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Post by yooom on Apr 12, 2018 17:54:29 GMT -6
Meissa couldn’t help but feel sorry for this poor girl. She had spent weeks at sea, planning for a new life with her family in the New World, only to have all of that snatched from her at the last moment. To have a witch appear at that very moment, when things didn’t seem like they couldn’t possibly get any worse, seemed like insult to injury. That being said, something about her story made Meissa feel uneasy. Such a dramatic reversal seemed almost like magic.
A screech from the angry Trübsinn Vergessenheit drew Meissa back to her senses, and she turned to examine what damage her volley had done to her. Smoke hung low across the length of the deck, but the angry eyes of Trübsinn Vergessenheit glowed furiously above the Constellation like meteors, one unnervingly human, the other an odd, whizzing something Meissa did not really understand. The witch’s mouth loomed over them, opening wider and wider, and she began to spew vast circular gears that whizzed menacingly towards them. One smashed into the deck of Constellation, tumbling over a railing off the ship without hitting either girl, but not before taking out a chunk of the deck with it. Meissa let out a sharp yelp as pain shot across her side, and her hand clenched her skin tenderly. Gritting her teeth, Meissa drew her sword, hacking at another gear that came falling down at them, and sent it soaring away from her and her ship. Straightening, the pain still stinging, Meissa smiled weakly at Mira.
“Using your magic, it’s...it’s hard to explain.” Meissa paused, trying to come up with some way to describe the way magic felt. “It’s like feeling really energetic, I guess, but...deeper than that.” Realizing that she was doing a terrible job explaining magic, Meissa sighed. “Once you feel that energy, channel it through that,” she pointed to the trident, quivering as Mira gently trembled. “I’m sorry, I...I know it’s not very helpful, but-” an angry shout from Maaz came ringing down from above them, and Meissa glanced up, making sure the magical girl was still holding her own against Trübsinn Vergessenheit. Drawing her sword, twirling it in the air to hear a satisfying resounding clicking sort of sound from below. Meissa angled her sword upwards, listening to hear the guns below aim on Trübsinn Vergessenheit for another volley. “I’ve got to go...Mira, was it?” Stamping her foot on the deck again, to another deafening blast as the guns blasted again into Trübsinn Vergessenheit, Meissa lifted her skirts up gently, and floated gracefully up towards Maaz, who continued to bombard the witch.
“Sorry for the delay, Maaz.” Meissa said, hovering in the air behind her, sword drawn, ready for an opening to strike. “I was just trying to help the new girl. She’s still in shock, I think, poor thing.” Meissa cast a glance down at Mira, still standing shakily where Meissa had left her. Meissa scanned the weakened but still very dangerous body of Trübsinn Vergessenheit. The blasts from Constellation’s and Maaz’s guns had definitely done a lot of damage to her, it seemed that all that was left was a finishing blow. “What’s the plan now?” Meissa asked, as Trübsinn Vergessenheit eyes locked onto the two flying girls hovering above Constellation. The witch let out another furious screech, sending another barrage of gears zooming at the both of them.
Nestling in the shade of the quarterdeck, where neither Trübsinn Vergessenheit nor the blasts of magical power she and the girls were firing at each other could hurt him, Kyubey’s eyes gleamed at Mira, before craning his neck, gazing up at Meissa and Maaz. “I must say, those two are more powerful than I had calculated.” He turned back to Mira, his voice still as steady as it always was. “You must understand, there are these collections of girls that form that, when working together, are more powerful than should be possible, given their individual capabilities.” Kyubey was silent, contemplating something. “This sort of thing is rather difficult to quantify.” Kyubey’s large, round eyes flared slightly. “But you, Mira, you still ought to join the fight. Focus, take a deep breath. Feel your magic within you and then…” Kyubey blinked, blandly. “Use it.”
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Post by yooom on Apr 12, 2018 17:55:25 GMT -6
It was not the calmest of scenes for a conversation so tricky. Globs of oozing, red, molten-like blob kept pouring out of the busted up windows faster than ever before. Gears of all sorts of shapes and sizes were crashing around, ricocheting off anything they crashed in to. One of them came crashing down into the deck very close to where the girls were standing, which caused Meissa to shout out in pain. Had another gear hit her??
"H-Hey, are you alright?!" Mira asked in concern, not sure exactly what to do in this situation. She didn't see any visible signs of trauma - no blood, at least - but even if there had been, what was she supposed to do? Mira heard a whirring sound and looked upwards. Another gear was coming towards them! She screamed and threw her arms up to cover her head, but Meissa drew her sword and sent the gear flying.
She's so cool! Mira thought to herself. Look at her. So calm and collected, and even though she's scared, she's out there fighting this... this terrible monstrosity.
Mira gulped, clutching her shiny, magical new trident closer to her chest. She started intently at Meissa as the poor girl tried her best to explain to her how to use magic. Magic, it seemed, wasn't just something that could easily learned or explained. The girl who seemed to be able to control wind and air as easily as someone would run a hand through their hair seemed to falter over what words to use when it came down to trying to offer the newest magical girl advice on, well, how to be a magical girl. Mira stared at her with wide eyes as Meissa stomped her foot and went flying upwards towards the witch.
