!>> Amanda replies. <<Adalinda's going after the adds, but I'm not sure where the Witch is? Is it the bride? Is it the paintings? Is it something else? The bride's just *standing* there, not attacking! These paintings show a future of us getting attacked... what do we *do*? How do I tell where to strike??>>
- Madoka Kaname has posed:
Madoka gives Teresia's winning smile a confused look. The Puella is certainly wearing the heroine persona well. It's just... odd, how she doesn't seem as sad or desperate as the other Puella Magi she's met. Even Mami seemed a little lonely. It's not that Madoka minds it persay. Maybe things are just different in Germany.
Either way she doesn't voice her concerns. Instead, she smiles sheepishly and follows along, going into the Barrier if only to dodge the cops. As long as her dad knows where she is, the rest doesn't matter. She hopes.
Once inside, she gives Miho a smile that she hopes is reassuring. "I know it's a lot to take in, but I've been in these before. We'll be safe as long as we're careful. The others are probably drawing most of the enemy's attention, but... all the same, watch your back." She winces for a moment as she recalls a close call she had. "The Familiars will sneak up on you if you aren't careful."
Madoka listens to the telepathy and responds, <<A bride? That's strange, the last Witch I saw was a bride, too.>> A weird coincidence, probably. <<If the pictures show the future, and the Witch's Labyrinth messes with the flow time... Is there a picture that shows you defeating the Witch?>>
- Coco Kiumi has posed:
As the water starts splashing onto them and the tide starts rising, Yellow Pearl Voice Is glad to see Red escape the rising tide with no worry in the world, even joining her in the air. "Well, look who is here, flying with a hammer is definitely innovative", she tells the Puella Magi, a surprised smile on her face as she makes space for her in the Live Stage.
"Are you all right, Adalinda?" she asks the other magical girl, only to discover that Adalinda is way more than all right, going through things like they are made of tissue paper. "This place is really freaky", Yellow Pearl Voice comments to Red, looking at all the constructions sliding to attack them.
""I'm going to support you two as always, I will just power up first too", she tells Red, invoking the power inside her bracelet. White light shines from it, while a yellow ring appears around her head, descending downwards and adding frills to her shirt and a large bow to her lower back.
""Ok, then, I am ready! The Tale of the Seven Seas ~Pearls of Mermaid~: Pichi Pichi Voice, Live Start!" she declares once more, the corresponding soundtrack moving through the air from the Live Stage.
"https://youtu.be/glNIksfPo7o
"Her song attacks the dark magical energy of the Witch's world with much more intensity than before, doing its best to quell the furor of the entity governing the Labyrinth.
- Adalinda Blumenkrantz has posed:
The corridor leading to the Witch is much more free of familiars than on the way in, since the defenses are focused on the heart of the Labyrinth. Teresia, Madoka, and Miho will find their way there quickly once they move forward. Even if the environment makes no sense or only a twisted form thereof, they are not the intruders the Witch is paying attention to right now.
Amy flies through the air by the power of both hammer and rockets, landing safely on the Live Stage just as the huge waves come crashing down and flooding the ground level with more crayon water. Hopefully, Teresia will be able to keep her charges safe as they enter into that mess.
Coco's song seems to be irritating the hell out of Witch and Familiars both. A huge crane-like device erupts from the water's surface like the finger of a mythological titan, reaching for freedom from a prison of darkness, and not caring who else is dragged down in the process. The spray is considerable, and may block vision momentarily, right before the swinging pulley-hook assemblance comes swiping towards Yellow Pearl Voice, in an attempt to stop her from sharing her musical talents!
Adalinda, meanwhile, has been severing her enemies in twain easily with her chainsaw. The magical weapon is like a living thing itself. Something peculiar is happening to Adalinda's Soul Gem as she fights, but given the distance and everything going on, it's unlikely anyone notices.
It is depleting continuously as long as the chainsaw is active, dimming steadily and filling with darkness at a far faster rate than is typical. That much is obvious even to an utter amateur. But then, in the blink of an eye, when a Familiar is slain, the brightness increases suddenly. Then it starts depleting again. At no point does it reach full clarity though.
