BrokenPromise

Darkest Before the Dawn: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

”There’s just enough of me to go around.”

— Binky

Some people might think Binky felt left out by not being at the party, but they would be thinking wrong. As delightful as a sip of eggnog with Betty would be, she hadn’t exactly enjoyed her vacation in the beech dimension. With her luck, the lower half of her body would be frozen in an ice cube, and she wouldn’t have enough mana to thaw herself out. No, it was best she remained here. It was just a shame she couldn’t be there to comfort Betty.

Just as well. Someone had to manage the hotel. Of course, that was well under way thanks to Binkies many clones. There wasn’t a lot of things for her to do. It was kind of upsetting, really. Ever since Binky became a magical girl, she had pretty much been slaving away making coins. Under veronica, she made coins, under beacon, she made coins, and even now she was working on coins. IT was a shame she couldn’t do anything else. She hadn’t ever slain a monster before, and Sammy chasing her was the closest she had gotten to a real fight. Even if the red coin helped a few people, she felt like she wasn’t doing enough. Even when Betty got captured, there was nothing Binky could do to really help her. Some outside girl ended up getting her back.

Binky picked up a red coin, examining it. She wanted so badly to use it, but Betty had already said she liked Binky just the way she was. But why? Who could possibly like someone so pathetic? Was Betty’s comment just a result of Stockholm syndrome, or was there something worthwhile for her to do here?

*knock knock*

Binky had locked herself away in her room. She was pretty sure no one had even seen her enter the door. Maybe if she just ignored it-

*knock knock*

It wasn’t Oros, she’d just invite herself inside. Same with Aria. Betty could teleport through the gap in the door. Maybe it was a confused guest? All she had to do was wait and-

*knock knock*

No, no it wasn’t possible. Had the Mint discovered her location? She lifted up her covers and prepared to climb under the bed. Before she could start, a voice called out to her.

”Binky.” The stranger’s voice caused the entire room to tremble, but she sounded like a relaxed sigh. Almost as if she was whispering directly into her ear. ”We haven’t met. But, Oros told me, you were here.” She breathed out.

Binky remembered Oros talking about a special guest. She sighed and turned towards the door. ”What do you want? I’m busy.”

”Bro.” She exhaled again. ”I want, to get paid, for my job.” there was a slow inhale from the other side of the door. ”You’re weak, Binky. But you want, to be strong, right?”

The coin forger folded her arms. ”I made the red coin, but I choose not to use it. If I want to get stronger-”

”Bro.” The stranger inhaled again. ”Transforming, is like, just one way to change, man.” Binky was pretty sure there was some golden smoke lealing into the room from under the door. ”Fast results, aren’t like, lasting, results. You can, get stronger, without coins.”

Binky was skeptical of the stranger’s words, but her interest had been piqued. As soon as she flicked the lock, the door creeked open.

”Ahhh.”

What walked in was some white haired girl with a body suit and the largest dart gun Binky had ever seen. And some stuff happened after this, but BP’s writing software took a big ol’ dump on him again. He has figured out why this keeps happening to him though, so that is good. Regardless, he’s not going to write out the rest of this scene again. We’ve got some other shizzle to frizzle!

---

“I was happy once, I’ll never do that again.”

— Lord of Change

Most of the magical girls present were hungrily sending texts to the Lord of Change. Each sent one caused a card to appear and fall into a pile. Even some late arrivals at the party were playing the game. Pac-a-fist had taken the day off to join in the magical girl fun, and someone else was sending a text as well. Even Aria’s familiar Rupy had taken out a cell phone and was texting on it.

”I can’t believe you would vote against me, Rupy. After all we’ve been through!”

The texting spree was over and done with pretty quickly. The lodge became deathly quiet as the Lord of Change lifted their head and glanced at those present.

“A total of 25 votes.” The Lord of Change cast their hand towards the cage spinner, and the pile shuffled itself into 5 neat stacks. “A number that can be divided by 5 easily enough. We will spin each of these piles separately, and a single winner will be drawn from each one.”

The cage spinner made no noise as it spun. The crackling fireplace was the only thing that could be heard as the first batch of cards were tossed. When the cage spinner stopped, the Lord of Change picked the card off the top, examined it, and placed it in a separate pile. The remaining cards turned to ashen dust and seeped through the bottom of the cage.

The second spin behaved much the same way. A single card was drawn while the rest turned to dust.

Then there was the third spin, and everything looked good until the Lord of Change pulled out a card. “While I have the ability to manifest anyone I wish in this space, not everyone wishes to be here. Katelyn’s card will be discarded for this reason.”

As the card turned to ash in the horror’s hands, Betty looked to the floor and balled her hand into a fist. But she could do little else to protest.

“Should this happen twice in a batch, all the votes will be discarded.” The remaining 4 cards were tumbled again. It felt a bit longer than last time. Some of the magical girls leaned in as the Lord of Change drew the next card. “Much better.”

The next two cage rolls were much like the first two, without the drama of an unusable card.

“We have our five winners.” The Lord of Change tossed the cards out in a perfect fan. Each one turned into a swirling portal, and someone started to step through. “Conflagrations to Eliza, Magical Dream Princess, Hilaria, Pac-a-fist, and Maribel. Your wishes have come true, if only for the duration of the party.” The Lord of Change swelled in size, gaining an extra foot or two on top of their height. “Though perhaps I am the real winner for being allowed to partake in the dark emotions permeating this party. Regardless, I bid you all adieu.” And with that, the horror vanished without a trace. Not even the cage spinner remained. All that was left was the plush that Mariette had handed it earlier.

Tetrad wandered through the first portal, wearing a pretty generic santa suit. Very tame for how she usually dresses. ”Wow, I didn’t think that would work!” Tetrad looked at everyone. ”Well hello everyone! Some fairy girl handed me a ticket to this party, so here I am!” She she casually approached the other cradle agents, but was stopped in her tracks by what happened next. The smug grin of a party girl was quickly replaced by a look of shock. ”No way…”

Cerise came out of the next portal. Needless to say, anyone who knew her knew she was very dead. Tetrad was one of the few who saw her body committed to the earth.

Next was, uh, “Justine.” We’ll just let Famished take it from there.

The fourth portal actually had two people, a boy and a girl. They looked oddly familiar. Two red-headed twins.

”Oh wow! There’s a lot of people here!” The girl said. ”You like crowded parties, don’t you?”

”Bet your ass I do!” The boy’s eyes scanned everyone with a particular hunger in them.

”Elroy!” Pac-a-fist chirped before diving into the boy’s arms.

”Gamer girl!” He chuckled. ”Yea, let’s you and I take a walk.”

The girl shrugged her shoulders. ”We you have fun! I’m going to finish decorating the garage!” And with that, the girl vanished through the portal.

The last portal contained a coven sister of some kind. I dunno, I didn’t ask a lot of questions. You do the thing, Majora.

[@everyone lolz]

=OOC stuff but I don’t wanna tipple post.

The total number of votes were 19 before adding my own characters. They were all separated from PCs and NPCs, and added to the loot tables in the order they came in. I sprinkled in my own characters which brought the number up to 22. I decided I wanted to have a nice round number for the loot tables, so I quickly added 3 of my own NPCs to give us this list.

Then I used RPG’s dice roller to get the numbers, which were 1 , 3 , 5 , 3 , 3. Because Betty voted for someone who can’t join the RP, a 4 sided dice was rolled and the result was 1

And that is how the votes were tallied.

Darkest Before the Dawn: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

"...No, not her.”

— Tonya “Mac” Murphy

Tonya “Mac” Murphy

Age: 24/11 | Gender: Female/Female | Illusion, Gravity
Body | Power of Friendship, Regeneration, Third Eye | Moirai
Coercion, Soul Jar, Martial Training, True Sight, Parasite, Gifted, Awareness, Overcity Shift, Mystic Artifact

Magical Overload, Paragon, Blessing, Gifted Item | Monster Form, Big Brother, Arrogance, Vendetta
Redirected Magic, Second Specialization | Non-Standard Limbs, Destroyer

STR: 05 | AGI: 04 | VIT: 05 | MAG: 03 | LCK: 03
+46
STR: 21 | AGI: 21 | VIT: 21 | MAG: 20 | LCK: 20

Remaining: 6 Gold, 28 Silver, 38 Bronze
Total: 10 Gold, 160 Silver, 182 Bronze

If there was something that could wipe the smile off of Mac's face, it was being reminded of an old acquaintance. It took a lot to make her frown while drinking eggnog, but seeing her name flash up on her phone was enough to do it.

Her head was filled with questions. This had to be a trick, right? There was no way she could be reunited with someone-

Hold on, why was she recieving a text at all? Could that thing sense her presence?

Mac looked to the Lord of Change, but he didn't make any movements. She wouldn't put it past an eldritch horror to know of her existence, certainly not a part of Aigorost. Sometimes she herself felt like she was beyond reality, especially with how few people she interacted with.

It probably wasn't worth fretting over. There was a chance she was standing in the AoE of a mind altering spell, which would be one way she could be influenced by a spell like this even if the horror didn't know her exact location. But what was this all about? Mac had to hear more.

---

“Money money money we like to party. I know you hate it ‘cuz I bank with everybody, ”

— Oros

Oros, Eliza, and Emily were all enjoying the eggnog as the party happened all around them. The beast girl in particular had better impulse control now that she wasn’t a monster, but holding back on what seemed like a near infinite supply of “the nog” proved to be impossible. She had drank her daily calorie requirement in eggnog alone.

