[center][h1][color=FF1493]Sophia von Zeerover[/color][/h1] [h3]and[/h3] [img]https://i.imgur.com/CkHZy6X.png[/img][/center] [hider=Sophia Stat/Stuff Header] [center][color=FF1493][h1]Sophia[/h1][/color] 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 14 | 8 | 10 | 15 | 9 Oddball (Gunpowder) | Focused Assault Dual Weapon | Wings | Closure | Big Backpack | Martial Training | Enhanced Weapon | Ally | Enhanced Outfit Mental Link | Hidden Death | Gifted Item | Mana Font | Transportation Empty Pockets | Alien Tongue | Limited | Formless[/center] [/hider] The rain fell gently, a myriad of droplets breaking against the charred, fractured boards of the ghost ship. They turned to streams tinged with blood, converging upon the creases before sliding off over the edge of the deck towards the city below. The thundering of combat still rang down below, some conflicts coming to an end while other conflicts had only just begun, ebbing and flowing ceaselessly, but for now, Amaryllis couldn’t really feel anything for it. She laid down on the rain-drenched, flame-scorched deck of the Flying Dutchman, her Sword only loosely cradled in a hand that could no longer grip. Dark strands of hair followed the same creases as Rosa’s blood and the sky’s rain, as the barrier, that invisible barrier that still reconstructed itself even as the people it shielded were gone and the city it sheltered plummeted towards destruction, sapped away the last of her magical energy. Her transformation unravelled, pale light surging over her body before bursting like a bubble to reveal a girl in a wool sweater and sweatpants, both soon dampening in the rain. Amaryllis’s eyes remained closed, but she could feel the tepid warmth of the maimed tiger beside her, the rattling and creaking of the ship, the dull pain that flared up in her left wrist every time she took in a breath. Still alive, at least. That was good. Mariette, Nuncio, and Sammy all made it out alive. The Monster Queen received her second chance. Sophia got out before the Ascendancy got dirty. But it didn’t change the fact that none of these small victories meant anything in the long run. Tightening her gut, the midnight-haired girl sat up, pushing her wet hair out of her eyes. She clipped off the amethyst choker around her neck and waved at Sophia. [color=778899]“Sorry,”[/color] Amaryllis spoke, her voice croaking a bit. [color=778899]“Could you do the healing for the tiger?”[/color] [color=FF1493]“...Aye, ah’ can lass.”[/color] The pirate’s boots clunked as she walked over the battle-wrought hull of her patron and over to Amaryllis, her voice soft as she spoke back to the other girl. Taking a knee, Sophia then reached out and accepted the amethyst choker in her free hand. A sort of grimace wrote itself into the dark magical girl’s face, however, as she for a moment looked over to meet the eyes of the now one-arm-short Rose Knight. A bloody stump...the magical chain arm Sophia wore seemed to shudder as she looked at the sight, as if somehow reacting to such a thing. Bah. But it was an idea. She then cocked her head back. [color=FF1493]“Ey, planks fer’ brains, yeh’ gonna’ drop off the rest of them dead bodies in tha’ right places? Don’t wanna’ get tha’ bleedin’ Beaconites on our tails fer’ running off with tha’ dead. ….An, could yeh give tha’ lass somethin’ fer’ er’ wounds to? Just as ah’ guest at least. Ain’t no battle we in right now, wouldn’t think it’d beh’ ‘interference’ or any o’ that trite shite.”[/color] At the last part Sophia seemed to take pause before letting out a sigh. Then turning back to Amaryllis, she reached out and touched the other girl’s stump with her chain arm. In a rapid movement, the prosthetic seemed to unfurl from Sophia’s arm and transform into chains that attached themselves to the moonlit swordswoman’s stump. After a moment, the arm would reform from the swirling chains and form an (at least temporary) supplement for the girl. Warmth and a certain attachment to the neres would spread it from it, alongside the faint hint of a potentially familiar magic at least. [color=FF1493]“This thin’ ah’ll help stop tha’ bleeding and give ya’ ah’n arm fer’ the moment bein’ at least...maybe ease tha’ transition ah’n all. Was the bloody thin’ at’ pushed meh’ ta’ try teh’ come talk to ya’ after ah’ first woke up anywho, fore’ at’ Su lass drug meh’ off fer’ execution, so maybe eh’t has ah’ likin’ to yeh’ er’ somethin’,”[/color] the pirate said, speaking without looking at Amaryllis as she moved over to touch the healing artifact onto and begin healing the wounded tiger, lightly wincing at her sore body began to channel what meager mana she had left to save the beast, [color=FF1493]“...Should ave’ enuff’ ta’ ah’t least keep this girl ere’ stable and then some till ah’ get some more mana back. Fought ard’ fer’ er’ master too.”