BrokenPromise

Grimoiric Heart

@TheWendil But I did mention her! *wink*

Anyway, two things.

#1: We gunna get a discord server up? I've talked with a few folks on here and we think it's a good idea. There were a few people who opposed the idea in the past but they have left and not come back.

#2: I think we're just waiting on you to post now, or did I forget someone?

Symphony of Espers

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

The situation was just like two weeks ago. Finn had his back to a wall with Betty’s weapon closing in.

Marrie was doing something totally new. She was being chased through the sky by Pac-A-Fist, which was a first for the esper. As was dodging the projectiles of an incoming starship.

The rest of Gemini was dealing with another vampire. Something new and old. This wasn’t any ordinary blood sucker. This was the blood sucker. Arzendale was a trickster, but Justin was a brute; a force of nature. His attacks were simple and obvious, but were dangerous by virtue of his sheer power.

And the Holy Diver hung in the distance, hovering away from the conflict. The prophet swung its cross around, unaffected by the chaos. If anything it reveled in the misery of others.

And one more remained concealed.

The chase was about to end. With Finn surrounded by foes on all sides, his only option was to spend the mana he had been saving. It wouldn’t matter how much he had if he was killed before he could use it. He detonated a time spell that sped himself up and damaged everything around him. The flies were fried instantly. Their monstrous bodies were too big to blow apart, but their smoldering carcases were blown to the wayside. Betty was not a monster though. She was an esper with a protective melody up, and the spell wouldn’t do her much harm.

Normally.

The lightning washed over her body. Every boil on her skin popped and oozed with yellow pus. It looked like her skin was melting, and her screams helped sell that illusion. This was the first time Betty sounded like she was suffering rather than raging out of her mind. Her eyes closed, but she finished the swing anyway. This blind swipe was something Finn could sidestep with ease. There was no hesitation when he ran his sword through Betty’s shoulder. Blinded by pus and pain, Betty’s only recourse was to back up. She swung wildly, but there was nothing to hit. It was during this blind flurry of swings that she left the esper state.

There she stood, mostly human and still wearing her white dress. It looked pristine until it was stained in the falling blood. Her magic was gone, as was her giant sword. But not her will to fight. She pointed at Finn with the bow of her violin.

”I’d like to see you try that again!“

With a howl, she dove for Finn.

The aerial pursuit didn’t last long. Marrie dropped to the streets while Pac remained on her pixel star fighter. The ship behaved like a harrier jet, enabling her to just hover in the air. Trying to engage Pac in close quarters was going to be impossible at this distance.

Though Marrie was correct about one thing. While she didn’t know the size of Pac’s mana pool, she had to be running low. Her melodies were complex and couldn’t have been easy to cast. But that wasn’t going to stop her from casting a massive spell.

She extended her hands over her head. Or at least her wrists, as one of her hands had been blown off earlier. A slew of pixels came together from every direction and combined into a giant yellow boulder. One with a pink bow and a huge mouth. She heaved it into the streets as it chomped its way through the air.

Things were no less frantic around Justin.

With Ashley and Samuel keeping their distance, there wasn’t anything to stop Jacqueline from floating closer to Justin. His faux hand swelled as the space between them closed. Soon his hand was big enough to totally envelop the knight, and Justin didn’t hesitate to do so. But Justin’s target didn’t erupt into a geyser of blood, they detonated like a grenade, throwing shrapnel in all directions.

A centralized explosion was enough to rip the hand to pieces and strike Justin himself. He staggered backwards as metal flakes sunk into his blood vessels and what remained on his body. Once he was done reeling backwards, he corrected his posture. The vampire had been wounded, but still stood.

Jacqueline might have been unphased by her melody, but it opened all the boils on her body. The pus ran out of every seam in her armor. Seeing became even more difficult, which said nothing of the burning sensation all over her body. A single “If foe” note would have protected her from her magic, but she was likely to incur some damage from the hand anyway. They still needed to save mana for the Diver after all, and what was Jacqueline but one who traded anguish with her enemies? But she was momentarily vulnerable, and Justin would seize this opportunity to end her.

Only if Ashley let him. A ball of neon slammed into Justin’s side, stripping his blood vessels bare. His midsection had been blown through, with just the upper half of his head and legs left. Yet his other organs remained intact. Though cracks were starting to show, almost as if they were made out of glass or ice. His heart hovered where his chest cavity used to be, beating without anything holding it in place. A small blood barrier came up just before the second shot could land, but this required Justin’s attention. Once he looked away from Jacqueline, the ability to move returned to her. But by this point the Vampire was speeding towards his next target.

Ashley.

It had been raining for a good while, and eviscerating Justin’s flesh released more blood than a normal human would have. This allowed Justin to fortify himself as he ran. A giant V-plow was erected in front of himself. Not only that, but he let the blood rush out of his dismembered arms and made two rigid nets that formed behind his back. He swung his arms forward, using the nets as giant fly swatters. If Ashley didn’t move soon, she might get flattened by Justin’s next attack.

Only, she couldn’t move.

Justin was looking right at her through a hole in his frontmost shield.

And also…

This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me, or this time I will send the full force of my plagues against you and against your officials and your people, so you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth. For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with a plague that would have wiped you off the earth. But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. You still set yourself against my people and will not let them go. Therefore, at this time tomorrow I will send the worst hailstorm that has ever fallen on Egypt, from the day it was founded till now. Give an order now to bring your livestock and everything you have in the field to a place of shelter, because the hail will fall on every man and animal that has not been brought in and is still out in the field, and they will die.
— Exodus 9:13–

The sound of the rain changed as it turned to pebbles. Every second that went by those pebbles got bigger. One inch, two inches, they grew. It wouldn’t be long before they became big enough to fracture bone. The large flies that remained would not do so for long, as even the smaller hailstones were enough to rupture their vulnerable wings.

