Shamitako

Cardinal "What am I trying to accomplish?" Cardinal reiterated the question, almost as if asking herself, "I don't know. Maybe I just feel guilty. Does it matter? You said it yourself, it won't change anything." She wanted to think that she actually cared, but after what she'd done, she wasn't sure she was allowed to claim that anymore. And worse, Tai was right, she hadn't saved him, only delayed the inevitable. Cardinal looked around her plane, it's empty blackness even lonelier than her room in Raleigh. She wasn't exactly dressed for snow, but Tai wouldn't keep her long. She opened a spacial rift next to her, the other end appearing in front of Tai, and stepped through. She immediately regretted not changing as her bare feet were assaulted by the frigid snow and her exposed skin became dotted with goosebumps. She was in her casual clothes, which meant an oversize grey t-shirt with a skull graphic on it, her panties hidden beneath, and nothing else. Her messy hair and the bags under her eyes indicated that she hadn't slept well in several days. Attempting to stave off the cold at least a little, she instinctively started rubbing her arms to generate friction. "If you're going to die out here, the least I could do is die with you." She said through chattering teeth, "Make it quick, I can't stay connected to this world for very long." Grima The man Grima approached started to give her a look of disdain and was probably going to tell her off, until he heard her destination, at which point he shifted to a much more helpful expression. "It's just that way." He pointed to the left of the direction Grima had initially headed, "Watch yourself going by Aries's audience chamber, there's been a lot of protests there lately, and with the tournament competitors actually being here today, they might pick up." It was good she'd gotten directions, because Queen hadn't loaded a map of the place onto Grima's HUD, only the directions to Aries from the train station.

Cardinal Cardinal was silent as Tai ventured out into the endless expanse of Gluttony. She kept her field up for as long as she could, preventing Chronos from reconnecting to its body. It was still in sight when she ran out of energy, but chose not to pursue Tai. It wasn't like it mattered, Tai would die to the cold well before he encountered any signs of civilization. Tempest never let those who had lost their way find it again. Cardinal finally worked up the courage to answer Tai. "It doesn't have to." She said, her voice oddly devoid of stuttering, "I hurt you, and I'm sorry... But I understand that I have no right to ask your forgiveness. I just didn't want you to die."

Tai Chronos didn't answer Tai, he'd made his choice and there was nothing left to be said. Tai experienced the world around him contorting again, but this time his body contorted with it. It was the end. "NO!" A negative color space spread out around Tai, and his body returned to normal. Chronos collapsed on the ground, apparently knocked out. Tai recognized the space, of course, it was her doing. She was still in his mind, perhaps she'd never left. Grima Grima was not headed in the direction of train station at all, and after walking for only a short while realized that she was even more lost. In any other plane she could have asked for directions, but the people here really just wanted her gone, so that could prove dangerous. But at the same time, it was that or wander aimlessly.