“Don’t worry about Samantha or Betty, I’m sure they’ll be fine.” Oros hugged her friends closer. She still had a firm grip on both of her mugs of eggnog. “It’s easy to get blue during the Christmas season. Why do you think they celebrate so much? Just ignore everyone’s problems, that’s what they’re suppose to be doing!”

Like most people, Oros was not above listening in on conversations. It wasn’t something she did on purpose (usually) but if someone in an area mentioned one of Oros’s trigger words, it would cause her ears to perk up a little bit higher. And that had most certainly happened.

“Hmm.”

Once the offender made themselves scarce, Oros’s grin swiftly returned. “Well silver is good, but we really gotta make sure we get those gold coins!” She looked between her friends. “We need to chase down a hairbringr and do some Keijo, because I guess there wasn’t enough of that this season.” Oros took a step backwards. “Yea, we should be able to catch some floof. Keijo we could do one on one or two on two. If you girls were both interested in that, someone owes me a favor.” She looked at a very specific magical girl at the lodge. “Isn’t that right, Shion?”

@Majoras End@FamishedPants@DarkwolfX37

---

”A girl with meta tendencies? Must have copied Oros!”

— Aria

”Ara ara~ <3!”

Believe it or not, but Aria, that merchant in the overcity, was pretty excited about the prospect of earning money while playing games. Though she was talking to someone who had yet to give her name.

”I was just asking what brought you to the Christmas party. I’m not too familiar with all the girls in Penrose. As for making it ‘last longer,’ are you saying you have difficulty keeping conversations going?”

That annoying girl from earlier leaned into the conversation. “You could try reacting to stuff that’s happening around you or inner monologing. If you want to make it interesting I’m afraid that’s outside my area of expertise.”

Aria sighed when Oros retracted her head. ”Right well-” She smiled. ”There’s gold to be earned. Did you want to try keijo or catching fluff balls?”

---

”I’ve been using the wrong color code all this time REEEEEEEE!”

— Betty “Biohazard” Barton

Between getting angry at Justine and having a breakdown, Betty felt pretty empty in the moment. Like she had exhausted all of her emotions and had nothing left to feel.

Maura was definitely a more caring person than Veronica ever was, but where Veronica felt like an immovable rock that could weather any storm, Maura was a tumbleweed bouncing with the current. She did have a lot sprung on her, and perhaps Betty was being unreasonable to expect her new boss to be like Veronica. As great as Veronica was, she ultimately chose to hand everything over to Maura. Betty knew that Maura could likely read her thoughts, but it was really difficult not to focus on the differences between the two.

Fortunately, something else would occupy her thoughts shortly. There were the money earning events, which partially interested Betty, and also…

”Kate?” Betty’s trembling hand could barely hold onto the phone. With everything going on, she couldn’t react properly. Her eyes turned to the elephant horror in the room.

---

“Imagine touching Mika’s boobs and regarding her as an acquaintance/rival when she sends you a text for pizza and chill.”

— Lord of Change

Aside from the Lord of Change’s pulsing external organs, they made no attempt to address any of the questions that were aimed at it. Several seconds passed by where it might have seemed like the entity hadn’t heard anything that had been asked of it.

“Has it been a week yet?” The Lord of change looked to Mia, swinging it’s entire body in her direction. The abomination’s massive, beautiful face was just a few feet away from hers. It spoke with all of it’s voices. “Asking a horror for knowledge is often ill advised for reasons you can probably understand. Surely an entity such as myself — one that can bend causality and logic at a whim — should have no problem with the temporary resurrection of a loved one?” There was no malice or aggravation in the horror’s voice. “I have no intention of resurrecting anyone as a mere demonstration. Who would kill them once I brought them into this world? I’m taking my chances with the rule’s of magic as is. If you doubt my abilities, play to get one of your living friends here instead. It might be more productive in the long run.”

With Mia addressed, the Lord of Change looked to Hilaria. “The game isn’t too difficult to grasp. In fact…”

Everyone would recieve another text, this time it would be from a mysterious sender. Not reading the text simply wasn’t optional, as it would override anything the users were doing on them at the moment.

The last text you received was an effect of the Christmas magic that permeates this place. There are no cell towers, and they are unlikely to receive your text if you sent one.

This was simply to draw your attention to a game I’m hosting. I will explain the game now:

The texts would then end in a video URL that played what was presently happening in the lodge around the Lord of Change.

“All you need to participate is the name of someone you’d like to join the party. You then simply text their name to me, and they will be added to one of these cards.” They reached into the cage spinner and pulled out one of the cards to show everyone. “The cards will be divided into batches, and the batches will then be spun separately. A single winner will be taken from each batch, who will join the party. The only requirement is that they are part of the magical world: a patron or the servant of a patron. They need not be alive. Though do keep in mind that regardless of where they are, that is where they will return when the party ends.” The Lord of Change tossed the card back into the spinner. “I see no reason to dally here. Text your requests and I will fill out the cards. Now.”

Please read the OOC post if you plan on participating.

[@everyone lolz]

Darkest Before the Dawn: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

If you’re interested in playing the Lord of Change’s game, here’s the OOC rules.

PARTICIPATION:

-Each character can vote on a single magical entity they would like to attend the party. That includes magical girls, patrons, monsters, etc. It does not matter if they are dead or alive, though ideally it would make sense for your character to vote for them.

-Posting who your character voted for IC isn’t mandatory. In fact, I discourage it! (though you can still do it if you’d like to. uwu)

-Best way to ensure your character’s vote is counted is to send me a DM on discord. I just need to know the character(s) that voted and who they voted for.

-NPCs and PCs can vote, so long as they are at the event.

-On the 26th (or sooner if everyone miraculously votes) Voting ends and we see who joins the party.

PICKING WINNERS:

-The votes will be divided into batches, which will be turned into “loot tables”, with a number assigned to each one.

-Each loot table will be rolled once via RPG dice roller to determine which character joins the party.

-The loot tables will be created in such a way as to allow the player characters a better chance at getting their dream friend into the RP. As an example, if Platinumskink enters all of his NPCs into this, they will be regulated to a single table as to not interfere with the chances of player characters.

-If it gets big enough, the player loot table may be rolled more than once. There may be more than one player loot table!

-Should a friend get drawn that doesn’t want to play their character, that table will be re-rolled without said friend on the list. If this happens more than two times on a single list, the loot list is discarded.

-The banner for this Gacha event is “BP’s characters.” So there is a 100% chance that you’ll pull at least one BP character from this event. How this will be achieved depends on how everyone votes.

If you have any questions, I'm on discord, like, every day.

How Do You Dress Your Non-Humanoid Characters?

What my humanoid creatures wear, human, goblin, or otherwise, depends entirely on their culture, level of intelligence, and how industrious their area is.

I once played a human tribesman who didn’t wear much more than the kobald posted above. Indigenous tribes tend to dress up both out of necessity and status. The ones in colder climates will wear furs to stay warm, while the ones in warmer areas wear practically nothing. I’m sure we’re all familiar with the feather war bonnets the chieftains wear so that they can be more easily spotted by their tribesman.

I’ve also seen tabaxi (DnD’s version of a feline anthro for the uninitiated) who typically live in a tribe. But this one had grown up around industrial cities, where what you wore was both a status symbol and what separated you from the savages. They wore fine clothing to try and distinguish themselves as a member of the upper class.

So what my humanoid characters wear doesn’t depend on their race at all.

^{Also I apologize in advance if the idea was to get pictures of humanoids in interesting clothes, but I've GMed too many characters to pick just a few.}

Darkest Before the Dawn: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

“Good talk Justine! Let’s go eat some bon bons!”

”Not until after we kiss under the mistletoe!”

“Hah! Smooth move, Joker!”

— Betty “Biohazard” Barton and her good friend Justine "Joker" von Visceral

Betty was beside herself. No one could tell that by looking at her face, which was devoid of any real emotion. But they could hear her feet as she power walked across the floor. Oros might have been able to block her from following Maura, but the way her feet were moving she could probably walk over anyone. There were no three magical girls present that could contain her, and she might even be able to trample a Lord of Change in her current state.

Justine was seated just so, in front of a rectangular table that ran to either side of the lodge. The fire crackled and snapped behind her, lightly obscuring her features. At a distance she looked like a silhouette against the flames, albeit one that everyone recognized.

Justine did not look up when she heard Betty’s thunderous footsteps nor when a wooden chair was dragged across the floor. She positioned the chair between everyone else and Justine, before sitting in it hard enough to slide backwards a few inches. And then, she did nothing. With everyone behind her, Betty just stared into Justine’s eyes. Her shoulders were a bit rigid, but if no one had seen Betty’s approach, they might have assumed nothing was really wrong.

Justine kept her eyes to the table as she heard incoming footsteps, and clutched at her plushie as Betty took her seat. She then shyly looked up, to see Betty’s fiery gaze.
She closed her eyes, and slowly nodded.

”...”

Justine opened her mouth, as if to speak, but then closed it. An awkward silence passed until finally, in a meek voice, she spoke.

”I sold you to the Mint...So I could buy their services,” she stated, having returned back to looking at the table.
”I gained soldiers and information which was useful in my revenge against Mariette. For that...I’m sorry.”

A tiny sigh escaped her lips. “And of course, you don’t know what the Mint did to me. Doubt you even thought to ask.” Betty folded her arms on the table. “That was it then? I was just traded for services? You didn’t use me for anything else?”

Justine weakly shook her head. ”That's right. I knew of your affiliation with Veronica and the Crimson Cradle, which was why I didn't even consider using you as a servant. I simply handed you off, and didn't think on it...Until now."

“So where do we go from here?” Betty bit the corner of her lip. “Maura hasn’t told us anything. Are you going to work with us now? Can we really trust our backs to you?” She groaned. “Do you even trust us?”

