832/Which Witch is Which!? 2

Which Witch is Which!? 2
Date of Scene:	01 December 2023
Location:	Four Clover Mall
Synopsis:	La Crima, Riventon and Mami go Witch Hunting and get... more than they bargained for!
Cast of Characters:	Norie Okana, Mami Tomoe, Rashmi Terios, Takashi Agera, Amanda Faust, Adalinda Blumenkrantz, Chrono Harlaown, Sayaka Miki

---

Norie Okana has posed:
Today brings La Crima, in her labcoat and big luggable scanner along with some help, has brought Norie to an old, Electronic's store that's closed for the night. She sighed. Active bussiness. Couldn't just bust down the door. So she took the trouble of using one of her blades to cut through the side wall in the alley into the bussiness. Inside there we're TVs, lots of them.

Yes, this was a bad way to enter, but it wasn't setting off burgular alarms yet.

A partiularly big one seemed to shimmer in the light. Norie ran her scan and said in a quieter. pitched voice.

"They'reee here."

She looked back at the others, Mami and Riventen we're no doubt with her. "Right?"

Still. It's time to enter and rather than waste time for others to show up like next time she'll step right into the Labyrinth. Of...

It was static. Just static. No ground. (Even though there was something? to walk on.) and it was like walking through what one might imagine water to feel like, even though there we're no water physics.

La Crima herself looks around. You can at least see each other, but it's difficult. She stops to finally get her bearings. All she can see and hear is static. Static everywhere. She bumps into something through, as she turns around and there's nothing there, but she clearly hit something... something clatters to the ground.

"...Is that a remote control?" she asks quizzically.

Mami Tomoe has posed:
Mami Tomoe was, indeed, there. She was a crucial part of this whole operation as she had the Soul Gem that they could use to confirm the results of La Crima's tracking device. Sure enough, the bright yellow crystal pulsed with light as they approached the electronics store.

"Yes they are," she agreed with a nod before a yellow light enveloped her, transforming her into her more magical self with her hat and bow and boots.

Norie's not waiting around, and Mami's not about to let her imouto-chan rush into a Labyrinth all on her own. So she plunges in right after.

Static is everywhere. She can only just make out La Crima, and she can only just barely hear her. It's like her entire experience is coming in over a broken rabbit ear antenna. Not that Mami understands that reference. She steps aside from where she arrived, and then turns around on the spot, trying to discern any pattern in the static. Any motion. Anything at all.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Clover Mall is big enough to have room for *more than one bookstore.* This alone is reason for Rashmi to come here again and again, and the food court's pretty good too!

But on her last used-book hunting expedition, she felt... uneasy... upon passing by one of the older electronics stores. A quick check with Nicomachea turned up... something... that he simply didn't have the language for. Which *on its own* was reason enough to call up Chrono and ask if he wanted to join her in snooping after mall hours. This way, nobody would *have* to fly to the other's rescue!

"...So it was somewhere around here," she muses to Chrono, reaching out and giving the shutter keeping the store *properly* closed a desultory shake--

            *kkkk*

    *kkkssshhhhh*

                **KKK-KKSKHSKH-KHSHHHHHHHHH**

And now everything is static. The walls, floor, sky... Somehow *more* unnerving than the featureless white void of the Gates of Time, because at least that was indifferent inactivity. This is somehow... Worse. *Much* worse.

"Chroooono," she says, wings fluttering as she lifts a few centimeters off the ground, in case highh-speed movement is gonna be necessary. "Where are we? What's going on?"

Pause.

Peer.

"...Is that Riventon-san? And that La Crima girl?"

Takashi Agera has posed:
    "I see now why you were so willing to just accept the whole thing with Lacrima and some of the other stuff. When your day-to-day is stuff like this, I guess even youma are like 'cool, a shadow dog, at least I can tell what that was supposed to be'." Riventon says to Mami after entering the Labrynth. "I guess it could be... worse?" Riventon continues, as the remote control clatters to the static floor.

    "I mean, at least it's not food this time." he says, looking at Mami. Then down to his device, that heavy gauntlet on his arm. "Nothing going on here but static, even to me trying to scan it. Whatever it's doing to the... everything... my device is affected too. I hate these things." Riventon admits, just in time to see Chrono and Rashmi. "Also those things." he says, rolling his eyes visibly.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy is tracking a Witch. And she catches sight of... wait, is that Chrono and... whatserface? From the shrine battle. Who just stepped into a Labyrinth. "Hey!" She runs over, waving to Chrono. "Room for one more?" she smiles, but like. It's a rhetorical question. Witch hunting is her duty. And in short order she enters, herself.

    Everything is static. Everything is static! Closing her eyes and covering her ears don't stop it, EVERYTHING IS STATIC. Disoriented, she remembers to check her soul gem, but... it's right where it's supposed to be, and it glows its healthy red. She taps it a couple of times with her finger, and looks to the two who entered with her, barely visible in this 'snow'-storm. "Hey, are you having trouble hearing and seeing here too?" she yells.

Adalinda Blumenkrantz has posed:
    A mysterious silhouette stands on a rooftop across from the electronics store. Her stance is elegant and light, like she barely weighs anything at all. Ribbons trail in the air as a chill breeze sweeps through without other buildings in the way to act as a windbreak. Medium-length hair sways likewise. Then the figure vanishes in a flicker of movement.

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown had arrived... almost distressingly quickly the moment that Rashmi mentioned something was off. It was almost like he had feelings for her or something.

Of course, as he was now on duty(did he ever actually go OFF duty?) he was in his barrier jacket. He'd been having more nightmares lately. His lack of success at finding any of the crew was, noteably... not helping matters. At all. And when Amy showed up, he tensed a little. But eh, oh well. She was good. He reached out to take Rashmi's hand before stepping through with her...

And static. His hand tightened on hers. "I'm not sure, but don't worry. We appear to be in a strange dimensional space. I'll--" Then his eyes focused on La Crima and Riventon. He aimed his device towards them... "Riventon! Assassin! Is this your doing?" he called out. Some strange Obsidian plot?

"Rashmi, stay close to me," he ordered her. After all, both of them were soldiers. They needed to be able to work together... right?

Sayaka Miki has posed:
Sayaka is downcast. Receiving a lot of sudden visits from very different sources elicits in her mixed reactions. On one hand, she would have preferred to keep to herself as much as possible, on the other being pushed by so many people does force her to react.

Not that being pushed to react is necessarily positive because even if they have spent that time trying to help her and convince her she is still herself, that underlying worry about forcing them to deal with her and that she really doesn't deserve it is hard to eradicate. Perhaps it is even strengthened by all the sudden kindness she is receiving.

She is still throwing herself wholeheartedly into her patrol as of right now, and the contrasting feelings make her more confused, but this is how is meant to be, she is still telling herself. Anyhow, there is a signal, and Sayaka is following it to its source.

Once she enters the Labyrinth, she too feels the same static as everyone else. And that plus the watery feeling makes her grimace, throwing her back to the first Witch she defeated. There are some very odd similarities that get her even more on edge than she would otherwise be.

When she catches up to the others, her eyes are pointed to Norie first. "La Crima, what are you doing here? Trying to set up more ambushes?" Between herself and Hannah, Sayaka is keeping her sword in a solid grip.

Norie Okana has posed:
La Crima picks up the remote and looks at it. She 'ahs' and presses the volume button down. THe searing sound of static descends a little. She keeps doing this until it's down at a level where they can talk. "Okay. There. Okay this appears to be... the remote control for. Whatever this is. Let's try..." she presses the A/V button and the world becomes bright blue. You see in the top left corner of your visition somehow 'A/V Input 1: NO INPUT'. At least this is quieter. And clearer.

"Huh." she goes. "Now we're in blue." she goes. She hears. Voices. Oh. She can see them now. "Oh. You two." she says with lackluster tone, expression and going slack. "Go away. We're busy trying to figure out how to eliminate a threat to the world while you let throne stealers run around jauntily and be their friend, right?"

"Argh, you're here now you might aswell help, we're in a Witch's Labyrinth and this place is dangerous. Looks like it's Television related. Look. The threat will be eliminated wether you help or not."

There's static creeping along the edges of everyone's vision, but it goes away when you look at it. What was that.

"Look, I have the remote anyways." she says, coyly.

