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[@PlatinumSkink]

Mariette was stressed.

She was sitting on the top row of the arena looking down at the stage that was currently between matches. The first round had gone… less than great.

She wasn’t particularly sad about her own loss. She’d entered because she’d realized she could do some interesting strategies with her portals, and even if she’d lost Justine had promised to give her the mirror if she won, and Mariette’s Light-spec had told her Justine was telling the truth. So that was a powerful ally gained.

What was way more bothersome was the fact Mayra had lost. Now, her opponent was apparently going to give them the mirror if she won, too, but Mayra was one of their star players, and between her and Freya, Mayra had felt like the stronger card. Then there was always the chance a third party could always change their mind, Light-spec only helps tell the truth in the moment, and Freya’s upcoming battle was… Could any of them actually beat Rachel? Mayra probably could have, but…

Mariette sighed and gripped the seat in front of her, leaning her head down on it. It was better than it could have been, but oh, so stressful. The consequences of losing that mirror would be… And if it came close to that, Lea’s plan… Mariette didn’t want to consider any of it.

It was then when a sudden ripple was detected, zeroing on Mariette. Mariette had scant seconds to react before she became a tangled awkward mess with another swimsuit clad girl who had just appeared out of nowhere.

"How could I miss the landing?" Tenebra gasped, and choosing to gleefully ignore the situation then went on her tirade. "Pedersen! How do you capture a hot guy?"

Mariette blinked a bit as her portal-sense reacted to the only object other than herself, Overcity Shift and mirrors to actually disturb it. A tentacle quickly grabbed the chair next to her in order to pull her out of the way, but it wasn’t quick enough to pull her before Tenebra popped out of nowhere and collided with her. The tentacle still pulled, though, ensuring that after Tenebra’s statement both of them were pulled off the chair and fell down on the floor (Mariette under, I’m imagining), and Mariette just looked up at her kinda incredulously.

[color=1462ba]‘A… a guy? What…?’[/color] she asked, kind of too shocked to give a proper answer and a bunch of her tentacles grabbing chairs around them as Mariette had already prepared herself to potentially hit the offender with all the chairs using her tentacles if actually given a reason, by sheer instinct. Hadn’t done it yet, though.

"Tentacles huh… that would work but it would be awkward...Oh Elroy…" She said rising to her feet. "He was so dreamy I could not lift a finger…" She fidgeted. "Sakura beat him, now I need to fight whoever wins over Penny or Penny herself...good luck charm…" She would ramble with a blush until something in her mind clicked.

"Oh right you lost against Justine…"

[color=1462ba]‘…’[/color] Mariette blinked a little as she registered what Tenebra was speaking about. Like, Mariette knew about romance as a concept, but she wasn’t exactly an expert in the subject. But still… Yes, she did. Mariette retracted her tentacles, and sat herself back up on a chair.

[color=1462ba]‘I did. Thank you for your tip, I might have been better off following it, I just didn’t see a way I could hit Justine without her outspeeding me, but perhaps it would have been worth it. I’m sorry I lost,’[/color] she said, acknowledging the fact the girl had cheered for her.

"Speed has no meaning if you can warp space…but i guess the spell buildup was what made you...lose…" Tenebra had winded down, gripping her fists. "If I had my old team…"

[color=1462ba]‘Unfortunately, speed has meaning when it comes to delivering powerful attacks,’[/color] Mariette said, the basics of physics having been inserted into her mind because it’s useful to know. She then tilted her head, wondering a bit about what Tenebra just said.

"Just expand space and red shift it. Oh right, maybe your power wont work like that." She paused. "Star Eater might have taught how to do it, but it is brain scrambly."

[color=1462ba]‘Red… shift?’[/color] Mariette asked, keeping her head tilted. [color=1462ba]‘I’m sorry, but who are you? Why can you do what you do?’[/color]

"I am your rival. Even since that horror picked the three of us from the orphanage and fixed our broken bones." Tenebra said."Turns out if I had not been born with brain damage, I would have been a savant. I do know how to use gravity to bend spacetime like General Relativity tells us." 

Tenebra. "And yet ...we failed...to Lily, then mother came back and put me work alongside Lily and Sakura…"

"...Wait. That's not mother. She is a puchuu who looks like mother." She whispered, increasingly going livid.

"And then she ordered us to help Justine and Beacon… and she killed me...but now I am back…"

Mariette began to doubt her understanding of the word "rival". Still, it did very much seem the girl had some trouble, when she continued talking. She had indeed died…

[color=1462ba]‘… Who were the three of you at the orphanage?’[/color] Mariette asked, just to make sure of something.