[/color] Amaryllis looked down as Sophia’s chains connected onto her own stump of a wrist, forging itself into a prosthetic. She flexed it a couple times, watched as the dark chains flaked away to reveal a silvery color underneath. Sophia’s chains? Annabelle’s? Or her own? A difficult expression passed over her features, before she forced a smile. [color=778899]“Does this…”[/color] She paused, raising her arm up higher. [color=778899]“...these chains speak to you? Don’t reckon you, mm, know where this came from?”[/color] The pirate partly turned her head to the side, cocking an eyebrow at the untransformed knight. [color=FF1493]“Eh? All ah’ know is at’ when ah’ woke up it was attached teh’ meh’ already. Led meh’ ovah’ to yeh’, seems ta’ ave’ somewhat ah’ mind oh’ its own and prods meh’ from time teh’ time,”[/color] Sophia admitted truthfully, giving a one-armed shrug before continuing on, [color=FF1493]“Far as ah’ can tell, tha’ thin’ is filled wit’ Darkness magic, is made oh’ dem’ useful chains, ahn’ it seems ta’ stick wit meh’ fer’ some reason. Tha’ chains remind meh’ of yeh’ own realleh’, but its magic is somethin’ else it seems.”[/color] As if on cue, the prosthetic seemed to prod the mind of Amaryllis, a vague but distinct sort of communication maybe akin to a “hello there” or “hi again” sort of thing. Maybe? Considering the blue haired girl’s experience with vague communications from a Lesser Force, perhaps that prosthetic felt she was better apt to figuring that out herself? Amaryllis twitched slightly at the psychic prodding. Phantasmal pains she had become accustomed to, but this new encroachment on her mind, while not wholly disturbing, would still take some time getting used to. She eyed the stump that had become Sophia’s arm now, wondering what the utilitarian calculus of this exchange even would have been, when neither of them necessarily needed two arms to get their ‘work’ done to begin with. A frown formed. She definitely needed two hands to get into engineering, especially if she wanted to do so without using magic to cheat her way through work. What was she thinking? She pressed her right hand against her face, massaging her temple with her thumb. [color=778899]“It’s from me, yeah,”[/color] Amaryllis said. [color=778899]“Caused them to sprout out from the shoulder of a magical girl whose arm I cut off, when her friends tried to carry her away. She used her own magic afterwards to fashion it into a prosthetic. And I suppose you inherited it afterwards.”[/color] [color=FF1493]“...Ya’ cut er’ arm off? Yikes. But eh, suppose yeh’ had ya’ reasins’ fer’ it at tha’ time tho. Curious teh’ ask bout’ tha’ rest, but ah’ll save at’ fer’ later,”[/color] the pirate said letting out a small sigh before continuing, looking over to Amaryllis with some slight concern, [color=FF1493]“But if it was made by someone ya’ cut tha’ arm off ah’ve an’ all, why would it be pressin’ meh’ ta’ talk to ya’ in tha’ first place? Thin’s save mah’ skin in part o’er time, and ah’ feel partial teh’ it mah’self, but is’ makes less sense tha’ mahself bein’ made o’ ah’ corpse an’-”[/color] As Sophia heard herself speak the final part, her lips seemed to draw out into a grimace once more, cutting herself off suddenly as she quietly turned her head back to helping heal the tiger. Sure she knew the truth of that bit, at least, but that old identity and life and baggage of her existence wasn’t something she had much answers for. One flashback into her past so far was it, and a girl who had tried to murder her and had hidden away from her ever since (or so it seemed). Plus the weight of the obvious was...something of its own. A tad of a sore spot, really. [color=778899]“Well,”[/color] Amaryllis chuckled half-heartedly, [color=778899]“If arm-cutting was the end-all of bad things that magical girls did to other magical girls, I’m sure tonight wouldn’t have been nearly so bad.”[/color] She leaned back, then decided that she was too tired even for that, and just fell back onto the deck of the ship. Closing her eyes, the buxom girl just let the soft tingling of the rain come over her for a moment. [color=778899]“Do you want to know, Sophia? Do you really want to know?”