Scene #2936: Good Help These Days

Owner	Pose
Corona	It is a beautiful Monday afternoon and Corona is a horrible goose. That's why a very obvious barrier blooms in midtown Mitakihara, enveloping first a semi-detached built-up former residence with offices inside, and then the street and buildings around it. It crackles purple-white as it expands... One of the offices is labeled Chez Toi Professional Staffing, and that's where the barrier is centered. If the barrier ''weren't'' there, maybe the cops and their sirens on the approach to the building would find the lady that caused the secretary to hit the silent alarm. Instead, that's up to our heroes and their senses of justice, good taste, sensibility, and hearing. Yeah-- they can definitely hear breaking stuff, bellowed invectives, and slamming around in Spanish going on inside.
Rashmi Terios	<< BONG! >> << UNSCHEDULED BARRIER DEPLOYMENT PROXIMATE, MEISTER. MANA SIGNATURE MATCHES SUBJECT 'Uuuuuuuuughhhhhhhhh WHYYYYYYYYYYY' TO A CERTAINTY OF EIGHT TAU. >> Rashmi had been having a decent day. Her Valentine's gifts had been picked out, Chrono had no idea what he was getting, and her trigonometry teacher was sick! And the substitute was lazy enough to give them a free period. All of that added up to make for a wonderful, wonderful start to the day. And then Corona happened. With a sigh pulled from somewhere in the center of her soul, Rashmi turned down a narrow side street, henshined, and soared off to the epicenter of the signature. Perhaps now she'll get to try out some of her new little tricks... << BONG! >> << SUPPORT NETWORK >> As more allies are found and pulled into the comms net, little windows pop up, hovering over the 'paper' of Nicomachea's new scroll-shaped form. Still images, little status bars, and more importantly the borders glow when a person is talking. Keeping track will be much simpler now! << Check check check, >> she says into the comms net. << It's Corona, and whatever's got her upset is probably petty and dumb. >> By that point, she's breached the bubble of magic, and soars down to the store that sits at its epicenter. "...Corona-san? You good?"
Yukihime	Well, Miho was going to Dance club, enjoying it much more then she was in Archery and Kendo clubs. She was thinking about texting Amy about coming over to the Dance club, but then she see the barrier go up. Its close by the school, and causes Miho to hiss a breath out as she rubs her head. Whose putting up a barrier like that?! She shakes her head a little bit before hiding in a closet, and henshining into Yukihime. Yukihime does a quick snowport to where she suspects is just outside the barrier. She takes a deep breath looking at the barrier before walking in. She calls up a couple of wolves as she looks around. Is that Bad Bunny language she hears? The mahou takes a moment to blink a little bit. Who speaks Bad Bunny? What language was that again? She takes a moment to think a moment before sending a text to Amy. < I can see a barrier outside the school. Checking it out as Yukihime. > Yukihime makes sure she has her naginata ready, in case she gets attacked. "Ma'am Please calm down.", she calmly says. The wolves move in front of Yukihime to stand in front of her in case of attack.
Amy Faust	TXT from Amy: I see it. On my way. It's been awhile since she visited this neighborhood. That awful Witch that ate people, wasn't it? Telepathy goes up. << It's ''Corona?'' Great. She's probably got another weird monster that will do something weird if it's sent out of the barrier again... >> So, Magical Rocket Girl Red enters the barrier after the others, and upon seeing Yukihime gives her a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek before turning to face Corona, grimly. But then her expression softens to an optimistic one. "Okay, so... honestly? If you're just here to smash stuff up inside a barrier I think we can just let you? That sounds like a healthy improvement and I want to encourage it." << If she just wants to smash up barrier-stuff... do we even need to ask her what's got her so ticked or should we just leave her alone? >>
Wako Agemaki	<< Corona? >> comes Wako's quick response to Rashmi's hail. << Was she the one who did the hamburger zombies? >> She's hitting 'send' on a quick text to the boys before it occurs to her to add hastily, << On my way! >> The Galactic Maiden arrives by air, floating in one of her pale purple shield spheres. It ripples faintly as she phases into the Barrier-space and drifts down to touch down at the entrance to Chez Toi and peer in. "...Huh. What's this all about?"