Blink "Uh-huh..." Blink was clearly nonplussed by Nastasia's attitude, "That's a bit of a mouthful, eh, Sarah?" "Oh Blink be nice." Seeker replied, "The girl came all this way to help us, you can show a little respect. She is a big part of Gluttony's food production as well." Seeker extended her hand to Nastasia, "It's nice to meet you, Madame Sinclair, I am Future Seeker, I appreciate your attendance." "Moving on." Blink didn't even wait for Nastasia to shake Seeker's hand, "The plan was originally to have you fight the tournament competitors as a supplement for those that have quit, but as big a threat as Nil is, we've got a more immediate issue." "Wait, Mel, back up." Faerie interjected, "You should explain the background first." "Oh, fuck I forgot. Right, politics. So the short of it is, we gods are sort of split into three groups. There's Lord's group, the main alliance composed of Lord, Seeker, Gryffin, Wine, Bear, and Queen. They all have very good relations and well-established trade deals. Then there's Swag, Aries, and myself, who are not officially part of the alliance and have varied relationships with the members of it. For example, I'm on bad terms with basically everyone but Seeker and Bear. Lastly there's Cardinal, the Tenth God, who is the direct enemy of Lord's alliance as well as myself. Got all that? Good. "So while Cardinal is a major threat, and we really need someone to put her in her place, there's another problem that's in the middle of popping up right now. See, Aries approached me with an offer: Abandon the alliance entirely and join him in supporting Nil. Basically, the fuckwit is switching sides. We'd like you to be our trump card when we fight him, as your signature directly counters his special ability. The sooner we can take him out, the sooner we can get back on task and stop Nil from blowing us all to shit." Grima G̛̛͟͝e͘҉t҉̨̧ ͏̷̷̸̀a̵͜͞w҉̡̡a̴̸y̵̛͢͠ ҉̕w̡͢͏̴̧h̢̕͢͞i̵͞l҉e̴̛ ̛͡y̸͞o̶̕͝͞u̷͟͟ ̴́c̡͡͝a̢̨͘n̸̡ Grima couldn't remember where she was, or how she got there. The last she recalled, she had been following Queen's instructions, but now she was lost. She couldn't escape the nagging feeling that something major had happened, but what it was eluded her. The best way to remember was probably to retrace her steps, but that was easier said than done. To make matters worse, the glares she'd gotten when she left the train were growing in intensity and frequency, despite the number of people about being significantly less than near the station. This part of town seemed to be especially averse to strangers. Tai "You talk of being a pawn, but a pawn would not be given the choice to quit the game in the first place." The voice now seemed to come from all around, "At no point did you lose your free will, you simply pretend you have to pass off the blame." The space in front of him seemed to distort, the alley splitting into four alleys and then merging back together. A woman in a white suit stood in front of him. Her eyes like glowing blue lights staring straight into his soul. "You fear going back, but there is nothing to return to. If there were, I would not have needed to awaken. The tournament has collapsed, the Planes are at risk of utter destruction." The world warped again and the alleys vanished entirely. Tai now found himself in the middle of a frozen waste, alone with this woman who seemed so insistent that he had forsaken a dire responsibility and who also apparently could teleport him wherever she liked. "I am Chronos, guardian of Tempest." The woman announced, "Supernova, your actions in aiding the False God of Nil have directly threatened these lands, and your continued denial of them poses further risk. I give you a choice: Die now by my hand, or wander this endless white expanse for the rest of your life, however long that may be."

Tai In his mad sprint to get away, Tai managed to veer off course, ending up lost among the alleys he had been trying to escape. Worse, the voice seemed to have kept up with him. "When you chose to join the tournament, you accepted the responsibility of defeating Nil, either by challenging her yourself or by helping the one who would challenge her to grow in strength." She said, "Do you honestly believe that responsibility is no longer yours? After helping Cardinal to further her agenda, can you honestly say you don't hold any responsibility to stop her?" Aries "The war has already begun, Lord declared it when she announced the tournament, I'm just changing sides." Aries answered Strider, "Cardinal is alone, desperate, and afraid. She needs to be saved, not antagonized." He didn't expect to turn their opinions, especially not the Hellfire Knight. He knew exactly what had happened with Supernova, Cardinal had told him herself how she'd lost her temper. She'd also told him how much she regretted it, but he was certain that her words would not sway any opinions, so he kept them to himself. Queen "I honestly can't say," Queen confessed, "I haven't encountered them myself. But suffice it to say, they could give me a run for my money. Try to recruit them peacefully if at all possible." While Grima was looking through the bag, she'd find a train ticket to Wrath and a set of instructions on how to reach Aries's audience chamber. Queen sent her off, being surprisingly trusting with her considering the sum of money he'd just given her. She easily could have stolen it and gone into hiding. ~~~ Wrath was quite the place, with blistering heat and a desolate landscape, even the main city felt hostile and unwelcoming. And it wasn't just the environment, the people all seemed to be glaring at her suspiciously. The private train carrying the contestants had arrived two hours earlier than the public train Grima had taken, so they were almost certainly meeting with Aries already. Grima just had to follow Queen's instructions to find where they were at. The instructions led to a surprisingly small, single-story building made of the same grey bricks as basically every building in sight. Standing guard by the curtained door was a dark-skinned man clad in heavy armor, it seemed like a miracle that he wasn't baking in the heat. Faerie Faerie led the way out of the restaurant, heading towards the north end of the city. That was rather odd, considering Blink's palace was in the east. The transport hub was in the north, maybe they were meeting somewhere secret, Faerie certainly seemed to think secrecy was important. To help with that, Faerie's disguise seemed a lot more effective outdoors, with the Plane's heavy fog turning her into little more than a cloaked silhouette for anyone more than a meter away. Eventually they reached the bustling transport hub, confirming that their destination was somewhere outside the city. Faerie input a set of coordinates and the two were whisked away to an unknown location. The unknown location was a farmhouse with an apple orchard. It was nowhere near as efficient as the hydroponics systems Nastasia worked with nowadays, but it wasn't unlike the farm she started out with when she was younger. In the house's living room there were two individuals. A short girl with dirty blonde hair in a gold ball gown who was pressing buttons on an expensive portable game system that didn't appear to be turned on. And a comparatively tall but still rather short woman who looked like a female version of Lain, especially her purple hair. Nastasia quickly realized who it was. She'd never met Lain's mother, but the resemblance was too uncanny, this was Sarah Argyle. And if that was Future Seeker, then the girl in the golden gown had to be Blink. "Welcome back Faerie, you got Miss Foodstuffs with ya?" Blink asked without looking up from her disabled device. "She's here, yes." Faerie answered. "Great. Nice to meet you Miss Foodstuffs, I'm Blink, this is Seeker. Hope you don't mind politics, because that's the shit we've got on our plates right now."

