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Post by yooom on Apr 12, 2018 17:47:06 GMT -6
(This is a roleplay between Mini and Yumthegreat! Please don't post unless you are one of the two of us~)
For six long weeks, the Morning Glory had traversed across the Atlantic Ocean. The ship, which carried some 50 passengers and much needed supplies, was buffeted by strong winds, heavy rains, and swells twice her size, but she persevered through it all and continued southward. After departing from Southampton, the land had had been swallowed up by the sea in just under a few hours time. Since then, nobody on board had seen even the tiniest speck of land.
Then, just like that... land ho! They passed one small island, then another. They had made it to the Caribbean! None of the small little islands popping up here and there was the one they had set a course to, though, so sail on they went. An entire day went by where they didn't see any more islands or signs of civilization.
Mira, a young girl of fourteen years of age, was leaning over the starboard side of the railing of the quarterdeck, sighing wistfully as she watched the sea roll by. Her long, light violet hair was braided back with the help of two blue ribbons into a half-ponytail. She wore a simple cream colored dress and brown boots.
The sun was setting in front of them, coloring the whole sky and the sea along with it a brilliant shade of orange. It was beautiful... except that it looked the same as it had yesterday, and the day before that, and the day before that. Behind them, the skies were growing overcast. When one of the crew had first spotted land a few days ago, Mira's heart had jumped for joy. After a terrible bought of seasickness early into the voyage, she had spent most of her days above deck. The thought of walking on land - real land, not pieces of wood nailed together getting tossed around by the ocean - was almost too much to handle. How could it truly have been more than a month since she had set foot on real ground?
"Mira, it's nearly time for dinner," a man's voice called from the lower deck. He wore quite the dapper looking red with gold trim tailcoat over a white dress shirt, tan pantaloons, and tall black boots. A white powdered wig with two rolls adorned his head. "Your mother reminds you not to be late, if you please. Last night we had to eat alongside half the crew," he muttered to himself.
"I'll be down shortly, Father," Mira called back, waving at him. "I just want to see the sun set. Mr. Linnington told me the most wonderful tale about a green flash that only very lucky souls can see just as the sun dips down into the water!"
"Yes, well, as soon as you see your green flash, do please come down to the mess hall prompt?" he asked, giving her a knowing look.
"Yes, Father," Mira said with a bright smile.
"Mira, dear, wouldn't you have a much better view of the sunrise if you went towards the front of the ship?" her father asked, giving her a curious look.
"I quite like it here. Besides, when I head up towards the front, Mr. Sullivan and Mr. Harris get jumpy. They both say it's bad luck to have women on board," she giggled. "The Captain told them they're full of rubbish, but they keep muttering things behind his back."
"Right. You do a good job of staying out of the sailors way, Mira. Please do your best not to provoke any more of their... superstitions," he said, nodding to her. "I expect to see you below decks shortly."
"I'll see you in a few minutes, Father," Mira smiled, watching her father retreat towards the stairs that led down below the decks. The skies behind them were already growing dark and overcast, and a heavy fog had started rolling in. The wind had picked up and was causing the sails to flutter hard in the wind. Mira remembered hearing talk among the crew that a storm was brewing on the horizon, but they were hopeful that it would break before it hit them. Shrugging, for things that bothered adults never truly bothered children, she fixed her gaze back in the direction of the setting sun. If it was going to rain, then it was going to rain. Simple as that. Better to not worry about it and enjoy the sunset as it was happening.
The sun was very nearly gone by this point. Only the very tippy top of it was left above the horizon.
"Oh, there it goes!" Mira squealed in delight as she watched the sun vanish below the horizon. As the last hint of true sunlight was swallowed up by the sea, Mira's eyes widened as she stared at the spot where the sun would be. For a fraction of a second, she could almost swear that she saw something green on the horizon. She leaned forward over the railing, holding a hand over her eyes as she scanned the line where the sea met the sky. AS she leaned over, the entire sky filled up with a flash!
BOOM!
From our of nowhere, the skies erupted with cannon fire. A black ship had appeared from the fog, speeding towards them at twice the speed of the Morning Glory. A black sail with a skull and crossbones flew from their mast - pirates! Mira screamed as the whole ship lurched forward, nearly tossing her overboard. Bright flashes from cannons and guns filled the air, which was now heavy with smoke. All around her, men were screaming in terror, barking orders, crying out in pain as they were hit with bullets and debris. The pirates were practically on top of them now. She saw what looked like hundreds of them, dirty, filthy, bearded scoundrels, waving swords and axes and guns around as they shouted terrible things at those aboard the Morning Glory. Several of them had ropes and hooks in their hands. They threw the hooks across the short gap and began boarding the ship. Mira watched in horror as one of the pirates ran his sword straight through Mr. Harris.
"FATHER! MOTHER!" Mira screamed, ducking down to wrap her arms around the closest rung of the railing. A lucky canon shot ripped a massive hole in the quarterdeck, then another slammed into the mast. The Morning Glory gave a horrific groan as the mast split and toppled forward. Rough seas caused the ship to lurch forward again, this time with enough power to make Mira lose her grip on the railing. Screaming, she slid helplessly towards the back of the ship. There had been railing there previously, but a cannonball had ripped most of it clean off.
A second lucky shot hit the one spot that spelled instant doom for any heavily packed ship - just below the quarterdeck were about 60 barrels of gunpowder that were to be sold to the East India Trading Company once they reached port. Through a series of unfortunate chain reactions, a lantern was knocked clean off the wall from the commotion, which set trade documents and papers that had been neatly resting on a desk on fire. The fire quickly spread, and the second it touched the first barrel was the last moment the Morning Glory would remain intact above the sea.
It was pure, dumb circumstance that saved Mira from being torn apart in the explosion. Another swell crashed into the ship, this time dislodging Mira from the back of the ship. Screaming, she crashed into the sea with a loud splash. Two seconds later, the 60 kegs of gunpowder exploded, ripping the entire ship the shreds. It was certain death for anyone still on board.
The force of the explosion was still enough to blow through the water and whirl Mira around and around, disorienting her and pushing her several feet down into the water. Her lungs were burning! She needed air! But which way was up? What if she started swimming only to swim downwards? Trying not to panic, she let herself simply drift, and sure enough her body naturally started floating upwards.
The second her head broke the water, she gulped down a much needed breath of air. Half of that air ended up being sea water, which she quickly coughed back up. A wave forced her back under the water. Flailing madly, she kicked her way back to the surface. She had to get help! But from where? Where was the ship? Spinning around, she very quickly realized that the only thing in the water that she could see was the pirate ship, which was sailing back off into the fog, and smoldering, smoking remains of what she assumed was the Morning Glory.
What was she supposed to do?! "M-Mother?! F-Father?!" she cried out as she splashed around, trying desperately to stay above the water. There was nobody around anywhere. Another wave crashed over her head. She gulped down more water than air this time. Tears streaming down her face, Mira swam towards a large hunk of wood. "S-Someone, a-anyone... help!" she sobbed as she clung to the floating debris for dear life.
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Post by yooom on Apr 12, 2018 17:48:47 GMT -6
On the dark horizon, as the waves set Mira and her board of wood bobbing up and down, an odd, light blue glow appeared. It was a sailing ship, barely a frigate with its single deck, with a pair of long, slim masts set with vast sails of electric blue. It drew nearer and nearer to Mira, moving faster than Morning Glory or the pirate ship that had destroyed it.