The only one who had any real shelter was Marrie, who was close enough to the railings to avoid getting pelted by falling stones. Pac would also be spared if only because she was under the giant blood monster. But everyone else would need to find shelter quick if they wanted to avoid having their skulls caved in.

Save the Holy Diver, who hovered over the roof of a nearby apartment complex with arms extended. They were much too large to be affected by the falling hail, and seemed to rejoice as every window and windshield in Pax Septimus was about to get smashed to bits.

Time was running out for the firstborns.

Video Games: The General Discussion & Community Thread Number Two

Is Limsa Lominsa as bad as people make it sound kn FF 14?

@Dark Cloud

Sort of. It's just the most popular place to be due to how it's arranged. The market boards are right next to the teleportation crystal and it's the closest you can teleport to the dreaded waking sands, which is an area you will frequently visit over the coarse of the story.

You'll find horny cat girls and other sorts of degeneracy all over FF14 but it's pretty easy to ignore for the most part. People who want to "socialize" are naturally going to be drawn to the most crowded areas in any MMORPG, so it's more that Limsa Lominsa is just a hub for player meet ups of all kinds rather than it being the unofficial barrens chat of FF14.

Grimoiric Heart

I am fine with whatever you dudes decide to do. I wouldn't mind doing a collab between Enis and Stripes but I don't know how willing KoL is to write with each of us individually. If there is any difference in our magical girls respective powers I wouldn't mind having an OOC explanation for it.

As for Mika, Ozma probably thinks she's fine enough since neither play by the rules. Totally not a copycat heh.

@TheWendil

I gettit, because she tries to pass herself off as a cat grill.

I'm going to say that the feeling isn't totally mutual. While Mika finds Ozma's antics interesting from a distance, she doesn't fully trust someone as secretive as Ozma. Probably an acquaintance that Mika wouldn't detest working with, but also wouldn't go out of her way to converse with.

Also, Mika is an abomination and needs to be destroyed.

@Ponn

You do not have a teacher character, but I feel this statement is the most valid thing said in the OOC.

But that reminds me that my ego feels really good when other people talk about my characters, so I'll extend that to everyone else. Will mention that I haven't finished reading back everything so I'm mostly going to be talking about recent events because that feels most relevant.

Ozma

As far as GMPCs go, Ozma seems pretty inoffensive. I'm not really a fan of characters that absolutely dwarf everyone else in power and Ozma strikes a good balance between being a strong leader for the students while also needing them to achieve her goals. Her choices make sense for her, and sometimes aren't the best for the situation. I'm a GM myself and it can be a struggle to make characters that respond to threats appropriately without robbing the players of their urgency.

Eins @KoL

Is she an NPC? Is she a GMPC? I don't know. Her apperances have been scarce, but in the interest of including KoL in things I feel like talking about Eins. I like the concept of a legend based magical girl who undervalues herself and feels she's at her best tuning up other people's grimoires. The last post was enjoyable to read, and there's something oddly surreal about seeing Christmas stuff in the middle of September.

Roma @Lonewolf685

It's a bit too soon to say much about her. We hardly know anything aside from her powers and affliction, and a hinted event between Ozma and herself. All I can say is that it's been an interesting turn of events. The Revised Grimoires are a curious addition. I like that the setting is gradually expanding and is starting to get more depth. But this just makes me more curious about the stuff we already have in the RP. Like, what makes alters? Where do grimoires come from and what makes them just spawn out of nowhere? Have magical girls been around since before written history? Maybe Roma's arc will answer a few of these questions.

Bon-bon Lilac @The 42nd Gecko

I refuse to believe a Canadian could muster the anger of a Canadian goose, even when under the effect of a spell. Barring that glaring inconsistency I like the direction she's starting to head in. She's been your pretty standard run-of-the-mill magical girl in all the posts I've read. That's not a bad thing, mind you. With so many eccentric personalities it's good to have an average joe to be a foil for the madness and act as a surrogate for the readers. Her current predicament has her doing something she really doesn't want to do, and she's also having her deepest desires brought out. It's all interesting stuff and I look forward to see what happens further ahead once the dust settles.

Stripes

It's rude to talk about yourself too much, so I'll instead use this spot to say that I really enjoyed having Silvia "tell off" Roma. I've been waiting for something to happen where Stripes has to assess why she's holding her inherited grimoire and no one else, and this was a pretty good set up for that.

Dynasty @McFazzer

McFazzer needs to post more because Tesni is becoming one of my favorite characters. Part of that is because they gave me something to do with Mika, but also because the character is just very interesting. Big dumb bruisers are nothing new, but Tesni's backstory serves to make her personality feel like it belongs to a person rather than a caricature of a person. She isn't always a big dumb bruiser. Or at the very least, she's aware of it enough that she tried to seek out help and wasn't afraid to call for a teacher's aid during a fight. I kind of relate to that desire to improve the self and the irritation that comes when the path towards that change is long, uncertain, or feels like you're moving backwards. *meep*

Burning Heart

The current situation hasn't been kind to Suzuya. I feel like she'd been pushed into the backround to make more room for Roma, which makes sense. Lonewolf put a lot of effort into Roma for this arc and they don't want to overshadow it. But it doesn't give me a whole lot to say about Suzuya. I will say she's cute and I like her interactions with Xolys. I didn't want to add "I wouldn't mind if Silvia and her talked a bit at some point" Since I'd be adding that in everywhere, but I'll do it here just to pad out this reply.

Nessie @Sonnambula

I'm glad Nessie was able to appear in quite a few posts this arc and didn't sit this one out. Not many roleplayers that I know of will willingly make a character that is way out of their element. That's not entirely true actually, but characters tend to be competent more often than they aren't, especially in roleplays like this. So it's kind of refreshing to see Nessie treated the way she was in this arc. She's a new magical girl and has just weeks of training under her belt. So she doesn't fully grasp what she's capable of. Even in a battle of wills, Nessie was the most willing to give into Roma's reasoning. I wouldn't be praising this treatment of the character if she was always a damsel, but it does give our swearing Scotsman some room to grow moving forward.