Lilith The police lady walked a little closer, but still kept closer to the door than to Lilith. "Well, let's start with introductions, because we seem to have gotten off on the wrong foot." She said, "My name is Knife Bonnet, I'm a member of the Nayo secret service. Nice to meet you." "I'm Lay- Er, Lilith Perdita." Lilith was too upset to properly respond to Knife revealing her affiliation, but she did recognize that it made the woman a whole lot more than just a police officer. Caliko "I'd appreciate if you tiptoed around everyone just in case, but the teaching staff are all aware of my identity." Caliko told Esyllt. She ignored the first question, it wasn't something she was comfortable talking about, even though the explanation wasn't all that complicated. "The start of the year, yes." Sharp confirmed for Platinum, "Keeping her secret isn't too hard and Caliko is a good friend, so it's been pretty pleasant." Caliko smiled to herself, of course Sharp would say that. Secrecy was the bond between them, no matter how challenging the secret was to keep, she was certain they would both find it easy to keep for one another. Caliko might have been a good friend, but she felt that Sharp was a simply amazing one. A twinge of pain shot through her heart, reminding her that she had an even deeper secret. She had every intention of sharing it, she just had no idea how to explain to Sharp that she was a superhero. In the comics she read, it was always such a dramatic thing for the hero to reveal their secret identity to their closest friends, she wasn't sure how to approach that drama in real life.