Corona	'You good?' "Oh, it's you," comes Corona's voice when she hears Rashmi, already-husky voice a little hoarse from the yelling she's been doing. ''Then'' she hears a 'calm down' attached to a MA'AM and an iMac gets hurled out a window directly at Yukihime. "DON'T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN AND FUCK YOU I'M NINETEEN! DO NOT CALL ME OBA-SAN I AM NOT THIRTY--" And then Wako's poking her head in and Corona has no idea who she is, and Corona's fascinator's wings and roses are quivering in her rage and Wako is a com''plete'' stranger. "Who are ''you''?!" she demands, and flips her hair, and WOW the offices are ''trashed'', it's like, a little waiting room parlor with a window desk at the other end... and it had really pretty upscale decor... ''had''. Now it's smashed, it's clawed, it's CLAWED with that glowing purple energy manicure she has on her gloves, and Corona picks up a briefcase on the window desk's counter and lifts off the floor. "Of COURSE I am not here only to do that!" she laughs. Then she lifts off the floor and SLAMS the briefcase down with henshin strength, and it dents the floor and breaks open, releasing a swarm of dark energy scorpions.
Yukihime	Yukihime takes a second to slash the iMac with her naginata. She blinks a few times. The mahou shakes her head, and looks over at Amy as she gets the kiss and hug. She returns the kiss, but not so much the hug. Its hard to hug while holding a 2 handed weapon. There's a moment of blushing a bit that adds some color to Yukihime's pale skin. When your skin is basically frozen, kinda hard not get noticed when you blush! << Hey! And what is up with her and the bugs? That really bugs me...Ok, that was bad... >> is sent out from Yukihime. She shakes her head a little bit. Yukihime lifts her left hand up again, and sends out 3 more beads. She has 5 wolves out around her as she looks at the scorpions. She's not sure exactly how strong her wolves are against the scorpions. The mahou takes a deep breath as she moves back, and the wolves seems to move in front of her. She pulls out a pair of earbuds, and puts them in with one hand. It starts to set a rhythm from which Yukihime can set up her dance movements to.
Rashmi Terios	And an entire computer wings itself out of the broken window at Yukihime's head, which causes Rashmi to draw back in surprise. "...Corona-san that the he--" ...Oh, no, she's really wound up. With a sigh, Rashmi lifts up a bit off the ground... And then Corona slams a briefcase onto the ground-- SUDDENLY YOUMA SCORPIONS. "Whoa WHOA WHOA!" she shouts, pulling up and back away from the tide of pincers, stabs, and hatred. "C'mon Corona-san there is no cause for this! If you were gonna just wreck a place in the Barrier that'd be fine but scorpions! SCORPIONS?!" << BONG! >> << TERA BARRIER -- ADVANCE >> Three balls of wispy golden light shine around her, darting out to impact her allies, and blanket them in a reassuring cloak of protective mana. << Try not to get hit, >> she says into the comms net, << But if you do that should mitigate how much it hurts! Also Wako-chan, meet Corona. Her thing is she's petty and awful. >>
Wako Agemaki	"Ooooh, nope nope nope," declares Ginga Otome when the scorpions swarm out of the briefcase. A new shield shimmers into being around her and she lifts a foot or two off the ground herself, fingertips gathering sparks of rosy light. "Cascade de Soleil!" A shower of pink sparks launches from her fingertips to rain down on the scorpions like purifying scattershot. Only then does she glance askance toward Rashmi and crack a lopsided grin. "We've met once," she says brightly. "But I'm not surprised if she doesn't remember, since she got zombied by her own hamburger zombies~" Apparently Wako has decided this means war.