Rose

I don't think there's a single character in the RP that relies on conversations as much as Olivia does. Most of the students have their own baggage to work through, hate working together, and are pretty flashy in combat. Olivia contrasts this by being perfectly content, enjoying everyone's company, and having the most bland fighting style among the characters. But I also think that serves her perfectly as it frees her up to treat combat as just another chance to expand her social circle. She's an oddity for sure, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Her mental mutation interesting views of the world serve to amuse even when she doesn't have anyone to talk to.

Waffenhändler/Morning Star @ShadowSunRisen@FrogRFlowR

I'm putting these characters together for two reasons. One is that I have yet to read up to the point where they are introduced, and another is because they work well as a unit. Valeria's brash, reckless nature is well contrasted by the reserved, cautious Maria. They are charming enough. I do like that they are less mysterious than many of their other faculty counterparts. I can't say more about them other than I hope they get a proper collab together.

Lupin @Majoras End

Lupin is a pretty new addition, but I am really enjoying her interactions with Silvia. It's kind of interesting to see how similar the two are, but also different. They both realized how tired Roma's monolog was, but while Stripes saw an opportunity to gain insight, Celina saw it as a waste of time. Some filler before the actual butt kicking could start, which is a respectable view on the matter. Even Roma had to take note she was a dog on a chain. At the moment she seems more Wolf or Hunter than Red Riding Hood.

Oros the Wise

She's been fun so far. I didn't expect her to get sucked into things so fast but that's how magical girl RPs run sometimes.

March of the White Rabbit: A Roll-Your-Own Magical Girl Roleplay

"If I sit on it, will it give me AIDS?”

— Tonya “Mac” Murphy IRON MOUSE

Tonya “Mac” Murphy

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

Magical Overload, Cradle Supply, Connected, Gifted Item (Aigorost) | Monstrous Form, Exposed, Mercy, Distrust
Redirected Magic, Second Specialization | Non-Standard Limbs, Destroyer

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

Earnings this post: Zilch

Remaining: 8 Gold, 30 Silver, 39 Bronze
Total: 12 Gold, 162 Silver, 183 Bronze

At least Nefer seemed like a jovial sort. You'd have to be to get any sort of mileage out of Iron Mouse's jokes. Technically Mac's jokes too, but she usually didn't push that far when the opportunity presented itself. But enough thinking about semantics, it was time to jump into the back seat.

Iron Mouse had no intent to jump on top of everyone. Not because it was out of character, but because Mac would surely hit her head trying to land in the back seat. She was a tall lady. There was also something that tickled Mac about the mental image of Iron Mouse watching everyone as she slowly snuggled into place. But Mac's plan seemed to backfire when Justine made a cushion. But this cushion was not a normal one. It was not stuffed with feathers, foam, or any sensible stuffing. It was just blood pressed together in the shape of a cushion.

This brought all kinds of uncomfortable questions to Mac's mind. She could wrap her mind around most magics. Water could be pulled out of the air or teleported in from the sea, fire is just heat or excited atoms, Most metal and stone magical girls use elements native in their environment. But where did the blood come from? Did it come from some other reality filled with blood? Or was she teleporting in fresh blood from a land of death? It was too mailable to be very old. Was she drawing the blood directly out of herself? In theory it should have been like jumping onto a water mattress or something of that nature, but blood was sticky. Was it going to shoot all over the place if she jumped on it?

Yea, she'd be doing a cautious approach on this one.

"Oh! A pillow just for me?” Iron Mouse, and by extension Mac, lowered their butt onto the cushion. Once she had tested its strength, she turned sideways and rest her legs in Finn's lap and her head on Oliver's. Mac had to bend her knees and angle her head to fit in the position she chose for Iron Mouse. "Now, I know we're a little crammed back here, so you can touch me if you have to. But if it's indecent, somebody's gunna get their cheek pinched!” Her hand hovered in front of Justine's face and pinched the air.

Mac wasn't even aware the car had started moving until she looked at the sky. "Wow! This is fast!” Iron Mouse looked to Never when she inquired about their names, and here eyes just about shot out of her head. "Ohmygosh! Did I forget to introduce myself? I like to stand up when I do it, but I am:

Invincible
Ready
Observant
Natrural

Mighty
Overwhelming
Understanding
Sensational
Extremely humble

Put it all together and you get:

I R O N M O U S E!

I'm from Rochester up in New York. I can tell you've never been because you'd know who I was. I get paid to do all sorts of jobs, and now I'm here.” Iron mouse looked into the front seat. "Speaking of getting paid, I noticed you had a lot of artifacts. You wouldn't happen to be selling, would you?”

Grimoiric Heart

This was the worst, simply the worst. After waiting for a week for some of the students to come to visit her at the library, Eins was utterly disappointed that no one of the newbies came even to ask about her offer —or visit her at all.

@KoL

I was under the impression everybody got swole over the time skip. Oh well. Maybe we should lightly discuss OOCly stuff that happens over the course of a time skip. At least Eins has a cute banner now.

And speaking of OOCly discussing things, what do you suppose Mika's relationship with the other teachers is like? I doubt she knows many of the recent additions as she just came back from a long vacation, But she's been part of the school system for some time. I could see people liking her because of her cute outward personality. But some of the faculty might dislike her because of her at times pragmatic aproach to helping students and that she freely does as she pleases.

Grimoiric Heart

Whatever works best for you my guy.

Grimoiric Heart

@Lonewolf685 Woops, I guess in hindsight it wasn't totally obvious.

The Miko is Mika. The max number of clones she can muster is four and she never lets her clones use her sword.

She has one in the vicinity of the apex pageless, another one somewhere between the school and the mall, The handy bison, and one holding the perimeter in the cafeteria.