Justine sniffled, and caressed her plushie.

”I trust in Mistress," Justine finally admitted.
"And I trust you too. It's just...I don't know how to show it. I've never trusted someone before, not even Sonia. I honestly haven't talked much with her about my duties..."

“Oh please, spare me the self pity!” Betty stood up, practically launching the chair out from under herself. “Is this really Justine von Visceral, sin of pride? You can’t even keep eye contact with one of your victims!” By this point, a few other girls had taken interest in Justine, and Betty’s side of the table was getting crowded. “Damn it!” After surveying those approaching, she looked at Justine. “Justine, I have no idea if anything you said was the truth, but you can believe me when I say that you most certainly shouldn’t trust your back to me. You have some serious ground to cover before we consider you one of us.” She turned part way from the table, only to look back in Justine’s direction. “My memories of the rave are a little hazy. I vaguely remember Veronica pushing you and I together…” She trailed off. After some thought, Betty crossed her brow. “You’re never going to get that close to me again.” Betty pushed her way past everyone who had gathered around. “Where the hell did Maura go? Is she crying too?” Betty was out the door before she even finished talking. She didn’t even react to her phone buzzing.

As Betty left, Justine could only nod, as she held back her tears.
”...I deserved that."

Darkest Before the Dawn: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

There's been some interest in the Lord of Change's game, so I'll put some deets here so that they don't get buried in memes and everyone has a chance to see them.

-The Lord of Change is giving everyone a chance to enjoy the Christmas party with a long departed friend, be they separated by distance or death.

-Everyone received a text message from one such friend of theirs. If I did not write one for you, you can assume they got one anyway. If they never knew any of my departed characters, they got one from someone else. If they don't have a cell phone, they do now. Causality warping horrors and their antics

-The friend that they wish to join the party does not have to be the one that sent them a text message, nor does it have to be one of my characters. But I'm only going to play my own characters at the party.

-The game itself has yet to be explained, but there is a roller cage present.

-The exact number of friends that will join the party will depend on the number of participants and how varied the requests are.

-The Lord of Change can be further questioned to learn more.

Darkest Before the Dawn: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

"Aw yiss. Sexy Santa suit!”

— Tonya “Mac” Murphy

Tonya “Mac” Murphy

Age: 24/11 | Gender: Female/Female | Illusion, Gravity
Body | Power of Friendship, Regeneration, Third Eye | Moirai
Coercion, Soul Jar, Martial Training, True Sight, Parasite, Gifted, Awareness, Overcity Shift, Mystic Artifact

Magical Overload, Paragon, Blessing, Gifted Item | Monster Form, Big Brother, Arrogance, Vendetta
Redirected Magic, Second Specialization | Non-Standard Limbs, Destroyer

STR: 05 | AGI: 04 | VIT: 05 | MAG: 03 | LCK: 03
+46
STR: 21 | AGI: 21 | VIT: 21 | MAG: 20 | LCK: 20

Earnings this post: Finally got around to correcting Stats per the perk/stat update, which means I get to refund some coins! (Reflected in remaining coins, not actually gaining any coins from this.)

Remaining: 6 Gold, 28 Silver, 38 Bronze
Total: 10 Gold, 160 Silver, 182 Bronze

It was that time, wasn't it?

Yes, Christmas. That time of year when people get together with their families and exchange gifts. Unless you were a magical girl. There had to be something wrong with someone who chose to spend their entire day in a dimension ruled by a perverted dolphin. One who, least we forget, tried to seal everyone inside his super sexy beach dimension to feed off everyone's good vibes. It took a special type of person to willingly subject themselves to something like that, but here Mac was.

At the very least, she had used illusion magic to give herself a suitably sexy Santa outfit. It was going to go unseen by almost everyone, but hey, it was her way of getting into the holiday spirit. Dressing up was hella fun, who cared if anyone saw her? Few people saw Santa, after all. Didn't stop them from leaving him cookies.

She used her ticket and appeared inside the lodge. There was no one she could talk to like this, but maybe she could have some nog and be merry. Mac wondered if she would find MDP more tolerable if she was drunk.

---

“Boy am I glad that ominous timer turned out to be nothing!”

— Oros

Christmas was an interesting holiday. When Oros used to be called Mika, she never really thought about it too much. It was a very special day where a man in red came down the chimney and left gifts for her. She never thought about how illogical it seemed. In truth, she didn’t care why the gifts were there. The point was that every Christmas she got something, and that made it just as good as her birthday.

Going into her teenage years, she did hear rumors in school. She distinctly remembered an underclassmen approaching her and smugly proclaiming that Santa wasn’t real. She didn’t know how to respond. Of course, it wasn’t hard to rule out Santa’s existence. Adults without children weren’t exactly cautious with hiding the truth, and even the smallest amount of scrutiny was enough to unmake the fat man. It wasn’t until much later that she discovered why this was a big deal. The reason why parents lie to their children about Santa is because it’s the most selfless way to give something. Her parents were willing to give her something even though they wouldn’t be thanked for it. Not directly at least. The child’s good will would go to some mythical figure who never existed. And maybe it was fun to see how gullible children were.

Weird.

Oros had some last minute perorations to do before her big Christmas plan(s) went into action. This was going to make her a bit late, but she was sure Eliza would forgive her.

Oros was in the same neighborhood as sanctuary. Tall, ruined buildings stood around her, and she dragged her feet behind herself. ”Ahhhh…” Being a normal magical girl working for a horror was hard. Now that her body needed sleep, Aigorost’s many voices made rest difficult. At least it made waking up early easier. ”Shit! Aria, where are you?!”

”Right here!” She popped out of a garbage can.

”You know, we really gotta get you a new face claim for the next season. That one doesn’t fit you any more.”

”I already picked one out!”

”Whah!?”

”I’m messing with you! Just playing along!” She laughed.

”Right well, screw you.” Oros folded her arms. ”Did you get the stuff?”

”But of course!” She opened her gourd and pulled out a tiny glass urn, which soon became a massive urn once it was out of her gourd. ”And you?”

Oros reached inside her shirt and pulled out a crate. ”I overestimated how well the purification potions were being protected. They practically had them laying at the front gate, just like two weeks ago.” She stashed the crate. ”Guess nobody wants to get purified. I’m pretty sure I could have just asked for a few.”

”Are the Binky clones in position?”

”Yup, how about yours?”

”Of course!”

”Suppose we can just go to the party then. Got a costume?”

”That wasn’t a serious question, was it?”

---

Oros was the first to appear in an outfit that is quite honestly too stylish and cute for words. It had a mid rift, it had thigh-highs, it had a plaid Christmas cowl with a bell attached to it, and it even had a neko mimi for people who are into that. ”Can’t wait to out cute that tater tot Emily goes everywhere with.”

”Ara ara~!”

In no time at all, Aria had appeared in an equally attention grabbing outfit, one that showed even more skin. It was a vest and skirt, with arm warmers and knee-high boots. The entire outfit seemed to glitter, and there were heart and star accessories all over it. And of course, she was wearing a Santa hat.

”Aren’t you cold in that?”

”Aren’t you?”

”I mean, yea, just a little.” Oros looked side to side. ”Seriously, Aria, you look like you wanna get laid or something.”

”Maybe I do.” She winked. ”But no, I’m just a little tired of blending into the background. People tend to take notice when you ‘open up’ a bit more. I’m sure you noticed.”

”Open up huh?” She grinned. ”Well, can’t say I disagree with you, but I’m not sure if you’re going to attract the attention you want with that.”

”You sound like my mother now!”

”What can I say? I learned from the best.”

Oros was able to pick a few faces out of the crowd. She spotted Mia, who she would be trying to avoid at all costs. After the thing at the orphanage, she wasn’t sure if she was ready to talk to her. Who the hell makes trees so big and with so many branches? She was sore for a bit after falling, and forgiving Mia for such a thing wasn’t going to happen any time soon. Penny was there, but she had decided to fuck off, so that was just as well. She noticed Shion was present, and would definitely approach her later. And then there was Eliza.

”Whoa…” Oros needed to rub her eyes. ”A pine is fine too!” She laughed at her own joke. ”Good luck Aria, I’ve got a scratching post to sink my claws into.” However, Oros didn’t get very far when Mariette approached her. She lowered her gaze onto the eyepatch girl. ”Mary?” She didn’t take her eyes off the girl as she plunged her hand into her gift bag. ”Don’t mind if I do, Mary! I hope you’ve given my offer from before a bit of thought.” When she pulled her hand back she had gotten… ”A pig(10)! Hah, I love his disproportionately big nose! And of course, everyone knows that a pig’s orgasm lasts fifteen minutes. They’re one of my favorite animals for that reason alone.” She shrugged. ”Well, I’ve got a date, so we’ll talk later.” The pig vanished into her hammerspace before she stood next to Eliza. ”Hey! Love the costume! Mind if I tuck some presents under there?” Before Oros could resume flirting/catcalling, she noticed Samantha was coming closer, with Emily and Betty in tow. ”Well if it isn’t my three favorite friends!” She spread her arms so that she could receive a hug. ”No punches this time, okay? I won’t pounce on you either!”

@Majoras End @FamishedPants

---

”For me?”

Aria reached into Mariette’s bag and pulled out…

”A tanooki! Wait, no it’s just a racoon(6). Still a lovely specimen.” She put it in her gourd. Before she could say anything more to Mariette, she had already run off.

It seemed that everyone was already forming in groups. This was unfortunate, as it had been Aria’s strategy to pick off a straggler. Despite her new occupation, Aria was actually an introvert. She preferred to toil away by herself or try to sell a single customer some awesome new product or service. Perhapse if she waited, she’d get her opening.