Standing just below the main mast, dressed in long, flowing robes of the same light blue stood a girl, slightly younger than Mira. She was short, with long, dark hair that flowed down her back, and sharp, grey eyes that matched the naked rapier tied to her hip. Her eyes narrowed as she stared determinedly out into the inky blackness of the night, searching for a sign of movement, or another vessel, perhaps even of the dark silhouette of an island, unknown to cartographers, but none came. She had been told to come just about here, this exact location, and she could feel in her gut that this was the right place. It had been only a half hour ago when she’d seen, right about where they were now, a great flash light the night, a devastating distant explosion that seemed to be right where she’d been headed, and she’d sped up her already swift ship, the Constellation towards it. Now, she seemed to be in the right position.
Meissa Walid ruffled the hem of her dress, and, directed by her movements, the huge blue sails above her moved as well, drawing themselves upwards, before neatly tying themselves to the yardarms of the main mast. Looking to the mizzenmast behind her, and making the same movement, she furled the sails there as well. Constellation, no longer blown forward by the wind, slowed sharply, bobbing on the ocean’s waves still. Meissa stepped forward, her steps echoing across the quiet of the night, as she made her way to the edge of the deck, before gazing down, at the waters below. Her nervousness turned to anxiety as she saw the boards of wood, floating around Constellation, the skeleton of what must have been a ship far larger than Constellation herself, perhaps a cargo ship. Clearly, it had been this ship whose explosion she’d witnessed a few minutes ago. She could feel her heart beating as she felt a wave of fear wash over her. Had she been too late? She ran across Constellation’s deck and squinted into the waters on the port side. More bits of boards, here and there the odd bit of bannister, moving in slow circles with an unseen tide, but still, she did not spot what she was looking for. She could not see any people.
Meissa looked over one shoulder towards one of the narrow doors on the deck, leading to the various quarters on board. “Maaaaz!” she shouted. “Maaaaaz? I...I think we’re here.” Meissa sighed. She had hoped to have been the first to meet her, either her or Maaz, but it seemed that he would be getting his way after all. He would be the first of them to meet her.
Mira watched as the ghostly shape of Constellation drew closer and closer to her. It was a strange ship, smaller than most seafaring vessels, its sails a uniquely bright blue. The prow, like the rest of the ship, was long, exceptionally thin, more like a javelin than the hulking Morning Glory. It took her a moment, staring up at the ship’s silhouette, to notice that something was staring back at her. She started at a pair of eyes, gleaming round eyes shining on the very tip of the prow. They belonged to a small creature, its fur ghostly white, not larger than a cat, staring at her with a an odd smile.
“Mira Schwartz.” Its voice was smooth, light, straightforward. “I have an interesting proposition for you.”
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Post by yooom on Apr 12, 2018 17:49:23 GMT -6
How long had Mira been clinging for dear life to the floating hunk of wood that was bobbing up and down in the ocean? Fifteen minutes? Three hours? Each second that ticked past felt like an hour. It was impossible to try and keep track of what time it was now that the sun had set.
At first, Mira, had tried to pull herself up onto the hunk of wood that had popped up next to her in the water, but the task proved to be too difficult to manage. No matter how hard she tried, she just didn't seem to have the upper body strength to pull herself up, and the water was far too deep for her to even think about trying to kick off from the ocean floor. The hunk of wood was also very awkward in size and width. It looked as though it had at one time been part of the deck, but in the dim evening light, she couldn't be too sure. She kept hoping that somebody, anybody from the ship would pop out of the water and help her, but she was all alone.
Mira tried to force herself to kick her feet and paddle herself somewhere, but... where? The sea was littered with debris from the ship, but there was nothing helpful around. Small pieces of wood, charred remnants of sail, half of a hat, and something that looked like a crate lid were all that she could see. They hadn't past an island in a long, long time. Mira had no idea how far away they were from land. Even if by some miracle she was close to an island, what were the chances it was inhabited? What if there was no food or water?
Cold. It was so cold.
Every last inch of Mira was covered in salty, cold water. Her fingers were numb. She could scarcely even tell that she was still even holding onto the hunk of wood. Even though they were in the Caribbean, being submerged in the water for any prolonged period of time after the sun set was dangerous. After a few minutes had passed, she had been shivering something awful. Her teeth had been chattering so loudly she thought for sure she would attract every shark within a hundred miles. Sharks were the least of her concerns right now, but they were still on her mind.
"Mother... F-Father... Are you both gone? Am I truly all alone?" she sobbed softly. Her arms hurt. Her legs were cold and numb. The ocean waves kept tossing her and turning up up and down, up and down, making her nauseous. Several times, she very nearly lost her grip. She was cold, hungry, thirsty, and miserable.
MAYBE YOU SHOULD JUST GIVE UP, a sinister voice whispered to her from somewhere.
"Maybe I should just give up," Mira whispered, feeling a hot tear slip down her face.
The air behind Mira shimmered strangely, the way that air bent and twisted above a hot road on a summer's day. Oddly bright, fluroescent colored papers appeared out of nowhere with nonsense scribbled on each one. Each of the papers appeared to have flimsy little stick arms and legs. They threw their strange little stick arms up in the air and dances around in circles, giggling maniacally.
MAYBE YOU SHOULD JUST LET GO AND DROWN, the sinister voice whispered, much louder this time.
"Maybe I should just let go and drown," Mira whimpered, feeling her numb fingers starting to loose their grip.
Behind her, bottles of rum rained down from a large black-and-white slit that had opened in the air and began flapping bright, feathery wings as they circled above Mira. As if flying bottles of rum weren't odd enough, upon closer examination, there just was something... not quite right about them. It was as if they were somehow flat and lacked the depth required to exist in three dimensions. Their movements were jittery and rigid, too. Quite the opposite of the dancing papers, which had started doing somersaults through the air behind her.
Just as she was about to give up on life, Mira heard her name being called out! It cut through the still, deathly silent night like a radiant beam of light. Tears blurred her vision, but she lifted her head and looked up. A pale, ghostly blue ship was coming towards her. Sitting atop the very tip of the prow was a strange, ghostly white cat with soul-piercing red eyes. Somehow, Mira knew that this was the creature that had called out her name. "Who... What...?"
Meanwhile, aboard the Constellation, the narrow door to the far left of where Meissa was standing slammed open. A tan-skinned girl with silver hair that fell down to her hips was standing in the dark doorway, looking extremely annoyed. Maaz Montilla was dressed like a man - dark blue pantaloons, brown boots, a frilly white shirt, a light blue waistcoat, and a brown jacket that had seen some wear and tear. A blue and purple sash was tied around her waist, and a matching bandanna kept her bangs tied back out of her face. Two large silver pistols rested at both of her hips. The girl took one look at Meissa and opened her mouth to say something when one of the very strange not-quite-right looking flying bottles of rum dive-bombed at her head. Cursing under her breath, she ducked down and shooed the monstrosity away.
"Meissa, are you even paying attention to where you're going?! Did you just sail us straight into the start of a labyrinth?!" she shouted.
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Post by yooom on Apr 12, 2018 17:49:44 GMT -6
Before the small, white creature’s eyes, Mira vanished, disappearing into the labyrinth. It cocked its head to one side curiously, before letting out a mildly annoyed sigh. It turned, its thick white tail flicking from one side to the other, and bounded back up the length of the prow.