If editing is a big deal, I'd be okay handwaving the shrine maiden as one of the clones that was already there.

Grimoiric Heart

"I'm right here, Teeny!" The clone waved. "And you shattered a window earlier while I was there, so, you know~"

Dynasty Queen didn't seem to notice Mika's clone, who was bodying pageless left and right in an attempt to secure a safe zone inside the cafeteria, and had been doing so since before she arrived. Or maybe that was the problem. That the only teacher present was a clone and not the genuine article. As explained earlier, only the real Oros the Mad ever held the dark steel Katana. It was possible she noticed this. Maybe Dynasty Queen was upset with the clone's choice to not deal with the main threat herself.

Regardless, Mika at least knew what was happening moment to moment inside the cafeteria. But that was not her concern right now. There might be a "dark" magical girl urging the pageless on in one spot, but the rest of the school could be under attack as well. Surely Roma Bhakti hadn't expected to exact her revenge with a few pageless. It wasn't like it was even lunch hour yet. She had managed to get Ozma and that one class away from the school, but she couldn't be so depraved as to expect a single assault of this scale to do anything. Then again, she did hotlink to gelbooru.

But it seemed that there were no more attacks inside the school. One of her clones was with Morning Star, and another was returning to check the perimeter for approaching pageless. It seemed like the only immediate threat really was in the cafeteria. This could be problematic. She doubted Roma was the main baddy in all this. If she was brainwashed, she could be rigged with a bomb or have an equally devastating enchantment cast on her by a third party. This was assuming the attack itself wasn't an attempt to draw eyes away from other sensitive areas of Brittan. If there were, Mika wasn't going to waste her time scouting for them. There was only one threat to the students presently, and it was in the cafeteria. That was where she was going to pool the rest of her resources.

A second clone showed up to help carry wounded students out. Only it didn't look like a clone. This one had shape shifted into a bison covered in monkey arms. Just to ensure it didn't get confused with a pageless, the clone chose to retain Mika's face for is head. A horrific sight to be sure, but not unexpected coming from an alter magical girl. You could have the strongest hands in the world, but it didn't matter if you couldn't hold all of your cargo. The "handy ox" overcame this by having more than enough hands to lift a swath of injured and retreating magical girls in a single go. There must have been at least eight girls held to the side of the strange creature, and a few more rode on its back.

Lilac Shimmer would come face to face with this abomination as it trotted down the hall. "Bon-bon!" The clone's head was just inches away from hers. Yellow eyes half the size of Lilac's face gazed directly into her soul. "You didn't put in that practice to work apart from Dynasty Queen. Let me handle the evacuation. Team up with your friend before she brings down the school!"

The last to arrive would be a strange addition. A *miko with rebellious pink hair brandished her sword and placed herself between a pageless and a retreating magical girl. "You're doing fine, Teeny! You can fix a wall with spackle and mortar, but magical girls are a lot harder to put back together." She joined her clone and organized the wounded for the handy bison's next trip to the cafeteria.

*_{Ignore the second sword hue hue hue.}

March of the White Rabbit: A Roll-Your-Own Magical Girl Roleplay

"Watch me wipe the floor with this Amanda twerp!”

— Sakura

Sakura

3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3
8 | 17 | 7 | 17 | 5
Lightning - Water - Air | Killing Blow
Awareness | Enhanced Outfit | Training (Wing Chun) | Sanctum | Bile | Reverence |Immortality
Free Agent | Mana Overload
Alone | Monstrous Form

Sakura was as bitter as a cup of kuding cha tea.

Things were looking up during the christmas vacation. He met some cool people and turned back into a boy. Emily seemed to be having a good time and it seemed like he might start enjoying life as a magical kid. But he managed to alienate her with a kiss, and in a moment of self loathing he redacted his wish. Turning himself back into a girl.

And things kept getting worse from there.

She had been cursed and cast aside by her patron, yelled at for attacking one of the visceral sisters, and was humiliated in front of her disciple. She had decided to sleep in today and missed the portal to the counter-wonderland raid. Swiss-Knife Chan was nowhere to be found. The other monster girls at Sanctuary were no friends either. They all had their own hook ups and mental mutations that made for bad company. Not Neko-Baba was nowhere to be found but that was probably for the best. She probably didn’t want to be around Sakura anyway. Part of her wished she hadn’t sent Tenebra away. Her company would be quite valuable right now.

Bah! This fucking city. This fucking place!

What point was there in honor when you were the only person who had any?

Sakura slithered out of one of the shacks.. She’d have slept longer, but other monsters found her long, slender body to be a comfortable thing to lay on. Like she was nothing more than a giant twenty-foot long body pillow. She might have been happy to wake up and find some new friends using her to catch some shuteye, but they were never grateful or hospitable about it. She was a convenience, and object, not a person.

“...And I swore to protect these girls?” She must have been drunk.

Just like the day she ran that one girl over.

---

It might be a miracle most of the bigwigs were busy. Even the other Cradle agents left to go fight Wonderland.

Maribel might've helped plan for Amanda to return to penrose a couple of days after now, but the dream magician found the time to appear early. She hadn't informed Maura or anyone else, but Maribel made sure to keep her in the loop with what's going down. And Finn was still planning on fighting Penny? She couldn't help the quiet sigh that escaped her lips. Hopefully Violet doesn't antagonize the lot of them for it.

She didn't want to lose her best friend.

Speaking of, where was she? And Dewynter, in fact? And Connie and Mia seemed to be busy too. An untransformed Amanda wandered around the city, looking for any sign of her friends. Maybe she wanted to surprise them, see the look on their faces when she suddenly appears again! Hmmm. MDP and Penny are dating. Maybe she was helping out at the Sanctuary? With no other leads to work with, the punkish girl headed to the shelter.