Maaz easily shot down another fifteen or so of the gears as they came flying towards her. These ones turned into a puff of rainbow colored feathers as they were struck. One of them caught her by surprise, hitting her hard in the back. The gun-wielding magical girl was knocked off her rhythm and sent towards one of the busted out windows. Somehow, she managed to flip herself around so that her boots were aimed downwards. In a glint of green light, a circle of guns surrounded her body. They all fired at the same instant the second her boots touched the rim of the window. In an ear-shattering explosion, glass went flying everywhere, but Maaz went flying back up in the direction she had fallen from.
From her spot on the deck of the Constellation, Mira gasped in horror as she watched the remains of the window dissolve into black dust and fade away into nothingness. It looked as if someone had punched a hole through the crumpled purple paper "sky" of the labyrinth. Mira had fully expected to see more of the blood-red ooze, but behind where the hole was, she saw a mass of writhing, squirming tentacles of all shapes, sizes, and colors. In the place of where the sucker part of the tentacle should be were eyes. Hundreds and hundreds of what looked like childishly sketched eyes.
Trübsinn Vergessenheit paused spitting gears out of its mouth to give her strange tentacle-skirt legs a good workout. She swam upwards into the air, positioning herself so that she was now quite literally towering over the Constellation, Maaz, and Meissa. With a strange succession of loud clicking noises, her porcelain doll arm started to rotate in its socket. The witch's multicolored hair pulsed a vivid electric blue with each crank of the arm.
Maaz glanced sideways over at her partner as she appeared hovering in the sky besides her for the briefest of moments before her eyes settled back on the witch. "I don't like this, Mira," she murmured quietly. "That cranking can't be good. We need to finish this fast. As much blasting as I seem to be doing, I don't know that it's getting us anywhere. I think we need to both need to hit this witch hard, together, with just about everything we've got. But from where? What angle? You're better at logistics than I am. Have you noticed anything? Any obvious weaknesses?"
Meanwhile, Mira was well aware of the two eyes staring at her back. She gulped audibly as Kyubey pointed out that she needed to go and fight. He spoke in big words that went a bit over her head, but the gist of what he was saying made sense. There were powers in numbers. "I know I have to fight," Mira whispered. "I just..."
The clicking was getting faster.
"It's just that I..." Mira shifted her weight, feeling very uncomfortable and insignificant.
The star in the witch's eye started to roll backwards once more.
Mira gulped, eyes widening as she stared up at the intimidating form of the witch, whose starry eye had started to spin. "I..."
The spinning star came screeching to a halt. This time, the white of the eye had turned pitch black. A red skull burned itself through the blackness. The witch's jaw seemed to unhinge, much like a nutcracker's jaw might do, and out came a powerful stream of fire - aimed straight at Meissa!!
"Meissa, look out!!" Maaz screamed in horror. Even as the flames appeared, she could feel the intensity behind them. Those flames were hot enough to melt steel! Getting hit with such a blow would be certain death for any mere mortal. Horrified, Maaz twisted her body around in a last-ditch effort to try and push her dear friend out of harm's way, determined to take the full brunt of the flames herself, but she could already see that she wasn't going to make it in time!
HISSSSSSSSSS!!!!
A giant cloud of steam filled the air as the flames crashed into a wall of... water!
From down below, standing with her legs spaced out in a defensive pose, one hand gripping the trident close to her chest while the other hand was outstretched, fingers spread wide apart, Mira stood looking upwards at the scene playing out above her. The witch was roaring as it continued spitting out flames, but the flames were simply crashing into the giant wall of water, easily twenty feet in length, that was coming... from Mira!
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Post by yooom on Apr 12, 2018 17:55:39 GMT -6
Meissa watched Trübsinn Vergessenheit rise up to meet her and Maaz, its human eye glaring hatefully while the other “eye” whizzed unnaturally around in its socket. Meissa floated herself backwards, trying to keep her distance from Trübsinn Vergessenheit until she knew how and where to decisively strike it. Maaz, on the other hand, brushed off another volley of gears with a blast of magical gunfire, destroying all but one of the whizzing gears. Meissa gasped fearfully as the last gear caught Maaz in the back, but Maaz easily rolled with the punch, soaring back towards Meissa with another massive explosion that shattered even more of the windows along the walls of the labyrinth. However, as the eerie, eyed tentacles swarmed in from the shattered windows, Meissa felt a sinking feeling that the battle was only getting worse for them.
Maaz’s questions, and her compliment, made Meissa smile faintly. She was happy that Maaz had such faith in here. Meissa bit her lip, trying to come up with a strategy. “Well...my sword was able to cut her arm off, it hasn’t grown back or anything since then, so, maybe we can-” Meissa was cut off when Trübsinn Vergessenheit turned to face her, her spinning right socket stopping to reveal a tiny skull glowing in the empty hole. She let out a tiny gasp as Trübsinn Vergessenheit’s maw opened, far wider than any mouth should have been able to. A plume of white hot fire came roaring out of the witch’s mouth, heading straight for Meissa. Meissa had barely enough time to wince before the flames would have been on her, but, with a sudden whoosh, a jet of water came rushing to meet the fire, putting it out only a few feet from Meissa. She was splashed a bit, but that was far better than potentially being evaporated. Meissa looked down, to see Mira, hand raised, guiding the water between Meissa and Trübsinn Vergessenheit, steadily putting out the flames as they came at Meissa and Maaz.