She looks at Riventon and Mami, "Look, I'm probably. Not gonna get through to these two." she says. "For reasons." She adds. "So you two deal with them---"

"Hi Amy-chan." she says softly.

Then there's Sayaka. "Whoo boy, three for zero." she says darkly. "Sharpsong. and Amy." she says. "We're here to slay the witch. Which ever which way it is.." she says as she looks down at her remote and presses the button...

Into some sort of romance sitcom. It's cheesy. Except all the actors have a richtis grin the whole time and move like they're puppets. The viewpoint is if you we're in a studio audience!

Except there's no audience.

Hey that static at the edges of your visions get strong here. Before it dissapates again. "I wonder if the witch is hiding in the channels." she says. "But uh."

"This seems off." she says. "And upsetting."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Don't worry, Chrono," Rashmi murmurs. "As lons as we keep together we'll be all right."

Then Norie addresses the pair, and Rashmi narrows her eyes, considering, before blowing out a long breath at the unearned sass. "...Okay just so I have it straight," Rashmi calls across the intervening distance, squinting her eyes against the suffusion of BRIGHT BLUE and batting instinctively at the NO INPUT just in the corner of her vision. "This is *completely unrelated* to you trying to decapitate our friend? And since it doesn't involve shooting random passersby I'm *guessing* it's not Riventon-san's fault either." Nodding to herself, she squeezes Chrono's hand back, nodding... when movement out of the corner of her eye has her turning around, beaming brightly at the newcomers. "Oh hallo, Red-san! Awesome, you're here! So uh... first question."

"What's a Witch?"

...Oh.

Oh Rashmi, you poor doomed soul.

When the scene flickers to the... romance? Stageplay? And the doll-like actors with their frozen grins caper and mumble about the stage... Rashmi takes hold of Chrono's shoulder with her free hand. "...Oh," she says faintly, eyes widening. "...Upsetting is a good word, yeah... uh... What... do we do?"

Takashi Agera has posed:
"I'm not an assassin, you spikey-shouldered idiot - I'm a scientist. Sci-en-tist. You understand what those are, I hope." Riventon says rudely. Then Sayaka and Amy show up and he realizes the assassin remarks are directed at his Favorite Employee.

    "Decapitate?" Riventon asks. This is directed at both Rashmi and Norie. "I'm not responsible for any of this. I'm trying to stop this. Cause it's weird and creepy and also you know, kills people." Riventon and Mami are standing close together - very close together. Like Chrono and Rashmi close. Riventon steps ever so slightly in front of her, too. "Is that a goal you can agree is common, or do we need to start this hunt off with a fight, cause I think they're supposed to be putting on the show, not us." Riventon says, pointing to the spooky-freaky screen.

    "Speaking of, generally, what the hell." he adds. "Is there even an explanation? Have you ever read Lovecraft? Cause welcome to a game of Call of Cuthulu, basically. Try not to go insane till we kill whatever is causing it."

Mami Tomoe has posed:
"Yes, well, this one is rather odd," Mami says to Riventon as Norie fiddles with the remote, making it easier to hear, but then suddenly changing their surroundings. It really is one of the more bizarre Labyrinths she's been in.

Then others arrive. Others who have beef with her team. Others who have beef with her. Or at least one other. And everybody starts getting into the arguing right away.

"CHILDREN!" She says, sternly, as if she was not also a child. "We are in a witch's Labyrinth, can we save the recriminations and petty bickering until she's dead?"

Then she takes a couple steps away from Riventon, and throws up her hand sending a mass of ribbons shooting out that coalesce into two dozen rifles pointed toward the actors. Bang bang bang! Maybe that will draw the witch out.

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown glanced to Rashmi and nodded. "I know. We'll be fine. Just so long as we keep her in our sights. As for a witch... well, I've heard of them. I haven't actually encountered one before now. They're monsters of despair from another realm, primarily puella magi fight them. Kyubey is a... granter, of sorts, to the puella magi power, which allows them to fight these monsters."

"... My scans are, unfortunately, not able to get a proper reading. It's akin to being inside a dimensional anomaly, though. Not like the barrier fields. I'm not entirely sure how this will impact our magic."

However, the comment on throne stealers drew a little ire. He took a slow breath and... "Like it or not, Hannah Steiner is the current rightful heir to the throne and, as a TSAB enforcer, I am duty bound both by treaty and on the basis of not being a shitty person against those who attempt to take her life!" he yelled across the... romance... series at Norie.

"But very well, so long as your friend keeps her blade sheathed, I will do so as well. At least until this current issue is resolved." Pause. "And thirty seconds AFTER the issue is resolved." Unlike some people he won't shift directly into 'attack prior friends' as soon as the job is done.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    The static... lessens. Are there other people further away?

    The world becoming EYE-SEARING BLUE makes them stand out even more. She conjures sunglasses again like last time.

    "You."

    She greets La Crima coldly.

    "...Well, none of us want to die, so... truce? We take down the Witch, one of the Puella Magi leaves here with the seed, and *next* time we see eachother... we will have *words*. Or fight."

    Rashmi doesn't know what a Witch is.

    Amy takes a breath. "Terrible monsters that prey on humanity from outside reality. They mark victims with a Witch's Kiss, and influence them to commit suicide, which they somehow feed off of. They usually can't enter reality directly... the epicenter, so to speak, is an invisible portal into a Witch's Labyrinth, some kind of pocket reality that has its own sense to it." She spreads her arms and turns slightly to indicate the world around them. "They're generally pretty freaky and trippy and look weird. And so do their denizens. Those denizens being Familiars. Hostile... things that will attack us. There may also *appear* to be creatures other than familiars, but... if they don't interact with us, they're probably just part of the background, so to speak. For example, another one of these was a circus. Strange creatures attacked us on the tightrope, but there was an apparent 'audience' that didn't do anything. They probably weren't real."

    Amy looks towards the live show. "...This one is especially weird, the way it could interfere with our senses..."

    Amy watches the play for a moment, then turns back to Rashmi. "Oh. So... I don't entirely know how things work in here, but... you can't always count on, on crossing the space between being how you move from place to place. You might suddenly be at your destination, or find that travel isn't getting anywhere until you've slain the familiars attacking you, or damaged the environment, or *something*. I think of it as like, narrative rules. We have to advance the 'plot' to get to the end. Sometimes moving does it. Sometimes fighting does it. Hard to say for sure..."

    Amy looks from Rashmi, to the play. "In this case that might be getting a bit meta, though. Will watching this play make something happen?"

    "In any case, when we face the Witch, you'll know it. There will be boss titles. And a sense of 'this is it', kinda..."

    Mami tries to put an end to the show with boolit. "That's one way to do it..."

Sayaka Miki has posed:
"Then you can get out of here", Sayaka exclaims when La Crima denies her question. "Witch Labyrinths have nothing to do with you, and Grief Seeds certainly shouldn't be left with your kind." She still has no idea what's that about throne stealers, but she certainly doesn't like the accusation towards Hannah. "Leave my friend alone, she is honest and righteous, which is far more than I could say about you." She gives a nod towards Chrono in agreement over the matter.

The TVs make the comparison even more this witch and H.N.Elly even more startling, but at least there are no unsettling memories on the screen here. Still, she has no clue how to get to the Witch.

"Well, you can go away too, Riventon, and for the same reasons as La Crima", Sayaka growls at him. What is Obsidian and their interest in Witches, anyhow? Like she is trusting a single word of what they say. "I don't need to remind you of all the times you have put people in danger, and now I have to believe you want to help save them?"

And joy of all joys, Mami is here, and she is cooperating with Riventon too. "Have you gone crazy?" Sayaka yells at her. "I thought the only problem with you was your excessive trust towards Kyubey, and you still wanted to help people. Why are you aiding these types? I thought you cared about doing what's right."

Which is also why she finds herself in disagreement with Amy. "Red-senpai, we have had no problem dealing with Witches in the past, and we don't know what secondary ends they have got here. Leaving them alone is just as much of a problem."

Norie Okana has posed:
La Crima sighs. No doubt lots of people are gonna answer, but she gives a more reasonable one in plain English from a researchers prespective Rashmi might appreciate more.