Tai "You are responsible for the consequences of your own choices. Did you not choose to compete of your own free will?" Another alley, but the same voice. Tai still couldn't spot the person it belonged to. He distinctly felt that he should know who it belonged to, it had to be someone he'd spoken to recently. Queen Queen shook his head. "You're just a petty thief." He explained, "No matter how many crimes you've committed, they were all extremely minor. You should certainly be given another chance. You have useful skills, it would be a waste to leave you locked up in a cell where you can't use them." He smiled kindly, "I value all of my people, even those that have committed wrongdoings." Queen stood and motioned for Grima to follow, leading her out of the room. Just outside the door was a small leather satchel containing Grima's belongings that had been confiscated when she'd been arrested, as well as some dried food, a canteen of water, and a not-insignificant amount of dirks. "Though I'm sure you figured it out on your own while you were at the exhibition, allow me to explain the tournament. Eight of the strongest competitors from across Tempest were brought together to compete in a tournament, the winner would be sent to challenge the Tenth God, Nil, whose very existence threatens to destroy the Planes. If they were victorious, they would be granted their choice of the Planes to rule. However, most of the contestants have quit, leaving only three, none of whom are strong enough to challenge Nil. To become stronger, they must challenge powerful opponents. "Though you're by no means as powerful as they are, your strength is still quite real and can be used to help increase their power. So I'm sending you to the Plane of Wrath to challenge them and help them grow their strength. If you do that and restrain your compulsions, you'll be granted a full pardon. If you fail to restrain yourself, that room you just left will become your new cell." Queen waited to confirm that Grima accepted these condition before continuing, "There is one other thing, a personal favor. It is not a requirement of our deal, so it is entirely up to you if you wish to accept it as your responsibility. There is a certain facility in the Plane of Wrath that I'd like you to investigate for me, another individual who can help the competitors grow may be hiding out there. I already stored the coordinates in your HUD, so you may make the choice to go there any time. This individual is potentially dangerous, so be wary when searching for them." Faerie The woman raised her eyebrow at Nastasia. She had been forewarned that Gryffin was sending over a food magnate, but she hadn't expected them to be quite this irritating so quickly. "I'm not here to kill you, Nastasia." She dropped all sense of formality just to spite the brat, "My name is Faerie Cornair, I'm a friend of Blink's. I'm to take you to meet her. That won't be a problem, will it?" If this girl really would prefer death to staying in Envy any longer, then she would probably hate having to meet with the Plane's ruler. Fearie couldn't help but take pleasure in the girl's inevitable discomfort.

Aries (Hiroki, Morgan, Mommo) The exhibition had served its purpose with the people, restoring their faith in the gods' strength and their hope that Nil might be defeated by one of the competitors that had shown such strength to stand up to those gods. But it had served the opposite effect for the competitors themselves, and only three of them stood before him in his desolate throne room. He wasn't even sure what the point of this was, the tournament was over, it was a failed experiment, one that Aries hadn't supported it in the first place. How could he, knowing the truth of what they fought against? Yet appearances could be deceiving, and so he had let his indecision become a decision, allowing the tournament to progress. But he couldn't do it anymore, he had to do what he felt was right. It pained him, for he would become her enemy, but how could he ever face her knowing that he stood by and did nothing? His thoughts were interrupted by Black Idol clearing her throat. She was certainly uncomfortable here, though really she had never fit in the first place. Just another piece of unnecessary spectacle. "Um, Lord Aries?" She prodded again, "You've been quiet for several minutes now..." "Get out." Aries commanded. "What?" Black Idol was clearly taken aback. She looked around the room's dingy grey walls, as if trying to find someone else that Aries might be talking to. "You heard me. Leave us." "O-okay." Black Idol was still clearly confused, but complied, exiting through the room's curtained door. Now alone with the competitors, Aries finally gave them his attention, lingering on Mommo as he looked them over. "In a few hours I'm going to make an announcement." He told them, "I have entered into an agreement with the Tenth God, the Plane of Wrath will support her in her efforts to escape from her imprisonment on the Sphere. In other words, the Plane of Wrath is declaring war on the rest of Tempest." He stood from his throne, a simple chair crafted from wrought iron and cushioned with cotton, "I extend the offer to each of you now, join us. The Tenth is not as malicious as you've been led to believe, she is nothing but a scared young girl trying to free herself from a dead world." He doubted any of them would take him up on his offer, but he hoped dearly that at least Mommo would join him. Tai The frigid snow and ice of Gluttony, it hadn't been all that long since they had served as a battlefield for the tournament. In fact, it hadn't been that long since Tai had left them to fight in the first place. So much had happened in such a short time, it was hard to believe. But now, as he stepped off of a dimensional train for what he hoped would be the last time, he returned to them as his home again. It was a relief to be free of the gods' burdens. As he walked through the city to the transporter hub so he could head home, he noticed several people staring at him. Though pictures didn't spread easily, it made sense that a competitor headed for godhood would at least have a few floating around and being shared. He couldn't help but wonder what they thought of him dropping out of the tournament. "So you forsake your responsibility and choose to abandon all sides." A voice from an alley shared one possible answer. It was a familiar voice, a woman's voice that was strong and clear, even with a bustling city surrounding it. Tai looked towards the alleyway, trying to spot the source, but didn't see anyone. Perhaps it was just his mind playing tricks on him. Grima Though it was still her prison, a room in Queen's mansion was a whole lot more comfortable than the jail cell Grima had inhabited for the past few years. She still wasn't sure what had caused him to move her there, or to have her attend the exhibition between the Hellfire Knight and Lord. But clearly he had something in mind. Just when she was getting tired of waiting for him to come explain himself, he came to explain himself. "Hello Grima, or is that too familiar?" He said while offering her a plate with a baked potato and some peas on it, "It's been a few years, but you used to be a pretty good fighter in the arena, didn't you? How would you like to earn your freedom with those skills?" Nastasia Nastasia still didn't know why she was here. The tournament competitors, the people Lain wanted her to ally herself with, were supposed to be going to Wrath. So it didn't make sense that he'd sent her to Envy. Envy was a terrible place, its god insisted that nobody could have any significant power over anyone else, with an exception for herself of course. If any group rose to power, Blink would quickly put them in their place. For now, she was waiting in a restaurant for the person that was supposed to contact her and explain things. She had no way to know when they arrived, because Lain had only told her where and when to meet, not who she was meeting. Eventually a woman with short, pale blue hair sat down at Nastasia's table. Her face looked middle-aged and she was wearing a heavy coat, wide brimmed hat, and sunglasses, it was a rather comical disguise. "Are you Miss Sinclair?" She asked in a hushed tone, apparently she was taking secrecy seriously.