“GREAT WORK!” Meissa shouted enthusiastically down at the top of her lungs, though she wasn’t sure she could be heard over the hiss of steam and the aggravated screech of the witch. Meissa couldn’t help but beam. Mira, the new girl, who had an hour before never even seen a witch before, was using her magic for the first time. Perhaps she hadn’t done too bad a job explaining magic after all.
Meissa squinted at Trübsinn Vergessenheit, who was turning her head slowly down towards Mira. The power and volume of her fire seeming to intensify; Trübsinn Vergessenheit determined to roast this new magical girl. The pride of seeing Mira surpass all reasonable expectations of her magical ability faded slightly, replaced by worry. Mira was doing a great job, but, if Trübsinn Vergessenheit proved too much for her, or the strain of this magic got to her, a fire on Constellation would likely be the end for all of them. Either way, they had to work quickly.
“Maaz!” Meissa shouted, her eyes locking onto Trübsinn Vergessenheit’s head, rising quickly to try and get over the witch. “I’m going to try and slice at her neck while she’s looking down at Mira! I probably won’t be able to decapitate her in one go, but I should be able to get enough of a dent at least for another shot from you to be able to finish the job!” Strengthening her wind, Meissa went darting upwards, until she was almost touching the shattered window panes on the roof. A slim, eyed tendril snatched downwards at her, but Meissa was easily able to slice it off with her sword, before turning her attention back to the witch. Trübsinn Vergessenheit was still focused on Mira, and Meissa got a good view of the witch’s neck. It was bare, pale white, and, with the witch looking down at Mira, completely undefended. Raising her sword once again, trembling slightly from neves, Meissa dropped out of the air, heading straight for the base of Trübsinn Vergessenheit’s neck. With another cry of “Hah!” she brought the blade smashing down on the witch’s neck. There was a shattering sound, and shards of the witch’s neck went flying off like shrapnel in all directions. Meissa took off upwards swiftly, turning back to take a better look. There was definitely a sizeable dent in Trübsinn Vergessenheit’s neck, and Meissa was pretty sure a well placed blast from Maaz would be able to end the fight.
“Now, Maaz!” Meissa called out, but, before she could say another word, her voice was cut off as something thick wrapped abruptly around her neck. One of the tentacles, this one much thicker than the one that had tried to snag her last time, had lashed out at her, and was now inexorably dragging her upwards, where a thousand eyes on the other tentacles were glaring at her furiously. Raising her sword above her head, Meissa aimed for one of the eyes on the tentacle around her neck. She stabbed directly into the pupil, and the eye popped, leaking an inky, black fluid, but the tentacle did not seem to notice in the slightest, continued to determinedly pull her away from her friends and Trübsinn Vergessenheit. Meissa raised her sword arm to try hacking off the tentacle, but another one whipped around her elbow, drawing her sword away from the tentacle. Meissa tried to get one last glance to see how Maaz was doing, but the tentacle around her neck tightened, pushing her face up to stare at the writhing mass of tentacles she was headed towards. She hoped that Maaz would be able to finish Trübsinn Vergessenheit off quickly.
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Post by yooom on Apr 12, 2018 17:55:59 GMT -6
Maaz reflexively threw both arms up in front of her as a giant cloud of steam came coming her way. "¿Agua? ¿Desde donde?" She followed the gravity-defying waterfall down to its source - it was the girl they had rescued! She had indeed made a contract with Kyubey and had figured out how to spark some of her magic - just in time, too. Letting out a quick sigh of relief, Maaz turned to give her best friend a relieved smile. Meissa was beyond thrilled to see that the new girl had figured out her magic, too.
For her part, Mira's legs were trembling quite noticeably as she continued doing exactly what she was doing - standing with her arm out and willing water that had appeared from absolutely nowhere to continue rising up into the air and stopping the witch from burning Meissa to a crisp. Poor Mira had no idea HOW she had done it, but she had!
"I... I did that?!" she gasped, eyes wide in wonder as she stared transfixed.
Feeling a bit bolder than she had been a few short seconds ago, Mira experimented by flexing her fingers ever so slightly. As she started to curl her fingers partially closed, as if she were about to close them to make a fist, the speed of the water increased exponentially. Instead of a waterfall flowing the wrong way, her magical abilities now seemed to imbue the water with the strength and speed of a geyser.
"Look! Look what I can do!" Mira squealed in delight, flexing her fingers back and forth as she continued to cause the strength and speed of the water to flux.