"A witch, as far as my research shows, is a youma living in a made up world called a labyrinth. You're in one now. They seem to take many bizzare shapes and forms and concepts, and make them weaponized. They lure people in, and eat them or cause them to commit suicide. I think it's both the same purpose of feeding itself. This one is hiding in a Electronic's store. You want a kill count? Look in missing persons. They are deemed feral in my research. It makes them dangerous, violent, uncontrolable and can't be reasoned or communicated with. Trust me, I've tried. When they are killed they drop a 'grief seed'. Puella Magi need these seeds to survive. They hunt witches. We're after this one for my big sister, Mami-chan."

She frowns and huffs dramatically. "Don't you dare accuse Riven-senpai of such things! It was me." she says. "Fine, you wanna fight about it. Later." she says with a frown. "Right now we're here to kill a witch, I'm here to get readings so we can focus on making it easier to eliminate these things in the future- and Mami is here doing her job as a Puella and Riventon is helping her." she says. She looks towards Sayaka.

"Oh get over yourself." she says to Sayaka. "Witches are everyone's bussiness! I'm here helping Mami-Oneechan..." she says softer. "She needs the seed too..."

Mami shoots into the actors. Everything stops dead as the volley comes down on the blatant familiars. Many seem to dissolve into awful TV Static into the floor like melting down to the bone, screaming garbbled garbage the whole time. The other remaining turn towards the group, their heads turning upisde down so the richtis girns become richtis growns and with a weird channel change effect that blanks out everyone's visions for a moment are suddenly right in your vincinity, lunging at all the group. Thier grasp, if touch, feels like one might imagine TV static to feel like. Sharp and Tingling with pain. Like a asleep limb, but worse.

The static at the side of your visions get exponetially worse as this happens. You can see faces in the static? Or iss is just visual pareidolia.

Adalinda Blumenkrantz has posed:
    <<Sayaka-san. Mami-san. Amy-san. Do you know the people with you? I was going to offer to help track down the Witch, but I don't recognize any of them. I didn't want to get caught in friendly fire.>> Oh, it's Adalinda. The one who can track Witches like a blood hound. That might be useful in this situation? Maybe? Unclear how much scent static puts off, but at least she's checking before just leaping into the way of the action.

Norie Okana has posed:
Also. One of the creatures, that attack La Crima has run off with the remote! She yells at the sudden touch, apparently not draining a familiar in the process, luckily, before being pushed down by the creature, and the familiar just starts to run away with it, What's going on here!? Did they want it back so much now!?

Mami Tomoe has posed:
<<I know La Crima and Riventon, the other two I'm not sure about. They probably won't attack you though.>> They're the 'good guys' after all. Her team is their only likely targets, if not the Witch.

Her bullets hit the familiars and everything changes in a flash. This is just what she was hoping for. If they're attacking them then that means they're closer. But now the familiars are right there amidst them.

"Am I the only person who came into this Labyrinth to fight the witch? I haven't met one yet that dies from words," she yells at everybody as she leaps up into the air, catching two rifles that fall down out of her skirt, does a flip mid-air so that her rifles are pointed down toward two of the familiars and then pulls the trigger.

"Who made you the judge of all that was good and proper, Miki-san?" Not Sayaka-chan. Not even Sayaka-san. "Riventon and La Crima are here to help me. Now can you shut your self-righteous mouth and get to work?!"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy blinks at Sayaka. "Right now, what's right is killing this witch. As long as we don't leave the grief seed in Tears or Riventon's hands... That's enough for now."

    How to put this... Especially after La Crima talks about Witches: "They know how dangerous Witches are. If they have any self-preservation instinct, they won't try anything... and it sounds like they view Mami fondly, at least, and she doesn't want to see us hurt." She looks to Mami. "We'll talk later about why she's calling you sister."

    The sunglasses with the pink frames and the little stars in the upper-outer corners kind of undermine her serious tone a bit. She can only make cute things, after all!

    She looks back to Sayaka. "If they're insane enough to risk death at the Witch's hands just to try something... we'll deal with them then. There are three of us--" oh, there's Adalinda. "--four of us. Really, six, you think those two will let them try anything?"

    Ah. "She's right. Witches are a danger to *everyone*. It's not like anyone can control them..." wait didn't she just read a story like that. God damn it. "...yet. THAT'S an awful thought..."

    Combat begins. Things go black for a moment. "Ah, f---!" Even brief contact with these things SUCKS. "No, NO!" point-blank blasts send the Familiars near her flying. The static at the edge of her vision is subconsciously recognized by her brain as like the red-tinged border in a modern videogame. She doesn't want to find out what happens if she takes too much damage...

    First priority is getting familiars OFF OF HER. Then, she switches two something like an assault rifle-shaped gyrojet launcher to try and kill the familiars much as if she were using bullets.
"F---! Don't let them touch you!"

Takashi Agera has posed:
    "La Crima-san, you're my employee so if someone's gonna fight you about something they're fighting me. And probably Mami too." Mami rolls of his tongue so easily he doesn't even think about the company he's in. No honorifics or anything. "Anyways, nobody is trying to decapitate anything except the witch. Not anyone that I have control over." he says, and leaves that open as to whether he thinks that's his employees, or everybody in the room, because it's him.

    However, Mami's rifles open fire on the ongoing show, and suddenly things get both weirder and more dangerous in a hurry. They're very close to him. And Riventon, unlike a certain firey-haired and tempered girl, is not about to drain energy from a familiar either. Too close for prepared spellcasting (in fact one of their grasping attacks runs into an auto-guard created Round Shield), so Riventon just claws the nearest familiar with his hand sheathed in Dark Energy, leaving a trail of ink-like energy floating in the air afterwards, like someone had painted on the world for a moment. That one's not the witch - that's just his energy floating thickly in the air for a moment before disapating, and it cleaves through the familiar distressingly easily. Another familiar for the other hand to cleave, and then La Crima yells out and Riventon responds along with his device.

    <PEITSCHENKABEL FORM> it calls before Riventon thrusts his hand out and a glowing purple line of energy, moving through the air more like a cloth than anything else, streaks through the air towards the one with the remote. "I dunno why they took that, but I know I hate it when other people try to change the channel on my TV."

Sayaka Miki has posed:
<<Besides the short guy with the spikes and the redhead with the book, they are just as much a problem as the Witch>>, Sayaka answers back when she hears Adalinda's voice. <<And I am not sure I would trust Mami-san either. She is actively cooperating with them, and not just as a truce.>>

The increasing static starts giving Sayaka a bit of a headache. Why couldn't this be just a classic Witch? She would take the flying tv over this one running visual interference. With a swirl of her cape, 2 more sword appears at her side, hovering and she commands them to go run after any familiar in range, striking as much of them as they can.

"Good and proper?" Sayaka repeats angrily. "I don't think it takes a particular moral standing to ask not to attack people, Mami." For her part, she is absolutely treating the blonde with ringlets with the utmost familiarity. "Or do you think cutting the throats of people in prayer and trying to steal the soul of others just a normal everyday thing to do? Have you really become that blind?"

She doesn't find herself disagreeing with Amy, despite herself. "Alright, I will leave them be for now. But she is not taking her eyes off of them.

Meanwhile, Ula, who has totally been here all along, looks at Red and asks her, worry evident in her voice "Will you be alright if things break into a fight over the Grief Seed?" She isn't trusting how relentless Sayaka is being, and that thing is still very important to both of them with Mami on Riventon's and Norie's side.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Explanations.

    Recriminations.

            Machinations.

        Static sussurations.

Words and feelings flying at and around Rashmi and Chrono, and while she tries *very hard* to listen, it all grows into a babble that builds and builds and builds and builds until--

--the Familiars attack. Which y'know what? Forget it, *that* is something that can be dealt with.

    << *BONG!* >> << SOLAR SHIELD -- RED SHIFT >>

As the Familiars lunge their way, Rashmi's first thought is to give Chrono enough room to breathe, and enough space to work. Thus, the golden, jittery half-dome surrounds them both, exploding in a wave of kinetic force the moment the first of the attackers comes into contact with it.

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

An intricate golden magic circle spreads out under Rashmi's feet, summoning a trio of wisps of golden foxfire. One each darts to Amy and Mami, impacting their center mass with a feeling of summer sun on skin, lending a spike of extra power to their next shot. The third whips around Chrono's staff, filling the mana cylinder with golden sunlight.