But salvation would come in the form of @DarkwolfX37’s characters the two newly arrived! She wasn’t sure which one to approach, but with the brown haired one walking away from the blue haired one, it seemed like she might be the friendlier of the two. And Aria needed that with so much stuff going on.

”Well hello there!” Aria slid in beside Summer. ”I don’t think we’ve met, I’m Aria rizzo, Monarch artificing! Er, guess I work for the Golden Trove now.” She extended her hand to shake. ”But enough about work, what’s your story?”

---

Unfortunately, Maura and Odin weren’t the only patrons to come to the event. A large portal opened up nearby, and something horrible tumbled through it. A conglomeration of living clay that howled like five different nocturnal animals. It did not take long for that clay to reform itself into something slightly more presentable.

“Thirsty? 😂 Only student🏊🏽 athletes 💯👌🏼 get thirsty 💦 ☝🏼we thirsty for motivation ☑️💪🏽 ROMANS 8:28 🙏🏼🙌🏽”

— Lord of Change

If Penny got a glimpse of the creature, she might notice an uncanny resemblance to Aigorost’s avatar. Anyone well read on horrors would be able to tell this was a lord of change. Simply one of a plethora of creatures that horrors have in their back pocket. Their very existence in reality can warp it in strange and unexpected ways. Even just one is enough to doom humanity or send a parallel reality hurdling towards oblivion. Magical girls do not fight lords of change, they prevent them from being summoned in the first place. But there were a few key differences with this one. For one, it was far smaller than a normal lord of change. Even if it was ten feet tall, it was just a fraction of the height they typically were. Their massive power also made passing through portals extremely difficult due to their high concentrations of mana. They usually required long rituals to be carried out to leave their dimensions and influence other worlds. The presence of a Santa hat on it’s head also didn’t go unmissed.

The lord of change prepared to speak, but stopped when Mariette approached it. “I find games of chance like this to be unsatisfying. There are no stakes, and all of the outcomes have the same basic effect. Though I appreciate an attempt at entropy.” They reached into the bag and pulled out a plush. “I do think it is commendable how the recipient does have the ability to alter their choices. As an example, this Lion(2) could have just as easily been a tiger. Not unlike the way magical girls are created, both at the whims of fate but able to steer themselves in one direction or another.” They placed the lion plush beside themselves.

Moments later, a giant cage spinner fell out of a portal beside the lord of change. “But I am not here to partake in festivities. I am here to elevate you out of despair before plunging you into it again, not unlike the tumbling cards in a cage spinner.” It waved one of its arms over the strange contraption beside them.. “Once you are all settled, perhaps you would be interested in playing a game? The winners will be united with distant friends, if only for the duration of the party. It doesn’t matter if they are separated by cities or death, I can return them here for a time.”

And with that, many magical girls would receive texts on their phones.

Lily got a text from Amber
“Arrr, what scurvy dog stole my ship!?”

Shane got a text from Regina
“Oof! Northern beacon is rough! But at least they aren’t the Ascendancy! :^>”

Aurelio got a text from Abigail
“You and Sally still dating?”

Emily got a text from Lupa
“Hey kiddo! How’s the party?”

Connie got a text from Lotus
“I hope you’ve been training, because I won’t go easy on you next time.”

Penny got a text from Mika
“We should have pizza at the party!”

Mia got a text from Faith
“Merry Christmass~!”

Deni got a text from Su
“Hello, Ronin. Are you and your sister okay?”

Maura got a text from Veronica
“We need to talk.”

Samantha got a text from Trixy
“Thinking of you and and that dynamite body!”

Sann got a text from Tetrad
“EDIT:Woops, wrong contact!”

Mac got a text from Glex
“I wait for thee, beyond reality!”

It did not seem to matter if they had ever handed their friends in question their numbers, they had been texted regardless. Those who had added their friends would see the text messages as if it came directly from their friends phone. If this was a trick, it was a very good one.

Darkest Before the Dawn: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

“I was being interviewed, and then a shadow took me into another world with my best friends...



...Could totally be the name of the next great light novel.”

— Oros

Oros walked through the forest near penrose. She was delirious and couldn’t remember where she was. She wasn’t in pain, but she had lost too much blood and wasn’t thinking straight. Just because blood wasn't necessary for her to live didn't mean it was something she could easily do without. Anyone looking on would see a pink haired zombie shambling through the tall grass. Her outfit had been cut to tatters, and her jaw was dislocated if not broken. Her groaning even sounded like something a shambling dead would do. The zombie walked under the shade of a tree, and collapsed.

Her ambushers likely had a second ambush party waiting for her at the hotel. She needed to go somewhere else, some place they wouldn’t expect her to go.

She had her connections in Penrose, but her pride wouldn’t let her use them. There was no way she’d appear before Em looking like this, nor would she reach out to Cradle. She just needed a place to lie down where she wouldn’t be attacked again.

Connie and Mia were both spending a relaxing morning in their room. Mia was playing a video game, while Connie was attempting to paint a pretty landscape on a small piece of masonite. It was a beautiful day, the woods outside their window especially picturesque, all covered with freshly fallen snow, and with the increased control she’d recently gained over her magic, the timid girl hoped that this time, her painting would remain just as wholesome as her source material. Looking out at the winter woodland, Connie couldn’t help but smile. Nothing creepy to see here, nothing dark or depressing. Just the trees, some birds flittering between the branches, some squirrels frolicking in the snow, the body, laying under the nearest tree… Wait. The body…? Taking a closer look, Connie gasped as she saw that, yes, there was a body laying in the snow under the tree just beyond their window, an exceptionally bruised and bloody body, to be specific.

“Mia!” Connie cried out, startling her friend. “T-Th-There’s a b-b-body out there!”

“What?!” Mia exclaimed, rushing over to join her friend by the window. “Holy shit…” she whispered as she, too, caught sight of the mangled young woman.

“W-We h-have to h-help her!” Connie insisted, while trying to open the window.

“Wait a minute, Connie!” Mia instructed. “We don’t know what did that to her,” she explained. “We need to be careful, and we should definitely transform first.”

“O-Okay!” Connie agreed, before giving voice to her incantation. “C-Come on, Mia!” she added the moment her transformation had concluded. “L-Let’s go!”

Upon reaching the injured girl, Gaia knelt down to get a better look at her wounds, while a trembling Connie stood beside her. The masked girl gasped when she’d gotten a better look at the unconscious young woman. “I-Is t-that Oros?!” she asked, the eyes of her mask going wide.

“It certainly appears to be, little sister,” Gaia agreed as she continued to assess the girl’s injuries and apply botanical bandages where she could. “I can only imagine what did this to her, and I do not wish to meet them any time soon.”

Gaia really didn’t like the idea of bringing someone as rude and chaotic as Oros into their home, but at the same time, she knew they couldn’t just leave her out here either… And so, carefully picking up the pink-haired young woman, the verdant magical girl placed her on one of the leafs of the beanstalk the pair had used to descend from their room. Folding around her like a pea in a pod, the leaf rose upward to slip through the open window, with Connie and Gaia following close behind.

---

“W-What do we d-do now, Mia?” Connie asked as the leafy pod detached from the stalk and settled down on the bed. “W-We d-don’t really have h-healing p-powers…” she added, while nervously fiddling around with her hair. “S-So s-should w-we c-call a h-hospital? O-Or m-maybe Ronin and M-Miko?”

"That won’t be necessary." With some effort, Oros sat upright. She took hold of her chin and pushed her jaw back in place. "I should heal on my own. I don’t have health insurance and I doubt a hospital will accept a company credit card." She made no attempt to wipe the blood off the corner of her mouth. Oros’s eyes scanned the room. "I don’t think you need to worry about what attacked me. The things that want to kill me often don’t bother with others. Probably because I’m too hot to handle. A walking fire hazard. Taking me into your home is probably the worst thing you could have done for your own safety."

“O-Oh, good! Y-You’re awake!” Connie exclaimed happily, her mask forming a big smile as she held her clasped heads over her heart. “I-I was s-so worried!”

"Why, you’re my, whats her tits? Yea! You’re Faith’s friends, right? Did any of you get a chance to spin the bottle? My memory is a little hazy." That was when her eyes fell squarely on Connie, then Mia.

“O-Oh! U-Umm…” she mumbled, slightly flustered by Oros’ s sudden change of subject. “Y-Yes, w-we’re f-friends with Faith! A-And, uh, n-neither of us g-got to s-spin the b-bottle at M-Miss Sakura’s m-movie n-night… B-But we still had a l-lot of f-fun!” she added, hoping Oros didn’t think she was sad about missing out.

“Do you have any idea who attacked you?” Gaia asked, getting straight to the point. Her serene voice held a slight edge that wasn’t normally present, Oros’s comment that their course of action had probably been the worst possible bringing no small amount of anxiety to even this most tranquil of magical girls.

"You bet I do! And that’s exactly why the less said about the subject, the safer we’ll all be." Oros looked back to Connie as a bottle appeared in her hand. She placed it between the young girl and herself. "Regardless, with just a few of us playing, there should be more opportunities for you to go. In fact, why don’t you start?" Oros was grinning ear to ear.

“U-Umm, b-b-but i-if it’s j-just t-the t-t-three of u-us….” Connie stammered as Oros proceeded to start up an impromptu game of spin the bottle on their bed.

“Do you really think it’s wise to be doing that right now?” Gaia asked pointedly, her eyes narrowing as she glared at Oros. “If we are in danger merely by being in your presence, would it not be best if you left? Especially seeing as how you seem to be fully recovered.”

