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Post by yooom on Feb 4, 2019 19:53:44 GMT -6
Meissa flinched at the startled squeak that came from the magical girl beside her. She whirled around, to see her looking down, relieved, at Kyubey. She frowned slightly at the little creature’s words. Mira had been skittish since they’d met, the last thing she needed was Kyubey frightening her further. She frowned down at Kyubey, as Meissa edged away from him. “I think silence from you, Kyubey, would be best!” she said back to him, sternly. Kyubey’s head cocked to one side, and he turned away from the two magical girls, his body moving in almost a shrug. “I only suggested the best tactical option, if Maaz truly has been overpowered.” He meandered off, his tail swishing from side to side in a sort of sashay.
Meissa took a deep breath. “Maaz told us to stay. Orders are orders.” she said. “If she gets in trouble, I’ll need to be ready to get us all out of here.” She paused, and made a jerking motion upwards with her wrist. There was the sound of rope sliding against wood, followed by a heavy THUNK, as the anchor shot back upwards out of the water. Just in case they did need to make a quick getaway, Meissa would be ready. It wouldn’t come to that, Meissa reassured herself. Maaz was quite skilled, well experienced in her abilities. All the same, the sound of the veteran’s body crashing through the bizarre glass of last night’s labyrinth echoed in Meissa’s mind. Defeat, Meissa had learned, was far from impossible. Indeed, if everything did not go absolutely perfectly, it was practically guaranteed. Witches were so powerful, so deadly, that their own powers seemed like a bad joke.
Meissa’s body went taut as the gunshot rang out over the rush of the waves. Maaz had only been away for a few seconds. If it was a witch, or something like that, surely she would have come running. She was still sore from the last fight, she would need all the help she could get. Still, now was not the time to worry aimlessly. Mira was still looking at her, and Meissa gave her what she hoped was a calming, reassuring smile. “She’s fine. If you’d known her as long I have, you’d know that Maaz never starts a fight by firing just one gun.” That being said, Meissa couldn’t say why she would be firing at whatever was in there, if not to fight. Of course, there was the chance that it wasn’t Maaz who had taken that shot. Meissa felt her heart go cold at the thought. Maaz was quite robust, magically speaking, but she was as vulnerable to a bullet as any other human, as far as Meissa knew. “Orders are orders,” Meissa repeated, though her tone was much less certain than it had been a second ago. “We...we stay put.”
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Post by Mini on Feb 6, 2019 20:17:34 GMT -6
Orders were orders, huh? Wasn't that how people wound up dead in wars? Mira fretted, a soft whimper slipping out of her as her hands gripped the smooth, wooden railing of the ship. The sound of ropes and masts rustling, creaking, and shifting did little to set her heart at ease. If anything, it only served to worsen her fears.
But she a magical girl now! Thinking of that, she remembered how incredibly wonderful she had felt when she first transformed. The magic, the power coursing through her body! Her trident! Controlling water! That should make her feel better, shouldn't it? In an effort to reassure herself that everything was going to be okay, she summoned her soul gem into existence. The sapphire blue gem shimmered brightly in the sunlight.
BANG!
"What was that?!" Meissa gasped, her hands tightening around her soul gem. Was that a gunshot?! It came from inside the house... right where Maaz had gone! Her breathing started to increase and her heart rate picked up noticeably as her panic begin welling up deep inside of her.
Was Maaz alright?! Had someone shot her?! Was she dead?! Was she lying there on the ground, slowly bleeding out as the life slipped away from her? What in the world was Meissa preparing to get a quick getaway for? Or from? They had already admitted to not having much food on board, so what were they supposed to eat if they sailed out to sea again? Did they even have any fresh water on board? How long could they survive with no food or water? If this was their home, then where would they go? Hadn't Kyubey said that this place was supposed to be safe and sacred? If it wasn't safe anymore, what were the implications of that? What if another big, freakish monster thing showed up like the one that had attacked and nearly killed all of them last night? What if it had shot Maaz and killed her?!
Unbeknownst to her, the bright gleam of her sapphire was starting to dim. Swashes of darker colors were starting to bubble up ominously from the bottom.
"M-Meissa, what if... what if Maaz is in serious trouble?! You hear that gunshot, right?! We... We can't just stay out here and do nothing!" Mira shrieked, panic evident on her face.
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Post by yooom on Feb 11, 2019 14:47:20 GMT -6
Meissa could tell that her words were not doing anything to ease Mira’s nerves. The girl whimpered, her eyes locked on the house, wide with fear. Meissa turned her head, watching the house. It was useless, nothing in the slightest had changed about it. The green glow of Maaz’s own magic wasn’t bursting from the walls, nor was there anything else to suggest what was going inside. Meissa and Mira were both completely in the dark. Meissa turned sharply at a familiar sound, the sound of a soul gem being summoned. She turned quickly to Mira, opening her mouth to speak, but was instantly quieted by the crack of another bullet from the house.
Meissa bit her lip, her body swaying slightly from one side to the other. She was trying to be a good leader, a responsible second to Maaz, trying to both obey orders and ease Mira’s nerves. So far she was failing quite completely, Mira was even more nervous than ever, and Maaz might already be dead. No! Meissa took another deep breath. No, she’s fine. We’d know if it was a witch. I’d know if it was a witch...Still, Maaz still might need help. Mira might be panicky, and not fully aware of her abilities, but she was the only person Meissa had with her. She was still a magical girl. Battle was her destiny. She took a deep breath, and turned to Mira.