“Good of you to join us.” Meissa murmured wryly at Maaz’s arrival, before leaping out of the way of another barrage of dive bombing rum bottles. She whirled around the mast, drawing her sword and slicing at thin air. With a light snipping sound from far above them, the pair of light blue sails descended from the yardarms again, offering both a temporary from another salvo of bottles. They shattered on impact with the sail, before disappearing as quickly as they had appeared. Concentrating, Meissa turned gracefully, curling the hem of her dress, and, as she did, the sails above her leaned off to one direction, turning the ship slowly away from the gash that had appeared in the air above them. Too slowly. Although, with Meissa able in command of the sails and wind, Constellation was faster than any other ship on the planet, she was still slow compared to the slit currently bombarding them with waves of bottles, and it would not long before the labyrinth would envelope the ship. Meissa grit her teeth, trying to speed up the process, but another blast of a dozen winged bottles forced her to take refuge again behind the mast.
“Any time now, Maaz!” Meissa shouted across the deck. Running up deck towards the mizzenmast, slicing her sword through the air again to raise the mizzenmast sails as well, Meissa spotted the little creature that had spoken, for only a moment, to Mira. “What is the meaning of this, Kyubey?!” she said, a little quieter. Kyubey blinked, but betrayed no emotion behind its constant, strange smile.
“This is an unforeseen complication, Meissa.” His voice was the same as it had been when he’d spoken to Mira, flat, almost bored. “Nevertheless, we must proceed.” Kyubey turned its head towards the opening, watching the labyrinth expand across the ocean waves with flat, red eyes. “She’s already in there. If you want her, you’re going to have to get her.” Meissa froze on the deck, the surprise catching her off guard.
“You’re...you’re quite sure of that?” Kyubey started at her in silence, its huge red eyes blinking.
“Of course, Meissa,” it replied, evenly. Sighing, Meissa was conflicted for only another moment. There was somebody in there, an innocent, but, even more than that, a potential ally. Whirling to one side, the great sails of Constellation turned with her, back towards the slit, and they sailed straight through.
It was dark in the labyrinth, and Constellation floated, seemingly over nothing but air. Meissa shivered, a cold breeze that was not hers ruffling the sails of Constellation and forcing the ship to still momentarily. The sky, if it even could be called the sky, was brimming with a near hurricane of the same curious flying bottles, an odd shade of purple, with an odd texture of crinkled paper. The air around Constellation pulsated, glowing in strange bright colors Meissa had never seen before, bright flourescents and odd neons, making it difficult to see anything in their bright glow.
“Where is she?” Meissa whispered. She had intended to speak just loud enough for Kyubey and Maaz, but her voice echoed through the void. “And where’s the witch?”
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Post by yooom on Apr 12, 2018 17:50:19 GMT -6
Cursing like the pirate she was under her breath, Maaz grabbed for both of the pistols resting in the holders at her waist. Twirling each one around her pointer finger by the trigger guard, she threw the right one straight up into the air and opened her hand up. A glowing, green gem appeared floating in the air above her outstretched palm. At the same time, still twirling the left one, her whole body began to glow green.
Flash! A green poof of golden-rimmed energy exploded from around her feet. It looked like shiny green lace was sliding up her body, unraveling all around her. As it moved upwards, beautiful, shiny, white boots that rose above her knees and were lined with golden trim and designs. Two matching emeralds spun into place just above each ankle. The lace continued to unravel, revealing tiny white shorts, twin white and green belts, a dark green waist coat, and a dazzling white and golden jacket, complete with matching green trim and golden stitching around the edges. Maaz threw her other gun up into the air. As she did, pristine white gloves appeared on each one of her hands. Both guns unraveled with the same sparkle of energy exploding all around Maaz. They nearly tripled in size! Gold, intricate designs wrapped around each one of the barrels. Winking at nobody in particular, she dusted off her shoulder. As she did so, a glorious looking white cape appeared. Matching intricate designs stitched themselves across the cape, which looked like it should weigh at least 20 pounds, but of course it was light as a feather. Finally the guns fell back towards Maaz. Catching each gun, she flipped them around and shoved them back into her shiny new holsters. Maaz held up her right arm. As she did so, a marvelously large white, gold, and green pirate hat materialized in her hand. She flipped the hat up onto her head and grinned.
"Come on, rookie! Are we mice or are we men?!" she shouted, a devilsh grin spreading across her face as she raced towards the prow of the ship. Pulling out both of her guns, she shot down two flying rum bottles that had decided to swoop towards them both. "FULL SPEED AHEAD!"
Meanwhile, poor Mira was trying to come to terms with her new reality. The sky, which was now purple and looked like crumpled paper, writhed and pulsed as if it were breathing! The ocean had vanished, yet she was still clinging to the hunk of wood because she was now floating above a dark, cavernous abyss of dark reds, oranges, and pinks swirling together in what looked like a whirlpool of death. Strange looking shark fins kept appearing, but there was something not quite normal about them. They looked like childish drawings of fins that had been outlined in thick, blotted ink.
"Ahhh! Someone help me!" Mira screamed as all of a sudden the "ground" erupted in front of her as a giant beanstalk-of-sorts started to grow, sending her flying into the air. The beanstalk was patterned to look like some sort of patchwork quilt. As it grew, giant flower buds started to form and sprout, but when they opened to bloom, the petals looked more like brightly colored feathers. Golden coins erupted from each flower, raining down like hail. "AHH!" Mira shouted, feeling her grip on the wooden plank slipping. Golden coins started pelting her in the head and arms. "WHAT'S GOING ON?! WHAT IS THIS AWFUL PLACE?! SOMEBODY HELP MEEEEE!!!"
Not too far away from her, Maaz pointed her guns towards the weird beanstalk. "Up ahead! See that? Looks like trouble. Hey furball, where are you?" Maaz shouted, looking around to see where Kyubey had disappeared to. "Get up here and tell me what it looks like to you. Is this a witch or just a familiar we're dealing with?"
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Post by yooom on Apr 12, 2018 17:50:38 GMT -6
Meissa sighed, dodging more barrages of the winged rum bottles as Maaz tansformed before her, but soon, the girl’s two mortar sized pistols were in position and blasting whole clusters of bottles out of the air into nothingness. With an eager “Yes, Captain!”, the sails aboard Constellation grew, glowing a bright blue. The ground around Meissa’s own body glowed as it had before Maaz’s own transformation, an electric blue to Maaz’s emerald green, before her own outfit began to change. Her dress grew, longer and longer, until there was a distinct train reaching down to until it’s edge just brush the wooden planks of Constellation. Meissa’s eyes gleamed with the white glow of lightning, as the sword tied to her side floated up to her hand, it’s hilt now gleaming gold, with a deep blue sapphire shining on the edge of it. She grabbed it from the air. There was a moment of stillness, before Meissa’s transformation expanded to Constellation itself. The masts grew, taller and taller, the yardarms across them expanding with them, until a veritable ocean of pale blue sails glowed above them. Meissa leaned forward on the deck and, with a creaking of wood, Constellation leaned slowly upwards, until the whole body of the ship was flying slowly across the labyrinth, as Maaz’s guns continued holding off their attackers, the winged rum bottles and new, somehow even stranger, enemies, smatterings of gold coins that blossomed like powers and floated down, inviting and sinister in the same moment, high pitched, inhuman laughter echoing across the darkness now.
Immediately before them, there was an explosion of sound as a great stalk, thick as an oak, bloomed before them, shooting upwards, its tendrils throwing upwards another shape, quite different from the clouds of bizarre, distinctively magical natives to the labyrinth. “There!” Meissa pointed at the girl, before rushing up to the prow, slicing in the air. A pair of ropes somewhere above her snapped, and the jib sail floated down, unconnected from the rest of Constellation. Meissa swung an arm at the loose sail, and a gust of wind went to it, sending the sail up to where she’d spotted the girl. The sail snagged around the girl’s body, and sent her toppling down from the top of the stalk. With another slice of her sword, Constellation changed position again, its prow dipping as Meissa attempted to use the main sails strung across the masts to break the girl’s fall.