Oros looked down at her ruined body. Her broken arm, the cuts all along her torso, her tattered uniform that was grounds for indecent exposure. That was without addressing how she was fairing on the inside. The only reason why she hadn’t bleed all over the bed was because there wasn’t enough blood in her body to bleed from the start. She hadn’t even been breathing, save to get enough air to speak.

"I mean-" She looked at Gaia. "I’m not uninjured. I’ve still gotta regrow my heart and a few other organs. Pain just doesn’t bother me that much. In my current condition I’m pretty sure even you could do me in pretty easily." She tipped her head back. "Why aren’t we fighting? I mean, I know why I’m not, but you seem to hate my guts. Is there a reason you wanna keep me alive?"

For a few moments, Gaia simply stared at Oros, even as Connie gave a shocked gasp at the revelation that the pink-haired girl would need to regrow her heart. Finally, she gave voice to a tired sigh. “Look, Oros, I may find you more than a little annoying, but that doesn’t mean I want to see you dead. Besides,” she added, “My dearest Connie has an exceptionally kind heart, and she couldn’t bear to see anyone die, especially not if she had a chance to save them. And so, here we are.”

Oros nodded with a grin smug enough to imply that Mia’s answer was expected. "And I have a soft spot for girls like Oni, so you’ll just have to accept that I’m truly withholding information for your safety." She groaned and cast her head back. "Not in the mood for spin the bottle? Guess the outcome is a little predictable when it’s only three people. Not to mention I don’t see it spinning very well on the bed." As if to demonstrate this, she gave the bottle a spin. It didn’t even make half a turn before rolling back towards Oros. "Are you going to the Christmas party, Oni?"

Upon hearing Oros’s reply Gaia simply gave their guest a look that said “don’t you dare hurt Connie”, before allowing the pink-haired girl to move the topic of discussion to the upcoming party in Dan’s dimension.

For her part, Connie simply stared at Oros in confusion as the girl started talking about someone named “Oni”. It took a moment for the poor girl to realize who that might be, although she was still rather uncertain about the whole thing.

“M-Me…?” the masked girl asked, pointing a trembling finger at herself. “U-Uhh, y-yeah! I-I t-think i-it’ll be a l-lot of f-fun! A l-lot of my f-friends are g-going, a-and… H-Have you g-gotten an i-invitation yet?” she asked Oros, unsure if the somewhat strange girl had any friends to give her one.

"Yup!" She held up her ticket. "Seems we’ll be seeing a bit more of each other. I wonder if they’re cool with spinning bottles?" She opened her hand, and a phone appeared in it. "I can have someone pick me up if my staying here is a problem. I just don’t trust myself to get very far. Kinda feel like shit, you know?" She looked at Mia. "What do you think?"

Gaia sighed in resignation. “I think you can stay here,” the verdant girl told Oros. “At least until you’re fully healed up,” she added. “And as long as you promise to behave yourself.”

"I have been making an effort to keep the swearing down." She reclined in the bed a little. "But I’m trying to remind myself I’ve got a date for the party, but this green lady’s standing in front of me, and she’s not wearing a lot. It makes things hard."

Gaia rolled her eyes at Oros’s “compliment”.

“In that case,” she told their guest, placing her hands on her hips. “Allow me to make things easier.”

The next instant, there was a flash of emerald light and the nymph-like demigoddess was replaced with a short-haired tomboy, wearing considerably more clothing.

“I’m gonna go back to my game,” Mia said as she sat down on the other side of the bed. “If ya wanna sleep, try not to snore too loud. If not… I dunno, maybe you can paint some pictures with Connie?”

“I-If y-you’d like to, I-I’d be m-more than h-happy to s-share!” Connie added, transforming back herself and gesturing to her various supplies.

The weakened magical girl was so stunned by Mia’s transformation that she hadn’t responded to Connie's query right away. Her wide eyes tracked her all the way to the corner of the bed. "Not bad." By that point, Oros had gained enough self control to look back at Connie. "Paint, in bed? Eh, maybe if you have a few pencils I can just kinda sketch something." Her eyes rest on Connie’s innocent expression.

“W-Well, uh,” Connie mumbled, embarrassed about having forgotten that Oros probably couldn’t stand in her injured state. “I-I g-guess you c-could s-sit on the e-edge of the b-bed a-and use t-this s-spare easel… B-But, um, i-if you w-want to use c-colored p-pencils, I have s-some of those, too!” she added, before reaching into her art supply bag and producing a package of colored pencils and a small sketchbook. “H-Here y-you go!” she told Oros happily. “I r-really h-hope you e-enjoy it, a-and I c-can’t wait to see w-what you m-make!”

The beastly girl slid her knees forward, causing the blankets and what was left of the giant pod to bunch up around her waist. She pulled everything up to her neck with her good arm before swinging her legs off the edge of the bed. Oros was almost swaddled in blankets, with only her head and arm sticking out. She had been careful to not disturb the patch of blanket that Mia was sitting on, but they were sitting pretty close to each other.

"Been a hot second since I tried to draw something." her fingers glided over the colored pencils. Her fingers came to rest on the black one, which she pulled from the case. "Think I'm gonna draw a fight scene. What about you, Oni?" Oros was already tracing in stick figures.

“I-I’m g-gonna t-try and f-finish my l-landscape,” Connie replied. “I-It’s j-just such a b-beautiful day, I w-wanted to see if I c-could capture it w-without my m-magic influencing t-things…”

"Whatever makes you happy, kid. Whatever makes you happy." Oros took her pencil and started to go to town on the white sheet she had been given. Unlike Connie, Oros was drawing inspiration from her mind’s eye. A difficult feat to pull off, one that often has disastrous consequences when attempted by a novice. She certainly seemed like she knew what she was doing. Oros was holding the side of the lead against the page rather than the point. This produced a light, yet broad stroke with every pass of her pencil. She was just establishing the scene right now, drawing in stick figures and buildings. "By the way, why do you stutter all the time? "

“O-Oh, u-umm, i-it’s b-b-because I-I’m a-always s-so n-n-nervous around o-other p-p-people,” Connie explained, her embarrassment ironically causing her to stutter even more. “I-I’m s-s-sorry if it b-bothers y-you…” she added, sounding a bit depressed.

“She’s just really shy,” Mia added, not bothering to look away from her game. “And she scares rather easily, as I’m sure you’ve probably noticed. Incidentally, she doesn’t stutter nearly as much when she’s in a low-stress environment with people she’s comfortable with.”

"Is that so?" Oros looked at Connie. "You know if you’re scared of her, you can always come to my place."

“O-Oh, n-no!” Connie hastily clarified for Oros, holding her hands up as if to stop that train of thought from going any further. “M-Mia d-doesn’t m-make me n-nervous at all! S-She’s m-my best f-friend in the w-whole world! B-But, uh, t-thanks for the offer…” she added after a moment, the poor girl being just a bit too innocent to fully grasp the implications of what Oros was suggesting.

The same couldn’t be said of Mia, although the tomboy decided to keep quiet about it for now. After all, she didn’t want to upset Connie if she could help it, and there would be plenty of opportunities for her to “discuss” the matter with Oros when Connie wasn’t around.

"Oh, in that case, she can come too!" Oros grinned. What she had illustrated on her canvas was a single stick figure holding a sword-like weapon opposed by several other stick figures. This might not have impressed anyone, but Oros was drawing three-dimensional shapes over the stick figures to give them form. Clearly she wasn't done. "I’ll take you both at once! I mean, only if you get a luxury room. Otherwise I’d have to split you guys between the economy rooms. They’re all filled up." She traced two rather large circles on one of the stick figures, only to notice her error and erase it. Then she drew them even bigger. "I don’t know if you heard, but I run the Golden Trove now. So if things ever get bad here, I can set you up with a room." She chuckled.

“O-Oh, w-wow!” Connie exclaimed when Oros revealed that she now owned a hotel. “T-That’s r-really cool! B-But, uh, w-we’re pretty h-happy here, f-for the m-moment,” she added. “B-But, um, m-maybe w-when Mia t-turns eighteen…?”

“Maybe,” the tomboy noted dryly.

Oros’s grin only grew wider as they conversed. "and what happens when she turns eighteen? She’ll still look like a kid, as magical girls don’t physically age. Not like any of us would age even if we could, given how long it takes for a week to pass in this here Realm of Patrons."

“I’d like to think I can pass for eighteen, at the very least,” Mia replied. “Besides, this place has all my records,” she continued. “I think they’ll know when I become too old to stay here. I mean, I could probably hack the system, but that’d only really buy me a couple more years, before people finally caught on. And honestly? I’m not a fan of staying here any longer than I have to.”

"Typical child, so eager for the freedoms of adulthood without understanding the responsibility that comes with it." Oros closed her eyes and nodded at Mia. "…Is what my mother would have said. But she’s dead as dirt, so you don’t have to worry about that. To be fair though, I think most magical girls are deserving of their childish appearance. OH! and I was just on the radio. You guys listen to that, right?" She looked at the floor. "P-people still listen to radios, right?"

“T-The radio?” Connie asked after it was brought up. “U-Uh, y-yeah, w-we l-listen to that s-sometimes,” she confirmed with a nod. “B-But, uh, I d-don’t r-really like l-listening to t-talk shows…” she added in a more sullen tone. “T-The p-people they h-have on c-can be k-kinda m-mean…”

“I’ll sometimes listen to Pac-a-Fist,” Mia added. “But only if her guests aren’t too obnoxious.”