Once she arrived, she headed inside. Amanda could be seen asking the nearest denizens about the whereabouts of the royal couple.

A geko girl shrugged her shoulders. “Oh, hello ma’am! I’m sorry to say that I haven’t seen either of them since this morning. I believe the queen went out to run some errands just minutes ago. But if you plan on driving, you should get some insurance. So in just a few seconds I’d like to explain how you can save a bunch of money by switching to-”

Amanda’s presence did not go unnoticed by Sakura.

She couldn’t put her finger on it, but there was just something she didn’t like about the girl. What sort of outsider just walks into a joint all untransformed. She could be a mint spy. No, she most certainly was a mint spy. And here these careless girls were giving them everything they wanted. Sakura wasn’t going to stand for it.

Sakura squared up her shoulders and slithered up to the girls talking. “Excuse me, Punk Chan.” Sakura folded her arms. “But why do you care where Swiss-Knife Chan is? You don’t look like a local.”

"The hell's a Swiss-Knife Chan?" Amanda spun around to face the draconid girl with a risen brow. "I'm just looking for Dreamy and thought she'd be near Penny. But it looks like both are busy." She explained. "...Didn't I see you from somewhere?"

“More to the point, I haven't seen you anywhere, bitch!” The gecko girl, and really everyone, stepped away from Amanda as the naga dragon came closer. "So how about you tell me why you're really here and things won't have to get nasty?" Sakura raised her fists into a fighting stance.

Amanda gave her an unamused look. Has she been out for that long? Or did she just not get out that much?

Then again, the magical community here seemed to prefer staying transformed or undisguised. Ah well. "May my sweetest dreams be your endless nightmares." Reciting her incantation, her form changed in an iridecent gleam. The bespeckled dream magician stood in the punk girl's place. "I assure you, my intentions remain innocent. I am Amanda Valentine, a friend of Magical Dream Princess. Since she's dating the queen I figured I check up on her." If Sakura payed close enough attention, she'd see that Amanda's demeanor was different from when she's untransformed.

That unamused look was no different, however.

But as the case usually was with Sakura, there was very little about the situation she actually understood.

“That hat...” Sakura blinked. Yes, that was a mad cap, not unlike the one Justine and Caroline wore. “Fucking knew she was still around!” Sakura’s entire body trembled. “Goddamn son of a bitch! Fuckin hametsu you ya slimy vampire whore!” She brought up her hands and rushed towards Amanda. “Narukami!”

_{Translator's note: hametsu means "ruin."}

The magician aimed her spellbook in turn, and a glyph appeared in the center of it's pages. But she wasn't aiming at Sakura, but at her attack. Instead of hitting her point blank with her streams of lighting, Sakura would find that her attack had turned into stream of...confetti? Electric blue confetti??

"You should really think about the possible damages you can cause this place, acting like that." Amanda adjusted her glasses. "And last I checked I wasn't corrupted enough to be a monster girl, much less a vampire. Care to defend yourself?"

“You bet I will, fucking yokai!” With the bulk of her mana expended, Sakura opened her palms and started chopping through the air at the dream magical girl. After everything that she had been through, she needed this victory. She wasn’t going to lose to Justine, her sister, or anyone like that.

With a gradually irritated groan, Amanda went on the evasive, blocking and dodging. She hadn't even pulled out her dagger yet. "Could you just stop and think for a second?! You're picking a fight with a stranger in a public area! How do you think the others here are going to assume?!"

Vampires were charming individuals, and it was not out of character for one of the titty leaching Vice Cereals to spin lies on the fly. They were trying to get her mental defences down so that they could brainwash her, probably. Or maybe she figured that Sakura’s long body would make a nice snack. It didn’t matter. This wasn’t going to end until one of them was dead.

“I don’t know if you’re Card Liner Piston Cereal or Juice Tin, but I’m done talking. Get fucked blood sucker!”

If she had such an easy time avoiding her fists, maybe they’d like to try her tail. Sakura grabbed a nearby railing and swung her body with all of her might.

Card liner?? Juice tin??? Was english not this serpent's mother tongue? She was slowly piecing together some things, but for now...

"Ugh." Her patience running thin, Amanda slammed her book shut and opened a rift into her pocket dimension under her own feet.

Sakura’s tail soared right over Amanda’s head as she fell into another world. Her large body landed on the ground and skidded a few feet on the concrete floor.

“Huh? Where did that titty parasite go?”

After a moment passed she appeared behind Sakura and slammed her spellbook across the pinkette's face once she turned around.

Sakura’s defences weren’t strong to begin with. Least of all when she was out of mana. Least of all when the attack in question was aimed at her face. Her torso wobbled side to side before she fell onto her chest.

“Gah!” She put her hands under her shoulders and attempted to push herself upright. “I, will, not, let, you, hurt, another-”

With that, a bunch of monster girls dragged their feet out of the shack Sakura had left earlier.

“There’s the pillow girl!” a young frog pointed.

“Good golly! I’m cold blooded so I’m glad we have a lamia to keep us warm.”

Sakura grit her teeth. “Lame Ayah?!? Pillow!?!? I’m a drag- hey!” But the monster girls didn’t seem to care about her protests or that she was laying on hard concrete.They hugged onto her soft body and started to fall asleep, one after the other, from tail to torso. Sakura’s failing strength was barely enough to move her body around. With the monster girls clinging to her en-mass, she was practically immobilized.

“...”

She growled, her arms shook, but as stupid as Sakura was she knew that her number was up. Tears of frustration welled up in her eyes as she watched her arms struggle to hold up her torso. It was hard to tell if her face was read from being smashed with a book or from the humiliation of failure. Maybe both.

“...Fuck.” Sakura sighed. “Swiss Knife-Chan is not here. Whatever you plan on doing to everyone, do it to me instead.”