Kyubey bounded up the length of Constellation towards where Maaz and her two big guns continued to blast waves of the strange enemies coming from all directions towards Constellation, easily sidestepping another bottle as it shattered against the deck. He leapt up to land on a railing beside Maaz. Kyubey turned its head to stare for a few seconds at the giant stalk that rose before Constellation. “Indeed, an obstacle, and a significant one at that.” The creature’s ears twitched thoughtfully. “Looks like a witch, and a potent one at that. The pair of you alone may prove,” there was an odd gleam in the creature’s eyes as he eyed the girl flailing through the air towards them. “inadequate, Maaz Montilla.”
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Post by yooom on Apr 12, 2018 17:50:56 GMT -6
Without even look, Maaz aimed both of her guns behind her and shot straight through at least eight flying rum bottles that had begun to swarm down at her and Kyubey. She flipped her pistols back around and blew away the smoke. Scoffing, she rubbed the bottom of her nose. "Tch. Oh, please," she grumbled with a roll of her eyes. "We haven't met a witch yet that gave us a decent fight. Lighten up, yeah? Don't be so darned pessimistic and cryptic all the time."
Behind where Mira still hung delicately in the air, clinging for dear life to the edge of the piece of Morning Glory that had kept her from drowning, the air began to ripple. The inhuman sounding sickly-sweet laughter slowly crescendoed, mutating into multiple tones of varying pitches that caused a cacophonous symphony of diabolical cackling to echo through the entire labyrinth. A dark shape began oozing into existence from the top down, looking very much like someone knocked over a very ghastly combination of putrid green oil paints and three-day old vegetable soup. The creature was easily forty feet tall.
"The witch!" Maaz shouted, immediately turning her guns to fire a rapid series of shots towards the not-yet-fully-formed witch.
Trübsinn Vergessenheit screamed like a banshee as she materialized into view, and oh, what a sight she made. Mira's eyes almost popped out of her head as her jaw dropped open. Surely she had to be dreaming!
The witch's skin was deathly pale. Instead of hair, vividly colored swirls of blues, yellows, greens, and reds swayed around and around, forming an almost halo of colorful clouds. One of her eyes was a golden star. Her body, if it could be called that, was covered by some sort of colorful leotard. One arm appeared to be a massive, writhing black and red branch that was blooming with flaming leaves. The other arm was either some sort of parrot's wing or a doll arm. Maybe the creature had three arms. The bottom portion of her appeared to melt into a very visually-painful and constantly changing skew of roughly, rapidly drawn lines, brushes, and splatters of color. The witch turned towards where the beanstalk had sprouted and screamed once more, revealing rows of razor sharp teeth.
Mira's fingers were slipped from the very edge of the hunk of wood she was still so desperately clinging to. Coins continued pelting against her, falling harder and faster than hail. From the witch's mouth came golden stars, and they were flying right towards her! Just as she was about to slip and plummet into oblivious, something crashed right into her!
"Waaaah!" Mira shrieked as she tumbled through the air. Luckily, she didn't fall all that far. From out of somewhere, a pirate ship had appeared?! How had she missed that?! Mira crashed into one of the big, billowed out sails. Bouncing off of it, she went flying forward a bit before she crashed back down into another sail. Tumbling head over heels, the poor girl bounced her way down the sails until she landed quite unceremoniously on the deck. Just in time, too, as one of the golden stars the witch had screamed outward had hit the hunk of wood Mira had been holding onto dead on. The wood exploded into about three hundred different pieces, caught fire, and smoldered away before raining ashes down onto the deck of the Constellation.
The sight of the witch didn't phased Maaz in the slightest. She loomed above where poor Mira was laying on her back, standing right at the edge of the fo'c'sle. "Welcome aboard, Miss! Seems you've gotten yourself into quite the pickle, huh?"
Groaning, Mira attempted to focus her blurry eyes on Maaz. "A... A girl?... Wha... What's going on? Where are we? Am... Am I dead?"
"Hah! Not yet. Don't you worry, we'll have this witch taken care of in a jiff, then we can get you on your merry way." Maaz looked towards the back of the ship, where Meissa was using her powers to control the ship. "MEISSA!" Maaz barked. "Keep us steady!"
Smirking, Maaz's left hand glowed emerald green. She waved her arm in an arc across her chest. Five long-barreled pistols appeared floating in the air in front of her. Running out onto the bowsprit and shouting some angry sounding Spanish curses, she launched herself through the air and towards the witch, firing all of her guns as she went.
Roaring, Trübsinn Vergessenheit turned towards the bullets. They didn't seem to be injuring her at all. In fact, all they seemed to be doing was making her mad. Her branch-arm twined high up into the purple sky. Giant thorns materialized, at least fifteen of them. She swung her branch-arm downwards, launching the thorns towards Maaz like cannonballs. Maaz managed to dodge all but the last one, which hit her left side. Crying out in pain, Maaz went crashing downwards into the swirling abyss of colors and cut-out shark fins that were dancing around. She crashed through one of the "waves," shattering it like glass, and skidded about ten feet before landing in a crumpled heap.
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Post by yooom on Apr 12, 2018 17:51:14 GMT -6
“I see it!” Meissa called from the back of the ship as the building sized monstrosity breached the water. Admittedly the witch was hard to miss. Towering above the deck of Constellation, it stared down at Meissa and Maaz menacingly, its one eye glaring furiously, the star shining in the other, empty socket. Below its head and bizarre multicolored midriff, a set of eight tentacle-like legs floated just level with Constellation’s lower deck, shining a thousand shades of gold and red, like the sea at sunset. Its jaw lowered and it screamed a long, terrible scream right at Maaz and Meissa. Meissa grit her teeth. Staring at the horror before her, Meissa decided it would be best to let Maaz handle the witch; she’d focus on keeping the other girl alive.
As Mira dropped from the sky towards her, Meissa was able to angle the ship just the right way to break her fall a few times. The new girl still hit the deck of Constellation hard, but Meissa was pretty sure that no bones had been broken in her fall. Setting her attention back to the matter of the witch at hand, Meissa nodded at Maaz’s shouted order, and, slowly, the ship levelled, making its way towards the side of Trübsinn Vergessenheit. Meissa watched Maaz introduce herself to the new girl, before running up the length of Constellation and, with a battlecry that would have struck fear into any conscious creature, leapt off towards the the witch itself. There was a blast of gunfire, magically magnified as Maaz blasted the witch with all she had, and the girl disappeared in a cloud of gunpowder. Figuring that the veteran had this under control, keeping Constellation on its present heading, Meissa ran up the length of the deck, where the girl was still lying, gazing rather astonishedly at the cloud of smoke Maaz had disappeared behind. She was slick with cold sea water, but breathing well enough. After a quick survey of her arms and legs, Meissa concluded that the girl had not broken anything.
“You’re okay.” she said, as confidently as she could to a girl trapped with them in a labyrinth, a giant witch a few feet away. “That was Maaz...she’s usually like that.” She smiled at her. “Don’t worry, she’ll be fine, she does this a lot. Meissa glanced up at Trübsinn Vergessenheit, now only a black shadow behind the smoke, writhing and swatting at what was almost definitely Maaz. “She’s been doing this for ages, she’ll do fine.” Meissa repeated, as much to ease her own nerves as this new girl’s. In their short time together, Meissa had seen a few familiars and even the occasional witch, but none had ever been quite this big or nearly this intimidating. “What’s it even doing out here?” Meissa said quietly, shaking her head. As she understood it, witches popped up in populated areas, cities and towns, not miles out at sea. There was another explosion that rocked Constellation even as it floated in thin air, different somehow from the sound of Maaz’s own deafening salvos. There was a sharp thwack! followed by a shout Meissa recognized as Maaz’s.