She pointed at Mia. "You really should have tuned in to her last show, because I was on it! And I’m so far removed from obnoxious it’s freaky. Like you put me next to an obnoxious person and they start behaving better. My mom said I was great with kids for that reason." She turned back to her drawing. "Anyway, it’s a shame I didn’t get to finish, but she said I could come on again later, so you’d better better tune in then!"

Oros was at the final stage of her drawing, where she was starting to draw clothing and accessories over the three-dimensional forms she had created. Many novice artists try to draw this step first and skip all the groundwork, but this always results in an amateur drawing unless done by a true master of the craft. That wasn’t to say Oros’s pencil work was flawless. She had made small errors in the construction of her characters which were starting to show themselves in the final piece. The lone swordwoman’s arms looked a little long. And her six opponents were crammed together so tightly it was hard to tell where some of them began and ended. But Oros hadn’t put down her pencil yet.

“O-Okay!” Connie replied with an excited smile. “W-We’ll d-definitely t-try to! R-Right, Mia?”

“Yeah, sure thing,” the tomboy muttered.

"I can understand your reservations though. This place has some huge comph energy to it. There’s no nearby monsters, no magical girls jumping on rooftops, it’s kinda nice. It’s simple." She had finally taken up the colored pencils and was using them to color in her piece. "I dunno, there’s not a lot in Penrose anymore. I guess you can participate in the Mint or Beacon’s war on each other, or hide, or respawn some time, maybe following Faith north is what’s best for you kids. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind the company." She chuckled. "I don’t know why I’m staying here any more. It’s not super relevant to my patron’s needs. I guess I know I won’t have the same sense of purpose elsewhere."

“Y-Yeah, it is kinda n-nice not h-having to w-worry about all that,” Connie agreed after Oros complimented their room. “B-But, t-there are also an a-awful lot of b-bullies here…” she added, her soft voice taking on a more somber tone. “A-And that’s n-not so nice… M-Mia’s a-always protected me f-from them, b-but she’s g-gotten in a l-lot of t-trouble because of it, t-too…”

“Ah, it’s no big deal,” Mia brushed the concern off with a shrug. “I mean, what sorta big sis would I be if I didn’t protect you from those creeps? I just wanna make sure we end up someplace where Connie’s safe,” she told Oros. “That’s all I really care about. At first, that meant gettin’ the fuck outta this shithole of a city, but now that we’ve made so many new friends here, I’m not so sure anymore…”

"It’s good to have options, never know when one of them is going to die on you." Oros set down a pink pencil and admired her work. It was no show piece, but for something that was done to pass the time, it was an impressive scene. A pink haired girl with a katana was rushing down a group of other girls. Most of them appeared to be wearing hoods, though they also could have been wearing religious habits. "Finished!" She signed her work with a “M.F.” before looking at Connie. "How did yours turn out?"

“P-Pretty good!” Connie replied happily. “I-It’s a little r-rough, s-since it was only a q-quick study, b-but, look!” she instructed, pointing at the canvas with an overjoyed smile. “I-It d-doesn’t have any c-creepy things in it! I-It’s just a painting of a beautiful winter’s day, j-just like I hoped it would be!”

“That’s great, Connie!” Mia told her, pausing her game and giving her friend a big hug. “I knew you could learn to control your magic if you worked at it! I’m really proud of you, little sis,” she added as Connie nuzzled her shoulder affectionately. “And I’m really happy for you, too.”

As the two embraced Oros tipped her head and smiled. "Yea, I’m gunna have thoughts about this later. The picture I mean! It's wonderful!" She looked at her wrist. "The Doctrine Of Combat Supremacy doesn’t say anything about the rate in which magical girls recover mana, but I’m gunna say a few hours of rest and a relaxing picture is enough for a transformation." She clasped her hand over her chest, and then something started to grow inside it. This wasn’t something that Connie or Mia could see, but they could hear it. Her heart beat seemed to echo off the walls of their room as she visibly healed before their eyes. The blanket she was swaddled in fell off of her shoulders. Her outfit was mending, as were the cuts all over her torso. With a snap, her broken arm mended together, and she was finally strong enough to stand up again. "Ahhhh ~ !" she cast the blanket aside before turning to the two untransformed girls. Without looking away from them, a red vile appeared in Oros’s hand, which she quickly downed. In a puff of red smoke, Oros’s black garbs had been replaced by her cat hoodie, and her eyes had turned from red to green. "That’ll keep the pesky lust from telling me what to do!" She nonchalantly pointed at her picture. "You guys wanna hang that somewhere? Something like that really needs to be on display, you know? I could hang it in the hotel, but if you think it could inspire kids to do better, it belongs here."

Connie was a bit surprised by how rapidly Oros was able to heal herself, but she was very happy for the pink-haired girl, nonetheless.

“I’m r-really glad you’re f-feeling better!” Connie told her. “A-And t-thank you for the picture!” she added, surprised that Oros was offering to let them keep it. “I-It’s really n-nice, a-and I think it’ll m-make a great m-memento of your visit!”

“Yeah, I guess it ain’t half bad,” Mia conceded. Truthfully, she preferred actions scenes to the peaceful landscapes Connie liked to paint, but there was no way she was gonna tell Oros that. “And I think there’s a perfect place for it in the closet,” she added with a smirk.

Oros raised an eyebrow. "The closet? Pretty sure I came outa there a long time ago."

“Mia….” Connie chided her friend.

“Hey, I was just messin’ around,” Mia replied. “Honestly, I think the best place for it is over the bed.”

“Oh! T-That sounds great!” Connie agreed. “T-That way, w-we’ll think of you w-whenever we see it!” she told Oros, giving the girl a bright smile.

"Over the bed? That’s a pretty prime spot. I’m not even going to play an inuendo there, and you all know I could." She pulled her hood over her head. "Guess I’ll see you at the Christmas party. You kids take care! " She waved to everyone with a wink before stepping backwards out the door.

“B-Bye, Oros!” Connie said with a wave. “P-Please stay s-safe out there!”

“See ya,” Mia added. “Oh, and Oros?” she asked after noticing the pink-haired girl’s choice of exit. “Would you mind leaving through the window? I really don’t wanna explain to anyone what a strange girl was doing in our room.”

Oros had only backed part way out before stopping. ”What? Don’t get many adorable pink haired girls with stylish clothes this way?" She stepped back into the room. "Fiiiiine, I’ll make use of my cat like agility." She folded her arms as she walked past Mia. "You’d better not be doing this just to check out my moves though."

The window slid open easily enough. There was a large tree outside with a branch that extended out towards Mia’s room. Typical setup to allow boyfriends easy access to a teen daughter’s house or to allow a teen protagonist to slip past their adult guardians. It always annoyed Oros at how contrived the whole thing was. Windows were designed to let light into a home, so people would seldom grow trees right in front of them. Even looking at things from the tree’s perspective this didn’t make much sense. Trees naturally seek out light, so they are more likely to grow over a house instead of towards its shaded windows. But Mia could make corn-cob-rockets, so her having a tree that seemed to defy logic and reason made sense in this case.

The beast girl hopped onto the branch, which bounced under her weight. Mia had made the tree plenty strong, so Oros had nothing to worry about. She hugged the tree as best as she could, stepped off the branch, and started to slide down.

Fast.

Very very fast.

It seemed that Oros was not as well as she initially seemed. Yes, her body was fully mended, but her mana reserves must have been too low to even manage claws for holding onto the tree with. One of her legs caught a tree branch, and she was sent cartwheeling through the air, only to have another branch strike her in the stomach. She bounced from branch to branch, swearing with each impact. At least every branch she hit helped to soften her fall.

After descending about four floors, Oros’s final drop put her face first into a mound of snow. Her body trembled as she sat upright. She didn’t have to say “ow,” anyone looking at her could feel what she was going through. "That is cold!"

”Good heavens!” One of the caretakers must have heard all of Oros’s shouting, because a portly woman came to Oros’s aid, ”What happened? Are you alright?”

Oros coughed before standing up. "Yea, Mia let me sleep in her bed. Did wonders for my ruined body."

”…Excuse me?”

"Wha? Oh!" Oros placed her hands on her hips. "I’m fine, yes!"

The portly woman folded her arms. Oros was caught squarely in her shadow. ”Did you try to sneak into Mia’s room?”

"Did I? I don’t think I know anyone by that name."

”You just mentioned her name!”

”Wait! Yea! I have a dog named Mia! Here kitty kitty kitty!" Oros used her superhuman strength to hunt for her dog as fast as she could. Certainly faster than some portly orphanage worker could follow. With Oros gone, the woman turned her ire to the window up above, and anyone who might be looking out of it.

Darkest Before the Dawn: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

”Activity done, sir. Activity done!”

— Tonya “Mac” Murphy

Tonya “Mac” Murphy

Age: 24/11 | Gender: Female/Female | Illusion, Gravity
Body | Power of Friendship, Regeneration, Third Eye | Moirai
Coercion, Soul Jar, Martial Training, True Sight, Parasite, Gifted, Awareness, Overcity Shift, Mystic Artifact

Magical Overload, Paragon, Blessing, Gifted Item | Monster Form, Big Brother, Arrogance, Vendetta
Redirected Magic, Second Specialization | Non-Standard Limbs, Destroyer

STR: 05 | AGI: 04 | VIT: 05 | MAG: 03 | LCK: 03
+49
STR: 21 | AGI: 21 | VIT: 21 | MAG: 20 | LCK: 20

Earnings this post: Zilch

Remaining: 3 Gold, 28 Silver, 38 Bronze
Total: 10 Gold, 160 Silver, 182 Bronze

Mac usually felt pretty good after a shower. But it didn’t always wash away all of her problems. These days, it was becoming less and less efficient at doing so.