“Okay, Mi-” Meissa’s words caught in her throat, as her eyes caught on the soul gem clutched between Mira’s fingers. The blue was not the clean, deep sapphire of last night, it was slightly darker, more opaque, odd clouds of grey swirling just under the surface. Meissa leaned over, reaching out, and slowly, gently, pulling the gem out from Mira’s hand, taking a closer look. It didn’t feel right in her hand, though perhaps that had something to do with it not being her own soul gem. She had seen this before, in her and Maaz’s gems, it happened when a magical girl had used up a lot of her magic. She frowned at the little stone in her hand, trying to remember how much magic Mira had even used. It hadn’t been that much, though it had been just what they had needed in their last fight against the witch. Perhaps the stress of all of these new, dangerous experiences were wearing down poor Mira. “You need a grief seed, I think we got one from yester…” Meissa’s voice trailed off, her eyes going back to the house. She hadn’t had a chance to talk to Maaz about the grief seed since the fight. She must still have the seed on her. Meissa looked down at the soul gem again. It was bad, darker than it should have been, but she was fairly sure that Mira was not in any immediate danger. Maaz, on the other hand..
“Mira, go find Kyubey!” Meissa said, in what she hoped was a cool, collected tone, setting the gem back in Mira’s palm. “Show him the gem, ask him if there are any grief seeds on board. Stay on the ship, and don’t use any more magic.” Meissa raised a hand, as her own soul gem materialized in her fist, her dress transforming back into the sky blue gown. She leapt up, over the deck, and the wind easily carried her down towards the house’s door. She grit her teeth, prayed that Maaz was still all right, and that Mira would be safe aboard Constellation, and swung open the door.
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Post by Mini on Feb 15, 2019 20:52:04 GMT -6
"M-Meissa?" Mira squeaked nervously as the elder magical girl carefully plucked her soul gem out of her sweaty palms. It was impossible to not catch the look of panic in Meissa's eyes. However, when she next spoke, it was in a cool, calm, and collected manner. Mira couldn't help but admire her senior's ability to stay so rational in a highly stressful situation. She was babbling on, something about a seed, but before Mira could ask her anything else, Meissa transformed right before her eyes and sailed over the side of the ship, gliding majestically forward on a strong gale that carried her all the way to land.
"Meissa, wait!" Mira shouted, leaning clear over the railing of the ship, feeling helpless to do much of anything. From her spot on the deck of the Constellation, she couldn't see what was going on past most of the palm trees sprouting up on the tropical island. Whatever was happening inside of their house was a mystery. Sighing fretfully, she held her soul gem tight against her chest and turned towards the rear of the ship. "Kyubey? Kyubey, where are you?"
Inside, the fog had intensified considerably since Maaz had fired off her warning shot. Besides from that, nothing else of interest had occurred. Snarling softly and muttering a colorful collection of curses under her breath, she took several more steps into the swirling fog and darkness that awaited her. "I'm telling you one more time, quienquiera, to come out of here with your hands up and where I can see 'em. I know someone is here. Just come out and say who you are and what you want, huh?"
The young pirate was just about to fire a second warning shot when the door unexpectedly swung open and crashed off the far wall. Shouting something very vulgar in surprise, she swung around and fired off a shot that pierced a hole through the wood two feet above Meissa's head.
"Meissa?! Mierda de mono, I told you to stay on the ship!" Maaz shouted, daggers shooting out of her eyes as she glared up at Meissa, who was standing triumphantly in the doorway. "What do you think you are doing, rushing in here like some sort of--"
"A magical girl?" came a low, soft, husky feminine voice that Maaz didn't recognize from somewhere in the fog. The temperature in the house dropped at least forty degrees. From the back of the dark house, coming from the center of the fog, came fast-moving ice! A thin, crystalline layer of ice covered the floors and climbed the walls in a matter of seconds. The ice climbed up Maaz's boots, freezing her in place! The ice wasn't only capable of moving across pre-existing structures, either. To the left of Maaz, a swirling path of ice was rising up. It almost looked like ivy, except it was freezing solid as fast as it was growing. Before Maaz had a chance to react, the ice attached itself to her gun and started freezing over it, forming a giant block of ice around it. It threatened to freeze Maaz's bare hand, too, but she shrieked and released the gun before the could happen. The ice continued to spread until it had frozen over the doorway behind Meissa, cutting her off from a fast escape back outside.
From out of the fog stepped a tall, slender girl with thin, wispy silver hair that seemed to glide behind her like a veil. The girl was pale, almost to the point of looking sickly. On her head rested a black tricorn hat decorated with several black feathers and a blood-red rose. She wore a tight fitting off-white doublet adorned with gold buttons and a matching satin neckerchief that had a red ruby gleaming brightly in the center, over which she wore a black dress coat accented with red cuffs and golden embroidery. Black gloves covered both hands. A white baldric was draped across one shoulder and ran down her body, and two belts were criss-crossed across her waist. Pristine white thigh boots completed her look, and her heels clacked rather ominously as she moved out of the shadows and fog and allowed herself to be seen for the first time. Her red eyes had a mournful look to them, but it was hard to tell if that was just the natural disposition of her face. Asides from her eyes, she looked to be void of emotions.
"That's what you both are, right? Magical girls?" she asked, her terrible red eyes drifting slowly from Maaz to Meissa.