[/color] The pirate turned her head back to Amaryllis once more. [color=FF1493]“Frankly speakin’...part oh’ me doesn’t know if ah’ wanna know all ah’m curious bout’. But truthfulleh’ ah’d rather know ahn’ be understandin’ than sittin’ bout’ ignorant, Amaryllis,”[/color] Sophia said with a small, slightly defeated sigh as she looked up at the sky for a moment. Dark clouds filled her vision, and rain ran down the sides of her face before dropping onto the deck below her, though the girl gave a light but low chuckle of her own, [color=FF1493]“Ah’ was jus’ born about yesterdeh’, fer’ all intents an’ purposes.”[/color] [color=778899]“That’s a long ‘yesterday’ you’ve been living then,”[/color] Amaryllis remarked. Sitting upright and tossing her damp hair over one shoulder, she spoke as she began braiding. [color=778899]“Your body, before you became what you are now, was the catalyst for a ritual to create a physical vessel of the Horror, Soth. Alongside the magical girl who once served under him, I fought to stop the ritual from completing successfully. We had formed a connection through these chains, you see, and she informed me about the ritual’s location before it was too late.”[/color] The death of a magical girl lasted only twenty years, but considering how riotous the last week or two had been, even a month felt like a year these days. [color=778899]“That girl, she stopped the ritual at the end, and the chains that connected her mind to mine between the dimensions she traversed to do so were similarly grafted into your own. The ritual failed, the magical energies involved drawing a new soul into the body of an old one.”[/color] She let out a breath, then an awkward half-smile. [color=778899]“Well, that’s the short version of it, at least.”[/color] [color=FF1493]“...”[/color] The pirate seemed to take pause for a moment after Amaryllis spoke, the soft glow of the healing artifact on the wounded tiger fading with the nearly all the last of her mana. No one had told her the exact story, not that her patron knew it entirely beyond “Horror” and “vessel” and “dead body” in a basic sense. Yet it was something to hear straight from the horse’s mouth that this chain-y arm was the product of two magical girls and a rather big event that had surrounded her ‘creation’. Blech. What was she supposed to feel about this? [b]How[/b] was she supposed to feel about this? The corpse of someone else, the lost life of another, the devastation of the city that she’d woken up in all being centered around her somehow? Even if she hadn’t been directly involved, or had any choice of coming into being for that matter, it all was around the body she’d taken residence in and that had been made her own. Even if she was to stop being a magical girl, she’d be a mundane one left to a mundane life regardless...and she’d have to live with it all. [color=FF1493]“...Heh. It’s felt like ah’ long yesterdeh’ fer’ meh’ fer’ some time, Lass. Ah’ve never knew what ah’ came from, who ah’ was made out oh’ve, nothin’ from tha’ lass who tried ta’ kill meh, an’ one bleedin’ flashback of ah’ life ah’ never knew mah’self. Mah’ patron ain’t likin’ tha’ Greater Horror ya’ mentioned tho, told me bout’ it at least. Ta’ at least know ah’m ah’ soul slapped intah’ ah’ corpse ta’ make ah’ new person from some failed ritual fer’ wakin’ up in ah’ graveyard. Ain’t what ah’d ever wanted, but it’s what append’ and what ah’ got ta’ deal wit’ regardless,”[/color] the pirate said, leaning back and sitting on her butt next to the tiger and as close to Amaryllis as she already physically was, crossing her legs as she turned to face the other girl and extended the healing artifact back, [color=FF1493]“Well, ah’ll hear bout’ the longer version of tha’ storeh’ later ah’ s’ppose’. Fer’ now ah’ gotta’ help yeh’ and tha’ tiger ere’ recover, and yeh’ ain’t arguin’ gainst’ it either. Will get yeh’ back ta’ yer’ place at least, though, but ah’m not leaving till yeh’ both back ta’gether again...least’ physically.”[/color] Though as a small thought came to mind, the edges of the pirate’s mouth curved upwards into an at least brief smile of sorts. [color=FF1493]“Sides’, yeh’ need ta’ spend time with tha’ little magical lovechild ya’ an’ at’ lass ya’ mentioned sorta’ made. Maybe it misses one oh’ its motha’s, haha!”[/color] she said, before pointing to the chain arm and giving a loud laugh into the rainy air. It was a poor attempt to make a sort of joke and humor, something to lighten the mood even if just a little for a moment. But at the moment, it was all she felt she had off of the top of her head. Anything to try to make it all feel a little better, even if it all wasn’t exactly better in general. [color=778899]“M-magical lovechild?”[/color] Amaryllis sputtered, her cheeks turning red at the thought. She almost dropped the healing artifact that Sophia handed back to her, only managing to catch it an inch away from the slick deck of the ship. [color=778899]“I-it wasn’t like that, alright? I can’t even say that we were, like, friends or anything!”