The christmas party wasn’t too far off now, and she had no way to join it. Getting in should be easy, technically. All someone had to do was hand her a ticket, one of which could replicate indefinitely to whoever held it. But in order for her to receive one, that would require her to exist as a person. To lower her illusion magic and be noticed by the outside world. That was not in the cards for her. Veronica was no longer in Penrose, and visiting Aria was too risky. Less because of Aria herself and more because of the company she was with. She did not want to risk a run-in with Oros at this time. Certainly not for a party. But that was fine, really. There was no reason for her to really go there herself.

But it would have been fun to go.

At the very least, it seemed like Penrose was doing better. The city was starting to see a turn around economically.

Mac had sat down on a park bench to watch people come about. It was still cold weather, so there weren’t a lot of joggers or people playing with their dogs. But seeing anyone out here was better than what it had been.

As Mac continued to take in the sights of the wintry park, the sound of cheerful humming would reach her ears, punctuated now and then by a stream of sweet giggles. The source of the lighthearted tune soon revealed itself as a smiling girl with pink twintails and wearing a stereotypically “cute” magical girl outfit. A trail of glitter and sparkles followed in her wake as she skipped and twirled her way along the path, seemingly without a care in the world.

Stopping in front of Mac’s bench, the whimsical girl gave voice to a squeal of delight as the lamp post next to it turned on, revealing that the pole had been wrapped in a string of colorful Christmas lights.

“Ooooh~! Sooo pretty witty~! (giggle!)” the girl declared in a sickeningly sweet and annoyingly high-pitched voice. “Magical Dream Princess just wuvs Christmas Wistmas lights~! (giggle!)” she added as she bent over to inspect them in more detail.

Mac already had goosebumps. You don’t walk out into the winter straight after taking a shower without feeling something. But they felt a bit tighter now, and the hair on the back of her neck was standing up to. She was fortunate it was too late in the day for coffee, as she might have been wearing it if MDP had surprised her earlier in the day. With a deep inhale, the winter air filled her lungs.

But wait, was this an opportunity?

MDP was one of the girls that had one of those tickets! All she had to do was get her to share one with her and she’d be all set. Of course, she had to do so in such a way that she didn’t reveal herself. More importantly, word about her couldn’t spread. She had to do this carefully, less her cover get blown over at a christmas party. Mac had to laugh though. For all of her abilities, everything that she had done, talking to people was something she was a little out of practice with. But it was something she used to be good at, so, what should she do?

Mac stood up and walked just out of sight. She walked around the back of a tree and, upon coming out the other side, she looked like an entirely different person. Someone who could be a magical girl, but otherwise unremarkable. A teenager with a yellow jacket and a bob cut. She grinned a bit before approaching MDP, still unsure what she was going to say to get a copy of that ticket. Perhaps an icebreaker was a good way to start.

”They’re great, aren’t they?” Mac’s delivery was a little late, but she hoped the girl wouldn’t notice. She had just mentioned the lights a moment ago. ”Christmas is my favorite time of year, but decorating is my favorite part. All the lights go up, and everything shines like the stars!” It had been a while since Christmas was anything more than one of the holidays where she treated herself to a dozen donuts, but that was really good for some people. It certainly was to Mac.

MDP whirled around with an overjoyed smile upon hearing the “new arrival’s” comments.

“Like, it’s Magical Dream Princess’s most favorite wavorite timey wimey of the yearsie wearsie, too~! (giggle!)” she agreed. “Like, she can’t decoratey watey anythingy wingie herselfy welfy, so, like, she wuvs to look at all the pretty witty decoration wations around the city witty instead~! (giggle!)” the whimsical girl explained, jumping up and down in barely contained glee.

Even though Mac was covered in illusion magic, there was little she could do from preventing her eyes from squinting in pain with every syllable MDP spoke. ”W-wonderful.” Mac extended her hand. ”I’m Ashley. What’s your name?”

Although it didn’t seem possible, MDP’s smile grew even wider when the new girl introduced herself.

“Like, it’s super duper nicey wicey to meet you, Ashley Washley~! (giggle!)” MDP replied, shaking the girl’s offered hand perhaps a little too enthusiastically. “And, like, Magical Dream Princess’s namey wamey is Magical Dream Princess~!”

”Ah! Right, a fellow magical girl!” The brunette pounded a fist into her palm. ”Ashley is what the public calls me, but my friends and enemies know me as, bum-bada-bum!” After some campy effects went off around Mac, just enough to conceal her form, she had changed yet again. Her bron bob was a brilliant red, and she looked like a pilot for a space craft in a sci-fi show. ”The Knight of Tonight!” A futuristic steering wheel appeared in her hands, as she couldn’t think of a more suitable weapon for this dubious, thrown together identity. You’re the first Magical girl I’ve met since I arrived in Penrose, ah, can we be friends?”

“Wowie zowie~!” MDP exclaimed, her eyes sparkling with childish wonderment. “You’re a magical wagical girl, too~?! Like, Magical Dream Princess thinkie winkies that’s totally wotally amazing wazing, and, like, she just wuvs your super duper spacey wacey outfit woutfit, and she’d, like, super duper totally wotally wuv to be your friendy wendy~! (giggle!)” she added, giving the girl a possibly bone-crushing hug.

It was fortunate that Mac was one of the more Durable Magical girls in Penrose. However, her durability wasn’t really the issue with being this close to MDP. It was that she needed to use gravity magic to simulate the feel of her outfit to anyone close enough to touch it. Normally, this wouldn’t be a problem as Ashley’s costume was more or less as form fitting as her true form. Though with MDP hugging her so tightly, simulating the bulkier parts of her suit became a necessity to keep up the illusion. Would MDP notice otherwise? It wasn’t something she was willing to chance. Moreover, MDP was even louder in such close proximity.

”A-and I think you look positively stunning as well! Like the stars even!” Mac was unsure if she wanted to wrestle herself out of MDP’s grasp. ”So! Um, yea.” Her arms were pinned at her sides. ”The hug was very nice, but I don’t think I can feel my hands.”

“Golly wolly! Magical Dream Princess is sooo super duper sorry worry!” the whimsical girl apologized while quickly releasing her new friend. “Magical Dream Princess just wuvs making new friendy wendies sooo much, she guesses wesses she got kinda winda carried away…” she noted with a small frown, before quickly brightening up once more. “‘Cause, like, making friendy wendies is, like her most super duper favorite wavorite thingie wingie in the whole wide worldsie~! (giggle!) Friendy wendies~! Friendy wendies~! Yay~! Yay~! Yay~!” she cheered while doing a silly dance around the “Knight of Tonight”. “Friendy wendies~! Friendy wendies~! Hip hip horaaaay~! (giggle!)”

While Mac was not oblivious to MDP’s eccentricities, she had underestimated how pleased she would be to get a new friend. This was a bit of a problem though. There was the chance that MDP would try to find her new friend at the party, and had powerful connections she could make use of to that end. This could alter the foreseeable future in ways none of her previous actions had. In hindsight, she should have just asked MDP if she had a spare ticket because she lost hers, and then broke away as soon as possible. Mac might have been the master of going unseen, but being forgettable was not one of her stronger skills. But she was able to think of something while MDP was parading around her. ”Which reminds me, I heard about a Christmas party for magical girls. You wouldn’t happen to have a ticket for that party I could have, would you?.”

“Golly wolly~!” MDP exclaimed, bringing her little dance to an abrupt end. “Magical Dream Princess totally wotally forgot about that~! ‘Cause, like, her memory wemory is, like, super duper terrible werrible when she’s Magical Dream Princess~! (giggle!) And, like, she totally wotally does~! Heresie~!” the bubbly girl declared, holding out an invitation to her new friend. “Oh~! And, like, this invitation wation thingie wingie is magical wagical, so you can, like, make copy wopies for all of your other wother friendy wendies, too~! (giggle!)”

Mac pinched the ticket and dragged it out of MDP’s hand, slowly, like she was handling a smelly sock or someone’s underwear. ”Thanks…” After stashing the ticket away, she folded her arms. ”However, Magical Dream Princess, I do not think I will be able to make much use of the ticket’s ability to duplicate.”

“You won’t?” MDP asked with a frown, while tilting her head in obvious confusion. “Like, why not?”

Mac smiled, but it was bitter sweet. ”Well, it’s just that I can’t have too many people learn about me.” Her eyes half closed. ”I’m not exactly real. I’m, well, a make-believe friend.” She sighed before placing her hands on her hips. ”If too many real people learn about me, I could disappear forever. So it’s important that I only ever talk to other make-believe people. Though you’re an exception, because I’m part of your imagination.” Mac raised a finger to her lips. ”Which is also why I’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell anyone about me. Because I might not be able to show up at the party otherwise.”

Did Mac go overboard with that one? It sounded like it might work when she thought about it, but now that she actually said it out loud, no one could possibly believe that. Right?

“Wowie zowie~! You’re an imaginary waginary friendy wendy~?!” MDP gasped in childish wonderment. “Like, Magical Dream Princess has had lots of those beforesie~! (giggle!) But, like, she wasn’t supposed to, ‘cause Daddy Waddy says imaginary waginary friendy wendies are, like, super duper childish wildish, so she had to be extra wextra careful wareful to keep them a super duper secret wecret, so, like, Ashley Washley can count on Magical Dream Princess to not tell anybodywody about her at allsie~! (giggle!)” the whimsical girl declared with a playful salute. “Like, Ashley Washly will be Magical Dream Princess’s super duper special wecial secret wecret imaginary waginary friendy wendy, and that’s, like, her super duper special wecial pinky winky promise womise~! (giggle!)”