    << *BONG!* >> << TELEPATHY >>

     << They're right, >> Rashmi's voice says... and whether she's broken into the Puella's communication net or just created one of her own is difficult to say in such a chaotic moment. << We can yell at each other later when we've all survived this. Doesn't matter right now. If you need help, call out. If someone else needs help, call out. Right now, *everyone lives.* >>

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown has a lot going on. There's so many people, trying to keep all of them straight is difficult right now. The gunfire gets the attention of the familiars...

And a moment later they are descending on them.

Then they're there. Like a channel flipped, or time jumped, something was wrong. He tugged Rashmi back, actually... forcing her back behind him a little. He held his device out.

            <<Subzero Burst!>>

In a moment, the familiars charging at them were enveloped in ice. It would only pause them for a second, before shattering...

Shards of ice flashing out, impaling the monsters before them. He then lowered his device in a violent gesture.

            <<Stinger Snipe!>>

Five very, very dark blue orbs of magic appeared in front of him and dashed out, piercing through some of the familiars in wild, eratic strikes.

The ice... had also seemed darker than normal. But his grip on Rashmi's hand was tighter than it normally was. And those orbs were normally so bright blue, but now they were more like the ocean's depths.

Chrono was breathing faster, too, his eyes narrowed to pinpricks. In that moment, he had almost seen it. Rashmi... getting hurt. Him not being able to protect her. The monsters winning. Taking her from him. What were these witches? What were they doing? How could they do any of this?

An alert appeared in the corner of his vision, but he ignored it. The stinger snipes tearing through the field, vicious and merciless in their destruction.

Adalinda Blumenkrantz has posed:
    There is no further communication from Adalinda in response. It seems like everything is already quite turbulent, and there is no real group cohesion. It's a bad situation. Made more bad when unfamiliar telepathy begins to assault her, from sources that are not Puella Magi as far as she knows. One would think that she would be eager to work together given she is used to team-based hunting. But Adalinda has a secret.

    In defiance of what she has been taught by Teresia, Adalinda has been hunting on her own. For experience, for extra Grief Seeds for an emergency stock, and because the hunts she does with the Meisters aren't frequent enough to satiate the raging thing inside of her that wants to Kill Witches.

    So she doesn't work with the others. She just zips by, a blur of movement, trailing blue jet streams from the magic she is expelling from various points on her armored dress. In pursuit of the creature that took the remote. Because that's where the scent of a Witch is coming from.

Norie Okana has posed:
The familiars are easily shot by Mami and Ami and go down with enough rounds that they make like the ones before, melting into static, hideously.

Chrono can freeze and destroy them, even with terrible slightly dark energy-tainted magic because witch familiars, at least these ones, don't seem to care about what's thrown at them as long as it's forceful.

Rashmi boosts her freinds (and Mami) and activates a telepathy spell!

Sayaka is able to slice and dice the familiars with her swords without too much trouble.

All familiars seem to melt into static when they die in this world. However they're killed.

Riventon goes for the one with the remote while Adalinda does too. Who will get there first to try to reclaim it!?

Meanwhile, the Actors all begin to thin out (and least on this channel!?) save for the one running away with the remote. It's garbarling something in insanespeak.

La Crima, who's gotten up off her butt now, because that's twice she's ended up on her butt in a Labyrinth, stands up and starts racing behind the other two as she floats through the air, but she's nowhere as fast as Adalinda or Riventon, both who accustomed more to moving fast.

"A..ah.. right Riven-senpai, here I come!" she says.

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Riventon sees Adalinda moving towards the remote at a high rate of speed, and actually recalls his line instead. Because there's a risk of it hitting her, and he's trying to play nice. Also, he's got something else to focus on."Get that remote!" he calls to the Puella Magi (and Lacrima). "And find out whatever channel we have to tune to, to beat this thing down."

    "Hey, Agent Shoulder Spikes." Riventon calls. "Dunno what you're on about, but a labrynth is not the place to try and emulate me poorly. Stick to what you're good at and leave the Dark Energy to me. It's dangerous to normal folks like you and I don't want to deal with the pain in the butt that would be trying to fight you and having the other people be all confused." he calls, stopping near Chrono. "I get that you want to get an edge on me, but watching you use Dark Energy in your attacks is like Picasso watching a kid try to emulate his work with fingerpaints. Kinda cute but ultimately hopeless. Only in this case the fingerpaint is radioactive."

    "Good news for people of any moral standing then, stabby. 'Cause all I'm asking is that we don't attack people. Just familiars and witches. You can manage that, right? Or have you been sniffing around Dark Energy like Agent Needsabreak over there?" he asks Sayaka.

    "Hey, Red, just so you know, if it ends up in my hands, all I'm gonna do is give it to the prettiest girl in the room." By which he obviously means Mami. But maybe not everybody knows that. And maybe a buncha folks would wish he didn't phrase it in that explicit way but oh well he did. He also follows after the remote-wielding youma again, only this time flying after it rather than trying to grapple it with his Cable Line; but Adalinda will easily be there first unless something prevents her.

Mami Tomoe has posed:
Puella Magi Mami hears Rashmi's voice in her head and it's unexpected, but welcome. This way everyone can hear what she has to say. <<The last time I saw you, Miki-san, I was there to help you hunt Witches. What did you do? You attacked me! Why? Because you don't like Kyubey and I do. Maybe take a moment to look inward and stop being such a judgemental bitch.>>

It's especially nice that she can speak her mind while not actually having to speak, letting her keep her breathing under control so that her aim stays steady. As she plunges back down into the thinning throng of actors, flintlock pistols fall down out of her sleeves into her hands and she fires them off. She spins around in a pirouette as another two pistols slide into her hands and she fires them as well. And again. It's like a John Woo ballet.

Then they're gone, and Riventon's chasing after the remote control, but so is Adalinda. Well, one of them will get it. She trusts them both to do what's needed. Though that does seem like the key to finding the witch, so she starts to move that way, but without quite so much urgency. It's handled. She can rest just a little in this moment.

Well, rest, and be bitchy. <<I don't need the grief seed this time. Personally, I think Miki-san should have it. I know she struggles to keep her soul gem clean.>>

Rashmi Terios has posed:
There are a lot of things happening that are confusing, and the Familiars that melt into formless static when 'killed,' is just the most immediately dangerous. As the tide begins to thin, Rashmi's eyes flick from Chrono to Riventon and back again, brow furrowing. "Wait... Dar-- Chrono? What..." It takes a moment, before the meaning of Riventon's words truly sinks in, and a few more things make sense. The way she felt when Sunbreaker's fire tried to consume her. THe lingering doubt and terror, smoothed away by the love and regard of *so many friends.* The way Guardian Daifuku's sweets left her feeling, not only healed, but like she'd had a *really good nap* and was ready to face the day.

She does not, sadly, have Daifuku treats on hand. But she does have the next best thing. Her hand pulls away from Chrono's, only long enough to wrap around his waist. "Ignore him," she murmurs into the TSAB agent's ear. "Listen to me, okay? I'm right here. I'm *not going anywhere.* Nothing happens to me, that doesn't happen to us, *together.*"

Switching to telepathy, she gives *her boyfriend* a squeeze, then addresses the group. If Chrono's having Darkness-related issues, she's more than happy to cover for him when he needs, like she's always promised to do. << There's two on the remote, and it looks like we're running out of horrible puppets trying to murder us. This is good. We're on top of this, right now. Chrono, could you give the runners a hand and lock down the one trying to get away? Everyone else... Let's not assume this is all there is. There might be another channel, and that could mean there's just another horde waiting to attack I guess? Keep an eye out? >>

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "Talk about beheadings later. Fight for our lives against a Witch now."

    Chrono is freezing things. "Oh damn, you got ice powers?! Do you have other elements too?"

    Riventon's comment about giving the grief seed to the prettiest girl in the room just gets a brief scoff and eyeroll from her.

    Mami... is berating Sayaka? "Not now! Please! We can argue when we're not in a Labyrinth!" At least Mami says Sayaka should get the seed, which is agreeable. Although, the comment about keeping gems 'clean' gets a frown from her. "Can you not say it like that? We all get darkness in our gems, it just happens when we use magic..."

    In the meantime? Other people are on the familiar that stole the 'remote'. Amy will cooperate instead of trying to steal the show, continuing to use her gyrojet shots to take down the remaining familiars and keep them from bothering people. It's just like in a videogame...