The wedding 'island' in the river has been riding the waves casually. Adalinda hears the suggestion from Madoka via telepathy, and has only a single response. Some, perhaps even Adalinda herself, might have been tempted to attack the river boat wedding arches, with its lonely mannequin-bride. It seems like the obvious prop for a Witch. Instead, Adalinda lands on it, grabs the bride herself, and then leaps away as the waves come crashing down and begin chasing her.
Dark-purple magic circles appear beneath Witch Hunter's feet, one after the other, as she races through the air towards the dam with its giant picture frames. Her Soul Gem is depleting very quickly now, descending into dangerous, shadowy territory. She still has her chainsaw going in her other hand, as it flickers and sparks small fireworks and magenta flames, but she isn't putting it away yet, despite the obvious drain it imposes.
Gritting her teeth, Witch Hunter's yellow eyes narrow as she feels her magic will still be with her only for a matter of seconds. The picture frame ahead of her is of the bride standing by while Adalinda's head is snapped off by some kind of huge mechanical claw. Something has to be changed. The fact that the Witch is predicting them because they're all moving at a slower rate of time's passage is still an unknown. Especially now that the messages from the new arrivals are coming through clearly.
And while this is happening, Yellow Pearl Voice's song continues to crack the world itself, causing more rusted pipes to sprout from the walls and emerge from beneath the waves, directing their illustrated aquatic attack at the stage, at Red, at the mermaid idol, and at the new arrivals when they appear.
As if sensing the threat to its existence, the Witch steps up its assault as a giant headless girl in a white gown starts falling from above, in duplicate, the same girl plummeting down and colliding with anything in her path, sending up more huge waves, smashing into familiars, and cracking the dam that is holding back the overflowing flood waters even faster.
The madness of the Labyrinth is reaching a breaking point.
- Teresia Kuefer has posed:
"That's right. They are ordinarily very dangerous to people without magic, and even Magical Girls if they aren't cautious. But everything will be fine this time." As picture frames start flying towards them, one after the other, gradually bringing the trio closer to the Labyrinth's heart by showing the trio moving closer to a river in the distance, until there is a frame without them -- which becomes their current reality -- Teresia watches and waits. As the flood waters crash down, covering the ground completely, Madoka, Miho, and Kyubey have already been relocated to the Live Stage with Yellow Pearl Voice and Puella Red.
"I leave the rest to you," the tall blonde says to the two magical girls, and then is gone the next moment.
A gold and black blur flits around the battlefield, appearing and disappearing, sometimes with a crimson arc flashing in time with a Familiar being shredded. When the giant headless girls start falling, the building-sized projectiles are kicked away from the Live Stage by Teresia in the moments when she stops long enough to boot them aside in mid-air, before vanishing again. It's not quite the same as a certain other Puella Magi's fighting style... But very, very similar.
Teresia Kuefer focuses on keeping the distractions off of the others, and their paths clear, rather than trying to find or kill the Witch herself. She's doing an excellent job of it. It's less like she's fighting and more like...
It's more like those elegant movements, even in mid-air, even with a crimson-bladed scythe in her hands, are not fighting, but dancing. A dancing fae queen, like Titania.
One thing is certain: When she said that the other girls would be safe now that she's here, it does not appear that she was boasting.
- Miho Aiuchi has posed:
Miho ... was not expecting this.
Miho was not expecting any of this. Her face is showing that mix of worry and incredulity again. "Uhh ...?" She adjusts her glasses, as if that would somehow cause all this to visually make sense.
She does a double-take at Madoka. "'Familiars'?" she says. "Uh ... oh. Of course. It's, like, a witch, kind of thing. Of course it has familiars ..." She's also not happy about the way Madoka winced just now. ... Yeah Madoka's reassurances do not appear to be reassuring her. "... I guess WAUGH!"
They're under attack! Miho ducks again, looking around and trying to make sense of the paintings. She -- they're on Yellow Pearl Voice's stage. Okay. Okay. "Uh. Hi again."
She smiles weakly. "You know what, I am pretty sure that I kind of. Forgot. Whatever kind of thing I was imagining before, that this would all look like." She turns to Madoka. "So, uh ... this feeling of, of helplessness, huh?"