And both are accepted. The ooc is old and I'm afraid of formatting issues, so I won't be copying them up to the accepted area.

(OOC: I DEFINITELY SAID JUNE LAST TIME YUP.) (SRSOOC: So Ima just push this through now, this scene just needs to be done. The next chapter is gonna be a big deviation, a lot less structure and PvP is gonna lose focus for the rest of the RP) Queen Queen and Strider continued to trade blows, the Favor traded between them growing exponentially as each stored a little power with each shot fired. Though Strider's attacks overall seemed to be having greater effect, Queen showed no signs of relenting and Morgan was forced to fire off her Revenge Blast in the hopes of finishing him. But while Queen was pushed to the brink by Morgan's powerful signature attack, it wasn't enough to defeat him. With her energy totally spent, Strider was left defenseless against Queen's own signature. Using the energy absorbed from Strider's most powerful assault and what little remained of his own, Queen unleashed a massive energy blast from his palms which engulfed the entire arena, completely incinerating Strider. His opponent's mech was utterly destroyed, but his own was barely holding together. Queen really wasn't sure he could call such a narrow victory a success, not under normal circumstances. But here, in this circumstance, Strider had proven that Queen didn't need to fear for his people's future. Whoever won this tournament, they would definitely be powerful enough to defeat a god. Swag There it was, the truth at last. Or at least Sully's interpretation of the truth. And then he got serious, truly serious. Not Sully, no, he had been serious all along. Swagalicious, the worthless flirt who never let his true colors show, became serious. Sain Derrek returned Solomon Ryke's truth back at him. "Saving them was never your responsibility, and proving yourself here won't bring them back." It wasn't enough to stop the Revenant's rampage, and the storm around them cut into Swag multiple times over. But it caused him to falter, to question his conviction. "You are weak, but no weaker than anyone else. From the smallest child to the greatest leader, all share the same weakness." Swag launched into the air, well out of Revenant's immediate reach. "Your weakness is your humanity. It's a weakness to be proud of, but it is not a weakness you can afford here. To become a god you must overcome your humanity, and to kill a god your must forsake it entirely. If you aren't willing to let go of that humanity, this is not the place for you." All of Swag's weapons fired at once, bearing down on the Revenant, which fired back with magnetically backed shards of its main blade. Swag had no expectation of this finishing the Revenant, he simply had to delay long enough for his words to reach the man within. Explosions tore through the air between them and all around the Revenant. When the dust cleared, the Revenant was gone. It hadn't been destroyed, Solomon has wrested his humanity back from the beast within and surrendered. "You're right, I'm not cut out for this." Sully said, "Not if victory means giving up who I am. Congratulations, boy, you've bested me. I quit." Bear With her final desperate attack beaten back, Mommo did as Bear had hoped and forfeited the match. "It seems like Aries was right about you." He told her as he lumbered out of the arena in his mech, "I look forward to who you become in the future, no matter who it may be." He wondered to himself whether the answer to that would be a god or a queen, but he would be content with either result. Just before he cut out entirely, Mommo would hear half of a chuckle from him. Even in this horrible time, some things could still turn out alright.