Adalinda Blumenkrantz has posed:
    Adalinda can make pinpoint adjustments to her flight. All the ruffles, folds, and decorations on her dress are maneuvering jets, verniers, and stabilizing fins, essentially. She expels a huge amount of magic to maintain this speed, which is why she normally only uses it in small bursts... To surprise an enemy, or rescue an ally more quickly, and the like. She is aware that another predator is challenging her for her prey, but does not deliberately try to interfere with him.

    She just burns even more magic to make sure doesn't miss. Her arms slowly rise from her sides, yellow eyes locked onto her target, that poor, poor Familiar who doesn't know what's coming at all. Arms over her head, they move into a position as though holding something. Then a flash of purple magic, stars, moons, ribbons, and other lovely things, and her chainsaw appears there in her grip.

    This is it.

    She goes faster, throwing herself bodily forwards into a somersault, simultaneously adjusting her jets to keep her spinning and moving forward, turning her into a flaming pinwheel with a savage blade sticking out, like a razor blade in an apple. Then, the chainsaw roars to life briefly. Just for a moment, circulating magic along its chain, as the Witch Hunter tries to slice right through the controller, the Familiar, and anything else in her way.

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown left destruction in his wake. Good. None of them could hurt Rashmi now. None of them could--

"What?" he asked, glancing to Riventon. "What are you talking about? I don't use dark energy. The stuff is dangerous and I'm able to bring enough power to bear without resorting to such things." The comment there was... pretty obvious. 'Unlike you, Riventon'. Not that he said it...

"Rashmi doesn't need a grief seed, Riventon, but we appreciate your offer. It really should go to a puella magic, however." Yes. He could be a little shit too.

Rashmi's sudden hand pulling from her made him whip around in a way she hadn't seen him due before. The anxiety shimmering in his eyes. The worry that she was hurt... Only for her to wrap around is waist. "I'm fine," Chrono said, unaware he was lying. "I don't know what he's talking about, I don't use dark energy. And I know. You're safe and I'll keep you that way."

'I'll keep you that way'. That... wasn't something he normally said. Or considered. He trusted her to take care of herself... but...

His rod flicked out. A little ahead of the runner, a bind would appear. When it traversed over it, magic ribbons would rise up to wrap around it. It wouldn't hold for long... but there would be more. Each step away from the group causing more binds, slowing it down, a few second delays here, a few seconds there... buying them much needed time.

As for Amy... "I actually do temperature control, not so much ice. While ice is the appearance, it's actually due to the instant sub-zero..." And he began a lecture on temperature magic, how it operated and he was kind of a nerd so this could go on for a while if someone didn't cut him off.

Sayaka Miki has posed:
Sniffing around dark energy? What is he going on about? She has no reason to go anywhere near the thing. "If you didn't notice, old-timey car", she bites back, "that was your track record I was listing, so I don't think it's that unclear that you should keep your mouth shut, unless you need assistance in that regard."

"You didn't want to understand Kyubey is dangerous, and I needed you to understand that I am fully serious when I say he does things behind our back, and I insist on that now more than ever before", the bluenette remarks to Mami. "So, how about you stop being a bitch and keep him kilometers away from you!? This is help I am giving you!"

She scowls at the comment over the state of her Soul Gem. "I have no problem with keeping my magic charged, otherwise I wouldn't have come back from all my patrols safely!" Her doing the bare minimum to keep herself alive nonwithstanding.

Ula pats Amy's shoulder in thanks for her support of Sayaka. "Sorry they are being like that, it's something we are working on." At least when it pertains to Sayaka.

The koi mermaid goes back to Sayaka clinging to her shoulder under the cape as protection, and the Sharpsong Puella forms the Shooting Stinger. The heavy greatsword is then tossed towards Riventon with great strength and speed. She is giving chase to the remote too, but failing that, better to let Adalinda get there first.

Norie Okana has posed:
There's basically no 'Actors' left save for the one. Riventon races after the remote, so does Adalinda...

Chrono then sends binds across the 'Actor' familiar and it garbles and screams and then Adalinda destroys the remote....!?

The remote explodes into what seems to be strawberry jam and hot dogs, if we're being polite, and then there's a loud screeching as the world begins to shake and shimer and that static at the edge of your visions get stronger and oh god there are faces in the static and then the world falters and with a simple white line everything goes *Blip* to a white spot.

"That concludes our broadcast day." says a TV in the wee late hours of the night in the Electronics store as the sound of a Grief Seed clitters to the ground, along with the buzzzz of color bars when the news station goes off for the day. It has a TV Remote painted on it with many colored buttons of the rainbow. Everyone is now out in the open and back to reality like none of that happened. Except there's a giant crack in the big TV.

La Crima is left there all huffy as she looks down to the big luggable pack she's carrying. "I got the data!" she says. "But I wish I knew the remote was the witch. I could had scanned it deeper." she says with a long winding sigh, before blinking and suddenly looking up and raising a hand as she huffs.

"Gran Explosión!" she calls out, throwing a big huge massive, awesome energy blast made of pure dark energy towards ... Sayaka Miki, posed as if she had a cape on doing this, and she'd be clasping it up with one hand. Regardless if she hits or not, there's...there's going to be a lot of damage from what she just did. "Don't you every try to attack Riven-senpai again, you jerk." she says darkly.

Mami Tomoe has posed:
Mami's not fighting, indeed, from her experience, the situation seems very well in hand. So as she leisurely converges on the remote with the others, she focuses her attention on her more pressing concern. The annoying bluenette who will not stop running her mouth.

"You are such a hypocrite, Miki-san. Just listen to yourself. You don't think I should be friends with someone, and so you think it's reasonable to attack me. How is it any of your business who I'm friends with? You've spoken to me all of two times. The first time you told me I should hate my best friend, and the second time you attacked me after complaining about how there were limits on your magic and me pointing out all you needed was grief seeds."

Mami just does not shut up. She has completely lost her cool. It's a good thing she doesn't care about the grief seed because she is definitely not going to get it herself. It's Adalinda's as far as she's concerned. What a kill.

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Riventon sees that giant sword coming at him and stops. Just dead stops. There's a moment where something flickers underneath him - if anybody can tell from all of the static and otherwise TV related imagery. And then, the witch is killed, and the giant sword impacts Riventon, and he still doesn't shield - so the sword sinks into him as he gives a malicious smile.

    For a moment there is a Riventon standing there with a giant Sayaka sword sticking through him. TThen, quickly, the Riventon in question melts into a pool of black ink - the smile the last thing to melt away.

    A magic-laden flash of green eyes and the announcement from the device comes at the same time as the attack, providing little warning - of the attack which is not aimed at Sayaka, or even Chrono. Riventon's blast is coming from Adalinda's right flank. She's the other one going after the seed. Riventon's got priorities, even if Mami doesn't.

    <SCHATTENSCHLAG> is the report from the device as the more focused spell-blast of Dark Energy rocks out at Adalinda. Maybe Obsidian isn't entirely on the same page after all... or maybe Riventon doesn't want to start a fight for no gain. Or he's an opprotunist.

    All of the above, quite probably.

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown cringed when Sayaka went straight for riventon. "Don't, now isn't the--"

Welp, too late now and--

And he knew that attack. He remembered when he'd fought Riventon... He readied for Riventon to go after Sayaka. Who else would he go after?

Instead, he targetted the unaffiliated girl. Norie unleashing a blast on Sayaka. Thirty seconds he'd offered them. None of them could keep with it. They attacked wildly, randomly...

There was a light flash, darkness in his eyes for a moment. He lifted his rod to the air and if Rashmi ever needed a sign that something else was *wrong* it was what he did next.

            <<Stinger Blade Execution Shift!>>

Dozens, possibly hundreds of swords appeared in the air around them. And for all of Riventon's threat? His danger? He was nowhere near a Precia level threat. The blades had a core of darkness...

And with a single twist in the air, these blades infused with dark energy shot through the air. Unleashing a flurry of them at La Crima and Riventon particularly... But a few were going towards Mami as well. After all, they were ALL enemies in this situation. One of them tried to murder his ally, one attacked the neutral girl, and the third was obviously sided with them.

And well, if La Crima's attack wrecked some of the building? This flurry of swords would finish the job. Heck, there might not even BE a grief seed after this.