Trübsinn Vergessenheit roared in agony as her fiery assault was stopped dead in its tracks. Her flames were no match for a monstrous wall of water! The witch's entire strange body twitched and spasmed as she became increasingly infuriated. Her wing arm, now nearly bare of its rocket-launcher-feathers, stretched out and began to attempt to flap. Her porcelain arm began to flail around madly, trying to strike at anything within range. All the injured witch managed to mostly do, though, was bat some of the few remaining gears and flying rum bottles out of the sky, launching them across the strange crumpled, purple sky.
"Go, Meissa!" Maaz shouted, nodding in agreement with the plan. Using the magical wind Meissa created within even really thinking about it, Maaz propelled herself straight up into the air. She twirled both of her guns straight up into the air and then flipped herself head over heels with an elegant kick. Almost seeming to move in slow motion, Maaz made a gun shape with her hand just as she was completely upside down.
"Bang!" she shouted, pretending to shoot her finger-gun up towards her own guns. A trail of green, glistening, magical sparkles shot out of her hand and struck the guns she had tossed up into the air. They began to glow green, expand, and melt together all at the same time. The massive, magically molten blob of matter that had been Maaz's guns started falling down at a worrisome speed. It was clear that it was gaining some hefty weight!
Just as it sped down past Maaz, she reached out and grabbed the top of it. Her touch seemed to solidify it. Graceful, elegant swirls of silver and gold danced outwards to form very intricate designs over what appeared to be a massive cannon, easily ten feed long. Maaz had grabbed onto what was now a hook and swung herself up on top of it, riding it almost like it was some sort of majestic horse.
The witch had just let out a horrendous howl as Meissa sliced clean into its neck, sending shards of what looked like broken porcelain and wood flying everywhere. Visible cracks in the witch's skin could be seen. What looked like paint chips started visibly peeling and crackling away as Trübsinn Vergessenheit's whole body groaned. There was another terrible cracking noise as its porcelain arm broke off at the elbow. The giant arm went crashing downwards, smashing into the "ocean" and shattering it as if it were made of glass. The rest of the arm looked as if it burst into flames and quickly turned into ash.
Meissa had just been grabbed by some terrible looking tentacle things and out of control flames were licking closer and closer to Mira and the ship, but Maaz wasn't worried. She was far from it, in fact. There was quite the devious look on the magical girl's face as the cannon came flying down, full speed ahead, straight at the witch's ugly face.
"BOMBS AWAY!" Maaz cackled with a toothy grin, snapping her finger.
Ka-BOOM!
A spiked cannonball the size of a large bull came flying out of Maaz's cannon. It tore into the witch's head and neck, shredding it to smithereens.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The bone-chilling scream that sounded like a choir of tortured demons all trying to harmonize with nails scraping down a chalkboard came from deep inside the witch, even though her head had just been shattered. Cracks continued to run down her body as more and more of her just peeled off, like old paint being ripped off of wood. The very color bled out of the dying witch and dripped down off of her lower half in giant, gelatinous blobs that rained down onto the shattered remains of the glass ocean until all that was left of her was a black and white husk of a thing. It continued shriveling up and disintegrating until it looked like the charred remains of a forest fire.
The purple-skied world around all three girls, Kyubey, and the Constellation began to shimmer and fade away. Slowly, the shattered stain glass, crumpled purple sky, and shattered ocean were replaced by the blazing golds, oranges, and yellows of a partially-cloudy twilit sunset and the deep blues of the ocean. The Constellation bobbed up and down as it settled back into real ocean water, causing poor Mira to shriek in alarm, flail her hands around, lose her balance and fall over onto her bottom.
In a magnificent blaze of green sparkles, Maaz's cannon disintegrated into nothingness. She floated back down and landed up on the prow of the ship. She was flipping a small, strange looking black seed-like thing up and down. Ignoring Mira for the moment and assuming Meissa would work her way back down in a matter of seconds, her free hand came up to shield her eyes as she squinted, peering around the ship. "OI! KYUBEY! ¡Apparecen! ¡Ven! Get out here! I gots a bone to pick with you! ¿Where are ya, you poco bola de pelaje?"
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Post by yooom on Apr 12, 2018 17:57:26 GMT -6
Even as the long, multicolored tentacles dragged Meissa away from the battle below, Meissa didn’t feel worried. She had faith in her friends, Maaz, the experienced fighter with more firepower than anyone else on the planet, and Mira, who, though Meissa had only seen a bit of her magic, seemed to be at least as powerful a magical girl as her and Maaz. That being said, Meissa wasn’t about to just wait for those two to finish the job.