- Amanda Faust has posed:
The world's gone mad and she's in hostile unreality and not even sure what they need to FIGHT. Amy knows she has to protect her friends, though. Without thinking, she turns the rocket-hammer back into its default form, shouts "DUCK!" to the suddenly-there allies at risk of getting caught in the backblast, and fires at the oncoming crane.
If that doesn't stop its swing, she switches the launcher to large-tube-strapped-to-her-arm mode like she's about to use her finisher and tries to BLOCK with it instead, hoping to give Coco a little more time to move the Live Stage clear without it popping.
...Once the headless woman appears, Amy would almost shoot it on sight but she's kind of busy with the crane. "Is THAT the Witch?!" wait, no, there are a BUNCH of them. "Argh, WHICH THING DO I SHOOT?!"
She does take a little satisfaction in noting that even the badass witch-hunter decided not to attack the Bride. Perhaps Amy's hesitation wasn't the wrong choice after all?
- Madoka Kaname has posed:
Madoka might not be outside with all of the EMT circus anymore, but in exchange she's in a deeply dangerous place. Kyubey said something about the flow of time, but Madoka didn't really get it. Time dilation wasn't really something she learned about in middle school math class. Kyubey could probably explain the concept in a weird telepathic alien montage, but now is not a good time for Madoka's brain to break.
She makes it onto the Live Stage and tries to stay away from the edges. Kyubey hangs off of her shoulder, very interested in staying close to the potential Puella Magi. Looking down at the Witch's arena, Madoka turns a bit pale. Miho's comments catch her attention, and she nods. "Y-yeah... just sitting here and watching is a bit..."
Madoka's comment is cut off by Amy's warning, and she drops down to her knees and curls into a ball, arms wrapped around the back of her head. Kyubey hides underneath her. The pinkette peeks out at the battle. So much is happening right now and it's hard to track it all.
She finds herself wishing that Homura was here.
- Coco Kiumi has posed:
With the addition of Madoka, Miho and Red, the Live Stage becomes slightly crowded and their occupants momentarily get squished together.
A second later, the white sphere automatically accounts for its new occupants, expanding till everyone has enough freedom of movement even with Coco's dancing. The mermaid princess is too busy addressing the new madness the witch is pulling on them to greet the other girls (and Kyubey, she guesses).
Moving the Live Stage around like she is trying to beat a speed guiness world record to dodge the cranes, the water from the pipes and the falling brides all while still dancing and singing is taking a lot out of her and frankly, it would be impossible were it not for Red lending her a huge hand blocking many of the attacks coming her way.
- Adalinda Blumenkrantz has posed:
The dam is starting to crack down the middle as more crayon water starts pouring out at higher volume, then the pipes stop spraying and switch to a trickle as the steadily distorting hydro-electric dam bulges outwards. This is going to be a lot of water, isn't it?
Amy blows up the swinging pulley machine, sending the lifting hook sailing wide, but still producing the *WHOOSH* of something large displacing air as it passes distressingly close. Yellow Pearl's moving of the Live Stage is fortuitious, as the flaming remains of the construction familiar tumbles through the space it once occupied, and disappears into the crashing waves below.
Teresia kicking away the huge familiars that have appeared prevents them from hitting anyone, and the Soul Gem depletion is lowered for her by the grace of Coco's song. Whereas everyone perceives themselves as moving normally, only the blonde Puella Magi is actually moving unhindered by magic. It as though she, and she alone, is adapted to this environment, while everyone else is just trying to walk along a riverbed while underwater.
As the magic of the Labyrinth breaks down, this difference becomes more and more evident, to the point that the illusion of uninhibited movement fades as well, and then--
Oh, so that's how it is. Lungs burn for air, eyes are suddenly perceiving the world through the distorted film that water produces, and movements are sluggish, while hair, ribbons, capes, and other items trail behind the invaders while they move.
You see, they've been underwater the whole time. They were swallowed up long ago, and are only just now catching up the present. The need to breathe is desperate, especially for the ones who were here before the others, but breathing in this filmy Labyrinth liquid can't be good for anyone, can it?