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Post by yooom on Feb 19, 2019 19:39:10 GMT -6
“I am here, Mira.” a familiar light, expressionless voice came from beside Mira, and Kyubey was seated on the railing beside her, his red eyes staring into her own. “What would you like to ask me?” He leapt down from the railing, landing neatly on his paws beside Mira’s feet, and walked along beside her, so that his fur brushed against the back of her legs. “I must say, I’m surprised to see that you’re the last one here. You seemed like you really wanted to help Maaz and Meissa out.” Kyubey sat down, a couple feet in front of her. “Though, I suppose it does make sense, you are still quite unaccustomed to this new world. In any case,” his eyes gleamed, sliding down from the girl’s eyes to the jewel, its weak glow only just visible between her finger. “What can I do for you?”
Meissa let out a shriek of shock as a bullet went zooming straight over her head She drew her sword and leapt forward, down from the doorway, to find herself face to face with...Maaz. She let out a sigh of relief, that was almost immediately cut short as Maaz started shouting at her. Meissa gave her an embarrassed smile. Maaz was right, Meissa had disobeyed her orders, but she was happy to find her comrade enraged than injured. “I’m sorry!” Meissa stuttered back at Maaz. “But I thought you were in tr-”
Meissa was silenced by another voice, this one entirely unfamiliar to her, calling out from behind her. She whirled around to meet the newcomer, her dress flaring up slightly as she did, sending her floating a foot or so off the ground. It was lucky, for a moment later the floor around where she had been had frozen over. Maaz was less fortunate and the ice had her rooted to the floor. Meissa turned in the air towards the door, hoping to call out to Mira, only to find the door frozen shut. She swallowed, taking a deep breath, and was surprised to see her breath clouding. She had not noticed how cold it had abruptly gotten.
Meissa was not able to hold back a gasp as the mysterious girl stepped out of the thick fog that had filled the house. She was tall, about at eye level with the floating Meissa, with long, white hair that matched her pale, pale skin. From the somewhat sad look in her eyes she did not seem to be looking for a fight, but she had just frozen Maaz to the floor. From the cold, her pale face, her almost lifeless, sad eyes, she seemed almost ghostly. Meissa steadied herself, and floated forwards, moving so that she was a couple of feet directly in front of the frozen Maaz, coming between the two. She raised her sword before her defensively. “That’s right,” Meissa called back to her. “We’re magical girls. And who are you?”
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Post by Mini on Mar 4, 2019 13:46:53 GMT -6
Mira sighed dejectedly as she leaned back against the railing where Kyubey was perched, his tail swishing around behind him. Funny, she hadn't noticed him sitting there until he had spoken. He hit the nail on the head when he remarked that it was funny that she was still there on the ship. After he jumped down and plopped down casually on the deck in front of her, she sighed a second time and sat down as well. Her hands were still clutching her soul gem against her chest, and they trembled slightly before she started talking.
"I... I really wanted to go and help. I just have this bad feeling that I can't seem to shake," she said, her voice trembling nearly as much as her hands. "I know that I haven't been a magical girl for a very long time, and maybe it's just because I've been stuck at sea for weeks on end, but I... I'm scared. I'm worried about Maaz and Meissa. What if something dangerous is waiting for them?" she asked, forlornly gazing out across the beach.
"But both of them told me to wait here. I... I guess maybe it's because I'm not as strong as they are, or because I don't know what I'm doing," she said, chuckling sadly. "Oh, but, um, Meissa said to show this to you," she said, slowly uncurling her fingers and holding her palms out towards Kyubey. Her soul gem looked greasy and dark, but a bit of blue still managed to shine through. Mira frowned at the sight of it. It definitely hadn't looked like that last night. "It's... different looking. She said I need some kind of seed?"
~*~
Maaz grunted softly as she tried in vain to break the ice that had encapsulated her boots. If her boots weren't skin-tight, she could have maybe slipped out of them... but then what, run around in her bare feet on the ice? Probably not a good idea. Maaz had only ever seen snow and ice once in her life, and it was an experience she had no intention of repeating.
Stay calm, Maaz told herself. She had to think and come up with a strategy. Both she and Meissa were in a bind, but they at least had numbers on their side. Behind her, at least Meissa was free to move about. Meissa had already transformed, and her powers might still be useful in a fight. Maaz had yet to transform, but once she did she could at least access her second gun. This girl clearly had powers of some sort - was she a magical girl, too? She had to be.
The pale girl's eyes lowered as they locked dead onto Meissa's. If looks could kill, Meissa would have dropped dead on the spot. "Who am I? Does it even matter? You're both magical girls, right?"
"Yeah, yeah, congratulations on figuring that out, chica. You win Brightest Pupil In The Class. Happy?" Maaz quipped, planting her hands on her hips. "Cut the crap and tell us who you are, what the hell you want, and why the hell you are trying to freeze everything in sight, eh?"
"There it is," the pale girl snarled as her eyes snapped back to Maaz. Ice started climbing the walls like frozen vines. Raw magic dripped from the ceiling, freezing into giant icicles. "There's that attitude. That happy-go-lucky, stupid, snarky, idiotic, self-righteous attitude you all have. You think you're so strong?!" she growled, growing visibly more agitated by the second.
"Meissa, run!" Maaz shouted. "The window! Get out of here!"
"You prance around like heroes, saying you'll save everyone, but you don't! You can't! If you would, then this... If you could actually do that... That's... That's the biggest lie you can possibly ever tell! You think you're all so perfect?! So indestructible?! YOU'RE NOT!" she screamed as ice spikes shot out from her body at random.