"Amy, Zophia and I...Amy's parents crippled her into a wheelchair, Zophia was deaf and I had seizures since birth. We all became magical girls… to be something other than dregs."

She then whispered, a jaded and tired smile upon her face. "We died like dregs. And now I am again a tool."

[color=1462ba]‘…’[/color] Mariette was silent for a bit after listening, her expression blank as she found herself able to relax a bit, but not for a good reason. [color=1462ba]‘… We have a lot in common,’[/color] she eventually surmised, feeling a certain kinship.

[color=1462ba]‘So? What's keeping you a tool?’[/color] she asked, but could guess the direction of the answer.

"Few girls with similar power to me...so Sakura had Sann yank me from the dead… I owe her… but this is so… painful. Amy and Zophia are dead...and I am just a servant of the cat lady and Penny… I can't have fun with the one that forced my friends to death… and Star Eater bartered me away before that…"

[color=1462ba]‘… Do you want help?’[/color] Mariette felt compelled to ask, looking at her somewhat intently.

Tenebra looked at Mariette… a puzzled expression, before she lunged at her, and squeezed the portal girl in a hug.

"Thank you, but you are my rival…" She said, withdrawing.

"I need more power. I need to be sharper to beat my next opponent."She mumbled.

Mariette blinked a bit in surprise when Tenebra lunged and hugged around her, and once again her tentacles emerged just a little in preparation for self-defense, but after realizing it was but a hug she let the tentacles slide back. She processed Tenebra’s statement, and considered who her next opponent would be… … …

[color=1462ba]‘… Would you like more power?’[/color] Mariette was saving for her own champion, but she could do some things…

"Huh?I can't accept your help…even if you are cute! You are my rival!" 

Mariette smirked a little. [color=1462ba]‘Can you afford to be picky? It’s just a little. It’s not like you’d owe me or anything,’[/color] she tried. Honestly, this was a little fun.

"I uh… but Sakura…uh...Elroy!" She seemed to be caught off guard giving how she was babbling nonsense.

[color=1462ba]‘Would be impressed if you won, right?’[/color] Mariette asked, the little smile still in place.

"I uh… what do you suggest?" Tenebra said sheepishly.

Oooh, the things Mariette could have suggested if she actually wanted to bring this girl under Asengav’s thumb… But, no. She wouldn’t actually want to put her through that.

[color=1462ba]‘Obviously, it would be on short notice, like this just before the battle, but we have a mana-specialist that could fill you up with excess mana letting you use more per spell that could become more powerful, though more unstable, maybe,’[/color] and who knows if that was a good idea with Tenebra.

[color=1462ba]‘We also have a Reinforcement specialist capable of interweaving her abilities into articles of clothing, she could make quick cloth bracelets for you to wear that would up your physical performance… a bit.’[/color] Not a whole lot, to be frank, but everything adds up.

[color=1462ba]‘Then we have numerous Power Artifacts that would allow you to briefly perform spells from a specialization you don’t actually possess…’[/color] Among other things that Mariette wasn’t actually going to mention. She smirked at Tenebra anyway. [color=1462ba]‘So? What would you say?’[/color]

"I used to have one of those… a darkness one." Tenebra gasped, somewhat flustered at the flurry of options.

"But gravity is costly… I want more Mana… but probably what your girl can provide is not enough…" Tenebra said. "Well I could always serve a better master that the fake mom…"

Mariette was a bit amused by the mention of a Darkness artifact. If it was one of those she wanted, she’d definitely be in luck. For the second part… 

[color=1462ba]‘Oh, Josefin has a lot of mana over. Even a portion of it could…’[/color] Mariette started, before blinking a little in surprise at that last statement. 

[color=1462ba]‘Wait, uh… I wasn’t intending to…’[/color] she stumbled on her words, suddenly quite conflicted about what idea she may have put in the girl.

Tenebra did consider asking for more power, but the consequences she had envisioned made her brain hurt slightly. Maybe that was it. Her eyes stared upwards. “Hey, Pedersen, you got something to reinforce brains?”

[color=1462ba]‘Reinforce brains…?’[/color] Not something she’d personally considered. That said… [color=1462ba]‘Well, I could introduce you to my expert,’[/color] she replied, because if there was anyone who knew about that subject, it was undoubtedly Ronja.

“I’ve got an idea…” She trailed.”...ehehehe. Let’s meet her.”

[color=1462ba]‘Very well,’[/color] Mariette said, turning around and a portal opened, leading elsewhere. [color=1462ba]‘Then let’s go.’[/color]

And so, the two went through the portal, which shut behind them and leaving nothing, for now…