Meissa gasped as Maaz’s body went falling out of the air, her green cloak flapping wildly. She hit one of the odd glass-like waves somewhere below Constellation, shattering it on impact.
“Maaz!” Meissa screamed out to her, squinting to see if her fellow magical girl was moving at all, but she was too far. Ahead of Constellation,Trübsinn Vergessenheit let out another high pitched shriek, its odd slim, porcelain arm sweeping over towards the ship’s masts. Meissa aimed a blast of wind at it, and stilled the skinny third arm in its place. Sending another blast towards turning Constellation, Meissa tracked a course mentally to lead the ship back to where Maaz was lying.
Just as Constellation was moving towards Maaz, there was a sudden crash across the masts, and the ship slowed to a halt. Meissa gazed up to see the branch arm of Trübsinn Vergessenheit, and that the tree like part of the witch was slowly growing, branches tying themselves around Constellation’s rigging. Meissa took a deep breath. This witch had just beaten Maaz, she did not know how badly, and Maaz was far more experienced a fighter than her. Taking the thing on one on one would be foolish but, at the same time...what other options did she have?
“Your sword, Meissa,” Kyubey urged and Meissa nodded. Holding her sword in right hand and aiming her left down, she focused on a new wind, guiding her upwards. The wind picked up, and a moment later Meissa was flying upwards. She landed on the yardarms, her balance slightly shaky. With a battlecry less enthusiastic than Maaz’s barrage of swears, Meissa shouted “Hah!”, and sliced her sword at the branch. Her strike magically amplified, the branch connecting the branches rapidly overwhelming Constellation’s rigging to Trübsinn Vergessenheit snapped cleanly, and the bits of branch tangled with the ropes fell away, crumbling to ash to land around Mira below. Constellation began moving again.
Meissa bit her lip, staring at the very angry witch. It would not let her get to Maaz that easily, she knew, already all three arms were drawing back for a strike on the ship’s masts. There was only one thing to do. Collecting every bit of courage she had in her mind, Meissa leapt forwards. The wind picked her up, and she soared straight for Trübsinn Vergessenheit’s head.
On the deck of Constellation, Kyubey bounded over to where Mira was staring at the battle unfolding before her. He stared with her at Trübsinn Vergessenheit’s huge form, and sighed. “An impressive sacrifice, I suppose, but fruitless, nonetheless. She has neither the power nor the skill to even slow that witch down.” Kyubey’s round, red eyes focused on Mira, gleaming. “But you do, Mira Schwartz. Make a contract with me, and you can save both of them!”
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Post by yooom on Apr 12, 2018 17:52:01 GMT -6
Mira was flabbergasted. This small, petite, almost dainty girl who couldn't have possibly been much older than her was just standing there while the monster in the background continued to scream and wave its branch arm around while the other girl fired what sounded like hundreds of shots at it. Sword in hand, the dainty girl continued to calmly talk about everything going on around them like it was completely normal.
"Wait, what? You... You mean this sort of thing is normal??" Mira squeaked in alarm. She finally found the strength to push herself up into a sitting position. When she did, she nearly regretted it. Poor Mira sat up just in time to see the girl in green - Maaz, was that her name? - get smashed to pieces by some sort of large thorn. Maaz went crashing downwards out of sight. It didn't look good. The dainty girl with the sword, who hadn't introduced herself, screamed out in terror for her injured friend.
"Aah!" Mira shrieked as the ship suddenly jerked to a halt. Mira reflexively threw both of her arms up over her head. The strange tree arm had grabbed hold of the ship's upper rigging. Vines and branches appeared to be growing out of the witch's "arm," snaring up all ropes and pulleys it could reach.
As if all of this wasn't strange enough, a white cat-like creature seemingly appeared out of nowhere (or maybe it had been there the entire time and Mira simply hadn't noticed it. Could anyone blame her for missing sight of a cat on the deck of a magical ship being ripped apart by a forty foot tall screaming banshee with a tree for a hand?) and urged the girl to do something with her sword. "Aah! D-Did that cat just talk?!" Mira gasped, pointing at the odd little thing, staring right at the creature's unnerving red eyes. Before she got an answer, though, Meissa took off into the air!
"Wait! Where are you going?! Come back!!" Mira screamed, reaching out helplessly after the girl.
Trübsinn Vergessenheit was on quite the rampage. It seemed quite content to rip apart any bit of ship rigging it could get its hand on. One vine started twining itself down the mast supporting the crow's next. With every new coil it grew, it squeezed the mast tighter and tighter. The wood started cracking. It seemed that any second now, surely the whole mast would crack straight through and come crashing down on the deck. Unfortunately for the witch, Meissa's magical blast of wind sliced clean through what probably would have been considered the elbow of the branch. Trübsinn Vergessenheit jerked backwards, howling in what sounded like unfathomable pain and agony. The screams were almost unearthly sounding! If the pain of five hundred people had been wrapped up into a single scream, that was exactly the noise that was coming out of the witch. The branchy "fingers" left behind turned to ash and rained downwards onto the deck.
The purple sky crinkled together, then slowly started to rip and tear all over the place. Behind the tears, there appeared to be hundreds of windows. Half of them were filled with brightly colored stained glass. The other half were just regular old, ordinary windows. The view out of each one was a hazy, orange and yellow fog. Several of the plain windows swung open, and out of them, a glimmering, blood red, viscous liquid began slowly leaking down the "walls" of the labyrinth. The witch's body jerked and seized about some before it seemed to regain its composure. Its head spun around in a completely eerie 360° circle before its single eye locked onto Meissa.
"RAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!" the witch howled, extending its wing appendage outward. As Meissa drew closer, she would quickly realized that the feathers weren't feathers at all, but were in fact hundreds, if not thousands, of brightly colored daggers. Each one of them had to be at least a foot long. The dark blues and light blues launched themselves towards Meissa with an impressive explosion of fireworks that also simultaneously shot off into the air. The feather-daggers went flying straight towards her head and chest.
Mira gasped as she watched what was certain to be the death of Mira unfold right in front of her eyes. Both of her arms flew up to cover her mouth. Tears brimmed in her eyes. "This... This is terrible!" she sobbed. The strange little cat thing had come bounding over to her. Her shoulders were trembling. "Y-You mean... there's no way that she can stop that terrible, awful thing?"
Mira turned white as a sheet as the strange little cat thing spoke her name aloud. Her full name. "Wha-- How-- How do you know my name?" she whispered, eyes wide. "What do you mean? Are... Are you saying that I can help them? Me?? But... how?"
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Post by yooom on Apr 12, 2018 17:52:20 GMT -6
Meissa flew straight for the massive head of Trübsinn Vergessenheit. Its head whirled around in a full circle as she approached, its single, mournful eye, as large as Meissa’s whole body, glaring apathetically at her as she approached. To Meissa’s displeasure, her plan had worked perfectly. As Constellation swung round and moved towards where Maaz had disappeared to, carrying the new girl and Kyubey away from the witch, Trübsinn Vergessenheit made no attempt to stop them. Unfortunately, this meant that the powerful witch’s attention was now entirely on Meissa herself.
