[b]VV[/b]

VV looked down at the girl in her arms. Cute, but it was not hard to tell that she was really clumsy or something. All those bandages, seriously? Well, it wasn't as if VV hadn't already intended to keep an eye on her at all times. There was absolutely no doubt in VV's mind, she would never be leaving this girl's side. Not even once. As she stammered and introduced herself, VV frowned and raised an eyebrow. One thing in particular stood out to her, and it wasn't the girl's name. Sure, she remembered it and all. She had to. But there was something else. It was a matter that she had to solve immediately.

"Oii..." VV gently, carefully, set Esperanta down on her feet, facing away from her, "You've got to get my name right."

She wound up with one hand, drawing it back. There was one way to drill the fact into Esperanta. It also made for a good, quick punishment. It was also amusing, so it sported many benefits in VV's opinion. She swiftly brought her hand down, smacking against a somewhat awkward place on the bandaged girl. "It's [i]VV[/i], not Vivi! There's a big difference, see?"

----

[b]Annabelle[/b]

For a few moments, Annabelle was simply frozen in shock. The man who had dragged her into the alleyway... he was gone. Well... not completely, he was further down the alley, in... in a crater? And... something had exploded, someone... someone else was there now... It was a girl. She was wearing... strange, unusual clothing that Annabelle did not recognize at all. But that wasn't the main source of her confusion, really. Everything else was. When did it get so warm? Even... even the girl's hand... it was so... so warm, but it was gentle, not like the heat that had radiated through the alley moments ago, or the impact of the kick she had leveled at the man's head. But this kind of thing... it wasn't possible! No sensible person would ever believe something like this had happened...

Even as her grip tightened on the girl's warm hand, she was stumbling over her words, trying to figure out what was even going on... or deny that any of this happened entirely. She didn't really know, the girl felt solid, the man had... definitely been there... but this kind of thing was impossible, right?

"Th-this... th-these things don't h-happen... I-I..." she trailed off for a few moments. "H-how did you... h-how..."