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Post by yooom on Mar 6, 2019 18:53:52 GMT -6
Kyubey stared up at her, his expression unreadable. He cocked his head as Mira brought out the soul gem again, showing it to him. His red eyes gleamed purple in the deep blue light of the shadowy gem. “Ah, I suppose the girls have been in such a hurry they haven’t had quite enough time to explain everything about your soul gem.” He leaned backwards, so that he was sitting upright. “You see, Mira, the outfits, the weapons, all of that is incidental. The sum of a magical girl, their abilities, the source of their power, is the Soul Gem. It shines with the purity of your own self, Mira, and all of your abilities come from your Soul Gem. Over time, with thorough use, even, however, even the most immaculate gems lose some of their luster. In those cases, a grief seed, taken from a defeated witch, can be used to siphon away the darkness.” I must say, I’m a little disappointed that yours is in such a feeble state after just one fight.”
Kyubey rose, and turned from her, his tail swishing as he moved back down the length of the ship. “Perhaps I misjudged you, Mira...it seemed that you would outperform Maaz and Meissa combined.” Continuing to trot away from her, he turned, looking over his shoulder. “If you’re looking for grief seeds, the one from your last battle remains in the possession of Maaz Montilla. Convenient, I suppose, that the person who needs your help the most has exactly what you need to help her. Of course,” Kyubey’s voice was only just audible as he paused, his eyes staring down the stairs to the lower decks. “It would mean disobeying both of their orders but, then again...what can you do out here?” And, with the question still hanging, he leapt down the stairs, and disappeared.
~*~
The mystery girl’s glower would have been enough to send Meissa scurrying for the hills on a normal day, if Maaz hadn’t been frozen to the ground behind her, if they weren’t standing in what was supposed to be a sanctuary for magicals girls, trapped by someone who seemed to have nothing but animosity for them. Meissa’s question, for one, did nothing to calm the girl down. Indeed, she only seemed to grow angrier, her mood not helped in the least by Maaz, Meissa turned her head slightly, speaking out of the side of her mouth to Maaz, keeping her eyes still locked on the mystery magical girl.
“Not helping, Maaz,” she whispered, turning back to the pale girl. Her eyes shifted from the girl’s face, to follow the lengths of ice snaking their way up the walls and ceiling. Meissa took another deep breath, again marveling for a moment at this girl’s power. She was clearly a magical girl herself, and a powerful one at that. Then why did she seem to so staunchly despise the very words ‘magical girl?’
The girl seemed to be talking herself into doing something dangerous. Maaz picked up on it too, shouting for Meissa to get out of the house. Meissa ignored her. She wasn’t about to leave Maaz trapped and alone with this crazy woman. Meissa took a deep breath, readying for the attack that was bound to be incoming, not entirely sure if it was just the cold that had her arms shivering, the steel of her sword visibly quivering.
With a scream, great shards of ice went flying out of the girl’s body in all directions. Several shattered instantly against the wall behind her with a loud crash, another went screaming past the side of Meissa’s head, only just missing her. Another shard zoomed straight for Meissa’s middle. She brought her sword down fast on it, and the shard shattered, sending bits of ice and snow flying in all directions. The very blade of the spike, however, slashed straight across her leg as it went skittering across the floor. Meissa let out a gasp of mingled surprise and pain, as her concentration broke. She dropped, her body slamming onto the icy floor. She sprang up as quickly as she could, only to slip again on the ice, landing hard on her stomach. She let out a frustrated groan, before pushing herself up unsteadily with one hand, the other still gripping the hilt of her sword tightly, held up between her and the new girl in case she tried attacking her again.
“You’re right,” Meissa mumbled her free hand going to press against the wound in her leg, wincing. “We’re far from invincible...and we’re not always able to save everyone…” With another grunt of pain Meissa straightened, gazing back at the girl, whose eyes were now several inches above Meissa’s own. “But that doesn’t mean we all try, as hard as we can, to save everyone.” Her body swayed in place slightly, and he reached out, to lean against an icy pillar. “Why have you come here?”
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Post by Mini on Mar 19, 2019 20:09:42 GMT -6
Mira listened intently as Kyubey started to explain where magical girls got their powers from. Truth be told, she hadn't really paid much attention to her Soul Gem prior to taking a moment to admire it just a moment ago in an effort to reaffirm her decision to become a magical girl in the first place. Not that she had really had any say in the matter, of course. It had all happened so fast that she hadn't had time to think anything over. Kyubey had told her that she had the potential to become a truly powerful magical girl, but now he seemed to be changing his tune. "Feeble?" she repeated, her voice barely louder than a whisper. "But that fight last night... That witch was so strong, a-and so scary. Even Maaz and Meissa had problems. Are... Are you... What are you saying?"
A pang of dejection shot through her small body as she stared at the back of the strange, fluffy, cat-like creature strutting away from her. Was Kyubey calling her inadequate?
"I... What?" Her hands started trembling slightly as she stared down at her Soul Gem. It was awfully dark looking compared to how it had looked last night. Did she really not have the constitution and stamina to be a magical girl? Maaz and Meissa had both jumped into action without much thought after that terrible fight they had both had last night. Were their Soul Gems bright and sparkly?
Fighting back tears, her fingers gripped tightly around her Soul Gem. She stood up and stomped across the deck after Kyubey. "Kyubey, wait a minute! Meissa told me not to go after them, but she said I really needed that Grief Seed. If Maaz has one and I use it, then I can use my magic again, right? ... Kyubey?" She bolted down the stairs, but Kyubey was nowhere to be seen. "Kyubey??" she called. The ship gave a bit of a lurch as a larger wave rolled across it on its way to crashing into the not-so-distant shore. Mira found herself at the railing of the ship, staring longingly out towards the house that Maaz and Meissa had vanished into.