The huge, wing like arm came soaring towards Meissa, slowly, but purposefully. Meissa didn’t pay too much attention to it, it was far too slow to catch her, speeding along towards Trübsinn Vergessenheit’s body, but, suddenly and unexpectedly, the ‘arm’ exploded. The explosion sent Meissa careening off in one direction, startled by the sudden sound and wind, and blinded by the odd multicolored explosion itself. She blinked, shaking her head blearily, before realizing that the feathers of Trübsinn Vergessenheit’s wing arm were zooming towards her, razor sharp and coming in fast, hundreds of them.
The explosion had, ironically, likely saved Meissa’s life from the barrage of daggers, giving her the necessary distance to be able to come up with some kind of plan before she was skewered several dozen times. Meissa turned in the air, and aimed her sword at the wave of feathers coming her way. Her dress rustled, as a wind kicked up behind her, flowing around her towards the daggers, and they scattered, blown away from the magical girl in all directions. One went whizzing by Constellation, only just missing the tops of the masts before shattering one of the odd glass waves Maaz had fallen through earlier. A few of the feathers went spinning back towards Trübsinn Vergessenheit. They pierced the witch’s body and stuck, lodged in her skin, but Trübsinn Vergessenheit seemed to hardly notice, focusing instead on Meissa, who turned elegantly back towards the witch, sword at the ready once again.
Meissa had lasted a little longer than Maaz had in single combat against Trübsinn Vergessenheit, but she hadn’t yet actually launched a successful attack like Maaz had. Meissa doubted that she could even be able to give Trübsinn Vergessenheit the killing blow. No, all this was a distraction, giving Maaz time to board Constellation and prepare some kind of real attack. She looked over her shoulder, trying to figure out how far Constellation was from where Maaz had fallen, but, from this angle, it was impossible to see Maaz at all. She spotted the new girl, anxiously talking to Kyubey, no doubt discussing his contracts. Meissa remembered the day she’d made her own contract with Kyubey.
Meissa had always been alone. The girl had grown up in one of the largest cities on one of the largest islands on the Caribbean. A small girl, with no family, and no skills to speak of, she was easily overlooked, and easily forgotten. She had spent her days on the cobblestone streets, her nights in dark alleyways, hoping not to be bothered by thieves or bandits. It had been in one of these quiet alleyways that she’d come across the her first labyrinth. She’d been as confused as Mira was now, and would have been killed almost instantly by the bizarre beast that had created it, only a familiar, there and then. She’d been lucky. Maaz had shown up in the nick of time, blasted the familiar into oblivion, and taken Meissa under her wing. Meissa had learned a lot about Maaz in those days, she was also alone, though she had not always been by herself. After an evening, Meissa had agreed to Kyubey’s terms, and she’d been given her abilities, and charged with finding, and defeating witches.
Poor Meissa had spent one second too long gazing at Constellation. With a wicked, victorious shriek that jerked Meissa out of her reverie a moment too late to dodge the blow, Trübsinn Vergessenheit swiped across at her with her long, porcelain arm. Meissa diverted her wind, turning it back, but was not quite quick enough. The hard arm slammed into her, and she went down, as Maaz had, focusing her magic only on slowing her fall.
Kyubey’s tail flickered, and he tutted as Meissa went crashing out the sky. A sharp thud echoed across the labyrinth. He turned back to Mira.
“We don’t have much time to discuss this, Mira.” Kyubey said, though his voice was level, calm. “She doesn’t have much time left. You must become a magical girl. Make a wish, and I will grant it. Then you will be able to fight the witch; you will be able save the both of them.” Kyubey’s large red eyes were focused on Mira’s, waiting expectantly.
Meissa blinked. Her back stung, she had hit the glass floor hard, but, either because her wind had slowed her down enough, or because she was simply smaller than Maaz, she had not broken through the glass. She sat up, feeling something cold against her back. She looked down, to find that a fine layer of the red liquid that had suddenly spurted out of the labyrinth’s walls had covered the glass she’d hit, and had soaked through the fabric of her dress. Meissa felt unpleasantly cold, feeling the sticky substance against her skin, though she wasn’t sure if that was why she was trembling, as she looked upwards towards the witch.
Trübsinn Vergessenheit was even more intimidating from this angle. It loomed over her, its lips twisted in an awful smug smile, its porcelain arm winding up for another strike. Meissa raised an arm, and a sharp wind blew over her, but the red liquid clung to her, surprisingly heavy, and she could not take off. Terrified, Meissa flapped her arms absurdly, trying perhaps to get more of the liquid off of her, as more began to flow over her ankles and knees, rooting her to the floor. Trübsinn Vergessenheit’s hand plunged down towards her, her strange pale fingers wound in a china fist. “Maaaaaz!” Meissa screamed, desperately trying to dislodge herself from the floor. “Maaaz! Please!”
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Post by yooom on Apr 12, 2018 17:52:43 GMT -6
"Make a wish?" Mira repeated, peering at Kyubey with wide eyes. Her heart pounded like a bass drum against her chest. Some part of her was still struggling with coming to terms with all of the oddness going on around them. How could any of this possibly be real? If this was a dream, it was more like a nightmare. There was no way it was a dream, though - dreams weren't painful, and Mira had felt plenty of pain when she had dropped down onto the deck of the Constellation.
Hearing a scream from above, Mira looked up just in time to see Meissa get hurtled to the ground like a rag doll that had just been thrown across the room by a tantrumming toddler. Mira shrieked, standing up to run over to the side of the deck. "Oh no! Wh-Where did she go?!"
"I imagine she probably landed on the bottom level of the labyrinth," Kyubey said matter-of-factly, still sitting in the middle of the deck as he stared at Mira. "That hit was surely strong enough to send her clear down there and knock her out. As I said, it was an impressive sacrifice, but a fruitless effort. Oh well. I imagine that it will only be a short time now before that witch consumes both Maaz Montilla and Meissa Walid," he remarked, his tail swishing back and forth.
"Consume? What do you mean by that?" Mira asked, hands griping the deck railing so hard that her knuckles turned bright white.
"Magical girls who succumb to a witch inside of a labyrinth remain inside of the labyrinth forever. This labyrinth will become their grave. That witch will absorb their powers, growing even stronger, then who knows where it might go to next? Witches spread curses throughout humanity. Diseases, famine, violent crimes, suicides that seem to happen for no reason at all? All of these things can be attributed back to a witch's curse."
"That's terrible!" Mira gasped.
"It is terrible, but it doesn't have to end this way. You have the power to save them and destroy that witch, Mira Schwartz. All you have to do is make a contract with me," Kyubey said, his bright red eyes piercing straight through Mira's own gaze.
Now that both of the magical girls were out of the way, Trübsinn Vergessenheit had only one other large target to destroy before her rampage could continue: The Constellation. With a screech that could easily raise the dead, kill them, and then raise them again, the witch's attention shifted back to the ship.
They were out of time.
"Hurry, Mira! Make a wish! Any wish!" Kyubey shouted, scurrying towards Mira just as hundreds of patchwork-colored beanstalks erupted from the ground below, wrapping around The Constellation like the tentacles of an angry kraken.
"I... I wish... I wish that Mira, Maaz, and I were fully recovered and strong enough to defeat the witch!" Mira screamed.
An odd glimmer appeared in Kyubey's eyes for just a moment, but surely it was just a trick of the strange light that existed in the labyrinth. "Mira Schartz, your wish has been granted!" Smiling, his ears twitched, then suddenly extended forward towards Mira. They reached straight through her chest!
