[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/nrfJdjz.png[/img][/center]

[color=778899]“I m-mean, we’re not really, you know…”[/color] [i]…playing football here, are we?[/i]

Amaryllis didn’t manage to finish the rest of her sentence though, as Betty immediately went on to the next bits of info that she felt like disseminating. A magical girl bodyguard who suspects that the Mint’s after them? What a rough life. Maybe if the currently-not-Knight-of-Rose actually knew how to speak her mind, she’d have offered condolences or something. But the world didn’t wait for her to timidly sputter out words, and it looked like every day, Penrose tumbled further towards apocalyptic calamity.

As the ever-grumpy Scarlet Hallwell appeared (must be the VIP, huh), Amaryllis shrunk back further, uncertain as to how she was even supposed to respond to all these words being tossed at her. Was this just what confident people did? Throw a small speech at strangers before walking off? Was that what she’s supposed to emulate then? Her Sword continued to rattle in her brain like an impatient child, but the sheer nausea of even being in the presence of a blonde primadonna made it nothing but a distant concern. It wasn’t like Amaryllis asked for these backbreaking tiddies, or even to get contracted with a sword altogether. She wasn’t even in Penrose when that stuff happened! Not like she really needed to transform into a superhuman stabby person to survive the day. And geez, extensive networks are, who woulda thought, hard to get into when it literally involves selling your soul to a whole buncha creepy things, especially when her soul was more or less already [i]sold[/i].

But rather than calling out after Scarlet, Amaryllis simply compartmentalized it all and shoved it aside to deal with later. Personal issues had no place in this circumstance, especially not [i]her[/i] personal issues. The convergence of dark powers and foul energies and her painfully loud Sword pulled her out of her head and into the present, and finally, she turned towards Sammy.

For a moment, she was almost happy that the little detective girl had come back for her.

Then rationality told her that they only crossed paths because Sammy had been heading back after determining how ridiculously crowded the Cindy Ford area was.

And Amaryllis did the big sad again.

[color=778899]“Uh, sure, that would be…I mean, yeah, thanks. Ah, but wait a second.”[/color]

Stepping into a nearby alleyway, Amaryllis crouched behind a dumpster, spoke the magic words, and…

[hider=Rebirth ; First Act]
[center]
[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKpdMKf2cBM]✦【S】【O】【L】【I】【L】【O】【Q】【U】【Y】✦[/url]

[i]The moon shone, and she stood alone, bathed in fluorescent fire.

Her arms raised towards Diana, entwining in an infinite spiral, caressing the face of the heavens even as slender fingers grasped nothing. The maiden and the moon, separated by the vastness of distance.

But the Heavenly Muses, faceless and flowing, saw the offering and took it, nine celestial flowers twirling around her as moonlight bent and twirled, as her earthly garments dissolved into Edenic dress.[/i]

𝔖𝔥𝔢 𝔠𝔬𝔲𝔩𝔡 𝔫𝔬𝔱 𝔯𝔢𝔞𝔠𝔥 𝔥𝔢𝔯 𝔟𝔢𝔩𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔡.
𝔖𝔥𝔢 𝔰𝔥𝔬𝔲𝔩𝔡 𝔫𝔬𝔱 𝔯𝔢𝔞𝔠𝔥 𝔥𝔢𝔯 𝔟𝔢𝔩𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔡.
𝔖𝔥𝔢 𝔴𝔬𝔲𝔩𝔡 𝔫𝔬𝔱 𝔯𝔢𝔞𝔠𝔥 𝔥𝔢𝔯 𝔟𝔢𝔩𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔡.

[i]And yet, each step upon the moonrose staircase cast more light upon the starless void.[/i]

𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔰𝔭𝔞𝔯𝔨 𝔬𝔣 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔞𝔰𝔱𝔢𝔯𝔦𝔰𝔨.
𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔤𝔩𝔬𝔯𝔶 𝔬𝔣 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔨𝔞𝔩𝔢𝔦𝔡𝔬𝔰𝔠𝔬𝔭𝔢.
𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔲𝔫𝔦𝔬𝔫 𝔬𝔣 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔠𝔬𝔫𝔰𝔱𝔢𝔩𝔩𝔞𝔱𝔦𝔬𝔫𝔰.

[i]She twirled at the insufficient peak, the Edenic fabric dissolving in starfire. Her arms unravelled like the blooming of a rose, and sparkling sand, lunar dust, fell from the moon, sifting through the gaps of her cupped hands.

The staircase shattered and, arching her back against the tyranny of gravity, she fell into a garden of roses, iron vines tearing into flesh.[/i]

𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔩𝔬𝔳𝔢 𝔬𝔣 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔪𝔬𝔬𝔫.
𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔯𝔢𝔟𝔦𝔯𝔱𝔥 𝔬𝔣 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔪𝔞𝔦𝔡𝔢𝔫.
𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔟𝔞𝔭𝔱𝔦𝔰𝔪 𝔬𝔣 𝔯𝔲𝔰𝔱 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔯𝔬𝔰𝔢.

[i]From the rose garden, the maiden knight resurfaced, clad in Silverlight and Starspace.[/i]

✦【I】 【A】【M】 【R】【E】【B】【O】【R】【N】✦[/center]
[/hider]
…the reverie of rusted roses returned unto this plane.

A silver sword, a silver blossom. Hair of azure, eyes of amethyst. A blue rose could not exist without divine intervention. A blue rose could not be attained without undying affection. Only in the reflection of the god-slaying blade could the true value of one’s soul be tested, and only in wielding the proscribed Silverlight could the heart of its wielder be exposed.

Once again, judgment arrived, clad in cloth, armed with steel.

[color=778899]“Forgive me for my tardiness, Great Illuminator of Mystique,”[/color] the Knight of Rose spoke, [color=778899]“It will be my pleasure to mount such an awe-inspiring beast. Now, let us depart, and strike this foul malady at its very heart!”[/color]

With a wholly extraneous leap, the flamboyant maiden flipped once and landed behind the Illuminator, raising her sword dramatically.

[color=778899]“Onward, unto the grave!”[/color]
[@BrokenPromise]