Amy Faust	Amy steps forward, winding up to smack the iMac out of the way, but Yukihime cleaves it in two with her naginata, Amy smacking the half nearer her away. Corona's ''NINETEEN?'' "Wait, ''really''? Dang." She blinks. And holds out her hands, palms forward, "Not that you look old! Just, you seem like you've been bossing people around for ''awhile'', you know? But I guess you started young." But then there are scorpions. Amy's got an incendiary grenade in hand, but there are ''ice'' wolves right here... So she hesitates for a second, then flings it into the center of the swarm, and a couple more towards the far side of the swarm, and then she's hurriedly backing away, trying to get pistol shots at some (if any) scorpions getting past the wolves. "''Why are you so mad this time?!'' Why's it always gotta be magical pranks that you know we have to stop, instead of like, normal stuff that actually gets to whoever slighted you?!" "...At least they don't have ''hands''..."
Corona	Corona actually takes a second to smirk and preen at Amy's 'you seem like you've been bossing' bit: "Since I was ''born,''" she says, sitting with her legs delicately crossed, in midair, with the enormous purple-white quad angel wings holding her implausibly aloft like that. She shoots Wako a dirty look. "You don't understand, that sugar skull mani was ''darling.''" So, the scorpions-- it is literally a briefcase-ful of live scorpions infected with dark energy-- the scorpions skitter and hiss angrily, heading for the corners, running away mostly, disappearing when they get purified by Wako's pewpews-- and then an incendiary gets tossed in the middle of the scorpions. Immediately Corona just shoves her way outside through the top of the door over their heads or between them, shove shove push shove, because there are now screaming dark energy infected scorpions on fire, and she doesn't want to be inside with that shit are you kidding? "Because! THEY HAVE NOT ONLY refused me service, they have reported me to all of the other staffing companies! Now I'm going to have to ''IMPORT'' a cook and a housekeeper! I had to call my ''mother'' for ''advice'' over this!" Oh no she's truly aggrieved. But then her expression shifts to one of sadistic satisfaction. "It'll get to them," she says, and snaps her fingers. The barrier drops. The building still has hissing dark energy infected scorpions on fire in it, and also the fire left on the floor from the incendiary, and somebody yells, and somebody else screams, and there's the smell of smoke, and there are approaching sirens, and Corona starts to fly away.
Rashmi Terios	"So... all this is because... You suffered consequences for being a jerk?!" Even with all Rashmi knows about Corona, this is... this is next-level Bad Customer Behavior. This is infuriating. This cannot go unanswered. << BONG! >> << TIME-SPACE BARRIER >> First order of business; set up a new Barrier, and while there's concern about the purified scorpions, the fire at least is largely magical in nature, so it'll probably make the trip back too, right? One certainly hopes so. << BONG! >> << SOLAR BIND >> Next order of business; try and halt Corona's flight with a restraining spell; while her normal Bind would just trap whatever it happened to hit to a fixed point in space, in this Mode, her Binds are a bit stronger, a bit smarter; they target center mass, attempting to pin the arms to the body in a shallow X of rings of bright golden light. "CORONA-SAN MAYBE YOU SHOULD HAVE TO FACE A CONSEQUENCE OR TWO, THIS IS COMPLETELY STUPID." Wut-oh... Rashmi is Actually Outraged.
Amy Faust	It did not even occur to Amy that could be a compliment, but if it settles Corona down some, Amy's okay with that misunderstanding, she supposes. Amy's kind of nonplussed -- yes, I finally get to use that word, correctly -- at Corona's complaint. Like, it makes sense, and she can try to ''reason'' with the Dark General, but she's not sure there's a ''point'', and she's not sure what ''else'' to do with the information, either--it just feels like she should do ''something.'' "Well, what did ''you'' do to--" Amy starts, and then the barrier drops. Amy unsummons any remaining incendiary material right after, but that doesn't remove the ''flaming scorpions'' or the bits of fire starting to catch on the floor. "HEY!" And now they have a ''new'' problem. Well, she knows how to ''remove'' oxygen from an area, just WAIT NO THAT WOULD BE VERY BAD HERE. Pink sparkles turn Amy's outfit into a pink fireman's outfit with hi-vis stripes, complete with air supply. Fire surpression grenades are ''kind'' of a thing, but not very good, and not good for use around ''people''. "I'm gonna look for a fire extinguisher!" She runs for the building, and Rashmi's barrier goes up just before she smashes through the window. "Wait! But the fire! Uhh, do you have a way to see what's outside the barrier right now?!" The Puella Magi tries to frantically dodge scorpions while looking for where this office keeps its fire extinguishers.
