[center][h1]S [color=red][i]o m e b o d y[/i][/color][/h1] [img]https://i.imgur.com/4AhRUh4.png[/img] "But who?" [color=888888]— S?[/color] [hider=Stats][Center] [b]Age[/b]: 16 | [b]Gender[/b]: Female | [b]Specialization[/b]: Time, Darkness [b]Powers[/b]: Third Eye | Regeneration | Teleportation [b]Perks[/b]: Enhanced Weapon, Enhanced Outfit, Enhanced Transformation, Martial Training, Incognito, Gifted, Awareness [b]Benefits[/b]: Top Aidoru, Cradle Supply, Connected, Retrieval [b]Drawbacks[/b]: Sadistic, Exposed, Penance [b]STR[/b]: 03 | [b]AGI[/b]: 03 | [b]VIT[/b]: 03 | [b]MAG[/b]: 03 | [b]LCK[/b]: 03 [b]STR[/b]: 11 | [b]AGI[/b]: 04 | [b]VIT[/b]: 04 | [b]MAG[/b]: 15| [b]LCK[/b]: 03[/center] [/hider][/center] At least here, there hadn't been any loud noises in the past few hours. But where was here? "Here" was likely somewhere secluded, somewhere far away from prying eyes, and somewhere quite quiet. At least until now. Suddenly and without warning, a cacophony erupted. Was that the sound of glass shattering? And yet, no broken windows nearby. [color=red]"...ust need to do it long enough to be treate--!?"[/color] What was supposed to be the corpse of a magical girl peacefully resting on a bed or table suddenly started speaking before cutting herself off prematurely, confused as she sat up to take in her surroundings. She couldn't immediately recognize them or the weird costume she was wearing. And come to think of it, she realized that she... ...didn't really know much? Trying to piece together her thoughts was difficult, it felt like there was a fog in her head that would obscure anything she tried to bring to the forefront of her mind. For some reason, she felt like she should be at a beach right now, but as for why, she wasn't sure. Well, nothing happening at a beach was that important, probably. For now, she figured she should focus on remembering what she could. Her name, for example, could be an easier starting point, so she concentrated on recalling it. No more time than a second passed before she found a name she felt a lot of positive emotion towards. [i][color=CCBFFF]Trixy?[/color][/i] Positive emotions, but for some reason that didn't seem right. And neither did other names that popped up. She wasn't a Veronica or a Veridian, nor was she an Emily or a Penny. She was a S- -amantha? -ilhouette? -hade? She was something that started with an S, but she wasn't sure what. Two of those didn't really seem like names, but they were important to her in a way she didn't currently understand, so she found it impossible to settle on any of them. [i]Maybe someone else knows who I am?[/i] The girl finally made a motion to stand up but found her legs doing their best impression of jelly. This, in turn, caused her to finally pay attention to how her body felt: so very weak, and she stifled a groan as a dulled pulse of pain shot through her body. It felt more like she was remembering pain than actually experiencing it, but that didn't mean it was pleasant. Still, she managed to pull herself back to her feet and brace herself against a nearby wall as she regained her strength. Over the next couple of minutes, she not only regained enough strength to move relatively normally, but big chunks of her memory started to return to her, the fog in her head starting to lift. At one point, she had been a contract killer whose superpowers only existed when people told exaggerated stories about him. Sure, he was efficient and clean, but he'd still die like anyone else. It wasn't until a local magical girl had unfortunately been a part of a hit of his that he ever learned about the existence of the supernatural. And even then, it was only because the Mint wasn't a fan of losing assets that still had value to them. The Mint... She had worked under them willingly, unwilling to make an enemy of them while she was still new to the idea that magic truly existed. Nowadays, it almost seems silly that someone could be so ignorant. But not only that, it's in the Mint where one of those other names comes up. Veronica. Her boss, and the person she trusts the most. In a way, it's laughable. There had never been a point in time where she trusted the Mint, but, perhaps since their first fight, she had always placed a high amount of trust in Veronica. A lot of respect, too. She was very capable, a woman who knew exactly how to get what they wanted, when they wanted, without anyone ever knowing. And unlike her, Veronica was a natural leader. She could be charismatic when she desired, threatening when she needed, and with ambition one could have envied. Unlike herself, Veronica was constantly moving forward. The girl put two fingers to her lips, the memory of the contract they made together surfacing. Veronica was her... boss? friend? rival? more? Well, whatever she [i]was[/i], she was not anymore. But that wasn't Veronica's fault, was it? Still, it was true that Veronica was important to her, and still was. She never really had to doubt her loyalty to Veronica, even if she felt her heart pull her towards someone else. And of course, that someone else was Trixy. She could almost laugh at herself for mistaking that name for her own. Could someone even be less like her if they had tried? As far as she was originally concerned, Trixy was just some lecherous idiot. Couldn't keep her lust hidden, and often screwed around. Her post count alone could attest to how well they shouldn't match. And yet, Trixy was her first date. Of course, she fully intended on breaking up after it, even had it not ended with her nearly joining the many who died that day. They weren't supposed to go out seriously. She went into it expecting the relationship to fail because they were pointless. It was supposed to just be her concrete proof that forming actual relationships was pointless, seeing people as things beyond allies, neutrals, and foes, was pointless. Veronica was the sole exception, and everyone else had to be surface-level at deepest. But that changed after she recovered from the incident at the rave. Why was it so hard to just do what she had set out to, and break up with the girl? It shouldn't have mattered how she would take it, and that second date she promised shouldn't have mattered, either. But they were causing her to pause, to avoid talking or speaking to Trixy, and to stall. To hesitate. She wasn't one to hesitate. [s]I mean read her fucking transformation incantation dude[/s] Thankfully, she was able to understand herself a bit better after having a lengthy talk with another magical girl in the park. She realized she'd been too prideful to admit, even to herself, that she was terrified of forming actual relationships due to her inexperience with them. Once she could do that, and once she could work up the courage to speak to Trixy again, she pursued that second date. From that point, she even found childishly mocking the Ascendency to be entertaining, not pointless. But of course, her story hadn't ended there. She had only just started to open up, to understand herself better. But she still had a job as Cradle's top agent, and there was some unfinished business in Penrose that caused her to stay, even when the two people most important to her left the city. Aside from a nosey little rat she had noticed and intended to deal with, the main reason she stayed behind was to attend the party that the girl from the park, Emily, had wanted her to go to. It was the least she could do after that, and so she attended. [i]...ah, that's why I felt like I needed to be at the beach. [/i] She recalled the last moment before she fell unconscious. Despite using her trump card, winning the match of Keijo was not in the stars for her. As upsetting as that was, more important, was the fact that "do or die" moves like hers did not actually care if you were able to "do" and would still make you "die" if you weren't careful. She had developed a contingency for such things... but it was her first attempt at actually performing it. She intended to place herself in Stasis as it's considerably easier and less taxing to do than normal, to buy some extra minutes for help to arrive and treat her. But that's not what happened. Instead, what happened was that she was far too injured and exhausted to execute this attempt perfectly, lost consciousness at the worst possible time, and accidentally kept herself frozen for a lot longer than she intended. She kinda wished she didn't remember that part, but at least she could remember almost everything that happened. [i]It's frustrating, but I must've been off my mark. I sincerely doubt I was like that for years or anything but I'll have to be especially careful in the future. I suppose I should be looking for Maura, and figuring out what's gone on since I failed.[/i] Strangely, however, she got a really bad feeling. [i]Why does it feel like I'm really late for something...?[/i]