Somehow, even worse, is the sight that lies below. A dark abyss where the ground previously was. Destroyed construction equipment half-buried in the gray silt that lines utter blackness, with the arms of a headless woman in a dress reaching up into the dim, filtered light towards them. Even with the distorted perception that comes from being underwater, those waving arms still appear to be growing longer as they bend and stretch towards the Live Stage. Perhaps the Live Stage is providing an air pocket. Perhaps that air pocket is fading fast under the pressure of the Witch's curse.
But there are two things that are certain: First, being caught by those hands means death. Second, the Witch Runes that rapidly burn into existence in the minds of on-lookers, hovering over those long, pale, cold hands indicates that they have finally found the Witch.
https://tinyurl.com/TheDrowningWitch
- Adalinda Blumenkrantz has posed:
Thanks only to Yellow Pearl Voice slowing her Soul Gem's depletion, Adalinda finally leaps from her last magic circle, throws the mannequin bride towards the painting that shows the Puella Magi getting her head snipped off, and an industrial-grade giant pincer descends from above at high speed. There's Witch Hunter, caught mid-throw, floating in a watery environment previously hidden from her, body desperate for just one breath, with no cover and nowhere to go but down.
And a magic chainsaw.
The chainsaw swings up in Adalinda's other hand, as her left hand grabs hold of the handle. Then she slashes into the bride, rending it in half as it is rammed into the picture from that depicts 'Linda's death. With this movement, she also somersaults backwards in the Labyrinth water, plants her feet into the lumber hauling claw as it comes for her, and pushes off. Directly towards the arms below.
She uses up that breath she was holding on a scream of effort as she hurls her chainsaw down towards the Witch, disarming herself for the chance to Kill the Witch. The growling, chugging, magical weapon seems to just vanish into the blackness at the center of those two now-monstrously long arms as one hand closes around Adalinda.
Then there is a flash of red light. Adalinda's Soul Gem, nearly pitch-black by this point also flashes bright red as it fills completely with light. Then several explosions ripple outwards from the darkness, lighting up the drowning river and causing the Labyrinth to collapse in on itself.
A burbling shriek emanates from the darkness as the arms sink back below. Then, in a wavering of the already-distorted world, they are all back on the river bank. The people who were here appear to have been treated or getting treatment, and no one notices six girls and an Incubator landing on a hill overlooking the river over a hundred meters away among all the hustle and bustle.
- Teresia Kuefer has posed:
There is definitely an air bubble, whether the Live Stage provides one normally or not. Because a cube-shaped series of magic circles completely surrounds it, keeping the Labyrinth water out. Teresia probably put them up in that moment she was on the stage with everyone before leaping off, and it took until now for the present to catch up with them. What is water to everyone else is just the passage of time for Teresia. Time, distorted by a Curse that drags down others because of one monster's need to consume innocent lives. She does not perceive it as being underwater, but perhaps more like dancing in the wind. The eddies and currents are gusts and updrafts that she moves across lightly, eliminating threat after threat.
But whatever natural defenses the Live Stage has are being amplified with magic that it seems Teresia is totally cool with spending without restraint, unlike most Puella Magi. Maybe it just costs less for her since it isn't her main thing...?
Either way, when Adalinda hurls her chainsaw, Teresia is there to slash the Witch's hand away just before it can crush her friend to death. And when everyone emerges from the Labyrinth, she holds Adalinda up while the magic circles she put up around the Stage now surround the six girls plus Kyubey, hiding them from the sight of normal people. Or rather, their attention is deflected away.
She smiles softly towards Adalinda and says, "You did great." Then she holds out her free hand towards Amy, and opens it to reveal she is holding a strange black little ornament in her palm. "This is a Grief Seed. Use it to cleanse your Soul Gem. This is the reward that a Witch may drop."
- Miho Aiuchi has posed:
Miho ducks down along with Madoka, trying to think furiously. Several concepts are going through her mind. The disparity between the bride and the construction work. Amy's comment. "... Are there multiple witches, who got married?"
But no. Suddenly, everything changes. Miho yelps and recoils. "UHHHH is that supposed to be ... a ... 'witch'!? What!? AUGH!" She crosses her arms over her face. "Why did I come here, Kurumi-imoutochan would have stopped me, what's happening --"
She completely misses the witch's defeat, but she feels the change in atmosphere.