Yukihime	Yukihime sighs for a moment, and blinks a few times. << Is it ok for me to smack her? She's waaaay spoiled! >> the mahou chimes to the others. Yukihime takes a deep breath as she goes into a dance, moving the naginata around her. The wolves react a bit. "Wolves of the Capital, attack!", she calls out, and the wolves go after the fires to try to limit any damage. Yukihime takes a deep breath before she looks at Rashmi. "Hey, should I use that spell on her? It'll take me a second to charge it though?", she asks Rashmi outloud.
Wako Agemaki	"''Are you serious right now?''" The situation has gone pear-shaped in a hurry. There are ''dark energy scorpions'' ''on fire'' and purifying them just means regular scorpions that ''aren't contained by the barrier''. Which means basically anything Wako could do to neutralize them would only make things ''worse.'' She settles for popping a dome-shaped shield over the largest group of scorpions she can manage to trap in one go, while with one hand she fishes out her cell phone. Wako TXT Sugata: hey, so Wako TXT Sugata: can you hire some exterminators to come to Chez Toi Professional Staffing in Mitakihara before the next workday? Wako TXT Sugata: there's scorpions
Corona	Okay, the second Corona is restrained she loses her ''mind''. "MAYBE YOU SHOULD FORGET TO HENSHIN BEFORE JUMPING OFF A CLIFF!" she roars at Rashmi, proving she is in fact nineteen, and she kicks and throws herself around, wings working wildly, wriggling, trying to get free like a rabbit in a snare. "PELOTILLERO!" Corona shrieks. "APEX ANNOYANCE!" << ding~! >> << YES, MISTRESS~! >> Six little stacked pairs of magical discs unfold into the airspace around Rashmi ''in particular'', then start vibrating like a 2003 Nokia phone is trying to drop the bass, emitting a wildly awful aural hellscape that reverberates within the circle getting louder and louder, going VEEVEEVEEVEEVEEVEEVEEVEE. The circle begins to expand, including anyone who gets close to Rashmi in it, a shock of sonic assault in the middle of the quiet on the outside of it. Corona writhes, turning her elbows in with her arms straight down so that her fingers can curl up ''outside'', and she tries to cut at the magical bind with her magical claws-- but it's not as easy as all that. She keeps working at it, and also starts chanting, oh, oh dear, she's chanting in Spanish, she's ''too mad to call youma''...
Rashmi Terios	The moment the discs begin to appear around her, Rashmi gets a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. In this mode, she lacks her easiest answers to direct-combat problems. No flash-step. Only a very little shield. Only a very little attack. << BONG! >> << ALERT. MASTER. ALERT. >> "I KNOW, NICO-KUN!" Thoughts flash wildly behind her eyes as she tries to reason out the most effective possible response. A Shield will help, but it won't stop it, especially with her at the direct epicenter. Well... It'll buy time, at least... << BONG! >> << SOLAR SHIELD >> A simple shell of golden light surrounds Rashmi as the VEEVEEVEE really starts ramping up into rock-concert levels, and she can see the light thrumming in response to the concentrated, relentless sonic assault. Sonic baffles, there's an idea to develop... But for now she has to get her friends to help her out of this mess. Turning to Nicomachea, she hurriedly jabs the portraits of Amy, Wako, and Miho that float above the Device, limning them in gold. << Yukihime-chan I really really hope you have a ranged attack option... >> << BONG! >> << TERA BARRET -- ADVANCE >> There's no wisps this time, no spell to target and get in the way of. Rashmi's allies simply shine with golden, wispy energy, and the feeling of a ranged-attack boosting spell settles in... but apparently, for the long haul. << Knock her out before she finishes chanting, hurry! >> CRACK goes her shield in several places. Ohhhhhh, boy.