Kyubey's voice rang through her mind as she watched the sea churn. "Perhaps I misjudged you, Mira...it seemed that you would outperform Maaz and Meissa combined..."
Without another word, Meissa climbed up onto the railing, took a deep breath, then hurled herself into the water below.
~*~
The pale girl was breathing heavily, as if it had taken quite a bit of energy to send icicles flying out from every direction of her body. She lifted her head up and scowled darkly as she noticed that neither one of the magical girls had been impaled against the walls. "Oh. So now you ask me," she scoffed.
Maaz's left thigh and right arm had been sliced open, but the wounds didn't look very deep. She had avoided most of the attack by ducking down and wrapping her arms protectively around her head. A quick glance behind her confirmed that Meissa was also okay, although she had heard her friend cry out in pain and hit the floor not once, but twice, but then she got up and say something heroic and wonderful sounding. Typical Meissa.
"The reason I came here has nothing to do with either one of you, yet it's your fault that I'm even here in the first place. You didn't do your jobs. I don't want to be here, and yet here I am," the pale girl stated. She didn't seemed to be showing any further signs of aggression, but that didn't mean anything.
Maaz cursed under her breath. This girl was off her rocker. Meissa might be one to try to get to the bottom of this and befriend her or try to be all heroic and noble, but Maaz was not in a particularly chipper mood.. She slowly stood up, spitting rather vulgarly onto the floor as she did so. "Ya he tenido suficiente de esta tontería. Besa mi culo, montón de estiércol de caballo," she growled.
The girl with the red eyes whipped her head back to Maaz. "I don't think I like that tone."
Maaz brushed some flecks of ice off of her shoulder. "And I don't think I like your face." A dazzle of magical sparkles appeared in her outstretched hand as Maaz's second pistol appeared in her hands. It was aimed directly at the pale girl's forehead.
A sudden mood change swept over the pale girl. She took several steps back. Fog swirled around her legs. She looked generally alarmed to see Maaz pointing her gun at her head. "I thought this was supposed to be a refuge! A safe haven!" she shrieked.
"You just shot giant daggers of ice at BOTH of us, chica tonto!" Maaz screamed, cocking her pistol. "Meissa is the only reason I have not yet lodged a bullet in your head, so if you do not tell us what in the seven hells you want in the next three seconds--"
"I didn't want you to interfere!" she screamed, cutting Maaz off. "Didn't you notice?! I froze you and your gun so you couldn't move or hurt me!" she insisted. "And I tried to keep HER out, but she came sprinting in here anyway, waving that sword around! He said it would be all right, and so did she, right before... But I guess I... I just wanted... I... I shouldn't have..." Giant stalagmites and stalagmites made of ice started growing from the floor and ceiling. The girl backed up even further as more mist and fog seemed to grab at her.
"Meissa, GET her!! Don't let her get away!" Maaz roared, wriggling her legs around like mad as she tried to get her feet free of the ice.
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Post by yooom on Apr 4, 2019 21:03:11 GMT -6
Meissa leaned heavily against an icy pillar. Her stomach and back ached from their impact against the hard, frozen floor, and her leg was still bleeding from where the girl’s ice shard had sliced through it. She moved a finger down to it, cringing as she delicately traced out the wound. It didn’t seem to deep, but it was rather long, winding a few inches right across her leg. She took a deep breath. Maaz and the girl were trading insults, and, while Meissa was relatively safe behind her pillar, she wasn’t about to stand by while Maaz was still stuck, struggling against this dangerous girl.
The sound of Maaz summoning another of her pistols rang out through the air, and Meissa turned sharply back towards her. She wasn’t about to actually shoot the girl, was she? True, she’d attacked them, had injured the both of them, but...Meissa had seen Maaz kill witches, quite a few times at this point, but...would she really hurt another magical girl? Meissa looked back at the mystery girl, who did seem to feel threatened by Maaz’s newly conjured weapon. She screamed, stuttered, and Meissa noticed more icicles growing out of the ceiling and floor. “Maaz, look out!” she called out, but, instead of exploding outwards, they seemed to dissipate, creating a fog that the girl stepped into.
At her captain’s command Meissa leaped forward, towards the cloud of mist the girl had disappeared into. Her sole almost immediately slipped on contact with the icy floor, and she toppled, crashing back down onto the floor. She lay there for a moment, groaning, before pulling herself up onto her hands and knees. Meissa picked up her sword, and slashed it in the direction the girl had vanished. A hot breeze rushed forward, scattering the icy mist, but the girl was gone. Meissa let out a sigh, relieved that, whoever she was, she gone. She gave Maaz an apologetic smile, and did her best to not laugh at Maaz’s futile wiggling. Raising her sword, she brought the blade swinging across the floor, swiping under Maaz’s shoes, dislodging her from the floor. “She’s gone, Maaz,” Meissa said. “We’re...we’re okay.” As she spoke, she noticed one of Maaz’s own legs was bleeding, and she felt a twinge of pain for her friend. She had tried to protect Maaz, once she’d gotten stuck to the floor by the girl’s ice, but, even with her standing between Maaz and the mystery girl, she had still gotten injured. Meissa shivered, the girl’s words coming back to her. You didn’t do your jobs. What had they failed to do? What did she know that Meissa didn’t?