"Oh for the love of- I AM NOT HERE TO HURT ANYONE." Amanda loudly explained, her untranformed self's tone bleeding into her irritation. With another groan, she set her weapon aside and sat down on the floor in front of Sakura. "I keep telling you I just want to see my friend, but no, it's like you think with your fists instead of your brain! Your intentions are pure, but one wrong slip up, and this'll be child's play in comparison...Susanoo-San."

"Then... You really are called a man duh vally time? That's not a cover for one of the titty leach vampires?"

"What is it with you and vampires? Of course I'm me. Amanda rose a brow, and her expression was starting to soften up. "I'm part of the Crimson Cradle, if that helps you get some idea."

Sakura had no idea what the crimp sons cradle was, but understood that this all seemed to be a misunderstanding.

“Your hat.” She allowed herself to sink to the floor. “You shouldn’t wear it. Only titty leaches wear hats like that. Its really fucking confusing.” She placed her hands on the side of her head. “Shit shit shiiiiit! Why does everything keep getting fucked up? I can’t even keep my promise to defend these girls. Nothing I do-” She buried her face in her arms. “Nothing I do works out…”

Amanda glanced up at her hat once Sakura mentioned it. Oh. So that's why she went ballistic. She pulled it off and stuffed it into her pocket.

"...Maybe because you're too reckless?" She noted. "Maybe you should, y'know, think before you act? Not blindly throw yourself into fights? You could end up hurting someone innocent like that. You need to keep yourself levelheaded in such situations. Especially if you want to protect people, like them." She motioned to the monster girls that pilled onto Sakura's form.

The naga looked back over her tail at all of the girls hugging her body. She promised Dina that she would. But she was only doing that because she had deprived Dina of a valuable ally. And she was only doing that because of the yakuza’s code of honor. And she only followed that code of honor because… because…

“...Do I want to protect them?” She wondered out loud. Protect a bunch of monster girls, likely losers like herself. More drunk men who ran over their fair share of magical girls and were paying the price with eternal servitude. Were any of their lives worth more than her own? “Punk-chan, you said you were looking for a friend. How did you meet?”

For once, Amanda's mouth quirked up into a smirk. "Guessing I can't keep up the act with you now, huh? Anyways, It's not that extravagant. We met a while back when I was salvaging old library books from a ruined, well, library. This was before Covington Industries revived the town, so I did eventually bring them back good as new. But she popped in out of the blue on the hunt for nightmares." She explained. She then frowned for a second. "Her dad was plagued by severe night terrors. Like, severe, debilitating night terrors, and she wanted to put a stop to that. It's an admirable goal, protecting your family. She might be a bit jarring, but she means well! And her innocent views on the world is kinda cute once you get to know her. _{Along with a few other things too but...}" Amanda muttered under her breath with a sigh, but perked back up when she looked back at Sakura.

"What I mean is, good or bad, however the hell morals work in this dumb town, everyone's got a reason they fight. Even if you don't know it, don't take yours for granted, 'ight?"

Sakura’s attention span was pretty short even on her best days. But she really didn’t have the patience to lay here and just listen to amanda drone on and on. It was painful, but to the victor goes the spoils.

But she recognized Amanda as an “Emily” type. Someone who was always willing to help. Of course she had a friend. And they probably didn’t accidentally kiss her while in a daze. Had Sakura done that accidentally? Did part of her want to do that?

Why was she thinking so much? Was it because this was the first time she had been utterly defeated and humiliated like this, or was it Amanda’s humble attitude after the fact?

What was her own reason to fight?

“...Alright Punk-Chan, I’ll keep that in mind.” With a huff, she used her arms as a pillow. “I hope you find your friend. I feel kind of tired. Think I’ll sleep off our fight.”

"Thanks, Susanoo."

With that, Amanda stood up from the ground and dusted herself off. "Well then! Take the best care of yourselves! I heard this Wonderland has been a bother to your uh....'kingdom'...and I fear things will only get worse from here on out. Till then." Saying her fairwell, she tucked her book under her arm and walked back to the outside world.

...Though not before she subtly casted another spell on the slumbering denizens. Transforming a Killing Blow of all things might have been as taxing, but she did have a bit of mana left to give them well-needed dreams.

---

Sakura had fallen asleep, and now it was time to wake up.

It always took her a moment to get her memories in order. Even though Sakura had been sleeping at the sanctuary for a while now, she would still expect to wake up in Emily’s apartment. It would take her a moment to remember why she wasn’t there.

But she was in Japan.

Or more specifically, a Japanese style dojo. The feel of the tatami maat on her cheek was a familiar one. She didn’t need to wait for the wall scrolls and training weapons to come into focus. Even if she had never been in this particular dojo before, it did remind her of the years spent perfecting her art. It was what the former yakuza took most pride in.

The dragon pushed herself up. It was a little hard to “stand” without feet, but she found her balance on her belly soon enough. Sakura turned to look at the exit..There was a dirt path backed by rows and rows of trees. If she didn’t know any better she’d swear she had been transported to feudal japan. That was impossible of course. But maybe not! Magic was an interesting thing.

“Can I come in?”

Who was that? It was an enchanting voice. Well, no. That wasn’t quite right. Emily, Yui, and his daughter all had enchanting voices. This woman’s tone was more seductive in nature. It was honey in her ears regardless. The only reason Sakura hesitated to answer was because this might be a threat. She vaguely remembered fighting a vampire that turned her killing blow into confetti. This might be her or one of her sisters. She brought up her hands and prepared to fight.

“Sure.”

But turning the corner wasn’t a vampire.

While she use to be a hard as nails Yakuza, she was always loyal to her wife. Sure, Yui wasn’t the first prostitute he laid with, but she was the last one. He grew up before the dot com boom. Most magical girls were men or lesbians who fried their brains on all the hard core erotica the internet could suply them with. But Sakura was from a more “innocent” time. He never had the opportunity to explore his fetishes, and was woefully unprepared for the cat-girl-maid in a bikini that stood before her now.