She blinks, lowering her hands and looking around. "Uh ... oh," she says softly. She's clearly gone all the way through 'frazzled' and into 'haggard'.
- Madoka Kaname has posed:
Madoka had no idea, not even the slightest inkling, that they were actually underwater. To her, the air seemed like the most normal thing here. In the back of her mind, something clicks. The victims were walking into the water, too. She sits up straight as she notices the magic circles keeping the water out. A distressed noise escapes her lips as she thinks about being submerged in Witch Water. Prone as she is, she misses the end of the fight, but notices the Labyrinth start to waver and fade away.
Even after she's back in the real world, it takes her a moment to remember to breathe.
Madoka cautiously picks herself back up, getting on her feet. She says "Thanks," to Yellow Pearl Voice before hopping off of the Live Stage, then casts her mortified gaze towards the flashing lights of emergency services.
Madoka keeps finding out that Labyrinths are more dangerous than she realizes, and she already considers them death traps.
When the pinkette turns to check on Kyubey, she finds him completely unfazed. Then she turns towards Miho and asks, "Are you still okay? That was... quite the experience."
Madoka's thoughts then start to turn towards normal affairs, and she pulls out her phone to check the time, wondering just how long she was in the Labyrinth.
- Coco Kiumi has posed:
As things start breaking down more and more, the witch reveals one more nasty trick: a layer of illusion breaks before their eyes, to Coco's ears sounding like something was popped and reality started sizzling.
In an instant, the Live Stage is surrounded by water, whether this means oxygen is cut off for the rest of her companions or not, Coco doesn't know. 'Some space without water, where is it?' she thinks, searching frantically for one.
She is more or less fine, as her own song has a purifying effect and she can keep singing without any problem or distortion even underwater. For her, it's like breathing polluted air.
'I can't find it!' she starts panicking, not knowing whether the rest of them are breathing. After these few seconds of worried search, magical circles sorround their entire group, protecting them from the witch's hopefully final trick.
Recognising Teresia as the source, she gives her a smile, continuing to sing with her worries now gone.
- Amanda Faust has posed:
Oh no.
Amanda is *under water*. And has the sense that she always was, here. The thoughts 'No, no, no!' and 'I'll drown!' are sideswiped by clinging to the hope that there MUST be some way to impose conditions necessary for her own existence on this place, hasn't she already been doing this just to be able to move and act at all?! Or maybe she's all wrong about this-- no, then it would be hopeless! Wait, how is she gonna use a rocket launcher underwater, anyway? Or even swing it like a club? Is thinking of it as imposing her will wrong, and she just needs to breathe and act like she *expects* it to work, like in a dream? She doesn't have long to make that choice--
But that's not what this story is about.
Clearly, stuff the player typed before Teresia's pose is only what happens in some other timeline where Teresia didn't stop it, perhaps, and a second Witch appearing RIGHT NEXT TO MADOKA got the timeline reset. Here and now:
MULTIPLE WITCHES THAT GOT MARRIED. Oh shit, Amy didn't even *think* of that. Her face falls at that suggestion just before the party aboard the Live Stage is plunged into the depths but the not-water is held at bay by a magic barrier. Amanda still has the concern of how she'll get her attacks to the witch... can she make her launcher fire torpedoes, instead?
While she's thinking about this, though, her vision is drawn to happenings below, and the Witch -- unmistakeably, The Witch, as confirmed by the fey alien script intruding on her perception, which she cannot read but intuitively understands the context and significance of well enough: the Boss is now confronting them, so of course there is a Boss Title.
...Is there something fundamental about that presentation, she wonders, shared by everyone? Or is that the way *she* sees it because she's played video games? Or does everyone *here* see it, *this time*, because in this instance enough of them have played games that that *shapes* the way it--
Amy shakes her head. Now is NOT the time! But seriously, she has to figure out how to fight the Witch, Adalinda's already charging in alone...
...And, together with Teresia, is enough.
- Amanda Faust has posed:
No exit appears, no 'CONGRATULATIONS!' or 'GET EQUIPPED WITH: <indecipherable Witch runes>'; the world just fades away back to reality. This is only natural, if the bubble of unreality emanated from and was sustained by the Witch. The need for an exit, for 'a way back', a 'what happens next' only applied in the rules of that place. Like a popped bubble, it is gone, and there is only Reality.