Adalinda Blumenkrantz has posed:
    Adalinda lands, coming out of her somersault, putting both feet to the staticky 'floor', and one hand as well to help slow her down. The chainsaw is only kept out a short time longer, making sure the Labyrinth collapses. Then dismissing it. Her dress reverts from a semi-regid mix between armor and fashion to just soft cloth. She stands up, and lets out a held breath, slowly. In control. The Soul Gem in the center of her chest is bright and clear, like she didn't just burn a lot of magic.

    She killed her target. Her prey. She manages to suppress a shudder of satisfaction at a job well done. Not in front of others. Before she can say or do anything else, fighting is continuing between these... These children. Inside the store. This is going to affect normal people, living their lives! And now Linda is being attacked too!?! "Das ist ja Kinderkacke!" she yells, switching back to her native tongue in her shock and great offense.

    One leg comes up, and one arm goes down, meeting at the knee and elbow. A magic circle appears in front of them, and the blast hits it. The circle shifts its angle as Adalinda seems to fall backwards, turning it into a backwards flip, with the Barrier circle shifting to cover her shin instead of her knee. And...

    She kicks the blast somewhere behind her, like she just did some sort of soccer maneuver. She might have tried to block or avoid it, but she can't be sure it wouldn't have hit her or a civilian, so she did the next best thing. She turned the Barrier circle into a sphere, wrapped around the blast, and launched it out of the way.

    The Puella is shaking when she completes the flip and is back on her feet again. Whether it's from the fact that if she had gotten that maneuver even slightly wrong, she would have lost limbs, or even her head, or the fact that she was attacked in the first place...

    Well, either way.

    "Du arschgefickter Hurensohn! Du bist ein volltrottel!! Drecksnest! Ess Scheisse und stirb!" Such language! "Take this idiocy outdoors, and away from the people who could get hurt by it! You all are the most unprofessional people I have ever met, and I have met Witches. Whatever your problem is, sort it out when there isn't a Witch Hunt going on! Gewalt ist keine Lösung!" Then she looks down at the Grief Seed at her feet. She kicks it away, towards the others, with a resounding, "Aasgeier!"

Sayaka Miki has posed:
"Hipocrisy is criticising others for things I do, I have not turned down suggestions about others. I trusted Kyubey for months too, staying away from my best friend because I believed him when he said Madoka would be safer, and despite how hurt I was, I didn't hide from the truth just because it was more convenient."

The pained expression on Sayaka's face is clear. She has missed her best friend so much during those months, but she had steeled herself and in the end, it was all for nothing, rather to her detriment.

But if you don't want to see past his deception, fine. I have no more words to say to anyone who makes themselves complicit in the suffering of innocents."

Sayaka has no reaction when Riventon gets impaled by her sword, but an expression of alarm appears on her face when he reforms, but she has no time to react when Norie is attacking her.

The bluenette is quick to disengage Ula from her shoulder as soon as she sees the Gran Explosión coming her way, throwing her to Rashmi so the koi mermaid isn't there to get hurt. Jumping at the dark energy before it reaches the ground, she envelopes herself in her cape like it's a cocoon, a split second before she gets hit, burnt body falling to the ground after the hit.

The charred Puella rises, pushing herself up despite the gruesome pain, panting with struggling gasps until she is back to normal 2 minutes after.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Sayaka shoots back after Mami snipes her, verbally. "*Children!* We can do name-calling *later*! Fight Witch *now*!" And then she attacks Riventon. "SAYAKA NO!" Amy WAS trying to keep an eye out for anything else approaching... and then something happens with the remote and there's an explosion of flesh and blood and...

    "...That was the Witch? Really? But we didn't get the boss titles..." Amy scratches her head. "I guess we really can't rely on that..."

    The data? "What data?!" Amy's head whips around to La Crima. "What are you--"

    And Mami is still yelling at Sayaka... and RIVENTON IS ATTACKING ADALINDA.

    "WE HAD A TRUCE!" Amy screams. And Chrono is attacking... Mami too?!

    "...Arright."

    Amy levels her rocket launcher at... Norie.

    But does not fire.

    "YOU. And Riventon. GET OUT OF HERE. Anything but running and the truce is over."

    She glances over at Sayaka, who's... out of the fight. Gods, she hopes she can heal that. "And anyone ELSE who doesn't want trouble, SCATTER. Sayaka's down. Whatsername red-hair and Adalinda can stay, though I doubt she wants to. EVERYBODY OUT OF THE POOL. I'm keeping Sayaka alive. Do you people wanna become MURDERERS?" She approaches Sayaka to stand over her protectively while she's struggling to regenerate.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
And then it all goes right to hell.

Sayaka's attack on Riventon was startling. La Crima's attack on Sayaka was upsetting (if sort of understandable). Riventon's attack on Adalinda was *infuriating.* But *Chrono's* attack, one she knew was lethal on a *good* day...

Well that just tears it.

Even as she catches Ula, Rashmi's mind is racing, working out how to solve the problem of 'People might actually kill each other'

    << *BONG!* >> << SOLAR SHIELD >>

Too late to help Sayaka and Adalinda, Rashmi *can* block Riventon, Norie, and Mami from the Dark-laced swords darting their way. And her shields, fueled by righteous indignation, can manage at least that much.

Amy tries to help restore order, but a gun to the face never calmed *anything* down, and all she can think in this moment is;

*Everyone* needs a TIME OUT.

    << *BONG!* >> << RING BIND -- BLUE SHIFT >>

At which point brightly glowing bands of light wrap around *everyone* who is not her, locking them to their current point in space.

"THAT IS *FREAKING ENOUGH, ALL OF YOU.*"

Norie Okana has posed:
La Crima kirby crackles with dark energy and moves to try to follow up when Amy appears and frowns a little. "You're out numbered, this time, Red." she says sharply. "You don't hurt the person who's actively trying to fix me and gives some sort of a damn about me and get away with it." she says.

She's about to move forward when Sword rain just comes down smashing into the shield made by Rashmi. It never reaches her. She'll be thankful for that later

That's when she leaps into Amy...! or not , because a bind spell latches right around her waist, leaving her mid leap and awkwardly in the air.

"....I hate this." she says as she flails.

Mami Tomoe has posed:
"What does any of that have to do with me, Miki-san? You've got a problem with Kyubey, okay. Fine. But you attacked me. I've known Kyubey for years, I've known you for weeks. Do you even know how trust works? What do you expect telling people who they should and shouldn't be friend with? Did it ever occur to you that I understand all the things about being a Puella and I'm not mad at Kyubey about them?" Mami is just still running her mouth.

Then Norie blasts Sayaka. Riventon blasts Adalinda. Chrono attacks all three of them, but Rashmi blocks. And then Rashmi binds them all.

Mami laughs. It's not a light laugh, it's honestly kind of sinister sounding. It's just all such a huge mess. Of course her boyfriend is going for the grief seed even though she said she didn't need it. Well, you know what, she has tried to play nice. But all these girls want to do is act morally superior. That's all they've done this whole time. All she wanted to do was kill a witch. But here they are now, and it's utterly mad chaos, and it's perfect.

The blue band of light is wrapped around her body, keeping her in place. But that's only possible if there is a body. And as she cackles her body simply unravels into a huge cloud of ribbons that shoot through the air and encircle Rashmi, binding her up considerably more thoroguhly. Like a mummy from ankles to shoulders in yellow ribbons with a cute little red padlock in the front.

Mami then steps in from outside the store, walks over to where Adalinda kicked the grief seed and picks it up. No one to stop her. She tucks it into her corset, and then walks back out the door. Pausing in the door to look at Riventon and say, "Clean up your mess. I'll see you back at the office."

Then she leaves.

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Riventon's after the grief seed Adalinda kicked; he'll be a idiot vulture's armpit and whatever else she said if he can be the one who gets away with the prize - and then he will be better positioned to make her eat any insults going forward. Words are cheap but loot is forever.

    Or at least, he's after it until one of the binds comes down and locks his left arm in place. He sighs. "The way to a peaceful resolution was not starting stuff by throwing a sword - or many small swords - at me or my employees!" he yells. "We were even going to give you the stupid thing, but you've decided to make yourself my enemies again and I don't give things to my enemies, I take them."