Her eyes were as red as the morning sun, her breasts were barely contained by her wardrobe, and she was lifting her skirt so that Sakura could see her garter belt. Her smile was equal parts mischievous and playful, and Sakura didn’t know if she should be concerned or happy this woman was approaching him.

She was a woman, right?

Sakura locked up. Her jaw hung open and she froze in place. Even as the cat-maid placed her hand on the bottom of his jaw, she did nothing. She eased his mouth closed before folding her hands over her skirt.

“Hello! My name is Yumi, and I’ll be taking care of all of your needs from now on!”

Sakura remained frozen in place. “Oppai-Neko-Maido-Chan? Am I still in Sink You Airy?”

Yumi placed the back of her hand over her mouth to hide a chuckle. “Oh you’re quite confused, aren’t you? I guess that’s to be expected.” She folded her hands together again. “You’ve died, Sakura. This is the afterlife. Without getting into a lot of spiritual mumbo jumbo, you made the cut and are going to live out the rest of your afterlife in the world of light.”

“I-I died?”

The maid gave a single, slow nod. Her breasts continued to jiggle like jello played back on a high speed camera. “Sanctuary was under attack from Justine’s third secret sister. Like the other two, you single handedly did her in. But she had just enough strength to push you through death’s door before expiring. Your death will be celebrated for your heroic sacrifice and all the lives you saved.”

“Fucking titty leaches…” Sakura pouted. “Well, at least everyone was safe. I guess they can’t say I was useless can they?”

“Certainly not! In fact, you’re a little special in that regard. You impressed the big guy so much that he picked someone hand tailored to you to ensure you have the best possible afterlife you can have!”

“That’s you?” Yumi nodded. “Fucking what!?” Sakura slithered backwards, raising her fists in the process. “I don’t believe you! How could you be made for me?”

“I’m as kinky as Yui, kind as Emily, and cuter than both.” Yumi took a seat on the floor. “No, but I think you’re missing the point. I’m not trying to get you to like me, I’m here to set up your perfect afterlife! I’m less the brave homewrecker trying to steal you away and more the home decorator setting up your perfect afterlife. But I can play a more ‘central’ role if it pleases you.” She closed her eyes and placed a finger against the side of her head. “To start, let’s look at the current afterlife I’ve constructed for yo-”

Sakura’s fist collided with Yumi’s nose, causing her eyes to fly open. But rather than her nose being flattened against her face, Sakura broke every bone in her hand. She howled and withdrew her hand. “Fucking hell!”

“I’m sorry! I didn’t realize you were still skeptical about me.” Her smile never faded. “Being that this is the world of light. All unjust actions are punished, and the innocent are spared. You’ll be able to sate your aggression and lust to your heart’s content without unpleasant outcomes like this!” Yumi stood up and scuffed towards the entrance of the dojo. “Would you like to see what I have for you so far?”

After the brief spike of pain, Sakura’s hand seemed to have mended itself. Was he still skeptical? Of course. But it was getting harder and harder to refute that this wasn’t some dream. He did remember fighting that third sister. Maybe he could get a rematch with her and survive their next encounter. “Yes. Lead the way, Oppai-Neko-Maido-Chan.”

Once outside, Sakura could see he was on a giant island. While it would take him days and weeks to explore everything, his home wan’t hard to spot. It was a large eastern style mansion built on a flat plot of land. But more impressive than the grand mansion was the stuff around it. There was an asphalt road that would be perfect for motorcycle races, and it led straight into a nearby town. Inside the track’s many twists and turns were giant bonsai plants that had been trimmed to meet Sakura’s tastes.

Yumi pointed at the mansion. “It has a wine cellar stocked with any spirit you could ever want. If you venture further out, you’ll find all kinds of ways to ‘uphold your honor’ against some challenging foes. And of course…”

Sakura looked at himself. He was a man again. The manliest of men, maybe. “Fuck yes! I don’t even look like a girl this time!”

“Or a snake! And what’s paradise without your friends?” Yumi presented Sakura with a cell phone. “The world of light is timeless! All of your friends, favorite celebrities, whoever can be called with this cell phone. I should caution you that while this is your afterlife, anyone you call here is going to retain their free will. You’d be surprised how many people think they can just call their Ex or a favorite celebrity over and get disappointed when they want nothing to do with them.”

Sakura looked down at the phone in his hand. He had it all. The body of a god, the perfect home, and the means to contact anyone he wanted. His old Yakuza buddies, Yui, and Ai would all come at the drop of a hat. But then there was her…

“Do you like it?” Yumi folded her hands behind her back and swung her shoulders back and forth. This had an interesting effect on her breasts. “If you’d like something changed, just let me know! Otherwise I can give you a tour of the mansion. Or the town! Your afterlife is truly your oyster!”

“Yumi?” Sakura looked up from the phone. “I like what you have done with the place. ‘Tis a nice home for me. But would it be possible to change me?”

This got another “back handed” chuckle out of the busty cat maid. “Yes! Your wardrobe should have everything you need to become what you desire!”

“No I mean.” Sakura placed a hand over his mouth. “What do I need to look like in order for Emily to like me?”

“....Ahh.” Yumi smirked. “Something like that, huh? I hadn’t realized you were done with your old family already..”

“Fucking WHAT!?”

“My observation is justified, isn’t it? You had an opportunity to wish your old life back and decided against it. Instead you wished yourself into becoming a ‘16 year old magical boy,’ which is a pretty specific request, and one you only made after talking to Emily. What would you call that?”

“The debt has been paid.”

“Right, of course it has.”

“You’re annoying me, Oppai-Neko-Maido-Chan.” Sakura growled. “I took care of my family.”

“You gave them six-thousand dollars a month. That was the bare minimum to get them off you conscious. A little bit like paying child support. Then you pursued Emily as a romantic partner.”