Still, Amanda's left kind of dazed. It's not unlike the disorientation of being hyperfocused on a game or story and then suddenly becoming aware of the world around you, a brief moment of the brain having to recalibrate to a new context, except this time the world around her *literally* changed.
It takes her a second to realise Teresia is complimenting her, and look up at the tall girl, and then down at the extended hand. She looks at it gormlessly as dismisses her rocket launcher and lifts her left forearm in front of her like showing a watch, the soul gem ornamenting her glove in a similar position, even less than a fifth full now. "...Um... how...?"
No doubt Kyubey or one of the other girls explains, and she watches, wide-eyed as her soul gem refills to its natural deep redness. So, does that make it an energy tank, a weapon tank, or a mega tank since she only has the one meter? NOT NOW BRAIN THIS IS SERIOUS DAMMIT!
Amanda stares into her soul...gem for a long moment, then looks curiously at the grief seed. If allowed to keep it, she puts it in the other pouch opposite her phone for now. It kind of... takes her a moment to *process* that her magic is refilled, and that she's going to have to go through this regularly if she doesn't want to end up as helpless as a normal civilian. She runs her fingertip over the gem.
And then Amanda looks between the other gathered magical girls. "THANK you. I don't know what I would have done without you... if I'd tried to hunt a Witch alone I probably wouldn't have made it. She bows.
And then the redhead turns to look at Teresia again. To look *up* at Teresia again. All these tall, mysterious blonde women saving her and making her feel like things will be alright when she's around them. "I... uh... thank you. I mean, not just for that, but for... it's all been kinda crazy, you know? There's no... guide, I can't... go to forums for help, or, or anything, so, someone willing to teach..."
It finally hits her, horror growing on her face as she looks a bit unsteady on her feet. "I would've *died* if you and Adalinda weren't here. I, I, how could I even *fight* underwater... I, I, would breathing that stuff and trying to ignore it have even *worked*?" Part of her is crying out for a hug but that'd be weird to ask. "Thank you. I, um... I have so much to learn, are there lessons, or, or, I don't even know..." She stares into space, brow furrowed in worry, as she struggles to form a clear picture of what her future as a Puella Magi now looks like.
And it's a sub-tank, obviously. Because it only drains as much as it needs to to refill you in a single use.
- Adalinda Blumenkrantz has posed:
Adalinda reverts from her amped-up Witch Hunter mode, which is really just her normal henshin with Continuous Magic Drain as the tradeoff for Witch-Murdering Chainsaw, and is just Adalinda Blumenkrantz again. She definitely looks worse for wear, but she's alive at least. "Yeah. That was one of the tricky ones, Amanda. And that's why we never advance into a Labyrinth alone." she makes eye contact if she can, trying to emphasize that as strongly as possible. "They're never safe but some of them are worse. On the other hand..." She gestures to put the Grief Seed against Amy's Soul Gem as instruction, and once it's cleared up, she smiles up at Teresia. Love, admiration, and something even deeper, like idolization, in her eyes. "...No matter what Labyrinth, no one is in danger if they're with Teresia here. She's the expert on all of this. If she says she'll keep you safe... Then you'll be safe even if the end of the world were to happen."
Which is why it was so very unfortunate that Teresia didn't show up to the battle against that awful Witch that destroyed their home town in Germany, and which they have chased all the way here, until the very end. That was when Teresia drove it out of the city, almost single-handedly.
A shiver runs through Adalinda despite herself, thinking about not only the Witch... But also the fact that, driven out or not, even Teresia couldn't slay that upside-down horror of a Witch.
Somewhere inside of herself, despite the goal of coming here, Adalinda wonders if anyone can kill Walpurgisnacht.
At least, just like Amy, Ada's Soul Gem is shining bright and pure again... Even though she never used a Grief Seed that anyone would have seen.
"Let's get out of here and get dried off so that Teresia doesn't have to keep spending magic to hide us." she says as she disentangles herself from the veteran and starts trudging along up the slope towards the street, and away from the river.