Red Though he didn't give up his own escape, Peter sent his shadow off to save the fairy. It was admirable, but it sealed his fate. The Wolf's jaws snapped shut around his head, bringing an end to his struggles. The Shadow's head went along with Peter's and it vanished, leaving Tinkerbell laying alone on the ground, soon to fade away herself. Red let herself down from Susi's back and limped over to the fairy. Red held no animosity towards the creature, nor Peter for that matter, and saw no reason make male Tink's passing any more painful than it had to be. She couldn't remove the venom, not on her own, but perhaps she could give the fairy a little happiness. Red knelt over Tink, doing her best to avoid looking hostile. She wasn't sure exactly what to do, but didn't clapping or laughing help fairies in Peter Pan? Clapping wasn't exactly something she could do right now, so laughing was all she could do. She smiled as best she could while in this situation and gave a bittersweet laugh. It was the best she could muster, but hopefully it was enough to help ease Tink's passing.

Torin "Hell Raven checking in. Ready to blow some Resanti bastards out of orbit, Lieutenant." Torin acknowledged, his tone almost gleeful. Sure they were up against seemingly impossible odds, but that didn't mean he couldn't be excited about crushing a few of those disgusting robots. Besides, he enjoyed his job. It was dangerous, for sure, but that was part of what made it so exhilarating. A high-speed freefall towards a moving target several kilometers away through a swarm of enemy targets just waiting to be torn apart by his Striker's railgun if they got in his way. Even better when those targets were inhuman monsters that he hated with an intense passion. He could barely stand the anticipation as they waited for the Cross to come into range. Kella "I've already relayed the plan to her." Kella informed Vixen, "The corvette should begin moving... Oh, there it goes. You'd best land on the hull, you won't be able to keep up with it on your own." The corvette's engines powered up and it began to rapidly accelerate out of the moon's gravitational pull and into an orbit of Kelbar IX. "The corvette will reach the Eclipse's position in approximately twenty-three minutes and thirty-two seconds, they will need to hold their own until we can get there." Rhees The tension was unbearable. Waiting for the Cross to arrive, double checking every system just to be sure, it was always nervewracking, but this time it was far worse. Rhees was almost relieved to finally be able to say. "All pilot, the Cross is in range, we have incoming Strikers and Interceptors." She checked her displays and listened to information being relayed around the bridge, taking stock of the situation. "It looks like they're under equipped on fighters and their only active gun batteries are their railguns and a very few plasma cannons. That means we'll have a much easier time closing the distance than we would get normally, we can't waste this opportunity. The corvette won't be here for another ten minutes, we need to delay the Cross until then. It's time to start your drops." The cloud of enemy fighters spread out on her displays, sparser than the Cross should have carried, but still far more than the Eclipse carried.

Yoshirou "No, they can't cover the entire park." Yoshirou agreed, "But they will certainly be covering the area we need to explore: The Ferris wheel. There's really no point in trying to infiltrate the park if we can't reach our destination." The Ferris wheel was where the body had been found, it stood to reason that it was where the witch would be, and also the location that the police would be investigating most. He really didn't see any reason to sneak into the park until the police were no longer there to obstruct them. "Before we part ways, do you have a phone? We should exchange information." This was addressed primarily to the boy, since he was closest and his situation was curious, but Yoshirou made certain that Maridox could hear him as well.