Dropping her sword out of her left hand and snatching it from the air with her right, Meissa sliced the tentacle that had wound around her arm, cutting it clean off. It fell away from them, towards Trübsinn Vergessenheit and the battle below. Meissa, holding her sword in both hands now, began to hack at the remaining tentacle around her neck. She had only got one good swipe at it, cutting through about half of it, when she felt the coil around her neck beginning to let go. At that same moment, directly below her, Meissa was deafened by the sound of a truly massive explosion. Glad to have been looking upwards, a flash of bright white light shot through the chamber of the labyrinth, and she had to blink several times before she could see again. Meissa’s ears were ringing from the blast of Maaz’s final shot, but even so she still heard Trübsinn Vergessenheit final shriek. It was filled with sorrow and anger, a mournful cry that rocked the Constellation in the water and sent dozens of cracks running along the edges of the labyrinth. The tentacles looming of towards Meissa froze in their place and, before Meissa’s eyes, wilted, the vibrant colors turning a sickly gray, before slowly falling like a shower of ash. The one wrapped around her neck faded away as well, leaving an odd, sticky residue on her neck. Meissa fell a few feet, before her winds kicked in, slowing her fall. She looked down quickly, for any sign of a resurgent Trübsinn Vergessenheit, but the terrifying witch was gone. All around her, the deep reds and purples of this bizarre world faded, crumpling like paper away, folding in and in on itself, until the fragments folded into nothingness. Soon, only Constellation was left, oddly still amongst the Caribbean waves.
Just behind Mira, Kyubey watched Trübsinn Vergessenheit shudder and screech, die and fade with that same bland smile. Turning from the dramatic sight before the two of them, his tail swishing thoughtfully, he stepped past the new Magical Girl. “Congratulations, Mira. You have defeated your first witch. There will be many more, just as dangerous as this one, all over this world. I hope you do as well against them as you have here.” The small, white creature had almost fully crossed the threshold into one of the rooms on the deck when, on the other side of the ship, Maaz landed, calling for him angrily.
Heeding her call, Kyubey dutifully turned, trotting up the length of Constellation with the same bland smile he had when he’d watched Trübsinn Vergessenheit die. Seating himself a distance from Maaz as the angry magical girl strode over to him, Kyubey spoke in the same calm voice, scratching his ears with a paw while he did. “Well done, Maaz, an excellent show. I must admit I was a little worried you wouldn’t make it out of here in the beginning, but, with some help from Mira and I, you were back on your feet in no time.” Kyubey’s eyes gleamed with pride, as he turned to glance at Mira once more, before turning to Maaz. “You’ll be happy to know that she is quite a powerful magical girl. In time, she may even surpass you.” Blinking, Kyubey’s body straightened slightly, as he fixed his red eyes on Maaz’s green ones. “But what would you like to discuss?”
At that moment, on the opposite side of the ship, by Mira, Meissa landed smoothly, happy to be back on the solid wood of her Constellation. “You were amazing, Mira!” Meissa said, cheerfully. The newest magical girl seemed to be doing extremely well, revelling in her new magical abilities granted by Kyubbey. Meissa smiled, remembering her own first days as a magical girl. It had been, what, only a couple of weeks? months? It felt like eons had passed since she’d met Maaz. So much had changed since then. A whole world had opened up to her, a terrible world of witches and labyrinths, a world she needed to protect the rest of humanity from, with her new friends. Meissa gazed at Mira. She had seen a witch, it was true, and a truly terrifying one at that, but there was still much that she had no idea about. She was, after all, still new to all of this, and Meissa resolved to keep her safe, as Maaz kept her safe. Reminded of her friend, Meissa turned from Mira, taking off up the ship to where Maaz was, staring down Kyubey.
“Maaz! You did great!” she said, perhaps a little too loudly. Meissa leapt over and hugged the veteran. The adrenaline of battle was not entirely gone, and Meissa smiled as she parted from her best friend. It took her a moment to notice Maaz’s stern expression, and Kyubey looking at her, his head cocked, his expression, as usual, unreadable. “What’s the matter?”
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Post by yooom on Apr 12, 2018 17:57:39 GMT -6
Maaz scowled darkly, ignoring Kyubey's praises about defeating the witch. She couldn't be entirely sure, but sometimes when the furball said things like that, she wasn't one hundred percent convinced that he was being one hundred percent sincere. Maybe the world had just twisted her once-youthful optimism into cynical, duplicitous doubt. Her eyes flickered down to the grief seed in her hand. She flipped it up into the air and caught it.
Meanwhile, Mira seemed rather confused to be back out in the open ocean. Meissa came flying down - yes, flying! - and greeted her with an optimistic cheer. Mira couldn't help but smile at her bubbly new companion. Bashfully rubbing the back of her head, she glanced upwards at Mira as her smile widened. "Oh, um, well, uh, gosh, I don't think I really did much of anything at all," she mumbled quietly. She noticed that Meissa's attention had shifted over to the other end of the ship, so she, too, turned around and tilted her head curiously to one side. Maaz was just tossing some small, odd little black think up and down without saying anything.
"U-Uhmm... is she... is she angry? She looks angry," Mira whispered, glancing worriedly over at Meissa.
"Tch. Hrmph. Yah yah yah, the witch showed up, a new magical girl saved the day, we teamed up and saved the day with magic - put a sock in it," the Spaniard grumbled with a dramatic roll of her eyes. She grabbed the grief seed out of mid-air once more, her fingers tightening around it.
"What I wanna know, bola pequeña y esponjosa, is where did the witch even come from?!" she hissed. "We are in the middle of the ocean, miles and miles away from the nearest port! Witches are supposed to be lurking around areas with lots of grief in 'em, yah?! The middle of the ocean sure as hell ain't heavily populated with people, so how about you explain where that witch came from!"