On the other side of the little island, a back door to what still looked like a tiny hut flew open. The pale girl leaped out, and the door slid shut silently behind her. She took one step, before freezing, sensing someone nearby. Her red eyes roved the underbrush, the quiet waters around her, before sliding down, where another pair of red eyes stared up at her. Kyubey gazed up at her, his smile unreadable.
“Alioth Urso,” he said, in his usual collected tone. “You are not one to usually run from a fight.” Kyubey leaned his head to one side, one his back legs scratching just below one of his long ears. “And yet, I believe this would be the second time in a row. Are you finding your abilities inadequate? I was quite certain you had the power to take on those two without much challenge.”
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Post by Mini on Apr 25, 2019 21:02:36 GMT -6
Maaz had stood by with arms planted sourly on her hips, watching Meissa's acrobatic displays of tumbles, falls, and slashing at the air with her sword. While it was true that Maaz herself couldn't have done much better against an enemy that had already fled, it was still a rather underwhelming view. She heaved out a frustrated sigh. It took longer than it should have for Meissa to realize that Maaz was still frozen to the ground. (Maaz would have sooner starved to death than ask for help freeing herself)
Once free, Maaz took a few steps forward and spat out a colorful curse and started scraping ice chunks off the bottom of her boots. The pirate girl noticed her friend's gaze resting on her own leg and she glanced down. For the first time, she noticed blood trickling slowly down her bare skin and into her boots. "Feh. It figures. I just cleaned these last week," she grumbled.
"That pera locca tried to kill us both!" Maaz proclaimed, glaring darkly at the remnants of mist and fog swirling away. "What was that nonsense she was shouting, huh? About not doing our jobs? Um, hello sister, you were not exactly there last night when we took down one of the worst witches I think the two of us have ever faced. And we do plenty around this port as well as the main land!"
Scoffing, she stomped closer to Meissa, really giving her a thorough look over. "I told you not to follow me, Meissa," she started to growl, her eyes resting heavily on her friend's own injuries. Sighing, she reached out and squeezed her shoulders. "But I'm happy you did. We see her again, she's dead. So dead I'll drink to her memory come next Dia de los Muertos."
With another groan, Maaz turned as if to head back to the front door, but a strange glint of light stopped her. "Hrm? What's that?" she asked, walking towards the back of their dwelling. Lying on the floor was a very worn, very loved looking little black teddy bear with a worn ribbon tied around its neck. The gemstone embedded there was what had caught the light. "Meissa?... Is this... Have you ever seen this before?"
~*~
Outside and around the back, obscured from sight by a pile of barrels wrapped up in thick netting on one side and some shrubbery to the other, the pale girl stopped dead in her tracks. Her red eyes locked with another pair of red eyes - these ones ever so slightly more darker.
"Kyubey," Alioth hissed. "You-- Shut up My abilities are fine!" she shrieked in a loud whisper. Ice was already starting to form on the ground beneath her. "You know exactly why I left that first fight. As for this... encounter... You... I..." Tears prickled in her eyes. "You lied to me! You said I could find help here. I found no such thing. There is nothing but darkness and hatred in those girl's hearts. They're not a thing like--"
She cut herself off, turning to stare down at the ground. "They... They wouldn't even listen. They didn't even give me a chance to talk. That barbarian hothead just barged in and... and... and started shooting!" Growling, her hand curled into a tight fist. "Curse them both. I don't need help. I can do this all by myself."
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Post by yooom on May 14, 2019 15:53:44 GMT -6
Carefully, a hand pressed firmly against the wall of the cabin, Meissa inched over towards a nearby spindly chair, and sank into it, letting out a sigh of relief to be on stable ground. “I...I’m not sure, Maaz,” Meissa said, still coming to terms with what had just happened. It had been so quick, one moment that strange girl was there, blasting and shouting, and the next...she was gone. “She didn’t seem fully in control of her powers. I...I don’t think she wanted to fight us.” Meissa leaned back in her seat, taking another, slightly unsteady, breath. “Do you think she came here to ask us for help with something?” She certainly hadn’t seemed like it, but, at the same time...she seemed to know about magical girls, and had known to come out to this quiet isle.
Meissa quailed slightly at Maaz’s fearsome expression. The older girl looked at her, her eyes scanning over where the shards of ice had slashed across Meissa’s skin. She laughed nervously as Maaz drew closer, only to clutch her shoulders tenderly. Her words, however, made Meissa’s blood run cold. She had less experience with combat than Maaz, but Meissa had still gone up against several fearsome witches. She had dueled a gigantic witch only the night before, after all. However, there was something very different about trying to kill a human, an actual person instead of a manic destructive force. It was more than even that, though, this girl was a magical girl. She had the same duties they had, the same goal of fighting witches. Even if she was dangerous, even if she had attacked them...surely they couldn’t just kill her.
As Meissa silently worried about their next meeting with the mystery girl, Maaz had moved away from her, investigating a black toy on the floor of the house. At her words Meissa looked up, squinting at it. “I...I don’t think so, Maaz.” she murmured, shaking her head. “Maybe somebody else left it here.” If that strange girl knew about this place, she supposed, how many other magical girls knew about it. How many more of them might be out there?
One of Meissa’s fingers idly traced along the cut on her leg, and she flinched slightly at her wound. “We’re hurt, we need…” she gasped, remembering why she’d left Constellation in the first place. “Mira needs a grief seed!” she shouted, jumping up to her feet. “Her soul gem’s starting to go dim, I’m...I’m not sure why.” She stared urgently at Maaz. “Do you have one?”