Mira gasped, reaching upwards to grab at her heart, which felt like it was being ripped out of chest. In a blinding flash of purple light, something glowing erupted from inside of her. She reached her hands out to grab it, not quite sure what was happening. The glowing object turned into a beautiful, dazzling gemstone object, while at the same time a golden ring appeared around her middle finger.
Mira was wrapped up in a ball of glowing purple light. She floated upwards as what looked like scales formed around her, slowly peeling off to reveal a beautiful, short, iridescent blue dress with flowing long kimono-like, soft lavender sleeves. A blue sash wrapped itself around her torso just as matching blue ribbons appeared in her hair, along with a matching blue ribbon tied itself into a bow around her neck. Blue high heels materialized around her feet, and a trident appeared in her hands.
The newest magical girl was gently deposited back onto the deck of the Constellation, awkwardly gripping her trident in both hands. "Ahh! Wha-- what in the world just happened to me?!" she squeaked.
Maaz's eyes flew open. It only took her about three seconds to process what had happened. When she did figure it out, she kicked her feet up and propelled herself straight up in quite the impressive display of gymnastics. "¡Esa bruja asquerosa! ¡Mierda! ¿Cómo te atreves? ¿Cómo podría alguien tan poderoso como yo ser derribado en un solo tiro como ese? Haré que esa bruja lamente el día que crió su fea, asquerosa, masticada y destrozada cara en este mundo. ¡Cuidado, vieja bruja! ¡Te arrancaré el ojo y te lo meteré por la garganta!" she spat, easily speaking two hundred words a second.
"MEISSA! WHERE ARE YOU?! You'd better not be dead! MEISSA, maldita sea todo, answer me!" Maaz shouted, grabbing both of her guns as she set off in search of her friend.
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Post by yooom on Apr 12, 2018 17:53:00 GMT -6
As Trübsinn Vergessenheit bore down on the terrified Meissa Walid, she raised her sword in a meager attempt to block a building’s worth of power crushing down on her. Trembling terribly, trapped where she was, she took a deep, steadying breath, hoping that, at best, that this final stroke would be able to do enough damage for Maaz, who had to be on her way right now, to be able to get a killing stroke on this monstrous witch. For one moment, she wondered, for the first time ever, whether Maaz wasn’t coming to help her, whether her death in battle would be as worthless as Maaz’s a moment earlier. She blinked tears back, squinting up at Trübsinn Vergessenheit, and swung her sword.
At the moment sword hit fist, there was a bright flash of purple that exploded outwards from the deck of Constellation. Both Meissa and Trübsinn Vergessenheit turned, perplexed towards the ship. There, floating above the deck, was a magical girl, her entire body shining, her elegant blue dress gleaming purple as she floated gently back onto the deck. Trübsinn Vergessenheit let out a mournful screech, her body drawing upwards, away from Meissa rising towards this new challenger.
It took Meissa a moment to realize that the explosion of purple had, somehow, dissipated the odd red liquid that had sunk into her dress and surrounded her feet. The explosion of magic had only, it seemed, blown then off of her, and with an angry rushing the liquid swarmed back towards her. Meissa didn’t give it another moment, and a gust of wind sent her soaring up level with the tops of Constellation’s sails, her eyes fixed on Trübsinn Vergessenheit, who it seemed had not noticed her restored opponent. Meissa took another deep breath, feeling her magical energy surging back through her body, as if she hadn’t been swatted out of the sky by the witch a few moments ago. It must have been this new magical girl, Meissa guessed, squinting down at the girl’s bright blue silhouette. She had, it seemed from Meissa’s distant position, yet to make a move, still talking with Kyubey. Meissa realized then that the girl herself must have been the recovered girl she’s rescued at the last second from the wrath of Trübsinn Vergessenheit.
Worried for Maaz, Meissa took advantage of the fact that Trübsinn Vergessenheit was not presently trying to kill her to scan the waves again, looking for Maaz somewhere below the waves. She doubted the new girl would have restored only Meissa, but, at the same time, if she had been too late...Meissa doubted whether even Kyubey’s bizarre abilities were enough to bring people back from the dead.
A blast of gunfire, followed by another devastating explosion of rapid-fire Spanish informed Meissa that Maaz was still very much alive, and was likely as recovered as Meissa had been by the new girl’s wish. Meissa waved down at the girl before aiming a gust of wind to shoot her down, setting herself down beside her old friend. “Maaz! It’s okay, I’m okay. I’m...I’m so happy you’re okay, you had me really worried there, I thought you’d,” the words were spilling out of her, but, as she came to the last one they ran dry, and Meissa could only smile in mute happiness at the rejuvenated Maaz.
Aboard Constellation, Kyubey’s eyes followed Mira back down to the floor, gleaming in triumph. “Congratulations.” Kyubey said, his voice still level. “You have become a magical girl. Your wish was a very good one. Wishes to help someone else always are more powerful than those more selfish ones, I’ve found.” Kyubey turned from the stunned Mira, watching as Meissa soared up from where she’d fallen and, off to the other side of the ship, Maaz blasted out of the waves. “Mira and Maaz are back in the fight.” the creature turned to face Mira again, his eyes still gleaming. “Of course, they will still not be enough to defeat this witch, Mira Schwartz. Your wish was quite clear that the three of you would be strong enough to defeat the witch.” Kyubey’s red eyes focused on Mira’s blue ones. “You must join the battle, Mira.”
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Post by yooom on Apr 12, 2018 17:53:22 GMT -6
Trübsinn Vergessenheit was, to say the least, infuriated at the sight of another magical girl. The monstrosity clawed at its own face momentarily, then let out a horrific scream that would make the skin of the fiercest of all soldiers crawl straight off the bone. Meissa forgotten, the witch turned its mournful, psychotic, single-eyed gaze onto Mira.
Meanwhile, Maaz was scanning the horizon in search of Meissa. The girl had both of her guns in one hand as she held her free hand up to her forehead, squinting her eyes as she peered across the strange, murky, blood red "waves" of nothing. Surely the girl was still alive, but maldita, where was she?!
A strong gust of wind was the answer to her question. Meissa came gliding gracefully down to the ground, riding the wind as if she were, well... a magical girl! There were practically stars in her young friend's eyes as she drew closer, waving to Maaz as she landed gracefully on the strange ground.
"Tch. Calm down, chica," Maaz said as Meissa practically glomped her in gladness. She ruffled her friend's hair a bit, her face lightening up a bit as an uncharacteristically tender smile crept across the veteran's face. The unspoken fear hung in the air, so Maaz gave Meissa's cheek a friendly little pinch to break the tension.
"No witch is going to take me down that easily, mi amiga. I'm rusty, that's all. Too much sailing these days! Not enough honest pirating or witch fighting!" she said, smirking at Meissa. "Come on. It seems that girl you were so stubborn about saving went and made a contract already. That must be a new record for Kyubey, eh? Let's not keep her waiting."
Indeed, the newest magical seemed incredibly unprepared for the task at hand. She had her back to the witch, who was just about to fire off the next assault of rocket feathers towards the ship. "Me?! F-Fight?!" Mira stammered, giving Kyubey an incredulous look as she gripped the trident that had magically formed in her hands even tighter. "But... But I... I d-don't know anything about fighting!"
"Well, then, novata pequeña, you better stand back and let the pros handle this!" Maaz shouted as she went zooming up into the air, more than likely having gotten some aerial assistance from Meissa. "¡Hora de despertar y comer la pólvora, bruja!" Maaz's two main guns were flying out magically in front of her. In a flurry of green sparkles, twenty-one more guns appeared in two arcs in front of her. "Escuchar mi veintiuno una pistola saludo," she laughed, firing off rapid shots from all of her guns at the same time. The shots were deafening!