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Post by yooom on Apr 12, 2018 17:57:50 GMT -6
Hearing the angry Maaz confronting Kyubey, Meissa decided that it would be for the best if she were to make her way back down the length of Constellation, to where Mira watched the Magical girl shouting at the small, white creature, his round eyes turning back to look at Mira for another second as Maaz shouted at him, before looking back at Maaz with that same, bland smile.
Meissa smiled. Mira seemed nervous, still glancing at Maaz fearfully every so often. The new girl could be forgiven for being a bit skittish, she had gone through a lot and had saved all of their lives in what must have been a little under an hour. She smiled, gesturing over to the shouting Maaz. “Don’t worry about it, Maaz is always like this. It’s how we know she cares.” Partially to distract Mira from Maaz, and partially because she was herself interested, Meissa changed the subject. “You know, it’s lucky we found you, out on the open ocean, right beside a labyrinth. How long were you out here?” As she spoke to her, Meissa fluffed the hem of her dress and the sails changed their direction slightly, setting Constellation back on track.
On the opposite end of the ship, Kyubey blinked, listening to Maaz rage and shout without seeming the slightest bit surprised or worried. Once Maaz had, at least for the moment, stopped shouting, Kyubey spoke, his voice the same innocent tone he’d had this entire time. “Witches certainly are more common in more crowded areas, but that does not stop them from appearing in other places where grief may be felt. They simply metamorphosize, without strategy or any care.” Kyubey’s tail twitched faintly. “And I would’ve thought that you, of all people would know that there can be just as much grief on the seas as there is on land.”
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Post by yooom on Apr 12, 2018 17:58:03 GMT -6
Mira rested a thoughtful finger on her chin as she tried to recall just how long she might have been floating out into the ocean. So much had happened since then that she honestly couldn't be sure if she had just fallen and hit her head, but this seemed too insane to be a mere dream. "Well... gosh, I really don't know. I would guess at least an hour, perhaps. It felt like an eternity. Oh, it was just awful, Miss Meissa, absolutely awful. There were these pirates that came out of nowhere, and they attacked without warning. The whole ship exploded, or rather it erupted, and there was fire everywhere..."
As Mira continued her tragic tale, across the ship, Kyubey prattled on about witches and their supposed ability to materialize wherever they felt grief. The furball's next few words caused an alarming look to cross Maaz's face for the briefest of moments. Maaz's eyes opened wide as she stared straight ahead at Kyubey, who sat there with a smile on his face, almost as if he knew full well he had just struck a very raw nerve.
Slowly, both hands tightened into fists. Her pupils shrunk. Beneath her left eye, her bottom eyelid twitched ever so slightly. The color drained from her tanned skin. Her head tilted ever so slightly to one side. The wind tossed her hair wildly about behind her as she stared down Kyubey.
It was an extremely dark, deadened, and almost diabolical look.
Meissa had more than likely seen that look before. It was even possible deep down in her subconscious, the young magical girl had seen a similar expression glimmer into the soulless faces of the witches they fought for fractions of a second.
"You know nothing of grief," Maaz whispered, her voice uncharacteristically steely.
Without another word, Maaz turned around and whipped the wooden door leading down into the upper deck open. As the door reached the widest it could swing without breaking a hinge, a sparkle of green lights erupted around Maaz's head. The glitter-barrage slid down her body as she stormed off into the darkness. The last bit of sparkles vanished as Maaz was returned to her everyday wear just as the door slammed violently shut behind her.
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Post by yooom on Apr 12, 2018 17:58:54 GMT -6
Meissa chuckled as she continued to chat with Mira. “There’s no need to call me Miss. After all, you made the contract! You’re a magical girl, and we are all sisters!” It was the brightest way to view the alliances Maaz had told her magical girls formed for their own survival against the witches, and indeed, in their time together, Meissa and Maaz had grown quite close. Over the couple months they’d spent together, she’d told Maaz everything about herself. Maaz was always a little slower to share, the girl had deep secrets that Meissa thought it better not to ask about.
As Maaz stomped away from Kyubey, she stormed past Mira and Meissa. “Maaz, what’s-” Meissa began, but quickly stopped talking when she noticed Maaz’s face. The magical girl looked furious, her eyes dark and distant, her expression sullen, melancholy, familiar in a way Meissa couldn’t quite identify, but made her feel extremely uneasy. Maaz moved swiftly pass the two of them, shutting the door to her quarters on the deck with a slam, and a sparkle of emerald green as Maaz’s dress reformed into her everyday wear. Meissa gazed sadly at the slammed door for another moment, wondering what on earth had happened to make Maaz so upset. The battle had been a surprise, and, for the most part, Meissa’s fault, for having steered them into the labyrinth without even noticing, but Maaz had seemed in high spirits during the battle.
A slight rustling sound sent Meissa looked down around her knees, to find that, while she’d been watching the door, Kyubey had made his way silently over to the two of them. He was sitting a little distance away from the two of them, his eyes still locked on Mira.