    Riventon points his right hand in the shape of a finger gun, which is possibly ridiculous except for the rings of runes that start to surround it - focusing rings, targeting rings. A very bright purple-blue light at the tip of his finger and then he raises it upwards and 'fires' the finger gun and at the same time Axion announces the attack.

    <SCHARFSCUTZENSCHUSS>calls the device, and the blast of concentrated, pencil-thick Dark Energy hits the roof, bounces off, carves through Riventon's bindings, bounces off the floor, carves away Norie's binding, takes a few more wild ricochets off walls and ceiling and floor, likely while Mami is ribbon-slithering off to get the seed - and then heads for Rashmi's forehead, stopping and disapating before hitting, but Riventon's signature inky-black energy stays behind in the air for a second or two, leaving no doubt as to the trajectory - only doubt as to if it ran out of energy or Riventon dismissed it.

    "La Crima, are we going to clean up this party or call it a night?" he asks his recently freed compatriot. Signaling he's still ready and willing to fight. "Agent Spikey over there is gonna burn himself out trying to do My First Dark Energy Attacks pretty quick, leaving Red and Yellow and Blue. Maybe the other girl who cursed me out, if she's feeling spry."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "I wanted to help you! Then you tried to KILL someone! And my girlfriend, no less! I STILL wanna help you, if you'll never do that again! I don't want to fight!" She flinches as La Crima pounces, and then is suddenly bound in place. "What?! No! People need to LEAVE!"

    Mami hax.

    "...Damn. I didn't know we could do that. Can I learn to do that?"

    Riventon asks La Crima if she wants the fight to continue. Amy looks to her, too. "What's it gonna be? Murder, or choose peace, at least for now? Please, I don't want any of us to become killers tonight. Including you."

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown went entirely still when suddenly... Rashmi? RASHMI? What in the world? He looked to her, confused and bewildered. What? Why would she ever attack him? She...

... How had she blocked his assault? That was INCREDIBLE. Was it that positive energy source he'd been tracking, the opposite of--

Wait, no, FOCUS! He had to focus on THE BATTLE! Which there clearly was one. "Rashmi! Let me go!" he ordered.

It was telling that he didn't try to break the bonds himself. Instead... His focus was on the battlefield.

Sayaka was turned into... yeah. He didn't want to imagine that. But she seemed to be healing? The girl he didn't know had managed to deflect the attack. The weird yellow girl had... the same ability that Riventon did. Wonderful. Apparently everyone on their side had a bunch of clones they just laid behind everywhere. It wouldn't be such a problem if they couldn't--

Then he saw that inky black energy blast going for Rashmi. His eyes went wide.

And while the energy was going to disippate before it could hit her, he couldn't see that. Not then. The poison in his system went from gentle nudges then, seeing its opportunity... and it struck. All he could see was his fears made realized. And then a moment later the binds were off him and his normally blue magical aura had turned almost entirely back. That pain in his veins, he thought it was a pain, a fear in his heart, but it wasn't.

There was a streak of black, like an arrow, swiping through the remnants of the blast, and a moment later Chrono was in front of Riventon.

            <<Subzero Tomb!>>

Black ice spread out, freezing everything around Riventon in a second, the black ice spreading out, from the ground to the floor. Worse, though, the ice was normally designed to *capture.*

This ice was infused with dark energy and, in that moment? So was Chrono. The ice tried to freeze... and crush.

Chrono didn't seem to realize the tip of his own device had frozen, though. Or that it was heading down the device... towards his hand. His eyes locked on Riventon.

Sayaka Miki has posed:
A shocked squeal can be heard as Ula lands in Rashmi's grasp, before the koi mermaid watches horrified Sayaka's standing charred body struggling to get out of Rashmi's grasp. When Rashmi lets her go, she flies to Sayaka, crying into her shoulder about how worried she was.

Meanwhile, the newly regenerated Puella is watching curiously the band of light holding her right arm - and herself - in place. A precise cut later, and said arm falls to the ground, a new one taking its place. She Is not human after all.

"It's alright, Ula", the Sharpsong Puella caresses the crying mermaid with the regenerated arm. "I am fine."

Between crying gasps, Ula says "You looked dead! I thought you would be gone!"

The bluenette whispers her a sorry, before reacting to Riventon's threat, staring at him still raring to go, challenging him to back off.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Rashmi had glued everyone in place so they could take a moment to breathe. She had protected the Obsidian jerks because she *didn't want them to die.*

And for all her good intentions, she gets mostly mummified, *almost shot in the head so someone could make a point,* her boyfriend seems to have lost his mind, her friends either half-feral or upset at her, and now she just gets to stand there and watch it all fall apart *even harder.*

Whatever was keeping the Binds intact simply disappears, the golden rings flaking away into shards of nothingness.

And maybe she'll feel terrible about it later, but right now, in this moment? Rashmi wants to be *anywhere but here.*

And without even *trying* to get the ribbons off her, she simply levitates in place -- golden wings on her ankles fluttering madly to compensate for their caster to help keep attitude -- and just flies off through the hole in the back of the store, trying to keep it together long enough to not burst into tears in front of anyone.

Adalinda Blumenkrantz has posed:
    Adalinda definitely wouldn't have tried to stop Mami, even if she could. When she is told she can stay if she wants, well, that's great, but her only concern is making sure no innocent people get hurt by all this, and then getting out of here. She is glad Mami has the Grief Seed. No one but a fellow Magical Girl has any right to touch it, and nobody but a Puella has a use for it. Whoever the hell all of these people are, they clearly don't deserve it.

    To Mami only, Adalinda sends, <<Can I meet up with you soon? I'd like to talk. I have no idea what was happening there, or why so many non-Puella were inside the Labyrinth. Did someone lead them here or something, as bait for the Witch? Were you the bait? I have no context for what just happened.>>

    To Sayaka only, Adalinda sends, <<This was a serious altercation. It's not going to be solved this way, but I understand what that anger feels like. I feel it all the time. I blew up too just now even. Call me later or we can talk in school. I'd like to hear more about the things you were saying concerning Kyubey. It's better to be informed, and I have a back stock of Grief Seeds I was putting aside as a just-in-case.>>

    To Amy only, Adalinda sends, <<Yo, rocket launcher in an electronics store, not cool. I need to teach you some more magic tricks, so your default response to danger isn't 'blast them to Hell'. Text me your side of things when you get home, please. I think there's a lot more going on than just personal grievances, and I'd like to compare notes. I have spares.>>

    She does not stop to trade barbs or argue or point out that she was doing nothing but fulfilling her one and only purpose in life, and there wasn't even an attempt at communication with her before she was attacked. Not only is her audience not receptive, but she can even think of counter-arguments to her own words. No, she doesn't like what happened. But she can see how it might appear from his side. Some unknown just comes in and seems to be going for the same target he is. He has no reason to think she isn't also going after the reward.

    It's the fact he didn't even try to talk first that makes that argument fall apart. She will, at the very least, expect an apology at some point. Otherwise... She will be holding a grudge. And a magical girl with a chainsaw who fights more like an assassin than a hero isn't the sort of person you want having a grudge against you.

    The moment she is free to leave, she does so, taking only the time to inspect the structural damage and make sure there's nobody hurt or who will be hurt if the building falls on them.

    Priorities, people.

Norie Okana has posed:
La Crima is freed from her bindings and falls down to her feet. She hufffs and angrily looks at Amy. "You all say you wanna help and the promise is empty. What do you even know Amy!? The group I'm with, the one everyone appears to hate, is seeking and looking into and has the equipment to look into my condition. All these questions you always ask , people there are trying to find answers for! Y..you, argh!"

She raises her hand and fires a quick shot orb of dark energy downrange towards Amy. "Damn right I'm gonna clean up this party!" she says dramatically, towards Riventon, before looking back at Amy's location.

"You'll have to leave first. Besides. Your Grief Seed is gone. What fricken point do you have sitting around here now, both of you!?"

"I STILL HAVE WORK TO DO HERE DAMMIT! AND BOTH YOUR HIJINKS ARE ENDANGERING MY DATA GATHERING!" she doesn't go after Rashmi however. She's too concentrated on Amy right now.