Kyubey merely blinked at Alioth’s shouting. He did not seem to the slightest bit shaken by her sudden shriek, though he did take a step backwards from the rapidly freezing ground around her. “As for those two, they certainly lack Kochab’s finesse. She was rather singularly talented, in that regard.” Kyubey paused, looking up at her, for the first time a rather intrigued expression n his face. “I must confess, the workings of the human mind continue to perplex me. What exactly is it you plan to do all by yourself, Alioth?”
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Post by Mini on Jun 29, 2019 18:47:14 GMT -6
Meissa didn't recognize the tattered looking stuffed animal, which made Maaz wrinkle a nose. It certainly wasn't hers. She hadn't carried around such childish things since she was maybe seven or eight years young. Her childhood hadn't been what most would call normal, and she had been forced to grow up much sooner than most others her age. Had that other girl dropped it? If not her, had someone else dropped in on their hidden headquarters? Scowling, she kicked the bear out of sight. It landed in a pile of dust with a soft little thud behind a large wooden crate.
Maaz cocked an eyebrow at her friend as she tried to work through everything running around in her head out loud. While Maaz agreed with most of it, the one thing she didn't agree with at all was Meissa's insistence that the strange girl didn't want to fight them. Sighing heavily and shaking her head, she took a few slow steps over towards where Meissa was resting. "Aiyah, Meissa. You try to see the good in everybody, you know that? Not everybody is good, though. With all you've seen so far in the world, you should know that. Remember that fact, mi amiga," she said softly, leaning against the side of the chair.
"Tch. Regardless of what that girl wanted, she came in here and started a fight. She attacked the both of us. Funny way to ask for help," she grumbled, mostly to herself. "No. Something was... off about her. There was something all... like her head is all not quite working and going the right way. The things she said and did, the twitchy sort of way she reacted, how jumpy she was. That girl is wrapped in something foul. Basura aspestosa. There is no reason we should worry ourselves over it. If she did run, then good riddance to her. I meant what I said, though. If I see her again, it is going to end with her dead." She didn't add what she was thinking - that the main reason she wanted this strange girl dead was because she had threatened and hurt her very best friend.
Meissa suddenly gasped and sat upright, causing Maaz to jump back to attention. Her hand automatically flew down to her holster, and she cursed under her breath as Meissa mentioned their injuries and... oh. Right. Mira. Maaz had almost forgotten about her. "Wait a minute, you just left her alone on the ship with Kyubey?! Meissa!" she hissed, rolling her eyes. "¿Ahhh, qué voy a hacer contigo? You know that furball is going to try to talk her into doing something stupid. It acts like it's so much smarter than us sometimes, but really, Kyubey makes some truly terrible decisions sometimes. As for her soul gem... did she use a great deal of magic last night? I was a little busy not dying to pay much attention to her. Grief seeds, grief seeds... ah, I have two left on me," she said, patting a small pouch at her side. "We have to go hunting, and soon. C'mon," she gestured, heading for the door.
Little did Maaz know that Kyubey had indeed talked Mira into doing something stupid just a few short moments ago. Mira had miraculously managed to swim as far as where the waves were breaking, but she was quickly running out of energy. A giant wave washed over her, pulling her underwater. Her limbs went flailing around, but it was dark and muddy. Which way was up? Which way was down? Why oh why had she jumped into the water still wearing her shoes? Her bare legs felt the cool air and wind just as her face scraped against sharp shells and sand, then suddenly she was flipped back upright. Just in time, too, as her lungs felt like they were about to burst. She coughed up a mouthful of saltwater as she flailed her arms around some more, trying desperately to remain above the water.
~*~
A large spear of ice went sailing past the very top of Kyubey's head. It sliced through a single hair, splitting it clean in half. Alioth had gone quite pale, and her eyes had opened quite wide. One hand was outstretched towards the innocent looking fox-like creature. Her skin was coated in ice.
"Don't. Say. That. Name." The words were a hiss of a whisper. She stood like a viper poised to strike. A long, tense moment passed before she lowered her hand, let out a deep sigh, then turned to look down the alley. The ice began to melt away, forming steaming puddles. "You know what I'm going to do. You know exactly what I must do." The steam became thicker and thicker, eventually forming a fog. The fog coiled around Alioth's legs and body, and soon it filled the entire alleyway, obscuring her from view. "It's the only thing that I can do... It's all I can do... for her..."
And just like that, the pale girl was gone.
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Post by yooom on Aug 11, 2019 5:21:19 GMT -6
Meissa leaned to one side in her seat, not sure if Maaz was talking to her or just to herself. Angry ramblings aside, Maaz did have a point, the magical mystery girl had seemed...off, to put it lightly. Meissa smiled slightly at Maaz’s gruff word, and resisted the impulse to say that, even though Maaz was talking about killing another girl their age, she was also trying to help Meissa become a more cautious person. While everyone might not be good, Meissa did not believe that anyone was really bad.
Meissa let out a little yelp as Maaz shot up, halfway through drawing her pistol before she realized that there was no immediate threat to her and Meissa. At Maaz’s scolding Meissa leapt to her own feet, swaying for another moment from the sharp pain that shot up her leg. Her fingers tightly gripped the arm of the chair she had been sitting on, very thankful that the mystery girl’s ice had vanished as quickly as she had.