Wako Agemaki	Wako's still texting, for a bit there, thumbing out short messages rapid-fire with one hand while she's busily catching scorpions in small bubbles of light and ''squashing them'' before they're purified right out of the barrier. At one point she actually says out loud, in a tone of deep exasperation, "I don't know!!" It doesn't seem to have been directed at anyone here. When Corona targets Rashmi specifically, though, and Rashmi calls out the alert, the Galactic Maiden swiftly shifts gears. Shoving her phone into her tailcoat, she frees up both hands to lift up and outward, gathering energy. "SPLENDEUR DE L'AUBE!" A sphere the size of a small melon forms in the air in front of her palms - translucent at first, like a pinkish soap bubble, but it fills rapidly with rose-gold radiance until it shines like a miniature sun. Then she thrusts both hands forward, sending the shining orb rocketing on an arcing path - past Rashmi, slamming through several of the magical discs that Corona created as it hurtles toward Corona herself.
Amy Faust	Amy isn't aware of the fighting outside at first, because SCORPIONS. She takes out some of them with rocket-bullets, before realizing: She's in a barrier, this is stupid. She conjures some pressurized fuel tanks. As Amy's leaping to the window, she feels Tera Barret and Rashmi's words. And Yukihime is doing something with wind and snow and cold. Good. That should help protect her. Amy ''leaps'' for Corona, holding something like a propane tank with a leak spraying into the air. "Here, hold this." Whether Corona actually ''does'' or not, Amy conjures a red canister, maybe mini-fire-extinguisher-size? And flings it towards Mai as she kicks the tank towards the Dark General. "HITTHEDECK!" The tanks in the office release their fuel. It comes in contact with flaming scorpions. The entire ''room'' explodes, and Amy may not have thought this ''entirely'' through in the space of a few seconds but people have shields! And if the fuel trail explodes, and the explosives by Mai explode, supercharged by Tera Barret... It's a good thing Amy's kind of resistant to her own magic. She may be about to get flung out of the barrier.
Yukihime	Yukihime calls back the 5 wolves to her. She calls out the other 5 beads, so that all ten wolves are out. The mahou takes a deep breath as she focuses her energy. The noise is bothering her a lot. Her ears are starting to bleed a bit before she finds a section of the music she needs. The ice mahou starts to go into a very elegant style dance. "Wolves of the Capital, ATTACK!" The wolves seem to follow the naginata in the dance, and then Yukihime goes into several movements, doing a long combination of slashes. The wolves launch themselves at Mai, following the directions of the naginata. Indivually, they're not very strong. Hopefully getting hit with 10 of them in rapid sucession will have a collective effect. After the combination, Yukihime drops to a knee. She sucks in a deep breath for a moment, holding a hand to her ear.
Corona	First: two of the the speaker-sets surrounding Rashmi and Yukihime get swiped out of the way by Wako's crashing-through bubble of sparkling dawn beautiful purification sun force explosion thing-- her cannonball of pain-- and the snow princess's wolves have jaws that bite and claws that catch, and Corona screams like an angry fox, freeing her arms to slash at the wolves JUST in time to get a dark-energy-destroying iridescent rose-gold disco ball of morning sunshine to the face with concussive force, and she screams ''again'' but this time it's a Wilhelm scream kind of, and she's offbalance and trying to right herself, furious and crying and furious about that ''too'', oh boy her makeup would be stylish in the goth crowd right now-- --and then the explosions start, Mai absolutely not having caught that fire extinguisher means that it clangs loudly, but also, her attack against Rashmi drops off considerably when Wako gets two of the speakers, and drops off totally once Miho's wolves get Mai. But. First the room explodes, which honestly blows the whole of everything out into the street ''at everyone'', RIP barrier-dimension building front. The red canister Amy drop-kicked at Mai gets the older girl in the side while she's occupied with Wilhelm screaming, and the screaming abruptly stops. Yukihime and Rashmi's ears are undoubtedly ringing too hard for them to hear Mai crying. But they can absolutely see her on the ground, bedraggled-looking?! energy????!! wings slumped and trailing behind her, and she's a little burnt to be honest, and definitely injured, there's smoke coming off her, and she's calling into some kind of communicator frantically, "Gomengomengomen please Hawkmoth-sama ''I can't duskport''--"
