[right][color=1462ba][i][h2]Mariette[/h2][/i][/color][color=57a345][h3][i]and Eli[/i][/h3][/color][/right]

If Nancy’s power was as advertised, then Mariette was not letting her get away. She struck before Nancy could change her mind. With that, she spent some time with their lips pressed together, while Eli watched closely with a slight dark blush on her slime-face. It took a number of seconds, however…

Mariette’s eyes widened, a surprise and liveliness not often seen in them encompassing her as the effects of the spell ran through her, the bubbles and flowers litting up around them as Mariette and Nancy were still interlocked in the kiss. When she finally released, Mariette blinked as she explored what she was feeling.

With all honesty, Mariette had forgotten how it felt to feel fresh. Always, with no real exception, she felt a deep exhaustion within her soul which dragged onto her every movement, even as she dutifully accomplished her goals in the name of Asengav. Yet, all of that… The burden of Asengav, the constant pressure… All of it had cleared away, and Mariette could look around herself at the surrounding girls with alert eyes that weren’t marred by the sole purpose of detecting threats to herself. It was as if she was seeing colour for the first time, or just realizing colour was indeed a thing. Everything looked and felt so… so… alive…

Mariette turned to look at Nancy, who was breathing heavily. Mariette looked a bit confused, the experience not what she expected and she may have been blushing a bit, looking more alive than ever. Then… she breathed out the breath she had been holding, giving a little smile at Nancy that looked more gentle than Eli had ever seen it.

[color=1462ba]‘You… you should practice that magic more often… Thank you…’[/color] So she said, feeling lighter than ever. With that, she came to a joyful, happy and natural decision in the heat of the moment.

[center][color=black][b][i]This girl will not be coming home tonight[/i][/b][/color][/center]

… But that was for later! Now, they had to go and defeat Justine! More energetic than ever, Mariette turned to make her commands in a happier and more hopeful tone than she had ever used before, and the effect seemed to spread among the girls under her command. They were all getting more hopeful!

… Of course, then numerous moments later as they were heading off Mariette was reminded she was still, in fact, the pawn of a Horror when the Bane she had received from him reared its ugly head.

Geh. What a dampener on her mood. They also figured out that it was the mirrors that were causing it. That… was unacceptable, but due to knowing at least one of the girls was a Light specializing girl, she couldn’t lie. Geesh.

[color=1462ba]‘No! That’s… that’s not what I want,’[/color] Mariette breathed to Nancy’s claim that removing the mirrors would help her, despite her pain being alleviated as she threw it away. It was not a lie, in that she didn’t want them to remove the mirrors for her, because that’d be them being aware of the bane she most definitely didn’t want them to know about. Okay. Other options. Well, as luck would have it, Mariette was not constrained to corridors.

[color=1462ba]‘We’re taking an alternative path!’[/color] Mariette said, using the magic she had regained to open a portal from beside them to… whatever path she could that did not cross a cracked mirror. The fact Nancy had just removed the closest such mirror gave her that opening. [color=1462ba]‘Through my portals! I will navigate us to our enemy!’[/color]

It was more difficult. She had no vision of other places in the building so she had to guess where she could open portals, but she did have a sense of where the cracked mirrors were. Using that, Mariette attempted using portals to take her to whatever rooms that did not have cracked mirrors in them, through paths that didn’t have cracked mirrors directly in-between herself and that room, because that caused problems too. She had to open small portals for her eyes first, to scan the new room for danger. If the eye-portals didn’t open, it meant she was trying to open them in space occupied by a physical object and she had to move a bit before she could see what was safe to open a portal for the rest of her troops. It’d likely be as navigating a maze, but Mariette was sharper and more determined than ever, she’d make it through this! She had a goal in mind, and damn it if she’d be stopped by a stupid bane!

[color=1462ba]‘I’d like an update on what’s going on out the front whenever possible!’[/color] she also informed the sister of the two twins that had stayed with her. It was fairly simple there. If she was informed that the sister had died or that her allies were dead, then the front door was lost. If she was informed her allies were alive or if the sister was quiet, then they had won the front door. Because, if she was quiet it meant Alicia had managed to talk sense into her about Mariette’s true nature. Mariette smirked thinking about it. Anyways, to the battle!

Eli was still hanging on, holding Asengav’s mirror and keeping a watch on her mistress.