Stole Tys Tys led Kaede to their usual meeting place: a small conference room in the dorms that the school let church members use for the purpose of mentoring. They sat down, Tys uncharacteristically choosing to sit on the other side of the desk, though it was not unexpected since they were practicing a professional skill. "Before we get started, do you have any idea what might have happened that the church would take interest in?" Tys asked, "It would make preparing much easier if I can plan for something specific. Otherwise we'll just focus on the basics." Lilith Lilith was going to insist that everything was her fault, not Arturia's, again when the police lady from earlier reentered the room. Lilith was immediately wary of her, they hadn't had the greatest first impression. She didn't say anything, instead just standing halfway in the doorway waiting for Arturia or Lilith to give her a clear indication of whether or not she could enter. Lilith shielded herself with Arturia, but then said, "You can come in, I won't hurt you." She recognized that the police lady was just trying to help, or at least she was pretty sure that was the case, so she tried to be open to interacting with her.

Lunatic (Improved vocal mix)

Yoshirou Yoshirou shifted a bit uncomfortably when Maridox brought up the magical boy thing again, he wished she wasn't so fixated on it. His discomfort grew when she used his name, did she think they were that familiar already? No, her own name was more than a little foreign, more likely she just didn't have the same sense of customs as Yoshirou. He decided it best to give her a gentle reminder. "Haruki, please, until we're more familiar." He went quiet again while the other boy spoke. "I'll add to that sentiment. These witches are a danger to people, and our job is to stop them, so it stands to reason that our job is also to save their would-be victims." He said, "But no, Kyubey didn't give me any advice for finding them. I was planning to go back to the amusement park later this evening, once the police are gone." He didn't have any other leads, so that was the best he could think of. He hoped one of the other two might have a better idea,but wasn't holding out much hope.

Yoshirou "Ah, that's a bit hard to explain." Yoshirou waved off Maridox's comment. It seemed Kyubey hadn't shared the same information with everyone. Yoshirou recalled how Kyubey had responded to his wish. "With your potential, such a wish would be easy to grant. But only a girl can fight a witch." Knowing that, it seemed fairly clear to Yoshirou that "hiding something" had to be precisely what he was doing. The boy from earlier joined them now, asserting that he was also seeking the witch. That was interesting, Yoshirou really hadn't expected to run into someone who shared his circumstances ever, let alone so soon. "You should fight first, otherwise you might not get a chance." Yoshirou said jokingly, hoping to counteract the other boy's harsh tone.

Yoshirou It didn't seem necessary to continue this coded back and forth, if the girl understood his clue she could have just said so plainly. But it wasn't a big deal, Yoshirou understood her meaning. "You could say that." He said with a wry smile, "My name is Yoshirou Haruki, and despite my appearance, I am a magical girl. It's nice to meet you." He accompanied his introduction with a polite bow.

Yoshirou A little ways away from the amusement park, Yoshirou stopped and tried to wave down the tall girl. It wasn't the best outcome, but at least he could talk to her without the boy, since she was significantly more likely to be a magical girl. "So I didn't get a chance to ask," He would tell her once she removed her headphones, "but I went in there looking for a white, uh, cat, I don't suppose you've seen it?" If she was a magical girl as well, she'd know immediately what she meant, and if she wasn't they could part ways without another word.