Hawkmoth 2.0	Hawkmoth is busy. He's always busy, running his label and managing operations in both Japan and France, managing the Miraculous search, managing the oppressive malaise that was the emotional landscape of Tokyo - And yet, clearly he is not busy ''enough'' given what comes through his communicator. Why had he given that girl his communicator? Fear-fury-wrath-terror-fear-anger-pleading-pleading-pleading - a cocktail of negative emotion, centered about him, sharp and piercing even from this range, and he ''could'' empower her, could transform her into an akuma that might well shake the Ward she now faced defeat in to the ground but - That was hardly the way to treat a good underling. Hardly a way to retain loyalties, either. Instead, he focuses on her location, feeling out the nearest swell of power - And inside the barrier, darkness blooms, like a cloud of scale-dust, like the fluttering of a thousand wings, and then there is a tall man amongst them, in a purple suit and a silver mask not unlike a skull covering his face and head. He stands between the gathered heroes and Corona and there is the same sense of threat and aura of power that these experienced warriors have felt from Riventon, from Beryl, from those of terrible, ''world-endangering'' threats of darkness. "Enough," he says, in the scathing tone of an adult emerging from the dark to scold the children who have broken his window with their games. "Your battle is won, children, now leave my employee be before I clip ''your'' wings."
Rashmi Terios	So, the explosives weren't really expected, as such. Rashmi has fought with Amy often enough to know there will be explosions, but forgot to account for the battle-in-front-of-me tendencies displayed by her Puella friend. Also, she was surrounded by Hell's Crickets and even the loss of two of them wasn't enough to keep her Shield from shattering, so she was really too busy being in pain to remember that There Would Be Explosions. Which is why when the Barrier-copy storefront goes up, the power of the blast sends her back across the street, lightly cratering against the side of an office building. Her own fault, really. So when Hawkmoth arrives it's to glare down at a spread-eagled Rashmi still trying to peel herself away from her own little concrete dimple. "...No we're done," she groans. "Just... maybe no scorpions next time?"
Yukihime	Yukihime forgets the number one rule of working with Amy. There will be explosions. She used all her wolves to attack Corona. This leaves a major gap in the fact she has nothing to defend herself with. Not to mention that she's suffering from ear ringing from the earlier attack. So, the explosion hits her, and sends her flying back into a parked car. Hopefully the owner's insurance has Mahou coverage... "I'm good with calling it a night. Everyone else good with calling it a night?", she mutters. The mahou seems slightly embedded in the car at the moment. Yukihime shakes her head a little bit. She wishes she had her cellphone with her to take a picture of Hawkmoth, but alas..Phones break in fights, and well, she doesn't want to tell dad she lost another phone...
Amy Faust	Amy can't really ''see'', from the inside, how making decisions with a teenage brain affects her thought process. But you, dear reader, can see how she did not think this plan ''through'', stopping at 'it's in a barrier it's fine' Everything explodes and she's flung out of the barrier. A few seconds later, she runs back ''into'' the barrier and is faced by what the kind of explosion normally used to ''crush fortifications from the outside'' does when used ''inside'' a building. (On the plus side? No more scorpions! Also the space formerly occupied by the room is definitely not on fire!) Corona is ''crying(?)'' and Rashmi is-- Amy looks over an ''winces'' when she sees the crater on the wall next to her, but she is ''whole'' and ''alive'' and Amy frantically looks for the others-- << Yukihime! Ginga Otome! Where are you please be okay! >> She startles when Hawk Moth Villain Teleports nearby and projects an aura of menace that... in some circumstances, she might be ''defiant'', but right now she doesn't want to fight, she just wants her friends to be okay. "F-fine. We have... no further desire to... prolong this." She stammers back to him, and then runs to Yukihime, muttering 'shit, shit, shit' under her breath. She leans -- gently -- against the snow mahou, touching foreheads together. She whispers, "I'm so sorry. Rest. I'll get the others. We'll make sure you're safe to move." and then she hurries back over to Rashmi, who... is presently peeling herself off the wall. She whispers, "Are you uh... um... d'you know any healing? Or... you feel good enough to move, huh? I'm so sorry..." She briefly wonders about ''herself'', and realizes she reflexively turned off pain. Amy was ''ready'' for it, but just how hard was she flung away, how hard did she hit a building outside the barrier feet-first? ...She might need to be checked too, after.