- Teresia Kuefer has posed:
Teresia does not agree or disagree with Adalinda's description of her, just makes sure the younger Magical Girl is stable to stand and walk on her own and then moves closer to Amy. She leans down and kneels there on the hill, and carefully hugs the brand new heroine. "It's okay. You're okay. We work together for a reason. I won't let a single one of you girls who I have taken under my wing die. I don't know about an apocalypse, but you did just fine for your first time." After a few pats on the back, she pulls away and smiles. She looks like an 18 or 19-year old relative to the other girls present. Almost an adult, but still 'one of them'.
"You were fighting with a handicap from the start." She then looks towards Yellow Pearl Voice. "I noticed that magic was depleting less quickly in there. Was it your song that was responsible? Either way, that Witch really didn't like it. I guess she has poor taste in music." Teresia's own laugh is like silver bells as shs lets out the stress of the battle and mocks their fallen foe at the same time. All for the sake of reassuring the other girls.
"Madoka-chan, Miho-chan, you also did quite well. You stuck with me, and kept Kyubey out of trouble. I think that you would make excellent team mates. Not just in fighting Witches, but in anything. Knowing you were there made me go all out." Teresia raises back to her feet after letting go of Puella Red. "Sorry for showing off a bit." she apologies ruefully as she smiles and squints at the two civilians. And Kyubey, who she insists on teasing.
- Miho Aiuchi has posed:
Madoka's question shakes Miho out of her current feedback loop. "Uh ... no, I'm not really okay, no." (She said 'no' twice.) "That was just ... uh. Wow."
Adalinda describes some Witches as worse, and puts 'the end of the world' on the table. Miho isn't sure whether that last part is hyperbole, but her rejoinder, 'and you people voluntarily go into those places!?' dies on her lips when she looks over at Teresia. The whole point is that they need to help people, like those people over there who are still being treated by the EMTs. Besides, these people manifestly can handle it.
Well ... Teresia can handle it, anyway.
Miho is not Teresia.
Neither, clearly, is Amy.
Miho judges that she'd much closer to Amy than Teresia.
Teammates with Madoka!? Or ... just in general? Miho can't quite slot that into her head, nor can she figure out which version Teresia means regardless. Her initial response is a groan. "I'm just ... gonna ... not, right now," she says. She pauses, and looks ... not-quite over at Madoka. She can feel the shout rising up inside her. She knows it's not entirely reasonable, but she can't stop herself. "Oh, and Kyubey-san?" she says. "My answer right now is currently NO!" And with that, she storms off, passing around the edge of the crowds and making her way back in the direction of transportation back to Pikarigaoka.
Or at least, she tries to storm off. It looks closer to scampering, in some places.
- Madoka Kaname has posed:
Madoka pauses at the mention of the world ending, but she doesn't know why. There's something there, on the edge of her memory... no, it's gone. Strange. Just another weird thought, or maybe more of a feeling. She has those every once in a while. Walpurgisnacht, also, might stir some feelings if it were mentioned out loud. Even though she'd be fairly certain she's never heard that word before. Just another one of those passing things, like what she feels around Homura sometimes.
The pensive look on her face passes after a few seconds. Aside from it being a strange reaction to Adalinda's praise of Teresia, it might not even be noteworthy.
Teresia's praise of Madoka and Miho earns a pensive smile. Madoka trusts Teresia, and it's clear that Adalinda does too, but tonight is going to be burned into her brain in ways that aren't immediately clear. "You're very kind, Teresia-san. I'm glad we have people like you and your friends protecting us."
Miho's response to her question gets a nervous chuckle and a, "Yeah... me either."
Kyubey has managed to settle in on Madoka's shoulder, even if he's dripping a bit. He turns his attention to Miho when she answers him, seemingly completely unfazed by how emphatically she says it. <<Very well. Let me know if you change your mind!>>
Despite what he says, he's not trying very hard. Kyubey is keeping his eye on the prize.
Madoka follows Adalinda away from the River. Now that the Witch is dead, maybe it's not too late to bug her dad for a ride home. She'll have to figure out how to... process all of this later.
- Amanda Faust has posed:
...
...
*hug*
Something bottled up inside starts to release, the small redhead sniffling and barely holding in a sob as her eyes moisten.
It's okay. You're okay. You did fine.