Sakura’s growling became more audible. “Is that what you think?” Yumi remained silent. “I didn’t mean to kiss Emily. If she just understood how much she meant to me… If she saw Hurricane Emily was named after her…” Yumi continued to stay silent. “Just say it! Is there something you can do or no?!”

“The heart wants what the heart wants, doesn’t it Sakura?.“

That was it. Sakura had enough. She propelled her fist straight into Yumi’s face again… to the same disastrous effect. “Fucking titty minx harlot!”

“I’m sorry, I hadn’t meant to provoke you with my teasing.” Yumi only sighed through her smiling lips. “What would you have me change? How you look?” She placed her hands on her bosom, causing it to bounce. “Would I be less annoying if I looked like Emily?”

“Fucking no! Your attitude is what makes you-” Sakura’s eyebrows flicked up as the realization hit him.

“See what I mean?” Yumi paced around Sakura. “You’ve gone from being an old man, to a magical girl, to a magical boy, to a monster girl, but who you are on the inside through all of that has remained unchanged. What someone is on the inside is not something I can change, as the big guy forbids me from doing so.”

“But change has to be possible, right?” Sakura scratched the back of his head. “Can I change on the inside? Maybe with a trainer or something like that? Would Emily like me then?”

“Wellllllll…” Yumi rubbed her chin. “That’s going to mostly be up to you and Emily. You’ll have to work at it. It won’t be as instantaneous as your physical transformations.”

“That’s okay.” Sakura pointed at himself with their thumb. “Nothing’s impossible for me. It took me years to master my martial arts. ‘Tis another thing I will soon master.”

“That’s a good attitude to have!” Yumi clapped her hands together. “In that case, let's go back into the dojo. If you want to make self improvement part of your perfect afterlife, who am I to stop you?”

“Nobody can stop me!” Now this was more like it. A few good punches to put Yumi in her place was sure to put Sakura in a better mood. And if it made him a better person, even better!

But what was Yumi doing?

As soon as they arrived, she took a seat on the floor and closed her eyes. There were no further instructions.

“Oppai-Neko-Maido-Chan!” Sakura shook his fists. “I demand satisfaction! Tis’ why we’re here!”

Yumi opened an eye. “I’m meditating, dear. And if you want to reap the benefits of a better self, you’ll do the same.”

“The gall of this fucker.” It didn’t matter though. He was willing to do this if it meant seeing Emily again. He folded his legs as he sat, pinched his fingers together, and hummed loudly. “Does this really work?”

“You’d know if you ever bothered to get in touch with the spiritual side of martial arts.” Yumi stood up and approached Sakura. “The idea of meditation is just to empty your head and recenter yourself in the here and now.” She lowered Sakura’s arms into his lap. She was so close to him too. Her mounds of flesh just hovering behind his back. That was enough to redirect all of his thoughts to the here and now. “You need to get rid of your distractions, like your fears. you need to silence them before we can continue.”

“I’m not scared!” Sakura was still a little flustered by how close the maid was to him.

“We all have fears, even if we’re not scared.” Yumi continued to grin. “But for the most part, they are possibilities that may never come. You can acknowledge them, but do not let them rule your mind.”

Sakura took a deep breath and thought about his fears. Yui becoming a target of the yakuza, Ia left by herself, Emily never forgiving her, Sakura losing his honor. These were all rational things to be afraid of, but he could see Yumi’s point. They were all possibilities. He had taken measures to prevent them, and could probably deal with others in his own way if they came to pass. Regardless, filling himself with worry was not going to solve anything.

“Now you need to get rid of your shame and your grief. You’d be surprised how much time we spend trying to overcome our past failures and shortcomings..”

Did Sakura have anything to be ashamed of? He supposed he felt bad about what happened to Emily, but that was really it. Aside from how everyone treated him, he didn’t have much grief either.

“We must also overcome the lies we tell ourselves. Maybe we live under a pretense of honor, but that honor is just an excuse to conceal our shame rather than expose our virtues.”

Hey now…

“And when you’re done with that, you must look inward and outward. Seperate yourself from all earthly desires and embrace the self! The trick is-”

“Yumi?”

“Yes Sakura?”

“I don’t think this is going to work for me.” Sakura lowered his head. “I don’t think I can be a better person by just meditating. I’ve always had good luck doing it on the streets, you know? Street smarts, not book smarts.”

Yumi raised an eyebrow. “You’re not one of those people who looks for instant results, then gets frustrated and gives up on day one are ya?”

“No.” Yumi continued to stare at Sakura. “...I mean, recently I have been that way. But I really think what I’d like more than a perfect afterlife is a second chance.” He bowed before the busty maid. “Give me a second chance on earth, and I’ll come back as someone that Emily and Yui can be proud of.”

“Really now?” She shook her head with a smile. “If that’s how you feel, why not?”

“You can do that?”

“I don’t like to, but it is my job to serve you.” She placed her hands on her hips. “Alright Sakura, you get a second chance just this one. I’ll alter time so that the vampire that killed you didn’t. In fact, she won’t be a vampire at all. She’ll be a cool girl magical girl called Amanda. Because we’re bringing you back to life, she’ll also be a magical girl with dream magic, which will force you to explain away your entire visit here as a dream. Is that okay with you?”

“I’ll always know the truth, but that’s okay.”

“You’ll also go back to being a snake woman.”

“DRAGON!” Sakura repeated. “But I figured that would happen.”

“Good!” Yumi pretended to look at her watch. “Is there anything you’d like to do before you ‘wake up’ from your dream?”

“Can I get a hug?”

“Sure! Just try not to suffocate?”

“Well it shouldn’t be that hard for me to hmumphumuhphumuh!”

---

Sakura woke up on the street, smothered in monster girls.

“The fuck!?” Sakura pushed a rhino beetle woman off of her face. “For the thousandth time, I am not a fucking twenty-foot body pillow!”