“Hey, Kyubey, what happened with Maaz?” Meissa asked, starting to feel a little annoyed at the creature. After all, it was Kyubey who’d led them into the labyrinth, and the indifferent smile he always had was starting to get on her nerves. Kyubey turned his head, fixing his beady red eyes on her grey ones.
“I must admit,” Kyubey said, somewhat hesitantly. “I am not certain what caused that outburst from her. We don’t really understand humans well enough to understand their anger.” Kyubey’s tail ruffled. “Perhaps the fight exhausted her,” he offered, dismissively. “In which case, she’ll likely be using the grief seed she picked up from the witch. A shame, it seems you and your ship have taken quite a lot of damage yourself.” Meissa shrugged, and, with with a graceful movement with an arm, her dress transformed too. The hem of the long, almost robe-like dress receded into a more casual wear, the vibrant blues fading to a more worn, woollen outfit.
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Post by yooom on Apr 12, 2018 17:59:23 GMT -6
Mira was right in the middle of explaining how she was certain she was going to die clinging to nothing but driftwood hundreds of miles from shore right when Maaz stormed off and slammed the door so hard it was a miracle the entire door didn't shatter into splinters. Mira visibly flinched as the door slammed shut. Unsure about what to say or do, she nervously chewed on her bottom lip while Meissa confronted the strange, talking little white cat... rabbit... fox... thing. What exactly was Kyubey, anyway?
At the word 'grief seed,' Mira tilted her head curiously to one side, looking very much like a confused puppy. "Grief... seed? What's that? Is it something you eat?"
A flutter of movement from Meissa caught her attention, causing Mira's eyes to widen and sparkle as she watched the very elegant change sweep over her new friend. In a glimmer of shimmering colors, she watched as the girl's outfit changed from something incredibly magical and straight out of a fairy tale to every day wear. "Oh, whoa, that was amazing! How did you do that?!" she asked excitedly, clenching both hands right under her chin. Forgetting that she was holding the trident, it swung in a wide arc and almost bashed poor Meissa in the head. "Ahh! I'm so sorry! I forgot I was holding this... this weird giant fork thing! Ohh, man, I'm never going to get the hang of this magical girl thing..."
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Post by yooom on Apr 12, 2018 17:59:34 GMT -6
Meissa smiled at Mira’s awe. Her transformations had at this point become mundane for her, and it was very fun to watch this new girl’s wonder at everything Meissa had come to take for granted. She wondered whether this was how Maaz had felt when Meissa herself had been new to this world of magical girls and witches. “I’m sure it feels like a lot right now, it did for me too, but, I promise, you’ll get used to it sooner than you’d think.” Meissa offered, reassuringly.
At Mira’s question about grief seeds, Meissa shook her head, smiling. “A Grief Seed is what fuels a Magical Girl, Mira. Magic is...it’s like Energy. We use it to fight witches, but we also need it to survive. The Grief Seeds are what fuels us, what allows us to get back the energy we lose in the fight.” Reaching within the folds of her dress, Meissa reached out, and, opening her hand, showed Mira a gleaming gem, shining a dark blue jewel, rimmed at its bottom with an intricate gold pattern, shaped almost like an egg. “This is my soul gem. It’s what give me my magical abilities. If you can see, it’s a little...well, dimmer than usual, it’s usually a brighter jewel. That’s because I’ve used up some magic. A grief seed will get it looking a lot brighter, and I’ll be able to use more magic from there!” Meissa looked carefully at Meissa’s face. “Does...does that make sense?” When Maaz had once explained grief seeds and soul gems to her, she’d simply showed her how they worked, and Meissa wasn’t sure she’d done as good a job explaining it as she had. Looking down, she smiled nervously to Kyubey. “Did...I get all that right?”
Kyubey smiled slightly at Maaz, his expression almost amused. “That is the essence of it, yes,” he offered simply.
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Post by Mini on Apr 24, 2018 13:58:07 GMT -6
Mira smiled softly as she listened to Meissa's explanation of the basics of magic. "You're right. It does feel like a lot," the girl replied with a nervous laugh, rubbing the back of her head. As she did so, a subtle blue glow engulfed her body. As it faded, Mira returned to the simple cream colored dress and leather boots she had been wearing moments before the ship she had been on had been blown to smithereens.
"Oh! Well, look at that," Mira exclaimed, glancing down at herself. "I guess I'm back to normal. Maybe this magical girl thing isn't so hard after all." She bent down, reaching out to pet Kyubey on the head. "Um, listen. I don't know if I've said this yet. So much has happened that it all seems unreal, y'know? But I just... I really wanted to say... Thank you to both of you. And your friend Maaz, too. If you hadn't shown up when you all had, I'm sure I'd be a goner. This... well, all of this - it's a lot to take in, but I'm going to try my best to help however I can. It's the least I can do. I owe you my life."
Pausing, she glanced over the railing and out towards the open ocean. The wind tugged at her braided pigtails. "I just have one more question though: Where are we going?"
