[center][img]https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/6b91fbc7-d61a-4745-af8c-c244b030cfde.png[/img] [color=seagreen]“Willow annoyed me, so I took away her banner. That is the power Rei Ishiko is cursed to hold. ”[/color] [color=888888]— Rei Ishiko[/color][/center] Rei was not as far off as Acid Drop might have thought. She had been, actually, observing the spectacle from a nearby building. The spectacle being what her club had been getting up to, not the pillar of light that had inevitably drawn everyone close. She stepped off the edge, and Willow caught her as they fell. They both levitated to the ground before joining the others. Rei kept her hands in her pockets as she ducked under Nyxia’s laser beam. She gave the purple skinned girl a wink as she walked by. Willow looked at the beam, got really nervous, and then phased through it like a specter. Once she was on the other side, she pretended to wipe sweat off her brow and followed after her partner. [color=seagreen]“My ears are itching, and I don’t think it’s sunburn.”[/color] She looked over Evil Eye’s shoulder. [color=seagreen]“Trying to get a new partner, or just trying to make your old one jealous?”[/color] [color=deeppink]”Or are you putting on a show for Earthshaker?”[/color] Willow shouldered her violin. [color=deeppink]”If you are, I’ll play a tune.”[/color] She cleared her throat before starting. [i][color=deeppink]”Evil Eye and Hizuki, sittin’ in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G! First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes Shatterscape in a baby carriage!”[/color][/i] She lowered her eyelids and looked at Hizuki. [color=deeppink]”Don’t ask me how it works, magical girls are weird.”[/color] [color=seagreen]“Either way, I’m sure it’s the most productive use of your time.”[/color] Rei patted Evil Eye on the back. [i][color=deeppink]”Hizuki Doodle went to town A-riding on a pony, Stuck a mogall in her cap And called it eyeballroni.”[/color][/i] This time, Willow turned to Evil Eye with a tired expression. [color=deeppink]”There’s a less clean version of this song, but I don’t want to encourage Oros.”[/color] [color=seagreen]“Speaking of productivity…”[/color] Rei turned to the rule keeper, still smiling, still holding her hands in her pockets. [color=seagreen]“How are we doing with the light girl infestation? I see we have girls outside of the Gems showing up now. I’m very curious to see how you handle this.”[/color] [i][color=deeppink]”Evil had a little lamb, Little lamb, little lamb, Evil had a little lamb, Her hair was white as snow.”[/color][/i] Willow was just getting started. [center][img]https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/693c4ddb-c4a0-4c91-afe8-579347b62006.png[/img] [color=tomato]”Gotta protecc that smile!”[/color] [color=888888]— Suki Oyama[/color][/center] Oros continued to mope, head nearly empty. There had to be something that was making Rainbow behave like this, but hell if she could figure out what it was. The sound of laser fire caused her to lift her head and look at everyone. But it seemed like most everyone was gathered around a strange girl. A light girl. Oros’s interest was piqued. Her blood skates morphed to allow her to stand on her toes, which gave her a little bit better look at who everyone was gathered around. But form what little she could make out… maybe it was best if she kept her distance for now. Light girls were great and everything, but this one looked like she was one of [i]those[/i], and that was something Oros could skip out on today. Besides, it looked like Eyeball was trying to rizz her up, and Bedshaker was doing her best to present herself as an imposing figure. Even Bast and Boss Baby seemed to have taken interest in her. And given Nyx’s approval of the girl’s existence, Oros felt like she was liable to get laser tagged if she tried to move in that direction. But Oros’s attention was brought back to Rainbow when she started to wobble all over the place. She prepared to catch her if she fell, but her concern would ultimately prove to be unnecessary. Though before she could go back to feeling sorry for herself, Rainbow placed a hand on her shoulder and gave her the most pain filled smile she had ever seen. She truly had Hide the Pain Harold beat. [color=tomato]"Ah.”[/color] Oros flashed a smile back, which was just as reassuring as her partner's. And then Rainbow was off. Oros would stick by her side, but with her slow pace, she wouldn’t be hard to keep up with. The bloodwitch could certainly afford to do something here before going off. She had already decided that there were too many people interacting with the light girl. Like her partner would say on certain days: too many chefs in the kitchen. But she could hear Fingers racking up kills in the dark, and Nyxia seemed to be strangely isolated from the main light girl mob. She couldn’t remember ever really speaking with Nyxia, which made sense in hindsight. While she hadn’t spoken with fingers much either, she felt more accessible since she knew who she was at school. Nyxia on the other hand was a total enigma, and Oros suspected that she must have lived a town over or otherwise not been a local. She took a deep breath and skated up to the purple skinned girl. [color=tomato]"Hah! You’re really clearing them out! I can hardly keep up.”[/color] Oros shot a glance in Rainbow’s direction to make sure she hadn’t gone too far. But Oros didn’t come over here purely for small talk. She never did. There was a goal here. [color=tomato]"Say uh, you and Earthshaker get along pretty well now, right? I mean, you and her didn’t get along very well on day one. But you guys did a one-eighty or something. That’s nice, that’s nice.”[/color] She sighed. [color=tomato]"What changed?”[/color] … … … Shatterscape was left to her thoughts, and her prey. The miseria were weak and easily culled. While the origin of the light bothered Shatterscape, she had decided to make use of its attractive properties. Fortunately, she did not need to get that close to the light to encounter the miseria. She could loop around the perimeter of the area she decided not to enter and slay them by the dozens. Occasionally she would be greeted by the neon glow of Nyxia’s cannon, but it only sought out creatures of darkness and avoided her every time. But eventually, a very large wave of miseria appeared. They tumbled over each other like rolling snow in an avalanche. But what were a thousand weaklings to this priestess? Even if some of them harmed her, perhaps the physical pain would relieve her mental anguish. Either way, she wasn’t going to fall to these tar-nothings. As her fight persisted, she started to notice [i]creatures[/i] lingering in the shadows. Ape-men that were half the size of a human. They assisted the priestess with the culling of the miseria by bashing them into nearby walls, the street, and even other miseria. They stayed out of Shatterscape’s way as she dealt with her own battles. Preservation of honor, perhaps?