[/color] She took in a deep breath to calm herself, then a couple more to recalibrate her thoughts. [color=778899]“But I guess we could’ve been,”[/color] the girl said, finishing off her braid. [color=778899]“No one asked to be born anyhow; guess you were just lucky that you didn’t have to start from infancy, Sophia. Or pre school. Or any school, really.”[/color] Amaryllis went to tie the choker back around her neck, before shooting a look at the pirate queen. [color=778899]“Actually, uh...do you even have an ID?”[/color] The pirate howled in laughter briefly, even as her compatriot sputtered and turned a nice deep red before her very eyes. Even the chain arm seemed to rattle lightly and make an almost light and tinkling sound. Laughter? No idea. But goodness, she hadn’t known the lass felt that way about the girl! Or perhaps it was just the surprise….was not as fun a conclusion to draw about it though. Regardless, as Amaryllis calmed down, the pirate let herself wind back down as her heartbeat began to slow back down from pounding in her ears. [color=FF1493]“Ah...hah...eh? Can’t say if ah’ ah’m lucky er’ not ta’ not ah’ve started off like tha’ rest o’ humanity. Something ta’ think bout’ fer’ sure tho,”[/color] the pirate said, running a hand over her chin, before the last point seemed to stop and look back before raising an eyebrow, [color=FF1493]“ID? Ah, not been needin’ such iss’ far realleh’. Don’t ah’ve any, actualleh’...er, is’ at’ ah’ bad thin’?”[/color] [color=778899]“Well, if you’re like, not a magical girl all the time, you can do stuff like...rent out an apartment, get a credit card, go to school, stuff like that? I guess it’s not a bad thing to not have an ID, but if you do...you can do more things?”[/color] Amaryllis winced then, remembering the state of Penrose itself, about how most businesses were shut down and most public facilities were non-existent. [color=778899]“Though I guess Penrose needs normal humans first before having an ID really matters...”[/color] [color=FF1493]“Hmm...ah’ s’ppose yer’ right lass. Gotta’ fix tha’ city back teh’ ah’ better state fer’ anyone’s comin’ back ah’n at’ gets more nessecareh’,”[/color] Sophia said before giving a sigh and lying back on the wet deck in a splayed out manner, [color=FF1493]“Though fer’ what it counts, ah’ll be comin to yeh’ teh’ figure at’ one out once we get teh’ tha’ point at least. All ah’ve ad’ so far is bein’ ah’ magical girl, ahn’ course’ buyin’ food ta’ sate’ mah’ palette...never did get ta’ talk to yeh’ blade oh’ ah’ patron about hunger tho’, haha.”[/color] A big, dumb grin seemed to work its way onto Sophia’s face, before she tilted her head to look up at Amaryllis again. [color=FF1493]“But no worries, lass! Weh’ll get tha’ city back in shape fer’ sure! Jus’ feel free ta’ take ah’ rest fer now in tha’ captain’s quarters behind ya’. Ol’ creakin’ patron oh’ mine keeps it in tip top shape when ah’m sleeping ere’ some nights. Thin’s ah’ bleedin’ klepo fer’ tha’ good stuff tho’. Ah’ll hang on ere’ with tha’ tiger till’ weh’ arrive at yeh’ place, patron’ll keep outta’ sight ahn’ ah’ can stick bout’ till ya two’s recovered.”[/color] [color=778899]“Guess I will try to get some sleep then, yeah. Certainly gonna be busy tomorrow, anyhow.”[/color] Amaryllis turned her palm upwards and her eyes widened slightly. It had stopped raining. A bit of good news for the night, if nothing else. Slowly pulling herself up, she picked up her Sword, ignored the searing sulking of the bloodthirsty Patron, and half-stumbled towards the room Sophia pointed out. [color=778899]“We’ll figure everything out and fix everything up, Sophia. And once it’s all good, I’ll see if I can get you enrolled in university or something, yeah?”[/color] [color=FF1493]“Aye...ya’ can count on at’, lass. Fer’ now, tho’, one thin’ atta’ time, eh?”[/color] The pirate exhaled slowly after speaking, the exhaustion coming over her as she finally flickered out of her magical girl form. Eyes fluttered shut for the now hoodie-wearing girl in turn, and after a moment it would be frankly hard to tell if she was even awake at this point. Indeed, even the reckless pirate seemed to have her limits as well. [color=778899]“One thing at a time,”[/color] Amaryllis nodded. She slipped into the room, closed the door behind her, stripped off her wet clothes, and practically collapsed into the bed, falling unconscious two seconds later. It was only until noon the next day that the naked girl so much as stirred from her slumber.