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Post by yooom on Apr 26, 2018 19:22:47 GMT -6
Meissa gave Mira a graceful smile as the new girl thanked her, and promised her help in future battles against witches. “Thank you, Mira.” Meissa said. “We’d be happy to have you work with us!” At Mira’s mention of Maaz, Meissa’s mind beginning to wander a little. Whatever Kyubey might say about it, Maaz had clearly seemed very upset about something. What that might have been, she suspected had something to do with Maaz getting knocked out of the fight for a few moments in their fight against the witch that had nearly gotten them all. Meissa knew that Maaz had a tendency to get a little emotional. When she was upset, she would lock herself up her quarters for hours on end. Meissa was fine with that, there was something awe inspiring about ocean’s vastness, and was fine with solitude, but she was worried about her nonetheless. She’d been so amiable with Mira when they’d first met, such a sudden change struck Meissa as strange.
At Mira’s question, Meissa offered only a knowing smile. “You’ll see when we get there, we’ll should be there by morning.” Closing her eyes she raised an arm and, above the two chatting girls a wind picked up, catching on Constellation’s sails and speeding the ship up. Meissa turned, her eyes on the door to Maaz’s room. “If you’d like to sleep a bit, you can take any of the rooms on deck, there are a couple spares on the deck.” Meissa said, as she stepped hesitantly towards Maaz’s door.
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Post by Mini on Apr 30, 2018 18:44:09 GMT -6
Mira stood back up, offering Meissa a polite smile. "By morning, huh? I guess one more day at sea won't be too bad. It feels like I've been stuck on a ship for ages now. I almost forget what having ground beneath my feet feels like," she admitted with a bit of a chuckle. She ducked down instinctively as Meissa lifted her arm up and the wind suddenly picked up. Laughing nervously, she slowly stood back up and smiled as she gazed upward, awestruck by the fullness of the sails. "You know, I think sleep sounds delightful. I've had way too much excitement for one day. Thank you. I, uh... I guess I'll see you and Maaz, right? I'll see you both in the morning, then." Nodding, she headed towards the door Meissa had gestured to.
It was calm below the decks. Almost too calm, she thought to herself as she skipped past the first few doors until she reached for the doorknob of the fourth door down. Her hand started to turn it, then she paused as she took a moment to breathe in the still and the quiet. Mira was used to the constant soft buzz of chitter chatter coming from the dozens of others who had always been around her, wherever she went back on the Morning Glory. How many people had been on board? Her father had mentioned it a few times. Why hadn't she listened? Her father had told her so many, many things... why hadn't she paid more attention to him? A wavering breath slipped out of her as she quickly slipped inside the small, cozy little room. She barely even took in the layout, instead opting to go straight for the bed. Hands curled up tightly, she sank down on the edge of the lumpy little mattress. The events of the day were very quickly catching up with her. Now that everything was calm and she had time to process, she started to fully realize that her parents were dead. Everyone she knew on that ship was dead. The new life she had been so excited for was now shattered.
Unaware that her soul gem was beginning to turn a dull, murky sort of muddied teal, she curled up in a ball, pulled the blanket up over her head, and started to sob quietly. "Papa... Mother... I-I'm sorry," she whispered, hugging her knees tightly against her chest.
Not all that far from where poor Mira was crying herself to sleep sat Maaz, alone in a practically pitch-black room. She could have easily lit some of her candles or her lantern, but she didn't feel the need to. Unlike the sobbing girl a few doors down, Maaz had a murderous, steely-cold look in her eyes that was intense enough to bring a grown man to wet himself - not that anyone was around to see it, of course. In her right hand, she was absentmindedly flipping a sizable silver dagger, encrusted with a red ruby in the hilt, up and down, over and over and over again.
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Post by yooom on May 5, 2018 10:38:43 GMT -6
Meissa smiled back at the new girl. “See you in the morning!” she called back to her as Mira turned to go, sparing one last glance at the light blue sails before disappearing below deck. Once she was out of view, Meissa let out an exhausted sigh. The night’s battle had been exhausting on her, and the adrenaline of battle had worn off. She slumped over, leaning heavily against the side of the ship, one hand shaking as it clutched for her soul gem. She raised the jewel up to her face, squinting at it. The jewel gleamed a bit dimmer than it had a little earlier, just noticeable for the magical girl to start to worry. “Maybe we’ll get home a little later,” she mumbled, raising an arm. The wind slowed, and the girl took a deep breath, standing a little straighter.
“You really mustn’t work yourself so hard.” Kyubey had perched himself atop a bannister, and was staring at her, his red eyes still gleaming strangely in the dark of the night. “I doubt whether Mira and Maaz would be able to make it to your Sanctuary without you.” Meissa smiled. “I’ll be fine. In any case, Maaz has been a sailor before, she’d know what to do.”
“If you believe her.” Meissa ignored him. Whatever was going on between Kyubey and Maaz, she did not want to get involved in it.
Raising a hand up to the door, Meissa knocked, hesitantly. “Maaz? Is…” she paused, trying to come up with the best way to get the older magical girl to let her in. “Is everything okay?”
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