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Riventon watches a lot of things happen. For one thing, Sayaka cuts off her own arm and grows a new arm. That trick? That is a helluva trick. It moves Sayaka up several notches on his 'well damn that's interesting' meter. He even tells her so. "That's one heck of a party trick, Sharpsong." She even gets a name! Cause now she has his attention.

    Somebody else makes a play for Riventon's attention, and it isn't with words. It's with churning, dangerous ice. Riventon, of course, put up his runic shields, and when Chrono's Dark Energy infused Ice came calling, sharp pointy bits and all, Riventon channeled his own dark energy into his shield to renforce it.

    The shield held, albeit pushing Riventon backwards, until Chrono's shards started to spike through the shield, albeit slowly. Riventon's eyes legitimately went wide.

His particularly large icecile-like shard was perilously close to Riventon's face when the attack stopped - Riventon had drawn the Dark Energy out of Chrono's attack to stop the boost from it.

    "Damn, kid. If you had more control over your own power you could have gotten me right there. Too bad you're a baby+o at it and I'm a master." Riventon says, indicating the ball of dark energy he sucked out of the attack, before absorbing it into himself. "Also, that's like, the second time you've come just this close to killing me. And yet you call me the assassin?" Riventon says, tapping the shard with his other hand and shattering the ice all the way back with his own Dark Energy. He tries not to reveal that the ice also broke through the shield in other places and stabbed him - that would give Chrono too much credit, though a very observant person might notice the blood in places. But he bet Chrono was not feeling super observant right now. He tries not to reveal how much energy he spent on blocking, how much energy he spent breaking the ice back. Appearance was important. If you couldn't walk away a winner, walk away looking like one.

    Riventon watches Rashmi leave and looks to Chrono. "Hey, spikes. My girl left with the goods, your girl is leaving crying. Maybe attend to your own business before sticking your nose and poorly-formed ice crystals in mine, hmm?"

    "Look, stabby-blue and red-launcher, my associate and the other girl is right. This place is gonna fall apart if we fight in it." he says, gesturing. "If you want me to kick your butt you can feel free to give me a call later. I'm very interested in the powers you two have. Might help me help people to know more about them. Best way to know is to fight, well, short of borrowing your henshin trinkets." He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a business card. "Just presume the job title is 'asskickings anywhere anytime' instead of 'super genius'." He is literally walking over to hand one to Sayaka and one to Amy.

    But to Lacrima, exclusive device telepathy. <<The attack took more out of me than I thought. If they stand and fight, or if the boy does, I'll have to draw them into a chase or something. Wasn't expecting a full war tonight.>>

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown wanted Riventon dead. He tried to hurt Rashmi. He tried to kill Rashmi. He was an assassin. After everything Chrono had lost this bastard wanted to take even this?! HE WOULD--

... What? The ice creeping down his device stopped and Riventon took... something... from his attack. And was mocking him. "What... is that?" he asked.

But he knew what it was. Dark energy? It was then, finally, that he noticed all the alerts in his vision. Device, damaged. Channelers, damaged. Mana levels, dangerously low.

Dark energy in his system. How? When? Why didn't he notice...

It burned. He let out a sound, stumbling back a moment and his barrier jacket flickered. He couldn't... Wait, Rashmi?

He looked and... Sent Red and Sayaka a message. << I can't fight on. I need to retreat. You need to do the same. >>

For all Riventon's sputter, Chrono hadn't seen him actually attack someone retreating. And right now? Chrono... was out.

He flew after Rashmi, blindingly fast...

Until he made it outside. He made it about one building over, before he fell to the roof, palms against the roof. He had to send a message. He needed help. He...

He'd hurt her. He...

... It was a big file. It had attachments. Files. Information. Warnings. He had dark energy flooding his system. His device was damaged. HE WAS damaged...

And the message he sent, with the readings? Was likely one of the few calming things she could hear right now, as it was sterile. It was calm. It... Was Chrono.

<< TSAB temporary Mage Rashmi Terios. I require Evac. >>

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Even Adalinda's mad at Amy. She has no time to think about that when La Crima takes the advantage and shoots her. She shrieks as she tries to dodge, but can't move, and takes the hit. At least it's just one.

    The bindings vanish and she drops to her hands and knees, hanging her head as she stares at the floor.

    "...I thought being a magical girl was about being a Hero." And she uses the word [yuusha], here. The kind of hero that saves worlds, not the kind that runs around in a cape and tights. "What is this, some sick joke? We get the power to help people, and you're all fighting. At least La Crima has an excuse. I've seen how fucked up humanity is and watched as it refuses to change year after year. You're all young and hopeful yet." Her eyes are wet. "You haven't seen it. What people do. What they're full of. I thought, maybe, if magical girls were real, then we could be something better."

    Tears start to drip on the floor. "I used to talk a big talk. About making hard decisions and doing what had to be done, if I ever had the chance. I might've even *done* it, too. But now I'm a *magical girl*." Her voice loses composure completely. "Magical girls aren't like that! We're better than that! We fight monsters, but when it comes to *eachother*, we win with friendship and love!"

    THAT SCENE has been playing in her head over and over. She can't stop picturing it. Still, the words keep coming from her mouth, even as part of her notes that speaking idealism here is raising death flag after death flag. She told herself it was just a story...

    ...But stories come from the hearts of humanity.

    She lifts herself to her knees and glares at La Crima defiantly, ignoring Riventon. "I won't let you take that from me. If you wanna kill me then do it. I die a magical girl, and you'll live a monster in a world of monsters."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
When the ribbons crumbled away, Rashmi only sort of noticed. It made it easier to fly, at least, for all that she'd never be fast enough or good enough or even respectable enough to listen to...

Her thoughts spiraled in this manner, even when the message came. Chrono needed help, and if she wasn't going to accomplish anything of note, she could at least do that much.

The dull, tired << On my way. >> that Chrono gets in reply might be worrying... But perhaps more so, the way that when she does fly sluggishly to the rooftop indicated, she doesn't say a word. Doesn't even look Chrono in the eye. Her face is a mess of smudge and tear streaks, but she just... wordlessly starts to help Chrono up, looping his arm around her shoulders like she knows he prefers, and just... starts bumblebee-ing toward the school, and the infirmary therein.

Sayaka Miki has posed:
While she keeps consoling Ula, Sayaka doesn't comment on Riventon's compliment. Instead she just takes the business clook at it, before keeping it. She doesn't intend on taking Riventon up on his offer, but it might turn useful if they need to get something from him.

Amy's speech sounds nice to Sayaka's heart, but she is too out of it right now to deeply analyse it. The Puella Red gets a nod towards the street instead. "Want to walk back together?"

As much as Sayaka would want to give Riventon his just deserts, she isn't going to get anything like that now, and Ula needs consolation. Besides, Adelinda wants to talk to her, so regrouping is necessary. She certainly doesn't want to be told twice. "Of course", the Sharpsong Puella nods before whispering her phone number into Adalinda's ear.

Chrono gets a bye too as Sayaka walks away, and the latter spares a worried glance at his state. <<You should get yourself looked at right away.>>

Norie Okana has posed:
La Crima hears Riventon's telepathic note. She relies. < Okay.. > she says.

She look over to Amy as she talks and... cries. She lowers he hand and frowns a little. "A--amy-chan. I don't want to kill you I want you to leave." she says. "I have work here still. It's just waving an annoying scanner in the air and leaving." she says angrily.

"-and when God doesn't answer your prayers repeatedly....." she says. "Sometimes you don't want to be closer to heaven." she says more lowly.

"Please. Just. Leave." she says as she raises her arm again. "We're not here for any nefarious purpose. I promise." she says.

Takashi Agera has posed:
    With Sayaka leaving, Amy is the sole remaining threat. "Go on. Head home. We downed a witch today and a Puella got a grief seed. That's all that happened here, Red. That's all you gotta worry about." Riventon says. "Take the card and leave. You're a Puella like Mami, right? So I can't even tell you to stop bein' a sparkleskirt, since you don't have a choice." Riventon notes. "So just leave. I'm not gonna accomplish anything fighting you and neither is Lacrima. All that would be is a tragedy. There's one less witch in the world, that's a good day."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Normally, Amy would keep the card, but right now she refuses it. She slowly stands. "I don't think there is a god. There's only us. People, I mean. Not just magical girls. Heaven and hell are for people to make of Earth."

    She slumps and walks, almost shuffling her feet, with Sayaka.