“I thought you were in trouble!” Meissa piped up at Maaz’s scolding, moving a little slower than usual as she followed the older girl out of the house, walking rather gingerly on her injured leg. She blinked as she passed through the doorway of the building, into the sudden bright light of the sunny morning, the humid heat of the island almost painful after how icy cold the interior had gotten from the strange girl’s magic. The rough sound of waves, the caw of tropical birds, it all came rushing back to her, from the eerie silence of the house. Meissa looked back at Constellation, to see neither Mira nor Kyubey. “Mira?!” she called, taking another shaky step forward. She paused for a moment, stepping up to the water’s edge, before she spotted Mira, coughing and sputtering, her head just above the water’s edge.
“Mira!” Meissa yelled, leaping forward, landing on her hands and knees on the edge of the dock, reaching out a hand towards her, trying to grab one of the girl’s flailing arms, but Mira was moving too much, Meissa couldn’t get a good hold on her. “Mira! Grab my hand!” she shouted out, not sure if the struggling girl could even hear her as she desperately tried to stay above the surface.
******
Kyubey only just flinched as the ice blade flew directly over him. He blinked, staring up at Alioth for another moment, unphased by the girl’s menacing voice. He rose as the icy fog began to rise around the girl, but, before he could take a step forward, she was already gone. The small, pale creature sighed and turned, his tail swishing once, before scampering back up towards the house, and the masts of Constellation.
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Post by Mini on Aug 27, 2019 11:55:56 GMT -6
"¿Qué está haciendo esa chica loca?" Maaz growled in annoyance as she spotted Mira splashing and spluttering around a few feet away from the dock. She was caught right up where the waves were breaking and the currents were the strongest. Had the idiot actually swam all the way inland from where the ship was anchored? Shaking her head, Maaz turned to share her opinion of how stupid the girl's actions were with Meissa, but Meissa had already gone sprinting down the dock.
"Always the hero," Maaz mumbled, rolling her eyes as she took her sweet time walking out onto the deck after Meissa.
Mira's head broke the water just long enough for her to cough out a mouthful of the ocean and attempt to yell Meissa's name. A large wave broke over her head and pushed her back underwater, flipping her head over heels. At least, it would have done so had she been wearing heels or footwear of any sort. Somewhere between the ship and the shore, her shoes had sunk to the bottom of the ocean floor. After a lot of flailing and splashing, Mira finally managed to break the surface of the water again. She was much closer to the dock and, thankfully, to Meissa's outstretched hand. "M-Meis-cough-shaaaa-ackkk!" was all Mira managed to squeak out desperately as she grabbed for Meissa's hand. Twice she felt Meissa's fingers. Twice she felt Meissa's fingers slip right out of her wet hands. Another wave threatened to knock her into the support legs of the docks. She would never make it!
"'Oi, quit your flailing and just look up, would ya? Instead of pulling Meissa in and makin' me dive in there and rescuing both of you, why not grab hold of the rope ladder I tossed down about thirty seconds ago that both of you have been ignoring?" Maaz called out from above Meissa. One boot rested on the top of the rope ladder. The rest of it had been secured to the other side of the dock.
Mira, coughing and spluttering, finally turned a bit to her right and saw the rope ladder floating a few feet away from her. She wasted no time in grabbing onto it and trying to pull herself up. Maaz predicted that she would be too weak and stressed out from nearly drowning to pull herself up, so with a nudge to Meissa to help, she reached down for one of Mira's arms and began hauling her up onto the dock. It didn't take long to pull her up and deposit her soaking wet form onto the hot, wooden beams of the small little dock. Mira coughed out several lungfuls of water, groaned loudly, and started blubbering out apologies and a thank yous and a myriad of excuses as to why she had been in the water, but Maaz ignored her. Instead, her gaze was fixed out on their ship. Her steely eyes were hunting down Kyubey.
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Post by yooom on Aug 31, 2019 16:27:26 GMT -6
Meissa reached out, further and further out from the dock. Mira had come so close to it, but, with the tide seemingly stronger than ever, it seemed the newest member of their team was struggling to even stay above water. Meissa stared into the terrified blue eyes, trying to reach out and grab the girl’s hands as they waved about. “Hold...still!” she called out. She kept nearly missing her, almost getting a good hold on Mira’s fingers, but each time she almost had her the water would push her down further, or Mira’s own strength would flag. It didn’t help that Mira’s skin was by now coated in slippery sea water.
Meissa jumped at Maaz’s call, just behind her, almost falling into the sea herself. She turned, and let out a relieved sigh to see the rope just next to her. She helped Mira up onto the dock and, once she was certain Mira was safe, collapsed onto her back with an exhausted sigh, relieved that she was safe. She lay there for a second, her heart pounding in her chest, listening to Mira coughing up water, before immediately starting to spew out apologies, her voice getting higher and higher, still, it seemed, quite stressed from the ordeal of nearly drowning. Meissa lifted herself up into a sitting position, before extending her arms out towards Mira, slowly wrapping them around her, pulling her into a tight, warm hug. She almost immediately regretted it, as the girl’s clothes were still sopping wet, but she did really seem to need the hug.
She turned, looking over Mira’s shoulder to where Maaz had, for the past few moments, been standing in complete silence. She was about to thank the older girl for helping to save Mira’s life, but noticed that Maaz was staring, in what seemed like anger, at something off in the distance. She turned her head slightly still, arms still wrapping around Meissa, to gaze off in the direction Maaz was looking at.
The red eyes of Kyubey gleamed, for another few seconds, staring back at the two magical girls, the fluffy tail flicking once, twice, as he sat on the ledge of the Constellation. Then, without ever saying a word to the two of them, he hopped back onto the deck of the ship, and disappeared from view.
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