She hugs Teresia back tightly, closing her eyes and resting her head against her at the backpats, sniffling a few more times before taking a deep breath and calming.
Blushing at that... unmanly show of emotion, she looks at Yellow and directs focus to her. "Yeah, I think maybe it did help me use less magic before. ...I wonder how that works?" She giggles at Teresia's joke about the Witch's taste in music.
Sorry for showing off?
Amy blinks. "That was showing off? I mean... you helped so much, I don't... that's not a bad thing, you know?"
She watches Miho go without judgement. That was a lot to go through for HER, and she HAD magic powers. If she can't even right now, that's pretty understandable.
- Coco Kiumi has posed:
When the witch is defeated, reality starts becoming more transparent, fading and undulating in several places, mixing itself with normal reality, as if it tries to delay the inevitable. The contrast is all the more jarring with the stable space of the Live Stage.
'That hurts just to look at', thinks Coco, closing her eyes as she feels a headache would have formed if we kept looking at it any longer. Once reality is safe enough to look at, Coco opens her eyes again dissolves the Live Stage, happy to see a random hill like never before.
'Definitely a workout', she thinks, barely keeping herself upright. Madoka had already jumped off the white sphere in the meantime, and Coco replies with a tired smile and a "no worries!" to the pinkette. She goes up to Teresia, who had just been idolised as the greatest ever by Adalinda (and considering the performance she just showed, Coco is not about to contest her on that one).
When Teresia asks her about what her songs supposedly did, she looks at her confused. "It did?" She massages her neck in confusion. "It could check out with something my songs can do, but I don't actually know if it's them. In the first place, you are the first people I know with exhaustible magic."
She looks at the talented magical girl, a question burning on her lips. "Excuse me, I hope you don't mind the question, but what's up with demons that strong? Who is behind them? Only the king of the deep seas himself could come anywhere close to such a distortion of reality."
Whatever Teresia's answer is, Coco gets worried by the Red's breakdown. She can't understand depending on slaying those things again and again to have enough magic to save others. Just a single time was traumatic enough for the mermaid princess, so she thinks she gets how hard it must be for Red. She does just about the only thing she knows can work in this instance and sings Legend of Mermaid for her, hoping the magic in her song can pacify Amy's feelings.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZ5oJI72bCA
- Teresia Kuefer has posed:
Teresia makes sure Amy is okay before anything else, and then turns towards Coco. "A Magical Girl is born of a Wish. We are the crystallization of hope, healing, and forgiveness. A Witch is born of a Curse. They embody despair, regret, and spite. We are directly counter to each other. As far as I am aware, Witches are born from the collective negative emotions of many people, or, perhaps, the intense loathing in the form of a Curse from a single individual. They spawn from a Witch's Egg, which tend to appear where negative emotions run high. Hospitals and schools are frequently breeding grounds for them... Many people suffer and despair in a hospital, and all of that..." She gestures around as her Puella Magi outfit vanishes in sparks of light to reveal a very custom-tailored school uniform. It needs to be for someone with her... Dimensions. "...Lingering despair just swirls around and around with no outlet."
She leans back a bit to look towards Kyubey, one hand on her hip. "Eventually, something cracks. For the Hope that we Magical Girls generate, and equal amount of despair is generated by a Witch. That is why we must eliminate Witches. There aren't so many of us that we can trade one of our lives for a single Witch, and there are so many people who will never even realize the true cause of missing friends and family members. Suicides, natural disasters, murders, deadly accidents, and other incidents may be the result of a Witch spreading despair, attacking invisibly from within their Barrier."
Her gaze then drifts to the EMTs up on the street that are wrapping up and leaving with the last of the people that almost drowned themselves in the river. "This day would have gone very differently if no one was willing to fight back. Remember that for those thirty or forty people who almost died, even if they will never know who saved them, it matters to them and their families that they were saved." She smiles softly. "I don't need recognition, as long as they can go back to their lives and those who love them. But those of us who share the battlefield with you see what you do. And we are thankful."
With that, she turns and starts making her way towards the street as well, with most of the others already having gone that way. "I have to go see a friend at the hospital. I'm sure we'll meet again." she says mysteriously once they all part ways.