Corona	No scorpions?! Mascara and eyeliner running like Forrest Gump, Corona huffs briefly in Rashmi's direction, but Hawkmoth will be absolutely gratified to feel, from her, both locked-in gratitude and 'oh shit now i've done it oh shit' healthy fear of having bothered an Obsidian Director. She peels her own self gingerly off the pavement, burnt and scraped and bruised and wobbling-- and she scrapes together the destroyed little tatters of dignity she usually pretends are real, and nearly trips between her high heeled ankle boots and the rubble scattered over the ground, but-- and this is ''important''-- she doesn't trip. "Thank you, sir," she whispers, and sniffs, taking out a handkerchief to pat at her face... and then they can ''all'' hear her voice, low and determined and venomous toward the girls she's looking out at. "It ''won't happen again.''" Boy does the hate roil up in her. All this nonsense ''and'' they made her look weak in front of her boss! Her face is a ''snake venom thundercloud'' with ''cryface makeup''. No longer will any of her wings cut a man: that is up to her sharp, sharp claws.
Wako Agemaki	Amy yells, and - oh, that's a concerning amount of urgency from the girl whose power tends to various applications of 'blowing stuff up.' More on reflex than by conscious decision, a shield glimmers into being around Ginga Otome, about a split second before approximately everything in the vicinity explodes. Since Wako and her shield are floating in midair, there's a brief chaotic moment or two when she's bobbled around wildly within the fireball, pushed by the rush of displaced air and the curve of her shield pelted with shrapnel. Then she steadies, blinking a couple times (needlessly) as the smoke clears. << I'm fine! >> she answers Amy, looking quickly about. << Uh - Rashmi-chan? >> Her search for her roommate's exact position and status is curtailed by Hawkmoth's arrival. Suspended in her floating shield, the Galactic Maiden goes still as she takes in the sight of him. And, much more significantly, Corona's shift in attitude. Her eyes get a little big. "Yeah," she agrees with the others, "we're good."
Hawkmoth 2.0	When the heroes fall back, wide-eyed with surprise and fear, Hawkmoth's irritation is - soothed, somewhat. Satisfied, by their awareness that arousing his attention was a ''mistake''. Their fear for one another, their ragged worries, even their stifled upset, it doesn't ''please'' him, he's no sadist, but at least they know what a mistake it is to press ''him'' further than he wishes to be pressed. And of course, there's Corona. His latest investment, the writhing fire of negativity standing in terror-shame-rage at needing his protection, even now pulling together the shattered shards of her dignity without a speck of self-awareness and reflection. "No, it won't," he agrees, and her fear of him, and the fact that it will not outweigh her willingness to work for him, is rewarding. As she stews in her hatred and vindictive rage, he even entertains the thought of giving her a bonus in the near future. It is with that thought in mind that he duskports them away, to spectacular effect - dark energy swarms over Hawkmoth and Corona's bodies before opening into thousands of fluttering wings. They are transfigured from flesh to crawling motes of energy that move as one, twisting and abandoning their human shapes in favor of the swarm, thousands of butterflies taking off into the air before dissipating into nothingness. They reappear in the Dusk Zone and then instantly shift into his office, for an instant, their consciousness spread across the thousands of butterflies making up their form. And then, Hawkmoth and Corona are flesh again, singular in form, rooted to the ground. "Make allies," he orders her, as she struggles to recover herself. "And remember why I hired you. The negative emotions you brew within ''yourself'' are as powerful as those within yourself. If you find yourself in need, consider that a commitment to my mission would give you more power. Why be rescued, when the depths of your emotion can empower you?" He has nothing more to say: the offer is made.