Poor Mira shrieked as she ducked down from the explosions, covering her ears. "I don't like this!!"
The bullets smashed into Trübsinn Vergessenheit's body and wing, making her howl in agony. More of the stained glass windows busted open all around them as more of the strange, goopy, thick, viscous red liquid started oozing out of nearly all of the windows now.
"Meissa, grab the new girl and show her what you can do! Hit her hard while there's an opening in her defenses! Cover me while I get ready for a big one!" Maaz cackled maniacally as she did a back handspring off of one of the lonely little flying bottles of rums and headed back down towards the deck of the Constellation.
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Post by yooom on Apr 12, 2018 17:53:37 GMT -6
Meissa smiled, blinking back tears of happiness as Maaz reassured her, before aiming her wind so that she and Maaz landed on the deck of Constellation, facing Kyubey and Mira, who seemed thoroughly confused at her new dress, holding her trident awkwardly. Meissa couldn’t help but feel sorry for the new girl. Kyubey, for all his abilities and vague cuteness, had never been much for explaining things in a way that was easily understood. Maaz had been the one who’d been able to explain everything in terms Meissa had been able to understand, and Meissa guessed that, for a while after this, she and Maaz would be explaining parts of Mira’s new life to her for some time. Still, she couldn’t help but feel a rush of affection towards her, partly because she had just saved both of their lives, and partly because she was, now, one of them. She had taken on the powers, and with them the responsibilities and risks, of a magical girl.
Maaz, for all her bravado in the moment, was probably not the best person for the nervous Mira to meet. The new girl seemed to shrink against Maaz’s call for action. Maaz, perhaps reminded that now was not the time for discussion by another roar from the huge witch behind them, turned with a slight shrug, before running back the way she’d come. Meissa sent a blast of air her way, and Maaz went flying off towards Trübsinn Vergessenheit, a row of guns to put Constellation itself to shame materializing on either side of her. With a deafening blast that caused Mira to shriek and Kyubey’s tail to rustle faintly, Maaz fired every last one of them into Trübsinn Vergessenheit. The explosion radiated across the entire labyrinth, shattering many of the thousands of odd windows set along the edges of it. Clearly, Maaz’s strategy of simply blasting the witch for all she was worth was working.
Working to help Maaz, Meissa sent another blast of air upwards, into the masts of Constellation. The sails billowed outwards, and the ship moved slowly, turning the gracefully, so that the gun deck below them would face Trübsinn Vergessenheit. With a laugh far too merry for one dodging death, Maaz soared about above Meissa and Mira, continuing to distract and damage the witch. Trying to focus Mira, who seemed extremely uncomfortable and extremely afraid at the moment, Meissa gently laid a hand on Mira’s shoulders.
“Hey!” she said, loud enough to be heard over the blasts of gunfire and the shrieks of Trübsinn Vergessenheit, but hopefully soft enough to still come off as gentle. “I know you’re scared. This all must be very, very strange for you. It..It wasn’t fair for you to get roped into all of this so quickly.” Meissa flashed Kyubey a dirty look, though she knew it wasn’t really his fault. It was likely because of his own quick actions that she’d survived her battle with Trübsinn Vergessenheit at all. Kyubey only blinked blandly at her.
At about that moment Meissa heard Maaz’s call. She gazed up to look at her, before squinting at the witch. All of Trübsinn Vergessenheit’s attention had shifted to Maaz, understandable given the damage Maaz had done her. By this time, Constellation had turned, the ship’s guns ready, and the witch distracted. Meissa turned to Mira, apologetically. “You might want to cover your ears for this,” Meissa offered, before stamping her foot down hard on the deck. There was resounding blast as, below them, a row of some 12 great cannons fired simultaneously, setting Constellation rocking to one side. A volley of cannonballs slammed into the odd tentacle like legs of the witch. Trübsinn Vergessenheit let out an angry, infuriated shriek, and another set of windows shattered, sending another wave of the odd red liquid running along the edges. It was not nearly as effective as Maaz’s magical guns, but it had once again distracted the huge witch from Maaz.
Meissa, turned back to Mira. “You have to fight.” Meissa gestured out to Trübsinn Vergessenheit, roaring and slashing every so often at the faster Maaz. “She needs your help. I need your help.”
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Post by yooom on Apr 12, 2018 17:53:57 GMT -6
Mira let out a shriek as something brushed up against her. To her great relief, it was only one of the other girls. Thankfully it seemed to be the calmer of the two. Mira's eyes got big and watery as she stared upwards at her fellow magical girl. The rush of the enormity of the last few hours of the day finally caught up with her, and everything suddenly came rushing out in a flurry of words.
"What... What's even going on?? I-I don't even understand any of this! I've been sailing with my family for weeks! W-We were just trying to leave England and sail for the new colonies. F-Father had taken on a commission - it was supposed to be a brand new adventure for us, and then out of nowhere-- it just-- it happened so fast, and then it just-- it exploded, or s-something-- and then-- and then this, this, this... this thing just--"
The ship creaked loudly as a swarm of flying rum bottles slammed into one of the top sails, but the Constellation seemed to weather the blow just fine. The rum bottles shattered on impact, but instead of glass raining down on the decks below, the strangely misshapen bottles twisted up into a swirl of brown and white, then erupted into sparks of crimson and silver that faded away into nothing.
Mira whimpered as Meissa remained calm and magically turned the ship so that it could fire a barrage of cannons at the witch. Meissa was so calm and collected! All she had to do was stomp her foot, and just like that, BOOM! Cannon balls shot straight into the witch, hitting her square in the tentacles.
Some part of the witch's shoulder had caught on fire, her 'skirt' was smoldering, and Meissa had managed to severe two of the tentacle legs. The witch's head twisted completely around again as she writhed in pain and agony. Suddenly, the star-eye opened as wide as possible. The star started to spin upwards, rolling straight back into the skull, then it reappeared from the bottom. It kept rolling up and down like a slot machine, faster and faster. When it stopped, a blood-red star had taken the place of the yellow one. The witch opened its mouth, revealing razor sharp fangs, and let out another horrific howl. Gears came flying out of its mouth at super-high speeds and went flying all over the place, bouncing off of the strange purple 'walls,' crashing into and shattering even more of the stained glass windows, and hurtling towards the ship.
"This place is so WEIRD!" Mira screamed, diving towards Meissa as one of the strange gears came crashing into a spot several feet to her left. It ripped a chunk out of the deck before bouncing off of something hard, crashing into the railing, then flying out into the abyss of the 'sea' below them.
"Vaca fea," Maaz spat under her breath, blasting at least six of the gears out of the air as they came flying in all directions. "Not this again. I've about had it with you!" as the witch fired off a flurry of yellow and orange colored feather-rockets that all came sailing right towards her. Maaz let out a flurry of curses that would make even the toughest of sailors blush as she did her best to maneuver out of the way of most of the feather-rockets. One caught her leg, slicing it open, while another barely missed her left cheek. Maaz clapped her hands together, and as she pulled her hands apart, two huge guns appeared in front of each one of her hands. She fired off a flurry of bullets that splattered all across the witch's torso and doll arm.
"MEISSA, LET'S GO! VAMANOS, CHICA, WE DON'T GOT ALL DAY!" Maaz shouted as she started falling back down towards the ship.
Mira gulped, clutching her trident tightly against her chest. "Me?? F-Fight? But... But how?? Wh-what do I do
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