The bitter sweet smile Mac was faking before became a whole lot more genuine as she listened to MDP go on. She couldn’t remember much of her own childhood, but there had been times where her own parents had told her she couldn’t do things. Their requests that she decided were less reasonable she still did, just less openly. On more than a few occasions she purchased a candy bar from a vending machine, despite her parents being concerned about her weight. She’d also stay up late, and watch shows her parents deemed inappropriate. Though her parents had never attempted to restrict her creativity. While Mac couldn’t remember any of her imaginary friends, she didn’t remember ever being told she couldn’t have them. Mac had fully planned on never using this ridiculous cover identity again, but maybe, just maybe she could show up for MDP from time to time.

When she felt like she could tolerate her antics.

”Alright.” While “Ashley” extended her hand to receive the pinky promise, Mac had stepped away from her illusion. ”Pinky promise it is.” Once their pinkies locked together, the knight of tonight’s form flaked away. ”See you at the partyyyyyyyyyyy!”

Giggling with delight, MDP wrapped her pinky around “Ashley’s” and gave it a shake. “Okie dokie~!” the whimsical girl called out once her new friend had departed. “Bye bye for nowies~! (giggle!)” she added with a happy wave, before setting off down the path once more, cheerfully humming as she skipped along.

What an unusual character. It was a shame her voice was so grating, as Mac might have liked to talk with her a bit longer. But it was probably for the best she didn't get too attached to her. MDP was just a mark after all. A means to an end. With a sigh, she brought the ticket up in front of her face and smiled. She'd need to think of a better weapon for "Night of Tonight" while she was at it.

---

"…Shit."

— Oros

Oros was a bit perturbed this morning. She was having a good old time chatting with radio personality Pac-a-fist, only for Broken promise’s antivirus to go haywire and erase all progress. See, for some reason, Avast thought that it was suspicious that a word processor was trying to create and modify files, so it stopped its ability to do those things without warning. It even did this to BP image editing software, which was when he finally noticed it. So a lot of work got flushed down the toilet. But we’re not quitters here at DbD, so what can you do but start over?

The studio room was small. a table ran down the middle of the room and was divided by a single sheet of plexiglass. The guest’s side of the room was cozy, with gold and brown colors swirling over the back wall. There was just a table microphone, without any other distractions in the room. On the radio personality’s side, things were a bit different. There was a monitor on either side of Pac-a-fist’s console, which was covered in switches buttons, and a keyboard. The microphone and a cup holder had to be hung from the ceiling because there was simply no place to put them on her compact working space.

”…And that was ‘smells like teen spirit’ by Nirvana, for the two of you who didn’t know. And hello, hello, hellooooooooooo! Jame’s shift is over and Pac-a-fist is with you all live, here at KPAK-Penrose!”

KPAK-Penrose was the most popular radio station in Penrose. With only soulless organizations like Starbucks and Mcdonalds staying open in such a dangerous place, its primary listenership was teenage boys. Though KPAK is enjoyed by many young girls too. This is largely due to most wage slaves fitting in that demographic. That was also what made Pac-a-fist so popular in the morning time slot. Not only did KPAK focus on the types of songs teens in the area liked to listen to, Pac-a-fist’s talking segments happened to focus on things like videogames, movies, and occasionally talked about tech. Even when she’s not on air, people love to watch her streams that she does in her spare time, and she’s worth keeping in your social feeds if you like pictures of cute gamer girls doing cute things. She’s remained popular largely because of how genuine she seems while doing all these things.

”Before we play more music, I’ve got a guest with me here today. She recently acquired a hotel in Penrose. Now I know most of you aren’t interested in hotels, but she’s really turned the Golden Trove into a cool hangout spot for the locals. And she’s hiring! Thank you for coming on air with us Oros, the previous owners turned down all my invitations.”

Oros was filing her nails. "Well, the old crew was kind of old fashioned. Me? I can always reschedule my massage for later. Though it is important that you know I missed out on that because of you. "

”Hah! Well, we can have someone give you one right now if you’d like.”

"Could you give me one?"

”Ahhhh…” She chuckled nervously. ”Why not? It would just be kind of alkward walking back and forth between the switch board and your side of the studio.”

"Never mind then. Wouldn’t want my date getting jealous."

”Hah! Is she the clingy type? I guess we should get started with the interview.” She looked at Oros. ”Now I know the ownership of the Golden Trove is kind of a weird topic, right? You own it, but you also don’t own it?”

"Yea, you know how huge bushiness chains work? It’s kind of like that, only on a smaller scale." Oros folded her hands into her lap. "There was a family emergency, and the head manager was looking for someone who could run things in their absence. So Mr Boteg still owns the Golden Trove, but I make all the decisions. I only have to answer to him if we go into the red, but that doesn’t look like it’s going to happen for a long time. I guess ownership really depends on how you want to phrase it."

”I see what you mean. Now, let’s talk about some of the big changes you made. I used the arcade the other day and WOW! You’ve got a nice selection of games in there! Pac-man is always going to be my favorite, but I really like the Batman driving game too! You can take any bat mobile ever for a spin!”

"I knew a regular hotel wasn’t going to make it in Penrose. The old management team had the right idea going for a themed hotel, but I wanted even more spectacle. So we’ve been upgrading all of the rooms to make them the best they can be. A lot of our customers aren’t even hotel guests. You can just purchase a day pass if you want to go on an outing with your friends. The arcade is cool because it’s finished, but the Golden Trove also has an auditorium we’re going to convert into a theater."

”Do you think the local businesses see you as a threat?”

Oros grinned. "Maybe? I dunno. I think the types of services I offer differ enough from everyone else that it shouldn’t be a problem. You won’t be getting the newest movie releases at my theater, and Penrose hasn’t had a proper arcade in a long time. I think I’m creating places for all the workers at those mom and pop places to come work. The only business left in Penrose are these huge chains, and I’m glad I could stand against that. But in the end, we live in a capitalist country, so people are gunna chose who wins with their wallets."

”Which leads me neatly along to my next question: You’re still hiring?”

"Yea! I could use a cute radio personality! You’d make an excellent receptionist!"

Pac-a-fist chuckled. ”Afraid I’m pretty attached to my job. But you’ve got lots of openings?”

"You bet your sweet bipster I do! We’re full on hotel staff, but I need people with skills. Someone who can maintain the arcade machines, stuff like that. We’ve also got a lot of roleplayers staying with us, so anyone who has something that might appeal to them is welcome to an interview."

”Roleplayers, huh?”

Pac-a-fist occasionally did “roleplaying sessions” where she would talk about the more magical aspects of penrose, but that was often a very small part of her show. Trying to turn what the general public viewed as a tragedy into some kind of magically inflicted nonsense was sure to drive away the normals, which was their core audience. But it did offer a way to subtly talk about magical girls in a way that didn’t make the whole thing sound like nonsense to the average radio goer. Everyone was aware of the cosplayers around Penrose, this was just a way to address them to the public at large.

”Do you get along with most roleplayers?” Pac-a-fist let her hands rest on a switch board.

"I’m pretty okay with most of them. Some take their roleplaying a bit too far." Oros wasn’t smiling anymore.

”Well I mean, I’d think you’d be good friends with ‘Penny’ right? She’s created a sanctuary for roleplayers, or do you see her more as competition?”

A snort escaped Oros’s nose. Then a shrug. Then her shoulders seemed to tremble, only for the trembling to amp up until it was clear she was trying to hold back a laugh. That was when she brought her fist down on the table. She wasn’t transformed, but it was hard enough to cause all the instruments on Pac-a-fist’s side of the table to jump. "Right, Cindy ford lost her life, and that parasite moved in and claimed her title all for herself, denying Cindy’s friends even a square shot at it. Then after she declares herself queen, what does she do? She moves into some warehouse to hide from the world. She’s not queen of Penrose, she’s just barely queen of her own home." Oros folded her arms. "I kicked her butt anyway! So where’s my crown? Does Dina have it? She kicked my butt afterwards, but all I’m hearing about is how glorious this cockroach is!" Oros took hold of the microphone and held it up to her face. Her eyes looked red and blood shot. "Tell you what, Penny. I’m not sure if you get radio in that dingy sewer you’re the queen of, but I’ve got a little proposal for you. Being the queen is old news, I’m the president of Penrose! If you want to challenge the power of democracy, just march your butt over to the Golden Trove and my secretary would gladly schedule a rematch if one loss to me wasn’t enough for you. Should you win, you’ll be the proud owner of two hollow titles."

”A-ah…” Pac-a-fist was frozen in place.

"Too much?" Oros’s grin returned. "It’s just roleplaying, they eat that stuff up."

”Of course! Hah!” She scratched the back of her head. ”It was a very convincing performance.”

"I am thinking of running for mayor though."

”Hold that thought. We’re going to take a break and play some Pearl Jam, along with some messages from our sponsors!” During the brief time Pac-a-fist was looking away from Oros, a dark shadow expanded behind her. Oros noticed it just in time to start screaming, but the shadow closed around her and pulled her into the floor before any sound could get out. The radio host only noticed that she wasn't there when she was done making her anouncement. ”Probably just took a bathroom break.” She sighed. Oros was kind of obnoxious, but there was no way she, a heterosexual white girl, would get away with silencing a bisexual Indian girl. For the moment, she just relaxed and listened to the radio play.

---

Oros ~ Fin?

Staff update

Oh well. They were pretty busy, so while it is sad to see happen, I am glad they will still be around and hope they continue to enjoy the site. I just don't have an excuse to badger them about stuff anymore. Maybe we'll write a story some time.