Yoshirou Okay, so they weren't a couple. Yoshirou concluded that they weren't familiar enough for that to be a case. So it was magical girls, victims, or something he hadn't thought of. Since he hadn't thought of it, he decided it was useless to speculate on the third option. They could still be victims, but their attitudes just didn't feel right. Maybe it was just his inexperience, but Yoshirou was expecting a witch's victim to act enthralled or depressed. He didn't have a chance to try to figure it out further, as the cop showed up to interrupt them. That was a problem, searching for the witch wouldn't be easy if the cops were in the area. Yoshirou carefully put up his hands to show he wasn't a threat to the oddly jumpy cop and said, "Alright, I'm leaving." He backed away slowly until he was at the gate and then turned briskly to walk away. He would have to come back some other time. He wasn't worried about the other two, regardless of their identities, the cop would force them to leave as well, so they were safe as long as they didn't do a yrhing stupid to get shot. If they were magical girls, he was sure he'd run into them again and could figure it out then. There was the possibility that the cop was the witch's victim, he certainly had the attitude for it, but Yoshirou saw a big difference in trying to convince some teenagers to leave a spooky amusement park and convincing an unusually jumpy cop to leave a murder scene. Only one of them increased Yoshirou's chance of an early grave.

Yoshirou Yoshirou had been waiting for this. He was nervous, anyone fighting strange monsters would be. That's why he'd practiced so much to learn his powers, though he still had no idea if that would pay off at all when facing a real threat. He supposed he'd find out soon enough, since as soon as Kyubey had told him that it was time, he'd known exactly where to go. Yoshirou approached the gates of the amusement park cautiously. He'd been keeping an eye out for suspicious activity ever since Kyubey first appeared to him, and the recent death here seemed particularly suspicious. It seemed he wasn't alone in thinking that, either, as there were two other people already here. He wasn't sure if they were magical girls like him, the witch's prey, or some couple going thrill seeking. The fact that one was a boy pointed to one of the latter options, though considering his own case, Yoshirou couldn't rule the first one out just yet. They seemed to be arguing about something when the girl stormed off towards the ferris wheel. Yoshirou couldn't help but notice how tall she was, and her hair was nearly half as long. He felt a twinge of jealousy, since his own height was only a little more than that of an average girl. He shook his head to clear it, now wasn't the time to be insecure about his appearance, he'd have plenty of chance at that later. For now, he decided to go with the assumption that the two were a couple, and that the girl was a lot braver than the guy, she probably got a lot of confidence from being so tall. If that was the case, he needed to try to stop them before they became the second option. But he couldn't just yell out and ask the girl to stop, could he? If her boyfriend couldn't stop her, how was some steanger supposed to do anything? He didn't see any other option, so he jumped out of the shadows and shouted after her, "Hey, wait!" In what was altogether not a very commanding tone.

Sharp Everyone seemed to be settling in, with Platinum and Esyllt taking up the second bunk bed, and Caliko returning to her previous state of lounging and reading a comic. Sharp considered climbing up to his top bunk, but decided against it and sat on the floor. Caliko's teasing had definitely made Platinum uncomfortable, but there wasn't anything Sharp could do about that, he hoped that it wouldn't make things too awkward for them in the future though. "So, for a girl who wanted to keep a low profile, why do something as open as moving into the school dorm? Staying incognito in a crowded dorm doesn't quite seem like the best way to go about that, even for a publicity stunt." Esyllt asked Caliko. "The other option is staying in a busy city and riding an equally crowded train twice a day." Sharp explained for Caliko, "There's less chances for discovery if she hides in the dorm." "No, that's not it at all." Caliko corrected, "Isn't it just important to enjoy life as a schoolgirl in the proper way? Staying in the dorms is just the way to go to get the full schoolgirl experience." Sharp rolled his eyes, "It's not like it was your choice." "Shush, yes it was." Caliko insisted, though her tone showed it to be a joke. Sharp enjoyed having Caliko as a roommate, she was a good person. She was a little overbearing at first, but it was easy to get used to her and her antics could even be fun at times. And she knew how to keep a secret, which for Sharp was the most important thing of all. Lilith Lilith pushed away from Arturia and tried to dry her eyes with her hands, but the stream of tears just spilled over them. "No. D-don't." She sobbed, "I don't want you to suffer b-b-b-because of me..." Arturia didn't understand, Lilith had to hurt herself. Trying to avoid pain just caused it for others, that's why mommy wasn't around anymore. Everything went better if she just accepted the burden herself. No one deserved to suffer, so she would take all of the suffering for herself.