[b]VV[/b] There! The brilliant red sliced through the darkness. It knitted and weaved itself into a shape, a perfect circle, layering upon itself and filled with a kaleidoscope of rotating designs and shapes. This alone gave the monster on the balcony pause. A hand reached from the middle of the circle, the air rippling around it as it latched onto the nun's shoulder. VV used this. Her anchor's shoulder... Her Doll Master's shoulder. She pulled herself through, stepping onto the pristine white stone that composed the platform. Well, it sure wouldn't be pristine for long. The Marionette, grinning as he was, about to enjoy a new victim, faltered, stepping away from her. "Y-you're..." he trailed off, eyes wide in shock as VV straightened, releasing her anchor's shoulder as she stared him down. Heh, it was pretty clear this had been the last thing the monster had expected. She could even see it, not its form, but the coiling shadow within the Marionette. The vile thing that had emerged from beyond to take control of the man before her. "Oi oi..." VV began, brushing her crimson hair back, one eye open and fixed on the Marionette as she inclined her head to the side. Straightening, she opened both eyes and took a step towards him, "Tch... it's not your lucky day, is it?" The Marionette was, for a moment, too stunned to do anything. The emergence of a Doll was clearly the last thing he had expected, and that thought brought a smile to VV's lips. Now it was time to seal the deal. Grabbing her anchor's shoulder, she hauled the nun to her feet, then pushed her back. "I'll handle this, alright?" --- [b]Cynthia Lee[/b] All Cynthia could do was tremble in terror as the man came closer, and closer, and closer... She shuffled back on her rear, trying to get away and escape from him, but somehow it was just so difficult to do so. Something made her limbs feel like lead, as her heart hammered in her tiny chest and the man raised one cold, clammy hand... and then she appeared. A woman in white, descending from the sky so suddenly, and landing on the horrible man! Cynthia could see how she landed and kicked off of him, and watched him it the ground with a loud crack, the cobblestones fracturing from the impact. For a moment he lay there, quiet, a wound in his back from where the woman's heel had struck him... And now the woman was offering to help her... to... to play? Adults didn't usually talk like that, but right now Cynthia didn't care. She'd knocked that man down so fast, and he'd been so terrible... The girl had no idea why she was being called Alice, but that was another thing that didn't matter right now. This woman had just saved her life, just like that! Trembling, she raised her hand, her small fingers wrapping around the woman's as she managed to work up a reply. "Th... th-that was amazing!" No sooner then she had said that then the man began to rise. The injury in his back had sealed by this point... and there was a twisting darkness within him, though that was not something Cynthia could see. All she could see was the misty breath leaving his mouth, as if it was a cold day... and that his eyes had gone completely white. And in spite of this terrible change... something told Cynthia that he was afraid. She could see it, his body shaking... "D... Doll..." the man choked out as he rose. "Something like you... here... you...!"